Holi ( 洒红节) is a spring festival, also   (1)   ________ (know) as the festival of colours or the festival of love. It is an ancient Hindu religious festival   (2)   ________ has become popular in and outside Asia. It is celebrated at the end of winter   (3)   ________ the night and the day are of equal length. The date of the festival is different every year. According to the Hindu calendar, it   (4)  ________ (usual) comes in March, sometimes in late February.

The celebration   (5)   ________ (start) with a bonfire ( 篝火) on the night before Holi, where people gather, sing and dance. The next morning is a carnival of colours, where anyone, children or elders, friends or   (6)   ________ (strange), chase and colour each other with dry powder and coloured water. Everyone is happy to be made fun   (7)  ________. Groups carry drums and musical instruments,  (8)  ________ (go) from place to place. After a(n)   (9)   ________ (excite) day, people visit their friends and share the delicious food after cleaning up and dressing up.

The purpose of the festival is to celebrate the beginning of the new season, spring. Hindus believe   (10)   ________ is a time for enjoying spring's rich colours and saying goodbye to winter.

Yangshuo , China

It was raining lightly when I  61     (arrive) in Yangshuo just before dawn. But I didn’t care. A few hours  62    , I’d been at home in Hong Kong, with  63      (it) choking smog（烟雾）. Here, the air was clean and fresh, even with the rain.

I’d skipped nearby Guilin, a dream place for tourists seeking the limestone mountain tops and dark waters of the Li River  64        are pictured by artists in so many Chinese  65      

(painting). Instead, I’d headed straight for Yangshuo. For those who fly to Guilin, it’s only an hour away   66       car and offers all the scenery of the better-known city.

Yangshuo  67       (be) really beautiful. A study of travelers  68       (ｍａｋｅ) by the website TripAdvisor names Yangshuo as one of the top 10 destinations in the world. And the town is fast becoming a popular weekend destination for people in Asia. Abercrombie & Kent, a travel company in Hong Kong, says it  69          (regular) arranges（安排） quick getaways here for people  70      (live) in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

I needed to get some money so I   (1)   ________ (take) a job in the clothes department at Graham's for the January sale. I can't say that I enjoyed it,   (2)   ________ it was an experience I'll never forget.

When I arrived half an hour before opening on the first day of the sale, there was already   (3)  ________ queue around three sides of the building. This made me very nervous. The moment the security guards unlocked the doors, they hid behind the doors for   (4)   ________ (protect) as the noisy crowd rushed in. I couldn't believe my eyes: this wasn't shopping; it was a battlefield!

After a while, clothes were flying   (5)  ________ all directions as people searched for the sizes, colours and styles they wanted. Within minutes I had half a dozen people   (6)  ______ (push) clothes under my nose, each wanting   (7)   ________ (be) the first served. The whole day continued like that. People were spending money like water without thinking   (8)   ________ they needed what they were buying. As long as it was a bargain it was OK.

That night, after a quick dinner I went to bed   (9)  ________ (exhaust), fearing the sound of the alarm   (10)  ________ would tell me to get ready for the second day of the sale.

We each have a memory. That’s  61    we can still remember things after a long time. Some people have very good memories and they can   62    (easy ) learn many things by heart, but some people can only remember things when they say or do   63    again and again. Many of the great men of the world have got    64    ( amaze ) memories.

   A good memory is a great help in learning a language. Everybody learns his mother language when he is    65   small child. He hears the sounds, remember them and then he learns to speak. Some children are living    66   their parents in foreign countries. They can learn two languages as easily as one because they hear, remember   67  speak two languages every day. In school it is not so easy 68   (learn)a foreign language because the students have so little time for it and they are busy with other   69    (subject), too. But your memory   70    (become ) better and better when you do more and more exercise.

Attending a live musical performance in a huge sports center with thousands of other fans is   (1)   (excite). Even in a restaurant or theater, a skilled   (2)   (perform) can provide a great show. Here in the US, a very different kind of performance space is gaining in popularity.

Singer-songwriter Annalise Emerick is getting ready   (3)  (play) a show in Nashville, Tennessee. It is something   (4)   she does most nights in coffee houses, bars and other small spaces across the country. But tonight, the setting is even  (5)   (small). Ms. Emerick will play for a few people in Kristina Shulz's home.

“An artist will come into my house and play music. All I have to do  (6)  (be) provide the atmosphere, which I am   (7)   (absolute) happy to do,” says Ms. Shulz. She has been holding such performances in her home  (8)  about four years. The crowd is usually a mix of family, friends, neighbours and even strangers. The performances  (9)   (list) on house concert websites.

House concerts have become  (10)  important part of Annalise Emerick's earnings, too.“I can play a bar for 100 dollars, but I can play a house concert and if there are 50 people there and they all pay $20, I'm having a great night. And they all buy CDs, too. It's amazing.”

very specific dinner: Sunday roast. This is the British name for a traditional dinner on Sundays. Britons  2__ (eat) Sunday roasts for centuries. In the old days, people had to go to church on Sunday. Afterwards, people would be hungry. So families would get together to eat a big meal.

So what is this  3  (taste) dish made of? Sunday dinner usually has roast meat, usually chicken or beef, crispy roast potatoes,  4  (fresh) boiled vegetables, and finally Yorshire pudding. This is a pidding made of batter and is a staple of the Sunday roast.

What if you don’t have any of the ingredients(原料)  5  (make) the traditional dinner?  6  to worry. In Britain, there are special restaurants, called carveries,  7  you can eat a Sunday roast. The name “carvery” comes from the act of carving the meat into slices, before putting them on a plate.

   Besides the delicious food on the plate, this meal is a great time  8  families. This is the time of the week when parents and children will sit down and tell each other about their week at work or school.

   With many traditions  9  (fade) into the background, traditional Sunday dinners are as strong as ever. And I have the feeling  10  this traditional cuisine will be on British dinner tables for decades to come.

Martin:Before 1945, hardly anyone outsideof New Mexico had ever heard ofAlamogordo,   (1)  was alonely town.

Daisy:Whatˈs the place like?

Martin:The land around it was sand-covereddesert and   (2)  (complete)empty. Because the weather wasalmost always clear and   (3)  (peace), a spot of desert nearAlamogordo   (4)   (choose)as the test site for the firstatomicbomb(原子弹).

Daisy:What I know is   (5)  _ on July16, 1945, the atomic bomb was set off.

Martin:Yes. But for several weeks, the testwas kept secret. With an atomicbomb   (6)   (drop) from anAmerican plane on Hiroshima, Japanon August 6, 1945, newspapers andradio stations all over America toldof the test of the bomb in NewMexico. Almost everybody wassurprised  (7)  (learn) wherethe bomb had been made and tested;the deserts of the Southwest hadhidden the secret well.

Daisy:You mean nobodywitnessed(目击) thescene when the bomb was tested?

Martin:No. Observers said they saw something  (8)   (like) anythingthey had seen before. It was a hugeand colorful fireball more brilliantthan the sun,   (9)  (flash) asit rose for miles into the air. Nonationin the world had ever possessed sucha weapon   (10)   terrible anddestructive as theatomic bomb.

Jimmy:  Alice, how was your journey to the countryside?

Alice:   Wonderful. We   1   (enjoy) beautiful sights and food in the country.

Jimmy:  Food? Did you have   2   big dinner in the countryside? What have you had?

Alice:   It was not a big dinner at all,   3   there were a lot of foods which only can be eaten in the local place, such  4  some wild vegetables.

Jimmy:  Oh, I see. Did you do anything   5  ?

Alice:   Yes. We got   6   well with the villagers and sent pens and books we carried to the poor students.

Jimmy:  That is really great! I think they must study harder with your help.

Alice:   It is far from enough.   7   (actual), I felt a little sad as soon as I saw the joy on the children who got the pens and books.

Jimmy:  Why do you have this kind of feeling?

Alice:   As far as I am   8    (concern), these things are nothing for the children who live in our city.

Jimmy:  You are right. We can do more for the children living in that area.

Alice:   Yes. Many of us who went to the place   9   (plan) to give more help to the children.

Jimmy:  Can you tell me what you are going to do?

Alice:   We are going to buy a number of books and donate   10   to the local school.

Jimmy:  It is a good idea. I am entirely willing to join you.

Alice:   It’s very kind of you.

Tony：Hey, did you see China’s women’s volleyball team __  (1)  __ television last night?

Kate：Yes, the game was so __  (2)  __(excite)! I usually watch basketball, but that was great last night!

Tony：Definitely a good effort! If anything, I was disappointed that the __  (3)  __ team didn’t put up much of a fight. They made a lot of bad mistakes, __  (4)  __ they always seemed to be hitting the ball out of bounds.

Kate：I just enjoyed how China celebrated after every point they won. Volleyball seems so much more passionate __  (5)  __ (compare) to other sports.

Tony：Well, their victory means they __  (6)  __ (compete) in the Olympics next year, __  (7)  __ was their goal. I just hope they can pick up at __  (8)  __ (little) a bronze medal.

Kate：Bronze? You mean gold, right?

Tony：Well, that would be great, but there are a couple of very strong teams that beat China in a recent competition.

Kate：I saw those matches — they were __  (9)  __ (extreme) close! China can beat them next year for sure!

Tony：We’ll see. I hope you’re right. But you never know __  (10)  __ will happen in sports.

Kate：Exactly! They might surprise you! Then what will you say?

Tony：Ha ha, OK, let’s just wait and see.

45.__________　46.__________　47.__________　48.__________

49.__________　50.__________