There was once a large, fat woman who had a small, thin husband. He had a job in a big company and was given his weekly    1    every Friday evening. As soon as he got home    2    Friday, his wife used to make him give her all his money, and then she used to give him    3    only enough to buy his lunch every day.

One day the small man came    4    very excited and he hurried into the living room. His wife    5    to the radio and eating chocolates. “You'll never guess    6    happened to me today, dear ,”he said. He    7    for a few seconds and then added, "I    8    ten thousand pounds on the lottery !”

“That's    9    !” said his wife delightedly. But then she thought for a few seconds and added    10    , "But wait a moment! How could you afford to buy the ticket?”

There are    1    families in China today that do not have a TV set.Most people,old and young,like to spend some time watching TV for    2    relaxation or amusement after a day's work or study. Television has become an essential part in our daily life, keeping us    3    of the news, instructing us in many    4    of interest, and entertaining us    5    singing, dancing and acting. In some places, it is possible for people to study their courses by watching TV, and a person may get good education at home.

Children are    6    viewers of television. They are    7    fond of their TV programs that they often forget their meals and go to bed very late. This    8    their parents very much. Some parents keep    9    that their children spend too much time on TV. But,     10    , there is no need for them to worry about it. In spite oft the fact that their children spend less time on their lessons, they are benefiting a lot from television indeed.

In Britain and the US most people are careful   1   time. If they want to see a friend, or meet a business colleague, they telephone first to make an appointment. A lot of people don't like surprises. They want to know   2   a visitor is going to arrive. If people make an arrangement to meet, it 's polite to arrive a few minutes early. Of course, everyone is   3  occasionally. Cars break   4   , trains are delayed and meetings go on too long. If people are late, they will say sorry, and explain what happened. Sometimes it's impossible to   5   an appointment. But if people   6   to arrive, the other person will be upset. They will make phone calls to explain. In some countries, people may   7   time chatting and drinking tea or coffee before they start a business meeting--but not in Britain   8   the US. There, they like to talk about business first and chat later if there's time. Office hours in Britain and the US are usually from 9:00 a. m. to 5:00 p. m. , but some offices open at 8:30 a.m. or 9:00 a. m. and do not close   9   5:30 p. m. or 6:00 p. m. People usually spend about one hour on lunch. Shops open at 9:00 a.m. or 9:30 a. m. , and stay open until 5:30 p.m. or 6:00 p. m. And people often refer   10   their everyday work as 9 :00 a.m. to 5:00 p. m. work.

Faces, like fingerprints, are unique. Do you wonder how it is possible for us to   1   people? Even a skilled writer probably could not describe all the features that make one face   2   from another. Yet a very young child--or even an animal, such as a pigeon--can learn to recognize faces. But we all   3   this ability for granted.

We also   4   people apart by how they behave. When we talk about someone's   5   , we mean the way   6   he or she acts, speaks, thinks and feels that makes that individual different from others.

   7   the human face, human personality is very complex. But describing someone's personality in words is somewhat easier than describing his face. If you were asked to describe   8   a "nice face" looked like, you probably would have difficulty doing so. But if you were asked to describe a "nice person", you might begin to   9   someone who is kind,    10   , friendly, warm, and so forth.

Have you ever had a dream? I'm not talking about a dream you have when you sleep. I'm talking about a conscious dream    1    you would like to see a new future, a different choice of employment, or a business of your own.

Several years ago, l had a dream about inventing a board game that would    2    my fortune. After many revisions, a board game was developed. Our dream seemed to come true, and our company was also established    3    , another new board game suddenly came into the market and made great progress in sales. Eventually , our company was dissolved.

Perhaps for game developers, the    4    emotion “it was never meant to happen”will discourage their future dreams of    5    a different life. But for me, maybe I didn't succeed to the level I desired, but    6    least I turned my dream into reality. It may take many    7    , but success will be achieved. Once dreams are    8    action, former failure becomes a better action plan in the future. The important point here is that success only comes by realizing that    9    are only stepping stones to final success. After many attempts, failures, lessons and false starts, learn    10    lessons from failure, turn dreams into reality, and don't let a dream only be a dream, and then success will arrive at last.

Ballpoint pens have made life easier for millions of people. At one time    1    did not like their student,writing with pens. The reason was    2    pens can leak and it is easy to spill the ink. Besides, it is hard to write on    3    or cheap paper with them.

Ladislao Biro worked    4    a newspaper in Budapest. He spent all day at his desk. Day after day, he corrected pages of thin, cheap paper with a pen and ink. He often had to stop to    5    his pen with ink and i did not write well on the thin paper. He and his brother began some experiments. They wanted a pen that did not leak, with ink that did not spill. Why not    6    a little ball at the end?

Two Englishmen, Henry Martin and Frederick Miles, liked the    7    . It was the time of the Second World War. The Air Force    8    a non-leak, non-spill pen for the men to write with in    9    . Martin and Miles made and    10    thousands of Biro “writing-sticks” to the Air Force.

Different things usually    1    for different feelings. Red, for example, is the color of fire, heat, blood and life. People say    2    red is an exciting and active color. They associate red with a strong feeling like anger. Red is used for signs of danger, such as STOP signs and fire engines. Orange is the    3    , warm color of leaves in autumn. People say orange is a lively color. They associate orange with happiness. Yellow is the color of sunlight, and people say it is a cheerful color. They associate yellow too, with    4    . Green is the cool color of grass in sunlight. People say it is a refreshing color.

    5    , people talk about two groups of colors: warm colors and cool colors. The warm colors are red, orange and yellow. Where there are warm colors and a lot of light, people usually want to be    6    . Those who like to be with    7    like red. The    8    colors are black and blue. Some scientists say that time seems to    9    more slowly in a room with warm colors. They suggest that a warm color is a good choice for a living room or a restaurant. People who are having a rest or are eating do not want time to pass quickly. Cool colors are better for some offices    10    the people working there want time to pass quickly.

We are often warned by our teachers not to waste time because the past time will never return. I think it quite    1    . What does time look like? Nobody knows, and we can't see it or touch it and no amount of money can buy it. Time is    2    , so we have to imagine it.

Time passes very quickly. Some students say they don't have    3    time to review their lessons. The reason is    4    they don't know how to make use of their time. They waste it in going to the cinema, playing computer games, or doing other    5    things. Why do we study every day? Why do we work? Why do most people have to take buses instead of    6    ? The answer is very easy. We wish to save time because time is priceless.

Today we are living in the 21st century. We    7    time as life. When a person dies, his life ends. Since life is short, we must spend our time and energy on study so that we may be able to serve the people well in the future. Laziness is the thief of time, for it not only brings us    8    , but also does some other harm to us. If it is    9    for us to finish our work today, let us do it today and not leave it until tomorrow. Remember that time is much more    10    .

Smoking is considered dangerous to health. All the shops are forbidden to sell cigarettes    1    children. The tobacco seller, Mr.Johnson, therefore, always asks his customers, if they are very young,     2    the cigarettes are bought for.

One day, a little girl whom he had never seen before walked fearlessly into his shop and demanded a packet of cigarettes. She had the exact amount of money in her hand and seemed very    3    . Mr. Johnson was so surprised by her confident manner that he    4    to ask his usual question.     5    , he asked her what kind of cigarettes she wanted. The girl replied readily and handed him the money. While Mr. Johnson was giving her the    6    , he said laughingly that she was so young that she should hide the packet in her pocket so as not to be seen by a policeman. However, the little girl did not seem to find this very funny. Without even smiling she    7    the packet and walked towards the door. Suddenly she stopped, turned    8    , and looked calmly at Mr. Johnson. There was a moment of    9    and the tobacco seller wondered what she was going to say. All at once, in a clear, firm voice, the girl declared, “My dad is a policeman.”And with that she walked quickly    10    the shop.

When you say that someone has a good memory, what exactly do you mean? Are you saying that the person has fast recall or that he or she    1    information quickly? Or maybe you just mean that the person remembers a lot about his or her childhood. The truth is that it is    2    to say exactly what memory is. Even scientists who have been studying memory for decades say they are still trying to    3    exactly what it is. We do know that a particular memory is not just one thing stored somewhere in the brain.     4    , a memory is made up of bits and pieces of information stored all over the brain. Perhaps the best way to    5    memory is to say that it is a process--a process of recording, storing, and getting back information.

Memory can be    6    affected by a number of things.     7    nutrition can affect a person's ability to store information. Excessive alcohol use can also weaken memory and cause permanent    8    to the brain.

Why do you forget things sometimes? The major reason    9    you forget something is that you did not learn it well enough    10    . For example, if you meet some new people and right away forget their names, it is because you did not record the names at the first few seconds when you heard them.