Nearly three months had gone by ______ the seriously injured girl showed a slight sign of recovery.

Words like “discount” never fail to ________ people, specially women，though they might not need what is being promoted.

We had a hard time the last time we went camping, because the fire ______ during the freezing night.

We should give the disabled encouragement to live _________ as we do.

 — Did you know any French before you arrived in Washington?

— Never ____ it, actually.

 Part of the reason Charles Dickens loved his own novel, David Copperfield, was ________ it was rather closely modeled on his own life.

With all my attention _____ my homework, I didn't even notice my father standing by me.

---What a day! Nothing seems to be going my way.

---______, Susan. You are killing yourself for all the work.

Megan's Library of Love book drive began in 2006, in memory of a student who passed away. The_ 21__ to send books to a school _22 _was created by Megan's classmates at Cedar Grove-Belgium Middle School as a tribute（悼念）to her.

The project formed out of the desire to23 _Megan, to help our community heal, and to make a _24__ in the life of others. Students have many   25_ of Megan, but the most vivid was her love for her family and the diligent 26__ she gave to her classmates. They combined this with her _27_ for learning and reading to create the Library of Love. This project honors Megan's special qualities. In the _28__of one of her classmates, Megan was, “A good daughter, a good student, a good friend. ”We are all blessed to have been a _29_ of Megan's life.

Every February, on Megan's birthday, fifth graders at Cedar Grove-Belgium Middle School _30 _donations of newly purchased books and send them to a school in need. The “Love books” are truly a __31__ of love meant to _32_ reading and learning. Students earn the money for postage by writing letters to local _33 _.The fifth graders also have the _34_ of labeling every book with a Library of Love sticker（标签）,  _35_ the books into categories（类别）, and _36_ all the books for shipping.

In the two years since the Library of Love _37 _began, students have collected over 5000 newly purchased books to send to schools in need. In 2006, 3419 books were sent to St. Bernard's Parish to help _38  their school library after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the community. In 2007, 1613 books were sent to White Mountain School in Alaska, who _39 _their high school in a fire. Students look forward to sending the gift of _40 _to other schools in the future.

The Pacific island nation of Nauru used to be a beautiful place. Now it is an ecological disaster area. Nauru’s heartbreaking story could have one good consequence — other countries might learn from its mistakes.

For thousands of years, Polynesian people lived on the remote island of Nauru, far from western civilization. The first European to arrive was John Fearn in 1798. He was the British captain of the Hunter, a whaling ship. He called the island Pleasant Island.

However, because it was very remote, Nauru had little communication with Europeans at first. The whaling ships and other traders began to visit, bringing guns and alcohol. These elements destroyed the social balance of the twelve family groups on the island. A ten-year civil war started, which reduced the population from 1,400 to 900.

Nauru’s real troubles began in 1899 when a British mining company discovered phosphate (磷酸盐)on the island. In fact, it found that the island of Nauru was nearly all phosphate, which is a very important fertilizer for farming. The company began mining the phosphate.

A phosphate mine is not a hole in the ground; it is a strip mine. When a company strip-mines, it removes the top layer of soil. Then it takes away the material it wants. Strip mining totally destroys the land. Gradually, the lovely island of Nauru started to look like the moon.

In 1968, Nauru became one of the richest countries in the world. Every year the government received millions and millions of dollars for its phosphate.

Unfortunately, the leaders invested the money unwisely and lost millions of dollars. In addition, they used millions more dollars for personal expenses. Soon people realized that they had a terrible problem — their phosphate was running out. Ninety percent of their island was destroyed and they had nothing. By 2000, Nauru was financially ruined. Experts say that it would take approximately $433,600,000 and more than 20 years to repair the island. This will probably never happen.

1.What might be the author’s purpose in writing the text?________.

2.What was Nauru like before the Europeans came? ________.

3.The ecological disaster in Nauru resulted from _______.

4.Which of the following was a cause of Nauru’s financial problem? ________.

5.What can we learn about Nauru from the last paragraph?________.