Put the verbs in brackets into the "present simple" or "past simplе"​​

1.
What ...a fine day is today!
2.
He usually smokes ... cigarettes or ..a. pipe. 
3.
What do you prefer: ... tea or coffee?
4.
I went to ... Iyanovs, but they weren't at home.
5.
They met at ..the. gate of .a.. school.
6.
In ... our region of ..a. country ... winter is ..a. very cold
season. 
7.
..The. Large steel bridge joins ... two banks of ... river. 
8.
... Rice and ..the. cotton grow in ... Ukraine now.
9.
... People who live in ... Canada speak French and ... English.
10.
Both ... silver and ... gold are metals.
11.
... North America is washed by ..the. Pacific and ..the. Atlantic oceans.
12.
He spent ... summer of 1990 in ... London.
13.
..the. triangle has 3 sides.
14.
the... knowledge is .the.. power.

   It might sound obvious but the person that has influenced m life the most is my dad. Why? Well, though he was not my first life companion – mother being the first one – he taught me a lot about life. Let me tell you a little about him. He isn’t tall nor too handsome nor rich, yet this does not prevent him from living his life to the fullest. He is an IT freelancer, and being one he meets great lot of different people. His knowledge and skills have gained him a lot of regular customers. They respect him for what he does not for his looks. This was the first and at the same time the most precious lesson I’ve learnt. It does not matter what you look like, what matters is who you are, what you know and what you can do. I try to live my life by that rule.