It was ______ lovely weather ______ we decided to spend the day on the beach.

Have you ever had an embarrassing (尴尬的) experience? Last week we asked readers to tell us about embarrassing experiences. We received thousands of letters! Here is a selection.

Tony: My most embarrassing experience happened when I had just left university. I had just started teaching in a Liverpool secondary school. One morning my alarm clock didn’t ring. I woke up at half past eight and school began at nine. I quickly washed, dressed, jumped into my car and rushed to school. When I arrived, the students had already gone into class. I didn’t go to the office, but went straight into class. After two or three minutes the students began laughing, and I couldn’t understand why! Suddenly I looked down and understood. I had put on one black shoe and one brown shoe!

Henry: The most embarrassing experience I’ve ever had happened two years ago. After seeing a film, my wife and I had lunch in our favorite restaurant in town. Then we decided to take a walk along the street. The street was very busy and we started holding hands. Suddenly my wife saw a dress in a shop window and stopped. I started looking at some watches in the next window. After a minute or two I reached for my wife’s hand. There was a loud scream, and a woman slapped (拍击) my face. I hadn’t taken my wife’s hand！I'd taken the hand of a stranger!

1.The students began laughing when they saw Tony _________.

A．wearing a wrong shoe                    B．carrying an alarm clock

C．looking down suddenly                   D．rushing into the classroom

2.Henry and his wife held hands _________.

A．at the cinema      B．in the shop        C．at the restaurant    D．along the street

3.Henry was embarrassed because he __________.

A．heard his wife screaming                  B．knocked over some watches

C．took the hand of a stranger                D．slapped the woman in the face

A couple of years ago, I went to Australia for a meeting with my friend, Chris. We decided to drive across country to Brisbane after the meeting ended. The drive was going to take four days and most of it was across the desert,    81   

The first day was a lot of fun as we were excited and laughing at each other's stupid jokes. By the third day of driving in the seemingly endless desert, we began to get bored. We had been quiet for a few hours when in the distance Chris found some kangaroos. We were both excited and decided to get a closer look.   82   We got closer and closer, and Chris was doing 110 kilometers per hour. We were very close to the kangaroos—too close—when we heard a loud BANG!

Chris stopped the car and we got out. Behind the car was a larger kangaroo lying completely still on the ground.    83   He took off his sunglasses and put them on the kangaroo and did the same with his jacket. Then, he put his arm around the kangaroo and told me to take a photo of them together.   84   While I was focusing the camera, I saw the kangaroo move. It suddenly woke up, looked at Chris, and jumped away into the distance before we could do anything.

I started laughing but Chris looked very serious.   85   I started laughing even harder. I stopped laughing, however, when he said that our car keys were also in the jacket!

As prices and building costs keep rising, the “do-it-yourself” (DIY) is getting more and more popular in the USA.

    “We needed furniture for our living room,” says John Rose,” and we just didn’t have enough money to buy it. So we decided to try making a few tables and chairs.” John got married six months ago, and like many young people these days, they are struggling to make a home at a time when the cost of living is very high. The Roses took a 2-week courses for ＄280 at a night school. Now they build all their furniture and make repairs around the house.

Jim Hatfield has three boys and his wife died. He has much work at home as well as a job in a shoe-making factory. Last month, he received a car repair bill for＄420. “I was deeply unhappy about it. Now I’ve finished a car repair course, I should be able to fix the car by myself.”

John and Jim are not unusual people. Most families in the country are doing everything they can do to save money so they can fight the high cost of living. If you want to become a DIY, you can go to DIY classes. And for those who didn’t have time to take a course, there are books that tell you how you can do things yourself.

1.Many newly married people in the USA ______.

   A. find it hard to pay for what they need

   B. must take some courses

   C. have to learn to make their own furniture

   D. seldom go to a shop to buy things.

2.John and his wife went to evening classes to learn how to ______.

   A. make furniture                  B. make or repair things

   C. improve the quality of life         D. save time and money

3. Jim Hatfield’s job is to ______.

   A. make shoes at home               B. do housework in a shoe factory

   C. run a shoe-making factory at home   D. work in a shoe factory

4.Jim decided to become a DIY when ______.

   A. he enjoyed doing everything by himself

   B. he becomes an unusual person

   C. his car repairs cost very much

   D. the car repair class wasn’t helpful

5.Which of the following statement is right?

   A. If you want to become a DIY, you can only go to DIY classes.

   B. People who take DIY courses are quite different from the others.

   C. DIY is becoming more and more popular because of the raising living cost.

   D. Most families in the country are doing everything because they enjoy the life style. 

I heard the bees long before I saw them.

It was a very hot afternoon, and we decided to cool off in the river near my home. As we climbed down a small rocky hill toward the water, my boyfriend John suddenly started to shout then jumped into the water below. Peter and Mary quickly followed but I was too far away to jump. I was trapped.

I heard a low hum(嗡嗡声)，which was growing louder. From a distance, the group of bees looked almost like a cloud of smoke. As it got closer, I realized it was actually thousands of bees flying towards me.

All I could do was cover my face with hands. Crazily, I thought that if I sat very still, the bees would think I was just another rock.

After a few minutes, I knew my plan hadn’t worked. The bees were attacking me. I could hear my friends shouting at me to get down to the pool fast.

But it wasn’t so easy. I was in great pain and the only way I could get away was to use my hands to climb down the rocks. However, I was afraid to do that at first because my face would be unprotected. The noise the bees made was so loud and frightening, but I had no choice.

I rushed down the rocks and jumped into the pool, but I don’t remember doing it. I was just so happy to be free from the pain. I was safe, and the water felt wonderful.

But we still weren’t out of danger. Every time we tried to climb out of the pool, the bees flew back over our heads. We spent the next three hours in the water, putting our heads under the water from time to time to avoid the bees until they finally lost interest.

1. How many people went swimming that day?

2.The underlined word “it” (in Paragraph 3) refers to        .

3. At first why didn’t the writer want to climb down the rocks?

4. How did the writer escape the bees?

5.In what order are the following mentioned in the story?

a. The writer rushed down the rocks.

b. John jumped into the water.

c. The low hum grew louder.

d. The bees flew back over their heads.

e. The bees were attacking the writer.