Virginia Key is a barrier island {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(contain) a variety of upland and wetland plant communities. It {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(locate) in Biscayne Bay, south of Fisher Island and bordering {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Atlantic Ocean. The city of Miami is the present landowner of the north point of Virginia Key.

    Since the 1970s, the island {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(be) the site of the deposition(淤积) of sand from the Port of Miami, which destroyed its beaches as a turtle habitat. Due to historical clearing of native vegetation(植被) followed by carelessness, non-native plants {#blank#}5{#/blank#} threatened the ecology of Virginia Key grew rapidly.

    {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(fortunate), 11,000 young mangrove(红树) representing over eight acres of habitat have been replanted in Virginia Key {#blank#}7{#/blank#} volunteers over the past five years. Volunteers are now working hard {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (monitor) the habitat. Each month, they survey birds, check the {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (grow) of new vegetation, collect water quality data, and observe changes in the landscape. Please sign up {#blank#}10{#/blank#} you'd also like to participate.

    You might have seen this in US TV dramas. A group of girls knock on people's doors, trying to sell cookies. What are they doing? They are Amercican Scouts（女童子军）,and {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (sell) cookies is a tradition of {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (they).

    Selling cookies is just one activity among all the fun things that Girl Scouts do. The Girl Scouts of the USA is a group {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (found) in 1912.It offers all kinds of activities to girls and lets them learn skills.

    Boys can be scouts too. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} they join a different group called the Boy Scouts of America (RSA), {#blank#}5{#/blank#} was founded in 1910.

    Now there are 1.9 million Girl Scouts in the US, according to the group, Usually, they go {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (camp) and learn how to build fires and use a compass. Sometimes they also stay {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (indoor) doing crafts or learning arts. Every time they do an activity or pass a test, they get a badge.

    The Boy Scouts love to win the badges too. They have a ranking system. And winning enough badges is {#blank#}8{#/blank#} must to get into a {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (high) rank. The highest rank is "Eagle", which {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (require) at least 21 badges. Neil Armstrong the first man on the moon, and Bill Gates, the father of Microft, were both Eagle Scouts when they were young.

Dear headmaster,

    On hearing the news that a Reading Festival is to be held on campus on the World Book and Copyright Day and the possible project is open to be recommended, I {#blank#}1{#/blank#} hardly wait to write to you, sharing my humble opinions.

    As far as I'm concerned, the theme of the festival can be “sharing”, primarily {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (consist) of three parts. Firstly, the festival can start with a 30-minute discussion where groups of students can exchange and share what they {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (expose) to recently, expressing themselves freely. Following this section is the speech. Teacher and student representatives previously selected by us are to share and recommend the book they think really deserving to be read. It's needless to say that the last sharing section which is the most meaningful is donation, during {#blank#}4{#/blank#} time everyone present, teachers or students, is expected to donate one or more books to the library. As for when {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (hold) the activity, the afternoon may be an ideal choice so that it won't interrupt our classes.

    My advice is justified by the following reasons. First and foremost, it is in the group discussion and exchange that we students can have a thorough idea {#blank#}6{#/blank#} our peers are reading for the moment, serving as a driving force for our own reading journey. So it is {#blank#}7{#/blank#} the books recommended. Named by those “idols” in our mind, they will definitely win our heart. As for the donation, the benefits are exactly self-evident. {#blank#}8{#/blank#} can we share beyond our class or even beyond our school, developing a good campus tradition, but {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (importantly), these books which are sure to be dusted on our shelves can now be of more value.

    I'm looking forward to your favorable reply. And {#blank#}10{#/blank#} is my sincere hope that the festival can be a great success and we can gain a lot from it.

Yours,

Amy Young