Five years ago, I was at school when I got a call from Mum. She said that our house was completely destroyed in a terrible tornado（龙卷风）. I felt 1 after hearing the news and then rushed back home. 2 , neither of my parents got hurt. But Mum couldn't stop crying since we had 3 left. Seeing the tears on her face, I walked up and tried to 4 her. After a short of fear, we calmed down and started to think about what could be done next.
Some 5 from the local government came to help in time. They offered us some food and money which we needed most. We 6 the following few days in a community centre but still didn't know what was waiting for us.
One of my best friends, Elsa, hurried there with a large sized 7 in her hand. In it, there was some fruit, biscuits, two coats and so on. I found neither of the coats was 8 for me. But I really didn't mind because her care was far more than that. It was more touching that I 9 got some books to read from her bag.
As days went by, we 10 to my uncle's old flat which stayed empty for a couple of years. It was much 11 , but after all it was a place called home. 12 we moved in, life was better. However, our relatives, friends and some strangers continued to help us.
Thanks to 13 help, we finally lived through the pain. And for the first time I realized that 14 was enough when I had nothing else left in my life.
Looking back now, the 15 time turns out to be an unforgettable experience. No one can tell when the disaster will come and what it may cause, but if we have some space for others in our heart and are ready to help, we can get over any "tornado" in our life.
Once a rich businessman gave his daughter a beautiful necklace. But later the necklace for the girl went missing. The businessman offered a reward of $50,000 for anyone who could find it.
One day Robin was walking home along a dirty river. He saw something shining in the river. It was the diamond necklace! He decided to catch it so that he could get the reward.
He put his hand in the dirty river and tried to catch the necklace, but somehow missed it.
He tried again. This time he walked into the river and put his whole arm in to catch the necklace. But strangely, he still missed it!
He came out and started walking away. Then again he saw the necklace, right there. He decided to give it a final try.
He jumped into the dirty water and searched everywhere for the necklace but still he failed. He came out feeling very sad.
Just then an old man, who was walking by, saw him and asked what was wrong. At first Robin did not want to share the secret with the old man. But finally he decided to tell the truth.
He told the old man about the necklace and how he tried to catch it. The old man then said, "Perhaps you should try looking up, towards the branches(枝条)of the tree, instead of in the dirty river.
Robin looked up and the necklace was indeed on a branch of the tree. He had tried to catch a reflection(倒影)of the real necklace all the time.
I'm Black Beauty, a male horse. Before I was taken to Mr Gordon, my mother Duchess spoke to me, "All young horses have to leave mothers. Whatever happens, try to be gentle and stay away from bad behaviours."
Then I came to Mr Gordon's house.
In the stable(马厩) next to mine was a little fat grey horse.
I put my head up and said, "Nice to meet you! What's your name?" He seemed unhappy. "I'm Merrylegs. You are my neighbour?"
I said yes.
"Well," he continued, "I hope you are well-behaved. I don't like anyone who bites people." Then he went on, "Mr Gordon should be the best owner!"
A tall brown female horse shouted at him, "No one knows how long a good home will last!"
Merrylegs lowered his voice and whispered, "She's Ginger with a bad habit of biting people."
The angry voice came again, "You don't know anything! ____ you would bite too."
"Poor Ginger! What made her so unhappy?" I thought to myself.
The next day when I worked with Ginger, she told the whole story.
"I was taken away early from Mother and there was no kind master to look after me. My training started with several men forcing me against a wall. One held my nose and another pulled my mouth open to put a bit(马嚼子) in. They never gave me a chance to understand what they wanted."
"How could that be?" I said.
"After the training, I was sold to a man in London, who drove me with a bearing rein(缰绳) . It is a kind of rein that pulls your neck all the way back. Imagine your neck on fire with pain?"
"Horrible!" I cried.
"After that, a gentleman found me and he thought that it was wrong for a fine horse to go bad like that. So I was brought here, not long before you came. We are lucky here, at least they treat us gently," Ginger said.
I felt sorry about her painful experiences which showed exactly why she bit(咬) people. "She was rude to people but she couldn't be that way always. What can I do for her? I couldn't stop thinking about it."
——Adapted from Black Beauty
Can you imagine a world without insects? Without ants or flies in your house, it might sound great. However, the results may be out of imagination.
The number of insects has dropped by half in the past few years, according to a British biologist Dave Coulson. You may think small insects are not important. But in fact they are the main part of the species(物种)on Earth.
Insects are indeed on the way to extinction, according to the first review of insect population. The researchers say the main reason for this is the use of pesticides(杀虫剂)because they destroy insects' living areas. Also, weather change is another important cause.
"Unless we change our ways of producing food, insects will go down the way to extinction in a few years," the researchers wrote in the review. "This will have huge influences on the planet's ecosystem(生态系统)."
We need insects to pollinate(授粉)crops. They also break down(分解)dead plants and animals, which can keep the soil healthy. Without insects, many animals would have nothing to eat and die of hunger. Then, the ecosystem would be off balance.
"If the number of insect species keep dropping, this will have bad influences on both Earth's ecosystem and the survival of us humans," said one of the writers of the review.
"The first step to stop this is to let more people understand the values of the natural world," he suggests. "The best place to start is from our children, who should realize environmental protection from an early age."
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Have you ever tasted a kind of snack, which is also of the traditional Chinese of forms of art—sugar painting.
Sugar painting started from the Ming Dynasty and became popular in the Qing Dynasty. At that time, many people made a living through sugar painting, setting up stalls(货摊)in crowded streets, in front of theatres and busy public places. And now it can still be found in many areas of China.
The sugar painters usually sit before a wooden table. On the side, there is a wooden plate with a revolvable arrow(可旋转箭头)on it. The plate is painted with different pictures such as a dragon, a bird, a flower and so on. After paying, the customers turn the arrow and wait till it stops. The picture pointed by the arrow is the one the painters will make.
Sugar painting is very different from normal painting. The sugar painters use syrup(糖浆)as the material, a spoon as the "paintbrush", and a smooth slab(台面)as the "paper". To make the syrup, they have to make sugar hot before painting. Since the syrup may become solid(固体的)if it cools, the painters have to produce the work very quickly. They move the spoon full of the syrup up and down, left and right. Soon a sugar painting of an animal, a flower or a bike is done.
The number of sugar painters is getting smaller. However, some of them still insist on this art. They make their efforts to hold different activities such as offering classes and giving speeches. Now, sugar painting has already been listed as National Non-Material Culture Heritage.
Is your house full of clutter（杂物）which seems useful but you never use? Do you feel crazy when you can't find something you want, standing in a messy room? Items satisfy you but at the same time too many of them may also trouble you. Many people feel stressed by the amount of things they have. But it doesn't have to be that way. With a little bit of organization and planning on decluttering（清理）, you can create a comfortable space.
Start early. If you wait until the weekend to start, you're not going to make much progress. You'd better start right now. The earlier you start, the more organized you will be during the decluttering.
Keep your eyes on one room at a time. This will help your mind stay clear during a certain period of time. Start with the room that needs the most attention. If you have a lot of clutter in the room, start from smaller areas like your desk, since breaking down the huge task into smaller goals can reduce much stress in your mind.
Donate unwanted items. Decluttering can make your life easy especially when you have unwanted items. You can donate them to someone who really needs them. It makes your home tidier. And more importantly, it also makes those items go exactly to the right person instead of staying useless in your house.
Classify（归类）the items. This follows donation. After classifying your things an important part which can't be left over is to label（贴标签）the box. On the label, write the type of the items and the place it should be put in. Yes, it takes extra time, but you'll be thankful soon after your items go to correct places, which helps you find what you need easily next time.
Don't decide everything now. Decluttering does make your house look better. But if you try to declutter every little thing in your house, the result may not satisfy you. Once you are not sure whether something still works for you, but you really like it, it's OK to keep it. Don't over declutter and end up with buying them again.
参考词汇：读唇语read lips
注意：1. 词数80~100，已给出部分不计入总词数；
2. 可适当发挥，使短文连贯通顺；
3. 文中不得出现真实的人名、校名和地名。
A common girl Jiang Mengnan was presented with Touching China Award. She became deaf at an early age. However, she kept fighting against the fate（命运）.
