It was the turkey that made it the worst Thanksgiving ever…well, it _______ did.

All the family—my grandparents, my parents, my aunt and uncle, my cousin, my sister and I— _______ the turkey. However, turkey is not the easiest thing to _______. It takes a lot of time to prepare and a lot of work to cook…and there are a lot of chances for things to go wrong.

My mum and dad bought a nice, big turkey a few days before Thanksgiving. _______ was proud of herself as she got it for a good price. _______ Thanksgiving, Mum got the turkey out of the fridge. Early the next morning, my sister and I helped her put some butter and salt on the turkey. After that, Mum put it in the oven. It looked like it would be delicious. My sister and I were _______.

But soon, we noticed something was wrong. The oven was _______. Dad checked it closely. _______ he said in a low voice, “it’s broken.”

Mum’s heart almost stopped. She didn’t want her dinner to be a failure. We didn’t know _______. How were we going to feed everyone without the turkey? Mum looked worried.

Finally, Dad had an idea, and we all agreed with his suggestion to order ________ instead. After all, Thanksgiving is about giving thanks and spending time with your family.

That evening, we shared a delicious pizza. We had a great time, talking, eating and playing games. Thanksgiving without turkey can still be fun!

Life in Outer Space

Chinese taikonauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu carried out the Shenzhou-13 spaceflight mission (任务) that started on Oct. 15, 2021. This mission lasts 6 months, which was also a national record. Zhai is the commander (指令长) who performed China’s first spacewalk in the Shenzhou-7 mission in 2008. Wang, who was in the Shenzhou-10 mission in 2013, is the first Chinese woman astronaut to visit China’s space station. Ye is a new comer to space.

The trio had carried out two spacewalks and completed more than 20 scientific tasks. Besides their tasks, they had also given two live lectures from the space station, showing the students their living and working areas at the Tianhe core module and several scientific experiments under zero-gravity conditions and answering real-time questions from students.

The trio also became the first Chinese to spend the nation’s most important festival — the Chinese Lunar New Year — in outer space.

They returned to Earth on April 16, 2022 and made Shenzhou-13 mission a great success.

“What a great film!” says Dan.

Dan Parks and Sue Barrington are leaving the Odeon cinema in Oxford.

“I love Eddie Redmayne,” says Sue.

“Yes, he’s a
56． actor,” replies Dan.

He looks at his watch.

“It’s
57． o’clock already,” he says. “Time to get home.”

“Yes,” says Sue. “It’s beginning to get dark.”

They walk up the street and look for their bikes. There
58． a lot of bikes in Oxford. The city is flat and a lot of people cycle.

“There’s my bike,” says Dan. He looks for Sue’s, but he
59． see it.

“Where’s
60．?” asks Sue. “It’s not here.”

Then they see her bike lock on the ground —
61． two bits.

“Oh no!” says Sue. “Bike thieves!”

Dan looks up and down the road. He sees a police car fifty metres away on the other side of the street.

“
62． me,” he says to Sue, and runs across the street.

She watches him. He talks through the window of the police car and points
63． at her.

Then a policewoman gets out of the car and comes across the road with Dan.

“Hello,” says the policewoman to Sue. “I’m PC Jennings. Your friend tells me your bike is
64． . Now tell me about the bike.”

“Well, it’s blue,” begins Sue. “It’s a
65． bike. And it’s only a year old.”

Jennings writes everything in her notebook.

…

The pictures are provided to help you think about this topic.

Pay attention to the following points when you plan your composition.

●Where was Mary?

●What was Mary doing?

●What happened to her?

●What did Mary feel when seeing her mother?

The following words may help you:

●crowded with visitors

●so interested in the animals

●no one around

●turn to …