13．　　Linda was staring at herself in the mirror. She'd decided she didn't like the mole (痣) to the left of her nose. "It's so (1)      . " She felt sad. Her mom, folding laundry (叠衣服) in the hallway, overheard her and poked her head into the room. "What's so ugly?" "This ugly mark on my face." Linda (2)       and pointed at it.
　　Mom came in, setting the laundry aside. She lowered her head and looked close at the mole. (3)       she gave her daughter a kiss on the cheek and said, "I like it, because it gives your face character." Linda pushed her mother away half-heartedly. "You would think that. Besides, character is a nice way to say ugly." Linda smiled though and she liked her mother's (4)       to cheer her up.
　　"I have a couple of my own. You tend to get more as you get older." Mom sighed and looked into the (5)      . "You still have beautiful eyes, though. Mine are boring brown, like most everyone else in the world," Linda said. She'd always loved her mother's green eyes.
　　"You have warm, chocolate brown eyes. They are like hot cocoa, and they are pretty," Mom smiled. Linda turned back to the mirror, touching her face. "What about my nose?" she said. "It (6)       your face. Why are you running yourself down? You have a unique (独特) , beautiful set of features. Stop feeling painful about little details and enjoy your youth and (7)       already."
　　"I just wish I was prettier. Some of my friends are so beautiful. And I feel ordinary next to them."
　　"We can't all be super models, dear. Even so, you are uniquely you - there is no one else in the world that looks like you. You have a nice mixture of dad and me in you, and I don't like hearing you knocking your looks. You are amazing." said Mom.
"Alright, mom. I won't complain anymore," said Linda.
Mom left the room, "I'm done trying to (8)       you up! Now it's your turn to finish the laundry." Mom called over her shoulder.

15．　　A dog on a surfboard is something you might enjoy seeing in a funny video. But would you believe that a real surfing dog could help raise money for those in need? A dog named Lucky is using her special talents to do just that.
　　Lucky's trainer started coaching her to become a service dog when she was a puppy. Lucky did well during training. She learned how to turn on lights, open doors, and do other jobs. These skills would be useful for her to help a person with special needs.
　　Judy, the dog's trainer, concentrated (关注) on Lucky's positive qualities. Like most dogs, Lucky loved water, so Judy took her to the beach, Lucky quickly became good at surfing. Her talent got people's attention. Judy decided that instead of being a service dog, Lucky would become a "surfing" dog. The idea was that Lucky could use her surfing talent to raise money to help people.
　　Lucky's first charity event was in 2009. She starred at an activity to help a teenager named Patrick. Patrick was unable to walk, but he had always dreamed of surfing. At the event, Patrick and Lucky were supposed to use their own surfboards. Lucky decided to jump on Patrick's board, however, they surfed together and raised $10, 000. The money helped pay for Patrick's medical treatment and his own service dog. 　　
　　Encouraged by this event, Judy started the organization named Surfing for Paws-abilities. Lucky now travels to different places and surfs at events to raise money for the organization that helps people in need. 　　
　　Not only does Lucky raise money but also what she has done inspires many other organizations to help both people and animals. She's surfed to make money to buy pet masks for fire department. She's surfed at charity events to help fight human and animal cancer. She's even shown off her surfing skills to raise money to buy teddy bears for children in hospitals and people in nursing homes. As of 2012, this amazing dog has raised $250, 000 to help those in need.

16．　　When it comes to days of the week, Monday gets little expectation. I surveyed friends, and the results were very clear. When asked which day of the week they like the least, 90 percent of my friends chose Monday. Not one person thought of Monday as his or her favorite day. Songwriters have even written a song about horrible Mondays. In the 1960s, a musical group had a hit titled "Monday, Monday." They sang, "Every other day of the week is fine, yeah. But whenever Monday comes, you can find me crying all of the time." I don't agree with all these ideas. In fact, I think that Monday is actually the best day of the week.
　　First of all, consider all the good things that happen on Mondays. If you are a sports fan, you may get to watch Monday Night Football in the fall. Furthermore, quite a few public holidays, including Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Columbus Day, are celebrated on Mondays. That means that several times a year, a Monday provides a three-day weekend. And according to consumer (消费者) websites, Monday is the best day to get a good deal on a car because there aren't as many people shopping on the first day of the workweek. Experts say that you can also get the best online deals on Mondays. This is especially true for electronics, such as computers, TVs, and video games.
　　To me, however, there's something even more important about Mondays. Each Monday stands for new beginning. For example, last week I got behind on my homework and had to spend the weekend catching up. But as soon as Monday arrived, I had a clean state. Another week I forgot to do some of my chores, so I had to give up going to a movie with my friends on the weekend.
　　I also love Mondays because we frequently start new lessons at school at the beginning of the week. While last week's topics may have been boring, Monday can bring a new book to read, more experiments to conduct, or math problems to work out.
　　I realize that I am probably not going to persuade everyone that Monday is the best day of the week, but hopefully I can encourage a few people to change their attitude. The next time a Monday comes, think about all the good things that could happen and look forward to the day instead of fearing it.
　　There's no way to avoid Mondays, so join me in making the best of them. Who knows? You might even start liking the first day of the workweek.

17．　　Since the first person walked on the moon in 1969, technology has greatly helped space exploration. In recent years scientists have built a special robot to accompany astronauts on space missions (任务). Because this robot looks and moves like a person, scientists call it a humanoid robot. The latest model of the humanoid robot is known as R2, short for Robonaut 2.
　　R2 was first launched into space on February 24, 2011. It was built by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the car producer General Motors (GM).
　　R2 weighs 330 pounds and costs $ 2.5 million to build. It has arms and a head - filled with vision equipment - but no legs. Its "brain", or computer, is in its stomach. R2's arms can hold 20 pounds. Each bendable finger has 5 pounds of grasping force. R2's hands are also skillful. Since its hands are shaped like human hands, R 2 can use human tools to complete tasks traditionally performed by astronauts. "Astronauts absolutely have their day packed from the minute they wake up until they go to bed. If Robonaut can provide just an hour's worth of relief to the astronauts doing something they don't want to do, that would make it worth it right there," says Nic Radford, the deputy project manager of R2.
　　One advantage of working with R2 will be that it can't complain about its work! Astronauts will also appreciate the fact that the robot can perform its duties without constant supervision (监管). R2 can be assigned a task and then checked on periodically. If R2 does not complete a task correctly, astronauts will be able to make minor adjustments to adapt (适应) the robot's behavior so that the task gets done right.
　　R2 is still in the design stage of development, which means that scientists are frequently testing it and looking for ways to improve it. Right now, humanoid robots do not have the protective equipment needed to work outside the space station. As technology advances, humanoid robots will be able to help astronauts with dangerous tasks as well as routine ones.
　　In the future, humanoid robots will be astronauts' eyes in space, going to places considered too difficult or unsafe for astronauts to explore. Some of them will be mounted on wheels to explore the surface of planets or asteroids (小行星). The robots will be able to send back videos and help astronauts gather information about the atmospheres of these places.
　　One outcome of using these humanoid robots will be a greater understanding of the interaction between humans and robots. NASA engineers believe that when humans and robots combine forces and work together, the results will be better than what either could achieve alone. John Olson, a director at NASA headquarters in Washington, D. C., says that the project will allow us to go farther and achieve more than we can probably even imagine today.

18．All Together Now!
　　Have you ever heard of homemade music? That's right-homemade music. Music that is made at home can be lots of fun. And all of the family can take part in it. You don't have to have good voices. And you don't need to buy a musical instrument. What a family needs is the willingness to make music.
　　A singing game my family like is Crazy Voices. Each person sings a different song. But everybody sings at the same time! We do sound a little crazy. But the tunes (曲调) all fit together. Sometimes we get all mixed up. Then we just hum the songs. Or we put our hands over our ears. Then we try it again. And crazy voices fill the air.
　　We really have homemade music when we play the Tap-a-Glass. Why? We make the instrument - that's the Tap-a-Glass. This takes some time. First, we hunt for drinking glasses that have a good ring to them. We tap them with a spoon to find out. We need eight glasses-one for each tone (音调) of the scale. How do we get different tones? By putting different amounts of water in the glasses. The more water, the lower the tone. After a while, we have all eight tones of the scale. Now the Tap-a-Glass is ready. One person takes the spoon and taps out a simple tune. We always give the player time to practice a little bit first. Then we try to guess the name of the song.
　　Sometimes we do echo (回声) singing. In echo singing, we sing the same song. We pick a simple tune. One person begins to sing. Then a second person starts-right after the first singer! Sure enough, we have homemade music with a homemade echo!
　　My family have fun with homemade music. We enjoy the time being together. Sometimes we get all mixed up. Sometimes we have to stop because we are laughing so hard. But more importantly, we can make music ourselves. To us, it sounds great.

(1)What does a family need to have homemade music?
      
(2)Which singing game do the writer's family like?
      
(3)How do the writer's family get different tones with the glass?
      
(4)In echo singing, do they sing the same song?
      
(5)Why do the writer's family have fun with homemade music?
      

19．　　根据中文和英文提示，完成一篇不少于 50 词的文段写作。文中已给出内容不计入总词数。所给提示词语仅供选用。请不要写出你的校名和姓名。
　　假如你是李华，正在美国参加一个交换生项目。下周五你因参加活动 (如比赛、志愿活动等) 需要请假。请用英语给你的老师Mr. Smith 写一张请假条，告诉他下周五你要去哪里，去做什么，以及你将如何补上本节课的学习内容。
提示词语：take part in, volunteer, help, homework…
提示问题：
*Where will you go next Friday?
*What will you do?
*How will you make up the missed lesson?
Dear Mr. Smith,
　　I'm sorry that I can't attend your class next Friday. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua

20．　　根据中文和英文提示，完成一篇不少于 50 词的文段写作。文中已给出内容不计入总词数。所给提示词语仅供选用。请不要写出你的校名和姓名。
　　“不学礼，无以立” 某英文网站正在开展以 “文明伴我行” 为主题的征文活动。请你用英语写一篇短文投稿，谈谈你在生活中是怎么做的，以及你为什么这样做。
提示词语：polite, friendly, respect, follow rules…
提示问题：
*What do you usually do in your daily life?
*Why do you do so?
　　Good manners play a very important role in our life. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________