While Daniel is organizing a marathon walk, he finds an article about the New York City Marathon in a magazine. He is reading it with great interest. Read it with him.

  The first New York City Marathon was held on 13th September 1970 in New York. Fred Lebow organized it with only US$1,000. It was a very small event in the city at that time. The race only took place in Central Park. 127 runners joined the marathon and 55 of them finished the course.

  More and more people took part in the marathon. Finally, in 1976, the course was changed. Instead of running in Central Park, the participants had to run in the whole city. The winner that year was Bill Rodgers. He finished the course in 2 hours 10 minutes and set the world record.

  In 1978, more than 9,000 runners joined the marathon. The New York City Marathon then became the world's largest marathon. People from all over the world came to join the race.

In 1979, prize money was given to the winners for the first time.

In 1984, Mercedes-Benz sponsored the race and both the male and

female winners got a car each from the company.

  The 1990 race was for Mr Lebow. He was suffering from brain cancer at that time. In 1992, Mr Lebow ran in the marathon for the first time to celebrate his 60th birthday. He died of brain cancer two years later in 1994.

  The New York City Marathon is a challenge to all runners in the world. Some people run for fund-raising. Some families run together. Some companies send their workers to run the marathon to promote team spirit. It might be a tough course but all participants try their best. That is the true spirit of sports.

Daniel wants to tell his class about the New York City Marathon. First, he is making notes of what he knows. Complete his notes with the correct words.

Simon is writing about Zhiyan in his report. Help him complete his report.

Wang Zhiyan was blind for a long time. When he was seven years old, he began to find that he could not see things ⁽¹⁾________. The local doctors told him that he had cataracts in both eyes. They could do nothing about it because they did not have the ⁽²⁾ ________ and knowledge to do operations on his eyes.

Simon is writing an article for the school newsletter, asking other students to support the inter-school football competition. Complete his article with the correct words. You can use some of the words more than once.

because　because of　event　excited　hope　so　support

Our football team need your ⁽¹⁾ ________! We are ⁽²⁾ ________ to represent our school in the inter-school football competition next month. This is the biggest ⁽³⁾ ________ of the year for all the team members. We are now busy preparing for it ⁽⁴⁾ ________ we want to win the competition.⁽⁵⁾ ________ your help last year, we can now have a better school football pitch to practice on. Every weekend, we practiced hard ⁽⁶⁾ ________ we hoped to enter inter-school competitions one day. Now, our dream has come true. We can go for the coming inter-school football competition ⁽⁷⁾ ________ we are very happy. Thanks for all your support in the past year.

This time, we need to buy uniforms ⁽⁸⁾ ________ we need your help again. we believe that a school team should look tidy during competitions ⁽⁹⁾ ________ having our own uniforms is really important. we have organized a food fair on Sports Day next week. We ⁽¹⁰⁾ ________ this can help us raise money to buy our uniforms. Please help us and come to our food fair on Sports Day! We ⁽¹¹⁾ ________ everyone of you will buy the food we made!

Kitty is writing to Ricky about a mini-concert she is organizing at school. Read the e-mail.

Dear Ricky

　Thank you for your help. Our charity show was really a big success. Because of this success, our school decided to organize another event this June. I felt very glad that the Grade 8 students chose me as their representative.

　We have decided to organize a mini-concert, which aims to raise money for a charity. There are many things to do before the show. We have to decide the fees for the tickets and to collect donations from people who come to the concert. I am responsible for doing several duties. The representatives from the upper grades do more things. I have to design and give out leaflets to people and ask for their support. We hope that they will give some donations for our show. I also have to call the flower shop to send in flowers and arrange them in the theatre.

　We have a singing group in each grade and they will sing the most popular songs in our mini-concert. The host of the show is the captain of out school football team. Everyone has shown a lot of support for our show. I am sure the show will be a big success.

　The mini-concert is so meaningful. It is also fun. I hope you can come that night. I can buy a ticket for you. I hope to hear from you soon.

Love

Kitty

Kitty wants to write an article introducing the mini-concert for the school newsletter. She is writing some notes about it first. Complete her notes with the correct words.

· I am very ⁽¹⁾ ________ to be the Grade 8 representative

· our school will organize a ⁽²⁾ ________ this June

· the event aims to raise money for a ⁽³⁾ ________

· each grade will have a ⁽⁴⁾ ________ to sing in our show

· the host of the show is the ⁽⁵⁾ ________ of our school football team

· the performers have shown a lot of ⁽⁶⁾ ________ for our show

· we hope the show will be a big ⁽⁷⁾ ________

Class 1, Grade 8 students took Lily to some interesting places in Beijing last weekend. She is now writing an e-mail to tell her friend in Hong Kong about her experience. Complete her e-mail with the words from the box.

Dear Linda,

I had a ⁽¹⁾ ________visit in Beijing with my classmates last weekend.

Beijing is an old city with a long history. There are many places of ⁽²⁾ ________ here. Some people spend weeks in Beijing going ⁽³⁾ ________. My classmates took me to the Great Wall on Saturday, and the Palace Museum and the Summer Palace on Sunday

It's the first time I saw the Great Wall. When we ⁽⁴⁾ ________ (walk) on it, I realized that the wall was ⁽⁵⁾ ________ it seemed endless. I'm afraid few visitors can cover the whole distance.

While we ⁽⁶⁾ ________ (go) around the Palace Museum, I was impressed by the ⁽⁷⁾ ________ arts and crafts on display.

The pictures on the long corridor in the Summer Palace were ⁽⁸⁾ ________ I ⁽⁹⁾ ________ (wonder) how people could draw on it many years ago.

It was really a wonderful trip. I bought some ⁽¹⁰⁾ ________ for

you. I hope you can come to Beijing one day. I'm sure you’ll have a good time here.

Yours

Lily

Simon is writing an article about his trip to New York. Complete his article with the words from the box and the correct forms of the verbs in brackets.

New York is one of the world's largest cities. I went there with my parents last summer. On the first day. we ⁽¹⁾ ________ (see) the famous Wall Street while we ⁽²⁾ ________ (walk) around the city. The ⁽³⁾ ________ of that day was the visit to the Empire State Building. It was ⁽⁴⁾ ________ we could not see its top clearly from the street. When we ⁽⁵⁾ ________ (stand) on the top of the 86th floor, I ⁽⁶⁾ ________ (be) really excited. I felt as if I could almost touch the clouds in the sky.

The next day, we went to the famous Broadway theatres and watched Lion King. The ⁽⁷⁾ ________ in the book came alive on the stage. We ⁽⁸⁾ ________ (clap) our hands while they ⁽⁹⁾ ________ (dance) in ⁽¹⁰⁾ ________ costumes.

On the third day, we went to Fifth Avenue. There were many shops on Fifth Avenue. The clothes there were ⁽¹¹⁾ ________ Mum wanted to buy a lot. Later that day, we saw a ⁽¹²⁾ ________ there. It was like a big party in the street. Then we went to Central Park. The plaza Hotel was just opposite the park. It was the place where the film Home Alone 11 was made.

The trip was really ⁽¹³⁾ ________. The places were ⁽¹⁴⁾ ________ I want to visit them again.

After school, Daniel tried to call Amy but her phone line was busy. They are talking about it the next day. Complete their conversation with the correct forms of the verbs in brackets.

Amy wants to give a presentation about her trip to Window of the World in Shenzhen. Help her complete the script of her presentation.

Last summer, we chose a sunny day to visit Window of the World because almost all of the ⁽¹⁾ ________ there are outdoors. Window of the World is a ⁽²⁾ ________ in Shenzhen. We saw many famous places around the world there, such as the Eiffel Tower and the Sydney Opera House. You can walk up the Eiffel Tower and ⁽³⁾ ________ to your friends. The ⁽⁴⁾ ________ of the day was the Eiffel Tower at night. It looked ⁽⁵⁾ ________. There were also some ⁽⁶⁾ ________ churches, palaces, castles, and places where we could sit down and taste the ⁽⁷⁾ ________ food. Just as we came out from the park, we saw soldiers ⁽⁸⁾ ________ down the street. It was great fun watching them.

Mr Wu wants to put some articles on the noticeboard. He asks Daniel to write an article about his trip to Disneyland. Help Daniel complete his article. Use the words from the box. Add‘-ful’or‘-less’. You can use one of the words more that once.

I had the most ⁽¹⁾ ________ summer holiday last year because I went to visit Disneyland in California. We bought the 3-day passes. The passes were very ⁽²⁾ ________ because we did not have to line up for the tickets every day. But of course, we had to be very ⁽³⁾ ________ not to lose them. They cost about US$100 each. They are ⁽⁴⁾ ________ now but I still keep mine.

I went to the Sleeping Beauty Castle. It was very ⁽⁵⁾ ________. The fireworks at night were very ⁽⁶⁾ ________. We could see different colours in the sky. In Mickey's Toontown, Mickey Mouse smiled at everyone.He looked very ⁽⁷⁾ ________ and kind. When I saw the line outside the Space Mountain, I thought it was ⁽⁸⁾ ________ to get in that day but, at last, we were ⁽⁹⁾ ________. The 3-D animals inside looked dangerous but they were ⁽¹⁰⁾ ________.

Millie and Amy are talking about the weather last Sunday.

Complete their conversation with‘on’-infinitives.