When I called up my mother in the countryside on the phone, she told me snakes came to her home now and then, and {#blank#}1{#/blank#} they seemed to have made their home there. I got the chance to distinguish {#blank#}2{#/blank#} by inventing something {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (mercy) to catch the snakes.

    No products can help me catch snakes, so I set out {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (research) the habits of snakes to trap them. I decided on three approaches: firstly, removing their habitat; secondly, {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(attract) them into {#blank#}6{#/blank#} trap, and thirdly cooling them. I used the {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (freeze) bowl to make the snakes less active, {#blank#}8{#/blank#} then collected them. The next day I released them into the wild.

    I have filled {#blank#}9{#/blank#} the form and filed my patent {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (apply) with the Patent Office.

    In only fifty years, English{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(develop) into the language which is most{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(wide) spoken and used in the world. English is the working language of most international organizations, international trade and tourism. Businessmen and tourists often come to China without being able to speak{#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Chinese businessmen, taxi drivers and students talk with them using English. English is also the language of{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(globe) culture, such as popular music and the Internet. You can listen to English songs{#blank#}5{#/blank#}the radio{#blank#}6{#/blank#}use English to communicate{#blank#}7{#/blank#}people around the world through the Internet. With so many people{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(communicate) in English every day, it will become{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(important) to have{#blank#}10{#/blank#}good knowledge of English.

    Charlie Chaplin was born in a poor family of music hall performers in 1889. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} astonished us was that Charlie {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(teach) to sing as soon as he could speak and dance as soon as he could walk. Such training was common in acting families at that time, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (especial) when the family income was often uncertain. Unfortunately his father died, leaving the family even worse off. By his teens, Charlie had become one of the most popular child actors in England. No one was ever bored {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(watch) him—his subtle acting made everything {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(entertain). As time went by, he began making films. His film character, the little tramp, was a social {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(fail) but was loved for his optimism and determination {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(overcome) all difficulties.

    Charlie wrote, directed and produced the films he {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(star) in. In 1972 he was given {#blank#}9{#/blank#}special Oscar for his outstanding work. He lived in England and the USA but spent his last years in Switzerland, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} he was buried in 1977. He is loved and remembered as a great actor who could inspire people with great confidence.

    When Jennifer Lawrence tripped on her way to accept her best actress Oscar one year, her pink princess-like Dior dress {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (capture) in all its glory. The unscripted moment became hot topic throughout social media.

    That bonus air-time for a single dress at one of the world's global events is priceless for the likes of Dior, one of the {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (influential) fashion houses in the luxury marketplace.

    Success on the red carpet can earn exposure and profits for luxury brands for years {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (come). The red carpet, which will be televised live before Academy Award ceremony, presents a great opportunity for a designer to reach an audience that expands {#blank#}4{#/blank#} the fashion setting. The Lawrence dress received about 40 million mentions on various social media.

    One way of estimating the monetary benefits of having a standout dress on the red carpet is to compare how much a brand would otherwise spend on commercial advertising during the same time. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Lawrence had only 75 seconds of solo camera time for her Oscar acceptance speech, Dior had to pay more than $4 million for a commercial spot of the same duration on similar occasions. And this didn't include the time {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (devote) to Lawrence and her dress on the pre-show televised red carpet. Lawrence, 23, had an advertising contract with Dior. {#blank#}7{#/blank#} the group's deal with Lawrence affected its sales was clearly stated in its annual financial report. That year, the group clothing section's profits {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (total)165 million euros, up 26 percent from the previous year.

    Heston, the founder of a publicity firm, {#blank#}9{#/blank#} success stories include introducing Jimmy Choo shoes and designer Saab to Hollywood, believes that the Oscar red carpet is today dominated by established luxury brands. Finding it much more difficult to compete with big brand names to dress super stars on big events, many young designers turn to {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (bet) on promising rising stars, expecting an overnight success if the young stars rise to sudden fame.

    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.