I. 1. set out

   2. believe in

   3. ahead of

   4. in a row

   5. look back at

   6. go by

II. 1. that

    2. Whether

    3. what

    4. who

    5. if / whether

    6. where

    7. when

    8. whose

III. 1. is

     2. will be

     3. will give

     4. improved

     5. have known

     6. could

IV. One possible version:

A Special Birthday Party in My School Life

Three years has quickly passed. I will never forget many things in my school life. One of them impressed me very much. It was a birthday party for my classmate Zhang Jing who was always studying on her seat quietly. She seldom talked or played with us. One day we knew that her parents had been dead for many years. We decided to have a birthday party for her without telling her. On her birthday, when we brought the beautiful cake with singing “Happy birthday to you”, the expression on her face told us that what we were doing was well worth. After she made wishes and blew out the candles, she said “thank you” with a smile and tears on her face. Seeing it, I felt something warm was growing in my heart. We were all deeply moved. We all felt we were living in a big happy family from then on.

From it I understood the old Chinese saying: Roses given, fragrance in hand.