In most parts of China, spring is very short. It usually comes in February___________March. Summer is often very hot. It lasts___________May to July. Autumn begins___________August and it lasts for three months, too. The weather in autumn is___________cool. Winter begins in November. It also lasts for three months. The weather in winter is very cold. It often snows in some___________in China.

In England, winter is not very_______and summer is not very hot. There is not a great difference_______summer and winter. Why? England has a mild(温和) winter and a_______summer because it is an island country. In winter, the sea is_______than the land. The winds from the sea bring warm air to England. In summer, the sea is cooler_______the land. The winds from the sea bring cool air to England. The winds from the west blow over England all the year. They_______from the southwest. They are wet winds. They bring_______to England all the year, so England has a lot of rain all the year. The west of England is_______than the east. The winds must blow over the highland in the west. They drop more rain there. The four seasons are all three months_______. Winter is in December, January and February. Spring is in March, April and May. Summer is in June, July and August.__________is in September, October and November.

Basketball can be fun, or it can be trouble. People gather around a ball, but their reactions (反应) often go _______ the object.

It was a terribly hot summer day when the group of us _______ on the basketball court. Silently, we teamed up and played, as always. The sun was a big “squeezer (压榨者)”, as it not only squeezed out of us sweat (汗水) and _______, but also our unhappy feelings. Body contact became more and more often, and we could all _______ the attacks of elbows (肘部). After another round of game, one of the players and I fell to the ground at the same time. From his burning eyeballs, I could see a _______ was almost unavoidable (不可避免的).

It suddenly came to me that my tins of Cola were lying on the ground, about an inch away from me. “Buddy, hot down here. What about a _______,” I said to him. _______ I rolled (滚动) one to him, looking at him in the eyes with my most sincere facial expression. “I guess I’m quite fine. Lucky no _______ bones or we’ll end up in the hospital!” I said.

Other players watching nearby all laughed. I could clearly see some movement on his face. My _______ did work! He picked the Cola up, tried to ________ it, and walked over. As he passed by my side, he ________ his left hand, and smiled at me. I smiled back, took his hand, and gave him a ________ shake.

A gentle wind caught me on the face ________ I returned to the basketball court. The sun continued to provide ________ for us. What could be better than a group of school students ________ basketball skills on a warm, sunny afternoon?