I seldom thought I had a passion. I would sit before the TV all day, thinking about nothing but the next show. It was not long ago that I first learned how important {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (have) a passion is to life.

    One day I went with Mum {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (drop) my sister off at the gym. Then, as Mum stopped at a red light, someone on the roadside caught my eyes. It was a man {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (dress) in rags, homeless. That didn't interest me, for I {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (see) many like him before.

    But the man wasn't sitting down with a sad {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (express). He had a radio in his hand and was dancing {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (merry) to the music. The radio seemed to be the most precious thing {#blank#}7{#/blank#} he had.

    “Mum, why does that man have a radio even though he is homeless?” I asked.

    “He bought {#blank#}8{#/blank#} ,”she replied.

    “But if he is homeless, why doesn't he use the money to buy food or clothes? He wasted it on something he doesn't need.”

    “Well, Sarah, sometimes food and clothes aren't the only important things. We need happiness, too.”

    “I see.” The man {#blank#}9{#/blank#} care too much about music, so he bought a radio instead of food and clothes. I realized that happiness is the key to life. Without it, there {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (be) nothing to look forward to. A passion a person the happiness he needs to keep going!

—No, it's so {#blank#}1{#/blank#} that I cannot even get close to it.

    Hi! Welcome to my webpage. My name's Tom Wood and I'm an English teacher. I {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (design) this webpage last week so that my students can learn more about me. I think it is important{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (know) my students well. And it is only fair{#blank#}3{#/blank#} my students know me well, too.

    I was born in London, England, but I've lived and worked in China for the past 15 years and I really like living here.

    I can speak Putonghua and even a little bit of Cantonese{#blank#}4{#/blank#} is my wife's dialect (方言). I practice{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(speak) Chinese every day and I am improving{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(fortunate), there are one or two million people in my town who are ready to help me with my Chinese! I particularly enjoy talking to my neighbors.

    My favourite sport is football. I play football once a week with some of the other teachers at the school. We're going to organize a(n){#blank#}7{#/blank#} (compete) with teams of teachers from other schools this summer.

    My other great love is my motorbike. I love getting on my motorbike and riding out to the countryside. But my wife thinks it's too{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (noise )and dangerous. If anyone wants to send me an email, just{#blank#}9{#/blank#}do) as you like. I'd love to hear{#blank#}10{#/blank#} you.

    There's no place in the world like Venice, Italy. Situated in the Adratic Sea ,the city of Water is made up of 118 tiny islands. However, it{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (be) in danger of sinking now. Because{#blank#}2{#/blank#}city was built on soft soil, it has been sinking under the pressure of its own weight. Scientists say that Venice sinks{#blank#}3{#/blank#} a rate of nearly two inches every 100 years. Mean while, rising sea levels could make Venice go under even faster. Earth's temperature is slowly increasing,{#blank#}4{#/blank#} is causing sea ice to melt and makes the world's waters rise.

    Experts{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(rush) to save Venice now because of its rich culture. ¨Many famous artists and opera singers have come from Venice. Some of the world's greatest{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(paint) can be found on the city's museum walls," explains Melissa Conn.

    {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(keep) the city afloat, experts want to pump about 40 billion gallons of sea water beneath Venice. While scientists work to get their plan  {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(approve), people in Venice live their normal life. When the tide rolls in the locals have ways of keeping everyone dry. Café owners move tables to{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(high) ground, and hotels pass out high boots to guests.{#blank#}10{#/blank#} ( fortune) ,dealing with the rising water does not make the natives discouraged.

In 1990, over 100 countries signed {#blank#}1{#/blank#} international agreement to make it illegal to buy or sell ivory, which is mainly used for jewelry. Most ivory is made from the tusks(象牙) of African elephants. These tusks are {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(terrible) valuable—one pair is worth more than three times the income of an African farmer or a factory worker in a year.

    Hunting elephants was so profitable {#blank#}3{#/blank#}from 1979 to 1989 the number of elephants in Africa fell from 1.3 million to 600,000. It was feared that by the year 2020 there would be none {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(leave). However, thanks{#blank#}5{#/blank#} the international agreement, there {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(be) much less illegal hunting since 1990.

    But considering {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(vary) of aspects, it costs a lot of money to preserve elephants. Games wardens (看守人) must be hired to protect them. Land must be set aside for them, and when they destroy a farmer's crops, the farmer must {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(pay) compensation.(赔偿金)

    Zimbabwe and four other African countries say that some of the elephants should be killed legally. This would help keep the population stable, and selling the ivory would help pay for preserving the elephants. But conservationists say that {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(make) ivory legal to sell would lead to even more illegal hunting. Others say {#blank#}10{#/blank#}is wrong is to kill elephants because they are sensitive animals that feel emotional pain at the death of other elephants.

    On arriving in the United States, I felt everything was different. There were many new things I had to adapt to. One thing that really {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(take) me a long time to adapt to was speaking the language.

    I remember {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(clear) that I had to struggle to learn English because I couldn't even write a short paragraph to introduce myself at the first day of my English class. The teacher asked me {#blank#}3{#/blank#}it was difficult for me. If it was, I could change to level one!

    However, I was stubborn and swore that I was going to succeed. I started to spend many {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(hour)per day, even though it was stressful, because I wanted to take advantage {#blank#}5{#/blank#}this special chance to study English in the USA.

    I felt depressed because I couldn't understand {#blank#}6{#/blank#}people were saying even though I made great efforts. However, I still kept {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(try) and never gave up.

Now, I can tell you that I have improved a lot, but sometimes it is still easy for me to get{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(confuse) if I don't know what topic people {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(talk) about. To adapt to this new language, I had to tell {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(I) that I could do it. I really believe I can!