There are many benefits of singing in a choir. They range{#blank#}1{#/blank#}the social: having the opportunity {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(make)new friends, to the physical benefits of learning to breathe {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(proper). Research has also shown that young people {#blank#}4{#/blank#}sing in choirs do better in their studies and have{#blank#}5{#/blank#}tendency to be healthier.

    But the first question you should ask{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(you)if you are considering joining a choir is “can you sing in tune?” It might seem obvious, but{#blank#}7{#/blank#}you can, there is little point in seeking out a choir because you'll only get rejected. Every choir you apply to join is going to audition(面试)you. Don't worry if you can't read music; that can be taught later. If you {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(accept), you'll find choir practice to be hard work, but great fun, because they're social events as much as music training. You will learn to read music and how to sing with confidence. Your voice and technique will develop, probably quite quickly with proper {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(instruct), and you may just end up{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(wonder)why you didn't do this years ago.

The Best Book I've Ever Read

    Frankly, I have read nearly all of the great works of literature, but no book has ever impressed me as deeply or directly {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Joel Stein's Man Made: A Stupid Quest for Masendinity.

    Haven't we all, on some level, been Jewish boys in New Jersey in {#blank#}2{#/blank#} 1970s with only female friends, an Easy-Bake oven and a strong preference for show tunes? Haven't we all had a panic attack {#blank#}3{#/blank#} learning we're going to have a son, since that means we're going to have to figure out how to throw footballs, watch other people throw footballs and decide {#blank#}4{#/blank#} to be happy or sad about the results of football throwing? Haven't we all then tried to correct our lack of maleness by becoming a man, fighting fires with firefighters, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (drive) a Lamborghini and doing three days of Army training camp? I know I have.

    The only parts I didn't fully enjoy were {#blank#}6{#/blank#} in which the author suffered horribly. After just three hours of training camp, he fainted weakly into the arms of a soldier. The film rights to Man Made have already been sold to Fox, and I hope it gets {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (turn) into a movie with George Clooney playing the Stein role, since they remind me so much of each other.

    {#blank#}8{#/blank#} this is only Stein's first book, I would already consider him as someone like David Sedaris, Dave Barry, James Thurber, Mark Twain and Abraham Lincoln. I {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (recommend) Man Made not just to all my friends and family but also to strangers on Twitter over and over again. My one fear is {#blank#}10{#/blank#} after this great achievement, Stein will lose his ability to be a cruel critic of our shallow times.

    Last year the empty land across from my bus stop was a sad, empty, ugly space, with dead bushes and one short tree. Then some{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (gardener) changed that. They were tired of looking at the sad space while they were waiting {#blank#}2{#/blank#} the bus, so they made it into a beautiful garden. Now you can see colorful vegetable plants and sweet-smelling flowers. Yellow butterflies fly from plant to plant{#blank#}3{#/blank#} (happy), and tiny birds sing in the green trees. I love taking the bus now.

    When I was in Australia, I accompanied a friend on his driving test. I was {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (amaze) to learn that in Australia, people hardly go to driving schools. Instead, many people practice on the road with a licensed driver sitting next {#blank#}2{#/blank#} them. But this doesn't mean that getting a driving license is a piece of cake. This was the third time that my friend {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (apply) to take the driving test.

    The first time, after confidently driving over an intersection (十字路口), the {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (examine) asked him to pull over and said that he should have stopped {#blank#}5{#/blank#} car and looked right first and then left to make sure there was no other car approaching.

    The second time, a car rushing in front caught him by surprise and he hit the brakes too hard. The examiner got {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (anger) and asked him to get out. In Australia, the test is not about driving skills, {#blank#}7{#/blank#} about following every rules.

    After finally passing the test, my friend drove very {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (careful) because in the first year of having a driving license, running two red lights results in the license being suspended (暂停使用). But one day he {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (pull) over by a policeman who warned him that he was driving too slow and blocking the traffic. Actually, he was driving at a speed of 40 km/h, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} is a totally acceptable speed in China.

    The Great Wall was listed as a World Heritage by UNESCO in 1987. Just like a dragon, it winds up and down across deserts, grasslands and mountains, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (run) approximately 21, 196 kilometers from east to west.

    The {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (construct) of the Great Wall was not that easy, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} drew heavily on the local resources for building materials. The walls were {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (origin) built in the Spring & Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Emperor Qin Shi Huang succeeded in his effort to have them joined together. Since then, the Great Wall {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (serve) as a monument of the Chinese nation throughout history.

    With {#blank#}6{#/blank#} history of about 2, 700 years, some parts of the Great Wall are now {#blank#}7{#/blank#} ruins or have disappeared. However, the Great Wall of China is still one of the most appealing {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (attraction) all around the world owing to its historical significance. The best-known part of the Great Wall of China, Badaling, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (locate) 43 miles northwest of Beijing, attracts thousands of national and foreign tourists every day.

    Today, the Great Wall {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (recognize) as one of the most important impressive architectural achievements in history.