There are all kinds of festivals throughout the world. Festivals are held {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (satisfy) and please the ancestors, to honour some famous people or important events, and to express people's {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(grateful) to the God {#blank#}3{#/blank#} brings them a year of plenty. For example, Japanese observe Obon, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} people go to clean the graves and light incense in memory of their ancestors. In India, October 2 is {#blank#}5{#/blank#} national festival to honour Mohandas Gandhi who helped India become an {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(depend) country.

    And in China the Spring Festival, which {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(celebrate) in January or February, is the most {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(energy) and important because it is a festival that looks forward to the coming of spring. Why are all these festivals everywhere? Because {#blank#}9{#/blank#} the festivals, people can get together to eat, drink, have fun with each other {#blank#}10{#/blank#} forget all the daily struggle and demands for a while.

    One day, Nick invited his friends to supper. He was cooking some delicious food in the kitchen. Suddenly, he {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(find) that he had run out of salt. So Nick called to his son, “Go to the village and buy some salt, but pay a fair price for it: neither too much {#blank#}2{#/blank#}too little.

    His son looked surprised. “I can understand why I shouldn't pay too much, Father, but if I can pay less,{#blank#}3{#/blank#}not save a bit of money?

    “That would be a very{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(reason) thing to do in a big city, but it could destroy a small village like {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(us), Nick said.

    Nick's guests,{#blank#}6{#/blank#}had heard their conversation, asked why they should not buy salt more cheaply if they could. Nick replied, “The only reason a man would sell salt{#blank#}7{#/blank#}a lower price would be because he was desperate for money. And anyone who took advantage of that situation would be showing a lack of respect for the sweat and struggle of the man who worked very hard to produce it.”

    “But such a small thing couldn't {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(possible) destroy a village.

    “In the beginning, there was only {#blank#}9{#/blank#}very small amount of unfairness in the world, but everyone added a little, always {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (think) that it was only small and not very important, and look where we have ended up today.”

    She looks like any other schoolgirl, fresh-faced and full of life. Sarah Thomas is looking forward to challenge of her new A-level course. But unlike her school friends, 16-year-old Sarah is not spending half-term {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (rest). Instead, she is earning $6,500 a day as {#blank#}2{#/blank#} model in New York.

    Sarah {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(tell) that she could be Britain's new supermodel, earning a million dollars in the new year. Her father Peter, 44, wants her to give up school to model full-time. But Sarah, {#blank#}4{#/blank#}has taken part in shows along with top models, wants {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(prove) that. She has brains as well as beauty. She is determined to carry on with her {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(educate).

    She has turned down several {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(invitation) to star at shows in order to concentrate on her studies. After school she plans to take a year off to model full-time before going to university to get a degree {#blank#}8{#/blank#} engineering or architecture.

    Sarah says, “My dad thinks I should take the offer now. But at the moment, school {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(come) first. I don't want to get too absorbed in modeling. It is {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(certain) fun but the lifestyle is a little unreal. I don't want to have nothing else to fall back on when I can't model my more.”