InCanada you can find dogs, cats, horses, etc, in almost every family. These are their pets. People love these pets and have them __  (1)  __ their good friends. Before they keep them in their houses, they take them to animal hospitals to give them injections (注射) so that they won't __  (2)  __ diseases(疾病). What’s more, in Canada, people usually go to special animal food stores for their pet’s food __  (3)  __ the food there is much more expensive than that in some other stores. Some people paid around two hundred Canadian dollars a month __  (4)  __ animal food. When you visit people's houses, they would be very glad to show you their pets and they are very proud of them. You will also find that almost every family has a bird feeder in their garden. All kinds of birds are welcomed to come and have a good meal. They are free to come and go and __  (5)  __ is allowed to kill any animal in Canada. They have a law against killing wild animals. If you killed an animal, you would be punished. If an animal happened to get run over by a car, people would be very sad about it. 

People in Canada have many __  (6)  __ to like animals. One of them might be: Their family relationship is not as close as ours. When children grow up, they leave their parents and start their own life. Then the old will feel lonely. But pets can solve this problem. They can be good friends and never leave them alone.

What do you think a good friend should be like? Mary Smith doesn’t really care if her friends are  (1)   as her or different. She likes the saying “A true friend reaches for your hand and   (2)   your heart.” best. Her best friend Carol is,  (3)  , funnier than anyone she knows. Mary broke her arm last year but Carol made her laugh and  (4)  better. Carol is a really good listener and she always cares about Mary. They can share  (5)  with each other.

Do you think that the population problem is the greatest one of the world today? 2000 years ago, the world’s population was very   (1)  . For several thousand years it grew quite slowly.   (2)  during the last three or four hundred years, it has grown very   (3)  . Today it is growing faster than   (4)  before.

In one minute,   (5)  250 babies will be born in the world. Just think how many more   (6)   will be born in a year!

A UN report said that the population of the more   (7)   countries has been 1,214 million by 1990. It is said that by the end of the   (8)   2010, the world’s population was about 7 billion. This means much more food   (9)  be produced. We must have smaller families with   (10)   but healthier children. If we don’t do something like this, there will not be enough space for anybody else to stand on the earth. 

A young man came to an old man and told he had a very sad life and asked for a solution. The old man asked the  (1)  young man to put some salt in a glass of water and then drink it.

  The old man asked how it tasted. “  (2)  .” answered the young man.

  The old man smiled and asked the young man to take some more salt and put it in the  (3)  . They walked in silence to the nearby lake. After the young man put salt into the lake, the old man   (4)   him to drink from it. Then the old man asked the same   (5)  , “How does it taste?”

“Good!” he replied. “It’s different from the water in the glass.” The old man   (6)   to ask if he can taste the salt. His answer is no.

  The old man sat   (7)   this troubled young man, and said, “The pain(痛苦) of life is like salt. No more, no less. The number of pain in life actually   (8)   the same. But the number we taste the pain   (9)   the place we put it into.   (10)   when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to make your sense of things bigger. Stop being a glass. Become a lake.”

An old man lived with his little grandson. Every day the old man got up early to read books.

   One day the grandson asked, “Grandpa, I want to read books as you do. But I always forget what I read. What are the advantages(优势，好处)of （1）?”

The grandfather didn’t  (1)  him, but said, “Take this little  (2)   to the river and bring back a basket of water.” The boy did as his grandpa said,  (3)   all the water leaked(漏掉)out before he got back home. The grandfather laughed and said, “You’ll have to walk faster next time.”

The next time the boy ran faster, but the basket was   (4)   empty before he returned home. The boy said, “See, Grandpa, it’s of  (5)  use！”

“Is it useless?” the old man said. “Look at the basket.”

The boy looked at the basket and found that the basket was different. It was  (6)  , inside and out.

“That’s   (7)   happens when you read books. You might not understand or remember  (8)  , but when you read them, you will be changed, inside and out.”

On hearing his grandfather’s words, the boy understood and  (9)  .

I believe that listening is powerful (强效的) medicine.

 It was Sunday. I had the last patient (病人) to see and I got into her room. She was an old woman, sitting on the bed, trying to   (1)  her socks. I said to her “How are you feeling? The nurse says your son is visiting you today. I’m sure you’ll be   (2)  to see him.”

She   (3)   me with a serious voice, “Sit down, doctor. This is my story, not yours.”

I was surprised. I sat down and helped her with the socks. She began to tell me that her only son lived not far from her,   (4)  she had not seen him for five years. She believed her health problems were worse   (5)  missing her son. After hearing her story and helping her put on her socks, I asked if there was   (6)   I could do for her. She said “no” and smiled. All she wanted me to do was to  (7)  .

Each story is  (8)  . Some are clear; others are not. Some are true; others are not, yet all those things do not really matter. What matters to the storyteller is that the story is heard.

Listening to someone’s story costs nothing but it is the key to healing (康复). I often   (9)  what the woman taught me, and I always tell myself it is   (10)   to stop, sit down and truly listen. I believe in the power of listening.

 There are different kinds of TV programs for you. When you   (1)   the TV programs, your brain cells (脑细胞) keep active. So it is   (2)   for you.

     Now more and more people are very   (3)  . They need a way to make   (4)   relaxed. Watching TV is an easy   (5)   to make it. You can   (6)   your interest on TV and think less about your trouble.

      There are many educational programs on TV. You can get a lot of knowledge   (7)   watching TV. For example, you can   (8)   about the history of other countries. When you watch TV with your family, you can   (9)   your ideas with them. You will have a great time by watching a funny   (10)  . When you watch TV, you can learn English, and you can also learn about the latest news.

 We were driving on our way home one Saturday morning. I felt   (1)  after three hours, so I decided to stop at a station to have a rest and get coffee. It was a helpful hour before I   (2)  driving.

When we got back into our car and before  (3)  it, we found a man standing in front of the station.  (4)   seemed that he was a homeless man. He went in and got himself something   (5)  to drink, because it was cold this time of the year. Maybe he didn’t have enough   (6)  to get something to eat.

  Just then a dog walked up to the front of the building. I found it was in great need of   (7)  . I knew if it didn’t eat anything soon, it might die.

  My wife and I sat there and looked at it. Many people walked by   (8)   no one looked at it. It looked just the same as the homeless man. Then the homeless man went back into the store.   (9)   he did moved us. With all the money he had, he bought some dog food and   (10)  that dog.

  This story isn’t the most moving, but it plays a great part in our lives. I would remember this story all my life.

There was a little girl named Molly. Her dad was good at gardening.Every day, Molly watched her dad   (1)   in the garden quietly. She wondered how the little seeds（种子）grew into   (2)   plants. The beautiful colors of flowers and fruits made her excited. “When I grow up, I will work in the garden

  (3)   dad,” she would think.

Then one day, dad brought her some books, pencils, and an eraser   (4)   she would go to school soon. Molly often saw her elder brother sharpening（削）his pencil. Every time he sharpened the pencil, it looked smaller. And his eraser also became   (5)   because he used it every day.

Suddenly, she thought: Why not   (6)   a pencil and an eraser as dad planted the roses? Molly filled a flowerpot with   (7)  and planted a pencil in it. She fixed the eraser on the top of the pencil. How   (8)   everyone would be when her pencil and eraser started growing! She hid her pot behind tall trees so that   (9)   could find it.

Molly watered her pot and every day she looked   (10)   for signs of growing. She wondered why her pencil and eraser   (11)   grew.

One day she asked, “Why is my plant not growing, dad?”

“What plant?”

Molly showed him her plant with the pencil and the eraser in it. Dad   (12)  , “My little girl, pencils and erasers don’t grow on   (13)   own. They grow in you. When you go to school, you’ll understand and feel their growing inside you!”

“Then   (14)   will they grow inside me?”

“That’s up to you. Just   (15)   it! They’ll grow in the way you’d like!”

   Life is not easy, so I'd like to say "When anything happens, believe in yourself."

  When I was a young boy, I was   (1)  shy that I was afraid to talk to others. My classmates often   (2)   me. I was sad but could do nothing. Later,   (3)   happened, and it changed my life.

  It was an English speech contest. My mother asked me   (4)   it. What a terrible idea! It meant I had to speak    (5)   all the teachers and students of my school! "Come on, boy. Believe in yourself. You are sure to   (6)   ."

  Then mother and I talked about many different topics. At last I chose the topic "Believe in   (7)  ". I tried my best to   (8)   all the speech and practiced it over 100 . With mother's great love, I did    (9)  in the contest. I could    (10)   believe my ears when the news came that I had won the first place. I heard the cheers (喝彩声)    (11)  the teachers and students. Those   (12)  who once looked down on (瞧不起) me, now all said "Congratulations!"   (13)   me. My mother hugged me and cried excitedly.

Since then, everything has changed for me. When I do anything, I try   (14)   in myself. It is    (15)   for a person and a country.