My American friend kindly invited me to her home to celebrate this year's Thanksgiving Day. I {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (experience) my first ever Thanksgiving.

    On that day, we watched the Thanksgiving parade (游行) in New York City on TV. My friend's family sat{#blank#}2{#/blank#}front of the television. They came from all over the States and enjoyed being together{#blank#}3{#/blank#} (look) at their happy faces, I thought it was really a holiday for families, just like the Mid-Autumn Festival in China.

    That evening, we had a big Thanksgiving dinner. This {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(tradition) meal includes roast turkey, mashed potatoes and assorted vegetables. When the dishes and plates arrived at the table, we started to take{#blank#}5{#/blank#} (turn) to say the things we were {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(thank) for. This, in fact, is a Thanksgiving tradition many families practice in the US.

    Then, the food {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(pass) around the table and we all ate far too much. I also had desserts with my dinner. There{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(be) different kinds of pies, such as apple pies, pumpkin pies and coconut pies.

    If one mentions Thanksgiving, one must talk about Black Friday, the Friday {#blank#}9{#/blank#}follows Thanksgiving Day. Shops across the United States will give their {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(big) sales of the whole year on Black Friday. Many people go crazy about it. I saw many long queues outside the shops on that day.

    Before the 17^th century, most of the native English speakers lived in England. After the 17^th century, British people began to move to other {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (country). Gradually, English was spoken there. At present {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (many) people speak English as their first, second or a foreign language than ever before. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (luck), native English speakers can understand each other even if they don't speak the same kind of English.

    English {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (change) and developed when cultures met and communicated with each other over the past centuries. The English {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(speak) in England between about AD450 and 1150 was very different {#blank#}6{#/blank#} the modern English we speak today. It was the new settlers that enriched the English language and {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (especial) its vocabulary. The English language was settled by the 19^th century {#blank#}8{#/blank#} two big changes in English spelling happened. English now is also spoken as a foreign {#blank#}9{#/blank#}second language in South Asia. China may have the {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (large) number of English learners.

    Traditional Chinese medicine has been practised for around 3, 000 years, but it {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (be) relatively recent in the West, and acupuncture(针灸)only really became well known in the West in the 1970s as people began to travel {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (much)frequently between the two areas of the world.

    A significant event in the history of acupuncture {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (come)in 1971, when a journalist from the New York Times had his appendix(阑尾) {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (remove)in China, when on a trip to the country with Henry Kissinger, the Secretary of State for the USA. Surgeons used acupuncture to deaden the pain of the operation, {#blank#}5{#/blank#}greatly impressed Kissinger.

    Although at first doctors in the West were often sceptical of the {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (medicine)value of acupuncture, in the last few years it has become more established {#blank#}7{#/blank#} an alternative to Western medical treatments, since clinical tests have shown that acupuncture is effective for  {#blank#}8{#/blank#} number of conditions.

    In the West, the treatment is often used {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (relieve)headaches, dental pain, back pain and arthritis, and to treat depression, asthma, stress, high blood pressure and anxiety. Cherie Blair, a well-known human rights lawyer and the wife of the British Prime Minister, was recently spotted {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (wear)an acupuncture needle in her ear, suggesting that she uses the treatment to deal with stress.

    Our cat was ready to give birth to her kittens. My son was curious and excited to see the birth of these new babies. The event took place yesterday. The cat {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(give) birth to one kitten by the time he arrived home from school. He was so amazed at {#blank#}2{#/blank#} he saw. When the second was on its way, the mother cat began to yell very loudly. I saw tears in my son's eyes because he learned about the pain of giving birth.

    It is back to school time in much of the world. Calm, easy mornings {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (replace) with busy, hurried ones. Children wake up early and get ready for school. Many parents are also getting ready for work, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (help) their children and preparing food for lunches. But, don't forget about breakfast!

    When things get {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (wild) busy in the morning, some people skip breakfast to save time. But that may be a big mistake for students. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} at home, on the way to school or at school, eating something healthy for breakfast may help a student get better grades. That is the finding of a 2015 study {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Cardiff University in Wales. Researchers there found the students who ate a healthy breakfast were twice as likely {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (perform) above average in educational activities. The researchers also found unhealthy breakfasts-such as potato chips or a donut did not appear helpful to educational performance.

    In 2013, {#blank#}7{#/blank#} organization in the United States, also looked at possible {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (connect) between breakfast and student success in school. The Share Our Strength's campaign, No Kid Hungry, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (find) on average students who ate breakfast attended 1.5 more days of school per year. These students also scored 17.5 percent {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (high) on standardized math tests.