We often hear people say “You've a greater chance {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (hit) by lightning.” It is used to describe something {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(likely) to happen. However, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} truth is that lightning strikes are the second most common cause of deaths among natural disasters in the US. The first is floods. Around 400 Americans are struck by lightning each year, of {#blank#}4{#/blank#} about 70 people die. In fact, there are more deaths {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (cause) by lightning than by tornadoes and hurricanes. And in India, at least 2,000 people {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (kill) in lightning strikes since2005.

    Because lightning kills only one or two people at a time, its danger does not receive as much attention {#blank#}7{#/blank#} other disasters. The US has made June 22-28 National Lightning Safety Week, aiming to deepen the public's {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (understand) of the dangers of lightning and provide safety tips during thunderstorms.

    “If you hear thunder, you are in danger of lightning,” said Rocky Lopes, a disaster educator at the American Red Cross. “The most important thing is to seek a {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (hide) place. If you are near wide, open places, move indoors as {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (quick) as possible and stay there until after the storm has ended.”

    I'd like to talk about the school system in Australia today. The school system in Australia does depend on {#blank#}1{#/blank#} you go to a private school or a public school. In the state I'm from, there are a lot of private schools, and generally they are single-sex high schools. The public high schools are generally {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (mix). All of the private high schools insist that you should wear their school uniforms, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} that might mean{#blank#}4{#/blank#} (wear) a school tie and a school jacket. However, the public high schools often give you a {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (choose) of whether you want to wear a uniform or not. The school classes generally start anywhere{#blank#}6{#/blank#} 8:30 and 9 o'clock in the morning and run {#blank#}7{#/blank#} 3:30 in the afternoon, and they're followed by after-school {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (active) like sports and music theater. The school year generally starts in the{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (begin) on February, after our summer vacation, which lasts about six weeks around the Christmas period.

    The only thing I don't like about our school system is the idea of the difference in quality of education between the private and the public schools. It remains{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (see) whether you can get a better education, even if you are in a private high school. Most of our public high schools are quite good.

    Aesop (伊索) was a slave living around 550 BC. We call the stories he wrote fables, as every story has a moral. Almost all the fables he wrote are {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (humor) and entertaining, appealing to people {#blank#}2{#/blank#} all ages. Till now, Aesop's fables {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (translate) into many languages and are known all over the world. Not only {#blank#}4{#/blank#} the fables themselves lived for nearly 1500 years, but the {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (express) from them have entered various languages.

    One fable, for instance, is about a farmer who was driving his cart along a country road. The cart got {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (stick) in the mud, but the farmer made {#blank#}7{#/blank#} effort to get it out. Instead, he began to pray to the gods for help. The god Hercules finally appeared and told {#blank#}8{#/blank#} man to get busy and push {#blank#}9{#/blank#}. “Push your shoulder to the wheel.” Hercules advised.

    The moral of the story is clear. We mustn't rely on others for help. Another saying which has come from the fable is “God helps those {#blank#}10{#/blank#} help themselves.”

    At the back of King's College there is a memorial stone in white marble to honor the Chinese poet Xu Zhimo. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (move) to the UK in 1921, Zhimo spent a year studying at King's where he {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (fall) in love not only with the romantic poetry of English poets like John Keats, but also with Cambridge {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (it).

    His poem, Second Farewell to Cambridge, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} is considered to be his most famous one, is now a compulsory text on Chinese literature, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (learn) by millions of school children across our country every year. The poem {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (clear) paints a portrait of King's and the River Cam, and serves {#blank#}7{#/blank#} a reminder of Xu Zhimo's fondness for his time in Cambridge.

    While the poem had been set to music many times before, the English composer John Rutter, one of the mainstream classical {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (musician), was invited by King's College to make the first musical setting of the text. The new piece, written and recorded in {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (celebrate) of the near 100-year link between King's College {#blank#}10{#/blank#} Xu Zhimo, has been released on a new album on the King's College Record Label.

    Do you ever throw away food at home? Have you ever thought about {#blank#}1{#/blank#} happens to the food that shops and supermarkets don't sell? Well, you might be shocked {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (find) out that nearly one third of the food {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (produce) by food industry gets wasted. What's more, around 800 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead {#blank#}4{#/blank#} healthy life.

    Many people in the UK are trying to do something about this imbalance and make use {#blank#}5{#/blank#} thrown-out food that is edible (可食用的). For example, there is a cafe in Leeds whose meals are created using unsold food from supermarkets, {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (include) a lot of vegetables, fruit, fish and other items. This unwanted food is turned into delicious soups that feed the hungry people of Leeds. Customers {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (simple) pay what they can afford, or help with the washing up.

    More cafes like this are being opened in other parts of the UK such as Bristol and Manchester, and it is now becoming a worldwide tendency. This is a(n) {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (amaze) project as food waste is one of the world's biggest {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (problem). Also, new law should {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (pass), so that supermarkets don't throw away so much perfectly good food!

    Imagine a road crossing without the three-day traffic signal, cars, trucks, school buses, bicyclists and students walking to school would try to rush through the crossing{#blank#}1{#/blank#} the same time. Their safety would be in danger.

    Thanks to an African American{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (invent) named Garrett Augustus Morgan, we have three-way traffic signals that help make crossings much{#blank#}3{#/blank#} (safe). Mr. Morgan was born in Kentucky in 1877. He only received six years' education. As a teen he left his family's farm in search of better{#blank#}4{#/blank#} (opportunity). Living in Cincinnati, Ohio, he continued his studies in English grammar. Then he moved on to Cleveland{#blank#}5{#/blank#}he worked as a repairman for a clothing factory. He had a keen interest in solving problems {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (meet) in everyday life. Later he patented several inventions. The three-way traffic signal was just one of {#blank#}7{#/blank#}. One day he felt very sad when he saw a traffic accident. To help reduce traffic accidents and save people's lives, he {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (immediate) began to work on the invention. Finally, it was {#blank#}9{#/blank#} great success which saved lives then, and {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (be) still saving lives today.