Margaret always {#blank#}1{#/blank#} her friends cards on Christmas Day. She thinks it is a great way to tell each other how much she values their {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Last week, Margaret went to several different {#blank#}3{#/blank#} looking for special cards for her friends. Margaret likes all the friends equally. She wanted to find a card for each friend that was personal, and she wanted the cards to also look sort of {#blank#}4{#/blank#} same. Margaret spent over an hour looking at cards, but she could not find the cards {#blank#}5{#/blank#} were right.

    Margaret had a great idea. She would make cards for each of her friends. But she wasn't sure how to make cards. She remembered {#blank#}6{#/blank#} somewhere about Christmas Cards that were {#blank#}7{#/blank#} by hand over a hundred years ago. She used the Internet to find out {#blank#}8{#/blank#} about these cards. She made notes for all the materials she would need and went back to the store to get them.

    Margaret spent several hours working on the Christmas cards {#blank#}9{#/blank#}. That night at dinner, Margaret showed her family the cards she had made for her friends. Even her brother thought they were great, and he almost never thinks Margaret's ideas are great. Margaret {#blank#}10{#/blank#}to make each of her parents a Christmas card and one for her brother, too.

Nick: What are reading, Jill?

Jill: It's a book {#blank#}1{#/blank#}the future.

Nick: Sounds cool. So what will the future be like?

Jill: Well, cities will be more {#blank#}2{#/blank#}and polluted. There will be fewer trees and the environment will be in great danger.

Nick: That sounds bad! Will we have to move to other {#blank#}3{#/blank#}?

Jill: Maybe. But I want to live on the earth.

Nick: Me, too. Then what can we do?

Jill: We can use {#blank#}4{#/blank#} water and plant more trees. Everyone should play a part in {#blank#}5{#/blank#} the earth.

Lanzhou is the capital city of Gansu, China. The Yellow River  1 through the city. It has a population of about 4, 410, 000. It rains little all year round, so it is much 2 here than in many. other cities in China. 

There are many large  3 in Lanzhou. And Dongfanghong Square is one of them. It's a great shopping place for every 4 . You can meet people from all over the world there. 

As we all know, Lanzhou is 5 for Lanzhou beef noodles and there are one or two beef noodle restaurants on every street. It's said that people 6 cooking Lanzhou beef noodles in Qing Dynasty. Lanzhou beef noodles are always visitors' first 7 , because a bowl of beef noodles takes only a few minutes to make. Several markets are 8 you if you are interested in other snacks, such as niangpizi, huidouzi and tianpeizi. At 9 , visitors can walk along the banks of the Yellow River to enjoy the beautiful lights. Moreover, there are many Hui people and their clothes look 10 from Han people's. They are friendly and they can cook special and delicious food. 

①Would you like to get fewer colds and feel better? Would you like to have a taste of a special plant? Would you like to keep a plant with little care? An Aloe Vera plant could be just what the scientists may suggest!

②Growing Aloe Vera plants at home can make the air clean and fresh. Studies have shown that they give off oxygen(O2)and take away harmful(有害的) things from the air. With clean and fresh air，you are more likely to stay away from colds, sore throats(喉咙痛) and dry coughs(干咳). And even if you do get sick, Aloe Vera plants may help you get better from the illness faster. 

③Did you know that Aloe Vera plants can be used as medicine?  Aloe Vera gel(胶 体)helps to deal with the pain of burns(烧 伤). And it also helps with itchiness(痒)caused by insect bites. To get this gel，just cut off a part of the plant, peel it, and put the gel on the affected skin(患处) . This easy-to-get and safe-to-use medicine is available to you all year round. 

④Apart from medical use, Aloe Vera plants are also popular in food industry(产业). Whether you are interested in Aloe juice or love Aloe yogurt, you'll easily find them in the supermarket. Aloe Vera can also go with other vegetables to make a safe dish on your dinner table. 

⑤____. They like dry，warm air with bright light, so they grow best when placed near a window. Aloe Vera plants can keep water in their leaves. So, they do not need to be watered so often as most houseplants. Just wait until(直到) the earth is completely dry before you water them. When watering, make sure the earth is wet enough so that it can last for a long time. That's all you need to do to take care of an Aloe Vera plant. Isn't it the perfect plant for lazy and forgetful gardeners?

It's a lovely day. Sarah is going to have a picnic in the park with her friends. She has prepared a lot of food:meat and some vegetables. All are the daily food in our life. But do you know where some of them came from? Let me tell you. 

Chickens were once wild birds in the forests of Asia. About 3, 400 years ago, humans began to keep chickens. However, the birds were small and their meat was too hard to eat. So people only kept chickens to fight for sport. 

The seeds of the cocoa tree can be made into chocolate. But 2, 000 years ago, people in Central America only drank chocolate. In Europe, chocolate drinks started to get popular in the 1500s when sugar was added. 

At first, people were afraid of eating tomatoes because they thought tomatoes were poisonous plants. One day, a brave man ate the first tomato. People were surprised that he didn't die. They tried the tomatoes and found that they tasted nice. Soon tomatoes became one of the best vegetables in the market. 

Long before ice cream, water ices were popular all over Asia. During the Tang Dynasty, some people made ice cream from milk. Later, travelers took this idea back to Europe. Soon, many people wanted to try it and it became popular everywhere.