Dear Addie,
Greetings from New Jersey, how is New Zealand? I’m very excited to have you as my pen pal. I guess it’s my turn to tell you about myself.
First off, I live with my parents, two sisters, and our pet dog Brighty. Our town is called Whippangong. It is only about a half-hour away from New York City. My oldest sister, Ingrid, just turned 17, that means she now has a drive’s license. She drives us to the mall. Do you have a mall near you in Te Awamutu? My other sister is 11 and her name is Lucy. I guess I would say that she is my best friend. We still fight, though. She rides horses and takes lessons every Saturday morning. I have to go with her sometimes, and that is truly the most boring thing in the world. Do you like horses?
I take tap dancing classes. I like to practice in the food store. The sound of my feet stepping on the hard floors echoes(发出回声). I play scores in the fall; I’m on the swim team during the summer. I like swim, but I am really looking forward to diving this year. Next year I will start music lessons in school. I think I am going to play the piano.
Our house has eight rooms and a small backyard where every year we try to grow vegetables. We mostly get zucchini because the rabbits eat everything else. I guess rabbits don’t like zucchini. I have a bike and mum allows me to ride up and down our street, but nowhere else. I hope that I will get to ride it to school someday. Right now I ride the crowed and yucky bus.
Well, that is enough about me for now. I look forward to hearing from you again soon. I hope your surfing lessons went well. And I hope your mum does let you learn to play the drums.
Write soon
Love,
Jessica
【小题1】 In this letter, Jessica doesn’t talk about     .

完形填空

　　Last year, Mrs White fell into the river while she was doing some washing. That evening she had a high fever and her son 1 some medicine for her. She didn't 2 it after she felt a little better. From then on she can hardly hear anything. And people 3 to talk to her loudly and this often brings her a little 4 . So one day her son decided to take her to see the doctor.

　　After they arrived at the doctor's, her son 5 to work. Mrs. Black went in and found 6 there and began to knit (编织) a sweater. Before long a nurse came in and said, “We close this afternoon, granny. Come here tomorrow.”

　　The old woman smiled at the nurse, but she didn't leave and 7 on knitting. The nurse said it again more loudly but Mrs Black said nothing and was 8 sitting in the waiting room. Now the nurse understood what it meant. She brought out a piece of paper and wrote on it, “We close this afternoon.” Then she handed it to the old woman. Mrs Black looked at it for a long time and then 9 it to the nurse.

　　“I'm sorry, madam,” said the old woman “I've left my 10 at home.”

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If you have failed in the past to try to make big changes in life, try again now, one tiny step at a time.
Every year it's the same. As December comes to an end, you think about the new year and all the ways you want to improve your life. But as you start to write down your hopes for the new year, you think about the last year. You excitedly write down all the changes you are going to make, but by the end of January those ideas get lost in your busy life.
Here's a suggestion: Forget the too big, hard-to-achieve goals and just think about the small ones. “We often think that we have to do everything in big steps, even though it's so hard for us to reach it.” said Robert Maurer, who recently wrote the book One Small Step Can Change Your Life. “What we try to do is to begin with such a small step that we can’t find any excuse not to do it.”
“Kaizen”, a Japanese word, is used to mean to change behavior and attitudes (态度). During World War II, American factory managers were able to increase productivity by trying small, continuous improvements instead of sudden changes. After the war, the idea was brought to a rebuilding (重建) Japan. It made Japan develop fast. The Japanese called it “kaizen”, which means “improvement”.
Maurer studied the idea and did some experiments with it. “Kaizen” could possibly help people succeed in doing everything.
【小题1】At the end of December, people usually ___________ .