My grandfather is a {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(retire) worker. On summer evenings, we often sat together outside the house {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(enjoy) the cool air. It  was the time that he told me lots of his experiences before liberation.

        When my grandfather was fourteen years old, he worked in a coal mine. One day, when he and his two workmates were working in the tunnel, an{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(fortune) thing suddenly happened. A part of the tunnel fell down, and they were shut init. They had no food {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(eat). When they were hungry, they only drank some water there. It was very cold in it. In order to keep warm, they hugged one another. In the darkness, they didn't know whether it was day{#blank#}5{#/blank#}night, they only felt they had stayed there for a very long time. They were too hungry to speak or move, and thought they{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(die). At last, the tunnel{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(dig) through. They weresaved. They had been there for fourteen days! My grandfather said they weren't let out at once. If{#blank#}8{#/blank#}, they would have died. They were kept at the entrance to the tunnel {#blank#}9{#/blank#}it was very dim, and they were fed {#blank#}10{#/blank#} some thin porridge. After a day or two, they had recovered a bit, and they were helped out.

    “Why are you unwilling to accept this opportunity in space? Have you read the{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(describe) carefully?” Wang Ping asked me. “You will live in a {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(furnish) house with all modem equipment and robots will be able to clarify any problems. You are only needed to become familiar with the administration and rules for such a project. It will be an{#blank#}3{#/blank#} (enjoy) experience for you.”

    Many people need to be reminded of the job opportunities in space stations, which{#blank#}4{#/blank#} (constant) need space cooks, cleaners, teachers, stewards and stewardesses. You can be swiftly trained for your new job from using previous skills. At first people may find new surroundings difficult{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(tolerate). However, they will be able to overcome the difficulties if their families encourage them to take{#blank#}6{#/blank#} the job. There are lots of advantages{#blank#}7{#/blank#}come from a period of time in space. But for health reasons only one stay of three years{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(allow), because{#blank#}9{#/blank#}link between illness and length of stay may be strong. It is a little disappointing,{#blank#}10{#/blank#}the rules cannot be changed for anyone.

    The colors red, white and blue, along {#blank#}1{#/blank#} the stars and stripes on the American flag, all represent different things. Red represents {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (strong) and bravery, white means virtue, and blue stands for hard work and {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (just). There are fifty stars on the flag, one for each state,{#blank#}4{#/blank#} (represent) the union of fifty states {#blank#}5{#/blank#} one country in a federal system. The thirteen stripes are {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (remind) people of the thirteen colonies that {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (join) together to fight for independence from Britain. Each year on 4 July, the USA celebrates Independence Day,{#blank#}8{#/blank#} the Stars and Stripes {#blank#}9{#/blank#} be seen all over the country,{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (light) by fireworks in the night sky.

    Back in 1995, Jack Ma made his first trip to the US and used the Internet for the first time. After searching for “beer”, he saw that no results came up related {#blank#}1{#/blank#}China. When he then searched for “China” and still saw no results, he decided {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (set) up a Chinese website—the seed for Alibaba was sown.

    Ma {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(simple) wanted his company to have a {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(globe) and interesting name, and realized Alibaba was a story {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(know) across the world.

    The company{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(found) in 1999 and {#blank#}7{#/blank#} then has grown from 15 employees to over 30,000. Alibaba has directly and indirectly created 40 million jobs for China.

    Ma hopes to keep expanding Alibaba outside of China and is aiming for 2 billion {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(consume) and 10 million small businesses to use {#blank#}9{#/blank#}company outside of China.

    Ma became the richest man in China, when  the company he founded floated on the stock market last year with a value of around ＄140 billion—the {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (large) public offering in history.

    English is a language {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(bring) to Britain in the 5th century by Anglo­Saxon settlers from various parts of Northwest Germany. It is convenient to divide English into three periods roughly─Old English, Middle English, and Modern English.

    The {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(early) form of English is called Old English or Anglo­Saxon. Old English developed from a set of North Sea Germanic dialects {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(origin) spoken along the coasts of Frisia, Lower Saxony, Jutland, and Southern Sweden by Germanic tribes known {#blank#}4{#/blank#} the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. Later, Old English was strongly influenced by the North Germanic language Norse, spoken by the Vikings who settled mainly in the northwest. The most famous work from the Old English period is the epic poem Beowulf, written by {#blank#}5{#/blank#} unknown poet. Old English is very different from Modern English and difficult for the 21st­century English speakers to understand.

    For the 300 years following the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Norman kings and the nobility spoke only a {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(vary) of French called Anglo­Norman. English continued to be the language of the common people. The Norman influence {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(strong) the continual evolution of the language over the following centuries, resulting in {#blank#}8{#/blank#} is now referred to as Middle English. And one of the best­known works from the Middle English period is Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

    From the late 15th century, the language changed into Early Modern English, often dated from the Great Vowel Shift. English is continuously absorbing foreign words, especially Latin and Greek, causing English to have the largest vocabulary of any language in the world. By the late 18th century, the British Empire had sped the spread of English through its colonies and geopolitical dominance. Commerce, science and technology, diplomacy, art and formal education all contributed to English {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (become) the first truly global language. As there are many words from different languages, the risk of mispronunciation is high. In 1755, Samuel Johnson published his A Dictionary of the English Language, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} introduced a standard set of spelling conventions and usage norms.

    A small town in New Zealand has announced a (n) {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(usual) plan to ban domestic cats in order to protect native wildlife.

    Those {#blank#}2{#/blank#} currently own cats will not be forced to give them away, according to the plan. However, after their cats pass away, they will not be allowed {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(get) another one. The cats will need to have microchips (芯片) {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(put) just below the surface of {#blank#}5{#/blank#} skins so that they can be found at any time.

    Village officials say the plan {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(need) because domestic cats {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (attack) wild animals in the area. Because of this, the area's native wildlife is {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (rapid) disappearing.

    New Zealand has listed 150 animal species as being seriously endangered and in need of {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(protect). These animals include a kind of ant that only lives under one kind of rock, and a kind of lizard (蜥蜴) that only lives {#blank#}10{#/blank#} a certain area.