At present, 1 in every 10 people is aged 60 years or older, ______ in 2050, 1 in every 5 people will be aged 60 years or older.

 Last night my neighbors _____ to be quiet but the noise started up again. I finally lost my ____ with them and called the police.

 _____ people are generally better off, the gap between the rich and the poor has widened.

In most countries, urban population is ____ while the population of German ___ by 8 percent.

 I finally had to _____ the subject of payment.

假如你是李琳，请根据下面汉语提示给你的父母写一封信。

我返校已经有两个月了,学习情况还不错。上周我校举行了一次英语竞赛。我和魏芳都参加了竞赛，她正好坐在我的旁边。竞赛快结束时，魏芳想跟我核对答案，我拒绝了她。她非常生气，我不知怎么办。

要求：内容应包括所有要点，可以适当发挥，使行文连贯。（词数：120左右）

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Nothing is more frustrating than not being able to sleep, tossing and turning （翻来覆去）. Your mind is racing, going over everything that happened that day. Night noises keep you awake. What can you do? Here are some things you can do to help you to fall asleep.

Sleep only when sleepy

This reduces the time you are awake in bed.

If you can’t fall asleep within 20 minutes, get up and do something boring until you feel sleepy.

Don’t expose yourself to bright light while you are up. The light tells your brain that it is time to wake up.

Don’t take naps

This will ensure that you are tired at bedtime. If you just can’t make it through the day without a nap, sleep less than one hour, and take a nap before 3 p.m.

Get up and go to bed at the same time every day

Even on weekends! When your sleep cycle has a regular rhythm, you will feel better.

Regular exercise can help you sleep well, but the time to do exercise is important. Exercising in the morning or early afternoon will not interfere (干扰) with sleep.

Have a snack before bedtime

If your stomach is too empty, that can interfere with sleep. However, if you eat a heavy meal before bedtime, that can interfere as well. Have a warm glass of milk.

Take a hot bath 90 minutes before bedtime

A hot bath will raise your body temperature, but it is the drop in body temperature that may make you feel sleepy.

1._______ can help you fall asleep at night.

2.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

3.According to the passage, one had better not take naps _______.

4.What can we infer from the passage?

The Outdoor Centre

Opening times

Water sports: 10 a.m. — 6 p.m.

Play Park: 10 a.m. — 5:30 p.m.

Windsurfing — One-day course

Beginner windsurfing courses are offered on Saturdays and Sundays when the weather is good enough. Learning to windsurf is a lot of fun. The excitement when you sail across the water for the first time is not easily forgotten. Boards with small sails are available for beginners.

Course fee: ￡32 for adults;  ￡16 for children under 16  (this includes all equipment)

One-day adventure course

This is the opportunity you have been waiting for. Come and try sailing, climbing, surfing and archery（箭术）. This course is intended to introduce outdoor activities to adults in a fun and leisurely （休闲的） manner. You do not need to be very fit or to have previous（以前的） experience with the activities. All you need is to be interested.

Course fee: ￡22.50 

Play Park

The Play Park is suitable for children from two to ten years of age. It is one of the best of its type in the country. It has sand and water playgrounds, slides, large pool balls, a play castle and much, much more. Next year the center will open Play Palace and Play Ship.

Summer adventure holidays

Sailing, Climbing, Windsurfing, Fun Games

Fee: ￡50 for adults; ￡30 for children under 16

Statement:

Safety is of primary importance at the Outdoor Center. All staff members are fully trained in first aid, and qualified to teach the activities on offer. We also make sure that all children only take part in activities that are suitable for their ages and physical abilities. For this programme children must be able to swim 25 metres and be in good physical health.

1.If Mr. Brown and his two sons (ages 12 and 14) go to learn windsurfing, how much will they pay?

2. One must be in good physical condition if he wants to take part in _______.

3.Of the four programs, which one is open only on weekends?

4.From the passage we can see that One-day adventure course _______.

This site contains 100 original short stories about life in America. These stories are written for ESL(English as a second language ) learners who are, at least, high beginners. We want to help ESL students learn English as quickly and effortlessly as possible. Learning should be interesting, not boring. We hope that learners will find that these stories are of some help to improve their English.

The stories have interesting topics and are easy to understand. Each story comes with an audio narrative so that learners can listen as they read. The audio requires downloading the free Real Player. Each story contains a search for pictures, definitions, and pronunciation.“ Following each story are four sets of exercises, and each containing 10 items.

Exercise A is “Yes / No Questions”. The learner is asked questions like, “Does Sara have children?” The learner can then type in, “Yes, she does.” Then the learner can check whether it’s the right answer or not.

Exercise B is “Wh-Questions”. The learner is asked questions like, “Where does Sara live?” The learner can then type in, “She lives in Pasadena.” Then the learner can check his answer.

Exercise C is “Ask Questions”. The learner is given an answer like, “They have two children.” The learner must then type in a question like, “How many children do they have?”The learner can then check to see whether he is correct or not. Exercise D is “Dictation”. The learner listens to a sentence. Most of the sentences duplicate  the sentences in the stories. The learner types the dictation and then checks to see whether he is correct or not.

Work on the site is in progress. Help us make it better as the years go by. We welcome all comments, suggestions, complaints, new ideas, and questions. Click here to send us emails.

1.Where does this passage come from?

2.The main purpose of this passage is to _____.

3.All of the following statements are correct EXCEPT _______.

4.If you want to improve your listening ability, you may mainly do some practice in _____.

My name is Ralph and I am 42 years old. I work in a factory that I enjoy very much. On May 27, 1999, I was working on an automatic machine. While working my hand was pulled into the machine and my middle finger on my right hand was ripped off. I had surgery to replace what was left of the finger and now I have a finger that is almost as long as my index finger.

Over the years I have been very blessed for a full and healthy life. Most of all, blessed for having my wife. We have grown together and grown in our faith. Life is going to go on with or without my finger. I was not going to let this take over my life and I pushed to go back to work and got light duty.

This was where my lesson began. When I returned to work, I started getting comments and some teasing from people asking me if it was worth losing my finger over a pack of cigarettes. Someone started a rumor that I had dropped a pack of cigarettes and reached down to pick them up and that is how I lost my finger. This is not true. This rumor hurt more than losing my finger in that machine. Everyone was called in to a meeting to resolve this matter and get the story straight. I had to share my lesson.

We can ruin a person’s life by just a few bad words. There is an old saying that I will never forget: “Words and water are easily poured, but impossible to recover.” So please remember to watch what you say.

1.According to the author, his index finger on his right hand is almost as long as ________.

2.From the second paragraph, we know that the author ________.

3.The rumour about the author is that he lost his finger ________.

4.Which of the following can match the underlined sentence in the last paragraph?