Born into a wealthy Jiangyin family, Xu Xiake, became interested in books about different places _________ an early age and wanted to travel. When he was 18, _________, Xu’s father died and so, it seemed, did his travelling dreams. He now was responsible for the family farm and _________ care of his 60-year-old mother.

But his mother had different ideas. Understanding her son’s love of travel and valuing the knowledge he could get from such experiences, this modern thinking woman refused _________ her son at home. She agreed that Xu could travel for three months every year, _________ there was less farm work.

So at the age of twenty and _________ his mother’s support, Xu started out for the first time, leaving behind not only his mother but his new wife _________. He travelled throughout the Ming kingdom, carefully studying the lands he passed through and recording his experiences and many discoveries in _________ diary with over 500,000 words, which would eventually _________ The Travel Notes of Xu Xiake.

__________ rich, Xu avoided comfortable travel, preferring to go almost everywhere __________. This way he could research the environment in details and get a true picture of the natural world. Many of his trips were to hard-to-reach mountain areas, and through wild forests where __________ people lived. His willingness to face hardships came at a cost however. Progress was slow and tiring and he was frequently sick, robbed and beaten during his journeys.

Sadly, Xu became seriously ill during his last and __________ journey, a 4-year trip through the Southwest of China. He died in 1641, soon after __________ to his hometown for the last time. When his diary __________ finally years after his death, much of it had been destroyed or lost. Although incomplete, it still made Xu a travelling legend around the world.

Walt Disney came from America. When he was very young, his family moved from the city _________ the farm.

Disney was busy most of the time, _________ he could still find time to do interesting things. He spent much of his free time _________ pictures of the animals on the farm. He then tried _________ stories about them. Later he even began taking art classes on Saturdays.

As he grew older, Disney’s art talent also _________. He started using _________ new way to tell his stories. To do this, he drew the same pictures many times, changing each one a little. With his camera, he took a photo of each drawing. Next, he put the film（胶卷）through film projector（放映机）. As the pictures ran _________ through the projector, the characters looked real and moving. Disney soon began to use this way. He made his drawings into cartoons. And the cartoons _________ just like films.

Walt Disney was _________ after many years of hard work. He became one of the world’s __________ entertainers（演艺人士）. His cartoons still make lots of people happy every day.

Samuel Osmond is a 19-year-old student from Cornwall, England. He never studied the piano. However, he can play very difficult musical pieces by musicians such as Chopin and Beethoven just ________ minutes after he hears them. He learns a piece of music ________ listening to it in parts. Then he thinks about the notes in his head.

Two years ago, Samuel played his ________ piece Moonlight Sonata (奏鸣曲) by Beethoven. He surprised ________ around him. He can’t understand ________ people are so surprised. “I grew up with music. My mother played the piano and my father played the guitar. When I start to play the piano, it is ________ to m—I hear the notes and can keep them in mind—each and every note,” says Samuel.

Recently, Samuel performed a piece during a special event at his college. ________ piece has more than a thousand notes. It is so difficult that many professional pianists can’t play it. But Samuel says ________, “It’s all about super memory—I guess I have that gift (天赋).”

Samuel is still only a teenager. He doesn’t know what he ________ to do in the future. For now, he is just happy to play beautiful music and go on with ________ studies.