If you fancy a break over the festive season, then why not join Solos Holidays on one of their special Christmas or New Year breaks. These social events are a great opportunity to mix and associate.

    Stratford Christmas Market

    A wonderful way to start getting into the festive spirit on this 2-night Christmas market break. Wander under the twinkling lights while shopping for homemade gifts and tasting warming wine, roast chestnuts or luxury(奢侈的) chocolates. Explore historical Stratford-upon-Avon and enjoy dinner on both evenings where you can relax, join in the hotel's party night and hit the dance-floor with other single guests.

    Departure: 7th December

    Price: £380, Breakfast Dinner

    New Year in Brighton

    Head to the south coast and the busy town of Brighton for a 3-night break this New Year. Celebrations begin with a Solos welcome drink before joining other single guests for dinner and musical entertainment. The next morning we take the fun ‘Only in Brighton Tour' showcasing all things special about Brighton, before New Year's Eve kicks off with a Gala dinner and party to take us into 2019.

    Departure: 30th December

    Price: £555, Breakfast & Dinner

    To find out more about Solos Holidays Black Tie Balls, Party Nights, Dances & Festive Breaks that take place at venues(场所)across the UK throughout December: call 0844826 8515 or visit solosholidays.co.uk

    My kids lifted the Christmas ornaments (饰品) out of a wooden box in Gee's living room. They were so happy and excited to see tiny stuffed cats and cartoon characters. Gee stood beside them, quietly explaining each treasure. She told me that she and Tom built their Christmas ornament collection piece by piece each year. She smiled as we left with the box, because her precious heirlooms, gathered over a life time, had found a new home.

    We first met Tom and Gee in the early days of our marriage. Someone had been returning our garbage cans to the garage, and Jim and I had wondered who One day we spotted him: a man who lived across the street. I baked cookies and left them on a bench outside the garage with a thank-you note. We then found a typed letter from Tom, explaining that he had begun returning cans for people he hardly knew, because neighbors had done this for Gee when he was in hospital. Now he paid it forward by doing the same for all of us.

    A few years after we'd moved in, Tom died, much to our sorrow. Gee told us she still talked to Tom every day. When we left her house with the precious box, I realized how hard it must be for Gee to part with that box, a piece of Tom.

    These days, we're planning a move. The house that seemed so huge six years ago is filled with furniture, books, toys and, of course, people. We know it's time to go, but soon realize gaining a third bedroom seems like a bad trade for all we stand to lose.

    This Christmas, we'll decorate our tree with Gee and Tom's ornaments. Maybe I'll talk to Tom just as Gee still does. Thank you, I'll say For teaching us what it means to be a neighbor.

Comments on the July Issue of Reader's Digest

    Jennie Gardner, Bath

    I couldn't agree more with Lee Child, that books are really important. Yes, you can get lost in them but you can also find yourself and new worlds and possibilities in them. Books help us to forget and remember. They remind us both of what's really important and what's not.

    And, as Lee says, they let us hold the whole world in our hands, We can feel the weight of this word, we can mark our favourite spots, add in our own thoughts and see our progress through the pages as the story leads us back home, allowing us to re-find ourselves along the way.

    Jayne Wile, North Wales

    Brian Blessed's I Remember was most enjoyable. I love Brian, a popular actor of stage and screen. It was interesting to learn more about his life. I noted how he enjoyed being involved in the Space Program, doing 600 hours training in Moscow and I have to agree with his thought："We need to get out to Mars because the Earth has got to rest." Mars has always been a source of inspiration for explorers and scientists.

    Melanie Lodge, West Yorkshire

    I was thrilled to read author Lee Childs If I Ruled The World. I was most impressed that he wanted to make teachers the most respected and highest paid professionals.

    I work as a teaching assistant in a primary school and have done so since my youngest daughter began school 12 years ago. Until then I had no idea just how much planning was involved in each lesson and how much patience was required in a class of 30 children! I also agree with Lee that there's nothing more rewarding than finishing a good book.

    China will follow up on its successful mission (任务) to the far side of the moon by sending a probe to Mars next year, one of its top space scientists said Sunday. Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar exploration program, said the red planet was the natural next step. "Next year we'll launch a Mars probe to orbit around the Mars, land on it and probe it," he said. China will also send another probe to take back samples from the moon's surface.

    Wu's comments came as a Mars simulation(模拟) base opened in Qinghai's Qaidam Basin. According to the state-run Global Times, while the red rocky area bears a strikingly similarity to Mars, it's extremely difficult to simulate Mars due to its special natural features and hostile environment—low air pressure, strong radiation and frequent sandstorms, as well as vast differences in geography.

    China didn't send its first satellite into orbit until 1970, by which time America had already landed an astronaut on the moon, but it's been catching up fast. Since 2003, China has sent six crews into space and two space labs into Earth's orbit. In 2013, China successfully landed a rover, Yutu 1, on the moon, becoming only the third country to do so.

    Last December, China landed another probe and a rover, Yutu 2, on the far side of the moon. Progress has been slow going since then: due to the extreme conditions there, the rover often has to hibernate to preserve its capabilities for further exploration, Wu said. "The temperature there is minus 190 degrees Celsius, which all components and parts cannot stand. So we let it sleep for a while, making sure it can spend the night safely. A few days ago, it woke up automatically to work. We've gained lots of data in the past few days, and we're going to make the data known to the world,” Wu said.

    Last July, Angela Peters rolled her wheelchair into a nail salon (美容院) at the Walmart shopping center with the idea of 1 her nails. But Peters, who has cerebral palsy(脑瘫), was 2 because the salon was afraid it would be too difficult to properly paint her nails, given that her 3 shook. What was meant to be a day of beauty 4 for Peters was now a disappointment.

    5 nearby was Ebony Harris, a Walmart cashier about to go on her 6 . Harris recognized Peters as a Walmart 7. "She's just like you, me and anybody else." Harris told ABC News, "She wants to look 8. So why can't she?"

    Harris approached Peters. "Do you want me to do your nails?" she asked. A smile 9 across Peters's face. "Yeah!"

    Harris 10 Peters into the beauty section, where they shopped for nail polish. They 11 on a bright blue—a color that would 12 every eye. They then made their way into a(n)13 McDonald's, found a table for two, and set up shop. Harris 14 took Peters's hand into hers and carefully began painting her nails.

    Watching it all with 15 was McDonald's employee Tasia Smith. What 16 her most was the ease and gentleness displayed by Harris, all the while 17 as if they were old friends. Smith was so taken by the 18 that she wrote about it on Facebook: She was so 19 with her. Thanks to the Walmart worker for making this beautiful girl's 20 ! And Peters wrote, "When people do us wrong, we should learn to forgive!"

    Once eating alone was just that: sitting down in a restaurant on one's own and eating a meal. Everyone did it sometimes, and when they did so, . To eat alone might suggest that you didn't have any friends. There was a kind of shame attached to it.

    Nowadays, however, there is more and more solitary (独自的) eating for pleasure. . "Foodies"—people with a passionate interest in cuisines—do it because all they need is the chance to eat good food. They don't want company or conversation, but only the joy of eating some special dish. Other people eat alone because it's simply practical for them to do so. For instance, it's estimated that nearly a third of all the customers of fast-food restaurants eat alone. They are served with their food fast, eat it fast and then leave fast. .

    But the appeal of eating alone is quite different.  . For the hour or so that it takes to have a meal, they can forget all the pressures of their lives. They don't have to deal with their family or job. They can relax and let their mind wander. Maybe they'll bring a book, a newspaper to enjoy a quiet time.

    David Annand, editor of Conde Nast Traveler magazine, who delights in dining alone, speaks of his pleasure in the "rhythm of a meal in a restaurant—its ebb and flow (人来人往), the periodic arrival and departure of the waiter".  .

A. It's an experience of freedom

B. they might be a little embarrassed

C. People choose to eat alone for various reasons

D. none of them would feel bad about themselves

E. Sometimes staying alone is quite cosy when you don't work

F. This restaurant rhythm allows him to sit back, observe and think

G. It saves time if they have a meeting or a child to pick up from school

    Once a group of  (high) successful engineers got together to visit their old university professor, Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. While they were  (talk), the professor went and prepared coffee in the kitchen. Then back with a pot of coffee and cups  different kinds, some ordinary-looking, some expensive, some delicate, the professor told them to help (they) to hot coffee. When they all had a cup of coffee in their hands, he said, "If you noticed, all the nice-looking expensive cups (take)up, leaving behind the plain and cheap-looking ones. While it's normal for you to choose the best for yourselves, that's the source of your problems and stress. In (real), the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. What mattered most was coffee, not the cup,  you went for the best cups directly and  (bad) still, you began eyeing each other's cups. If life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They're just tools  hold and contain life, but the quality of life doesn't change. Sometimes by  (concentrate) only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

    Don't let the cups drive you, and enjoy the coffee instead.

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词；

删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉；

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

    A boy and a girl go playing together. The boy wanted to give the girl all his marbles in exchange of all her sweets. The girl agreed. The boy kept best marble aside and gave the rest to the girl, which gave him all her sweets. That night, the girl slept peaceful while the boy couldn't fall sleep. He was wondering that if the girl had hidden some sweets from him the way he had hidden his best marbles. You think the way you act. If you don't give you one hundred percent in a relationship, you'll keep doubt if the other has given his.

1）感激之情；

2）礼物寓意；

3）美好祝愿。

注意：1）词数100左右；

2）可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；

3）开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。

Hi, everybody,

    On this special occasion, I feel much honored

    Thank you very much!