New area to ease pressure

    On April 1,2017.China announced that it would build the Xiongan New Area in Hebei province. This will he {#blank#}1{#/blank#}the same importance as the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the Pudong New Area,according to the State Council.

    The area, about 100 kilometers southwest of downtown Beijing,will cover three counties{#blank#}2{#/blank#}sit at the center of the triangular area formed by Beijing,Tianjin,and Shijiazhuang.

    The Xiongan New Area has great potential for growth,{#blank#}3{#/blank#} (report) People's Daily. It has a broad space{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(develop) and will expand to cover 2,000 square kilometers.The transportation of the area is convenient, with only an {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(hour) drive to Beijing and Tianjin.

    The new area also has{#blank#}6{#/blank#}sound natural environment. It is home to Baiyangdian, one of the{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(large) freshwater wetlands in North China.{#blank#}8{#/blank#}more than 140 lakes, the wetland is known as the "pearl" of the North China Plain.

    Once{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(build),the area will reduce the heavy burdens on Beijing.For example,many companies,universities and scientific research centers will move from Beijing to the area.

    International experts and media also think highly of this new area, saying that it{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(set) an example to developing countries, noted Xinhua.

    Recently a really strange thing happened in a middle school in China's Hubei Province. Over 600 students at the school took part in a "caring for an egg like a baby"{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(active). in which they were asked to keep an egg close at hand for a month{#blank#}2{#/blank#}breaking it.

    "It's hard for parents to bring up their children{#blank#}3{#/blank#}many students just ignore it, " said Liu Kang, the school's director. "They should{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(teach) to be grateful to their parents,who have given them life but ask for nothing in return ."

    Li Ming is one of the students. His egg didn't break during the month, but he felt{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(exhaust). "I now understand what great difficulty my parents have had{#blank#}6{#/blank#}（bring）me up. I'll do all I can to make their life easier and{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(comfort) when I grow up,”promised the 13-year-old boy.

    {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(luck), about 450 students broke their eggs. Yan Yueming broke his egg after just five days, which made him frustrated. He said,”I can't imagine {#blank#}9{#/blank#}sad my parents would be if there was something wrong with me, their ‘egg'! It is now time I did something{#blank#}10{#/blank#}return for their love,”said Yan.

    My most {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (embarrass) moment occurred last month. I was invited to attend {#blank#}2{#/blank#} interview for a job as a hotel receptionist. I arrived on time and was shown into the manager's office by m an {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (assist). I was {#blank#}4{#/blank#} nervous that I didn't catch the manager's name.

    The interview began, “Do you have any previous experience in hotels?” asked the manager. “No sir,” I said. The manager frowned (皱眉). “Are you good {#blank#}5{#/blank#} using computers?” “Yes, Sir, I am {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (family) with most popular kinds of software. The manager frowned again. He didn't look a friendly person- The interview continued. Every answer I gave {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (receive) by a frown from the manager, even though I told him about my communication skills, my knowledge of French and so on.{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (obvious), I was doing very badly. At last, the interview came to a close. “One final question,” said the manager. “How good is your eyesight?” “Excellent, sir,'' I replied. “Very well,'' said the manager, “Thank you for coming.” I stood up {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (shake) hands with him. When the manager stood up as well, I realized {#blank#}10{#/blank#} I had been doing wrong. The gentleman I had been calling “sir” during the whole interview was wearing a skirt! The manager was a woman! I didn't get the job.

    My program is a course in automotive repair. We teach people from the age of 16 through adults. We're {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (locate)on a high school campus. It's vocational,{#blank#}2{#/blank#} means that we train people specific skills that they could use in a job.

    I like classes like this {#blank#}3{#/blank#}it's {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(much)of the real world than it is sitting there reading a textbook, not {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(know)what you are going to be using it for.

    Today's a work day, so {#blank#}6{#/blank#}I go back into the shop, I have all of my students {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(work)on a project. First, Jack is going to get the air tools out and jack up a car, he's going to take a tyre off that car, with the air impact. Every student that comes onto my program is an individual. All of them think that they're going to be able to fix their own car. They all have {#blank#}8{#/blank#}as a goal that they are going to get out of the program.{#blank#}9{#/blank#} then, as part of my introduction to the class I'll let them know some of the other things that they'll all get,{#blank#}10{#/blank#} include：consumer understanding of how the car works.

    Once a man's wife adopted a dog. The woman loved the dog so much that she spent plenty of time playing {#blank#}1{#/blank#}  him. It was obvious to the man {#blank#}2{#/blank#}his wife preferred the dog. With time going by, the man disliked the dog more and more.

    Finally, the man made a  {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(decide) to abandon the dog. So one day he drove the dog {#blank#}4{#/blank#}  (mile) away from his home. He threw the dog in the woods and then returned to his car.  {#blank#}5{#/blank#}  soon after the car was started, it broke down. Feeling cold in the car, the man became  {#blank#}6{#/blank#}  (worry). He  needed some help, but{#blank#}7{#/blank#}cars appeared and he could see no one nearby. Then he saw the dog {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (walk) towards him. The dog stopped by the car and barked. The man opened the car and let him in. The dog sat beside {#blank#}9{#/blank#} and kept the man warm. At last, a car came and the man {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (save). He went back home, with the dog, of course.

    When the construction of the new factory came to the end, a pump was put in. Then, all the settlers {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (defeat) by a severe disease whose characteristic was similar to cholera. An expert physician {#blank#}2{#/blank#}was instructed to attend to the victims and handle this case showed great enthusiasm, but he didn't foresee that it was {#blank#}3{#/blank#} hard challenge. After simple enquiry, he announced that the {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (pollute) water was to blame. But without positive {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(evident), people suspected and rejected his view, saying the theory he put forward made no{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(sensible). Being much {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(strict) with himself than before, he contributed himself to the case. Apart from {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (make) enquiries, he made detailed charts and analyzed the data carefully. Finally, he drew some scientific {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (conclude), {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (link) the disease to the radium in the pump. He found out why people there got sick immediately.