Do you like trying different things? Are you afraid {#blank#}1{#/blank#} things that you think you're bad at?

    Last year I started to learn t' at chi in order to improve my health and reduce my stress. It was something new for me, and I found it to be quite difficult, very {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (difference) form anything I'd ever learned before. Small {#blank#}3{#/blank#}（move） are important in t' ai chi. I was used to being fast and active ,{#blank#}4{#/blank#}to learn t' ai chi I had to learn patience. Now I've found that I'm a much more patient person than before, and t' ai chi isn't nearly as difficult as it {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(be ) before.

    We tend {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(like) things we are good at — that's normal. For example, I'm naturally very good at badminton and tennis, but I'm very had at anything {#blank#}7{#/blank#}involves keeping balance, such as skating, skiing and gymnastics. T' ai chi has {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (great) improved my balance which has been a very good thing for me.

    My point is that you can keep {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(do) the things you know you're good at and live in your comfort zone, or you can try something new. If you don't try new things, you'll never know what it would be like to try something new. Challenge {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (you). It will definitely pay off in the end.

    My feelings about science have {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(complete) changed. More than one science teachers at my new school{#blank#}2{#/blank#} excellent and{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(friend). The science{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(facility) are very good with laboratories that have all the{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(late) equipment. Our chemistry teacher takes us to public science lectures about four times{#blank#}6{#/blank#} term，{#blank#}7{#/blank#}are always interesting, because the lecturers are famous at their area of science. In the last 20 years, seven Canadian scientists{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(win) the Nobel Prize. Now{#blank#}9{#/blank#}I'm becoming more and more interested in is physics and I want to study it at university. But my parents are{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(astonish), as they always thought I would become an English teacher.

    What is standard English? Is it spoken in Britain, the US, Canada, Australia, India and New Zealand? Believe it or not, there is no such thing as standard English. Many people believe the English spoken on TV {#blank#}1{#/blank#} the radio is standard English. This is because in the early days of radio, those who {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(report) the news were expected to speak excellent English. However, on TV and the radio you will hear differences in the way people speak.

    When people use words and {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(expression) different from the "standard language", it is {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(call) a dialect. American English{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(have) many dialects, especially the Midwestern, southern, African American and Spanish dialects. Even in some parts{#blank#}6{#/blank#} the USA, two people from neighboring towns speak a little {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(different). American English has so many dialects because people have come from all over the world. Geography also plays a part in {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (make) dialects. Some people {#blank#}9{#/blank#}live in the mountains of the eastern USA speak with an older kind of English dialect. When Americans moved from one place to another, they took their dialects with {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(they).

    Buying books on the Internet is a great way {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (save) time and money. Online bookstores offer not only new books but also used books. What's more, they are far better {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (compare) to traditional bookstores as they offer much broader kinds of books. Another advantage of shopping online is that you can also read the book reviews as well as readers' reviews to get an idea {#blank#}3{#/blank#} the book is worth buying. Online bookstores often offer great discounts to{#blank#}4{#/blank#} (attraction) book lovers with a tight budget.

    For book lovers, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} is important to get books in time, in which case they need to find a {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (rely) online bookstore that is able to provide fast deliveries.

    Here are some {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (advise) for reference when you are selecting an online bookstore. Some online bookstores are popular {#blank#}8{#/blank#} fiction books; some are for non-fiction books or novels, etc. Understanding their specialization will help you to get the right kinds of books in time. Never choose stores that offer {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (believe) cheap prices, as books that {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (sell) at such low prices could be in very bad condition.

    On October 23^rd, 2018，President Xi Jinping announced the opening of the Hong Kong– Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) at an opening ceremony in Zhuhai, Guangdong province.

    The HZMB,{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (locate) at the waters of the Lingdingyang of Pearl River Estuary, is a huge sea crossing, linking Hong Kong and Macao to the Chinese mainland city of Zhuhai. As the world's{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(long) sea-based project, the 55-kilometre bridge is the result of five years of research and another nine years of building. It has been described as one of the “seven{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(wonder) of the modern world” by the Guardian.

    The project{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(make) up of a 22.9-kilometer-long main bridge, a 6.7-kilometer-long tunnel and an artificial island off the bridge. It is designed with {#blank#}5{#/blank#}service life of 120 years. It can withstand a strong wind equal{#blank#}6{#/blank#} a maximum Beaufort scale 16. The bridge's engineers had to consider many environmental factors to protect the{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(surround) environment while building the bridge. Chinese white dolphins, an endangered species that lives in the area,{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (be) a particular concern.

    The HZMB will make{#blank#}9{#/blank#}much more convenient to travel between the three areas it connects. It will bring people in Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong within a “one-hour living circle”,{#blank#}10{#/blank#}is expected to attract more visitors to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. It will be a transport link as well as a social, economic, cultural, and tourism connection among the three areas.

    English is a language {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(bring) to Britain in the 5th century by Anglo­Saxon settlers from various parts of Northwest Germany. It is convenient to divide English into three periods roughly─Old English, Middle English, and Modern English.

    The {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(early) form of English is called Old English or Anglo­Saxon. Old English developed from a set of North Sea Germanic dialects {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(origin) spoken along the coasts of Frisia, Lower Saxony, Jutland, and Southern Sweden by Germanic tribes known {#blank#}4{#/blank#} the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. Later, Old English was strongly influenced by the North Germanic language Norse, spoken by the Vikings who settled mainly in the northwest. The most famous work from the Old English period is the epic poem Beowulf, written by {#blank#}5{#/blank#} unknown poet. Old English is very different from Modern English and difficult for the 21st­century English speakers to understand.

    For the 300 years following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Norman kings and the nobility spoke only a {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(vary) of French called Anglo­Norman. English continued to be the language of the common people. The Norman influence {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(strong) the continual evolution of the language over the following centuries, resulting in {#blank#}8{#/blank#} is now referred to as Middle English. And one of the best­known works from the Middle English period is Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

    From the late 15th century, the language changed into Early Modern English, often dated from the Great Vowel Shift. English is continuously absorbing foreign words, especially Latin and Greek, causing English to have the largest vocabulary of any language in the world. By the late 18th century, the British Empire had sped the spread of English through its colonies and geopolitical dominance. Commerce, science and technology, diplomacy, art and formal education all contributed to English {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (become) the first truly global language. As there are many words from different languages, the risk of mispronunciation is high. In 1755, Samuel Johnson published his A Dictionary of the English Language, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} introduced a standard set of spelling conventions and usage norms.