根据课文内容填空。

1．Sometimes I think this house will be    1    down by a    2   plane. I have been    3    a large sum of money to go away, but I am    4    to stay here. Everybody says I must be mad and they are    5    right.

2．Fishing is my   6   sport. I often fish for hours without catching anything. But this does not    7    me. Some fishermen are unlucky.    8    of catching fish, they catch old boots and rubbish.

3．She threw the bottle into the sea. She never thought of it again, but ten months later, she    9    a letter from a girl in Holland. Both girls write to each other    10    now. However, they have decided to use the post office. Letters will cost a little more, but they will   11    travel faster.

4． However, the next King of Prussia, Frederick William I, to whom the amber room    12   , decided not to keep it. In 1716 he gave it to Peter the Great. In    13   , the Czar sent him a troop of his best soldiers. So the Amber Room became part of Czar’s winter palace in St Petersburg. About four meters long, the room    14    as a small reception hall for important visitors.

5．As a matter of fact, every country wants the    15   . It’s a great responsibility but also a great   16     to be chosen. There’s as much competition among countries to    17    the Olympics as to win Olympic medals.

6．As a    18    , I    19    changed my shape. As I have grown older I have also grown smaller. Over time my memory has    20    so much that, like an elephant, I never forget anything I have been told.

7．Sometimes they may play to passers-by in the street or subway so that they can   21    some extra money for themselves or to pay for their instruments. Later they may give    22    in pubs or clubs, for which they are paid in cash.