Visiting the city when you are six months pregnant and have a two-year-old girl can be really {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (challenge). One spring afternoon, we went to one of the grocery stores nearby to buy some food for dinner. There was no sign of rain, and the store was just around the comer, so we went there{#blank#}2{#/blank#} an umbrella. However, we were about to leave the store {#blank#}3{#/blank#} the rain came in full force. It seemed that the streets would be flooded {#blank#}4{#/blank#} water within minutes.

    I noticed a young Chinese couple staring at {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (we) when we came to a crossroads and were waiting for the light to change. I figured they were probably wondering {#blank#}6{#/blank#} a pregnant foreigner was dragging her little kid out through the rain. But as we crossed the street,{#blank#}7{#/blank#} woman offered me her umbrella. I told her I couldn't take it when it was clearly starting to storm. She insisted,{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (hand) it to me and hurried off with her husband.

Though caught in the rain {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (expect), we still treasured the memory and will always recall the {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (friend) and kindness of the Chinese couple.

    Some years ago,writing in my diary used to be{#blank#}1{#/blank#}usual activity. I would return from school and spend half an hour {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(record)the day's events, feelings, and {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(impress)in my little blue diary. I did not really need {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(express) my emotions by way of words, but I gained a certain satisfaction from {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(see) my experiences forever recorded on paper, After all, isn't accumulating(积累）memories a way of preserving the past?

    {#blank#}6{#/blank#} I was thirteen years old, I went on a long journey{#blank#}7{#/blank#} foot in a great valley{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(equip) with pens, a diary, and a camera. During the trip, I was busy recording every incident, name and place I came across. I felt {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(pride) to be spending my time productively, dutifully preserving for future generations a detailed description of my travels. On my last night there, I {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(walk)out of my tent, diary in hand.

People eat rice all over the world

    Rice {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (believe) to have been first grown in China or possibly somewhere else in eastern Asia around 10,000 years ago. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} earliest evidence of rice farming comes from a 7,000-year-old site near the lower Yangtze River village of Hemudu in Zhejiang province in China.

    Rice is a kind of food which requires much labor. In developed countries, the planting and harvesting is done {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(most) with machines. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}, in much of the world, these things are still largely done by hand. It takes one farmer 1,000 to 2,000 working hours {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(raise)a rice crop on 2.5 acres of land. The fact that rice needs so much labor means{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(keep)a lot of the population on the land.

    Rice is also a crop {#blank#}7{#/blank#} need of lots of water. The wet rice grown in most of Asia needs hot weather after a period of rain and conditions provided by the rainy seasons affect many of the places {#blank#}8{#/blank#} rice is grown.

    Rice straws(稻杆）{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(leave)in the fields add nutrients(营养物)to the soil after rice is harvested(收割). For the next crop, rice farmers can often enjoy a good harvest by adding little {#blank#}10{#/blank#} no fertilizer.(肥料)

    She looks like any other schoolgirl, fresh-faced and full of life. Sarah Thomas is forward to the challenge of her new A-level course. But unlike school friends, 16-year-old Sarah is not spending half-term {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (rest). Instead, she is earning £6，500 a day as {#blank#}2{#/blank#} model in New York.

    Sarah {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (tell) that she could be Britain's new supermodel, earning a million dollars in the new year. Her father Peter, 44, wants her to give up school to model full-time. But Sarah, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} has taken part in shows along with top models, wants {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (prove) that she has brain as well as beauty. She is determined to carry on with her {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (educate).

    She has turned down several {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (invitation) to star at shows in order to concentrate on her studies. After school she plans to take a year off to model full-time before going to university to get a degree {#blank#}8{#/blank#} engineering or architecture.

    Sarah says, “My dad thinks I should take the offer now. But at the moment, school {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (come) first. I don't want to get too absorbed modeling. It is {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (certain) fun but the lifestyle is a little unreal. I don't want to have nothing else to fall back on when I can't model my more.”

    Chinese high-speed railways are a very. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (comfort) way to travel. They are clean, quiet and efficient. China has led other developing countries and even some developed ones in this field since the first high-speed train {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (come) into use in 2008.

    The stations are {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (main) built outside the town center, but local transport has been lengthened {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (connect) the high-speed network. The facilities on the train are new and the staff are well trained. Even the second class {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (chair) provide plenty of space. The passages are so wide {#blank#}6{#/blank#} you can move without disturbing anyone. You can use your mobile phone, access {#blank#}7{#/blank#} Internet or work on your laptop. There is also a restaurant car, though the kinds of food {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (be) limited. The toilets arc large, clean and user-friendly too. The train almost doesn't rock. Even when the train brakes, you can hardly feel it shake.

    What's more, with a faster check-in, the high-speed train are also {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (little) affected by weather than planes. Seldom are {#blank#}10{#/blank#} delayed or cancelled for weather condition. Therefore, they have become the first choice for many passengers.