My name is Ben Mansury. I’m fifteen years old and study in a middle school. In school, I never join in any group discussion or stage (舞台) program. So, I never knew what stage nervousness was.
Our community (社区) has a weekly “Students Ideas” program. About two years ago, I received a(n)   1   from the chairman of our community. He invited me to the “Students Ideas” talk the next morning to speak to the group.
The time between his call to the next morning was like several weeks for me. The whole night, I could not sleep. Many   2   were coming. One of them was to call the chairman, with regret, and tell him that I could not come. But finally, I thought, if I missed this   3  , the community would never invite me again to any of their programs. So, I decided to go.
I reached the hall in time. When my turn came and I started, my heartbeat increased and my mouth went dry. I wasn’t even able to   4   the words on the paper properly. I had no idea where I was standing and what I was talking. That was the day when I   5   my biggest weakness: public speaking.
After I finished, I met with the chairman and   6   what happened to me. He said that this happens to everyone. It is very   7  . He suggested that I should come again the next week.
I   8   a talk carefully. This time when I gave the talk, I was somewhat comfortable but not confident (自信的). Afterwards, I met with the chairman again and told him about the improvement I   9   I had made. He was kind enough to invite me again.
For around one month, I practiced a lot for my talk. This time I was feeling comfortable and both the chairman and my neighbors thought I did a good job.    
I learned that everything is   10   if we take the first step, as the saying goes: A journey of thousand miles begins with first step.

My name is Ben Mansury. I’m fifteen years old and study in a middle school. In school, I never join in any group discussion or stage (舞台) program. So, I never knew what stage nervousness was.

Our community (社区) has a weekly “Students Ideas” program. About two years ago, I received a(n)   1   from the chairman of our community. He invited me to the “Students Ideas” talk the next morning to speak to the group.

The time between his call to the next morning was like several weeks for me. The whole night, I could not sleep. Many   2   were coming. One of them was to call the chairman, with regret, and tell him that I could not come. But finally, I thought, if I missed this   3  , the community would never invite me again to any of their programs. So, I decided to go.

I reached the hall in time. When my turn came and I started, my heartbeat increased and my mouth went dry. I wasn’t even able to   4   the words on the paper properly. I had no idea where I was standing and what I was talking. That was the day when I   5   my biggest weakness: public speaking.

After I finished, I met with the chairman and   6   what happened to me. He said that this happens to everyone. It is very   7  . He suggested that I should come again the next week.

I   8   a talk carefully. This time when I gave the talk, I was somewhat comfortable but not confident (自信的). Afterwards, I met with the chairman again and told him about the improvement I   9   I had made. He was kind enough to invite me again.

For around one month, I practiced a lot for my talk. This time I was feeling comfortable and both the chairman and my neighbors thought I did a good job.    

I learned that everything is   10   if we take the first step, as the saying goes: A journey of thousand miles begins with first step.

1.                A．letter          B．call            C．card D．email

2.                A．topics          B．regrets         C．thoughts D．words

3.                A．man           B．group          C．stage D．chance

4.                A．read           B．spell           C．see  D．recite

5.                A．had            B．forgot          C．realized  D．improved

6.                A．asked          B．checked        C．explained D．wondered

7.                A．useful          B．successful       C．difficult   D．common

8.                A．wrote          B．prepared        C．gave D．finished

9.                A．knew          B．felt            C．believed  D．hoped

10.               A．easy           B．great          C．helpful    D．possible

At noon the rush hour had passed. There were few guests (顾客) in the snack bar. It was not crowded. When the boss was about to take a break to read a newspaper, in came an old lady and a little boy.
“How much money is a bowl of beef soup?” the grandma sat down, counted the money in her purse and ordered a bowl of beef soup. The grandma pushed the bowl to the little boy, who swallowed (吞咽) his saliva (口水), looking at his grandma and saying, "Grandma, did you really have lunch?" "Of course." His grandma chewed (咀嚼) a piece of radish (萝卜泡菜) slowly. Very quickly, the little boy ate up the meal.
Seeing this. the boss went over to them and said, "Old lady, congratulations, you are lucky to have the free food, for you are our 100th guest."
Afterwards, over a month or more, one day, the small boy squatted (蹲) across the snack bar, where he seemed to be counting something, which shocked the boss when he happened to look out office window.
When the small boy saw a guest walk into the snack bar, he would put a small stone into the circle he drew, but the lunch time had almost passed, the small stones he put into the circle were hardly 50.
The boss was quite worried and called up all his old guests. The guests started coming one after another.
"81, 82, 83… " the small boy counted faster and faster. At last, when the 99th small stone was put into the circle, the little boy hurried to pull his grandma's hand and went into the snack bar.
"Grandma, this time it's on me," the little boy said proudly. The grandma who had become the real 100th guest was served a bowl of beef soup by her grandson. As his grandma as before, the little boy chewed a piece of radish in his mouth.
【小题1】Grandma ordered only one bowl of beef soup because __________.

Mexican people have a tradition of greeting each other with handshakes and kisses on the cheek(脸颊). But recently, government officials asked people to   1   this. They have also closed schools and museums, and advised people to stay at home.
This is to stop people from  2   an infectious disease, swine flu. The disease has spread over the country. It has killed 159 people and caused 4,000 to become sick   3    .
What is swine flu ?
Swine flu is a disease that cause respiratory illness in pigs. It spreads to people in two ways. People catch the virus after being with infected pigs, or they get it from an infected  4  . The disease spreads in the same way   5    human flu, through coughs and sneezes and then touching the nose or mouth. However , it  6   be spread by eating pork.
People who have caught swine flu will have a fever , a cough, a sore throat and body aches. In most cases, the infection makes people unwell but their lives will not be   7 .
A few governments around the world have advised their citizens not to visit    8  . Some countries have begun checking air travelers for the disease and have set up quarantines for people who might be infected. Russia, China and other countries have banned buying pork from Mexico,
9    the flu cannot be caught by eating the meat.
Health experts advise people to wash their hands frequently , to cover coughs and sneezes and to stay at home if they feel   10   .