Dad recently read me a speech, hoping to satisfy my endless search for answers-answers to everything. Ever since I was very young, I’ve asked countless times “What should I do?”, trying to avoid making mistakes. Maybe I feared to take my first baby step on my own I think.
During my middle school years, I changed. It was when I decided to try for the lead in Beauty and the Beast (野兽) without asking Dad for advice. Never mind that I would have to memorize lines and movements, and I would take the chance that I might fail.
On the day of audition (试镜), I kept telling myself, “If you don’t think you can do it the right way, just don’t go.” My heart was pounding; my hands were shaking so badly that I wasn’t certain whether people would hear me.
But something happened. When I opened my mouth, I found the sound was loud, powerful and sweet! And I even reached the high notes that I’d never reached! It was fantastic! I was trying bravely even though I might fail. But I didn’t. That audition wasn’t the end of the trap that kept me from trying, but it was definitely an important part of the process of growing.
That day, I realized that if I want to live my life to the fullest, I have to push myself. Because my parents, friends and teachers don’t always have the answer to “What should I do?”.
Now, I do take these chances, with baby steps, every day, like voicing my opinions in class discussions, riding my horse over a three-foot jump...
“Life is learning to deal with Plan B.” Dad stated in his speech. But I now know the Plan As I make for my life will become easier and easier with every chance I take.
1.When the author was young, she ________.A.always liked to ask her father some strange questions |
B.was afraid to fail and just wanted to do things the right way |
C.often listened to Dad’s speeches at school |
D.always compared Plan A to Plan B before acting |
A.She found it hard to remember all the lines and movements. |
B.No one could hear her clearly since her voice was shaking. |
C.She successfully beat herself and performed much better than she’d expected. |
D.She regretted not accepting Dad’s advice. |
A.wished the author could keep searching for answers |
B.expected the author to avoid mistakes in life |
C.believed Plan B was always much easier than Plan A |
D.hoped the author could try things bravely and never fear to make mistakes |
A.The author was scared of taking her first step when she was just a baby. |
B.It was never hard for the author to reach high notes while she was singing. |
C.The audition made the author more confident in life. |
D.People around the author always warned her against making mistakes. |
A.Taking Chances | B.The Process of Growing |
C.Answers in Life | D.An Unexpected Audition |
Having a good sleep is always my dream. Ever since I was a teenager, I’ve had problems falling and staying asleep. When I do fall asleep, an hour later I’m right back up, worrying about study or the kids or something stupid I did in high school. It was like I couldn’t turn my brain off.
The doctor told me that I couldn’t sleep well because of anxiety. But I considered myself a positive person, and my sleep problems have given me too much trouble. So I decided to do something about it, and I carefully found the solutions to the problems.
So I read lots of research. Along the way, I learned a surprising fact. A study form the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that about 25% of all Americans experience insomnia (失眠) each year. That’s awful! Suddenly, I wasn’t doing research just for myself anymore. I was doing an experiment to help all my readers experience a better night of sleep. So I started trying different methods and recording my results.
First, I got a white noise machine. My mind just focused on the noise, and it ended up having an opposite effect. Then I tried earplugs. However, it’s hard to fall asleep with earplugs in! They were very uncomfortable! After that, I tried to take Xanax. But once again. I didn’t love it. Even though it helped me get to sleep and stay asleep, it left me feeling weak the next day. If I kept taking it, I thought it would do harm to my health.
Recently, I have kept reading articles about how a new blanket, the Odyssey Blanket, was supposed to be good for sleep and anxiety. But even though I saw it again and again, I didn’t pay much attention to it because I didn’t believe a blanket would help. But the more I read, the more it seemed like this blanket might be a good idea.
1.What does the author tell us in describing her sleep problems?A.She didn’t do well in high school. |
B.She can’t have a sleep for more than one hour. |
C.She has suffered from the problems for many years. |
D.Taking care of her kids didn’t allow her to get enough sleep. |
A.A machine to help fall asleep. | B.Soft music to help calm down. |
C.A tool used to cover the face. | D.Medicine used to help fall asleep. |
A.To show how she fought against insomnia. |
B.To talk about her new findings in research. |
C.To warn readers not to be cheated by sellers. |
D.To share the experience of using a new blanket. |
A.e-c-a-b-d | B.c-b-a-e-d | C.e-c-b-a-d | D.e-d-a-b-c |
For middle and primary school students, being able to cook has become a must. They will also need to learn how to plant vegetables, raise poultry (家禽) and maintain home appliances under new requirement, for labor education.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) brought out a new standard for labor education in schools last year. Starting from the 2022 fall semester, students in primary and middle schools have to take courses on labor skills at least once a week. Labor education helps students value hard work. It includes things like household chores (家务), on-campus labor and community volunteer services.
The new standard includes three types of labor tasks. The first is for things like everyday chores, including cleaning, organizing, cooking, and using and maintaining home appliances. Next is productive labor, including agriculture, making traditional handicrafts, and applying new technologies such as 3D printing and laser cutting. The third type is service work, which includes volunteer work.
Schools in China have traditionally placed more focus on studying, and many have seen household chores as a waste of children’s time. But according to the MOE, labor education must be built up to help students cultivate (培养) social values and develop an interest in labor.
Online, people have been busy discussing the new standards on social media.
Liu Fang, a mother of 6-year-old twins in Beijing, strongly supports labor education. For the past year, she has trained her daughters to do household chores and make simple dishes for the family.
“The main idea is to let them share responsibility as family members and become independent as early as they can,” said Liu. “Through doing housework, their hand-eye coordination (协调), time management and organization skills can be trained and it’s also good to help them relax.” Through such education, Liu said her twins have found pleasure when doing chores and are more independent.
Introduction | A new Students |
Students have Doing household chores has been seen as a waste of time. Students can build up social values and develop interests in labor | |
Three types of labor tasks | It is necessary to learn everyday chores like cleaning, organizing and cooking. Productive labor Students also have a chance to work as |
An | Liu Fang, mother of 6-year-old twins in Beijing, gives labor education a |
Traveling by subway can sometimes be a challenge, especially during rush hour. You have to fight your way into the carriage(车厢), and keep away from others' hot water. The smells of some passengers' food are very strong, too.
Since April, the local government of Beijing has collected public opinions on the new Beijing Subway Passenger Rules. The rules say that if passengers have bad manners while on the subway, they will end up with bad credit(信用) scores or even being refused by the subway. Four kinds of behaviors(行为) were added to the new rules. They include stealing others' seats, eating or drinking, handing out advertisements, and not paying for the tickets.
As for eating and drinking on the subway, ①不同的人有不同的观点. Some people support the rules that all passengers except babies and people with certain health problems are not allowed to eat or drink on the subway. ②The have pointed out that the smell of food and drink can make other passengers unhappy.
However, others question this rule, saying that drinking water should be allowed ③____
Education appears to protect older adults especially women, against memory loss, according to a study by researchers Georgetown University Medical Centre.
The study tested declarative memory (陈述性记忆) in 704 older adults (58-98 years of age). Declarative memory refers to our ability to remember events, facts and words, such as where you put your keys or the name of that new neighbour. The researchers found that their memory performance became worse with aging. However, more years of early-life education countered these losses, especially in women.
For example, the declarative memory abilities of an 80-year-old woman with a bachelor’s degree (学士学位) would be as good as those of a 60-year-old woman with a high school education. So, four extra years of education make up for the memory losses from 20 years of aging.
“Simply said, learning brings about learning,” says the study’s senior researcher, Michael Ullman. “Since learning new information in declarative memory is easier if it is connected with knowledge we already have, more knowledge from more education should result in better memory abilities, even years later.” adds the study’s lead author, Jana Reifegerste.
“Evidence suggests that girls often have better declarative memory than boys, so education may lead to greater knowledge gains in girls,” says Ullman. “Education may bring advantages to memory abilities in women, even years later in old age.”
“These findings may be important, especially considering the rapidly aging population,” Reifegerste says. “The results argue for further efforts to increase chances of receiving education.”
“Education has also been found to slow down the beginning of Alzheimer’s disease,” Ullman says. “We believe that our findings may explain why this happens.”
1.The underlined “counter” in Paragraph 2 probably means ________.A.cancel | B.change | C.produce | D.reduce |
A.New information. | B.Declarative memory. | C.More education. | D.Better memory ability. |
A.slow down the process of aging | B.push for the development of education |
C.make progress in the study of Alzheimer disease | D.fight for the equal rights of women’s education |
A.declarative memory abilities fail with aging |
B.women should try to get a bachelor’s degree |
C.learning often helps improve old adults’ memory |
D.early-life education helps prevent memory loss in old age |
For many years I have been a proud dreamer. I could get lost in the clouds for hours, dreaming of
I spend most of my time on dreaming. What’s the problem with spending so much time dancing among sunset-painted cotton candy clouds? Well, the
“Stop dreaming. Be a doer not a dreamer,” the famous television producer Shonda Rhimes described in her
One of the hardest lessons a dreamer has to learn is that in order to cultivate(培养)the type of life we fictionalize(幻想)so often, we must match our dreams with
Another hard truth that we dreamers must
So, this is me waving goodbye to my cotton candy clouds. I am
However, as my best friend often
The best thing for us is challenging. It is a lot more meaningful than those cotton candy
1.A.turning | B.leading | C.listening | D.travelling |
A.standard | B.career | C.achievement | D.situation |
A.voice | B.ability | C.surprise | D.space |
A.advice | B.reason | C.difficulty | D.problem |
A.absent | B.present | C.free | D.different |
A.meeting | B.speech | C.novel | D.diary |
A.refusing | B.believing | C.offering | D.trying |
A.exciting | B.important | C.real | D.lovely |
A.action | B.money | C.time | D.study |
A.suggest | B.know | C.follow | D.change |
A.everyone | B.nobody | C.someone | D.anyone |
A.means | B.considers | C.explains | D.promises |
A.controlling | B.satisfying | C.discovering | D.challenging |
A.hard | B.easy | C.hurt | D.special |
A.encourages | B.reports | C.helps | D.reminds |
When it comes to opera, you might think of Peking Opera. But have you ever heard of Qinqiang Opera(秦腔)?
Qinqiang Opera is one of the e
Hou Yan is the president and Party secretary of Qinqiang Theater of the Ningxia Performing Arts Group. She started learning Qinqiang Opera at 4.
Training in the basic skills of Qinqiang Opera is very c
In the past decades, however, China has made great efforts to develop its traditional culture. Hou r
Now, Hou’s team gives hundreds of performances every year. The average age of Hou’s opera team is 30. In 2021, they staged about 150 school performances.
“As we become more c