11. An Interesting Festival
The Agricultural Feast takes place after the Independence Day. It is not a worldwide celebration. Only Christians in Mexico look forward to its ___1__ (arrive) for its religious origin.
Long ago, humans’ ancestors were bad. They fooled and played tricks on each other and never kept ___2__ word. So God turned up and drowned all their crops. Humans starved day and night, weeping. In order to gain God’s forgiveness, a woman poet set off to see God. She admired God and kept apologizing. God ___3__ (move). With his permission, humans finally had good harvests again. So, to wipe sadness and remind themselves of the belief in God, people began the festival.
__4___ the festival, people gather in open air, such as playgrounds __5___ parking lots, and energetically have fun with each other all night long, as though they ___6__ (be) never tired. When a beauty __7___ (dress) up in lovely clothing reads poems in memory of __8___ poet, everyone holds their breath. Then, it is the custom __9___ the bone of a rooster head is given to her as an award.
Obviously, the story is not true, __10__ the festival is interesting.
12. Balanced Diet
Wang Peng earned his living by running a barbecue restaurant, __1___ served delicious bacon, fried chicken breast and mutton roasted with pepper and garlic. __2___ his food and discount attracted fewer and fewer customers. Finally, he was in debt. Yong Hui’s slimming restaurant served fresh peas, carrots, eggplants, and raw cucumbers with vinegar. As ___3__ hostess, she said fibres benefited customers' digestion the most. In order not to let Yong Hui get away with telling lies, Wang Peng spied on Yong Hui despite her glare. But he was surprised that she ___4__ (lose) her customers, too.
___5__ (curious) drove Wang Peng to consult an expert. The expert sighed and said, “__6___ of your menus have weakness and limited strength. Your customers put on weight too easily, __7___ Yong Hui’s lose weight too quickly. So, Wang Peng, cut down the fat of your food and increase vegetables and fruits, __8___ nuts, beans, mushrooms, peaches and lemons. You ought to combine the two menus and provide a __9___ ( balance) diet.”
Before long, Wang Peng won __10__ customers back.
13. Sailing Home
This novel was about an unbelievable but genuine adventure. Its author was a black businessman ___1__ was brought up in America. In 1956, he visited Africa, his birthplace. One day, when he __2___ (wander) on the pavement near the bay enjoying the sea scenes, he lost his money and passport that he kept in __3___ envelope. So he went to the embassy to seek help, but the ambassador with rude manners didn’t permit his staff to help __4___ he bowed to him. Staring at his __5___ (patience) face, he understood that __6___ was the fault of his skin colour that accounted for their refection. So he decided to take a chance to sail on a small boat home.
He met a large amount of difficulty but was never stopped. On the contrary, difficulty pushed him to go ahead __7___ (hard). Three months later, he was spotted by a ship by accident. He was in rags indeed. A maid even screamed when __8___ (bring) him a steak and pineapple dessert. Aboard, he earned his passage by working __9___ a barber and got home finally. As for the name of his novel, he couldn’t think of a better one __10___ the phrase “Go Ahead”.
14. Explore MKII
MKII, a planet billions of kilometers away, is the origin of life in many religions. Physicists ___1__ (prove) the theory that its gentle climate and the pull of its gravity are similar to the earth’s. And astronomers have found that oxygen atoms and carbon dioxide, ___2__ are fundamental to life, exist in __3___ atmosphere through satellites. Cheered up __4___ this news, biologists, in their turn, began to do some research to remove people’s puzzles—Now that there are some suitable conditions, does life really exist on this globe? Do they multiply by laying eggs __5___ giving birth to babies?
Last month, __6___ spaceship was sent there. It’s a pity __7___ this mission failed. Unlike the earth, MKII is a much __8___ (young) planet. Thus, masses of harmful acid clouds float everywhere __9___ (cause) violent chain reactions to break out. These clouds not only blocked out the pilots’ sight but also damaged the engine system. __10__ (luck), the pilots watched out carefully and prevented the spaceship from crashing in time.
15. A Journey across Canada
After a quiz last autumn, Kuang crossed the continent eastward to Toronto to visit his schoolmate, the distance measuring approximately 5,000 kilometers.
His train started from Vancouver, a city surrounded by mountains. __1___ confirming his baggage was aboard the train, Kuang settled down in __2___ seat. Having a gift for communication, he started chatting with ___3__ passenger within 5 minutes. Their topics included the ___4__ (Canada) traditions, the Prime Minister, the mixture of races, and the terrifying Great Fall. After a nice buffet at noon, he was pleased to find that the scenery was __5___ (impress). He saw beautiful harbours in the distance, wealthy urban areas and maple forest __6___ covered thousands of acres. He even managed to catch sight of an eagle __7___ (fly) upward over bushes.
Kuang reached Toronto which __8___ (lie) slightly near the border at a misty dawn. There was frost and __9___ broad downtown streets were very quiet. __10___ it was early, Kuang phoned his schoolmate in a booth nearby at once rather than waiting for him to come. They had a good time together.