Reading and Blank-filling
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。
1
Frederic Chopin （1810—1849） was a great composer and an excellent pianist. He composed twenty-four short ___1___ （piece） for the piano called preludes （前奏）. The longest one， Prelude no.15， is better ___2___ （know） by its nickname， the “Raindrop” Prelude. How did it get its nickname？
One day in 1838， when Chopin’s lover George Sand went out ___3___ a rainstorm， Chopin became worried. While he ___4___ （wait） for Sand， he wrote Prelude no.15.
When Sand came back， Chopin played ___5___ （she） the music. Sand thought the notes sounded like raindrops. She let Chopin listen to ___6___ raindrops falling on the roof. This made Chopin___7___ （happy）. He insisted that he never paid attention to those sounds or ___8___ （copy） them.
However， like Sand， many people hear raindrops in this prelude. Some notes repeating throughout the piece sound like raindrops. The flow of the music is like rain， too. The piece starts___9___ （soft）， but it gets louder， like rain getting ___10___ （heavy）. Then the music gets quiet and finally ends， like rain when it stops.
1. _______________ 2. _______________ 3. _______________ 4. _______________ 5. _______________
6. _______________ 7. _______________ 8. _______________ 9. _______________ 10. _________ ___
2
A high-tech zebra crossing with flashing lights and audio warning （语音提示） ___1___ （put） into use for the ___2___ （one） time in Bishan district， Chongqing a few months ago. It can also take pictures of the people ___3___ are against the traffic rules in the area.
At a busy road in front of a gate of Bishan Middle School， the crosswalk is installed （安装）___4___ （keep） the students safe when they cross the road after school.
The zebra crossing area has light strips. When people cross the street， they flash to “tell” ___5___（drive） to slow down and wait for people to go across the street. At the same time， display screens on either side of the crosswalk tell people to only cross the street when the light ___6___ （be） green.
Jiang Fei， ___7___ traffic officer in Bishan， said that the lighting system was very useful in the evening and ___8___ a rainy and foggy day.
Rong Sheng from the school’s safety department said， “In the past， our school safety guards___9___ （have） to stand in the middle of the road after school to stop the cars.”
Now the students feel ___10___ （safe） than before after the installation of the smart crosswalk.
1. _______________ 2. _______________ 3. _______________ 4. _______________ 5. _______________
6. _______________ 7. _______________ 8. _______________ 9. _______________ 10. _________ ___
3
Have you ___1___ （notice） that some people are not as healthy as before though life has improved a lot？ Nowadays some people eat more， so they are getting ___2___ （heavy） than before. This makes ___3___ easy for people to get sick. Eating unhealthy food is another problem. It will___4___ （sure） make people healthy to stay away from junk food and try to eat more ___5___ （kind） of food per day. To become healthier， people should still exercise more. Doing sports daily will make people keep ___6___ a good condition. Many people are quite busy studying and ___7___ （work） and they go to bed very late， even when they have to go to school ___8___ to work early the next morning. If such a situation ___9___ （keep） on for a long time， people will finally get sick. Doing sports is a good way to get ___10___ （relax）. It will do good to people’s health.
1. _______________ 2. _______________ 3. _______________ 4. _______________ 5. _______________
6. _______________ 7. _______________ 8. _______________ 9. _______________ 10. _________ ___
4
Try reading the following sentences as fast ___1___ you can： “She sells seashells by the seashore. The shells she sells are surely seashells. So if she sells shells on the seashore， I’m sure she sells seashore shells.”
Not very easy， was it？ What you’ve just read ___2___ （call） a tongue twister （绕口令）. It is___3___ exercise made up of sounds that are hard to pronounce in order to help people pronounce words ___4___ （fast） and more correctly. Try the next example： “Peter Piper ___5___ （pick） a peck of（许多） pickled peppers （腌辣椒）. Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers？ If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers， where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked？”
Tongue twisters usually do not have much ___6___ （mean）. They are just used to improve people’s ability to pronounce words. Although they may be very difficult， these exercises are very ___7___ （importance） to people who are trying to speak English correctly. This is ___8___ tongue twisters help people tell the differences between similar sounds.
So if you wish ___9___ （pronounce） words more smoothly， you’d better try picking out some tongue twisters and ___10___ （practice） them.