I felt {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(luck) to have won a place to go on a cultural tour to sites of lost civilizations. We visited Pompeii in Italy and Loulan in China. Pompei {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(found) in the 8^th century BC, then taken{#blank#}3{#/blank#}by the Romans in 89 BC. Later, Pompei was destroyed by a volcano. It erupted and covered Pompei with ash.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} (fortunate), many people were buried alive. The city was forgotten for many years until the 18^th century when a stone with writing on it was discovered by a farmer. People started to dig in the area {#blank#}5{#/blank#}treasure and caused much damage. Thus, in 1860, the area was governed by the government so {#blank#}6{#/blank#}could be preserved and studied.

    Differently, Loulan disappeared under the sand. There were just a few {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(ruin) left. There was {#blank#}8{#/blank#}ancient water system {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (run) through the middle of the city. The desert was once a green with huge trees, but they were cut down,{#blank#}10{#/blank#}resulted in the city being buried by sand.

    They were both important commercial cities about 2,000 years ago. It was a pity that they disappeared for ever.

This week, we're preparing for one of the newest {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(tradition) events in our country: Black Friday. It's that crazy gathering of retail (零售)-related violence, a time{#blank#}2{#/blank#}stores offer once-a-year promotional sales to set off the customers' greediness and jump-start the Christmas shopping season with a sudden activity in a {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (crowd) space.

    The general feeling has been set by the Hamleys Christmas Toy Parade in London, in which 800,000 people ran into Regent Street, apparently attracted by {#blank#}4{#/blank#}possibility of a “meet-and-greet” with Peppa Pig that sadly {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(have) to be cancelled at the last moment on safety grounds. As it was, a middle-aged woman {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(report) had to be taken to hospital after {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (knock) to the ground in a fight with another woman.

    For the people who dislike shopping, such as me, any day with shopping in it is a black day, and Black Friday is the most worrying {#blank#}8{#/blank#}all. However, I can see the reasoning for retailers. Why spend a lot of money on newspaper ads, when you can offer 50 iPhone Xs at £5 each to the first fifty{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(consume)? The related media {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (cover) of the resulting disorder is, as they say, priceless.

    I had just visited my best friend in hospital with my mum，{#blank#}1{#/blank#}hadn't seen my friend since she'd gone into hospital six months earlier.

    I knew where she was coming from as she was{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(grave) ill, but as I'd been visiting her every week I had stopped seeing the obvious; my friend{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(lose) most of her body weight and her hair was falling out, it wasn't looking good.

    After the visit I took my mum to the station{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(see) her off on her train; the mood was understandably bleak but I stayed positive as well you do, don't you? I went to get{#blank#}5{#/blank#} (we) some coffee and my mum some food for the journey. I misread the amount of my purchase and didn't have enough money.

    {#blank#}6{#/blank#}some reason, this was the straw that broke the camel's back; I burst into uncontrollable{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(tear) as a massive queue was gathering behind me. A woman came up to me and offered to pay, putting an arm round my shoulder, no questions{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(ask).

    I could barely say thank you through the confusion and the flood of emotion that was pumping through me {#blank#}9{#/blank#} running off in embarrassment. After composing myself I ran round the station {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(try)to find this kind lady to thank her properly but never did.

    The world's fifth reported brown-and-white giant panda has been found in Foping Nature Reserve.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(spot)on Nov.1,the baby panda, less than two months old, was estimated to {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(appropriate)weigh 2 kilograms and believed to be the fifth giant panda of this rarely seen color ever found.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(it)eyes haven't opened yet, but it can sense the people {#blank#}4{#/blank#} come near it to take a picture.

    Many {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(research)believe the brown-and-white pandas are a return to the form typical {#blank#}6{#/blank#} their ancestors. But some argue that those pandas are a variation(变异)of their usual group while a few others think that they are {#blank#}7{#/blank#} new subspecies of pandas {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(result)from the environmental changes of the mountains.

    The first three recorded brown-and-white pandas {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(find)in Foping Nature Reserve, in 1985,1990 and 1991 with the fourth found in 1992 in Shaanxi. China has more than 2,000 giant pandas. The giant panda {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(feed)mainly on green bamboo.