—All right, Mum.

—I'd love to, _______ I'm afraid I'm busy with my homework.

— _______ Next time you'll do well.

    Most people like tomatoes. And they think of tomatoes as a1, because they are not sweet and are used for providing flavor（口味）to food. But they are actually fruit.

    Tomatoes are from Mexico. Spanish explorers who went to South America about 500 years ago,2the tomatoes to Europe. Because the tomatoes look like apples, the French called them love3, while the British called them apples of gold. So we think4is the tomato's hometown.

    The first people in Europe to5tomatoes were Italians. As far back as 500 years ago, the joys of eating fried tomato6salt and pepper, was known to them.

    In some7like England and Mexico, tomatoes were thought to have poison in them.

    That is because tomatoes look like plants called the belladonna（颠茄）. But people grew them in their garden because of their beautiful8and look. They even thought that tomatoes caused diseases. But they soon got over the fear.

    It is believed that the British brought the tomato to India. This was about 300 years ago.

    Gradually, the people in9started discovering that the tomato tasted10. Today, the whole world is crazy about the tomato.

    Once Mr. King had a cat, and he loved it very much. He called it "Sky", because he thought "Sky" was the strongest name in the world.

    One day he had a meal at a restaurant with his cat. He met his old friend. He told him about his lovely cat and its name. His friend said, "How foolish you are! Sky is not the strongest thing in the world. My cat is called „Cloud' because cloud is stronger than sky." After hearing this, Mr. King called his cat "Wind" because he thought wind was stronger than cloud.

    After a few days he suddenly thought that "Wall" was stronger than wind. And "Mouse" was stronger than wall. So he went to his friend to ask for an idea. His friend said, "Don't you think Cat is stronger than mouse？" "Yes, but..."

    The man thought and thought and then decided his cat's name had better be "Cat" because a mouse was always afraid of a cat. Don't you think Mr. King is very silly or funny？

    Books can be a best friend. But do you know how to enjoy reading books? Here are some advice for you.

    Find a book. Look for books in a library or a bookstore. You can also ask friends if you can check out their books.

    If you find a good book, read the first page to see how it reads. Do not start to read it until you have the time. It is best for you to wait until you finish your homework.

    Sit in a comfortable chair or sofa. Have a lamp on the back of you, lighting the room where you are reading. And then you do not have to get up soon after starting to read.

    _______ You should be calm before you begin to read. If there is too much noise, it's not good for you to read.

    Start the book by turning the pages. Do not think about anything else, but what you're reading. Put yourself into the story. If you read carefully, it will be difficult to put the book down.

    Read and really enjoy it. Reading is not running your eyes over a book. But if you need to, read out the book fast, then you do not need to pay attention to every word.

    Mr. Brown got up late this morning. He was going to be late for work. It was raining hard and the streets were wet. He drove so fast that he didn't see the red lights. He couldn't stop his car and hit a car. An old man got out of the car and called out angrily, "What are you doing? How can you drive so fast? "

    "I'm sorry, sir," said Mr. Brown, "I didn't see the lights turn red." Then he brought out a bottle of wine and gave it to the old man.

    "It's cold today, sir," said Mr. Brown. "Please drink a little, and then you'll get warm."

    The old man drank some wine and became happy. He asked, "I'm feeling much better now.

    Why don't you drink any? "

    "I can't drink anything now, sir," answered Mr. Brown, "I'm waiting for the policeman. Only drunkards（酒鬼）make accidents（交通事故）, you know! "

    Hello, everyone! I'm Tina. Today I'd like to talk about my advice        learning maths. It is a good idea        (read) the textbook before the class. Always listen        (careful) to the teacher during the class. This is the key point. And remember to take        (note). Read your notes        you do your homework. Then you can do your homework        (much) easily. I also suggest you        (write) your mistakes down on your notebook.        (not) forget to write down the correct answers next to the mistakes. If you have some problems, you can ask your teacher for        (help). That's all. Do you agree with       ?

A. Seikan Tunnel, Japan

B. Stad Ship Tunnel, Norway（挪威）

C. Marmaray Tunnel, Turkey（土耳其）

D. Gotthard Base Tunnel, Switzerland（瑞士）

E. Channel Tunnel, France and United Kingdom

⒈       ⒉       ⒊       ⒋       ⒌       

1）What's your favorite sport?

2）What do you think of your favorite sport?

3）When do you play your favorite sport?

4）How often do you play your favorite sport?

5）With whom do you often play your favorite sport?

注意：

1）短文必须包括以上内容，也可适当发挥；

2）短文开头已给出，不计入总词数。

My Favorite Sport

    My name is Wang Wei. I am an eighth-year student in Guangming Middle School.