All About "A-thons"

    A marathon is a long-distance running race. Now it is not only a competition, but some people organize marathons for charity. Runners get friends, families and other people to support {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (they). They promise to provide a certain amount of money for every race. For example, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} the runner runs one kilometer, the providers will each give the runner $1 for the charity. Much of money can be raised this way. However, not everyone can run, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} people in the USA have thought of other ways to raise money, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (use) the idea of marathon.

    Walk-a-thons: A walk-a-thon is similar {#blank#}5{#/blank#} a marathon, but people walk instead of running. This is one of the most popular {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (way) for people to raise money.

    Read-a-thons: Many schools organize read-a-thon to raise money. Students can get money {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (easy) for the number of books they read in a given amount of time. Little kids can also get money according to how many pages they read. The read-a-thons {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (hold) not only to raise money, but also to encourage teenagers to read.

    Bowl-a-thons: Bowling is an interesting sport for many {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (America). In a bowl-a-thon, people raise money for every point they get in the game. The {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (high) the score is, the more money they make for the charity.

—Ten.

    There are about fifteen hundred languages in the world. But only a few. of them are very important. English is one of them. Many, many people use it, not {#blank#}1{#/blank#}in England and the USA, but also in other parts of the world. About 400, 000, 000 people speak it {#blank#}2{#/blank#}their own language. It is difficult {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(say) how many people are learning it as a foreign language.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(million) of people are trying to do so. Is it easy or difficult to learn English？Different people may have different{#blank#}5{#/blank#}（answer）.

    The only language that seems easy to learn is the mother tongue. We should remember that we all learned our own language {#blank#}6{#/blank#}when we were children. If we could learn English {#blank#}7{#/blank#}the same way, it would not seem so difficult. Think of {#blank#}8{#/blank#}a small child does. He listens to what people say. He tries what he hears.

    So it is hard to say that {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(learn) English is easy. We must do a lot of practice. And practice needs great efforts(努力) and takes much time. Good teachers, records, tapes, books, and dictionaries will be{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(help) , but they cannot do the student's work for him.

    Mary lived in a small village. One morning, her father took her to her{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(uncle) home in town. She had {#blank#}2{#/blank#}good time there. Before Mary{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(leave) in the evening, her uncle gave her a jar(罐子) and said, "There{#blank#}4{#/blank#}some candy in it. You may put your hand into the jar and take some when you want{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(eat)."

    Mary looked at the jar{#blank#}6{#/blank#}she was on the train. It had a long and small neck. She{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(put) her hand into the jar and wanted to take five{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (piece). {#blank#}9{#/blank#}she couldn't get her hand out. She turned her hand again{#blank#}10{#/blank#}again. At last she let go of four pieces. Then she could pull her hand out of the jar.