—Have you been watching the Euro 2012 football tournament?

—Just a bit. Why, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} you?

—Of course！I've really started to like football since I came to London. Just think, a year ago, I was still in Montreal and didn't know anything about it.

—Well, I'm from New Jersey. Americans aren't so into football. Actually, we call it soccer.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Americans say “football”, what we mean is American rules football. I've {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (be) here two years now, and I still get {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (confuse) when people call soccer “football”.

—I know all about America. For you, “football” means the sport {#blank#}5{#/blank#} those big guys wear helmets and violently run into each other.

—Yeah. Americans prefer {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (watch) sports that are fast, like basketball. I think basketball players are the greatest athletes on earth. {#blank#}7{#/blank#} they can do just amazes me. But when I watch a soccer match, I just get bored. There aren't enough goals.

—Well, I see what you're saying, {#blank#}8{#/blank#} there's so much {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (much)to “soccer”, {#blank#}10{#/blank#}  you call it, than goals. There're a lot of strategies involved. And in a tournament like the Euro 2012, it's fascinating to see how the different countries have different styles of playing.

    When I was a little girl, every time my dad was repairing something, he {#blank#}1{#/blank#}ask me to hold the hammer, and meanwhile, have a conversation with me. I never saw my dad drinking or taking a night out. All he did after work was taking care of his family.

    I grew up and left home for college and since then, my dad had been calling me every Sunday morning, no matter what. Several years later I bought a house, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} my dad painted by himself for three days in the 80-degree summer heat. All he asked was for me to talk to him. But I was always busy, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(able) to find any time for conversation with him.

    One Sunday morning we had a telephone talk as usual. I noticed that my dad had {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(forget) some things we discussed {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(late). I was in a hurry, so our conversation was short. Later that day came a call {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (say) my father was in hospital. Immediately I bought a ticket for a flight and on my way I was thinking about all the {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (miss) occasions to have{#blank#}8{#/blank#}talk with my dad.

    {#blank#}9{#/blank#}the time I got to hospital, my father had passed away. Now it was {#blank#}10{#/blank#}who did not have time for a conversation with me. I realized how little I know about my dad, his deepest thoughts and dreams. After his death I learned more about him, and even more about myself.

    The city of San Francisco is a wonderful vacation destination that offers many {#blank#}1{#/blank#}  (difference) things to see and do. Those experiencing a lively city with a wealth of shopping and dining opportunities {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (be) very happy. Those looking for a city that{#blank#}3{#/blank#} (offer) museums, art galleries, and very interesting historical sites will also be happy if they choose San Francisco. Many people don't realize it, but people {#blank#}4{#/blank#}  look for an interesting place to get out {#blank#}5{#/blank#}  enjoy nature will also appreciate San Francisco. When touring {#blank#}6{#/blank#}  city by walking, you aren't going to cover as much ground. There are far more {#blank#}7{#/blank#}  (benefit) to touring the city on foot though. This type of tour allows you {#blank#}8{#/blank#}  (see) more buildings that others driving by cars can't see. You may even get to enter different facilities that those touring the city from the streets do not. A tour of the city on foot also {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (usual) focuses on a more localized neighbourhood level, which can be very{#blank#}10{#/blank#}  (excite) in a number of different ways.

    I enjoy{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (climb) mountains whenever I can find the time to do so. Tom and Mike are my best friends. Both of {#blank#}2{#/blank#} also like sports. Two years ago, the three of us {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (go) up to Mt. Lushan. Instead of taking a bus, which would be {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (comfortable), we preferred to climb. We started {#blank#}5{#/blank#} the foot of the mountain early in the morning, chatting all the way. After about one and a half hours' climbing, we saw two mountain {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (path) before us. We could not decide {#blank#}7{#/blank#} to choose. In the end, we took the path on the right, thinking that might be a short cut. But we were wrong. {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (lose) in the mountain, we could not find our way out. We had to use our hands and feet to make a way. We began to cry for help {#blank#}9{#/blank#} nobody answered. It was not until darkness {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (fall) that we found a right path leading up to a paved road.

    There are many festivals in Guizhou Province. One of them is Dong New year, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} falls in the eleventh lunar month after the harvest. In some villages, the festival {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(take) place in the tenth month. Dong New Year is as {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(importance) as the Spring Festival. In the days {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(lead) up to the new year, the Dong people make new clothes, clean their houses, and make rice cakes. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} the eve of the New Year, the prepare “cold dish” with bean curd and homemade vinegar. It {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (give) as an offering to one's ancestors. Dong New Year is {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (usual) celebrated in many Dong villages in the area of Rongjiang in Guizhou Province. The exact date varies but falls during the period late October to early November. Public {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(celebration) include the Lusheng Festival and water buffalo fighting.

    Another one, Miao Sisters Festival, is celebrated from the 15^th to the 17^th day of the third lunar month calendar, when {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(marry) women make a return to the homes of their mothers. At home, they prepare and eat {#blank#}10{#/blank#} special kind of food, black rice cake. When they return to their own homes, they bring with them some of it and give it to their husbands as gifts.

    Looking out of the window of his Ford truck, Bob Fitzgerald sees large, undesirable plants growing in the fields.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (visitor) to his neighborhood in Princess Anne, Maryland {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(main) see dying forests and empty farmland.

    Fitzgerald says the land{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(be) in his family for over 3 centuries. "I'd say in the next 20 years. You're going to lose{#blank#}4{#/blank#}very high percentage of that land."

    The land around the Chesapeake Bay has been sinking for hundreds of years. But climate change is making things{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(bad). As sea level rises, salt water is entering rivers and other waterways. As a result, the ground is becoming too salty for crops{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(grow) on.

    Maryland's Eastern Shore is home to some of the oldest farms in North America.

    Fitzgerald says he has seen big changes during his life.

    "You just can't believe{#blank#}7{#/blank#}it's been taking things over in the last 15 or 20 years. I can show you land around here that people raised tomatoes on when I was a little boy. And now it's gone."

    Around the world, scientists warn that coastal farms are under{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(threaten) from rising seas and salt water. A World Bank report estimates rice production in coastal areas of Bangladesh may fall{#blank#}9{#/blank#}15 percent by the year 2050. Another study found hundreds of millions of people will{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(force) to move inland because of rising waters.