— Helen hasn't come back yet. I{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (wait )for her.

    John was a kind mall. When he was young, he hoped{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(become)a singer. But he didn't have enough money{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(buy)books about music. And his parents didn't expect him{#blank#}3{#/blank#} (be)a singer. So his dream didn't come{#blank#}4{#/blank#}. At the age of fifteen, he{#blank#}5{#/blank#} (leave)his village and found a job in a small town. He worked there for five years. Later his mother became very ill and he had to{#blank#}6{#/blank#} (stop)his work to come back and look{#blank#}7{#/blank#}her. Three years later his mother died and he wanted to leave his village again and{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (work)in other places. However，John couldn't. His father was ill. John decided{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(stay)at home and look after him. Every day he{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(do)many things for his father. Day by day，John became old. But he still didn't forget his dream to be a singer. Now he has lots of time so he plans to learn to sing at a music school.

    It was Tree Planting Day yesterday. We {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(go）to the hill to plant trees {#blank#}2{#/blank#}our teacher. There we learned how {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(plant) trees. We also learned a lot{#blank#}4{#/blank#}plants. For example, trees can{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(help)clean the air. They give us food like apples,{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(peach), oranges{#blank#}7{#/blank#}pears. People and other animals need {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(they)to live. We planted many trees yesterday. We were very{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(tiring), but we felt very {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(happily).

    Dr Irene Pepperberg, a {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(science)at a university, has worked with Alex for many years.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(teach)Alex to speak and understand wasn't easy at first. He had to learn one word at a time. Irene and an assistant(助手)would teach Alex by {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(show)him the meaning of a word. Irene would hold up an object, saying, "What's this? "Her assistant would give the word "candy". It took Alex many weeks {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(learn)his first word. After that, each new {#blank#}5{#/blank#}became easier and easier for him. Why did Irene spend so much time {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(get)a parrot to talk? Scientists like Irene are interested {#blank#}7{#/blank#}discovering how intelligent animals are and how their brains work. But studying animal intelligence has always been difficult, partly because animals haven't been able to communicate {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(clear)with humans. Teaching Alex to speak words that he understands has let Irene {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(talk)to him directly. She can ask him questions, and he can answer them in English. In this way, Irene is finding {#blank#}10{#/blank#}things Alex can do. She has found out that parrots are much smarter than scientists used to think.