A

    Nick, 13, is tall and strong. He is good at running. Two weeks ago a new student came. His name is David. He is thin and short. He plays soccer well, and he can run very fast. Larry told Nick about it. Of course, Nick did not believe it.

    “Why not have a race with him?” said Larry.

    “Good idea!” said Nick. “I'll have a race with him after school.”

    After school, Nick went to the playground. He did some warm-up exercises for half an hour, and got ready for the race. He was sure that he could win it. Larry had to take part in a club activity that afternoon, so he could not watch the race between Nick and David.

    That evening Larry went to see Nick. They began to talk about the afternoon race. Nick's grandmother heard them in the next room. She came in and asked, “Which place?”

    “The second place,” answered Nick.

    His grandmother was very happy to hear that, and asked, “Which place did David win, then?”

    “The last but one.”

C

    Something very special happened to Tamara. She never knew she had a twin (双胞胎) sister until she started university!

    Tamara was born(出生) in Mexico. Her parents could not look after her so she went to live with a family in Manhattan, New York, USA.

    When Tamara was twenty years old, she started university in Long Island. She enjoyed her university life. But one day she was walking home from class, and a student smiled at her. "Hello, Adriana!" said the student. "I'm not Adriana," said Tamara.

    This happened to Tamara again and again. Tamara didn't know why people kept calling her Adriana. One day, when a woman called her Adriana, Tamara asked, "Why do you keep calling me Adriana?"

    The woman said, "You look like my friend Adriana. You have the same face and the same hair. Is Adriana your sister?" Tamara said that she did not have any sisters. But she was interested in the girl named Adriana. At last she asked someone for Adriana's e-mail address (地址).

    When Tamara wrote to Adriana, she found out that they both had the same birthday, they looked the same and both of them were from Mexico. When Tamara went to live with the family in Manhattan, Adriana moved to Long Island to live with a family there. It had to be true! Adriana and Tamara were twin sisters!

    Thanks to the hybrid rice that was discovered by Yuan Longping, the hunger problem of thousands of Chinese people was mostly fixed in the 1980s.

    On Sept 8^th, Yuan, together with two other scientists, won China's 2018 Future Science Prize, for his continuous research on rice. Even on his 88th birthday on Sept 7^th, he took part in the International Development Forum of Rice Production in Hunan province. Although he was recovering from an illness at the time, he was happy to talk to reporters about his latest work on seawater rice.

    Yuan has been researching on rice since he was at college. In 1964, he discovered a natural hybrid rice plant in Hainan. Since then, he has focused on developing high﹣yield, hybrid rice varieties(多样性). In 1973. he became the first to successfully cultivate(培育) a type of hybrid rice species in the world. With the hard work of Yuan's group for about ten years, the production of the rice was increased.(From 150 kg per mu (亩) to 500 kg per mu and more. )These varieties now take up about two thirds of China's rice crop, according to China News. So, it's no wonder that he's known as the "Father of Hybrid Rice".

    And because of China's Belt and Road (一带一路)initiative. Yuan's hybrid rice is helping to solve food problems around the world. Indeed, according to Xinhua News Agency, hybrid rice plants in Kenya produce four to five times more rice than the country's usual nice plants.

    With a rising fame all over the world, Yuan gave a speech in English at the 9th Shandong High﹣Level Talents Forum in Qingdao last year. His speech made him an internet sensation. Beginning with" I speak broken English", his 20﹣minute speech turned out to be a huge success, with barely any pauses or mistakes. The humble Yuan was simply being modest during his speech. According to an article in 1999 by CNN, the scientist speaks both English and Russian fluently. "I never need an interpreter when I go overseas," he told the US news network.

    But in spite of his great knowledge, Yuan understands that even the wisest people should still be open to learn new things. "The farmers of our country possess rich experience in planting rice," he told Xinhua." We should learn from them."

Betty is the new monitor of Class 4, Grade 7. How can she be {#blank#}1{#/blank#} good monitor? {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (Betty) teacher Mrs. Brown tells her like this: 

Study hard and get high scores. Show everyone you are a good student, and you can {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (be) their monitor. 

Be nice to other students. You are their monitor, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} you are also their classmates. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} be friends with everyone. Then they'd like {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (listen) to you. 

{#blank#}7{#/blank#} (not talk) at the class. When the teachers are out, your classmates like to talk to each other. Want them to keep quiet? Don't shout. Use {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (word) like "Please" or "Thank you".

Talk with your classmates. Ask {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (they) "Do you think I am a good monitor? " or"What can I do {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (help) you?", so they would like to talk with you about these things.