I love reading. At age 6, I could be found reading Harry Potter, a difficult book for a 6-year-old but I {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(enjoy) it all the same. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} soon became obvious that spelling for me was not difficult and I had a wide vocabulary. This is one way I benefited {#blank#}3{#/blank#} reading at such a young age.

    My advice for you as English learners would be to read the English novels {#blank#}4{#/blank#}you have often read in your native language. Reading novels is a great way of {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(improve) your vocabulary and spelling without realising it as you are absorbed（全神贯注的）in the storyline. You know the sorry well, so its {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(usual) easy to follow it in English even if you do not understand every word.

    This is another essential（基本的）point: it's not necessary {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(understand) every word. If you understand the {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(mean) of the sentence, each word is not necessarily important. Quite often, if a word is used several times in a text, you'll gradually get an idea of {#blank#}9{#/blank#} it means.

    Give it a try. If you like reading yon could open up {#blank#}10{#/blank#} whole new world of literature.

    She is widely seen as example that good looks can last forever. At nearly 500 years of age, time is catching up with the Mona Lisa. The health of the famous picture, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (paint) by Leonardo Da Vinci in 1505, is getting {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (bad) by the year, according to the Louvre Museum where it is housed.

    Nearly 6 million people go to see the Mona Lisa every year, many attracted by the mystery of her smile. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}, the actual history of the Mona Lisa is just as secret as the smile. Da Vinci {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (him) loved it so much that he always carried it with him, until it was {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (final) sold to France's King Francis I in 1519.

    In 1911, the painting was stolen from the Louvre by a former employee, {#blank#}6{#/blank#} took it out of the museum placed under his coat. He said he planned to return it to Italy. {#blank#}7{#/blank#} painting was sent back to France two years later.

    During World War II, French {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (hide) the painting in small towns to keep it out of the hands of German forces.

    Like many old {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (lady), the Mona Lisa has some interesting stories {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (tell).

    In today's world many people seem to be {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (hunger) for money. Money does have its most useful effects on the poor. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} even if a person has already got plenty of money, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (happy) can't be bought by money.

    If money were beginning, all millionaires {#blank#}4{#/blank#} have real love, true friendship, good health and a long life. However, this is not always correct.

    Since {#blank#}5{#/blank#} beginning of time no three words have ever invited more {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (pleased) than "I love you". But can love be bought? I'm afraid not Love {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (mean) to give, not to take. To every person, health and a long life are bought with money? The answer is "No".

    Of all the longest {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (life) people in the world, few of them are millionaires. True friendship can't be bought, either in a world, where money is {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (dream) too much, it can cause brothers to quarrel, marriage to end, lovers to hate, and {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (strange) to fight. No matter how much money you have, it is still not enough to make a happy person if you have no one to laugh with, no one to cry for.

    Antarctica (南极洲), the southernmost part of Earth, is covered {#blank#}1{#/blank#} snow and ice all year round. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} it has amazing views, many are still frightened by this icy desert.

 But 34-year-old US explorer Colin O' Brady is different. Three {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (month) ago, he became the first person {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (cross) Antarctica alone. During the 932-mile journey, O' Brady spent 54 days in extreme conditions. He had to push {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (he) to the limit. He carried everything he'd need on a sled. But even with enough food, O' Brady began to become {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (thin) and weaker after six weeks. "I {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (lose) a ton of weight so far. My legs feel more like the size of my arms at this point," he wrote on US social media Instagram.

    Adding to the pressure, O' Brady was racing against Louis from the UK. The two men set off together, with Rudd {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (take) an early lead. But on Christmas Day, O'Brady decided to make {#blank#}9{#/blank#} final effort without stopping for a rest. Luckily for him he made it, getting to the finish line earlier than Louis.

    O' Brady thinks that he has the spirit of exploration in his blood: He is an athlete, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} loves to move. He also believes we can all have this strength and achieve much.

    We set {#blank#}1{#/blank#} at 5: 45 to visit the chimps in Gombe {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (nation) Park. We watched a family of chimps {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (wake) up in the morning and followed them {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (wander) into the forest. Jane had been there {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (observe) and recording chimps' daily {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (活动). For forty years, she had been {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (help) the world to understand and {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (尊敬) the life of these animals. Jane is indeed a woman of {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (achieve) and a good example for us all. She inspires those {#blank#}10{#/blank#} want to cheer the achievements of women.

    Today, home-ownership has reached extremely high levels. Modern generations tend to believe there is something wrong with them {#blank#}1{#/blank#} they rent. However, is high home-ownership really as people imagine？{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (stare) at data first, we realize that the most successful, stable, attractive country in the Western world is Switzerland. It has tiny unemployment; wealth; high happiness and mental-health scores. Does it have high home-ownership rates? Absolutely not. In Switzerland, about seven in ten of the population are renters. Yet, with Europe's {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (low) home-ownership rate, the nation thrives. Now go to the other end of the misery distribution. Spain has approximately the highest home-ownership rate in Europe (at more than 80%). But one-quarter of its population are unemployed.

    A likely reason is that high levels of home-ownership mess up the labour market. In a sensibly functioning economy it is easy for people to move around to drop into the vibrant job slots {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (throw) up by technological change. With a high degree of owner-occupation, everything slows. Folk get stuck. Renters can go to new jobs. In that way they do the economy a favours. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Friedman said, the rate of unemployment depends on the flexibility of the housing market.

Next we come to economic breakdown. Most analysts accept that at heart it was the housing market-obsessive pursuit of homes, the engendered mortgage（房贷） lending and an unavoidable house-price crash— {#blank#}6{#/blank#} sank the Western world. Germany, say, with its more efficient rental market, had a far smoother ride through trouble.

    As for the monetary system, in the past few decades, in the hope of getting untaxed capital gains way above their true labour earnings, many people threw their spare cash into buying larger houses or building extra bedrooms. TV programmes about how to make easy money, beautiful rising house prices, and most importantly, our faulty tax system encouraged that. When {#blank#}7{#/blank#} some point market broke down, everyone suffered. Our countries ought, instead, to design tax systems that encourage people to invest in productive real activities and in innovation. Renting leaves money free for better purposes. That also points to the role of sensible budgeting over a person's lifetime. Why should we think that when we die it is necessary {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (pay) off an entire house？

    Our children do not deserve it. Let them pay for themselves. We {#blank#}9{#/blank#} rent-and enjoy our lives with the money saved.

    Finally, moderation usually pays off. Our scientific understanding of how economies function is horribly limited. This suggests that the golden rule should be to avoid extremes. A50-50mix of home-ownership and renting, not the 70-30split that is now observed in so many Western nations, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (make) sense.