I'm sitting outside grandpa's pigeon loft（鸽子房）and waiting for Goldie to come home. I'm really nervous about it because I{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (ask) to do an important job.

  Goldie is grandpa's champion（冠军）racing pigeon. She's famous because she {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (win)lots of cups. This morning she had a race-flew two hundred miles away with lots of other pigeons. And now she {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (race) back home.

 ¨Come on, Goldie. Come on. Goldie!" That's me, calling Goldie back home. But I can't see her yet.

   I really want Goldie to win this race.1 want to give grandpa the good news when I {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (see) him tonight in hospital. My eyes search the blue sky. Still no sign of Goldie.

 “Calm（镇静）down,  Danny!” I tell myself.

   But it's hard to be calm. This job is very important. I'll tell you why.

   Before the race, they {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (put)a ring on every pigeon's leg. When Goldie comes back, I've got to catch her {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (take)her ring off, as fast as I can, and put it in a little metal tube(管子）,then put that tube in grandpa's special clock. That records the time that Goldie finished the race. It should be grandpa's job. But while he {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (prepare) for the race, he fell ill suddenly and was sent to the hospital.

  So that's why I'm nervous, waiting for Goldie. I'm getting more nervous every minute, because Goldie {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (be)here by now. But the sky is blue and empty.

“{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (not worry)”I tell myself. “Goldie always comes back. ”But where is she? What I {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (tell)grandpa?

   1 wait until it's nearly dark.1 give up！ Then l lock the other pigeons in the loft.  I've got to see grandpa tonight at the hospital.

Dear Nancy,

    How are you? I will be in the UK for another two weeks. I like the life here. I always take a bus to go to school. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} I dislike waiting for the bus too long. There are a lot of after-school

{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(activity) at my school. It's good to relax by {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (exercise). I like playing basketball best. I feel like being a basketball player {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Yao Ming. Also, I go to the dance club every weekend. All of my friends in the club say I can dance {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(wonderful). I like cola, but I hardly ever drink it because I don't think it's good {#blank#}6{#/blank#} my health. I'm good with my host family. I often help them {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(do) housework on weekends. The only problem is that it always

    {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (rain) there, so I like taking {#blank#}9{#/blank#} umbrella with me. All in all, it's {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(enjoy) to stay here. What about your life?

Write to me soon.

                                                                                                                                                                     Yours,

                                                                                                                                                                     David

    Reading is a good hobby for all kinds of reasons.

    First, reading is fun. You can always keep {#blank#}1{#/blank#}（you） happy if you like reading. You will never {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (feeling) bored or tired.

    Next, you can read a book anywhere—in {#blank#}3{#/blank#} car, on a plane, or even in the bathroom. All you need {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (be) a book!

    Another good reason for reading is that it is {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (use). If you read {#blank#}6{#/blank#} a hobby, you will get better and better at it. And you will read faster and find it easier to understand {#blank#}7{#/blank#} you read. As your reading skills improve, you will {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (probable) find your schoolwork becomes much better.

    Some people say that reading is out of date. This is not true. You can read on computers, and the better you read, the {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (good) your computer skills will be.

    Good readers may become {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (writer), too. They always have more things to write about.

    Dreams make life more colorful. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (几乎) everyone wants to have a {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (更好) life. Me, too. I have {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (数个) dreams. I'm looking forward to {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (完成)my study and finding a good job. I am {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (确定)I will enjoy {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (我) at work. {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(在…期间) the holidays, I will go to the park to help collect {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (垃圾). I want to do it because I always {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (担心) about our living place. It's too dirty. I {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (希望) everybody will do something to make our earth beautiful.

Bill Bird is a shoemaker in London. He makes shoes for people with feet of unusual {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(size): very large, very small, very fat or very thin. The shoes are as beautiful as those found in shopping centres. His shop is so popular that he feels he can't make shoes fast enough {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(介词) his growing number of customers.

    Mr Bird says, "My problem is that I need more {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (worker) and I can't find them. people all went {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (work) with computers these day I'm afraid shoemaking will become {#blank#}5{#/blank#}（冠词）lost art because there are fewer and fewer shoemaker now. I am 45, and now I want to teach young people everything I know about {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (make) shoes. It's a good job, and a lot of people want to buy beautiful shoes specially made for them."

    Mr Bird {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (start) making shoes 19 years ago and now he employs (雇用) three people. "Our customers come {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (连词) they want to wear comfortable shoes which are the right size," he says. His customers pay about ￥500 for {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(they) first pair of shoes. Extra (额外) pairs of shoes are between ￥320 and ￥450. They are never cheap, as it {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (take) one employee about a week to make just one shoe.