Marco looked at the basketball hoop（篮圈） and threw the ball up. “Score!” Marco shouted as the ball went _______ the basketball hoop. “You won this time, but next time I _______ better than you, Marco!” “I wish we could play at the park. But the basketball hoop in our neighborhood park _______ broken since last Friday. I guess there _______ nothing we can do.”

Marco and Kim walked past the recycling center. They saw Mr. Morse _______ plastic, paper and metal things there. Marco looked at all the old things _______ for a long time. “Well, wonderful! That gives me _______ idea!” he said. “Mr. Morse, do you have anything for us to reuse to make a basketball hoop?”

Mr. Morse picked up a plastic basket. “I think you can take it _______ you are going to make one.”

“It looks useless, old and broken. I want a new basketball hoop!” said Kim.

“ _______ things is a great way to stop waste.” said Marco. “Isn’t it also meaningful to make something on our own?”

“That sounds ________ ! I guess we can try,” said Kim, “but I still don’t believe it will be as ________ as a new one.”

They took the basket to Marco’s house and found some wood in an old garden. Together they made a post and a backboard ________ time later, when each part was ready, they took everything to the park and set up the hoop.

“Wow, I was wrong.” said Kim. “It is worth ________ it and it looks better than I thought! I’m happy that we made our ________ basketball hoop. We can play basketball here now.” The two friends played until dinner time and enjoyed ________ .

Once a craftsman (工匠) went to the forest to find a stone to make a statue. There he found a very shiny and good stone and ________ took it with him. On his way home, he found another good stone. He ________ that stone too.

When he reached home, he started working on the first stone with his tools. The moment his tool ________ the stone, a voice came from it, “Please don’t hit me with tools. It is hurting me a lot, and I will fall apart. Please ________ me.”

On hearing this, the craftsman felt ________. He left that stone and took the other stone and started using his tools on that stone to make a statue. That stone didn’t complained about ________, so the craftsman was able to make a very beautiful statue of God from that stone.

Next day, people of village came to collect the God statue. They needed another ________ to be kept in the temple and the craftsman gave the first stone to them. The villagers placed God statue in the centre of the temple and the first stone in front of it.

Whenever a person came to visit the temple, he would honor the God statue with flowers and bathe it with milk. Then he would break a coconut with the first stone into two halves and place them before the God statue.

This made the first stone feel very ________ as he would feel pain every time a person uses it to break a coconut. He was crying one day. At this, the other stone smiled and said, “When the craftsman was doing work on you, if you had not ________ him at that time, you would have been in my place today. But you chose a(n) ________ path, you didn’t want to go through any pain at that time. That’s why you are suffering now.”

If you’ve ever seen your insides on an x-ray, you can thank Marie Curie for being able to see them so clearly.

Marie was born in Poland on November 7, 1867. Her father, who taught math and physics, helped her develop a talent for science early. As she grew older, she wanted to go to university and learn all about physics. But women students were not allowed in the local university. Dreaming to become a scientist and work on her experiments, she moved to Paris, France, to study physics at a university.

In 1895, she married Pierre Curie. Together they discovered two new radioactive elements (放射性元素), and won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1903. And she became the first woman to win any kind of Nobel Prize. Then she continued to make more amazing achievements in science. In 1906, she became the first woman physics professor at the university. In 1909, she was given her own lab at the University of Paris. Then in 1911, she won a Nobel Prize in chemistry. She’s still the only person — man or woman — to win the Nobel Prize in two different sciences.

She soon started using her work to save lives. She used her understanding to help the x-ray take detailed pictures inside the human body. In 1914, during World War I, she created mobile x-ray units that could be driven to hospitals. She also helped train some women to operate the units. With these x-ray units, doctors could see broken parts inside soldiers’ bodies clearly and help save over one million soldiers.

After the war ended in 1918, Marie Curie returned to her lab to continue working with radioactive elements. But those can be dangerous in a very large amount, and on July 4, 1934, she died of a disease caused by radiation.

Marie Curie was a woman hero, not only because of her groundbreaking and life-saving scientific work. She encouraged, and today she continues to encourage women to work in science, and scientists to use their work to help people.

Peter had sent milk to the families on West Street for thirty years. All that knew him loved him.

Every morning at five, Peter arrived at the milk company’s stables (马厩), saying to John, “Good morning! My old friend!” Then, the two started their day proudly. Without any order from Peter, the carriage would go down the street. The horse stopped at the first house. There, John would wait perhaps thirty seconds for Peter to get down off his seat and put a bottle of milk at the front door.

One day, the manager of the company came to check the early morning work. Tom, the leader of the stables, pointed to Peter and said, “See how the horse listens and how he turns his head toward Peter?”

“Yeah! But Peter’s getting old.” said the manager, “Tell him it is time for him to have a rest.”

But Peter said, “My life will be nothing if I can’t drive John every day. We are both old! Let us wear out together. When John is ready to leave, then I too will do so.”

Then one cold morning, after about two years, Tom said. “Peter, your horse, John, didn’t wake up. Go over and see him.”

Peter took one step forward, then turned. “No... No... You... You don’t understand, Tom.”

Now, Tom looked into Peter’s eyes. He saw a dead, lifeless look in them. So he said softly. “Take the day off, Peter, and have a good rest, please.”

Peter stepped into the street. Then there came a waming shout and a sudden stop of a carriage...

Five minutes later, a doctor said, “Peter’s dead...”

“I couldn’t help it.” the driver said, “Why, he walked as if he were blind?”

The doctor sat down. “Blind? Of course! This man has been blind for five years.” he turned to Tom, “Didn’t you know that?”

“None of us knew.” Tom said in a low, sad voice, “Only one. Only one knew — a friend of his, named John.”

Each year on Feb 21, UNESCO (联合国教科文组织) holds an International Mother Language Day (IMLD). The event is to help people to pay attention to the disappearance of the world’s languages and try to encourage people to learn and use them.

What happens when a language dies out? Something great is lost—not just sounds and marks but the way that people understand the world and communicate with each other. We keep different cultures and traditions through languages. Kill a language and all these are killed too.

Through IMLD, more and more people come to realize the terrible situation and try to stop it.

Google’s 2018 Endangered Languages Project is a good example. In order to avoid losing them, many speakers and protectors of endangered languages upload (上传) texts, audios and videos to the project website. They want to make more people know the way that people communicate and express themselves. The Miamian Project is the same kind of way to revive the language spoken by the Miami tribes (部落) of the United States. Project members work to encourage people to study and communicate with this language, which died out in the 1960s These activities give life to those endangered languages. People who work to keep languages alive are not limited to the past. Many young people design apps and use social media to support their activities. They “spread the word” to save the world.

Although the problem of disappearing languages remains a very serious one, there is hope. We all have a special feeling of our mother language. This is why we should remember the wise words of late president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to a man in his own language, that goes to his heart.”

Inventions are very important and they can easily change our life. The following are some great inventions.

The television was invented in 1926. As time passed, more and more people were able to buy the television. It is a popular invention, but it is also bad for your eyes. People spend almost 4-8 hours in front of a TV. So they spend less time staying with family.	The plane is a very popular way of going out both for traveling and business. Over 3, 000, 000 people take a plane every day. It is very convenient for us. And it makes our trip faster and more comfortable. But the biggest problem led by the planes is the air pollution.
Credit cards allow people to buy things first and pay for them later. What’s more, you don’t have to carry lots of money around. However, you may not know how much money you have spent until you get your bill. This might put many young people and families into an economic crisis.	The pacemaker（心脏起搏器） saves many people’s lives. It was an invention that was designed to give the heart small “shocks” and make it work again. The only disadvantage for most people is that it costs a lot of money. Getting one can cost from 16, 500 yuan to 35, 000 yuan, so little families can afford it.

Astronauts get to fly in rockets, float in space and see the wonderful views of the solar system.     41     An astronaut’s diet is mostly pre-packaged food- hardly rich in nutrition (营养). So, NASA experimented with growing fresh vegetables in the International Space Station.

The most difficult thing about growing plants in space is the lack of gravity.     42     What’s more, the lack of rainfall and lighting also makes space a gardener’s nightmare.     43    

A veggie flight pillow is a small greenhouse.     44     This makes it easy to transport Plants will grow from these pillow bags which will stop the water from floating away. And LED lamps will shine overhead.     45    

Veggie will provide a new resource for US astronauts as NASA begins to develop the abilities of growing fresh produce and other large plants on the space station.

The 8th grade is never easy for teenagers. It is f    46     of new experiences. However, many of them find class and schoolwork “uninteresting”, according to a report from Civic Enterprises. Do you have the similar feeling? If you do, the following a    47     can help you a lot.

Be active in class. Speaking up in class might be difficult, especially for those who are too s    48     to speak in p    49    , but it helps to make you express yourselves c    50    . It’s okay if you give a wrong answer. Sometimes the “wrong” answer can lead to an even more interesting discussion than the “right” one.

Get enough r    51    . Sleep research suggests that a teenager needs between eight and ten hours of sleep every night. When you have too much homework, try to i    52     your efficiency instead of getting controlled by your procrastination (拖延).

D    53     healthy habits is also helpful for you to set up for a healthy future. Get regular exercise, eat a healthy diet, and maintain your hygiene(卫生). They will bring you good results one day if you keep at them.

Make good friends. A good friend is someone you can d    54     on. He will s    55     your right decisions even though few people are on your side.