⑴{#blank#}1{#/blank#}The WWF is working hard to save pandas—the symbol of animals in danger.

⑵{#blank#}2{#/blank#}A journey by train is more relaxing than by bus, but it costs more money.

⑶{#blank#}3{#/blank#}It was a small village 30 years ago, but now it has more tall buildings.

⑷{#blank#}4{#/blank#}You need to listen for key words and main ideas, just the same as reading.

⑸{#blank#}5{#/blank#}The match was difficult and no one could score at all. It was really boring.

    Do you know Kumamon (熊本熊)? He is the most popular bear in Japan. With the big black body, red cheek (脸颊)and wide-open eyes, Kumamon always looks surprised. It makes him very lovely. And people of different ages love him.

    熊本熊和真正的熊一样高。 He is the mascot (吉祥物) of a place called Kumamoto in Japan. Before the lovely mascot appeared in 2010, few people knew about this place. But now it is very famous and lots of people come to visit it every year.

    Kumamon has his website, blog and facebook page, so people can know what he is doing every day. People can also see him on over 10000 things, like shirts, bags and candy boxes.

    Why is Kumamon so popular? First, he has a cute look. Second, people can find him on so many things that they can hardly forget him. Third, he is very funny. And there are a lot of photos and videos about him on the Internet. They make people laugh a lot. People think he is not just a mascot, but more like a person. 

     Danny and Jenny are talking about their school science fair. They are very excited. Danny is ready for the big science fair next year. He hopes to win first prize. His project is about silk worms. She is interested in that. She made a video about silk worms. She has a small piece of old silk. She also has a silk worm for the visitors. She thinks silk worms are interesting. What's Danny's project about? It's all about donuts. He talks about the history of donuts. He will make ten different kinds of donuts. You can taste them if you go to the science fair.

    On 19th September 1783, Pilatre De Rozier, a scientist, sent the first hot air balloon. The passengers were three animals and the balloon stayed in the air for about 15 minutes before hitting back to the ground.

    The first manned(载人的) flight was about 2 months later, with a balloon made by 2 French brothers. The balloon flew for a period of 20 minutes.

    Sailing through the sky in the balloon, high above buildings and trees, you can't feel or hear the wind because you're traveling in the same direction and at the same speed as it is.

    A hot air balloon has three main parts: the balloon, called an envelope; a basket, where passengers ride; and a burner system, which supplies the hot air.

    Most balloon envelopes are made of strong, lightweight nylon(尼龙). They are different in size and shape, but they have to be really, really big to lift even one person. Most weigh more than an adult man.

    The basket is usually made of wicker(柳条), which is strong but not too hard. It needs to bend a bit for a soft landing, just like a good jumper bends her legs instead of keeping them straight when she lands.

    The hot air balloon works on the theory that hot air rises faster than cooler air. When the burner system is turned on, it makes a noisy sound, but once the balloon is flying, the burner can be turned off. The air in the envelope will then cool, and the balloon will slowly go down unless the pilot starts the burner system again.

    To control a hot air balloon, a pilot adds hot air to it to go up or lets the air out to go down until he finds a wind blowing in the direction he wants to fly. But no matter which way the wind blows, the passengers have an amazing bird's-eye view of the world.