Eddie was filled with excitement. The mountain bike race was about to start and he had been training hard. Perhaps, this year, he would finally ________. The waiting crowd shouted encouragement, and Eddie’s dad was among them, smiling ________.

The starter’s gun went off and Eddie got away quickly. The road was bumpy (起伏不平) with lots of sudden turns, but Eddie was ________ for these challenges. As he went around a corner, he _______ that his friend Riley was the only rider in front of him. Putting in more effort, Eddie reached Riley and then suddenly he was ________. He was going to win! Eddie could see the finish line that appears at the top of the next hill. The crowd began to ________ and Eddie heard his father’s voice supporting him.

Moments later, Eddie heard a cry. He looked around to see Riley ________ on the road with his bike on top of him. Any minute now, the other riders would rush toward him over the hill. Eddie jumped off his bike and ran to Riley to check whether he was OK. His friend was unhurt and the boys ________ moved Riley’s bike off the road. The other riders sped past to the finish line, and Eddie heard a cheer go up for the winner.

Slowly, Eddie ________ his bike to the finish line. Tears of disappointment filled his eyes. Then, to his surprise, Eddie heard a sound and looked over at the crowd to see them cheering for ________. And there was his dad, with the proudest smile of all.

Eric and Jack are brothers, but they’re quite different. Eric is _______, but Jack is short. Eric has a long face and _______ hair, but Jack has a round face and curly hair. Jack often _______ a pair of glasses, but Eric doesn’t. Their biggest difference (最大的不同) is that Eric is good at all the school _______ , but Jack isn’t.

You may think Eric is _______ and Jack is kind of stupid (笨的). No, each of them is very great. Well, let me _______ you the real reasons (原因). First of all, Eric studies very _______ . He listens to the teacher carefully in class, and when he gets back home from school, he does his homework first. But Jack is different. He _______ much time playing with his friends and he _______ does his homework. Also, Eric enjoys reading very much. He reads on the school bus, after class, and before he goes to bed. But Jack doesn’t love to ________ at all. He just enjoys playing computer games every day after school.

A boy and his family left their country because of war. They lived in a small room. They had no toys or books, and only ________ food. One night, Father went to the market to buy ________. When he came home, it was nearly dark. He carried a long roll of paper under his arm.

“I bought a map.” He said happily.

“________ is the bread?” Mother asked. “I bought a map.” He said again.

Mother and the boy said ________.

“I had enough money to buy only a small piece of bread, and we would still be ________,” Father said, feeling very sorry.

“No dinner tonight,” Mother said ________. “We’ll have the map instead.” The boy was very angry, but he had to go to bed hungrily.

The next day, Father ________ the large map. The map was so large that it took up the whole wall. Their dark room was full of ________.

“What a colorful map!” It surprised the boy and made him very ________ it. So he began to spend long hours looking at it and studying it carefully and drawing on any small piece of paper that he ________ find. He learned many different names of places on the map. He even traveled to faraway countries without ________ the room.

The boy landed in deserts. He ran on beaches. He climbed snowy mountains. He saw birds singing on the top of temples. He went ________ forests with lots of fruit trees, eating as many fruits as he liked. He drank fresh water and ________ under tall trees. He came to a city of tall buildings and counted thousands of windows, falling asleep ________ he could finish.

So he spent many hours far, far away from his hunger and ________ days. He understood that his father was right at last.