Dear Tom，

    How time flies! You {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (study) in Beijing for nearly a month, during which you must have achieved a lot. Well, how's everything going? It is reported that the weather there is very hot and dry these days, which is very different from{#blank#}2{#/blank#} of your country. Have you adapted to it? In addition, you once complained that the food {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (serve) there was not {#blank#}4{#/blank#} your taste. I hope that should have been improved.

    I am glad to tell you that I will go to Beijing to take part in an English speech contest in July, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} is not only an honor, but also a great opportunity for me to improve {#blank#}6{#/blank#}. And now I try my best to make {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (prepare) for it. {#blank#}8{#/blank#}, I have some trouble in collecting the materials relevant and using the language. I will appreciate {#blank#}9{#/blank#} if you give me a hand to solve the problems.

    After the contest, I am to drop {#blank#}10{#/blank#} at your school to visit you. Please wait for my phone.

Li Hua

    Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter asked for a job in a timber merchant, and he got it. The pay was{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(real) good and so were the work conditions. For that reason, the woodcutter was determined to do{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(he) best. His boss gave him an axe（斧头）and showed him the area（地区）,{#blank#}3{#/blank#}he was supposed to work. The first day, the woodcutter{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(bring) 18 trees. “Congratulations,” the boss said. “Go on that way”. Very{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(motivate) by the boss's words, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, {#blank#}6{#/blank#}he could only bring 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder. But he could only bring 10 trees. Day after day he was bringing fewer and{#blank#}7{#/blank#} (few) trees. “I must be losing my {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(strong), ” the woodcutter thought. He went to the boss and apologized, {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(say) that he could not understand what was going on. “When was the{#blank#}10{#/blank#}time you sharpened your axe? ” the boss asked. “Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees. ”

    Who's the {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (popular) cartoon character in China right now? It might be Peppa Pig. Peppa is 6 years old. She {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (wear) a red dress. Her favorite thing to do is to jump in muddy puddles (泥坑). She can spend all day {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (do) this. Her favorite toy is a bear named Teddy. Mummy Pig is a beautiful lady and she takes care of her family. Daddy Pig is an architect who is very cheerful and plays with Peppa and George a lot. Peppa often makes fun of his big belly (肚子).They are {#blank#}4{#/blank#} main characters on the British TV show Peppa Pig.

    The show has been on TV in 40 languages in more than 180 {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (country) and regions. It's about the everyday lives of the Peppa Pig family members. The show is {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (main) for preschoolers. But many older kids and even adults have become fans of the show {#blank#}7{#/blank#} well.

    “I think its popularity is partly because of it being ageless,” Richard Ridings, a voice actor {#blank#}8{#/blank#} plays Peppa's dad, told the Mirror.

    The show's stories are simple，but {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (it) humor is not too childish. Both kids and adults are always made {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (laugh) as soon as they see Peppa.

    The first foreign language I studied was French, and I learnt it at a secondary school between the ages of 11 and 18. It was a compulsory subject for the first three years and I {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (choose) to continue studying it afterwards because I enjoyed it, found it {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (interest) and was quite good at it. Outside class I practiced {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (listen) to the French language radio and reading French books.

    Before going to university, I spent three months working on {#blank#}4{#/blank#} farm in southern France. This helped me become pretty fluent{#blank#}5{#/blank#} French and acquire a rich farming-related vocabulary.

    My French has also been {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (help) on holiday on Morocco and Portugal. French {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (use) as a second language in Morocco and in other countries quite a few people speak French in places {#blank#}8{#/blank#} a lot of tourists visit.

    In September 2009 I joined a couple of French conversation {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (group) in Bangor and I have been going to them ever since. It has resulted in my {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (improve) in my spoken French.

    Now I can still speak French fluently and can also read it well, but my written French is not so good.

    In 1608, Thomas Coryate, an Englishman, visited Italy. He liked the country and noted down every interesting thing {#blank#}1{#/blank#} he had found. But there was one thing he found {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (interesting) than the others. In his diary, Thomas wrote, “When the Italians eat meat, they use small forks instead of their hands. As they say, people don't always have clean hands”

    Before {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (leave) for England, Thomas bought a few forks. At home he gave a dinner party to show the {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (invent) to his friends. When the servants brought the steak, he took out a fork and began to eat {#blank#}5{#/blank#} people did in Italy.

    Everybody looked at him in surprise. When he told his friends what it was, they all wanted {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (take) a good look at the strange thing. They said that the Italians were very strange people, for the fork was not very convenient.

    Thomas tried to prove the opposite. He said it was not nice to eat meat {#blank#}7{#/blank#} one's fingers because they were not always clean. He wanted to show how easy {#blank#}8{#/blank#} was to use the fork. But the first piece of meat he took with the fork {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (fall) to the floor. His friends began to laugh and he had to take the fork away.

    Only fifty years later {#blank#}10{#/blank#} people in England begin to use forks.