The MCallister family plans to fly to Paris and spend Christmas there. Eight-year-old Kevin can’t get on well with his brothers, sisters and cousins. After a ________ with his older brother Buzz the night before, he was sent to the third floor bedroom. How he ________ his family would disappear(消失)! All the alarm clocks go ________, causing the family to oversleep. Because they are anxious(急切的) to reach the airport on time, Kevin is left behind and the family does not realize it ________ they are on the plane.

Kevin wakes up to find himself alone and is happy to find that his wish ________. He practices shooting, jumps on the bed, watches films and eats junk food. On Christmas Eve, Kevin hears two bad men Harry and Marv discussing ________ for breaking into(闯进) his house that night. Kevin gets back home and builds lots of traps(陷阱) inside the house. Hary and Marv break in. They are tricked(被捉弄) by the traps. Kevin runs away to the second floor and ________ 911. They run after him out of the house and ________ into a neighboring home. But the two men ________ catch Kevin. Luckily, one of Kevin’s neighbors, the old Marley notices them and ________ Kevin. At last the two bad men are caught by policemen.

As we know, there are differences between Western culture and Chinese culture. Let’s look at the names about animals and plants. Most expressions in Chinese for the dog, _________, “a homeless dog”, “a mad dog”, “a running dog” and “a dog catching a mouse”, have negative (消极的) meanings.

_________ in Western countries, people think dogs are honest and good friends of humans. In English, people use the dog to _________ positive (积极的) actions. For example, “you are a lucky dog” means you are a (n) _________ person. And “every dog has its day” means each person has good luck sometimes. To describe a person’s serious illness, they say “sick as a dog”. The word “dog tired” means very tired. Chinese _________ cats very much. But in western culture, people often use “cat” to describe a cruel (残酷的) woman.

The rose is regarded as (被看作) a _________ of love in both China and some Western countries. People think the rose _________ love, peace, courage and friendship. And the rose is the national flower of England, America and many other countries.

People in different countries use the words about plants and animals in positive or negative ways. We can _______ many differences in cultures by comparing (比较) some words.

Many people may be crazy about numbers. They think that numbers have something to do with ________.

Western people think the number “13” is ________. In some parts of the world, buildings don’t have the thirteenth floor. People go from the twelfth to the ________ directly (直接地). In many countries, ________ don’t include “13” in their room numbers. Many tourists cannot find Room 13 when they stay there! In some parts of China, the number “4” could be unlucky because the word “four” sounds similar to “death” in Chinese. So Chinese ________ give gifts of four toys, four boxes of chocolate or four of anything.

Meanwhile, “________” and “eight” are lucky numbers in China. Chinese people see dates that include these two lucky numbers as lucky days. They like to hold important events on these lucky days. For example, the Beijing Olympic Games opened at 8:08 on ________ 8, 2008. Many Chinese people try their best to choose a telephone number with “8” or “6” in it. And these numbers usually cost ________ money in China. Bulgarians, however, do not ________ phone numbers with “8” as the owners of phone number “08888-888-888” either died of cancer (癌症) or were killed. The same number can have ________ meanings in many cultures.

Are you a big fan of numbers now? Do you believe that numbers can affect our lives?