Crying marriage? Surprising, isn't it? Actually, the custom of crying marriage{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (exist) a long time ago in many areas of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, and remained in fashion until the end of the Qing Dynasty. Though not so popular {#blank#}2{#/blank#}before, the custom is still observed by people in many places, especially Tujia people,{#blank#}3{#/blank#} view it as a necessity of the marriage procedure.

    It is very much the same in different{#blank#}4{#/blank#} (place) of the province. According to elderly people, every bride had to cry at the wedding. Otherwise{#blank#}5{#/blank#} bride's neighbors would look down upon her as a {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(poor) educated girl and she would become the laughingstock of the village. In fact, there were cases in which the bride {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (beat) by her mother for not crying at the wedding ceremony.

    In a word, crying at the wedding is a way to set off the{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (happy) of the wadding through falsely sorrowful words. However, in the {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (arrange) marriages of the old days of China9 there were indeed quite a lot of brides who cried over their {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (disappoint) marriage and even their unhappy life.

    On arriving in the United States, I felt everything was different. There were many new things I had to adapt to. One thing that really {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(take) me a long time to adapt to was speaking the language.

    I remember {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(clear) that I had to struggle to learn English because I couldn't even write a short paragraph to introduce myself at the first day of my English class. The teacher asked me {#blank#}3{#/blank#}it was difficult for me. If it was, I could change to level one!

    However, I was stubborn and swore that I was going to succeed. I started to spend many {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(hour)per day, even though it was stressful, because I wanted to take advantage {#blank#}5{#/blank#}this special chance to study English in the USA.

    I felt depressed because I couldn't understand {#blank#}6{#/blank#}people were saying even though I made great efforts. However, I still kept {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(try) and never gave up.

Now, I can tell you that I have improved a lot, but sometimes it is still easy for me to get{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(confuse) if I don't know what topic people {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(talk) about. To adapt to this new language, I had to tell {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(I) that I could do it. I really believe I can!

    Last year, my brother and I went to Miami for a vacation. Some of my friends who had been there before said it was {#blank#}1{#/blank#} wonderful holiday destination. Before we went, we had planned for months. When the day came, we were ready.

    Since it was the first time we {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (be) there, we were pretty excited. After our plane landed, we went to the hotel. We had made {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (we) reservation(预定) six months earlier, but the man at the front desk said there had been a mistake. We {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (tell) that our rooms hadn't been reserved for that week, but for the week after. I didn't understand {#blank#}5{#/blank#} this would happen and my credit card had already been charged for the reservation. What made things even worse was {#blank#}6{#/blank#} the hotel had been fully booked. When we were wondering {#blank#}7{#/blank#}to do, the manager came out. She was very helpful. She apologized for the mistake and {#blank#}8{#/blank#}surprised me and my brother that she should give us a spare VIP room on the top floor. We had never stayed in such an amazing room, and we weren't charged extra.

    The next day, my brother and I went to the beach {#blank#}9{#/blank#} some people were playing volleyball. We got a little sunburnt, but the day had been so {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (relax) that we didn't mind.

    We were studying Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in the class. Each of us {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (require) to play a scene from the play, and I {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (joke) asked to play the nurse. How the classmates responded aroused my interest. They thought I, a guy, couldn't play the nurse. But I decided I was going to be the {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (good) nurse to explode on the stage of the class. That fateful week, I imprinted the lines of the nurse in my head. On the day of the {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (perform), I walked onto the stage, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (dress) in my grandmother's Italian suit, and poured my heart and soul {#blank#}6{#/blank#} the scene. {#blank#}7{#/blank#} look of astonishment on my classmates' faces was all I needed to realize what school {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (mean) to me. School was a place {#blank#}9{#/blank#} I could explore unknown areas of my mind and uncover new ideas about the world. Perhaps this realization had never shown {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (it) before, because I never been brave enough to uncover it.

    A hotel chain is employing human bed warmers to help guests get a good night's sleep. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (dress) in special all-in-one sleeping suits, the walking electric blankets are sent to warm the beds of guests staying at the Holiday Inn {#blank#}2{#/blank#} they get under the covers.

    Dr Chris Idzikowski, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (direct) of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre, said the idea could help people get off to sleep. He {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (explain) that "There's plenty of scientific evidence to show that sleep starts at the beginning of the night {#blank#}5{#/blank#} body temperature starts to drop. The drop occurs partly because the blood vessels (血管) {#blank#}6{#/blank#} the hands, face and feet open up and release heat." "A warm bed –approximately 20 to 24 degrees Celsuis –is {#blank#}7{#/blank#} good way to start this process while a cold bed isn't. It helps people sleep well especially as it's taking much {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (long) for them to warm up when they come in from the snow."

    Dr Chris Idzikowski and {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (he) colleague Jane Bednall said the idea was like "having a giant hot water bottle in your bed". The five-minute free bed warming sessions will be tried out in London and Manchester {#blank#}10{#/blank#} the end of next month.