11．　　Billy is a boy of fifteen. His parents died three years ago. One day when he was walking in the street he (1)       a wallet. He returned it to the owner, Mr. Baker. He gave his (2)       to the boy. As the boy had no job, Mr. Baker made him work for him in his (3)      . Billy worked so hard that Mr. and Mrs. Baker were (4)       with him.
　　Mr. Baker loved planting (5)      . The week before last, he brought a few trees home, planted them in the (6)       himself and watered them every day. Several days (7)      , he had to leave for another city. Before he started, he said to Billy, "Take good care of these trees. Some boys near our house always want to steal them. "Don't (8)       about them, sir. "answered Billy, "I'll try my best to watch them. "Six days passed and Mr. Baker came back. He asked, "(9)       anyone ever come to steal the trees?""No, sir."said Billy. "To stop someone from stealing the trees, I (10)       them up six days ago. I have hidden (藏) them for almost a week!"

12．　　Nancy's grandma lived in a big old house in New York. Nancy and her parents went to see her each summer. Nancy (1)      to see Grandma and bake (烘烤) with her. She liked to play cards with her, too. This summer, however, Grandma did not seem (2)      . She seemed to be worried about something.
　　"What's wrong with Grandma?" Nancy asked her mom.
　　"The (3)       pollution is bothering (使烦恼) her," Mom said. "Do you (4)      the noise from all those cars?" Nancy asked.
　　"Yes," Mom said. "When Grandma moved here many years ago, there wasn't such a big (5)      here. Now there is a big road that is used to go to work easily in the city. Big trucks deliver (运载) food all over, too, by (6)      this road. They make so much noise. The noise pollution really bothers Grandma. "
　　"I know (7)       water pollution and air pollution are. I learned about them in school, but what is noise pollution?" Nancy asked.
　　"Pollution is (8)       that is bad for you, "Mom said. "Noise pollution can influence someone's (9)      . Grandma's blood pressure goes up because of too much noise. She also has trouble (10)       with all the traffic at night. Grandma's hearing has been hurt by the noise, too."

13．A: Hi, Holly. How are you?
B: Hi, Jack. I'm glad to see you. (1)      
A: Why?What happened?
B Well, this morning when I was on my way to school (2)      
A: Did you have time to get it repaired?
B: (3)      
A: Oh, no!You mean you walked to school?That's a long way.
B: Yes, I was late and tired. (4)      
A: You were late for a test. That's too bad.
B: Then in the afternoon I went to the library to study for the math test, and guess what?
A: Oh, no. What?
B: (5)      
A: You're right. You did have a bad day.

14．　　Google and Toyota have worked together to create a new smart car. It can run on the road without a driver. It drives itself. The self-driving car hasn't been on sale to the public, so we don't know how much it costs. Another thing most people want to know is whether it will be safe enough to run on the road.
　　The self-driving car uses electricity as its power, and it can't drive very quickly — the top speed would be 25 miles per hour. It is actually controlled by a computer system(系统)on the car. The system keeps on collecting information by some video cameras inside the car and a LIDAR sensor (激光雷达传感器) on top of it. A computer processes the information and decides what to do. "The self-driving car has only button for go and stop, so it's very easy to use, "an engineer of Google says. "And what's more, it will make car accidents less and make the world a safer place." The self-driving car has driven hundreds of thousands of miles in California, and it has only gotten into two accidents by human mistake.
　　According to CNN, self-driving cars will also help to reduce (减少) the number of cars in big cities. "Self-driving cars would be able to send you to the workplace and then pick up another person instead of stopping in a parking lot."

15．　　My grandfather is eighty years old now. He always complains about how fast things have changed, and he often says that life used to be better.
　　Families aren't families they used to be. A lot of families have broken up. If husband and wife have problems with their marriage, they no longer stay together. And mothers used to stay at home and take care of their children, but now not any more. Everyone is busy working. Mother used to spend all day cooking in the kitchen. But now the family don't eat home-cooked food any more.
　　And the cars!No one walks any more. More and more people drive. Students used to walk 5 miles to school every day, even in winter. But now students don't. And in school, children don't have to think any more. In math class, for example, they used to add, subtract, multiply and divide (加减乘除) in their heads. Instead, they use calculators (计算器).
　　And people today have TV and computers, and they don't talk to each other any more. They are too busy to talk, too busy to eat, too busy to think….
　　Life used to be simple, but it isn't any more.

16．　　Tea bag drinking is most Westerner's favorite way of drinking tea. Do you know how it came about?
　　The tea bag was invented in 1980 by Thomas Sullivan, an American tea seller. He was sending out free tea in silk bags for people to try. People put the bags together with the tea leaves into the cup and added hot water. The tea tasted good, and people thought it was easy to clean the cup. They were not happy when Sullivan started sending them loose (散的) tea again.
　　Sullivan realized that he had a hot new thing in his hands, and he built a machine to pack the bags. As tea bags became popular, they were changed from silk to gauze (薄纱) and later paper. In 1952, Lipton Tea made the tea bag even more popular with its invention of the four-sided tea bag. Teabags were soon a hit in the UK, and today 85% of the tea in the UK is packed in paper bags.
　　However, many people still prefer loose-leaf tea. This is because some tea companies put not very good tea in their tea bags. But for most drinkers, tea bags are still the easy, tasty way to go.

17．　　A father isn't happy with his only son. He doesn't think his son is clever.
　　One day, the father gives his son a task. He says, "Here is a coin. Go to buy one thing. That must be something to eat, something to drink, and something to plant." "What can I buy with one coin?It is too hard!" Then a girl finds the boy is not happy and comes up to him. "Can I help you?" The boy tells her that hard task. "I know what you can do," she says. "Go and buy a watermelon with this coin. It will give you everything your father wants." The boy thanks the girl and then runs to buy a watermelon.
　　When the father sees the watermelon, he is very happy. "Good Job!" "In fact, that's not my idea. A girl helps me", says the boy. The father then says, "Honesty is more important than cleverness."

18．　　There is a big change in Emma's classroom. The desks are no longer in rows, but pushed together to make eight bigger desks. Let us listen to what students and teachers think of it.
　　Emma: I was so excited about it for the first two days that I couldn't listen to the teachers carefully. But soon my classmates and I got used to this new classroom arrangement (安排). Now our class is quieter. What's more, we can come up with our own ideas and learn more through discussion. It's a better way to study.
　　David: I like it, too. Group members first discuss, and then show to the whole class. It encourages us greatly.
　　Linda, an English teacher:This was part of a reform (改革) at our school. The school made this reform because we want to offer students easier ways to study and more chances to discuss. Our school hopes to improve students' abilities to study by themselves and work in groups.
　　Steven, the school master:The reform has demanded (要求) more from teachers. Now they have only 15 minutes to give a lesson that would have been taught in 40 minutes before. It is difficult to teach in such a short time. The teachers have to find better ways to teach more effectively (有效地). The reform demands more, but I'm sure it is helpful.

19．　　"I can't get on well with my parents. They always tell me I should do this, and should not do that. It sometimes makes me angry," said Zhang Hua, a middle school student in Guangzhou. Do you have the same problem? Why does it seem that some parents are not so friendly in their children's eyes?
　　One of the things is when someone becomes a parent, he/she likes worrying about things. They worry about everything about you, from the time you were born. They worry about your choice (选择) of friends, the food you eat, your work at school, how much sleep you get, etc.
　　They want you to grow up healthily and happily.
　　So how can you deal with this problem?It's easier than you think. First, make sure your parents know what you're doing. Get them to know your friends. Phone if you stay somewhere else so that your parents don't call to know where you are. Also, take responsibility (责任) for what you did. Say sorry to them if you make mistakes.
　　Remember:Your Parents are still practicing being parents and need help too. Someday, when you become a parent, they may be able to help you know how to get on with your children.

25．假如你是刘伟, 你在英国的笔友Jim对中国的传统节日很感兴趣, 他来信询问有关情况．请你给他回一封电子邮件, 简单介绍中国的传统节日．今天是端午节, 请你重点介绍中国人一般是如何过端午节的．
注意:
1. 80～100词左右．
2. 可以结合自己的情况适当增加细节, 以便行文连贯．
3. 开头、结尾已给出, 不计入总词数．
Dear Jim,
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