—She is the kind of person who {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(stand) out in a crowd.

    I won't call myself the most accomplished person when it comes to {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (hold) chopsticks. In fact, I'm pretty sure that my technique looks clumsy at times. I tend to hold {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (I) in the middle, more beginner than expert.

    Still, since I eat almost every meal with the eating utensil（器皿）of choice in China it's not uncommon for a new friend or acquaintance to come to a simple {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (conclude) after observing me that my Chinese husband, Jun, must {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (show) me how to use them.

    They are wrong. I've used chopsticks ever since I was a teenager, a time when my sister and mother were both fond of Chinese cuisine and introduced me {#blank#}5{#/blank#} many new dishes, along with the {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (prefer) utensils in China. We always kept bamboo chopsticks along with our {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (knife), forks and spoons, ready for whenever we happened to have Chinese food for dinner. It was my closest family {#blank#}8{#/blank#} observed my first mistakes I made in using chopsticks.

    Plus, I lived over two years in China before Jun and I started dating and I {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (expect) to use chopsticks in almost every restaurant, stand and bar. Trust me, when you're hungry you figure out pretty fast what it takes to down（咽下）{#blank#}10{#/blank#} meal with these utensils.

    Newton made important contributions to every area of the scientific and mathematical concept to his generation. Born in {#blank#}1{#/blank#} rural English village on Christmas Day, 1642, he was so small that no one thought he would survive. During his childhood he spent much of his time inventing and building toys, and did not do particularly {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (good) at school. So his mother, who was {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (will) to pay for his education, brought him home to look after the sheep. However, he was always so busy {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (build) small devices that the sheep would often escape. Eventually his uncle persuaded his mother {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (send) him to the University of Cambridge, {#blank#}6{#/blank#} he became so absorbed in his studies that he often forgot to eat or sleep.

    When Cambridge was closed for two years due to the plague(鼠疫), Newton went home to work on his studies. He {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (bury) himself in mathematics and began developing a mathematical theory that would later become calculus(微积分). It is a popular belief {#blank#}8{#/blank#} on one occasion he was sitting under an apple tree {#blank#}9{#/blank#} an apple fell on his head, which helped him to understand the laws of gravity. It is now thought that perhaps he invented this story in later field to explain how he drew his {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (inspire) from everyday events. 

    Directions: After trading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word: for the other blanks, use one word that best Jits each blank.

    Marian Bechtel sits at West Palm Beach's Bar Louie counter by herself, quietly reading her e-book as she waits for her salad. What is she reading? None of your business! Lunch is Bechtel's "me" time. And {#blank#}1{#/blank#} more Americans, she's not alone.

    A new report found 46 percent of meals are eaten alone in America. More than half (53%) have breakfast alone and nearly half (46%) have lunch by themselves. Only at dinnertime {#blank#}2{#/blank#} we eating together, 74%, according to statistics from the report.

    "I prefer to go out and be out. Alone, but together, you know?" Bechtel said, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (look) up from her book. Bechtel, who works in downtown West Palm Beach, has lunch with coworkers sometimes, but like many of us, too often {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (work) through lunch at her desk. A lunchtime escape allows her to keep a boss from tapping her on {#blank#}5{#/blank#} shoulder. She returns to work feeling energized. "Today, I just wanted some time to myself,^" she said.

    Just two seats over, Andrew Mazoleny, a local videographer, is finishing his lunch at the bar. He likes that he can sit and check his phone in peace or chat up the barkeeper with whom he's on a first-name basis {#blank#}6{#/blank#} he wants to have a little interaction. "I reflect on {#blank#}7{#/blank#} my day's gone and think about the rest of the week," he said. "It's a chance for self-reflection. You return to work {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (refresh) and with a plan."

    That freedom {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (choose) is one reason more people like to eat alone. There was a time when people may have felt awkward about asking for a table for one, but those days are over. Now, we have our smartphones to keep us company at the table. "It doesn't feel as alone as it may have before all the advances in technology," said Laurie Demeritt, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} company provided the statistics for the report.