11．　　When I was 12 years old, my mother sent me to a Chinese school in California. I (1)       spending my Saturdays in a three-hour Chinese class. I thought it was difficult and boring.
　　However, my mum thought that I should develop and improve (提高) my Chinese (2)       skills. I seemed to know it would do me good in future, but at that time I couldn't realize the (3)       of learning a second language.
　　Many years later, I had a (4)       to work in Asia. I chose China mainly because I learned Chinese when I was (5)      . However, I still wondered if I could (6)       street signs, buy food and talk to people there.
　　Shortly after I arrived in China, my Chinese language (7)       came back soon and improved (8)      . A long time ago, I wanted to give up (9)       Chinese. Luckily, my mum encouraged me and stopped that from happening. I'm (10)       that the Chinese language has helped me a lot in different ways. My life is getting more and more colourful.

12．　　In recent years, with more and more cars on the road, flying robots are used to deliver (递送) mails. Flying robots can (1)       mails to people's houses without having to deal with heavy (2)      . But they will spend too much time in returning. A research center is trying to improve its flying robots with the (3)       of homing pigeons (信鸽).
　　Homing pigeons are pigeons that are (4)       trained to fly home from somewhere else. In tests, researchers (5)       that homing pigeons were (6)       efficient (高效的) than flying robots at returning to their home. So the research center is trying to use a flying robot, together with a (7)      , to deliver mails. After the robot finishes its tasks, it can (8)       the pigeon back in the shortest possible time.
Although it will cost more money to (9)       pigeons, the research center says that it can (10)       time. And the time it saves will make up for the cost.

13．Linda: Good morning. Moonlight Middle School.
Susan: This is Susan Lee. (1)      
Linda: I'm sorry, but he isn't in the office now.
Susan: (2)      
Linda: No, he won't. He is away for the rest of the day.
Susan: (3)      
Linda: I'm afraid not. (4)       Can I take a message?
Susan: OK, thanks. I have a meeting with him next Monday, but I can't make it.
Linda: I see. (5)      
Susan: Thank you very much.

14．What Will You Do with A Dollar?
　　■ I will hide the dollar in the most beautiful place that I can find, and then create a map to the dollar. I hope someone will discover this map years later and have a magic travel to go on.
　　Philip Stockton
　　■ I will buy a cup of coffee for the most successful person in New York and ask for his/her secret of success.
　　Patrick Martine
　　■ A single dollar gets me almost nothing, so I will get my friends together and ask each of them to give a dollar. We will give an open﹣air concert in our town. I hope the show can brighten the day of the town.
　　David Andrew
　　■ In my travels, I find people need clean drinking water most. I once saw in Africa 40 to 50 people travel 25 miles for water. So I will use the dollar to provide free drinking water for people in need.
　　Ben Harrison
Follow us on https:∥justforfun.com/art of living for more.

15．　　Darrius was born with three fingers on his right hand and one on his left hand. He had to work hard to do things that were easy for others. Every time his classmates tried to help, he would say, "Thanks, but I can do it myself." He learned to use the four fingers to do different things.
　　When Darrius was 10, he told his father that he liked piano (钢琴) music very much. "It's too bad you can't play," his father said. But the boy took that as a challenge (挑战). "I will show people that I can," he said to himself.
　　Months later, a neighbour gave him an old piano when she moved away. He taught himself to play the piano and practised for hours a day.
　　Darrius's favourite piano music is River Flows in You by Yiruma, a Korean musician. It took Darrius a year to learn it. "I have to come up with my own way with only 4 fingers," he said. When he succeeded, he felt so proud. Later he was lucky enough to play the music together with Yiruma at a famous concert hall! Yiruma encouraged Darrius to follow his dream of playing his own music. Darrius has made it. And his music is popular today.
　　"I may have a disability," he says, "but I don't let it hold me back from anything."

16．　　In the past, I thought I was terrible at many things, such as math, French and science. Although I was good at drawing, I wasn't the best in my art class. I wanted to find out who I was, what I liked and how I could do it better. So, that winter, I took a notebook and kept my diary. When I filled that notebook, I started another one, and then another.
　　Keeping a diary helps a lot. Studies have shown that people who keep a diary sleep and feel better. It helps people remember what once happened such as dreams, friendships and happiness. Writing about bad feelings can also help brains get over them and move on.
　　Personally, I learn better about myself and my relationships with others by keeping a diary. For example, when I am fighting with my dad, I'll try writing from his point and it works! If I want to compare myself with my classmates, I'll write something like, "I might not have clear skin, but I like my eyes."
　　Right about now, you might be thinking: it sounds great, but I'm not a good writer; or I'd love to keep a diary, but my handwriting is terrible. Don't worry! Keeping a diary is not like doing your homework —there are no rules, so do whatever feels best.

17．　　Xiao Liuying is an old man living in a village near the Yangtze River. He used to be a fisherman. But now he is head of a voluntary (志愿的) team that cleans waste from the Yangtze river.
　　To protect finless porpoises (江豚) and the Yangtze River, the government has stopped people from fishing on the river. In 2019, Xiao Liuying formed the voluntary team with 12 other fishermen. Today the team has more than 50 members. All of them are over 60 years old. "We want to protect the river while we can," said Xiao.
　　Every week, the team go along the river to collect waste and make sure no one is fishing on the river. Some of the waste they collect is sent to the disposal station, while some that can be reused is sold. So far, they have cleaned over 50 tons of waste. Thanks to their hard work, the Yangtze River is getting clearer.

18．　　The local people of La Gomera can carry on conversations by whistling (吹口哨) from far away. For face-to-face conversations, they Spanish. But when they need to speak over a distance (距离), they whistle.
　　La Gomera is a small island. This island is almost shaped like a circle. It is very mountainous. Walking from one place to another may be a slow and difficult job. That is why whistling is so useful to the local people. A message can easily be whistled over a couple of miles, while to travel that same distance on foot might take an hour.
　　A good whistler can be heard and understood five miles away. His whistling can be farther away when it is windless. It is said that the record is about nine miles. Anyone who has heard a top whistler will agree that this record is quite possible.
　　A whistle travels farther than a shout, and is easier to understand. When a person shouts, he cannot pronounce his words well. But if a whistle is heard, it will be heard clearly.
　　Whistling is popular at La Gomera, and many methods of whistling are used. . .

19． Long ago, Mother Nature gave each tree a different purpose. However, she did not share her reasons with the trees.
Fir Tree (杉树) had many tree friends. In summer, they watched Bird and Squirrel (松鼠) play in the field. Then autumn arrived. The leaves on other trees turned colourful. Fir Tree's leaves stayed green. Fir Tree told Mother Nature that he wanted his leaves to change colours too.
"Be patient, " Mother Nature said. "You will learn your purpose."
So Fir Tree waited. The temperature dropped. Bird flew south, and Squirrel was nowhere around. All the trees lost their leaves except Fir Tree. Soon it snowed. Fir Tree cried, "Why don't I change like my friends?"
"Be patient, " Mother Nature replied." Soon you will get to know your purpose."
Just then, Squirrel appeared. She was cold. She asked if she could build a warm home in branches (树枝). Other trees said no because they had no leaves. But Fir Tree said yes. Squirrel ran up Fir Tree's branches. Soon, she was warm, comfortable and asleep.
Fir Tree was happy that his green leaves provided a warm home for animals in winter. He finally understood his purpose.

25．假定你是李华，某英文报 "My Hometown" 专栏面向中学生招募小记者，请你用英文给报社写封自荐信。
要点如下：
1. 熟悉家乡；
2. 乐于交流；
3. 擅长英语。
注意：
1. 词数80—100；
2. 可适当增加细节, 以使行文连贯；
3. 文中不能出现真实姓名及学校名称；
4. 信的开头和结尾已给出, 不计入总词数。
参考词汇：journalist (n. 记者); column (n. 专栏)
Dear Sir/Madam,
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours, Li Hua