Many of us were raised with the saying "Waste not, want not.” None of us,{#blank#}1{#/blank#}, can completely avoid waste in our lives.

    Any kind of waste is thoughtless. Whether we waste our potential talents, our own time, our limited natural{#blank#}2{#/blank#}（资源）,our money, or other people's time, each of us can become more aware and careful. The smallest good habits can make a big {#blank#}3{#/blank#}.  It's a good feeling to know in our hearts we are doing our{#blank#}4{#/blank#}in a world that is in serious trouble.  By focusing on {#blank#}5{#/blank#}（节省）oil, water, paper, food, and clothing, we are playing a part{#blank#}6{#/blank#} cutting down on waste.

    We must keep reminding {#blank#}7{#/blank#}（自己）that it is easier to get into something {#blank#}8{#/blank#}it is to get out of it. Actually, severe damaged {#blank#}9{#/blank#}to our land is fairly recent in the history of our evolution.  It's time for us to{#blank#}10{#/blank#}no to waste so that our grandchildren's children will be able to develop well.  We can't solve all the problems of waste, but we can encourage mindfulness.

    Waste not！

    Mr. Robinson had to travel somewhere on business. As he was{#blank#}1{#/blank#}a hurry, he decided to go by air. He liked sitting beside a window when he was flying, {#blank#}2{#/blank#}when he got onto the plane, he looked for a window seat. He found all of them already {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(take) except one. There was a soldier sitting in the seat beside {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. Wondering why this one had not been taken, Mr. Robinson at once went towards it.

    When he reached it, however, Mr. Robinson saw that there was a notice stuck on the seat. It said, “This seat{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(keep) for proper load balance, thank you.” Because he had never seen such a kind of{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(usual) notice in a plane before, Mr. Robinson was a little surprised. But he thought that the plane must be carrying something {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(particular) heavy in it, so he walked on and found{#blank#}8{#/blank#}empty seat, not beside a window, to sit in.

    Two or three people tried to sit in the window seat beside the soldier, but they too read the notice and went on. When the plane was nearly full, a very pretty girl hurried into the plane. The soldier,{#blank#}9{#/blank#}was watching the passengers coming in, quickly took the notice off the seat beside his and in this way succeeded in having the company of a{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(beautiful) during the whole trip.

    Mary and her husband Dimitri lived a tiny village of Perachora. One of Mary's prize {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (possess) was a little white lamb which her husband had given her, She kept it {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (tie) to a tree in a field. One evening, however, the lamb was missing. The rope had been cut, so it was obvious that the lamb had been stolen.

    When Dimitri came in from the fields, his wife told him {#blank#}3{#/blank#} had happened. Dimitri at once set out to find the thief. After telling several of his friends about the theft, Dimitri found out that his neighbour, A1eko, had suddenly acquired a new lamb. Dimitri {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (immediate) went to Aleko's house and angrily accused him {#blank#}5{#/blank#} stealing the lamb. He told him he had better return it or he would call the police. Aleko {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (deny) taking it and led Dimitri into his backyard. It was true that he had just bought a lamb, he explained, but his lamb was black. {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (shame) of having acted so rashly, Dimitri apologized to A1eko for having accused him. While they were talking it began {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (rain) and Dimitri stayed in A1eko's house until the rain stopped. {#blank#}9{#/blank#} he went outside half an hour later, he was {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (astonish) to find that the little black lamb was almost white. Its wool, which had been dyed black, had been washed clean by the rain!

    The Forbidden City in Beijing, home to the Palace Museum, houses more than 1.8 million cultural relics and is one of the world's most visited tourist attractions.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (mark) the 600th anniversary of the Forbidden City, the Palace Museum will hold a series of events throughout 2020. Over 20 exhibitions will be held, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (cover) different areas such as history, art, festivals, and so on. For the special occasion, Along the River during the Qingming Festival, one of China's most {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (wide) known masterpieces, will go on display in September 2020. For {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (it) best preservation, this treasured artwork is seldom fully exhibited. The painting {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (display) for the first time back in 2005 to celebrate the museum's 80th anniversary. Such {#blank#}6{#/blank#} rare sight is expected to draw huge crowds. In addition, the museum will also display exhibits from other {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (country).

    During the past few years, the Palace Museum has been working hard to get the public familiar {#blank#}8{#/blank#} the history and culture of the Forbidden City. And it seems that these efforts have been paying off, with its {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (popular) reaching a new height. Over 17 million people visited the museum in 2018, of {#blank#}10{#/blank#} 40 percent were under 30 years old.

    Today, home-ownership has reached extremely high levels. Modern generations tend to believe there is something wrong with them {#blank#}1{#/blank#} they rent. However, is high home-ownership really as people imagine？{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (stare) at data first, we realize that the most successful, stable, attractive country in the Western world is Switzerland. It has tiny unemployment; wealth; high happiness and mental-health scores. Does it have high home-ownership rates? Absolutely not. In Switzerland, about seven in ten of the population are renters. Yet, with Europe's {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (low) home-ownership rate, the nation thrives. Now go to the other end of the misery distribution. Spain has approximately the highest home-ownership rate in Europe (at more than 80%). But one-quarter of its population are unemployed.

    A likely reason is that high levels of home-ownership mess up the labour market. In a sensibly functioning economy it is easy for people to move around to drop into the vibrant job slots {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (throw) up by technological change. With a high degree of owner-occupation, everything slows. Folk get stuck. Renters can go to new jobs. In that way they do the economy a favours. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Friedman said, the rate of unemployment depends on the flexibility of the housing market.

Next we come to economic breakdown. Most analysts accept that at heart it was the housing market-obsessive pursuit of homes, the engendered mortgage（房贷） lending and an unavoidable house-price crash— {#blank#}6{#/blank#} sank the Western world. Germany, say, with its more efficient rental market, had a far smoother ride through trouble.

    As for the monetary system, in the past few decades, in the hope of getting untaxed capital gains way above their true labour earnings, many people threw their spare cash into buying larger houses or building extra bedrooms. TV programmes about how to make easy money, beautiful rising house prices, and most importantly, our faulty tax system encouraged that. When {#blank#}7{#/blank#} some point market broke down, everyone suffered. Our countries ought, instead, to design tax systems that encourage people to invest in productive real activities and in innovation. Renting leaves money free for better purposes. That also points to the role of sensible budgeting over a person's lifetime. Why should we think that when we die it is necessary {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (pay) off an entire house？

    Our children do not deserve it. Let them pay for themselves. We {#blank#}9{#/blank#} rent-and enjoy our lives with the money saved.

    Finally, moderation usually pays off. Our scientific understanding of how economies function is horribly limited. This suggests that the golden rule should be to avoid extremes. A50-50mix of home-ownership and renting, not the 70-30split that is now observed in so many Western nations, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (make) sense.