Once，there was a young painter who was good at painting birds. His paintings sold{#blank#}1{#/blank#}and he was famous all over his country.

    The emperor loved collecting(收藏)paintings，especially roosters(公鸡). {#blank#}2{#/blank#}he asked the famous painter to paint a rooster for him. He wanted the rooster to be the best of all his collections.

     The painter{#blank#}3{#/blank#}to do so. The emperor waited and waited for one year, but did not get the painting. He became {#blank#}4{#/blank#}and asked the painter to come to see him.

    The painter came. He walked into the palace{#blank#}5{#/blank#}paper, paints and a brush. In five minutes，a perfect(完美的)picture of a rooster{#blank#}6{#/blank#}on the paper. Seeing this，the emperor was all the more angry.“If you can paint a picture of a rooster in five minutes，{#blank#}7{#/blank#}did you keep me waiting for a year?”he said.

    “I'll let you know why，Your Majesty ”said the painter. “Could you please come with me?”

    He{#blank#}8{#/blank#}the emperor to his own study(书房). There，paper almost filled the {#blank#}9{#/blank#}. On each paper was a painting of a rooster.
    “Your Majesty, ”explained the painter. “It took{#blank#}10{#/blank#}one year to improve my skill in order to paint a perfect rooster for you. ”

A.popular              B.when             C.at all

D.interests            E.pick up               F.in all

    Do you know what gifts Western kids enjoy best? How do they give them? Let's have a quick look.The most {#blank#}1{#/blank#}gifts are fashionable things like the new video games, CDs and DVDs. A video game costs about US$60 and CDs or DVDs are cheaper at around US$20.Girls like to give jewellery (宝石) they make themselves. They {#blank#}2{#/blank#}pretty beads (串珠) in DIY shops and put them together in their own way.

    US kids give gifts according to their friends' {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Puzzles or airplane models are good for smart kids.But if you are not sure what others will like, you can give them "gift certificate cards (授权卡)" from a store. They can get whatever they like with the cards. The cards can be worth US$20 or US$30 {#blank#}4{#/blank#}.Usually parents help the kids buy the gifts that they want. So they can make the right decision.

    Before the parties, kids usually wrap the gifts in colourful paper. It's also fine to use newspaper as gift wrap.So {#blank#}5{#/blank#}to open the gifts? In the West, it's usually while everyone is at the party. The receiver (接受者) tries to say something about each gift - like how lovely it is.

A: This is something I've never seen. What is it used for?

B: It's used for {#blank#}1{#/blank#} water. It helps my family use only half as much water as we used to.

A: Wow, that's great! Where can I buy one?

B: You can't get one {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. Because my father invented it {#blank#}3{#/blank#}.

A: Really? Your father must be very creative then.

B: Yes. And he believes that water is important. He says we should do something to save water. How do you save water?

A: Well, I save water {#blank#}4{#/blank#} using shower water to clean the toilet.

B: That {#blank#}5{#/blank#} good. I think I'll do the same thing as you later.