—I won't. I was _______ just now.

— Exciting, _______ one piece of the music wasn't played quite well.

— Ask all the engineers to come here! Let's have a discussion right now.

— Oh, I couldn't feel ________. I could hardly answer most of the questions they asked.

—Yes. I went to climb Mount Qomolangma.

—Don't worry about that. It'll be easier after the high-speed railway _________.

    When I was eight years old, my mother told me to put my coat on because we were going to go somewhere1. Usually, that meant we were going to see someone important. I would at least get a new toy. I asked which one it would be that day, and she told me that I would get something 2than a toy. She said I would get "access（通道）to a world of toys." I had no real idea what she meant. Did that mean we were buying a toy 3?

    But we did not end up at any toy store. Neither did we finally see anyone we knew.

    4, mother pulled her car into a parking lot in front of a building that looked like something out of the past. It didn't have a modern5at all.

    We took stone steps up to the entrance. Only then I found out what this place was, because there was a sign that 6"Marcy Public Library". We pushed the door open, and my mother led me to the front desk. "I'd like to get my daughter a library card", she told the man7the desk. He asked her to fill out a form. "What kind of books do you like to read?" he asked. I was too shy to 8. I only smiled. "Well, you'll find it out in time," he said. I do not remember9I picked out that day, but I know that in the years that followed I read through books on history, books of poetry, and books about art. The library opened up a world that I 10knew that day.

    So my mother was right. Getting a library card was like getting the access to a world of toys.

    We wake up very early to go to school, maybe even earlier to meet with a teacher, complete our extracurricular(课程以外的) activities, come home to have a quick dinner, talk for eight minutes with our parents and do homework until we fall asleep. But then we remember we have to look at the American College Test (ACT) exercises one more time. Half asleep, we run downstairs to get the ACT books, and start studying. After this we finally get to turn off the lights and drift away to sleep. And then six hours later, we do it all over again.

    In my health class, my teacher told us that teenagers need at least eight to nine hours of sleep each night. The sad truth is, with so much to do every day, high school students cannot keep to this sleep schedule(安排).

    Let me ask you all a question: Doesn't it seem more humane(人道的) to give a teenager perhaps two hours of homework each night? This would allow us to have the eight to nine hours of much needed sleep. Or does it seem better to pile students with five hours of work a night? It leaves us very little time to relax, therefore reducing the time that we can sleep.

    In my opinion, the present structure(结构) of the junior year of high school doesn't work well. Junior year of high school is a time for growth. By this time many students have the ability to think creatively, and solve challenging problems. Homework is important for a student's growth. But do we really need to spend countless hours a night doing it? Too much homework can only lead to too little sleep and too low an ability. I do think it is time to change the structure, so that we sleep at home and learn at school.

    After a while attention to Tom ended, and the usual school murmur(嗡嗡读书声) rose upon the boring air once more. Now the boy began to steal secret glances(偷看) at the girl. She noticed it, made a face at him and gave him the back of her head for the space of a minute. When she slowly faced around again, an apple lay before her. She pushed it away. Tom gently put it back. She pushed it away again, but with less animosity(敌意). Tom patiently returned it to its place. Then she let it remain. Tom wrote on his paper, "Please take it. I got more." The girl glanced at the words, but made no sign.

    Now the boy began to draw something on the paper, hiding his work with his left hand. For a time the girl refused to notice, but her human curiosity soon began to show itself by hardly noticeable(明显的) signs. The boy worked on, seemingly not aware. The girl made some non-committal(含糊的) efforts to see, but the boy did not display that he was aware of it. At last she couldn't bear it and whispered: "Let me see it."

    Tom partly uncovered the picture of a house with some smoke rising from the chimney(烟囱). Then the girl's interest began to fasten itself upon the work and she forgot everything else. When it was finished, she gazed a moment, then whispered:

    "It's nice! Draw a man."

    The artist created a man in the front yard. She was satisfied, and whispered:

"It's a beautiful man—now draw me in it."

    Tom drew an hour-glass(沙漏) as the body, a full moon as her head and some arms added to it. The girl said:

    "It's ever so nice. I wish I could draw. No one has ever taught me that."

    "It's easy," whispered Tom, "I'll teach you."

    "Oh, will you? When?"

    "At noon. Do you go home for dinner?"

    "I'll stay if you will."

   "Good, that's a deal. What's your name?"

    From Asia to America and everywhere in between, Swing—an energetic form of dance that includes six-step and eight-step rhythms(节奏)—has taken the world by storm. Making a recent comeback, swing dance floors have popped up all over the world. Many clubs make fans of Swing happy by holding nights when swing music is played, and sometimes even offering classes to attract customers.

    Though Swing is now popular worldwide, it first appeared alongside the jazz movements of the 1920s and 1930s in New York City. While listening to jazz, the young black people of that time developed the movements of the Lindy Hop—a style of dance that is best known for a break away or "swing out" move and sudden improvisation(即兴表演).

    It was reportedly given this name when a reporter was interviewing a person at the dance hall who was watching other couples dance. When asked what that dance was called, the watcher looked at a newspaper next to him that had an article about Lindbergh—the first person to fly alone across the Atlantic(大西洋)—which was titled, "Lindy Hops the Atlantic". Then the watcher announced that the "Lindy Hop" was the name of the dance, and it has stuck since then.

    In 1926, the Savoy Ballroom was the first large business to offer a place for people to listen to swing music and dance. With its huge dance floor, the Savoy became a big success overnight, attracting some of the best dancers and musicians in the New York area.

    Within ten years, the Lindy Hops was sweeping through the United States and became a symbol of unity, as young people of all racial(种族的) backgrounds crowded into dance halls to swing the night away. Traditional dance teachers did not welcome it because they thought it was not even a real dance and were quite sure about its demise but Swing has proved them wrong; it continues to be one of the world's most fun dances.

    Once upon a time, there was a strange bird. He lived in a tree near the bank of a river.       

    One day, one of the two heads saw a delicious fruit on a tree. He picked it and started eating the fruit. "It is one of the most delicious fruits I have ever eaten," he said.

    The other head said, "      " The first head laughed and said, "You know that we have only one stomach. It makes no difference whether I eat it or you eat it. Moreover, I'm the one who found the fruit.       "

    Later that day, the other head found a tree having poisonous (有毒的) fruits. He took a poisonous fruit and told the first head, "I will eat this fruit."

    The first head shouted, "       If you eat it, both of us will die."

The other head replied, "Shut up! I'm the one who found the fruit. I have the right to eat it."

           In the end, both of them lost their lives.

A. So I have the right to eat it.

B. The first head started crying, but the other head still ate the poisonous fruit.

C. Let me also taste the delicious fruit.

D. The bird had two heads, but they shared one stomach.

E. What do you think of the bird with two heads?

F. Please don't eat this poisonous fruit.

G. The bird looks very beautiful and cute.

—Not yet.

—No, they are a nice      And they have a lovely daughter.

—You are sure to work it        if you read it carefully enough.

— No. To make things       , I lost my phone when I was looking for the wallet.

    When it comes to the letter grade on your test or homework, you might notice that there is no letter E. Have you ever thought about why that is so?

    In the A, B, C, D and F grading system, the first four letters are typically considered passing grades. An F in this system simply stands for "fail". The word "fail" happens to start with the letter F, which seems to leave out the letter E.

    The first college in the US to use a letter grading system like the ones we use today is Mount Holyoke College. In 1897, they began to use the following grading scale;

    A: 95-100% (excellent)         B: 85-94% (good)      C: 76-84% (fair)

    D: 75%( nearly passed)         E: below 75% (failed)

    We can see the inclusion of E instead of F.

    Gradually, the letter grading system became more popular all over the US. However, many schools decided to drop the E grade and go straight to F. There is no evidence(证据) to really support this, but one possible explanation is that teachers were worried that some students and parents might mistake E for "excellent".

    Why do we have letter grades? Well, part of the reason is that they made grading simpler during a time of great change for schools. As the 20th century began, growing cities and an increase in immigration led to larger school classrooms. Most teachers at that time thought this new letter grading system was an easy, fair and clear way to grade students.

    Today, more and more people think that letter grades don't fully show students' learning. However, as teachers try to improve grading methods, many parents continue to prefer the letter grades they got as kids, as they are familiar and easy for parents to understand. So while they might not be perfect, the letter grades probably aren't going away any time soon.

1）居往环境方面的改善；    2）文化生活水平的提高；

3）邀请他来参观体验；      4）.……（不少于一点）

注意：1）词数：80—100；2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；3）文章不得出现真实姓名和学校名称；4.提示词汇：新农村建设rural reconstruction；文化生活水平the level of cultural life .

Dear Jack,

    I am glad to hear from you and get to know …

Yours,

Li Hua