My feelings about science have {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (complete) changed. The science teachers {#blank#}2{#/blank#} my new school are excellent and {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (friend). The science{#blank#}4{#/blank#} (facility) are very good with laboratories that have all the {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (late) equipment. Our chemistry teacher takes us to public science lectures about four times {#blank#}6{#/blank#} term, which are always interesting, because the lecturers are famous at {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (them) area of science. In the last 20 years, seven Canadian scientists {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (win) the Nobel Prize. Now {#blank#}9{#/blank#} I'm becoming more and more interested in is physics and I want to study it at university. But my parents are {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (astonish), as they always thought I would become an English teacher.

    A few months after{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(return) to the U.S. from Germany, I{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(take) part in a college course in French. Since I had learned to speak German well in Germany, I thought it might be interesting{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(begin) studying another language.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}the first class, a teacher asked us to do a pronunciation exercise, in which he would say a word{#blank#}5{#/blank#}two in French, and each student would do{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(they) best to copy. When my turn came, he{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(keep) having me say{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(many) words, and I finally asked him why. “I find it great{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (funny),” he explained. “In 25 years of teaching at school, it's the first time I have heard{#blank#}10{#/blank#}American speak French with a German accent.”

    In my family, there {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(be) three people. My father is a {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (farm) and goes to work in the field every day. He isn't good at {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (talk) but he gets on well with other people. My mother is very kind and is {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (friend) to everybody. So when I have {#blank#}5{#/blank#} problem I will turn{#blank#}6{#/blank#} her for help. My friends say I am clever, because when the teacher asks {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (we) very difficult questions, I can come up with the answers {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (quick). But my father thinks I am not patient. He says once I have difficulty in {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (solve) problems, I will {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (easy) give up. This is what I need to improve in the future.

    Strange things appeared before the Tangshan earthquake happened. For three days the water in the village wells {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(rise) and fell. The well walls had deep cracks in them. A smelly gas came out of the cracks. Some animals including fish, {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(mouse) behaved strangely. Other strange things also happened in the city, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} people thought little of these events and they slept as usual.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (final) a terrible earthquake hit the city of Tangshan on July 28, 1976, in which more than 240,000 people died and many {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(injure). Many houses fell down and sand filled the wells instead of water. People were greatly shocked. All the electricity in the city was cut off and people began {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (wonder) how long the disaster would last. The whole city was completely destroyed and the world seemed to be {#blank#}7{#/blank#}an end. It was one of the most destructive earthquakes ever, {#blank#}8{#/blank#} shocked the whole nation.

    However, the people of Tangshan didn't lose hope because 150,000 soldiers were sent to help the rescue workers. The soldiers tried their best to dig out those {#blank#}9{#/blank#} were trapped. They also built shelters for the {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (survive). Fresh water was taken to the city by every means. Slowly, the city began to come back to life.

    A teahouse is a special house which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. Its function varies widely {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (depend) on the culture. In China, a teahouse is a place {#blank#}2{#/blank#} people gather to enjoy tea, chat and socialize. It {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (consider) as a symbol of Chinese tea culture and people's leisure lives.

    Chinese teahouses enjoy a long-standing history. They developed from tea stands in the Western Jin Dynasty, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (take) shape in the Tang Dynasty, developed {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (gradual) in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties and became booming in modern times.

    In the Song Dynasty, teahouse existed all over cities and villages, {#blank#}6{#/blank#}a rate comparable with that of restaurants. The owners preferred to decorated their teahouses with paitings of celebrities and rare and precious plants {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (attract) customers. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the number of teahouses went beyond that of restaurants, gaining more {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (popular) and becoming more famous. Later, the acculturation of Western culture forces traditional Chinese teahouses to take on {#blank#}9{#/blank#} new look. After reform and opening-up, with the rapid development of the economy and {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (evidence) improvement of people's living standards, teahouses flowered in China.