—Close to 200.

—I agree with you.

—Shall we raise some money for them?

—It is not wise of you to believe such a man!

—You'd better ask her to stop working and go to see a doctor.

—Sorry to hear that.

—My best friend Nick.

—Work harder. I'm sure you can make it in the final exam.

—Tidy up the meeting room and make sure the microphone is woking well.

—Oh, really? What good news!

—That's why he is suffering from hunger.

—That's true. He is the best badminton player in our school.

—Don't try to find excuses for yourself.

    In 1806, Napoleon Bonaparte, the ruler of France, had a problem. He'd 1 his sugar-growing islands in the Caribbean. He couldn't buy 2 from his enemies (敌人). So where was he going to get sugar to keep his people happy?

    Napoleon knew that years before, a German scientist had 3 that all plants have sugar. And he had even found one almost as 4 as sugarcane (甘蔗)—the white beet (甜菜)!

    Napoleon ordered his science team to 5 how to get the sugar out of the beets. They soon did. This 6 everything! Sugar beets could 7 in the cold north, instead of on tropical (热带的) islands. And because beets (unlike sugarcane) could be stored for a long time, they could be shipped far away. So sugar factories didn't have to be near the 8.

    Soon, sugar beet farms spread all over Europe and Russia, and later in the United States. Even Napoleon's enemies 9 cheap beet sugar.

    During WW Ⅱ, farmers in both America and Germany were asked to grow sugar beets so that their countries would have 10 sugar.

    Today, about half the table sugar in the world comes from beets, and half from sugarcane.

    Wouldn't it be funny if your mum said to you, "It's time for bed, honey. It's almost November!" Well, if you were a baby bear, your mother might let you know it's time to go into a deep sleep around October.

    That "deep sleep" is called "hibernation (冬眠)". When it gets cold, bears have to go into hibernation. By taking this long sleep, they can get through the cold months when the food, like berries (浆果) and nuts, cannot be found easily.

    Have you ever heard someone say that they are as hungry as a bear? Bears need to eat a lot of food before hibernating. They eat so much that they may put on forty pounds of fat in a week. During the winter "bears will live off the fat stored in their bodies. Bears are able to do that because their bodies use a lot less energy during hibernation. Their heartbeats slow down, their breathing slows down, and their body temperature drops.

    If you were going to sleep all winter, wouldn't you want to be in a safe and protected place? That is what a bear wants, so it looks for a cave to sleep in. It makes a bed using grass, leaves and twigs (嫩枝). The bear usually starts to hibernate as early as October and doesn't wake up until April or May. By the time the bear wakes up, it will have lost much of the fat. But spring time will bring much food to enjoy until it is time to hibernate again in the autumn.

    Though very cold temperatures continued to trouble the US in January this year, an act of kindness warmed everyone. In Chicago a young man provided a homeless old man with the proper footwear—from his own feet. Jessica Bell, a passenger, saw everything and posted the story on Facebook.

    According to her Facebook post, Bell was taking the train home on Friday when she noticed a homeless old man sitting across from her. Bell wrote that the man was wearing tattered shoes, and many pairs of socks to keep his feet warm, but there was blood seeping (渗) through.

    On the same train was another man. According to Bell's description, he was young, carrying a bag and a suitcase. He was wearing big black snow boots (靴子), which looked new and expensive. They were built for a Chicago winter. Then he did a good thing.

    Bell described that the young man took off his own boots and passed them to the old man. He opened his suitcase and gave him a pair of socks as well. Then the young man put on a different pair of shoes—not as nice as the ones he had given away. He told the old man to try them on and helped him clean his feet and change into the new boots as quickly as he could, and then left the train.

    At the end of her post, Bell wrote. "I love my city. I love that in a time and place where a quiet act of kindness appears without warning." The story has received thousands of comments (评论), with many people describing how moving they found the act of kindness. One wrote, "We can all learn from that young man." Others are thanking Bell for sharing the story—there are still good people in the world.

    Wu Dajing won China's first gold medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. He broke world record in men's 500m short-track speed skating (短道速滑) on 22 February.

    World No. 1 Wu proved his ability in the event. He broke the world record twice. The young man won the gold medal with a time of 39.584 seconds. It raised our spirits. His performance was so perfect that even the other athletes showed respect for him.

    "I carried a lot of pressure into the final today after what we went through previously. I am just so proud of myself to bring out myself best in the race." said Wu. He won a silver medal at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia. "I really want to say 'Thank you' to my teacher. I just followed what she had told me before the final. I will still work hard and do better in the following races."

    Later, Wu and his teammates added another silver medal in the men's 5,000m team relay, bringing the Chinese delegation its ninth overall medal in the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

    Wu Dajing was born in Jiamusi in the north of China in 1994. He started short-track training at the age of 10. He used to train in Jiangsu and Jilin. He has become the most competitive athlete in the world and the hope for China.

    In recent history, there have been some amazing inventions which have changed our lives. The plane has made international travel faster and easier. The Internet has brought people closer. And you must know the names of some famous inventors like Henry Ford or Steve Jobs. But there are many everyday objects which you probably don't notice and you don't know who invented them. Take for example Nils Bohlin who invented the modem-day car seat belt (安全带).

    Before 1959, only two-point seat belts were available, and the only people who often wore them were race car drivers. The two-point seat belt couldn't protect passengers from internal injuries (内伤) during serious car accidents.

    In 1958, Bohlin joined Volvo Car Corporation as a safety engineer. Then he came up with the three-point seat belt to keep passengers from flying out of their cars during collisions. The three-point seat belt used one strap (带子) across the chest (胸部) and another across the legs and then the two joined at me same place.

    Amazingly, this was a very simple idea which no one had tried before. The three-point seat belt was introduced on Volvo cars in 1959. For more people's safety, Volvo made the new seat belt design available to other car makers for free. Since then, engineers have worked to improve the three-point seat belt, but the basic design remains Bohlin's.

    At the time of Bohlin's death in September 2002, Volvo announced that the seat belt had saved more than one million lives since it was introduced.

    In 2011, a strange creature was seen in a farmland of Guanghan City, Sichuan Province.        the morning of 13 June, there was a heavy rain. A farmer found a strange creature in his own field. Then, several people also reported that they found        similar strange creature in the cropland of Shandong Province.

    The creature was very soft, and looked like born fish        shrimp. But the shape of its shell was an oval (椭圆). Besides, it had a long and thin stomach. Especially, it had three eyes. It enjoyed        (live) in the water.

    The creature was        strange that the farmer called the police at once and asked        (they) to come to check it. But the police were not certain what it was. The local people were very        (frighten). But later, the scientists in Sichuan Agricultural University said that the creature was harmless. It was just a shrimp        (name) tadpole shrimp (鲎虫). It was also called 3-eye-dinosaur shrimp, because it was the "living fossil" of the oldest creature in China.

    It was not common        (see) such a creature. It was a good helper of the farm because of its weeding (除草) skill. To        (we) surprise, it was strong, and could overcome the bad environment. It was a kind of useful insect, though it was so strange.

内容提示: ⑴陆地上最大的哺乳动物，可以活到80岁。

⑵目前数量在减少，原因：人们砍伐森林，大象渐渐失去家园；人们捕杀大象，获取象牙。

⑶保护措施(不少于三条)。

参考词汇：哺乳动物  mammal；象牙  ivory

Dear schoolmates,

    I believe everyone's contribution can make a big difference.

Li Hua