In some western countries, some people don't like the number 13 because they think 13 is an unlucky number. For example, they don't like to live on the thirteenth floor. One evening, Mr. Smith asked some friends to get t{#blank#}1{#/blank#}. When all of his friends arrived, he asked them to sit at the table for d{#blank#}2{#/blank#}. He began to c{#blank#}3{#/blank#} the people. Suddenly, he cried out, "Oh, there are thirteen people here!" Everyone's face looked pale e{#blank#}4{#/blank#} Mr. Brown. He said with a smile, "Don't wont', my friends. My wife will have a baby in a few weeks. So we have f{#blank#}5{#/blank#} people here." All of the friends became happy again. "Congratulations!" they said to Mr. Brown. They all had a good time that evening.

    Improvisational performance(即兴表演) is a kind of performance that is done without preparation(准备). I think it is {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(令人愉快的), so I started to learn it last year. Last school year, we had an improvisational performance {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(比赛) the day before Mother's Day. My best friend Linda and I made a team to join it. On that day, we saw lots of {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(精彩的) performances on the stage. We each had cards with different topics(主题)，our topic was "mother", we took it {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(认真对待), before acting, we practiced and practiced, Linda acted as my sister, we {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(分享)mother's love in the performance, our performance was so funny and {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(有创造力的) that everyone {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(笑). Finally, we won the first {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(奖), and our teacher said our performance showed that we had good {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(天赋) for acting, we were both very happy.

    How long does it take to build a new house? It usually takes about six months or more. B{#blank#}1{#/blank#} each year, thousands of people work together to build new homes in just four months. Who does this w{#blank#}2{#/blank#} work? Habitat for Humanity. Habitat for Humanity is a group that builds homes for families in n{#blank#}3{#/blank#}. It has branches (分部) in different states around the country. This group works all over the world, too. Volunteers help build the homes. They are unpaid workers who do all the work for f{#blank#}4{#/blank#} Volunteers can be builders and painters. They can be teachers or bankers, and some are students. Habitat for Humanity has built more than 300，000 houses. More than 1. 5 million people l{#blank#}5{#/blank#} in these houses. Building a home is hard work. Volunteers learn h{#blank#}6{#/blank#} to put up walls. They use many m{#blank#}7{#/blank#} and tools. These selfless (无私的) volunteers work with the family that will live in the house Everyone works together to make the family's d{#blank#}8{#/blank#} come true. Suruchi Srikanth has worked with Habitat for Humanity for four years. She b{#blank#}9{#/blank#} volunteering in high school. She has built many homes with other volunteers. She takes her responsibilities(责任) seriously. Volunteers know i{#blank#}10{#/blank#} they don't help, homes may not get built. They are good citizens who care about other people.