For example, one evening when it was so warm, I stayed awake {#blank#}1{#/blank#} until half past eleven {#blank#}2{#/blank#} have a good look at the moon by myself. But as the moon gave far too much light, I didn't dare open a window. Another time five months ago, I happened to be upstairs{#blank#}3{#/blank#} when the window was open. I didn't go downstairs until the window had to be shut. The dark, rainy evening, the wind, the {#blank#}4{#/blank#} clouds held me {#blank#}5{#/blank#} in their {#blank#}6{#/blank#}; it was the first time in a year and a half that I had seen the night{#blank#}7{#/blank#}.

    Many English language learners believe that the {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (great) difficulty with listening comprehension (理解) is that the listener cannot control how quickly a speaker speaks. They feel that what the speaker says disappears {#blank#}2{#/blank#} they can follow. This frequently means that students {#blank#}3{#/blank#} are learning to listen cannot keep up. They are so busy working out the meaning{#blank#}4{#/blank#} one part of what they hear that they miss the next part. Or they {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(simple) ignore a whole section because they fail to catch it quickly enough. Another difficulty is that the listener is not always in a position to get the speaker to repeat what has been said. And, of course, repeats cannot{#blank#}6{#/blank#} (ask) for when listening to the radio or watching TV.

    Besides,{#blank#}7{#/blank#} (choose) of vocabulary is in the hands of the speaker, not the listener. Very often, for people listening to a foreign language, an unknown word can be like a suddenly {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (drop) stone making them stop and think about the meaning of the word,{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (cause) them to miss the next part of the speech. In listening, it really is a case of “He who{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (stop) to work out the meaning is lost.”

    I was a British general for eighteen years, and I {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(serve) in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Sierra Leone, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} I never really enjoyed it. I just enjoyed the respect that it gave me. The whole time I was just pretending to be a soldier.

    The problem is {#blank#}3{#/blank#}I was good at it, and it's {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(extreme) difficult to walk away from something that you're good at. I guess that was one reason {#blank#}5{#/blank#}I stayed for so long. And ironically (讽刺的是),{#blank#}6{#/blank#} (like) what you think, the military life is actually quite secure. Every one of your needs {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(take) care of finances, medical, housing. I was used to the military life. Even though I always had a dream of {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (become) a great actor, I was {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(terrify) to start the life I really wanted. Anyway, I finally did it. I spent the last two years in {#blank#}10{#/blank#}acting school in California. And you know what? I'm doing quite well. I think I've got the talent. I'm going to be a movie star. Wish me luck, mate.

How to achieve a healthy lifestyle

    We all know that it is good to live a healthy life. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (live) a healthy life means we should eat healthy food. Yet for many of us keeping a healthy lifestyle is very difficult. Part of this is because we are creatures of habit.

    So if you want {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (live) a healthy life, you have to change your habits that are not so healthy. In order to feel less tired, you have to replace your habit of sleeping only 4 hours a day with sleeping at least 6 hours a day.

    Now when most people decide to live a more healthy life, they try to deal with all of their habits all at once. Take losing weight {#blank#}3{#/blank#} example. They go on {#blank#}4{#/blank#} quite strict diet, and yes, they do lose weight, sometimes a lot of weight in a short period. But they do not really change their eating habits. So these people often notice they will gain the weight {#blank#}5{#/blank#} and more even, once they stop the diet.

    And the same holds true for these people. They start exercising in order to lose weight or to overcome a physical problem. Once the weight has been lost or the problem has been overcome, many stop {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (exercise). It has not become a habit.

    In fact, a lot of people don't look forward to {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (create) these habits, such as eating breakfast, regular physical exercise and enough sleep. People complain these habits are so {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (bore) and difficult to achieve that they have {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (little) time to spend on things they like to do. So people should change their attitudes first. What if you thought of chocolate as a kind of boring food? What if you thought of physical exercise as something {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (relax)?