People celebrate Mother’s Day in the USA. It’s also a holiday in someother countries. It is on the    (1)     Sunday in May. It’s a day     (2)     mothers.      (3)      this day, mothers usually get flowers and cards     (4)     their children. On the cards children will     (5)    “Thanks, Mom”，“To my dearest(最亲爱的) mother”,“Best wishes for Mother’s Day”and so on.

How does the     (6)    for this holidays come? It was from Miss Anna M. Jarris. She        (7)         in

Virginia(弗吉尼亚). Her mother loved her very much. And she loved her mother very much, too. But her mother died(死)     (8)     she was young. After that, she wrote letters to some important people. In her letters she asked them to decide a day for all      (9)    . Then the first Mother’s Day     (10)     on the second Sunday in May, 1913 in the USA.

Many children have a birthday cake     (1)  candles on their birthday. In some countries,    (2)  

England and Scotland(苏格兰), there is another custom(风俗),     (3)  . There people spank(拍打) or hit the child     (4)  his or her birthday. This may hurt a little, but they say it is     (5)  lucky for the child. The child must     (6)  cry. The custom says that   (7)  you cry, you will cry all year.

They spank their children because they want to make the bad things     (8)  away. The harder you spank, the better it is. In Belgium(比利时),     (9)  country in Europe(欧洲), the custom is very different. There a parent     (10)  the child’s bedroom early in the morning with a needle(针). When the child wake up, the parent pricks(剌) the child with the needle. This is for good luck.

Last weekend I visited Rome for the first time. I   (1)  three busy days there and saw lots of interesting places. Here are the   (2)   that I loved most about the city.

1 The history

Rome is one of the oldest cities in the world. It is   (3)   wonderful historical places: the Roman Forum, the Roman Coliseum ... These buildings are very   (4)   . They are there, telling me a long, long history.

2 The art

I studied art at university (大学),   (5)  I was very excited to see the artworks (艺术作品) in real life. We walked around the museum in Vatican City and  (6)  many famous sculptures (雕塑). The best part of the visit was the Sistine Chapel ceiling. It was so amazing that I couldn’t  (7)  my eyes away from it.

3 The food

In Rome, there are a lot of restaurants  (8)  tourists to choose from but some of them aren’t good enough. I tried my best to find some great ones to taste.

4 The shopping

Rome has many shops! I  (9)  small gifts for my family and friends. There was also a Christmas market (市场), where I bought colorful lights for my Christmas tree.

I love seeing new places. I have been very  (10)  this year because I also visited Amsterdam and New York in summer. Hopefully I’ll get to travel even more in the future.

In November 1979,pupils in England were able to watch a new TV program calledMonkey. Most of them were hearing this story   (1)  the first time. However, this story is not new to Chinese children. The Monkey King or Sun Wukong is the main character in the   (2)  Chinese bookJourneyto theWest.

The Monkey King is not a usual monkey. In fact, he sometimes does not even look like a monkey! This is because he can   (3)  seventy-two changes to his shape and size, turning himself into different animals and objects（物体）.   (4)  he can not hide his tail（尾巴）, he can never really turn himself into a person. To fight bad people, the Monkey King uses a magic   (5)  .Sometimes he can make it so small that be can keep it in his ear   (6)  . At other times, he is able to make it big and long.

The Monkey King has excited the children of   (7)  for many years. He has brought them a lot of fun. Almost every Chinese kid can tell you   (8)  about the popular monkey. And as soon as the TV program   (9)  more than 30 years ago. Western children became interested in reading this story because the clever Monkey King keeps fighting to help the weak and never gives up. I believe   (10)  there will be more and more people love story all over the world.

   I’m Maria from the USA. My favorite   (1)   is Christmas. Do you know Christmas? We celebrate it in   (2)  . It’s the most important festival in our country. I like Christmas       (3)   I love Santa Claus. I think many people   (4)   this old man. He is fat (肥的) with a long   (5)   beard (胡子). He usually   (6)   a red clothes. He usually gives   (7)   to the children at night. So on Christmas Eve, I usually put up my stocking at the end of the bed before I   (8)  . On Christmas Day, I usually get up   (9)  . I want to see my present. This year I will celebrate Christmas in China. What present can I get from Santa Claus? A toy or an interesting book? Oh, I   (10)   to see it.

　Australia is the greatest(最大的)island in the world.It is much__7  (1)  __than China.It is in the__7  (2)  __of the Earth.So when it is__7  (3)  __summer in China,it is cold winter in Australia.

　　Australia is big,but the population there is__7  (4)  __.The population of Australia_7_  (5)  __the same as(与……一样)that of Shanghai,a city in China.

　　Australia is famous__7  (6)  __its__7  (7)  __and kangaroos.After a short drive from any town,you will find__7  (8)  __in the middle of white sheep.Sheep,sheep,_7_  (9)  __are sheep.Have you ever seen(你曾经见过)a kangaroo?It has a“bag”in its body.The__  (10)  __kangaroo keeps its baby kangaroo in the“bag”.It is very interesting,isn’t it?

Do you know about Australia? Australia is  the largest    (1)    in the world. It is a little    (2)  than China. It is    (3)    (4)    the south of the Earth. Australia is big, but its   (5)   is not large. It is nearly (几乎) as large as    (6)   of Shanghai. The climate 'there is comfortable. It is never very hot in summer   (7)   very cold in winter. The cities in Australia have little air or  water pollution (污染). The sky is blue and the water is    (8)  . You can see the fish     (9)    in the rivers. The plants(植物) grow very   (10)  , and in Australia there are kangaroos. Many visitors like to travel there to see them. Sheep is famous in Australia,     (11)    . On the low hill or grassland, you can find lots of white sheep.

B

Beautiful pictures of mountains and forests, clear skies, flying birds, wild animals, silly faces —you can find them all in one place.  (1)  ? On a postcard(明星片)! Have people always sent postcards? No! Before postcards, people  (2)  sealed (密封的) letters.

The  (3)  for the first decorated (装饰的) postcard came to John P. Charlton in 1861.He thought a simple card  (4)  a border (饰边) would be a great way to send a note. Then in the late 1800s, postcards which had pictures on them  (5)  . By law, people had to write their note on the front — on the picture! The back was   (6)  for the address. Several years later, England allowed a divided-back (背面隔开的) postcard. Then people could write their   (7)  on the left side and they put the address  (8)  . During the early 1900s, the golden age of postcards, people around the world were more and more  (9)  picture postcards. In 1908, Americans alone mailed over 677 million postcards.

Today, post cards are the  (10)  most popular collection in the world after stamps and coins. You can always see or get a lot of newly-designed postcards, especially on New Year’s Day.

Although English is not as old as Chinese, it is   (1)   by many people around the world every day. English speakers are always creating new words, and we are often able  (2)   where most words come from .

  (3)  , however, no one may really know where a word comes   (4)   . Did you ever think about why hamburgers are called hamburgers, especially when they are not made with ham（火腿）? About a hundred years ago , some men   (5)  to America     ___6     Europe . They came from a big city in Germany   (6)   Hamburg. They did not speak good English, but they ate good food. When some Americans saw them         ____8   round pieces of beef, they asked the Germans   (7)   it was. The Germans did not understand the question and answered, “ We come from Hamburg.” One of these Americans owned a restaurant , and had an idea. He cooked some round pieces of beef like those   (8)   the men from Hamburg ate. Then he put each between two pieces of bread and started ___  (9)   them. Such bread came to be called “hamburgers”. Today “hamburgers” are sold in many countries   (10)   the world .

    ___  (11)   this story is true or not , it certainly sounds interesting. Knowing why any word has certain meaning is   (12)  , too. This reason, for most English words , can be found in   (13)   large English dictionary .

My father is going on a holiday next week. He is going to London   (1)   plane. London is a beautiful city. There   (2)   lots of parks and museums. He’s going to   (3)   on foot in the city. He likes English   (4)  . He’s going to   (5)   Big Ben and the Thames River. British Museum is a   (6)   place to go. It can   (7)   you many stories about England.

He’s also going to the   (8)  . He wants to   (9)   seeing a movie in a foreign city. My father always buys   (10)   a present when he has a holiday. I’m looking forward to the present.