In 1940, four teenage boys and their dog were walking through woodland close to Lascaux, when their dog suddenly disappeared. The boys searched all around. They came to a cave and looked into the cave{#blank#}1{#/blank#} could see nothing.

    A few days later, the boys returned to the cave. They could hardly believe {#blank#}2{#/blank#}eyes. In the weak lamplight, the boys saw red horses and cows, and black bulls and deer charging across the walls of the cave, which looked so {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(frighten) that the boys jumped back in fear. Little did the boys know that they had made one of the most important{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(discover) of that century.

    The Famous Lascaux Caves consist of a large hole and{#blank#}5{#/blank#} series of connecting caves, with a natural water system. The paintings there were an especially important find because they are so numerous and so well preserved. After a few years, the caves were opened{#blank#}6{#/blank#} a tourist attraction, and 1,200 people per day came to the site{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(admire) the paintings{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (fortunate), many visitors resulted in changes in the cave's atmosphere, and green algae (水藻) began to grow around the walls. Since then, the caves {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(close) to the public in an effort to conserve the fragile paintings in this precious underground site.

    Today, the caves have computer-controlled air-conditioning and are inspected daily. Scientists hope that these precautions will prevent any{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(far) damage to the paintings.

    Long before Barack Obama became president of the United States, he wrote a book {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(call) Dream from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, which has since become {#blank#}2{#/blank#} bestseller. It is an {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(appeal) book that includes what he went through during {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(he) childhood. Obama has little contact with his father {#blank#}5{#/blank#}roots were in Kenya because he left home when Obama was very young. His mother got married {#blank#}6{#/blank#}a student from Indonesia shortly after the family moved to Jakarta. A few years later, Obama came back with his grandparents to Hawaii, where he{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(attend) a private high school. {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(study) at Columbia in New York City, he then entered Harvard Law School. This autobiography also touches {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(heavy) on Obama's exposure to racism. Readers will find his reflections of childhood {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(experience) which involved racial discrimination to be especially moving.

People eat rice all over the world

    Rice is believed to have been first grown in China or possibly somewhere else in eastern Asia around 10,000 years ago. The earliest evidence of rice farming comes from a 7,000-year-old site near the lower Yangtze River village of Hemudu in Zhejiang province in China.

    Rice is a kind of food which requires much labor. In developed countries, the planting and harvesting is done {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (most) with machines.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}, in much of the world, these things are still largely done by hand. It takes one farmer 1,000 to 2,000 working hours {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (raise) a rice crop on 2.5 acres of land. The fact that rice {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (need) so much labor means {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (keep) a lot of the population on the land.

    Rice is also a crop{#blank#}6{#/blank#} need of lots of water. The wet rice {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (grow) in most of Asia needs hot weather after a period of rain and conditions provided by the Asian {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (rain) seasons affect many places {#blank#}9{#/blank#} rice is grown.

    Rice straws (稻杆) {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (leave)in the fields add nutrients (营养物) to the soil after rice is harvested. For the next crop, rice farmers can often enjoy a good harvest by adding little or no fertilizer (肥料).

    The information I {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(collect) over the last few years leads me to believe that speed reading may be less {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(use) than most people think. The claim that you can read and comprehend over 30,000 words per minute is overstated. One researcher proved this in a study where irrelevant and illogical sentences were added to a text. The “speed readers” {#blank#}3{#/blank#} were tested didn't notice the irrelevant lines — the non-speed readers spotted them immediately.

    I've interviewed people who have attended the introductory sessions {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (offer) by some speed reading courses. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (them) stories indicate that improper methods are sometimes used to sell the courses. Here's how: First, you're asked to read a passage from a book {#blank#}6{#/blank#} which most persons would be unfamiliar. Your reading speed and comprehension are tested during this exercise. Then, after about half {#blank#}7{#/blank#} hour of instruction, another reading test is given. But this time the reading is one most educated Americans know well — such as Huckleberry Finn. Not {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (surprising), persons attending these introductory sessions find that their “exit” speed and comprehension are better than their “entry”{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (perform).

    I'm one of the fiction readers who appreciate the beauty in good writing. Occasionally I'll read a passage or sentence over and over just {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (let) the beauty of its construction soak(参透) in. Good writing must be read carefully and thoughtfully to be fully appreciated.

    The traditional Chinese Longtaitou Festival, also called Dragon Head Raising Festival, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (fall) on the second day of the second lunar month every year, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} the rain-bringing Dragon King is said to awaken {#blank#}3{#/blank#} his winter sleep. It's {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (wide) believed that the second day of the second month on the Chinese lunar calendar means the start of spring and farming.

    The festival is a {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (reflect) of the ancient agrarian (耕作的)culture. Nowadays, although some of the old ways {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (celebrate) the festival are no longer in practice, some still keep on. Most of them are still identical to those practised in the ancient times, {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (include) eating Chinese pancakes and noodles. The most famous {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (tradition) practice on this day is to have a haircut. Some people believe that going to the barber's on the second day of the second month will get rid of bad luck, while {#blank#}9{#/blank#} believe it is bad luck to get hair cut during the first month of the lunar calendar. Folk {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (activity)like dragon dance are also held during the Longtaitou Festival across China.