EGE 19-24 (G1_07), 25-29 (G2_07), 30-36 (G3_07)

Excuses, excuses ... For years my husband, Tom, and I had complained bitterly about the lack of sidewalks in our village. We didn’t have enough exercise but we _____ (NOT CAN) jog because there were no sidewalks.

Tom had often told ___ (I), «If only we had sidewalks, we would jog or walk daily and become models of fitness».

So we were thrilled when a community sidewalk project was announced, and watched eagerly as paving neared completion. Then the ______ (BAD) thing happened: wishful thinking and reality collided.

«Well, dear,» Tom said. «What’ll we use as an excuse for not walking now?» I said I ______ (THINK) of some excuse.

Memorial Day. In the USA, Memorial Day is the last Monday in May. Memorial Day _____ (DECLARE) a national holiday in 1971.

But the tradition of honoring those who died in defense of _______ (THEY) country goes back to the Civil War. The tradition to hold memorial services, visit the cemeteries, decorate the graves with flowers and wreaths originated in Waterloo, New York, in 1866.

Since then, the tradition ______ (CHANGE). Nowadays, on Memorial Day Americans honor not only soldiers who perished in wars but those loved ones who have died.

Future populationThe United Nations (UN) has published its prediction about the size and age of the world’s population three hundred years from now. This report can help environmental ______ (SCIENCE) and policy-makers to understand dramatic changes in the world’s population in the future.

The report suggests that if the birth rates stay the same, there’ll be a huge expansion of the _____ (GLOBE) population.

You now may think it is ______ (POSSIBLE) but three centuries from there may be over one hundred and thirty trillion people.