“Can I have a glass of hot water?” This is a very common question for Chinese customers in a restaurant. But {#blank#}1{#/blank#} you go abroad, you may find that meals in the West tend to come with tall glasses of ice water.

    For most Chinese people,{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (drink) hot water is part of everyday life. It is believed that water of a warm temperature (25-30 C) is good for people's health,{#blank#}3{#/blank#} (especial) for the stomach.

    But for many Western people, they drink cold water even in winter. One possible reason is {#blank#}4{#/blank#} in Western countries people can drink water directly from the tap, rather than having to boil {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. And it's also normal to jump into a cold shower after exercise,{#blank#}6{#/blank#} (bring) the heart rate down.

    However, there is one common thing {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(encourage) in both the East and the West: One {#blank#}8{#/blank#} cool down by drinking a hot drink in summer. Because sweating is a good way to cool off in summer, hot drinks make you hotter and you begin to sweat.

    Of course, it doesn't matter if you drink hot {#blank#}9{#/blank#} cold water. The more comfortable your body feels, the {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(good) it is.

    Many English language learners believe that the {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (great) difficulty with listening comprehension (理解) is that the listener cannot control how quickly a speaker speaks. They feel that what the speaker says disappears {#blank#}2{#/blank#} they can follow. This frequently means that students {#blank#}3{#/blank#} are learning to listen cannot keep up. They are so busy working out the meaning{#blank#}4{#/blank#} one part of what they hear that they miss the next part. Or they {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(simple) ignore a whole section because they fail to catch it quickly enough. Another difficulty is that the listener is not always in a position to get the speaker to repeat what has been said. And, of course, repeats cannot{#blank#}6{#/blank#} (ask) for when listening to the radio or watching TV.

    Besides,{#blank#}7{#/blank#} (choose) of vocabulary is in the hands of the speaker, not the listener. Very often, for people listening to a foreign language, an unknown word can be like a suddenly {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (drop) stone making them stop and think about the meaning of the word,{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (cause) them to miss the next part of the speech. In listening, it really is a case of “He who{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (stop) to work out the meaning is lost.”

    We travelled to Zimbabwe not long ago.  Before we started, we'd been warned not just by one person,{#blank#}1{#/blank#}by many people.

    The day we crossed the famous bridge over Victoria Falls to Zimbabwe we {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (greet) by friendly border agents and the border police waved us on our way with a smile. We started to give a second thought to {#blank#}3{#/blank#} warning we'd been given.

    The first day we took the backroads(乡村小道)to Binga, a place that was {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (former)a popular destination for those looking to rent houseboats and go fishing on the lake. The next day we drove on single track roads through remote villages. Villagers would stop and stare as we drove by, as {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (see) tourists in this area was {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (rare) than a blue moon. The road conditions continued to worsen, but the {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(beautiful) of the region grew too. We climbed up and down the mountains and valleys {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(fill) with native birds and wildlife.

    We pulled into Kariba where the lake ends and the Zambezi River continues.{#blank#}9{#/blank#} it is just a small town in Zimbabwe, it brings people a lot. We felt that Zimbabwe had treated {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(we) nicely-it would be hard to leave.

    Go ahead and grab that cup of coffee, or two, or more. Doing so may improve your health and help you live longer, suggests a new research in a new observational study involving close to 20,000 individuals, people {#blank#}1{#/blank#} consumed at least four cups of coffee daily had a 64% lower risk of early death {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(compare) to those who never rarely consumed coffee.

    The reduction in risk was more significant once people reached {#blank#}3{#/blank#} age of 45, suggesting that it may be even{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(good) to consume coffee as we get older.

    These findings support the recent results of another large observational study, which found that coffee{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(drink) appear to live longer, regardless of whether they consume regular coffee.

    Coffee has also been shown to reduce the risk of many diseases, including type 2 diabetes(糖尿病), liver disease, Alzheimer's and skin cancer, too.

    "Coffee is loaded with antioxidants（抗氧化剂）," said Joe DeRupo, a spokesman for the National Coffee Association." Many are {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(natural) occurring antioxidants found in the coffee bean, while others {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(create) during the roasting process. These antioxidants are thought to be linked with positive effects in {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (reduce) the risk of several diseases.

    While coffee consumption may appear to be healthful for many, others should carry on {#blank#}9{#/blank#} caution. Pregnant women, for example, should cautiously limit{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (they)intake of coffee.

    As my father had been offered a job in London, our family moved there. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(lose) all my old friends, I felt shy and lonely at my new school. Luckily for me, I met Roy {#blank#}2{#/blank#} was a popular boy, helping me to get to know people. Roy and I became good friends and we {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (trust) each other. However, five years later, Roy's father was knocked {#blank#}4{#/blank#} by a car and it was his father's death that changed him {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (complete). He became silent and moody, losing interest in his work. Worse still, 3 months ago, I found Roy {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (go) through the pockets of people's coats. And then, small {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (amount) of money started to disappear from students' lockers. Last week, the 500 pounds {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (raise) for a charity was stolen. I wondered {#blank#}9{#/blank#} the thief was Roy so I decided to ask him about the theft. To my surprise, I found a lot of paper notes in Roy's jacket. Should I keep {#blank#}10{#/blank#}a secret or tell the truth?

    Robot teachers are now very popular with pupils in some primary schools in South Korea. Compared with human teachers, the robot teachers are {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (patient). They never get angry and are always kind to the students. That's {#blank#}2{#/blank#} the children can always get on well with their robot teachers.

    English-teaching robots {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (send) to three primary schools for eight weeks last December. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (equip) with a microphone and video camera, the robots teach students as teachers. Researchers found that the English-teaching robots helped raise students' interests in the language and build up their {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (confident). More and more students came to like studying and they got better grades in exams. Meanwhile, other robot teachers, {#blank#}6{#/blank#} can teach math, science and art, have also been developed.

    Many people think these robot teachers should be used {#blank#}7{#/blank#} faraway village schools so that the children there can also receive a good education. {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (give) rural school children more learning chances, the South Korean government has expressed great interest in {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (develop) these robots. No doubt there will be more and more robot teachers working with students. Perhaps they will {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (complete) replace human teachers one day in the future. Who knows?