—Why are you so late?—The driver couldn’t see clearly because of the fog．____, the road was too icy．

----What about going on a trip?----Sound a good idea. But I don't have time now and____it's too expensive.

No. 7 High Senior 3 students are lucky to enjoy a ______ long winter vacation, compared with those of other schools, some of whom have to stay at school even during the Spring Festival.

We have done half the work so far. _____, we’ll have finished it by December. 

The final score of the basketball match was 96-97. We were only _____ beaten.