The Great Wall of China is more than 6,000 kilometres long. It winds {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (it) way from west to east, across deserts, over mountains, through valleys{#blank#}2{#/blank#}at last it reaches the sea. The Great Wall has a history of over twenty centuries. The first part of it {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(build) during the Spring and Autumn period. During the Qin Dynasty, {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(keep) the enemy out of his empire, Emperor Qin Shi Huang had all the walls {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(join) up. Thus, the Great Wall came into being. The Great Wall is wide enough at {#blank#}6{#/blank#}top for five horses or ten men to walk side by side. Along the wall are watchtowers, {#blank#}7{#/blank#}soldiers used to keep watch. Fires were lit on the towers as a {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (warn) when the enemy came.

    It was {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(extreme)difficult to build such a wall in the ancient days without any modern machines. All the work was done {#blank#}10{#/blank#}hand. Thousands of men died and were buried under the wall they built. The Great Wall was made not only of stone and earth, but of the flesh and blood of millions of men.

    Barbara Jordan was a lawyer, educator and member of Congress. As a politician, Barbara Jordan worked for social change. She {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (seek) to make a difference for all Americans using her {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (politics) influence.

    Barbara Jordan became the first African-American woman {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (elect) to the United States Congress to represent Texas. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} helped Barbara gain her national {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (recognize) was that she became a member of the congressional committee investigating President Richard Nixon in 1974.

    Barbara Jordan was born in the southern city of Houston, Texas in 1936. She was {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (young) of the three daughters in her family. Her father was a Baptist minister. When she was a child, Barbara's parents pushed her to succeed. Barbara Jordan said her parents would criticize her for not {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (speak) correct English. They urged her to become a music teacher, because they said that was the only good job for a black woman at that time. Her sisters did become {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (teacher). Barbara Jordan, however, explained later that she wanted to do something unusual.

    At first she thought about being a pharmacist, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} scientist who is an expert in medicines. After she became the first African-American state senator(参议员), her career in politics took {#blank#}10{#/blank#}.

    Marty Fielding began to suffer from a muscle disease when he was 10, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} sometimes made him clumsy and drop things or bump into furniture. The doctors don't know {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(exact) what is wrong with him, so they don't know how to make him better. But he has to learn to adapt    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} his disability. When some people cannot accept him for who he is, he doesn't get{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(annoy). He just ignores them.

    All in all, he has a good life. His ambition is to work in a computer software firm when he {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (grow) up. He has a very busy life and doesn't have time to sit around {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(feel) sorry for himself. In many ways his disability has helped him grow stronger psychologically and become {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(independent). He has to work hard to live{#blank#}8{#/blank#}normal life. From him, we know we shouldn't feel sorry for the disabled or make fun of{#blank#}9{#/blank#}and that we shouldn't ignore them either. Just accept them for who they are and give them {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(encourage) to live as rich and full a life as you do.

This is where my kids grew up

    For years now, I've been wanting to sell our home, the place where my husband and I raised our kids. But to me, this house is more than just a building. In the front room, there's a wall that has hundreds of pencil lines. Every growth stage {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(mark) in pencils, with each child's name and the date.

    Of all the objects and all the memories, it's this one thing in a home that's {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(hard) to leave behind. Our kids grow in so many ways, but the wall is physical evidence of their progress. Friends I know have visited their previous home only {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(discover) their wall of heights has been freshly painted over. Over the years, I've talked about how much I would hate leaving that wall behind when I moved, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} the last marks were made 10 years ago when my kids stopped growing. So one day, while I was at work, my children decided to do {#blank#}5{#/blank#} about it.

    They hired Jacquie Manning, a professional photographer {#blank#}6{#/blank#} work is about capturing the beautiful things in life. She came to our house while I was at work, and over several hours, {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(take) photos of the hundreds of drawings and lines, little grey fingerprints, and old marks. Somehow, she managed to photograph {#blank#}8{#/blank#} we had experienced in all those years. Afterwards, she put all the photos together into one image, {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(transform) them into a beautiful history of my family.

    Three weeks later, my children's wonderful gift made its way to me —{#blank#}10{#/blank#} life-size photo of the pencil lines and fingerprints that represents entire lifetimes of love and growth.