Marry of us wake up feeling{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(tire) in the morning. Many of us ignore the problem as the day goes on,{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (forget) that it might have a{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(danger) effect. Society even glorifies “burning the candle at both ends” as{#blank#}4{#/blank#}sign of our devotion to work and family.

    Believe it{#blank#}5{#/blank#}not, all this bad sleep has far-reaching consequences. We just do not give ourselves enough chances to sleep. A survey of over 74,000 people found 35 percent reported sleeping less than seven hours daily{#blank#}6{#/blank#}average. Furthermore, the amount of sleep{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(change) greatly over the past 15 years.

    This lack of sleep can lead of many serious{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(problem). One study found that{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(simple) limiting yourself to six hours of sleep a night for two weeks had similar effects to staying up all night the night before,{#blank#}10{#/blank#}could make you perform poorly on a timed attention task.

    I gain a lot of rewarding experiences from some social activities. Our local Community Youth Club is a very popular organization with young people in my town. I have been a member for four years now and I've taken part in a lot of interesting projects,{#blank#}1{#/blank#}include fun activities such as holiday camps and discos. We have organized sports competitions and we have even made a video.

    But it isn't all just enjoyment, we have also started doing social work to help people in our neighborhood. We{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(organize) activities for small children during the holidays. We have also formed a special support group to help young people stop{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(smoke).

    We are particularly proud of the most recent group we have created. It organizes regular visits{#blank#}4{#/blank#}the local old people's home. My class spent an afternoon at a home and everyone found the visit very rewarding. The old people there were{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(talk) and they told us their personal stories{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(cheer) .

    During our visit, the home was filled with {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(laugh). But we realized that life wasn't always easy .Some of them were in poor health and were very

{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (happy).

    Many young people like me do not live with our grandparents and we have little contact with elderly people. As a result, many young people don't know{#blank#}9{#/blank#}

    they are like. After this visit, my friends and I decided that we should do{#blank#}10{#/blank#}to help improve the quality of their lives.

    It was a dreadfully cold and cloudy afternoon. I was on the bus with my children, aged four and two, {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(head) home when it started to rain. I realized this would mean a wet walk home {#blank#}2{#/blank#} the bus stop.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} my house was only two blocks away, it was not a pleasant walk with one small boy asleep in the pram (手推婴儿车), the other one in a raincoat and no umbrella for myself. A pick-up truck passed us on the road. I tried to thumb a ride but failed. My little boy woke up with a start and began to cry. I {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(convince) that things might become worse and nobody would bother to help on such a terrible day. A few minutes later, {#blank#}5{#/blank#}truck drove by, but to my surprise, I saw it pulling back and the driver looking directly at us. A young man put the window down. “Hey, here's an umbrella for you, please take {#blank#}6{#/blank#}.” He called out. I stood there{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(astonish), barely believing that the man {#blank#}8{#/blank#}existence was unknown to me only moments ago, could be so{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(consider). “Come on, give this to your mummy,” he said to my older son. I accepted the offer and expressed my gratitude to him.

    This man might have needed the umbrella for himself later during the day but preferred to give it to me. It was a lesson to me {#blank#}10{#/blank#} it's possible to give without expecting anything in return.

    One day Mary was busy working in her office in London {#blank#}1{#/blank#} she received an E-mail from her friend Joan .In Joan's e-mail, she persuaded Mary {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (look) for a flat in London for her. As she had {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (little) money at her command than before, the flat had to be cheap, but it had to be modern, with elevators, gas lines. It had to be in the {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (east) part of London, with petrol and subway stations nearby. Though Mary found {#blank#}5{#/blank#} difficult to find such a flat, she still went from one block to another, looking for a flat {#blank#}6{#/blank#} would meet Joan's requirements. Having tried too many times, Mary met her boss and politely asked him {#blank#}7{#/blank#} advice. It was the first time that she {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (talk) with his boss about her personal problems. It happened that the boss just had such a flat for rent, so they quickly reached {#blank#}9{#/blank#} agreement. But to her surprise, when she e-mailed Joan, telling her the good news, Joan said that she had changed {#blank#}10{#/blank#} mind—she was not returning to London.

    So why has English changed {#blank#}1{#/blank#} time? Actually all languages change and develop {#blank#}2{#/blank#} cultures meet and communicate with each other. At first the English spoken in England between about AD 450 and 1150 was very different from the English spoken today. It was based more on German {#blank#}3{#/blank#} the English we speak at present. Then gradually between about 800 and 1150, English became {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (little) like German because those {#blank#}5{#/blank#} ruled English spoke first Danish and later French. These new comers {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (rich) the English language and especially {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (it) vocabulary. So by the 1600s Shakespeare was able to make use of a wider vocabulary than ever before. In 1620 some British {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (settle) moved to America. Later in the 18^th century some British people {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (take) to Australia too. English began to be spoken in both countries. Today, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} number of people learning English in the world is increasing rapidly.