horse        the year of dog. ( 2 ) And this year is the year of dragon.
   Before New Year's Day, people are busy shopping and cleaning their houses. On New Year's Eve, there is a big family dinner. All the

families stay up late to welcome the New Year after dinner. On the first day of the New Year, people put on their new clothes and go to visit their friends and relatives. They say “Happy New Year and good luck.” and some other greetings（祝福）to each other. People usually

have a good time during Chinese New Year, the Spring Festival.
{#blank#}1{#/blank#} 将（1）句的空白处分别填上一个适当的词语, 使句意完整、上下文通顺。
___________; ___________
{#blank#}2{#/blank#} 将（2）句译成中文。
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{#blank#}3{#/blank#} 回答问题：What do Chinese people do before New Year's Day?
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{#blank#}4{#/blank#} 在文中找出与A lot of families don't sleep early because they want to welcome the New Year.的同义句。
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{#blank#}5{#/blank#} 在文中找出最能表达该短文主题的句子。
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Hi, Daming,

    You ask me about how to improve（提高） your English listening. Here are some advice(建议). I hope they can help you.

    Relax(放松) yourself.

    Before you start listening to something, don't get excited or nervous（紧张的）.You need to relax．This will help you with your listening.

    Listen carefully to the first sentence.

    The first sentence tells a lot about the whole passage．For example，if，at the beginning，you hear “Our reporter says…”,you know you will hear a piece of news，not a children's story, or a science report.

    Think when you're listening.

    When you're listening, try to do some thinking．For example, you can think of the following questions: When, where and how? What does the speaker want to tell us? In this way, you may understand the passage better.

    Listen to important facts.

    It's important for you to remember some important facts. For example, if the passage is a science report, you should try to remember its findings, and how the scientists get their results. This is also very helpful to your listening．

Yours,

Tom

    Mr. Miller comes from America. He has two children, Dave and Anna. They live in Hangzhou now. Mr. Miller can speak Chinese. (1)He can do Chinese kung fu. Mr. Miller can swim and write stories. But Mrs. Miller can draw and play Chinese chess. They go swimming and play chess. On Sunday morning, Mr. Miller does Chinese kung fu. Dave and Anna like playing the guitar. (2)They often play the guitar with their friends.

    Dave's uncle works on a farm near America. He likes swimming, too. He wants to work in Hangzhou. (3)但是他不会说汉语。

    One day, a baby snail（蜗牛） found that he had to carry a big and heavy shell（壳） at any time. He was confused(困惑的), so he went up to his mother and asked, “ Why was I born with a shell that grew so hard and heavy?” His mother said, “Because we don't have bones（骨头） to hold us up. We can only move slowly, so we need a shell to protect us.”

    The baby snail asked again, “The caterpillar(毛毛虫) has no bones, either, and she can't move quickly. Why can she live without a shell?” The mother snail answered, “That's because a caterpillar will become a butterfly. She can fly high into the sky. The sky can protect her.”

    The baby snail had one more question, “But the earthworm(蚯蚓) moves like us. He has no bones and he won't turn into a butterfly. Why doesn't he carry a hard and heavy shell?” His mother said, “He can dig a hole and hide in the ground, and then the earth can protect him.”

    The baby snail then cried, “We are so poor! We have no protection from the sky or from the ground!” His mother smiled at him, “That's why we have a shell. My dear, imagine that if we don't have the shells, what will happen to us? Hot sun will dry out our bodies and we'll have nowhere to sleep. What's worse, we'll die in the heavy rain. How terrible it is! We don't depend on the sky or the ground for protection. We should depend on ourselves.”

    If you lose 12 times, will you just give up? Dale Carnegie, a pioneer in public speaking and self-development, kept trying. And he became famous by showing people how to be successful.

    Carnegie was born in 1888 in the central United States. As a son of a farmer, the boy had to get up at 4 a.m. every day to milk the cows. When Carnegie first entered college, he felt hopeless because of his clothes and ordinary (普通的) looks. His mother encouraged him, "Why not try to be better in other things instead of just dress and good looks?"

    Carnegie tried to be more active in college. He joined the debate (辩论) team. But one after another, he lost 12 times. The young man was so disappointed in himself that he even thought of ending his own life for so many failures.

    But soon Carnegie was seen practicing public speaking on the riverside. His hard work brought good results at last. In 1906, Carnegie won a famous speech match and became widely famous.

    The young man made his own words come true: "Believe that you will succeed, and you will." In order to share his success, Carnegie started schools and wrote books. More than 50 million copies of his books have been printed in 38 languages. They are still helping people on the road to success.

Information Card

    Our dog Abbey died last month. My 4-year-old daughter Lucy missed her a lot and asked if we could write a (A) __________to God to make sure he could (B) look after Abbey well. I told Lucy that I thought we could, and she dictated (口述) these words:

Dear God,

    Will you please take care of my dog? She died yesterday and is with you in heaven. I miss her very much. I am happy that you let me have her as my dog even though she got (C) sick. I hope you will play with her. She likes to swim and play with balls. I am sending a picture of her so when you see her you will know that she is my dog. I really miss her.

Love,

Lucy

    We put the letter in an envelope with a picture of Abbey and Lucy and addressed it to God/Heaven. Yesterday, we received a package addressed "To Lucy" with this note:

Dear Lucy,

    Abbey has arrived in heaven.

    (D) 她不再生病。Her spirit is here with me just like it stays in your heart. Abbey loved being your dog. You don't need to worry about (E) her. She's being looked after very well here. Thank you for the beautiful letter and thank your mother for helping you write it and sending it to me. You have a wonderful mother. I send my blessings every day and remember that I (F) __________you very much. (G) By the way, I'm easy to find. I am wherever there is love.