1．　　There was once a farmer who had a large field of corn. He worked on it with the (1)       care, but the corn was dying (2)       there had been no rain for a long time. He felt very (3)      .
　　One day, as he stood looking up at the sky, two little raindrops saw him. One said to the other, "Look at that farmer. I feel very sorry (4)       him. He works so hard in the field, but now it (5)       up. I wish I might help him."
　　"Yes," said the other, "(6)       you are only a little raindrop. You can't wet (7)       one plant."
　　"Well," said the first, "I know I (8)       do much, but perhaps I can cheer him a little. I'll go down to show my support, if I can't do (9)       more. Here I go!"
　　The second one said, "Well, I think I can do that, (10)      . Here I go!" So down went the two raindrops. One fell on the farmer's nose, and the other on a thirsty plant.
　　"What's that?" The farmer cried, "(11)       raindrop! I do believe we'll have a shower (阵雨) soon."
　　By this time other raindrops had seen what (12)       did. One said, "If you two are doing such a good job, I shall follow!" And down it went. "And I!" said (13)      . "And I!" they all said, until a whole shower went down and the corn (14)       all because one little raindrop tried its best (15)       what it could.

2．　　My grandpa always tells me that people who laugh at their own mistakes will get others to laugh along. Yesterday, I learned that he is (1)      .
　　"Stay in line," Mrs Martin said. I looked at the long line, (2)       that there would still be pizza (比萨饼). When I reached the front, I looked at the choices. I could only see chicken, fish and mashed potatoes (土豆泥). I could hear the sad noise of my (3)       stomach.
　　Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the (4)       piece of beef pizza. I got so excited.
　　"Beef pizza, please," I said politely. Mrs Martin handed me the pizza. I took the paper plate(碟子) so (5)       that the pizza fell out. I wanted to (6)       it, but it landed on the mashed potatoes. My face started burning. All I could hear were (7)       from some kids in line.
　　As I looked at the upside-down pizza, I heard Mrs Martin's voice. "Maria, would you like some mashed potatoes to go with your pizza?" I replied in a/an (8)       voice, "Of course." Mrs Martin put the mashed potato pizza on my plate with an encouraging smile. I suddenly (9)       and relaxed. I looked around laughing, and we all laughed together.
　　I never really believed my grandpa until I saw others laughing with me. The laughing made me feel (10)       instead of just silly.

3．　　Amy walked toward Miss Brown's backyard, where she was planting roses. Last week, Amy and her parents just moved into the house next door.
　　The old woman looked up, "Why the long face, Amy?"
　　"There aren't any kids around to play with," said Amy. "I have nothing to do."
　　Miss Brown smiled, "You sound just like a girl who used to live here."
　　"Really? Who?"
　　"Her name is Rachel," said Miss Brown. "Too bad you two young girls couldn't have lived here at the same time."
　　"What did Rachel do when she was bored?" asked Amy.
　　"She planted a flower garden," answered Miss Brown.
　　Amy looked at Miss Brown's roses. "Could I, too?"
　　Miss Brown handed Amy some tools and roses. "This will get you started."
　　"Thanks," said Amy.
　　Amy worked hard the whole afternoon in her garden. When she saw the lovely roses planted, she smiled. Still, it was too bad that Rachel wasn't there.
　　The next day, Amy watered her roses and walked to Miss Brown's backyard, where she sat reading. "What else did Rachel do?" asked Amy.
　　"She wrote poems in her flower garden," Miss Brown answered. "One of her poems even won a prize in a school competition."
　　Amy closed her eyes. "How good it would feel, but I don't know how to write poems," she said. Miss Brown smiled, "The best way is to read poems first." She handed Amy her book. "Thanks," said Amy.
　　Amy lay on her stomach next to her roses and read. Then she started to write. That night she had a poem that might not be a prize winner but sounded good enough. Still, it was too bad that Rachel wasn't there.
　　The third day, Amy watered her flowers, wrote a new poem, and then walked to Miss Brown again. "What else did Rachel do?" asked Amy. "She played in the attic (阁楼). Come with me," Miss Brown invited. "Thanks!" said Amy.
　　"Make yourself at home," Miss Brown said and left Amy to search alone there. Then Amy found a trophy (奖杯) with these words — First Prize in Poetry, Rachel Brown, 1937.
　　Slowly, a smile spread across her face. Amy ran back to Miss Brown, "I wonder if Rachel would like to write poems in my flower garden." Miss Brown smiled, "I think she would love to."

4．　　The top-selling album (唱片), Songs of the Humpback Whale, was made public in 1970. This collection of nature recordings changed the way many people thought about whales, and it helped save thousands of whales' lives.
　　The album might never have been made without a sound engineer named Frank Watlington. In the 1960s, Watlington was making underwater recordings when he noticed some strange, deep sounds. He realized they were coming from whales. Watlington played the recordings for a pair of scientists named Roger and Katy Payne. When they listened, they fell in love with these beautiful voices at once.
　　Katy Payne studied music as well as animals, and she was greatly surprised by how the whales communicated using sounds like an opera (歌剧) singer. She also noticed another interesting fact: the sounds had clear patterns. According to scientists, an animal sound with a repeating pattern is called a song. Some scientists even compared these singing animals to musicians.
　　The Paynes thought that other people should also hear the beauty of the whales' songs. So Roger made the recordings into an album. At the time when the album came out, whales were often caught, killed and traded for money. Some kinds were even in danger of dying out. Most people had never thought that whales could communicate through songs. But after hearing the album, they began to think differently.
　　The album led people to take action to save whales. Musicians began using whale songs in their music, and whales were included in movies and television shows. In 1982, a ban to stop deep-sea whaling was made. Before it, in the 1950s and 1960s, more than fifty thousand whales per year were killed. After it, the number went down below two thousand.
　　It might seem impossible that just one album could help save the lives of so many whales. But this album told people secrets about whales that had long been hidden under the sea. It allowed whales to finally share their songs with the human world.

6．　　Looking at the undone homework on his desk always makes David Grey feel uncomfortable. More often than not, David leaves his homework behind and surfs the Internet or watches TV instead, waiting until the last minute. "But the longer I wait," says David, aged 15, "the more I worry."
　　Everyone procrastinates (拖延) because they want to feel good now. The way to do that is to avoid the task. You can procrastinate on nearly anything, even enjoyable tasks such as planning a vacation. "Some people procrastinate cleaning. Some people procrastinate by cleaning," says Professor Peter Stone. Research has shown that the top tasks young people procrastinate are studying and going to bed. "One big cause for procrastination is that people are afraid of failure, of not meeting others' expectations," Stone adds.
　　Some people believe that procrastination will make them thrive. But researchers disagree. "I did a study several years ago, asking procrastinators to finish a task in a certain period of time," says Stone. "They did worse than non-procrastinators:they made more mistakes and they took longer. But they thought they did better." No matter what the cause is, procrastination is usually not going to be good for you. For example, bedtime procrastination can lead to sleeplessness, which in turn can cause many other health problems.
　　For those who need some drives to stop procrastinating, the best advice might be to take action first. If you've been procrastinating on forming a habit of exercise, just put on your walking shoes. A little bit of progress will get you moving.
　　Next, find something to help you remember to take action. If you want to go to bed at 10:30 pm, you might set a timed dimmer switch (渐暗开关) at 10 pm. When the lights are dimmer, you'll start going to bed. It works for most people.
　　Finally, reward yourself every time you make progress. For example, after you've run 3 km, enjoy your favourite ice-cream. But be careful: it won't work the other way around.

14．今天，跳绳世界冠军李华给大家上了一节云体育课。请写一则英文日记，记录这特别的一课。日记需包括以下要点：
1. 授课者：李华, 14岁, 红星中学学生；
2. 上课内容：跳绳讲解和示范等；
3. 你的收获和感受。
注意：
1. 参考词汇：跳绳(rope skipping)、冠军(champion)；
2. 词数：80词左右(日记的开头已给出, 不计入词数)；
3. 不得透露学校、姓名等任何个人信息, 否则不予评分。
Monday, May 31st
Dear Diary,
　　Today, we had a special online PE lesson. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________