I work in a middle school. It is pleasant for me to plant in my free time. At the beginning of the school year, I had an idea—what if my students used a classroom _______ to grow vegetables for our school lunches? The students could _______ learn about planting science.

I asked my headmaster _______ I could start a new plant lab garden. I was only in my second year of _______, but she agreed.

As soon as my students went into the classroom, they got _______. They all wanted to learn how to grow vegetables in this way of indoor gardening called hydroponics(水培). This is great for areas that don’t have ________ farmland. It helps people to grow healthy vegetables just about anywhere.

To grow 45 beds of green vegetables, we need many things _______ growing cups, LED growing lights, fans, a water pump (水泵) and so on. Although the students failed for the first time, none of them _______. They kept on trying until they finally succeeded. It was interesting for them to watch the vegetables grow every day. And they all smiled _______ when seeing students in other classes eat the vegetables they grew. My students’ new goal is that our school won’t need to _______ green vegetables any more.

It was a cold and snowy morning after the winter vacation. Actually, it was my first day at my new school. I was walking slowly and worrying about lots of things. It was 7:00 in the morning and there weren’t many people on the road. A girl on a bike passed me quickly. She was riding on ice when suddenly she fell off her bike a few steps in front of me. She was trying hard to get up but fell once more. Without thinking, I went over and helped her stand up. She said, “Thank you,” with a smile and then rode away. The words “Thank you” warmed me and this small event made me feel less nervous about my new school.

Finally, I got to school. The teacher led me to the classroom and asked me to sit down beside a girl. I was so nervous. I knew some of the students were looking at me but I didn’t dare to look at them. Soon the first class started. It was English. They used a different textbook from my old school and I didn’t have a copy. As I was wondering what to do, a book appeared in front of me. “Let’s share,” the girl next to me said. “And hi, I’m Carrie.” I looked up. It was the girl I helped that morning. What a surprise!

From then on, we became good friends. She was my first and best friend at my new school. Helping her also helped me find a friend.

My dad has always spent his free time climbing mountains. He spends several years in planning his route, listening to the weather report and finding the best maps, and he really likes a good challenge. For example, he always chooses the most difficult path up the mountain, so that he can achieve something.

As soon as I could walk, he started taking me with him sometimes. At first, he used to carry me on his shoulders. Later on, I had my own little boots and I followed him up the easiest slopes (陡坡). I can still remember how happy I was when we set off.

The first time I did a proper (真正的) climb with him, I was about eight years old. As we got to the top, we saw some other climbers standing there admiring the view. They couldn’t believe my father had managed to get to the top with such a small girl. In fact, we weren’t the only ones who managed to do so that day. When we were coming down, we met another family with two young girls, who must have been just behind us.

I'm now 15 and I belong to a climbing club. Dad always hoped to pass on his love of climbing to me. It seems that he has. I already spend most of my weekends in the mountains. Sometimes dad comes too, but now I’m the one out in front, and he can’t always catch up with me!

It is said that tea can improve creative power of the literary (文学的) artists in ancient China.

According to Lu Yu’s Tea Classics, tea—drinking in China can be traced back (追溯) to the Zhou Dynasty — tea was discovered by Shen Nong and became popular as a drink in the State of Lu because of Zhou Gong.

Tea—drinking in China has a history of four thousand years. As the legend (传说) has it, Shen Nong tasted hundreds of wild plants to see which were poisonous, in order to prevent people from eating the poisonous plants. It is said that he was once poisoned but was saved by eating some leaves of an evergreen plant with white flowers. Later, people called the leaves that saved his life “cha”.

In modern times, people still keep tea—drinking as one of their daily activities. According to the study, tea can also have effects on some modern illnesses. To those who have to work with computers for a long time, drinking tea can help them to build up a wall against the computer radiation. To those who may have too much fat, drinking tea can help them to recreate a new balance in their bodies. And to those aged people, drinking tea is also a good way to keep a calm mood for a longer life.

Two little girls,14-year-old Cindy and 12-year-old Lucy, wrote to a newspaper office, asking some fast food restaurants to stop giving away free plastic(塑料) toys. Many people read the letter and supported them.

“We have been learning all about the environment at school and the problem of plastic. It made us very sad to see how plastic harms wildlife and pollutes the ocean, and we want to change this.That’s why we want the fast food restaurants to think of the environment and stop giving away plastic toys with their kids meals.” the two girls wrote in their letter.

“We like to go to eat in fast food restaurants, but children only play with the plastic toys they give us for a few minutes before they get thrown away. In the end, they will harm animals and pollute the sea. We want anything they give us to be sustainable (可持续发展的), so we can protect the earth for us and for future humans,” they continued.

The letter made a large number of readers pay attention to them. The number of people who supported them almost doubled after reporters followed the two little girls.

Since the little girls’ story started being picked up by news reporters, the fast food restaurants had to give a reply to the newspaper office, telling about their plans for making their free toys more sustainable.

   There are some famous buildings that everyone can recognize (识别). When you see a picture of a sports stadium that reminds you of a bird’s nest(鸟巢), you probably know it is the Olympic stadium in Beijing. When you see a picture of a famous concert hall that reminds you of a sailing ship, you probably know it is the Sydney Opera House in Australia. Buildings like these are easily recognized worldwide. They were designed to look like other things if people use their imaginations.

Other buildings do not need any imagination. They are made to look exactly like other things. Sometimes, these buildings are offices, restaurants, or even houses. Three buildings built in this way are actually museums. The shape(外形) of the building is a clue (线索) to the objects that people can see inside.

In Guizhou, China, people can visit the Meitan Tea Museum, built in the shape of a huge teapot. There is also a second building next door that is shaped like a tea cup. From far away, the nine-storey teapot shaped museum looks like some kind of huge work of art. But as one gets closer, the windows make it clear that this is a building.

People who are interested in guitars might want to visit the Guitar Museum in the USA. The three-storey building is shaped like a guitar lying on its side. Inside, visitors can see all kinds of guitars as well as learn about famous guitar players.

One of the newest funny-shaped museums is a pottery (陶器) museum in Korea. This museum, built in 2011, is shaped just like a real pot. Along with seeing examples of pots and tools used for making pots in the museum, visitors can try to make their own pots there.

If you go to another country, what kinds of things would you buy? Would you buy a camera in Japan, some  
31． (beauty) clothes in France, or a watch in Switzerland? No matter
32． you may buy, you might think those products were made in those
33． (country). However, you could be wrong. Kang Jian is a l7-year-old student from Shanghai. Last year he
34． (go) to visit his aunt and uncle in San Francisco. He found it interesting that so many products in the local shops were made in China. “I wanted to buy a toy car for my cousin, but even though most of the toys are American brands, they were made in China.”

Toys are not the only things made in China. “Once I wanted to buy a pair of basketball 
35． (shoe).” he explains. “But I had to visit five or six stores before
36． (find)a pair made in America!” He realized that Americans can
37． (hard) avoid buying products made in China. “In fact,” he continues, “there were many other things there made in China—footballs, handbags, pet food, mobile phones. 
38． American flags are made in China!” Kang Jian thinks it’s great that China is so good at making
39． (this) everyday things. However, he hopes that
40． the future China will also get better at making high—technology products that people can buy in all parts of the world.

Jack is 11 years old and he lives in a small village. There are only two rooms in his house—one for his parents and the other for Jack and his little brother, John. They were both born in
41． (一月), but Jack is two years older than John. Every morning, Jack gets up
42． (早的) and looks after John while their mother makes breakfast. The family has breakfast together. They usually have
43． (面包) with milk and add a little sugar to it. Jack walks to school with his friends. It takes them about ten minutes. When they get to school, they have to 
44． (打扫) the classroom. At noon, Jack goes home for lunch. For lunch the family often has vegetables which they have grown themselves. When lunch is finished, Jack returns to school for afternoon lessons, and then goes home
45． (再次) for dinner in the evening.

Oliver Twist (《雾都孤儿》) is one of the most famous stories by Charles Dickens. Set in the nineteenth century, it is about a boy called Oliver who finds
46． alone in the world. He lives in a special house for
47． people and always has an empty stomach. One day, he
48． more food and gets into a lot of trouble!

Later, Oliver runs away to London. There, he meets some boys who steal
49． and other things. They teach Oliver to steal too, though Oliver does not want to
50． he is a good child. After many difficulties, Oliver is
51． home by a kind old man. In the end, Oliver discovers that the kind old man is a relative, and he goes to live 
52． him in the city.

There are many
53． why Oliver Twist is such a popular story. There is
54． action in the book, and it is also very humorous. The writer was also very good at writing about the everyday lives of poor children in London in the nineteenth century — his book made people
55． more about the problems of poor children.

A king was old and he knew it was time to choose a new king. He told all the young people in the country, “I’ll give each of you a seed(种子). Plant it and show me your flower in one year, and I’ll choose a new king from you.”

A boy named Alex got a seed, too. He planted it carefully, but the seed didn’t grow at all. A year later, Alex had to take his empty box to the palace. Others all brought beautiful flowers there and Alex felt sad.

The king arrived at the palace and looked around. When he found there was nothing in Alex’s box, the king smiled and said to the others, “One year ago, I gave everyone a seed which couldn’t grow. But all of you, except Alex, have brought me flowers. Alex was the only one with courage to bring such a box. So he will be the new king!”

假如你是李华,你准备给学校校报英语专栏投稿,记述上周六你和几位同学拜访一位七十岁剪纸艺术家的经历,并简单谈谈感受。

1.活动安排:

①早上9:00从学校出发,下午2:00返回;

②骑自行车前往她家;

③向她学习剪纸;

④教她使用电脑;陪她说话;其他活动(至少谈及两项)。

2.谈谈本次活动的感受。

1.词数80左右(开头已给出,不计入总词数);

2.合理增加细节,以使行文连贯;

3.文中不得出现真实的人名和校名。

Last Saturday, I went to visit a 70-year-old paper cutting artist with some of my classmates. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________