"Can I see my baby?" the happy new mother asked. When the baby was lying in her arms and she moved the cloth to look upon his tiny face, she gasped(吃力地喘着气). The doctor turned quickly and looked out of the hospital window. The baby had been born without ears. Luckily, time proved that the baby's hearing was perfect. Though the misfortune(不幸)happened to him, he grew into a handsome boy. Yet he felt ashamed when he communicated with others.
    "You should get in touch with other young people," his mother told him, with a kindness in her heart. The boy's father talked with the family doctor about his ears. "Could nothing be done?"the father asked. "I believe I could give him a pair of outer ears, if they could be got," the doctor replied.
    Two years went by. One day, his father said to the son, "You are going to the hospital, Son. Mother and I have someone who will donate the ears you need, but it's a secret."The operation is a big success. Later he married and entered the diplomatic(外交的) service. One day, he asked his father, "Who gave the ears? Who gave me so much? I could never do enough for him or her."
    "You could, my son," said the father, "but the agreement was that you are not to know…not yet."
    The years kept their secret, but one of the darkest days did come. He stood with his father over his mother's casket(棺材). Slowly, the father stretched forth(伸出) a hand and raised the thick, reddish brown hair to reveal the mother had no outer ears.
    "Mother said she was glad she never let her hair be cut," his father whispered gently, "and nobody ever thought mother less beautiful, did they?"

    Ali, who was working a long way from home wanted to send a letter to his wife, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} , and he had to work all day,so he could only look for somebody to write his letter late at night . {#blank#}2{#/blank#} ,he found the house of a letter writer whose name was Nasreddin.

    Nasreddin was already in bed."It is late,"he said. " {#blank#}3{#/blank#} "

    "I want you to write a letter to my wife, "said Ali.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} . He thought for a few seconds and then said, "Has the letter got to go far?"

    "What does that matter?" answered Ali.

    "Well, my writing is so strange that only I can read it, and if I have to travel a long way to read your letter to your wife, it will cost you a lot of money." {#blank#}5{#/blank#} .

A. What do you want?

B. Finally, he found the house of a letter writer whose name was Nasreddin

C. but he could neither read nor write

D. Ali went away quickly.

E. Nasreddin was not pleased

    Do you like music? Probably. But do you like all kinds of music? Want to say no? Well, before answering this q{#blank#}1{#/blank#}, you'd better have a good understanding of what music is. A music teacher wanted to tell his students the difference b{#blank#}2{#/blank#} music and noise (噪音). He brought many wooden blocks (大 块) of different sizes to class. The students were very s{#blank#}3{#/blank#} to see him throw the blocks at the wall. Everyone thought it was noise. He then took the same blocks and threw them at the wall a{#blank#}4{#/blank#}. This time, however, he threw them in a special order (次序). The students quickly found it was a tune (曲 子). "So," asked the teacher, "what is music?" The answer is that it's organized noise.

The twins were filled with excitement as they were planning a surprise for Mother's Day. They planned to make French toast (吐司) and chicken porridge. They had watched their mother in the kitchen. When the big1 came, the pair went to the kitchen quietly early in the morning. They put some rice into a pot (锅) and left it to boil while they made the French toast. Jeff broke two eggs into a plate and added in some milk. Jenny put two pieces of bread into the egg mixture. Everything was going smoothly2 Jeff started frying (煎) the bread. The pan was too3 and the bread turned black within seconds. Jenny threw the burnt piece, put in the other piece and4 the fire so it cooked slowly. Then Jeff noticed the porridge boiled over. Jenny felt scared.5 , Jeff stayed calm and turned off the gas quickly. Just then, they caught the smell of burning. The other piece of bread in the pan had turned6 as well. As the twins looked around them in disappointment, their father7 . "Don't be worried!" He helped them clean the mess quickly. After that, Jeff told their father their plan. "Sounds great! I can8 you to cook," their father said. Hearing this, Jenny and Jeff9 with joy in eyes. With their father's help, it didn't take long10 the French toast and chicken porridge were ready. When11 was ready, their father left the kitchen, promising to keep their12 . The twins carried the breakfast upstairs and woke their mother up. "Happy Mother's Day!" "It is unbelievable! You can cook! It's the biggest13 I have received," seeing the breakfast, their mother said excitedly. Her face shone with14 . Their father winked (眨眼) at Jenny and Jeff and said, "They have known how to15 others." It was a secret only shared between them.

难度系数：★★★

The school newspaper needed a new editor (编辑). Tara knew it was her c{#blank#}1{#/blank#} —she'd always expected to do something for the paper. There were not any nice pictures, but the real p{#blank#}2{#/blank#} was that the stories couldn't interest the kids. 

Tara came to meet Mr. Alvarez, the headmaster, and e{#blank#}3{#/blank#} her thought. "Editing the paper is a big job, even for an eighth {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(grade)!" he said, "And we may not have a paper much longer because of the budget (预算) cut."

Tara stepped forward confidently, "I'll change this, sir."

Mr. Alvarez finally nodded, "You only have three weeks {#blank#}5{#/blank#}the budget meeting." 

Tara then told her plan to the newspaper group, "Now we need two teams. The sales team will work on getting advertisers to help us afford (承担得起) the paper. And the editorial team need to d{#blank#}6{#/blank#}stories students like."

The group took action and things went {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (smooth). The editorial team made a questionnaire to know what students were interested in when the sales team visited many local b{#blank#}8{#/blank#}. A week later, the group created an online paper with more cool pictures and even videos. This new form was well r{#blank#}9{#/blank#} in the school. 

The big day came. Tara's group presented their work at the meeting. When it was time to vote, every hand in the room went up for {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (support) the idea. 

"Good job!" Mr. Alvarez smiled.