I've dreamed of becoming a writer since I was a teenager. But {#blank#}1{#/blank#} isn't easy to get a book of mine published. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} I've tried hard, none of my books have been published. This is really {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (upset).

    This morning, I received a call from a publisher and {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (tell) once again that there was no way my book would be published. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (feel) sad, I left home and went to the park near my apartment. At the park, I sat down on the bench near the grass.

    While I was sitting there, I saw a little boy about one and a half years old. He was running on the grass, {#blank#}6{#/blank#} his mother not far behind him. He looked so happy when he enjoyed the {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (free) of running on the grass. He then fell on the grass, but he quickly got up and continued {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (run) as fast as he could again even without looking back at his mother. He was still running with a smile on his face, as if nothing {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (happen).

    Seeing that, I was truly inspired. I {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (sudden) realized that I shouldn't get discouraged after experiencing failure. Instead, I should cheer up and keep on trying.

    Once there was a cowboy, Niulang,{#blank#}1{#/blank#}lived with his elder brother and sister-in-law. But she disliked and abused him, and the boy was forced {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (leave) home with only an old cow for company.

    The cow, however, was a former god who had broken royal rules and {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (send) to earth in bovine（牛的）form.

    One day the cow led Niulang{#blank#}4{#/blank#}a lake where fairies took a bath on earth. Among them was Zhinu{#blank#}5{#/blank#}most beautiful fairy and a skilled woman tailor.

    The two fell in love at first sight and were soon married. They had a son and a daughter and their happy life was held up as an example for hundreds of {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (year) in China. Yet in the eyes of the Jade Emperor, the Supreme Deity in Taoism, marriage between a mortal and fairy was{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(strict) forbidden. He ordered the heaven troop to catch Zhinu back.

    Niulang grew desperate when he discovered Zhinu had been taken back to heaven{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (drive) by Niulang's misery, the cow told him to turn its hide into a pair of shoes after it died. The magic shoes whisked（匆匆带走）Niulang,{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (carry) his two children in baskets strung from a shoulder pole, off on a chase after the empress. Even the Jade Emperor was touched, and allowed Niulang and Zhinu to meet once a year on the{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (seven) night of the seventh month.

    Every year, butterfly(蝴蝶) lovers in California go out in November to count monarch butterflies. They {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(get) a worrying result from their fall monarch count in 2018—{#blank#}2{#/blank#} number of monarchs had dropped by 86% since 2017.

The orange and black monarch butterflies are famous {#blank#}3{#/blank#} their long migrations(迁徙)—they fly thousands of miles every year. In the spring and summer they fly north; in the fall they fly south again.

    Monarchs, like most butterflies, are {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(terrible) important for plants. They help create more plants by spreading pollen(花粉) between plants. In turn, monarchs depend on plants for food. And they depend completely on a plant called milkweed {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(lay) their eggs.

    But monarchs have been facing growing problems for years. As more and more wild land has been turned into large farms, the monarchs have had trouble {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(find) enough milkweed. Many farms also use chemicals {#blank#}7{#/blank#} will kill insects in order to protect their plants. These chemicals also affect monarchs. Besides, pollution has made milkweed less {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(health) for the monarchs than it used to be.

    Scientists say monarchs will be in danger of dying out in the next 20 years if nothing {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(do) to save them.

   {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(thing) that people can do to help include planting milkweed, controlling the use of chemicals, protecting wild areas, and planting trees.

    Tracy Wong is a well-known Chinese-American writer. But her writing skill was something she picked {#blank#}1{#/blank#} by herself. She became a part-time writer for IBM after {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(graduate) from college. Then, writing stories was {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(simple)a personal interest. Tracy sent three of her stories to a publisher. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(interest), they immediately suggested that she put them together {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(make)a single one long story and paid Tracy $ 50, 000 in advance, which was a pretty money for an unknown writer.

    Even though Tracy's {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(character) are interesting, her stories sometimes leave readers uneasy: those about the supernatural. “My mother believed I could connect with the afterlife world,” she told a close friend. “She used to have me speak with my grandmother, {#blank#}7{#/blank#} died many years ago.”

    "Can I? I don't think I can," Tracy said with a laugh. "But I do have moments when things come to me for no reason." Once, she {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(wonder) how to complete a scene set in ancient China when the doorbell suddenly rang. It was a FedEx delivery man, with a copy of a book on Chinese history. {#blank#}9{#/blank#} came without her having ordered it!

    Though she has published 10 books, Tracy has remained unchanged by her fame. She lives in the same way she lived 27 years ago — although in a {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(big) house. There's more room for joy in her life — and it wasn't just writing.

Every region in the world is easy to identify by the kind of clothing traditionally worn there. Clothing {#blank#}1{#/blank#} is traditionally worn in Germany is unique too. The clothes that men and women wear traditionally tell us a lot about the country {#blank#}2{#/blank#}its culture.

To actually understand the German clothing of the years that have gone by, it is important {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (understand) the concept of clothing. It allows people to know certain things about another person. These details include the marital status, the place of origin, and the trade. According to these details, the clothing patterns changed {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (slight). And as time goes by, these clothing patterns have become more complete, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (result) in common designs.

There are German pants called lederhosens. The pants are made of leather. The pants are also worn by young boys. Lederhosens worn in the Bavarian region have {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (feature) such as suspenders (吊裤带)and front flaps? and these are quickly adopted by other countries. These pants {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(wear) with shirts and sweaters made of linen (亚麻布)or wool. Other clothes teamed with the pants are wool stockings and country shoes.

Today there {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (be) several clubs and societies that are devoted to the preservation of traditional German clothes. These societies are working towards reviving the clothing traditions so that more people choose to wear them {#blank#}9{#/blank#}occasions like weddings, festivals, etc. They think it is a patriotic (爱国的)sign to show {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (they) pride in motherlands.