With the College Entrance Examination {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(draw) near, I am too nervous {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(fall)asleep. My mother told me to take{#blank#}3{#/blank#}easy and not to stay{#blank#}4{#/blank#}late at night. She is very sensitive {#blank#}5{#/blank#}other people's feelings. My mother has a {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (prefer) for cooking meals. She also told me it was bad to be particular{#blank#}7{#/blank#}food. What she said was{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(reason). I am always easily{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (persuade). I'll do some relaxing exercise{#blank#}10{#/blank#}may help me take the load off my mind. I'm sure I'll calm down to meet the challenge with confidence.

    Since the beginning of the 21^st century, artificial intelligence (AI) {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (find) its way in different areas in the entertainment industry. Disney, which is one of the world's leading entertainment {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (company), has decided to make use {#blank#}3{#/blank#} the technology in its theme parks, where robot cartoon characters will soon walk among guests. Disney has also its robot Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck to communicate with tourists.

    “I think AI is going to be {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (great) important for what we do," said Jon Snoddy, an official of the entertainment company. "Robot characters that can move around among our guests need to understand where they're going and know {#blank#}5{#/blank#} to behave in a world with humans.”

    However, the company also {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (know)some of the fears surrounding AI. {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (scare) kids won't be part of what we do, said Mr Snoddy. "We will go and do tests in our parks to find out what kids find {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (interest) about these things. We will carry out tests {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (make) sure the robot characters make a positive {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (impress) on kids.”

    Last Friday a storm swept through two villages in the New Territories, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (destroy) fourteen homes. Seven others were so badly damaged {#blank#}2{#/blank#} their owners had to leave them, and fifteen others had broken windows or roofs. One person was killed, several were {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (serious) hurt and taken to hospital, and a number of other people received smaller hurt. Altogether over two hundred people were home-less after the storm.

    A farmer, Mr. Tan, said that the storm began early {#blank#}4{#/blank#} the morning and lasted for over an hour.

    "I {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(eat) with my wife and children," he said, "when we heard a loud noise. A few minutes later our house fell down on top of us. We tried our best {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(climb) out but then I saw that one of my children was {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (miss). I went back inside and found him, safe {#blank#}8{#/blank#}very frightened."

    Mrs. Woo Mei Fong said that her husband had just left for work when she {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (feel) that her house was moving. She ran outside at once with her children.

    Soldiers helped to take people out of the flooded area and the welfare department brought {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (they) food, clothes and shelter.

The Creator of Middle Earth

    John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, better known as J. R. R. Tolkien, was born in 1892 in South Africa. His parents had moved there looking for {#blank#}1{#/blank#} better job for his father. Three years {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(late), his mother took him on a trip to England to visit family. While they were away, they received terrible news that his father had died.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(grow) up without a father must have been difficult for Tolkien. Worse still, when he was only twelve years old, his mother also passed away. As a child, he had a great passion for language and in 1908, he went to Oxford University {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(study) languages and literature. In 1915, he joined the army and fought in the battle against the Germans. But soon, he became too ill to fight and returned {#blank#}5{#/blank#} England the following year. He didn't have a {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(satisfy) childhood himself, so around in 1933, he spent much time telling his children fantasy {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(story) of a hobbit (霍比特人) called Bilbo. He first put it in writing in 1936, {#blank#}8{#/blank#} turned out to be a surprising hit. The publisher asked him to write another. He did so and in 1948 published The Lord of the Rings, which {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(publish) in three volumes between 1954 and 1955.

    Tolkien, {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(age) eighty­one, died in 1973.

   It was already late when we started for the next town, which, according to the map, was about fifteen miles away on the other side of the hill. There we felt sure that we  {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(find) a bed for the night. Soon darkness fell after we left the village,   {#blank#}2{#/blank#} unluckily we met no one when we drove fast along the narrow(狭窄的)road which  {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(lead)to the hill. As our car climbed {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (high), it became colder and the rain began to fall, making it difficult  {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(see)the road.

   After we had traveled for about twenty miles, there was still no sign(迹象)of the town which was  {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(poor)marked on the map. We were beginning to get anxious when the car suddenly stopped. A quick {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(examine) showed that we had used up(用完)the gas. Although we had little food left, we decided to spend the night in the car.  

   With our meals {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(finish), I tried to go to sleep at once, but John, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} was a poor sleeper, got out of the car after a few minutes and went  {#blank#}10{#/blank#} a walk up the hill. There, he found the lights of the town in a valley below.