In 1850, an American lawyer, Bethune, bought a slave to work in his home. The slave, a woman, had a small child{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(call) Tom, who was blind.

    One day, Bethune {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(walk) around his garden when he heard music coming from the house. He went inside and found young Tom playing on the family piano. Bethune {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(immediate) realized that the boy, who was only four, had special abilities. He asked a band of {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(music) to come to the house and play in front of {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (he). Tom reproduced perfectly the music he had heard. Tom was indeed an unusual boy.

    In 1857, "Blind Tom" took part {#blank#}6{#/blank#} his first public performance. The reviews were so good {#blank#}7{#/blank#} Bethune took him on a tour of the US. Three years later, Blind Tom {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (invite) to the White House to perform for the president. Over the next forty years, Tom performed {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(enjoy) shows all over the US and other countries. His concerts were {#blank#}10{#/blank#} mixture of classical music and his own compositions.

    Dough figurine(捏面人), also known as dough modelling, is a kind of Chinese folk art. It is {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(simple) made but of high artistic value. It {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(record) as early as the Han Dynasty. Dough craftsman draws materials based on the required. After a repetition of rubbing, twisting and lifting {#blank#}3{#/blank#}hand, and poking, cutting, and carving by bamboo knife, the craftsman {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(shape) the body and the face of the figurine gradually. Dressed up with hair accessories and clothes, all of a sudden, a vivid artistic figurine comes to life.

    I won't call myself the most accomplished person when it comes to {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (hold) chopsticks. In fact, I'm pretty sure that my technique looks clumsy at times. I tend to hold {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (I) in the middle, more like beginner than expert.

    Still, since I eat almost every meal with the eating utensil (器皿) of choice in China, it's not uncommon for a new friend or acquaintance to come to a simple {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (conclude) after observing me that my Chinese husband, Jun, must have shown me {#blank#}4{#/blank#} to use them before.

    They are wrong. I've used chopsticks ever since I was a teenager, a time when my sister and mother were both fond of Chinese cuisine and introduced me {#blank#}5{#/blank#} many new dishes, along with the {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (prefer) utensils in China. We always kept bamboo chopsticks along with our {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (knife), forks and spoons, ready for whenever we happened to have Chinese food for dinner. It was my closest family {#blank#}8{#/blank#} observed my first mistakes I made in using chopsticks.

    Plus, I lived over two years in China before Jun and I started dating and I {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (expect) to use chopsticks in almost every restaurant, stand and bar. Trust me, when you're hungry you figure out pretty fast what it takes to down (咽下) {#blank#}10{#/blank#} meal with these utensils.

    Old Tom had four sons. He wanted them{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(learn) not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them to look at an apple tree in different seasons. The first son went in winter, the second in spring, the third in summer, and the youngest in autumn. When they all came back, he called them together to describe{#blank#}2{#/blank#}they had seen. The sons had different{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(opinion). Tom then told them that they shouldn't judge a tree, or a person, by only one season.

    Shark attacks can be deadly, but they are not common. Each year, sharks usually kill fewer than 10 people worldwide, and about 100 people {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (injure). You are more likely to be attacked in parts of the sea {#blank#}2{#/blank#} tourists throw in food to bring in sharks. However, people are dangerous to sharks, too. 60 million sharks are killed {#blank#}3{#/blank#} food and medicine every year. As a result, some kinds of sharks may die out completely. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (protect) these wonderful animals, some countries have made programs to help them survive.

    One day, Nick invited his friends to supper. He was cooking some delicious food in the kitchen. Suddenly, he {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (find) that he had run out of salt. So Nick called to his son, "Go to the village and buy some salt, but pay a fair price for it: neither too much {#blank#}2{#/blank#} too little."

    His son looked surprised. "I can understand why I shouldn't pay too much, Father, but if I can pay less, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} not save a bit of money?"

    "That would be a very {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (reason) thing to do in a big city, but it could destroy a small village like ours," Nick said.

    Nick's guests, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} had heard their conversation, asked why they should not buy sale more cheaply if they could. Nick replied, "The only reason a man would sell sale {#blank#}6{#/blank#} a lower price would be because he was desperate for money. And anyone who took advantage of that situation would be showing a lack of respect {#blank#}7{#/blank#} the sweat and struggle of the man who worked very hard to produce it."

    "But such a small thing couldn't {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (possible) destroy a village."

    "In the beginning, there was only {#blank#}9{#/blank#} very small amount of unfairness in the world, but everyone added a little, always {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (think) that it was only small and not very important, and look where we have ended up today. "