Jim and Bill work in the same factory. They{#blank#}1{#/blank#} in the same building, too. Jim's room is on the seventh floor and Bill's is on the {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. They often go work in the morning and have lunch in the same {#blank#}3{#/blank#} at noon. After work they go home.

    Bill likes listening to music so he bought a radio and turns it on {#blank#}4{#/blank#}he is at home. It is so {#blank#}5{#/blank#} that Jim can hear it in his room. He likes{#blank#}6{#/blank#}. The loud music often makes him close the window. It's very hot in the room, he has to stop reading and goes {#blank#}7{#/blank#} for a walk.

    One evening Jim was very tired. He {#blank#}8{#/blank#} to bed after supper. But he couldn't fall asleep because of the music. He had to get up and went to Bill's room and said, “Could I borrow your {#blank#}9{#/blank#} , please？”

    “Certainly,” said Bill, “Are you interested in{#blank#}10{#/blank#}, too?”

    “No,” answered the young man, “I want to have a good sleep tonight.”

Tips for Writing Better Articles

    Many of us don't spend a lot of time improving our writing skills. This can be a problem when we hand in our articles. Good writing skills will help us improve our grades and be good for us later in life. The following tips can be {#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

    Make good word choices. When we are not sure which word is the right one for a sentence, look it up in a {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. Many of us choose words in a hurry and don't think over if they're {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Good word choices are necessary for good writing.

    Check facts. If we want people to {#blank#}4{#/blank#} what we write, we must make sure our facts are true. We should use dependable (可靠的) facts.

    Rewrite. A common problem is that we don't like to rewrite. In fact, rewriting is the best way to find out and correct some {#blank#}5{#/blank#}, like bad grammar and spelling. Rewriting makes our writing better than before, thou it takes more {#blank#}6{#/blank#}and more work.

    Read aloud. It is a good {#blank#}7{#/blank#} to learn English well. Sometimes it's easier to find problems with spelling, word usage, and grammar when we read aloud. Reading aloud helps us not only find out our problems {#blank#}8{#/blank#}develop our writing.

    Prepare a Hist. It is very important for writing a good article. Such a list includes: Is there a proper title? Have we {#blank#}9{#/blank#} every point? Are all the parts of the article included? This can help us make sure that we have covered everything.

    It is not easy to become a better{#blank#}10{#/blank#}. But with a few simple steps, we can improve our writing skills and learn how to write better articles.

    My friend, Hugh, has always been fat, but things got so bad recently that he decided to go on a{#blank#}1{#/blank#}. He started his diet a week ago. First of all, he wrote out a long list of all the foods which were forbidden. The list included most of the things Hugh loves; butter, potatoes, rice, beer, milk, chocolate and sweets. Yesterday I paid him{#blank#}2{#/blank#}. I rang the bell and was not surprised to see that Hugh didn't lose weight at all. He led me into his room and hurriedly{#blank#}3{#/blank#}a large parcel under his desk. He was very embarrassed for sure. When I asked him what he was doing, he smiled guilty y and then took out the parcel which contained five large bars of chocolate and three bags of sweets. He explained that his diet was so{#blank#}4{#/blank#}that he had to reward himself occasionally.