Jenny was the only child in her home. She had a quarrel with her mother that afternoon and she ran out of the house angrily. Having wandered aimlessly in the street for hours, she felt a little hungry and wished for something to eat. She stood beside a stand for a while, watching the middle-aged seller busy doing his business. However, with no money in hand, she sighed and had to leave.
The seller noticed the young girl and asked, “Hey, girl, you want to have the noodles?”
“Oh, yes... but I don’t have money...” she replied.
“I’ll treat you today,” said the seller.
The seller brought her a bowl of noodles, whose smell was so attractive. Jenny thanked the seller and started to gobble (狼吞虎咽) up the delicious food…then cried silently.
“What is it?” asked the seller kindly.
“Nothing, actually I was moved by your kindness!” said Jenny as she wiped her tears. “Even a stranger on the street will give me a bowl of noodles, while my mother scolded (骂) me and drove me out of the house. She showed no care for me. She is so mean and cruel!”
Hearing the words, the seller smiled, “Girl, I only gave you a bowl of noodles and you thanked me a lot. But it is your mother who has raised you since you were a baby. Can you number the times that she has cooked for you? Have you expressed your thanks to her?”
Jenny sat there, speechless and numb (麻木的) with shock; she remembered her mother’s familiar face and weathered hands. “Why did I not think of that? A bowl of noodles from a stranger made me feel grateful, but I have never thanked my mum for what she has done for me.”
On the way home, Jenny made up her mind to make an apology to her mother for her rudeness as soon as she arrived home.
Approaching the doorway, Jenny took a deep breath.
A gentle touch on her hair called her mind back.
I had not hugged a friend or a family member for more than two years until recently when my sister flew in for a brief visit. For safety, we met outside. Despite the wintry weather, her hug warmed me from the inside out. It’s strange, but only now do I truly realize how much I’ve missed embracing loved ones.
I grew up through war in my hometown of Sarajevo, Bosnia, and every moment was full of danger. On one peaceful morning, I had begged my mom to let me go outside after spending weeks indoors. She finally agreed. I was outside for only 10 minutes when I was caught in an explosion. I ran to my neighbor’s house for safety and hung my arms around her neck just as my legs collapsed underneath me.
Thankfully, I made a full physical recovery, but the emotional scars never left me. Years later there was another explosion near my house. I was safely inside, but my father had left to buy a loaf of bread. He had only just missed the explosion. When he came back inside, I gave him the biggest hug imaginable. I was caked in tears as I held him tight.
That same night my parents managed to arrange my escape from our war-torn city. I was 16 and came to America on my own. A generous host family took me in. They had a large dog called Oscar. Over the next several months, I secretly struggled with feeling homesick and worried about my family back home. Despite managing quite well at school, I couldn’t express my feelings. The only way I shared how I felt was by giving Oscar a big hug.
It is yet another sad aspect of our pandemic(疾病大流行的) lives that hugging a stranger is the last thing on our minds. For many of us, even hugging a relative or a friend comes with stress and anxiety over risks and precautions. As I look back on my past, I count myself truly lucky to have been held, shielded and encouraged at some of the most key moments of my life by the power of a hug.
1.What is the passage mainly about?A.Experience of war. | B.Love for family. |
C.Impact of pandemic. | D.Power of embracing. |
A.Frightened. | B.Ashamed. | C.Relieved. | D.Astonished. |
A.She had her arms hurt in an explosion. |
B.She missed her family very much while in America. |
C.She couldn’t catch up with her classmates at school. |
D.She recovered quickly from the wounds of the war. |
A.Protected. | B.Persuaded. | C.Covered. | D.Understood. |
To me, life without music would not be exciting. I realize that this is not true for everybody. Many people get along quite well without going to the concert, and listening to the record. But music plays an important part in everyone's life, whether he realizes it or not. Try to imagine, for example, what films or TV plays would be like without music. Would the feelings, the moving plot, and the greatest interests, be so exciting or dramatic? I'm not sure about it.
Now, we have been speaking of music in its more common meaning----the kind of music we hear in the concert hall. But if we look at some parts of music more closely, we discover them in our everyday life too----in the rhythm of the sea, the melody of a bird in the woods and so on. So music surely has meaning for everyone, in some way or other. And, of course, it has special meaning for those who have spent all their lives working on playing or writing music.
It is well said, “Through music a child enters into a world of beauty, expresses himself from his heart, feels the joy of doing things alone, learns to take care of others, develops his mind and makes his body strong.”
1.What does the writer say more about in the text?A.Life full of music. | B.The importance of music. |
C.Life without music. | D.The development of music. |
A.go to the concert instead of enjoying music |
B.get along quite well without music |
C.don't realize the importance of music |
D.think music would be less exciting than films |
A.flying | B.living |
C.looking | D.singing |
A.is very necessary for our everyday life |
B.is very important, especially for children |
C.can make our life exciting and dramatic |
D.can enter another beautiful world |
High school can be quite the stressful time for any student. There are numerous stresses to deal with and the pressure can be more intense as you enter your senior year.
Realize your limits, and plan around them. Don’t take on more than you can handle. If you take on too many things, you will be spread too thin and won’t be able to perform at your best in anything.
A.Seek professional counseling. |
B.Why does the stress come into being? |
C.Try thinking of alternative ways to deal with stress. |
D.When you feel relieved, you can have a happier life. |
E.Taking some time out to be alone may be the best way to handle such stress. |
F.But how on earth can you reduce some of the stress? |
G.Evaluate what tasks and activities are most important and leave others behind. |
Notice
Looking forward to this special day with all of you.
Students’ Union
China Mobile, the world’s largest telecom carrier by mobile subscribers, has successfully launched the world’s first satellite to test 6G architecture,
The low-earth orbit test satellite is the world’s first to employ 6G design architecture, and it
The 6G test satellite
Set at an orbit height of approximately 500 kilometers, these experimental satellites offer advantages such as low latency and high data transfer rates
Positioned as
China Mobile said
The fear of elevators is actually one of the most common phobias (恐惧症) experienced today.
Usually, the fear of elevators can be treated. Let sufferers visualize riding an elevator and picture the aspects which are frightening. Then they may be required to involve themselves in the part that scares them most. For example, someone who is afraid of heights may start by climbing a ladder over and over again.
Sometimes just stepping into it is a start. At other times, they will be asked to ride up a few flights.
A.Many aspects may cause fear in sufferers. |
B.By now, you have identified what scares you most. |
C.This will likely still cause anxiety the first few times |
D.Sufferers usually force themselves to face their fears. |
E.They can stop this process when it causes little anxiety. |
F.In these locations, the fear of elevators can affect everyday activities. |
G.It may present itself with another fear, such as the fear of limited spaces. |
Phonics, which involves sounding out words syllable (音节) by syllable, is the best way to teach children to read. But in many classrooms, this can be a dirty word. So much so that some teachers have had to take phonics teaching materials secretly into the classroom. Most American children are taught to read in a way that study after study has found to be wrong.
The consequences of this are striking. Less than half of all American adults were efficient readers in 2017. American fourth graders rank 15th on the Progress in International Literacy Study, an international exam.
America is stuck in a debate about teaching children to read that has been going on for decades. Some advocate teaching symbol sound relationships (the sound k can be spelled as c, k, ck, or ch) known as phonics Others support an immersive approach (using pictures of cat to learn the word cat), known as “whole language”. Most teachers today, almost three out of four according to a survey by EdWeek Research Centre in 2019, use a mix of the two methods called “balanced literacy”.
“A little phonics is far from enough.” says Tenette Smith, executive director of elementary education and reding at Mississippi’s education department. “It has to be systematic and explicitly taught.”
Mississippi, often behind in social policy, has set an example here. In a state once blamed for its low reading scores, the Mississippi state legislature passed new literacy standards in 2013.Since then Mississippi has seen remarkable gains., Its fourth graders have moved from 49th (out of 50 states) to 20th on the National assessment of Educational Progress, a nationwide exam.
Mississippi’s success is attributed to application of reading methods supported by a body of research known as the science of reading. In 1997 experts from the Department of Education ended the “reading war” and summed up the evidence. They found that phonics, along with explicit instruction in phonemic (音位的) awareness, fluency and comprehension, worked best.
Yet over two decades on, “balanced literacy” is still being taught in classrooms. But advances in statistics and brain imaging have disproved the whole-language method. To the teacher who is an efficient reader, literacy seem like a natural process that requires educated guessing, rather than the deliberate process emphasized by phonics. Teachers can imagine that they learned to read through osmosis(潜移默化) when they were children. Without proper training, they bring this to classrooms.
1.What do we learn about phonics in many American classrooms?A.It is ill reputed. | B.It is mostly misapplied. |
C.It is totally ignored. | D.It is seemingly contradictory. |
A.A burning passion for improving teaching methods. |
B.A lasting debate over how to teach children to read. |
C.An increasing concern with children’s inadequacy in literacy. |
D.A forceful advocacy of a combined method for teaching reading. |
A.Tolerant. | B.Enthusiastic. | C.Unclear. | D.Disapproving. |
A.Focusing on the natural process rather than deliberate training. |
B.Obtaining support from other states to upgrade teaching methods. |
C.Adopting scientifically grounded approaches to teaching reading. |
D.Placing sufficient emphasis upon both fluency and comprehension. |