学进去

My sisters and I recently returned from visiting our beloved parents in Florida. For six days, we spent about six hours on the beach. We took the beach ________ —it’s almost a full-time job! Though, we really ________ ourselves there.

I usually read books on the beach while my mom and sisters enjoyed ________ shells (贝壳). This time they filled their pockets and bags with seashells, and then took them home. They meant to ________ all kinds of things out of the seashells to sell. On the last day of our trip, I joined the family ________ of collecting shells too. I grabbed handfuls of (一把) sand and picked out shell treasures. Having ________ so many shell handicrafts (手工艺品) made by my mom and sisters before, I used to take shells for granted (理所当然). But I couldn’t help but feel ________ at the shells in Florida. Some were big and in different ________ while some were no bigger than a nail, which was unbelievable.

Many people know there’s a beach full of ________ in Western Australia, which is over 74 miles long! It’s called Shell Beach. But nobody exactly knows ________ seashell species (品种) there are on the beach: ________, as many as 200,000 different kinds. However, very few of the shells have pearls (珍珠) in them. ________ The Science Network, “A finished pearl takes 15 to 20 years to make, which ________ why a ton of shells might produce as few as three pearls. The probabilities (概率) of them being ________ pearls are, exactly, one in a million.”

I was lost in thought. The chances of finding a pearl in a shelf are more than one in a million. Compared with shells, ________ isn’t so hard. The shells with pearls are valued by people and so is the person who gets to the top. So try to be a pearl on the beach!