Billy’s mom had been asking him to clean the attic(小阁楼) for months. One Saturday, Billy was bored and decided it was ___________ to get the job done. He walked up the dirty stairs, ___________ the old door, and got right to work.

As Billy looked through boxes, walked through papers ___________ did some cleaning, he found all kinds of little treasures. He found old toys, many books and funny pictures of his parents. The pictures were taken ___________ they were younger. Billy found some of his own toys and clothes from when he was much ___________. He smiled. The attic certainly had lots of stories to ___________ about his family.

A small wooden box, lying in the far comer of the attic, caught Billy’s ___________. He went over and opened it. In it he found some old papers. One looked like a ___________. He took it out. As he looked ___________ at it, Billy discovered that the map showed a house—his house! Then Billy searched for where the map ____________, and realized it was to his own bedroom!

He ran back down the stairs with the map ____________ his hand. He was very excited now and sped into his room to find what he was sure would be a wonderful surprise. As he opened the door to his room, he smelled his ____________ thing in the world: banana nut cakes. There, on the comer of his desk, was a plate of warm cakes and a tall glass of cold milk. Beside the plate was a ____________ from his mom. “Thank you for ____________ the attic,” it said. “I hope you enjoy this little ____________ , too! Love, Mom.”

Hello everyone! My name is George Smith and I’ve been a journalist (新闻记者) for 30 years. Yes, that’s a long time, isn’t it? I’m going to talk to you today about choosing journalism as a career.

I always wanted to be a journalist. I started a newspaper at school and worked on a student newspaper at university. I got a job as a journalist as soon as I finished university and I love my job till today.

Journalism is not for everyone. How can one be a good journalist?

You need to write well. You need to write in a way that is interesting to your audience. As a journalist, you will have to write for different audiences, so you need to be able lo change your style as well.

Journalists work very hard. It doesn’t matter if you are abroad, writing about a war or at home writing about local news. Journalists work long days and it can be very hard to find time to have a holiday.

You also need to be strong. What do I mean by that? Well, not everyone will like what you write. Sometimes people will say bad words about your work. You can’t be angry with these people. You have to try to take no notice of them and keep working.

You have to be good at talking to people too. Journalists find out most of their information by talking to people. Not everyone wants to talk to a journalist so you need to get people to trust you.

Being a journalist is a hard but great job. Now, are there any questions?

Do you know that the falcon (猎鹰) is among the fastest animals in the world? It can fly at a speed of about 200 miles per hour. You might think a bird that could fly so fast would be safe from most types of danger. Unfortunately, that is not true. By the 1970s, they had already been endangered. What was causing the number of falcons to drop so quickly?

In America, a pesticide, a chemical, called DDT was harming the falcon eggs. Luckily, DDT is no longer used. The number of falcons is rising now.

One unusual thing about falcons is that they like to make their nests (巢) in high places. In nature, they often nest on mountaintops and on the sides of cliffs (悬崖). Falcons have also got used to life in cities. They nest on tall buildings and bridges in cities. The height of these nests is from 50 to 200 feet in the air.

They also like to return to the same nesting place every year. Both the mother and father falcons help to raise the babies. The mother stays more time in the nest. The father hunts and brings back food for her and the babies.

Many people all around the country work very hard to help falcons live to adulthood. There are even video cameras fixed up in many places. This way, people can make sure the birds and their eggs stay protected. Falcons are lucky to have so many people who keep an eye on them.

We often write short messages to family members, friends or classmates to remind them about something. Short messages are often written clearly in a few words. Here is an example.

18 Sept Hi Jimmy This is to remind you about our basketball game tomorrow evening. I’ll meet you outside the club 8 p.m. Don’t forget to wear your basketball shoes. See you there! Simon

Jingzhe, or the awakening of the insects often falls in March in China.

The beginning of March
43．(bring) some unusual weather, as temperatures rise and rainfall comes with thunderstorms （雷雨）. According to classic Chinese writings, this thunder would wake up insects that had hibernated (冬眠) for the winter.
44． (Them) would rise up from the earth and many other animals would also make their
45． (one) appearance of the year. Soon, peach flowers would come out, while birds would sing
46． (happy) from tree branches.

Chinese farmers place great importance on Jingzhe, since it marks the start of spring plowing (春耕), one of the
47． (busy) times for farmers.

Spring
48． (consider) to be the most valuable time of the year for farming. At the beginning of the year, farmers plow the soil, giving crops the best possible environment.

Another Jingzhe tradition is eating
49． (pear). It is thought to be healthy to do so when the weather is changing.

Jason is interested in China. He has found some information about Chinese culture.

The abacus

The abacus was perhaps the earliest type of computer. People (A) started using it more than 4,000 years ago to do maths. It was used in ancient China, Rome, Egypt and Greece. Today (B) 一些人仍然使用它.

Kung fu

“Kung fu” is the popular name given to Chinese martial arts in the West. It refers to a number of different types of fighting that have developed (C) more than hundreds of years in China. These different styles are often called “schools”. One of the most famous schools is the Shaolin School. It comes (D) ________ the Shaolin Temple at Songshan in Henan Province.

TCM

Today when people in the West need medical help, they often choose (E) ________“new” kind of medicine that is actually quite old. They choose traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

TCM uses many different kinds of treatments. Herbal medicines are used, for example, to help bring balance to people. (F) Many of the treatments used in TCM have helped people for thousands of years. People can use Chinese medicine for almost any sickness they have.

For years, people thought that sleep was unimportant and inactive. Today, we know that sleep is important for good physical and mental (精神的) health. We have also learned that while a person is asleep, the brain is very active.

①By doing this they have learned that there are five stages of sleep. Stage one sleep is very light. During this time, a person wakes up easily. As we move into stage (A) ________, our eyes stop moving and our brain waves move more slowly. During stages three and four (often called “deep sleep”) , it is very hard to wake up a person. During this time, the body repairs itself and makes more cells (细胞). In children and young adults, the body makes a chemical used for growing. In the next stage-REM sleep-we begin to breathe faster and our eyes move around quickly, but (B) 我们的身体不动. During this stage, we dream.

The amount of sleep each person needs is different, and is often connected to age. ② (C) In general, babies need fifteen to sixteen hours of sleep a day. Children and teenagers need nine to ten hours, while adults need six to eight. Over time, not having enough sleep-especially deep and REM sleep-can cause one to become sick more easily. Doctors also think that REM sleep is very important for learning, thinking, and memory. ③

Scientists are continually learning more (D) ________ sleep, but one thing they know for sure is this: for humans, it is as important as food and water.

When I was a child. I lived on a fruit farm. We had lots of pear trees and some apple trees. We had to help my father
60．.

My father got some workers to help pick the fruit. The more fruit they picked,
62． they were paid. Lots of them loved eating free fruit. However, in the beginning, they would eat so much fruit that they would not want to eat
63． for a long time .

At night, the trucks took the fruit to the markets to be sold. Sometimes we rode
64． to the city. For farm boys, that was a very exciting time.

We will finally grow up someday, leaving our patents and facing the challenges in life.