She looks like any other schoolgirl, fresh-faced and full of life. Sarah Thomas is looking forward to the challenge of her new A-level course . But unlike school friends ,16-year-old Sarah is not spending half-term  {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (rest). Instead, she is earning $6500 a day as {#blank#}2{#/blank#} model in New York.

    Sarah  {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (tell) that she could be Britain's new supermodel， earning a million dollars in the new year. Her father Peter44,want her to give up school to model fulltime. But Sarah, {#blank#}4{#/blank#}has taken part in shows along with top models， wants  {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (prove) that she has brains as well as beauty. She is determined to carry on with her{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(educate).

    She has turned down several {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(invitation) to star at shows in order to concentrate on her studies. After school she plans to take a year off to model full time before going to university to get a degree {#blank#}8{#/blank#} engineering or architecture.

    Sarah says, "My dad thinks I should take the offer now. But at the moment, school {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(come) first. I don't want to get too absorbed in modeling. It is{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(certain) fun but the lifestyle is a little unreal. I don't want to have nothing else to fall back on when I can't model my more."

    On Sept.19, 2014, Alibaba went public on the New York Stock(股票)Exchange, which shows that Ma Yun has done his business {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(success). A short Chinese man seems to be the {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(tall) man in the world right now.

    Ma Yun used to be an English teacher who led {#blank#}3{#/blank#} easy life. When he was twelve, he found that English was very interesting. Every morning he got up at 5 a.m. and then ran to a hotel near the West Lake,{#blank#}4{#/blank#} he could communicate with foreign visitors in English. The experience made him a fantastic English speaker and often delivered English speeches without {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(refer) to his notes. In a trip to the US in 1995, Ma had access to the Internet {#blank#}6{#/blank#} chance.{#blank#}7{#/blank#} was after he returned home that Ma set up a website and created his own company-Alibaba in Hangzhou. He was so{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(devote) to his work that he {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(name) “Crazy Jack Ma”. In my opinion, his{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(curious) and determination made Alibaba the world's largest e-commerce company.

    In 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay succeeded {#blank#}1{#/blank#} climbing to the top of Mount Everest, at 11:30 am, on May 29. They were the first people {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(reach) the top of Mount Everest.

    Edmund Hilary was a New Zealand mountaineer, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (explore) and philanthropist (慈善家)，and Tenzing Norgay was a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer. Both of them were part of the ninth British expedition to Everest {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (lead) by John Hunt in 1953. For this expedition, Hunt selected a group of people who were {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (experience) in climbing mountains in the whole British Empire. In the group, Edmund Hilary{#blank#}6{#/blank#} (select) from New Zealand, and Tensing Norgay was actually recruited (招收) from India where he lived. Before climbing, the expedition had been organized and planned for months. They made nine camps on their way up, some of {#blank#}7{#/blank#} have been still used by climbers up to now.

    In fact, the first team made {#blank#}8{#/blank#} to the place which was just 300 feet below the summit, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} they left on May 26. They actually had already reached the point that no man had reached before. They were forced to leave because of the bad weather and because there were {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (problem) with their oxygen tanks.

    In 1850, an American lawyer, Bethune, bought a slave to work in his home. The slave, a woman, had a small child{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(call) Tom, who was blind.

    One day, Bethune {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(walk) around his garden when he heard music coming from the house. He went inside and found young Tom playing on the family piano. Bethune {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(immediate) realized that the boy, who was only four, had special abilities. He asked a band of {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(music) to come to the house and play in front of {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (he). Tom reproduced perfectly the music he had heard. Tom was indeed an unusual boy.

    In 1857, "Blind Tom" took part {#blank#}6{#/blank#} his first public performance. The reviews were so good {#blank#}7{#/blank#} Bethune took him on a tour of the US. Three years later, Blind Tom {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (invite) to the White House to perform for the president. Over the next forty years, Tom performed {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(enjoy) shows all over the US and other countries. His concerts were {#blank#}10{#/blank#} mixture of classical music and his own compositions.

    In Canada and the United States, people enjoy entertaining(请客) at home. They often invite friends over{#blank#}1{#/blank#}a meal, a party, or just for coffee and conversation.

    Here are the {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (kind) of things people say when they invite someone to their home:

    "Would you like to come over for dinner Saturday night?" "Hey, we {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(have) a party on Friday. Can you come?" {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(reply) to an invitation, either say thank you and accept, or say you're sorry and give an excuse: "Thanks, I'd love to. What time would you like me to come?" {#blank#}5{#/blank#} "Oh, sorry. I've tickets for a movie."

    Sometimes, {#blank#}6{#/blank#}, people use expressions that sound like invitations but which are not real invitations. For example: "Please come over for a drink sometime." "Why not get together for {#blank#}7{#/blank#} party sometime?" "Why don't you come over and see us sometime soon?"

    They are really just polite ways of {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (end) a conversation. They are not real invitations because they don't mention a specific(确定的) time or date. They just show that the person is trying to be {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (friend). To reply to expressions like these, people just say "Sure, that would be great!" or "OK. Yes, thanks."

    So next time when you hear {#blank#}10{#/blank#} sounds like an invitation, listen carefully. Is it a real invitation or is the person just being friendly?

    Pausanias has come on a magical journey {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (find) out about the present-day Olympic Games. So he asks a Chinese girl, Li Yan about the Olympics. He tells Li Yan {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Greek cities used to compete against each other {#blank#}3{#/blank#} the honour of winning. No other countries could join in, nor could slaves or {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (woman). Li Yan tells Pausanias that every four years athletes from all over the world {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (admit) as competitors, and all countries can take part if {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (they) athletes reach the standard to be admitted to the games. Women are not only allowed to join in but play {#blank#}7{#/blank#} very important role in gymnastics, athletics, etc. At the same time, there is just as much {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (compete) among countries to host the Olympics as to win Olympic medals. The spirit of the Olympic Games {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (stay) the same as before: It is all about being able to run faster, jump higher and throw {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (far).