9．　　Many students of English think that learning a new language is very difficult. If your brain (大脑) is only the size of a bird's brain, how difficult learning English will be? That is what some birds can do.
　　Many different (1)       of birds can imitate (模仿) the sounds of language?African gray parrots (非洲灰鹦鹉) are a good (2)      . Now let's have a look at the following two birds.
　　Every December in London, a Bird Show tries to (3)       the best "talking" bird in the world. One bird named Prudle (4)       the prize for 12 years from 1965 to 1976.
　　Prudle came (5)       Uganda, Africa. Mr. Frost in England bought her. She was really (6)      , because she knew almost 800 English words. She was also the (7)       bird in the world that lived in a cage. Mr. Frost took care of her until she (8)       in 1994, at the age of 35.
　　A different kind of bird named Puck joined the (9)       in 1993. Puck was wonderful. It knew (10)      English words than Prudle did — over 1700 words. It got the best (11)       of this year and became the new winner.
　　Many students think that (12)       a new language is pretty difficult. They can't (13)       the words. But (14)       a bird can do it, anybody can do it. So come on !you can make it when you really take it (15)      .

10．
　　President (总统) Abraham Lincoln often visited hospitals to talk with wounded soldiers (受伤的士兵) during the Civil War. Once, doctors told him that a young soldier was near (1)      . Lincoln went over to his bedside.
　　"Is there anything I can do for you?" Lincoln asked. The soldier was (2)       hurt and didn't realize it was Lincoln. He just said, "Would you please write a letter to my (3)      ?"
　　Somebody (4)       a pen and paper and Lincoln carefully wrote down what the young man said: "My dearest mother, I was badly hurt while (5)       my duty(职责). I'm afraid I'm not going to live through it. Don't feel sad for me, please. Kiss Mary and John for me."
　　The soldier was too (6)       to go on, so Lincoln signed (签名)the letter for him and added, "Written for your son by Abraham Lincoln." The young man asked to see the letter. He was (7)       when he saw the president's name on it.
　　"Are you (8)       the president?" he asked. "Yes, I am, " Lincoln answered quietly. Then he asked if there was anything (9)       he could do. "Would you please hold my (10)      ?" the soldier asked. "It will help to see me through to the end."
　　In the quiet room, the tall president took the young soldier's hands in his and spoke warm words (11)       death came.

12．　　Last summer, I joined in a summer program in my university. I travelled to Oxford, England to take a Shakespeare course at Oxford University.
　　Oxford is a small town with beautiful old buildings. It was such an amazing experience for me to meet a new culture and I often found myself falling into deep thinking about everything new around me.
　　Even though I was abroad, I wasn't on vacation. There was a lot of work to do:reading, writing and exams. But studying abroad allowed me to experience a new way of learning. I got to see plays at Shakespeare's Globe in London and the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford. I love reading Shakespeare, and seeing his works in action was great for my learning because it helped me understand the great works better.
　　The summer program was, of course, mainly about study. However, there was time for fun. We had classes every morning from Monday to Thursday, so we could be free in the rest of time. Although we had so much studying, some people including me took trips to different countries around Europe because travelling is much cheaper there.
　　It took me almost a school year to fill out applications and prepare myself for going abroad. I have never travelled internationally before I got this great chance. I also made some new friendships and it will last a lifetime. The experience has been my best part of summer so far!

13．　　Different people have different hobbies. For example, some people like reading, some people like swimming and some people like collecting something. I have many hobbies, such as reading, skating, and traveling. I used to read books in my free time. I liked reading because I could learn much by reading. Reading was a part of my life. At that time, I spent most of my free time reading books, newspapers and magazines. At night, I could hardly get to sleep without a novel in my hand.
　　But later I found I could only learn from books by reading. I couldn't get knowledge from others. So I changed. Traveling is my hobby now. I can visit many different places by traveling. I can learn a lot about people, geography and history. It's very interesting.
　　I have many good friends. They all have their hobbies. Ann studies very hard , so her hobby is reading all kinds of books. Tony loves working with his hands, and his hobby is gardening. He usually plants flowers and trees in his yard. Judy is a quiet girl. She has a pair of skillful hands and she likes knitting. She always uses her old sweaters to knit clothes for her dolls. We have different hobbies, but we are all good friends.

14．　　Have you gotten vaccinated (接种疫苗)? You might hear this question a lot when you go back to school. A COVID-19 vaccination drive (行动) for kids aged 12 — 17 is under way across China.
　　"The incidence rate (发病率) among teenagers was not high when COVID-19 began last year. But more data (数据) shows that they can still get COVID-19 and even die from it," said Sun Xiaodong, the deputy director (副主任) of the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention (疾控预防中心).
　　To keep people safe from COVID-19, children and teenagers must get vaccinated to reach herd immunity (群体免疫). "If we only vaccinate adults, it is hard to reach the 80% goal (目标)," Sun added.
　　In Beijing, some places started to vaccinate high school students on July 20 and middle schoolers in early August, Xinhua reported. As of August 17^th, Beijing had given out 38. 09 million doses (百万剂) of COVID-19 vaccines and 571, 300 were given to people aged 12 — 17, according to the city's health department.
　　Some parents are worried about the safety of vaccination. Shao Yiming, a scientist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said most teenagers will get either the Sinopharm or Sinovac Biotech vaccine (国药集团或科兴生物技术疫苗). Both are safe for people aged 3 to 17, Shao said.

15．　　We do eye exercises. We wear sunglasses. (1)       But we usually forget another important part of our body — the ears.
　　Ears help us hear the world. But many things, such as loud noises, can cause hearing loss (听力丧失). Once this happens, it's hard to get your hearing back. So how can we protect our ears?Let's take a look together.
　　(2)      
　　Dry your ears with a towel (毛巾) after swimming or taking a bath. If you feel water in your ear, shake (摇晃) your head a little bit. This can help you get the water out of your ear.
　　Also, when the sun is shining, wear some sunscreen (防晒霜) on your ears. During the winter, protect your ears with a hat or a scarf.
　　(3)      
　　Usually, our ears clean themselves. The earwax (耳屎) builds up dries out, and then comes out of the ear along with some dirt (污垢).
　　Don't clean your ears with anything sharp (尖锐的), or it can make the earwax go too deep into your ears and hurt them. But if your ears start to hurt, you can go to a doctor for help.
　　(4)      
　　Don't listen to loud music on your headphones (耳机) for a long time. Follow the 60:60 rule:listen to music at 60 percent of your headphones' maximum volume (最大音量) for no more than 60 minutes a day. (5)       They do a better job of stopping outside noise so you can listen at a lower volume.

16．　　British people don't like to say "no", because they think it is rude. But this can be a problem for people from other countries. When you learn English, you learn to say things like "Yes, please." and "No, thank you." when somebody asks you if you want something. But real life is not always so easy.
　　When you give something to British people, they often say, "I'm all right, thanks." When they say this, they mean that they already have everything they need, so it is a way to say no. Unluckily, saying "all right" is also a way to say yes. The same phrase (短语) can be used in different ways to mean both yes and no!
　　Manjit works in a tourist shop. "British people are difficult customers (顾客)." he said, "If you give something to them," they say, "Maybe later even when they plan never to buy it."
　　Saying yes is not much better, said Manjit. "When they want to buy something, they sometimes don't say yes. They say, 'Sure!' or 'Why not?' It's so confusing (令人困惑的)!"

17．A: Hello, I'm a student from a commercial (商业的) college. I'm doing a survey for the Daily News. (1)      
B: Of course.
A: (2)      
B: I think Milan Spring is the best.
A: (3)      
B: Because it has the best clothes.
A: (4)      
B: Well, let me see. Paris Fashion has the friendliest service, but it's expensive.
A: Many young women like Jennifer's. How do you like it?
B: It's much cheaper than the other clothes stores. But it has the worst clothes.
A: I see. (5)      
B: Me, too

18．假如你是黎明, 你的朋友John不久前参加达人秀节目遭淘汰, 他受这次失败所困扰, 无心学习, 请你给他写一封电子邮件, 结合以下要点给他提建议．

要求:
1. 邮件回信需包括所有要点, 可适当发挥;
2. 逻辑清楚, 语句通顺, 行文流畅．
3. 词数:不少于80词．开头已给出, 不计入总词数．

Dear John,
　　I'm sorry to hear that you are feeling down because of your failure in this talent show. I'd like to __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
　　I hope you will get better soon. Please write to me soon.
Yours,
Li Ming