16．　　In the end, things turned out okay. But I almost killed (1)       and I still feel so guilty (内疚的) about what I did. I will carry this guilty with me for the rest of my life.
　　I want to say (2)       for what I did, but the person I hurt is no longer at our school. I have no way of finding her, and that makes me feel very bad. The girl — I will call her Sally — was the (3)       girl in our class. She was not pretty and she was very shy. But she could answer any questions the teachers asked. She always got top marks on exams.
　　One day, as she was walking (4)       my friends and me in the hallway. I said, "Hey! There goes 'smelly pants'! You smell bad." We all laughed. We thought it was (5)      . Sally said something back to us angrily, but I could see that my name-calling had really hit home. It hurt her, and I liked hurting her. "She thinks she's so smart." I was thinking to (6)      .
　　After that (7)       we saw her, we called her names, different names, but names that were not nice. After a while, she (8)       trying to say anything back to us. She stopped answering questions in class. The teachers would call on her, but she just looked at the floor and (9)       to answer.
　　Then one morning, the teacher said that Sally would not be coming back to our school. She had found some pills and overdosed (过量服用). (10)      , her mother found her and rushed her to the hospital. They pumped her stomach, and she got better.
　　According to our teacher, Sally told the doctors that she had tried to kill herself (11)       the name-calling at school. She thought the only way to end her (12)       was to end her life.
　　I feel scared. I am meeting with the headmaster twice a week and trying to discover (13)       I did such a terrible thing to a girl like Sally.
　　She changed schools, (14)       I can't tell her how bad I feel. But I am going to (15)       about bullying and how dangerous it is. Maybe I can save another person from going through what I put Sally through.

17．　　Earth — our home and our planet, is a truly amazing place to live. Think about so many kinds of life living on Earth. If you have ever flown on a plane, you've (1)            (get) a new respect (尊重) for Earth.
　　Earth is the only planet known to support life. The (2)            (difference) in life forms on Earth are far more than our imagination. On the one hand, there are tiny microbes (微生物) and they can only (3)            (see) through a microscope. On the other hand, there are 30-metre long whales that swim through our oceans, covering (4)            (thousand) of miles in their travels.
　　We have mountains (5)            (near) ten kilometres high and valleys (峡谷) many kilometres deep. The (6)            (deep) valleys of all are underwater. These undersea valleys can reach 11 kilometres in depth. And yet, even under the pressure of the water at that depth, life still exists. Look at the trees around you. Some trees are over 100 metres tall. That looks (7)             a 30-storey building! And they can be 1,000 years old. We have soft grass (8)            (walk) on, and trees with needles (针叶) are so sharp that they can make your finger bleed if you touch them.
　　But the most amazing thing about this planet is the people. There are more than seven billion people (9)            (live) on this planet. We live in different places and speak different languages. (10)             we live on the same planet and enjoy the same sun, the same air and the same water.
　　Earth — our only home, our great planet. Humans are really so lucky to have such a wonderful place to call home.

19．　　Today, most people in Western cultures expect to eat meals with their own set of silverware (银制餐具), their own plates, and their own glasses. People use plates to hold their food and drink only from their own glasses. But Europeans didn't always eat this way.
　　In the 1500s, members of the ruling classes (统治阶级) used knives to cut meat. Since they hardly had their own plates and bowls, they would eat the slice of meat off the tip of the knife. They would use shared spoons to eat soup and would dip bread or their fingers into serving bowls of gravy. There were a few rules for eating behavior. It was considered impolite to taste something from a spoon if it was being passed down to another person. If you had a bone (骨头) left in your hand after eating a chicken leg, you were expected to throw it politely under the table.
　　When some of the Europeans settled (定居) in the North America, they brought this eating style with them.
　　While the new settlers were sharing cups and dipping their fingers into bowls of food, European royalty and nobility (皇室与贵族) were starting to increase their tableware. They were also developing manners to go with their new knives, forks, spoons, plates, and napkins. They started to think of sharing cups or plates as unclean and even impolite. Their new manners made them feel higher than the lower classes.
　　By the 1700s, these new customs had spread to wealthy American settlers. As new landowners, they wanted to have a higher status (身份) than they would have had in Great Britain. They bought their own dishes and silverware and brought them to America.
　　By the late 1800s, mealtime manners had changed for everyone. As the American middle class grew, they needed more tableware to show off their wealth. There was also a complex (复杂的) system of manners by this time. This new emphasis on behavior influenced every aspect of everyday life.
　　And what about the 21st century? Do our manners continue to become more complex? Maybe yes, maybe no.

20．　　When people write in English, they use letters of the alphabet. People who write in Chinese however, use characters (文字) that stand for words or ideas. (1)      . The earliest forms were called "oracle bones." These were animal bones marked with pictures and symbols. In addition to writing on bones, the Chinese also made marks on turtle shells (龟壳). By 1400 BC, the Chinese writing system (系统) had become more complex. (2)      . Around 200 BC, Chinese characters became standardized. This means that everyone used the same characters.
　　(3)      . For example, the character that means man in the Lishu system from 200 BC is similar to the character that means man from the Jiantizi, or modern simplified system, of the twentieth century.
　　People have made efforts to change Chinese characters over the centuries. (4)      . The Chinese government simplified (简化) many characters so that more people could learn to read. This simpler system is used in mainland China and Singapore. (5)      . Even with these changes, Chinese writing from 2,200 years ago is still understood today.

21．　　Zhou Chu was born about 1,700 years ago. He grew up without much parental control. He was tall and strong with great physical strength. However, he had a bad temper (脾气), had lots of bad habits and was sometimes violent. Everybody was scared of him. They tried not to meet him or talk to him in the street. Gradually, he started to feel lonely.
　　One day, Zhou Chu saw some old men talking. He went up to them and asked. "Hey! Old men! Why are you looking so worried?" One man said, "We are worrying about the Three Evils around."
　　"What are the Three Evils? Tell me and I'll beat them!" Zhou Chu waved his arms to show his strength. "Well," said one man. "First, there's a tiger in the South Mountain. It often takes away our animals and even attacks (袭击) people. Then, there's a flood dragon under the long bridge over that river. It often makes big waves, breaks our ships and kills many people."
　　"Okay," said Zhou Chu. "so what's the third evil?" The men looked at each other but nobody spoke. "What is the third evil?" Zhou Chu said angrily. One man said, "The third evil is you!"
　　"Me?" Zhou Chu was very angry. "Am I a tiger or a flood dragon?" he shouted. The man said. "You're always doing bad things. Are you different from the tiger or the food dragon?"
　　Zhou Chu went home. He felt very ashamed of himself and was very sorry for his behaviour. In the end, he said to himself. "I must stop behaving like this. I'll get rid of (除掉) the Evils, all three of them!"
　　The next day, he found the big tiger and killed it. After that, Zhou Chu went for the flood dragon. They fought in the river for three days and three nights. Finally he killed it.
　　He went home and decided to change himself. From then on, Zhou Chu was a completely changed man. With hard work, he became a famous man and he has been praised by generations ever since.

22．有时候，简简单单的一句话、能产生巨大的能量，让人刻骨铭心，助人勇敢前行。仔细想一想，生活中对你触动最深、影响最大的一句话是什么呢？请根据所给提示和要求，以"A Simple Word"为题，用英语写一篇80词左右的短文，讲述这一句话及其背后的故事。以下提示仅供参考。
提示：
1. You can do it.
2. Believe in yourself.
3. Keep trying and you'll succeed.
要求：
1. 说出这句话的来历及对你的影响;
2. 文中不得出现真实的姓名和校名．
A Simple Word
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