The memory of one particular summer evening is still burned in my brain as if it were yesterday. There was nothing but wide-open fields for miles and miles around our rural Minnesota home. We never saw strangers -not ever -and here on this hot evening was a real live one walking up our driveway. 

A young man, a slightly-built hitchhiker(搭便车的人)approached our door. He knew there was a storm coming, and he desperately needed shelter. Not wanting to intrude    on    our home and family, he asked my dad if he could sleep in our basement for the night for protection from the rain. Instead of saying yes, my dad loaded us all up in the 1959 Chevrolet: five kids, my mum, and the man. 

Our family consisted of three older children whose father had died young and three more children from the union of my mother and father. Our older brother Jerry was in the Navy, on a ship somewhere overseas. Our mum and dad worried about him. 

We drove him 10 miles to the next town, where Dad bought the man a room for the night along with a hot evening meal. In the car after we dropped off the stranger, I heard my dad say to my mum, "I just hope that if Jerry ever needs anything, this kindness will be returned to him. "

Weeks later, Dad told my uncle about the young man. My uncle suggested that perhaps my dad shouldn't have taken the risk of having a stranger in our car. My dad replied, "You are absolutely right. I should have invited him into our home. "

余选项。

How to Deal with Awkward Silences

We all know what it's like when a conversation dies off and you're left to sit in silence.   Thankfully, filling these silences isn't as difficult as it may seem. Read on to learn how to initiate small talk and deal with awkward silences. 

● Think of topics ahead of time. 

Before attending a social event, think of a few "go-to" topics to jumpstart a dead conversation. This will help you to fill the silences instead of struggling for words in the moment. Recent news, local events, popular books and television shows are all good fallback options.

·Ask open-ended questions. 

Ask questions that have more than one possible answer. They help avoid resulting in short response. For example, instead of asking, "Did you like your high school?", you could ask, "What did you like about your high school?"

● 

As with any good conversation, the biggest key is to listen. If they respond to your question with a short statement such as"Yes"or "No", that might indicate that they aren't comfortable talking about a particular subject. Instead, talk about something that you know they're interested in. For example, "I heard you won your football game the other night. I'd love to hear about it. "

● Give a compliment(表扬). 

 For example, you could say, "I really like your shirt. Where did you get it?" This could move the conversation in another direction while making the other person feel good. Stick to saying nice things if you're trying to make small talk. 

A. Keep the conversation flowing. 

B. It also allows you to spend more time together. 

C. Listen carefully and respond to their reactions. 

D. There's only one word to describe it:awkward. 

E. This is always a safe bet, as long as it's appropriate. 

F. Such questions are likely to get the person talking more. 

G. However, avoid some subjects that may cause arguments. 

假如你是李华，你市电视台正面向留学生开展主题为"Feel of China"的短视频 (short video)征集活动。请给你的留学生朋友 Chris 写一封邮件，鼓励他参加，内容包括：

1. 活动介绍；

2. 内容要求。

注意：

1. 写作词数应为80个左右；

2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Dear Chris

How are you doing?

Yours, 

Ii Hua

2024 Travel Planner: The Best Things to See in the UK 

Icons of British Fashion, Oxfordshire 

A fashion exhibition will open at Blenheim Palace in March. Icons of British Fashion is the largest event in the palace's 300-year history and will showcase some of Britain's most famous designers. Clothing, drawings, photographs and patterns will be on display. 23 March to 30 June. Palace entry tickets are valid for a year and cost f38 for adults, f22 for under-16s. 

Toulouse-Lautrec in Bath

A new exhibition, Toulouse-Lautrec and the Masters of Montmartre, opens at Victoria Art Gallery in Bath in April. More than 30 pieces from the artist's colourful career will be shown alongside works by other artists of the day. This is the only chance to see Lautrec's complete collection of posters in the UK before it moves to a permanent home at the Musee d'Ixelles in Belgium. 26 April to 29 September, adults £10, children £3.50. 

Back in Time at Beamish

A truly recreated 1950s picture house at Beamish will offer visitors a chance to recall the golden age of movie-going. The cinema will be the latest addition to a "1950s Town" opened last summer at the living history museum. Adults £24. 95, children £15. 45, a family of four £63.50, valid for a year.

National Gallery goes on tour

The National Gallery celebrates its 200th anniversary on 10 May. To mark the occasion, the gallery is lending 12 of its most iconic paintings to 12 venues across the UK. Paintings will travel to centres from Brighton to Edinburgh, and will all go on display on 10 May. Each of the 12 venues will run exhibitions and digital interventions to showcase its particular painting. 

Growing up on a farm, Tori James spent much of her early years outdoors, building shelters and playing in muddy streams. She 1  herself as an ambitious and adventurous child and owes the Duke of Edinburgh Award to her love for 2  James says she could never have  3  that one day she might be the youngest British woman to 4  the peak of Mount1. 1. Everest. 

Today, James is a(n) 5  adventurer. Alongside her successful climb of the world's  6  peak  in 2007, she was  a member  of the  first all-female team to 7  a tiring 650-kilometre ski race to the Magnetic North Pole in 2005, and in 2014 she set the 8  for the longest non-stop open-sea kayak crossing in UK waters. 

Yet ahead of her first exploration at the age of 18, James had 9 her ability to last a month out in the cold without the comfort of a hot bath. "It's only by 10 our comfort zone that we understand our true potential, "she explains, "That's when the 11 happens. "

James encourages would-be adventurers not to be 12 by the conventional image of the rugged (粗犷的), hardy explorer. "I am such a believer that, with the right support and skills, everyone can bring 13 to an exploration, "she adds, "Sometimes, it's only out in the field that someone's 14 talents emerge, 15 in the process of exploration. "

It was July 2019 and my mum Rebecca was taking me on a 120km walking holiday from Portugal to Spain as a special treat for my 10th birthday. One day, while walking along the coastal path staring out at the Atlantic ocean, I chatted away to Mum. "When Lexi turns 10, are you going to take her on a trip like this?"I asked, referring to my seven-year-old sister. Mum said Lexi had already asked to go to Svalbard in the north of Norway because she was crazy about polar bears.

Although I was still on my first special trip, I'd been learning about ancient civilizations at school and knew I'd love to see some relics in the flesh. So I continued saying, "Why don't I go to Egypt while you're in Svalbard with Lexi?", adding that my dad, Olaf, could take me there. "Great, but I'm not paying for it. "Mum replied, chuckling. "That's fine. I'll pay, "I said, "Tll save up my pocket money and get a job. "

So that's exactly what I did. Though I was too young to do any other paid work, I had my own solution. I started saving my $10-a-week pocket money. Also, I washed my parents'car or mowed the lawn for extra cash. 

In 2020, we moved to Perth. One day, I saw a pamphlet (小册子) in the letter box advertising a job delivering catalogues. When I told Mum I wanted to do it, she tried to put me off the idea, reminding me that the work was tiring and time-consuming. But when seeing the determination in my eyes, she agreed to call them. Thankfully, my young age didn't bother them-I got the job. On a Monday, a mountain of catalogues were dropped off at our house, which shocked me a lot. I told myself to calm down and dedicated to work. It took me nine hours to sort through them. At first, I used my bike and carried the catalogues in my backpack to deliver them to 430 houses in my area. 

注意：

1. 续写词数应为150个左右；

2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

After several deliveries, I found it wasn't very efficient. 

Three and a half years later, I saved a massive $6, 500, and Dad and I flew to Cairo, Egypt.