Hunting was once popular in the USA. Long ago the wild was filled with rabbits, bears and many other animals. Hunting provided people with a lot of meat. Also some expressions Americans use today{#blank#}1{#/blank#}hunting.

    One of the expressions is "to bark(吠叫) up the wrong tree". It comes from hunting raccoons(浣熊). The raccoon is a very clever animal. It{#blank#}2{#/blank#}during the day and comes out at night. Hunters used dogs to chase(追赶) the animals. The raccoon used many tricks to escape the dogs. Often it would travel through the river for a while to hide its{#blank#}3{#/blank#}from the dogs. It would also climb into a tree to rest, leaving the dogs barking below it. The hunter found the tree by walking to the sound of the dogs. He used a light to try to see the raccoon and then caught it. Sometimes, however, the raccoon was not in the tree. It had jumped to{#blank#}4{#/blank#}tree and escaped, leaving the dogs "barking up the wrong tree". The expression now means "to be mistaken" or "to look for something in the wrong place".

    Tom is an American boy. He's tall and healthy. He likes {#blank#}1{#/blank#} sports very much. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} is his favorite. so he often watches basketball games on TV. He thinks the games are great. Tom often plays basketball with his friends on {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. One day, he went to the {#blank#}4{#/blank#} with his friends. They had a basketball game with the boys in No. 2 Middle School, They played very well, but at last they lost the game. They felt very {#blank#}5{#/blank#} After the game, Tom sat down and {#blank#}6{#/blank#} with his friends. Then, a man walked to them. Wow! The man is a great basketball {#blank#}7{#/blank#} in the city. Many people know him. He's {#blank#}8{#/blank#} with his students. Some of the basketball players in CBA are his students. The man said Tom played very well. He asked him to {#blank#}9{#/blank#} the city basketball club, It's really a piece of good news for Tom. He will make new {#blank#}10{#/blank#} and become a good player in the club.