21． When I had something difficult to do, I liked to ask my mother for (1)      . But she always said, "Do it yourself, dear." I was not happy about this at all. I thought she was the (2)       mother I had ever seen!
For example, one day, I decided to (3)       some friends to my home. My bedroom was not in order. Books were (4)      , and I didn't make the bed. I asked my mother to help me clean it, but she (5)       said, "Do it yourself."
Because of my "lazy mother", I had to (6)       my clothes and clean my room. I had to help my parents do (7)      . I even had to go to the doctor by myself. It was really difficult for me to do a good job, but I have (8)       a lot.
As time goes by, I start to understand my mother. She made (9)       clever and hard-working. A (10)       mother is worth 100 teachers! Do you think so?

22． It was a usual Sunday morning. A butcher (屠夫) heard the doorbell and then he was (1)       to see that a dog was in his shop. The dog had $10 and a note in its mouth. The butcher took the note and read it. It said, "10 pork chops (排骨), please." So the butcher (2)       the money and put a bag of chops in the dog's mouth.
Then he (3)       closed the shop because he wanted to follow the dog. He found the dog on the street. The dog was waiting for the green light. It looked around to see if it was (4)       and then walked across the road. The dog went to a bus stop and waited for a bus. When a bus (5)      , the dog first walked to the front of the bus to check the number and then got on it.
After a while, the dog stood up on his back paws (爪子) to (6)       the "stop" button (按钮).
The bus stopped and the dog got off. The butcher followed it off.
The dog ran up to a house and put the (7)       in front of the door. It then began to knock on the front door (8)       his head. A big guy opened the door and started shouting at the dog.
The butcher ran up and shouted at the guy, "What are you doing? This dog is so (9)       !"
The owner of the dog said, "Clever? No way! I always tell him to take the keys when he goes to the store. (10)       he never listens to me."

23． Welcome to Wonder Restaurant! We have really good noodles. They are cheap and nice!
There are some great specials. You can also get some other great food here. They are all delicious.
Have a look at our menu and have a try soon. It is on May Street, across from a museum and next to the People's Park. I know you will like it! You can call 929-3155 to book (预定) seats.

24． Lydia is 14 years old. She lives in a small house with her parents and two brothers, Daniel and Henry. Daniel is 12 years old, and Henry is 9 years old. Daniel and Henry often complain about the small house. They want to live in a big house. Their dream house is very big. In the house, they each have a bedroom, a desk and a computer. In front of the house, there is a big beautiful garden. In the garden, there are some fruit trees. They like eating fruit very much. Behind the garden, there is a swimming pool. They like swimming, too. They can ask their friends to come to their house on weekends. They can play computer games, swim and do their homework together.
They say they will have a lot of fun at that time.

25． Last week I went to Corsica with my friends on vacation. It was my first visit to the island!
We took the ship from Toulon, France, to the city Ajaccio. Although Toulon and Ajaccio seemed quite close, it took us eight hours. We chatted and played card games to kill time.
When we got there, I got a surprise because of the weather. It was already October! But we just needed to wear T-shirts and shorts. We went to the beach to enjoy the sunshine and some of my friends even went swimming in the sea. The Corsican scenery (景色) was so beautiful. We had a picnic, went for a long walk along the coast and took lots of pictures.
Ajaccio is famous for being Napoleon's birthplace, so we also went to visit the Maison Bonaparte. It was the home of the Bonaparte family. In fact, it was a museum when we visited it.
One day we took the local train to another beautiful city named Corte. We visited the citadel (城堡) and the museum where we learnt more about Corsican history and enjoyed the beautiful views of the city.
The food in Corsica was fantastic and we often visited the market to taste something delicious.
We also went to some local restaurants for dinner and ate fresh seafood. At the end of the trip, we were very sad to leave and I hope to return to Corsica again some day.

26． These years people show all kinds of things on the Internet—good food, nice clothes, wonderful vacations and so on. Now showing the number of steps is becoming popular too. Why?
People are finding it important to be in good health. To keep healthy, many people go to work on foot. When they start walking, they open the step counter app in their phones to record how many steps they walk that day. After a day's walk, some people show the number on WeChat or Weibo. This can make them learn from each other and keep exercising.
"This helps me to exercise much and keep a good habit," Miss Liu said. "I can also talk about how to keep healthy with my friends on WeChat. We are in the same group to encourage each other to keep exercising."
Mr. Wu likes to exercise. But in the past he was kind of lazy and didn't want to exercise every day. "After I use the step counter app, everything is different. It's great to exercise with my friends."
"Sometimes there are prizes for those who walk more steps. I really like it," he said.
Walking is a relaxing and useful way to exercise. Both the old and the young like it.
Recording the steps helps people develop a good habit of walking and showing the number can make people more interested in walking. But don't take the number too seriously.

27． Scientists looked for paw prints (爪印) in the forests. In this way, they knew the number of pandas! "It's hard to see pandas in the wild," said Colby, a scientist. "They hide in the thick bamboo forests." That's why scientists used paw prints to get the number. The number of the pandas was a surprise to scientists. They learned that more pandas lived in the wild!
"We found pandas living in areas we didn't know," said Colby. Although the news is good, pandas are in danger.
Here are some fun facts of pandas.
*It takes a panda more than 10 hours to eat 9 kg to 14 kg of bamboo every day.
*A newborn panda weighs 90—130 grams. That is about the weight of a mouse. A panda's front paws have wrist bones (腕骨). The panda uses them to catch bamboo.
The main threat to pandas is that their land is becoming smaller and smaller. Pandas lose their land when people cut down parts of the forest for wood and farming. Now, China has 13 nature reserves (保护区). People mustn't cut down trees there. Scientists want to create more nature centers to give pandas a better chance to live.

28．A: (1)      
B: Yes, please. I want to join a club.
A: What can you do?
B: (2)      
A: So what club do you want to join, the swimming club or the art club?
B: The art club.
A: (3)      
B: It's 232－4672.
A: OK. See you then!
B: See you!

29．A: Hi, Bill! Are you listening to music again?
B: Yes, Tommy. I' ll never be tired of it.
A: (1)      
B:I like music that I can sing along with. How about you?
A:I prefer music that is quiet and gentle. (2)      
B: Oh, Taylor's songs have great lyrics. By the way, which group is your favorite?
A: My favorite group is One Direction. (3)      .
B: Me, too. I also like One Direction best.

34．
In recent years, many people think happiness is the most important thing, but facing (1)             bravely may be more helpful. Some researchers in the University of Melbourne say that society is trying to avoid unhappy things. It will be (2)             to people's health. One researcher says happy people may not be happy in their mind. These people hide unhappy things (3)             their hearts. After a long time, this mood will be bad for mental and physical heath.
How do we keep really happy? We should keep humorous, have lots of hobbies, be kind and (4)             our fun with others more. If we are sad, we should tell others or cry loud. If we are happy, we should be really happy.

35． Have you ever heard of the train No. 6063?It links (连接) thirty-eight (1)s             along the way from Baoji of Shanxi to Guangyuan of Sichuan. It passes by twenty-four schools, so there are always many students taking the train. The students live in mountainous areas. And they need to take the train (2)b             schools and homes every week. It always takes a long time for them to go to school and go home on the train. In order to help them, the head of the train Xiang Fei decided to do something for the children. He and other workers (3)s             several hours turning one of the carriages into a special student carriage. There are big desks and a library. Many kind-hearted people gave away (4)o             300 new books to this library. Students can read all kinds of books, do their homework and talk with students from other schools on the train.