Breaking News English

Singapore celebrated its [fifty / fiftieth] birthday on Saturday. The tiny nation became an independent country on August 8th, 1965. The [climate / climax] of the celebrations was the largest fireworks [display / displayed] ever seen in Singapore. Tens of thousands of people gathered in the streets to [celebration / celebrate] . The country has been counting down to this anniversary [since / then] New Year's Eve. There have been [hundreds / hundred] of events to [mark / make] the fifty years since independence. Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong [gave / given] a special National Day message to the nation. He said that Singapore could [looking / look] forward to "new peaks" ahead. He added that: "The journey ahead is uncharted. But we must press [off / on] , because we aspire to do better for ourselves and our children."

Singapore has come a long way in the [past / part] fifty years. It became independent from Britain when it was [threw / thrown] out of the Federation of Malaysia after social unrest. The country was very poor [past / back] then but the leadership of [founding / finding] Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew made Singapore wealthy. He died earlier this year but there was [an / the] empty seat for him at the parade. He made Singapore [into / onto] one of the world's wealthiest countries. It is the fourth [most / mostly] important global financial centre and is home to the world's second [busier / busiest] port. A woman said she felt sad that Mr Lee could not live [long / length] enough to be at the anniversary. She said: "We [definitely / definite] feel that something is missing this year, and I still feel the pain in my heart."