Singles' Day falls on November 11th every year in China, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} is recognized as a day for people who have no girlfriend or boyfriend. Couples and lovers have Valentine's Day in {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (celebrate) of their love, but how about the singles? There must be a day they can celebrate even without a partner. That's {#blank#}3{#/blank#} people created Singles' Day.

    On Singles' Day many singles choose to say goodbye to their single lives, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (attend) blind date（相亲） parties, and some people even decide to get{#blank#}5{#/blank#} (marry) to strangers. {#blank#}6{#/blank#} this day has recently become more of a time for shopping, because many shops online will give customers great discount {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (promote) their goods.

    More and more people are {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (will) to shop online to get what they want, and I am one of them. I just can't help buying things {#blank#}9{#/blank#} I need them or not. {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (honest) speaking, some of the things that I bought have been put aside forever in my closet.

    Modern-day robots are programmed to handle tasks that are normally carried out by humans. They are faster and{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(accurate) than human workers and never ask for a pay rise or take breaks!

    Robots are also able to work{#blank#}2{#/blank#}dangerous situations.

    Researchers at the University of Arkansas in the United States say that the mobile robots which have been created already are ideal for the job of hospital attendants. These mobile robots store a{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(detail) map of the hospital in their memory. The robots' sensors can detect{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(object) and quickly get out of the way. Although these robots cannot go up and down know how{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(press) a button of an elevator.

    Researchers at a Massachusetts' university are creating the first robot {#blank#}6{#/blank#}can constantly change its shape according to the task it has to do. These are called polymorphic robots. "Polymorphic" means{#blank#}7{#/blank#}ability to take different forms. A 3D printer{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(place) inside the robot to create the desired shape. The entire process of changing forms in this manner is called the rapid printing technology which is{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(fair) common in the car industry to produce complex 3D structures quickly. Once the robot has performed{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(it) task, it can be melted down and recycled into another useful part by the 3D printer.

    Last Friday a storm swept through two villages in the New Territories, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (destroy) fourteen homes. Seven others were so badly damaged {#blank#}2{#/blank#} their owners had to leave them, and fifteen others had broken windows or roofs. One person was killed, several were {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (serious) hurt and taken to hospital, and a number of other people received smaller hurt. Altogether over two hundred people were home-less after the storm.

    A farmer, Mr. Tan, said that the storm began early {#blank#}4{#/blank#} the morning and lasted for over an hour.

    "I {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(eat) with my wife and children," he said, "when we heard a loud noise. A few minutes later our house fell down on top of us. We tried our best {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(climb) out but then I saw that one of my children was {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (miss). I went back inside and found him, safe {#blank#}8{#/blank#}very frightened."

    Mrs. Woo Mei Fong said that her husband had just left for work when she {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (feel) that her house was moving. She ran outside at once with her children.

    Soldiers helped to take people out of the flooded area and the welfare department brought {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (they) food, clothes and shelter.

    Why do many of us find {#blank#}1{#/blank#} difficult or impossible to fall asleep in a bed other than our own? Is it because the bed is {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (comfort)? According to a new study published in Current Biology, a significant reason is {#blank#}3{#/blank#} the scientists call "first night effect". They believe that one side of the brain acts as a "night watch" to warn us about potential dangers. It forces us {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (stay) awake on the first night in a new environment.

    For the study, 35 young volunteers {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (ask) to sleep in a sleep lab for several days. Meanwhile, researchers watched their brain activities.

    According to the researchers, on their first night, the left brains were {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (active) than the right brains and people had a hard time sleeping. However, left-brain activity decreased as days went by, {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (fall) even to the point of complete calm. In this process, the participants got an increasingly better sleep experience.

    The {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (finding) suggest that the different rhythms of the sides of the brain affect our sleep. When the two sides work {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (different), the balance between them is broken. Thus, the brain can't relax and is sensitive to anything strange in the surroundings, just {#blank#}10{#/blank#} it is in the daytime.

    When Sandra was a child, her family was very poor, but she wanted {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (bad) to believe that her poverty was just a temporary situation, so she looked toward stories {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (escape). Her favorite book {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (check) out of the library over and over again was called The little house. Throughout Sandra's life, she had to move between cities, never {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (allow) her much time to get settled in one place. Her {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (separate) from family drove her to burying herself in books. Though reading a lot, according to Sandra, she didn't really start writing {#blank#}6{#/blank#} she attended her first creative writing class in college. She then realized that she needed to write what she knew, and {#blank#}7{#/blank#} purpose she adopted a writing style opposite to that of her classmates. Admission to Loyola University {#blank#}8{#/blank#} she earned a BA in English was a turning point for her. Sandra's writing {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (shape) by her experiences since then. She doesn't just make up {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (character), but writes about real people that she has encountered.