A: Mary, tomorrow is your Mum's 50th birthday, do you know?

B: Of course I do. Do you have any idea about how {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (celebrate) it, Dad?

A: Of course, first of all, a birthday present. What about {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (buy) her a beautiful skirt?

B: That's a good idea. It'll make her look {#blank#}3{#/blank#}（young）. and a big birthday cake, too, with fifties {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (candle).

A: That's right. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}we have a special dinner?

B: How about a Chinese dinner?

A: Fine, where will we have it?

B: Dad, we can have it at home . I {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (learn) to cook a few Chinese dishes from a Chinese friend, {#blank#}7{#/blank#} I am sure Mum would like {#blank#}8{#/blank#}.

A: All right. Will you do {#blank#}9{#/blank#}shopping too?

B: {#blank#}10{#/blank#} don't we go together, Dad?

A: OK.

    It is {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (say) that in the year of 300 AD, there was a kind old man and his name was Saint Nicholas. He was always ready to help the poor and often gave {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (present) to them.

    Today, Father Christmas is {#blank#}3{#/blank#} imaginary figure, but {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (near) all young children believe in him. They think he is an {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (attract) old man with a long white beard {#blank#}6{#/blank#} a long red robe.

    {#blank#}7{#/blank#} the night of the twenty-fourth of December every year, Father Christmas from some cold northern land comes down the chimney of the fireplace  {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (put) presents by the beds of children or to fill their stockings. So children go to bed that night, {#blank#}9{#/blank#}  (hang) up their stockings, and on Christmas morning they wake to find them full of presents. Of course, it's really  {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (they) parents who fill the stockings.

    A farmer once organized a competition between his dog and his rabbit. He dug a hole in one of his biggest fields, and hid a carrot and a bone in it. He wanted to see {#blank#}1{#/blank#} animal would find them first.

    The {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(cheer) and optimistic rabbit threw himself into looking for the carrot, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(dig) here and there, totally convinced that he would find it. But the dog, after sniffing around for a bit, {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(lie) down and began to complain about how difficult it was to find one bone in such a big field.

    The rabbit dug {#blank#}5{#/blank#}hours, and with every new hole the dog complained even more about how difficult this was, even for the rabbit. {#blank#}6{#/blank#}the rabbit thought that each hole dug was one hole less that needed digging. When there was no place in the whole field {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(leave) to dig, the rabbit dug a tunnel right to {#blank#}8{#/blank#}the dog had been lying all the time. There he found the carrot and the bone.

    This is how the dog lost the game. He had come to {#blank#}9{#/blank#}right place at the very beginning but failed to find the bone {#blank#}10{#/blank#}he only complained and didn't try at all.

    When I was in Australia, I accompanied a friend on his driving test. I was {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (amaze) to learn that in Australia, people hardly go to driving schools. Instead, many people practice on the road with a licensed driver sitting next {#blank#}2{#/blank#} them. But this doesn't mean that getting a driving license is a piece of cake. This was the third time that my friend {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (apply) to take the driving test.

    The first time, after confidently driving over an intersection (十字路口), the {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (examine) asked him to pull over and said that he should have stopped {#blank#}5{#/blank#} car and looked right first and then left to make sure there was no other car approaching.

    The second time, a car rushing in front caught him by surprise and he hit the brakes too hard. The examiner got {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (anger) and asked him to get out. In Australia, the test is not about driving skills, {#blank#}7{#/blank#} about following every rules.

    After finally passing the test, my friend drove very {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (careful) because in the first year of having a driving license, running two red lights results in the license being suspended (暂停使用). But one day he {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (pull) over by a policeman who warned him that he was driving too slow and blocking the traffic. Actually, he was driving at a speed of 40 km/h, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} is a totally acceptable speed in China.

    The story happened in ancient times. A king was so clever that he thought of a good way to test {#blank#}1{#/blank#} his men were reliable.

    One day, he had a huge rock {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (place) on a roadway at night. Then he hid {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (him) nearby and watched carefully to see if anyone would remove the big rock. Some {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (wealth) businessmen and high officials came by, but they simply walked around it. Many of them even loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none of them would bother {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (get) the big stone out of the way.

    Then a villager came along carrying a load of vegetables. On {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (approach) the big rock, he stopped and laid down his burden, trying hard to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing, he {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (final) succeeded. As the villager picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the rock {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (be). The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king, saying that the gold was for the person {#blank#}9{#/blank#} removed the huge rock from the road.

    The villager learned a valuable lesson that many others would never understand: Every obstacle presents {#blank#}10{#/blank#} opportunity to improve one's condition.