When I was thirteen, my parents and I visited an eye doctor. After the examination, {#blank#}1{#/blank#} doctor said with coldness that I had an eye disease. I had inherited it, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} my brother's eyes seemed to be fine.

    Fifteen years after that, my father began to lose {#blank#}3{#/blank#} sight and I did, too. I fixed all my attention {#blank#}4{#/blank#} the effects of my own darkness. My world seemed {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (break) down and it destroyed all my dreams.

    {#blank#}6{#/blank#}, I learnt new things from my father. Twenty years later, I look back at what he has given me. He taught me the determination to move forward {#blank#}7{#/blank#} facing difficulties. His journey taught me valuable lessons for my own path in the darkness. He had held onto his faith and moved from his comfortable hometown to this unknown land.

    I did the same as I stepped into the strange {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (sight) world. Later I gained confidence and learned the language of thankfulness. With great appreciation for my father's example, I learned the powerful combination of faith and insistence and {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (perform) my own different roles. Luckily, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} I inherited from my father helped me see my life differently.

阅读下面短文，在空白处填入 1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

    Several countries in Asia celebrate the Lunar New Year in their own way. But dragon and lion dances in Chinatowns all over the world have helped to make China's New Year the most famous. These days growing {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(number) of people who are not of Chinese origin are joining in. In Tokyo window cleaners dress up like the animals of the Chinese Shengxiao. America, Canada and New Zealand have published memorial stamps for the year of the rooster. Last year New York City made the Lunar New Year {#blank#}2{#/blank#}school holiday for the first time.

    The spread of the Spring Festival is {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(part) due to recent immigration from China: 9.5 million Chinese people {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(move) abroad since 1978, many of {#blank#}5{#/blank#}are far richer than earlier waves of immigrants.

    Aware {#blank#}6{#/blank#}China's growing economic and political influence, foreign leaders have noticed the occasion. Britain's prime minister, Theresa May, has given a video address, a tradition {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(start) in 2014 by her predecessor (前任) . This year's World Economic Forum in Davos was held a week earlier than usual {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(avoid) conflicting with China's New Year.

    China hopes the festival will promote  {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(it) cultural “soft power” abroad. It may give the Chinese people {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(satisfy) to see foreigners enjoy such festivities.

    As you visit Hangzhou's West Lake and its surrounding beautiful hillsides, you'll understand immediately{#blank#}1{#/blank#}it's been a great source of inspiration for artists, poets and philosophers throughout Chinese history.

    While{#blank#}2{#/blank#}rest of the country is moving from two wheels to four, cycling culture is thriving(繁荣的)in Hangzhou. The city{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(develop)China's first bike-sharing system in 2008. It's since grown into the world's {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(big)and one of the world's best public bike systems. You can{#blank#}5{#/blank#} (hard)go a kilometer without passing a bike-sharing station.

Hangzhou grows some of China's finest and most {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(expense) green tea—Longjing. Every spring, before the traditional Qingming Festival, tea {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(lover) from all over the country come to Longjing, a village just south of West Lake{#blank#}8{#/blank#} the first cut of top-quality tea. During tea season—late March and April—you can smell the fresh aroma(芳香)of the tea, when leaves{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(pick)and roasted in the village. The village is open to the public and you can pick your own after {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(get)permission from the local tea farmers.

    The Day After Thanksgiving (Friday) is known as Black Friday. This used to be unofficially or officially the start of holiday shopping season. Almost all stores come out with special early bird offers {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (attract) consumers to their shop. People stand in line hours before the stores are opened, to grab the bargains of the year. In the last few years, we {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (witness) a trend towards bringing those Black Friday Sales online before Friday.

    In the last few years (starting from 2013 to be precise), Black Friday Sales have started before Friday—with some stores {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (start) their Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving day or even on Wednesday and Monday. It would not be surprising to see Black Friday sale starting on Monday on the Black Friday week.

    The closest reason for {#blank#}4{#/blank#} it is known as Black Friday {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (give) in Wikipedia. Many retailers report some of {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (they) highest profits on Black Friday. The black portion of the name, “Black Friday” relates to businesses recording their {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (lose) in red ink and gains in black. This tradition lives on in modern accounting software.

    Deals websites like Dealsofamerica.com started to highlight “Black Friday sales” from 2003 {#blank#}8{#/blank#} then the retailers picked it up. {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (essential), Black Friday is an Internet term. But before it, people used to regard the sales {#blank#}10{#/blank#} “Day after Thanksgiving Sale”.

    Learning English used to be about developing four skills: reading, writing, listening and speaking. After all, that's {#blank#}1{#/blank#} the exams are designed—with four skills tested separately.

    But over the years, educators have come {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (realize) that these four skills should never have been separated, but practiced all at once. And the best way to do that is, perhaps, through public speaking.

    According to Mei Deming, a professor of English at Shanghai International Studies University, giving a speech in an international language {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (require)a speaker to integrate (使成为一体) knowledge and content {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (mental)and express the result systematically. Speakers must draw on the beauty of the language as a whole in order to communicate with an audience.

    This is why the annual China Daily "21st Century Cup" National English Speaking Competition has been gaining in popularity since it began in 1996. "This competition has worked {#blank#}5{#/blank#} a model for developing students' public-speaking skills in English and provided ideas for English teaching in schools and in learning in a broader sense," said Mei.

    Shi Guohua, {#blank#}6{#/blank#} English teacher at Shanghai Qibao High School, held a similar view. He said that key competence in acquiring English today comes from the ability to express oneself rather than in simply passing exams.

    He also {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (stress) that communication should go both ways since traditional English speaking education has focused too much on getting messages out while {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (ignore)the receiver of these messages—the audience. "It's important to understand the audience and build the link between the content being delivered and the interests of the audience," he said. "It's also important to create an impressive opening to a speech."

    As China continues to play an important role in global conversations, there will be more {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (chance) for young Chinese people to present China and tell attracting stories. And in order to tell Chinese stories {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (well), we first need to develop a more overall English skill. Working on public speaking is, perhaps, the place to start.