I felt {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(luck) to have won a place to go on a cultural tour to sites of lost civilizations. We visited Pompeii in Italy and Loulan in China. Pompei {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(found) in the 8^th century BC, then taken{#blank#}3{#/blank#}by the Romans in 89 BC. Later, Pompei was destroyed by a volcano. It erupted and covered Pompei with ash.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} (fortunate), many people were buried alive. The city was forgotten for many years until the 18^th century when a stone with writing on it was discovered by a farmer. People started to dig in the area {#blank#}5{#/blank#}treasure and caused much damage. Thus, in 1860, the area was governed by the government so {#blank#}6{#/blank#}could be preserved and studied.

    Differently, Loulan disappeared under the sand. There were just a few {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(ruin) left. There was {#blank#}8{#/blank#}ancient water system {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (run) through the middle of the city. The desert was once a green with huge trees, but they were cut down,{#blank#}10{#/blank#}resulted in the city being buried by sand.

    They were both important commercial cities about 2,000 years ago. It was a pity that they disappeared for ever.

    Mark was walking home from school one day {#blank#}1{#/blank#} he noticed that the boy ahead of him had tripped and {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (drop) all of the books he was carrying. Mark knelt down and helped the boy pick up the scattered {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (article). Since they were going the same way, he helped to carry part of the burden. As they walked, Mark discovered the boy's name was Bill, and {#blank#}4{#/blank#} he loved video games, baseball, history and so on. They arrived at Bill's home first and Mark {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (invite) in for a Coke and to watch some television. The afternoon passed {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (pleasant) with a few laughs and some {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (share) small talks, and then Mark went home. {#blank#}8{#/blank#} continued to see each other around school, had lunch together once or twice, and then both graduated from junior high school. They ended up {#blank#}9{#/blank#} the same high school {#blank#}10{#/blank#} they kept regular contacts over the years.

    The Dragon Boat Festival has been marked by {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (eat) zongzi and racing dragon boats for thousands of years. It falls on {#blank#}2{#/blank#} fifth day of the fifth month according to the Chinese lunar calendar in honor of Qu yuan, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} is said to have committed suicide by drowning himself.

    Qu was minister of the state of Chu {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (lie) in the present-day Hunan and Hebei provinces during the Warring States period. He was upright, loyal and {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (high) respected. However, he was fired from office due to his suggestion to fight against Qin in cooperation with other states. During his stay in other states, he wrote a number of {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (poem) to express his strong love for his country. When Chu {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (defeat) by Qin. He realized what he could do about it was nothing. Qu jumped into Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth month.

    After the {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (die) of Qu Yuan, people of Chu went to Miluo River to mourn over the great poet they loved so much. People threw eggs and rice wrapped in leaves {#blank#}9{#/blank#} the river to feed the fish to keep them away from Qu Yuan. Now the Dragon Boat Festival has become {#blank#}10{#/blank#}（tradition） festival for the Chinese people.

    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 U.S.A.

    I felt depressed because I couldn't understand {#blank#}6{#/blank#} people were saying even though I studied hard. 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#} (lose) 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!

    One day, there was a blind man sitting at the roadside. There was a sign beside him, on{#blank#}1{#/blank#}was written, “I'm blind. Please help me." Many people walked by him,{#blank#}2{#/blank#}few of them helped him.

    A young man was going to his office. While{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(walk) by the blind man, he stopped and found that there were few coins in the man's hat. He bent down and write a new message on the sign without asking for{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(permit), and then he left, without saying a word.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(late) that afternoon, when the young man walked by the blind man again, he saw the hat{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(fill) with bills and coins. The blind man recognized his footsteps and asked if{#blank#}7{#/blank#}was he that had changed his sign. He also wanted to know {#blank#}8{#/blank#}the young man had done to the sign. Then the young man told the blind man that he {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(write) something like this on the sign. “It is spring now, but I can't see it." The blind man expressed his gratitude to the young man and went home{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(happy).

    Once there lived a rich man{#blank#}1{#/blank#}wanted to do something for the people of his town.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} first he wanted to find out whether they deserved his help.

    In the centre of the main road into the town, he placed{#blank#}3{#/blank#}very large stone. Then he {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(hide) behind a tree and waited. Soon an old man came along with his cow.

    “Who put this stone in the centre of the road?” said the old man, but he did not try to remove the stone. Instead, with some difficulty he passed around the stone and continued on his way{#blank#}5{#/blank#}man came along and did the same thing; then another came, and another. All of them complained about the stone but not tried to remove {#blank#}6{#/blank#}. Late in the afternoon a young man came along. He saw the stone,{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(say) to himself: “The night{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(be) very dark. Some neighbors will come along later in the dark and will fall against the stone.”

    Then he began to move the stone. He pushed and pulled with all his {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(strong) to move it. How great was his surprise at last!{#blank#}10{#/blank#} the stone, he found a bag of money.