1. (2022九上·义乌期中) 完形填空

My sisters and I recently returned from visiting our beloved parents in Florida. For six days, we spent about six hours on the beach. We took the beach1—it's almost a full-time job! Though, we really2ourselves there.

I usually read books on the beach while my mom and sisters enjoyed 3shells (贝壳). This time they filled their pockets and bags with seashells, and then took them home. They meant to4all kinds of things out of the seashells to sell. On the last day of our trip, I joined the family 5of collecting shells too. I grabbed handfuls of (一把) sand and picked out shell treasures. Having 6so many shell handicrafts (手工艺品) made by my mom and sisters before, I used to take shells for granted (理所当然). But I couldn't help but feel 7at the shells in Florida. Some were big and in different 8while some were no bigger than a nail, which was unbelievable.

Many people know there's a beach full of 9in Western Australia, which is over 74 miles long! It's called Shell Beach. But nobody exactly knows10seashell species (品种) there are on the beach: 11, as many as 200,000 different kinds. However, very few of the shells have pearls (珍珠) in them. 12The Science Network, "A finished pearl takes 15 to 20 years to make, which13why a ton of shells might produce as few as three pearls. The probabilities (概率) of them being14pearls are, exactly, one in a million. "

I was lost in thought. The chances of finding a pearl in a shell are more than one in a million. Compared with shells, 15isn't so hard. The shells with pearls are valued by people and so is the person who gets to the top. So try to be a pearl on the beach!