16．　　Sam was very nervous. It was his first day in a new (1)      , and lunch was only thirty minutes away. For most students, lunch is the (2)       part of the school day. It is time when you talk with your friends, get to know what interesting things everyone is doing, and, of course, (3)      . Sam, however, didn't know anyone or anything, like where to sit or with whom to sit at lunch.
　　Sam's (4)      was in the army, so his family moved a lot. He had really liked his old school and (5)       leaving his two best friends. They still talked to each other through phone calls and emails, (6)       he couldn't see them every day. He wondered if their (7)       would continue. He didn't want to lose them, but he knew it would be (8)       for them to stay close.
　　"I know this is hard on you," his mother said as he got ready for school this morning, "and I'm really (9)       you have to keep changing schools. " Sam could see regret in her eyes, but he didn't want her to feel that way. (10)       had always been ready to defend (保卫) not only the family but also the country. Sam loved her so much. He gave her a smile and told her not to (11)      . He had wanted to mean it, but there was still always worry in him when they moved.
　　The (12)       time came quickly. As Sam was walking to the dining room, a voice behind him said, "Excuse me." Sam (13)       and saw five friendly faces.
　　"Would you like to join us?" asked one of them.
　　This (14)       invitation was exactly what he needed. Sam nodded yes (15)       and joined them. He was sure about his future school life now.

17．　　Students pick up litter outdoors as part of their hardworking spirit education. XINHUA
　　Value of hard work
　　We'll finally grow up someday, leaving our parents and facing the challenges in life. Parents may not be able to solve every problem for us. Instead, we should have enough life skills to cope with the problems that come our way.
　　This is what our country tries to do now:Helping more students gain working spirit. To stress the importance of hardworking spirit education (劳动教育) among students of different ages, the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council released a guideline recently.
　　The guideline calls for students to respect work. Students should learn basic life skills and form good working habits through such education.
　　The government has been trying to stress the importance of hardworking spirit education. But this has been overlooked in recent years. Many teens do not value the importance of working hard and are uninterested in doing so.
　　According to a study of nearly 3, 000 students that was done by Ningbo Evening News in March, only 22 percent of primary and middle school students help with everyday chores around the house.
　　Schools and families play an important role in teaching students about the value of working hard, the guideline says.
　　Primary and middle schools should provide students with hardworking spirit classes every week, according to the guideline. Schools can also hold activities to give students real﹣world work experience. For example, schools can teach children how to plant trees on Tree-Planting Day.
　　As children's first teachers, parents should also encourage children to learn how to do chores at home. Students should master one or two life skills every year. These skills can include cooking, washing their own clothes and tidying their rooms.
TEENS

18．　　"Are you listening, Simon?" Simon's teacher asked. It was a pretty usual question.
　　Simon shook his head, smiling. He hardly listened or tried hard in class. Talking was so much fun. He wanted to be heard rather than listen.
　　"Listen, and you'll learn something." Mrs. Jacobs tried every day, but Simon never paid attention.
　　That evening, his throat really hurt. The next morning, when he opened his mouth to say "Good morning", nothing came out but a croak (低哑声).
　　Simon's mother looked at him. "Honey, you've lost your voice."
　　"Can I stay home?" He tried to ask, but words didn't come out. Instead, his mother checked him for a fever and decided it was good for him to go to school, even if he couldn't talk.
　　When he got to school, Mrs. Jacobs said "Hello" to him, and he just nodded. When his friends asked him what TV shows he watched last night, he just shrugged (耸肩). By the time the bell rang for class, almost everyone was looking at him as if he'd grown a third eye.
　　Penny raised her hand. "Mrs. Jacobs, why isn't Simon talking?" "He never stops talking." Richard said worriedly.
　　Everyone started talking at once. They were excited, worried, and surprised.
　　Simon sat in class, bored. He watched them talk to each other as if the teacher wasn't there, but he couldn't even do that. In math class he could hold up fingers if the answer was less than 10, but that wasn't fun. He decided to try to pay attention.
　　He could do his homework that night. It gave him TV and game time with his work all done.
　　The next day, even though his voice came back, he stayed quiet again. The third day, he could talk fine, but he listened and raised his hand to speak.
　　What a difference that one day made!

19． The next time Wayde saw Manningtree, he said, "Could you let me have a little of that medicine? Just enough to see if it works. I'm sorry to trouble you."
"I have only a very small amount left. It will take me some time to find out how to make more."
"I will pay you anything you ask," Wayde said.
"Don't give me anything now, but promise to pay me ＄10, 000 when you become Prime Minister (首相)."
Wayde laughed. "That's impossible," he said. "I shall never become Prime Minister."
"Who knows?" Manningtree said. "Give me a week, and I'll see what I can do."
A week passed. Then, Manningtree came to visit Wayde again. He brought with him a small bottle.
"I cannot find out how to make more of this medicine," he said, "but you can have what's left. I don't need it anymore. "
"That's very generous of you," Wayde said. "How can I ever thank you'?"
"Just take one small drop of the medicine once a month." Manningtree said.
Wayde took the bottle from his friend. Once a month, he look one small drop.
The effect (效果) was immediate. Suddenly, he was not nervous anymore. He was not shy anymore, either, He was confident of his abilities.
He started a business and within a year became a millionaire. He met and married one of the country's most intelligent and beautiful women and had two lovely children with her. He ran for parliament (议会)and succeeded. Within two years, he was a minister. Two years later, he became Prime Minister.
One day, he went to see Manningtree.
"You have come to give me ＄10, 000," Manningtree said with a laugh, "Forget it. I don't want it."
"You can certainly have it if you want it," Wayde said. "But that is not the reason I have come to see you."
"Oh?And what is the reason?" Manningtree asked.
"I have almost finished the medicine you gave me," Wayde said. "Have you found out how to make it'?"
Again Manningtree laughed. "Oh, yes," he said. "I have known how to make it for a long time. I knew how to make it when I was at school."
"What do you mean?" Wayde asked.
"My dear friend and Prime Minister," Manningtree said, "the medicine I gave you was just a bottle of distilled water."
"But the colour."
"Oh, I added some coloring."
"Then, the medicine did me no good," Wayde said.
"It didn't need to. There was nothing wrong with you. All you needed was to have confidence in yourself."

21．　　Once there was a big company in London. The boss there was quite (1)s      with the employees who worked for him.
　　At the entrance to the company, there was a book on which all employees had to (2)s      when they reached the company each morning.
　　The boss often got to the company very early every morning. At nine o'clock, he would (3)m      a red line under the last name in the book. And anyone who came after that had to (4)e      why he was late.
　　Whenever there was a (5)t      fog in the city, the first person to arrive late usually wrote "Delayed by fog" "under the red line in the book. Then everyone(6)e      who came after that just put ditto' 'underneath.
　　But one foggy morning, the first man arrived late again. He (7)h      to the company. This time, he wrote "My wife had a baby early this morning" (8)i       of "'Delayed by fog' "under the red line in the book.
　　Actually, that was the real reason why he was late that day. What (9)h      next?Twenty or thirty people who came after him "ditto" underneath this as (10)u      .

22．假如你是李明, 你的美国朋友Jack听说中国的中小学正在减轻学生的学习负担, 来信询问有关情况．请你根据下列内容, 用英语写一封回信, 谈一谈减负给你的学习和生活带来的变化．
内容要点如下:
过去课后常常做很多作业, 甚至周末会上课, 睡得很晚;
现在有很多自由时间读课外书, 参观博物馆等;
周末不上课, 可做自己想做的事情;
晚上有时间看新闻, 不必再熬夜;
补充一两点个人情况．
注意:
书信的开头已给出, 不计入总词数;
词数:60﹣80;
3. 内容要连贯得体．
参考词汇:used to v. 过去常常 free adj. 自由的 museum n. 博物馆
Dear Jack,
　　How nice to hear from you again! ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________