If you’re ready to fire up your imagination, writing a short story or novel is one of the best ways to let your creativity run wild! To make your own story, all you’ll need is something to write with and a bit of inspiration. We’ll walk you through the best ways to beat writer’s block and create your own story right now.
Use action and plot to progress your story.
Choose a setting, or time and place, where your story will take place. Try to come up with a setting that the reader can find believable. Even if it’s a fictional setting, it should have elements that ground it in reality.
Brainstorm your plot and organize it in an outline before you get writing.
| A．Develop the cast of characters who you’ll use for your story. |
| B．When writing, don’t tell your readers everything you planned. |
| C．Then take those stories and make them longer and more detailed. |
| D．The best stories do seem to come from real life events and experiences. |
| E．Try to make it sound like a place that someone would want to read about. |
| F．Use an outline or some other form of organization to keep your plot straight. |
| G．The latter lets the readers learn that she is dli gent without you feeding it to them. |
Traditionally, it has been assumed that cultivating food leads to a loss of biodiversity and negative impacts on an ecosystem. In a recent study, researchers looked at 28 urban community gardens across California over five years and quantified biodiversity in plant and animal life, as well as ecosystem functions such as carbon sequestration (碳封存), food production, pest control and human well-being.
“We wanted to determine if there were any biodiversity and impacts on ecosystem function in those unban gardens,” says Shalene Jha, the lead author of the study in Ecology Letters. “What we found is that these gardens, which are providing tremendous nutritional resources and increasing well-being for gardeners, are also supporting incredibly high levels of plant and animal biodiversity. It’s a win-win.”
Previous assumptions by scientists about the negative effect of food production on bio diversity have been almost entirely based on intensive rural agriculture enterprises that tend to grow on one or two types of crops, often at a massive scale. Urban community gardens, private gardens, and urban farms and orchards tend to grow more types of plants in smaller areas. The new study is the first to explore the effects of urban gardens across a wide range of biodiversity measures and ecological services.
“It’s estimated that by 2030, about 60% of the world’s population will live in cities,” Jha says. “And urban farms and gardens currently provide about 15%-20% of our food supply, so they are essential in addressing food inequality challenges. What we’re seeing is that urban gardens present a critical opportunity to support both biodiversity and local food production.”
The study also found that the choices that gardeners make can have a large impact on their local ecosystem. For instance, planting trees outside crop beds could increase carbon sequestration without decreasing food production from too much shade. And covering only within crop beds could help improve soil carbon services, while avoiding negative effects on pest control.
1．What’s the purpose of the study conducted by Shalene Jha?| A．To analyze the cause of loss of biodiversity. |
| B．To increase well-being of gardeners. |
| C．To study the influence of urban gardens on ecosystem. |
| D．To quantify nutritional levels in plants and animals. |
| A．Inefficient pest control. | B．Intensive agricultural pattern. |
| C．Limited planting scales. | D．Unsatisfactory ecological services. |
| A．Urban gardens play a significant role in ecosystem. |
| B．Urban gardens will replace rural agriculture enterprises. |
| C．Urban gardens will be gradually decreasing. |
| D．Urban gardens provide the majority of our food supply. |
| A．Urban Farms Address Food Inequality |
| B．Urban Gardens Challenge Rural Agriculture |
| C．Urban Biodiversity Increases Well-being of Gardener. |
| D．Urban Gardens Boost Biodiversity |
In order to escape from bats’ hunt through sound, some of the moths have therefore evolved a “stealth coat” — made of tiny hairs and a layer of scales(磷片) — that reduces their detectability through echolocation(回声定位).
Mare Holderied, a biologist at the University of Bristol, wanted to know how good the moths were at hiding from bats. So he shaved off their hairs and then sent sound waves towards them, imitating how bats might echolocate to find their prey.
It turned out the moths’ one and-a-half-millimeter layer of fur reduced their detectability by just over 40％. In addition to the fur, moths also have a thin layer of scales, tens to hundreds of thousands of them, on each wing. The scales each respond to specific frequencies of sound waves and when a bat’s echolocation signals hit the moth’s wings, the scales start to shake. The acoustic energy (声能) from the echolocation is thus absorbed.
Dr. Holderied and his colleagues tested how well the scales worked and found that they were as good at absorbing sound as the fur. They absorbed as much as 87% of the incoming sound energy, but at only one tenth of the fur’s thickness. In terms of their ability to absorb sounds, the moth’s scales outperform and are much thinner than any human-designed soundproofing(隔音) used in homes and offices.
Recognizing the significant impact of noise on human health, especially in urban environments, Dr. Holderied’s team has been taking inspiration from the sound-absorbing proper tics of moths to design wallpaper that can reduce the noise of road traffic. Dr. Holderied concluded, “One day it will be possible to adorn the walls of your house with super-thin sound absorbing wallpaper, using a design that copies the mechanisms from moths. Moths are going to inspire the next generation of sound absorbing materials.”
1．Why did Mare Holderied shave the hairs of the moths?| A．To imitate how bats eat their prey. |
| B．To send sound waves towards moths. |
| C．To learn more about bats’ echolocation. |
| D．To test how moths escape from bats effectively. |
| A．Absorb the acoustic energy through shaking. |
| B．Send signals to another moth’s wings. |
| C．Copy the mechanisms from bats. |
| D．Change specific frequencies of bats’ sound waves. |
| A．Protect. | B．Decorate. | C．Repair. | D．Support. |
| A．Moth’s scales aren’t as good at absorbing sound as the fur. |
| B．The sound-absorbing properties of moths can save energy. |
| C．Moth wing-inspired sound absorbing wallpaper is in sight. |
| D．Moth’s fur outperforms any human-designed soundproofing. |
Anthony Wood remembers sitting in the classroom one snowy morning as his teacher eyed the flakes(雪花) flying outside the window. “Please boys and girls”, she said, “pray that it stops snowing.” How little she grasped the mind of children, Mr. Wood observes, “We were praying，alright -- praying that it would snow-until June.”
Everyone knows children loves snow. Mr. Wood’s new book is meant for adults who remain passionate. It is less a systematic history than a discussion through various snow-related subjects -- beginning with the snowflake itself, which the author describes poetically as “the DNA of God”. Monster snowstorms interest Mr. Wood, such as the great white hurricane of 1888, during which hundreds of people in the north-eastern United States died of severe coldness. Winter storms that prevented the transportation from functioning normally were disasters for cities like New York and Philadelphia. But snow also contributed to the development of subway systems.
His chapters touch on the impact of unpredictable snowfall on the water crisis in California and on winter fun everywhere. He offers some frustratingly disconnected guesses about how climate change will alter future snowfalls. The short answer is that there will probably be more snow in places where the amount of water in the air increases, and less where temperatures become too high to keep it.
And he reflects, if briefly, on snow’s delights and unusual charm. Why do people either love it or hate it? Many long for it, Mr Wood proposes, because of the splendid isolation(隔离) that it brings. It can direct attention inward, and help people return to themselves.
1．Why is Anthony Wood’s memory mentioned in Paragraph 1?| A．To introduce the topic. | B．To make a comparison. |
| C．To draw a conclusion. | D．To take an example. |
| A．It focuses on the history of snow. |
| B．It explains why children loves now. |
| C．It covers a wide range of topics about snow. |
| D．It only talks about the disaster caused by snow. |
| A．Pessimistic. | B．Unclear. | C．Objective. | D．Critical. |
| A．A biography of Anthony Wood. | B．An essay on climate change. |
| C．A fiction about snow. | D．A review of a book. |
Many of the world’s most wondrous and beautiful destinations are in danger of being destroyed by a combination of environmental and social factors. Below are some popular locations worth visiting before they disappear.
Glacier National Park
United States and Canada
Glacier National Park contains some of the most beautiful and primitive wilderness in the Rocky Mountains. There are more than 200 glacier-fed lakes and much wildlife. However, the latest warm period has caused the number of glaciers to decrease from 150 in 1850 to 26 today. If current global warming trends continue, there will be no glaciers left in the park by 2030.
Venice
Italy
With as many as 40 floods per year between March and September, Venice is slowly sinking at an estimated rate of 2.5 inches every ten years. A severe flood in December 2008 brought renewed attention to Venice’s vulnerable(脆弱的) state and approaching fate as an underwater city.
Taj Mahal
Agra, Uttar Pradesh State, India
The Taj Mahal is considered the finest example of the late style of Indian Islamic architecture. The building is visited by three to four million tourists each year. The crowds and air pollution, however, have caused irreversible(不可逆转的) damage to the building, making tourism officials consider closing the historic site to the public.
Pyramids of Giza
Giza, Egypt
The Pyramids have witnessed a heavy traffic in this sightseeing area for centuries, but the pollution and great number of visitors have caused damage to the ancient structures, which are not protected by Egyptian officials. Although camel and horseback tours are now banned from the site, the structures are still difficult to see through the crowds and vendors.
1．What can be done to prevent the glaciers in Glacier National Park from decreasing?| A．Preventing global warming tendency. | B．Preserving the primitive wilderness. |
| C．Abandoning glacier-fed lakes. | D．Regulating the park well. |
| A．A renewed destination. | B．A primitive spot. |
| C．A historical site. | D．An underwater city. |
| A．They have Islamic architecture. |
| B．They appeal to many visitors. |
| C．They are closed by tourism officials. |
| D．They suffer from severe air pollution. |
Good afternoon, my fellow students. I am Li Hua, host of Voice of the Campus today.
Li Hua
Last week I visited a small village to see the brown bears, what come to the villages at night to look at food. I waited with some tourist. As it grew dark, we see the huge black shapes of the bears. Those clever bears knew where to go for its dinner: the rubbish where there was lots of food people have thrown away. Although it’s wonderful to see the bears in the village, but it can only mean one thing: their habitat is disappearing. They would prefer to stay hiding in the mountain forests, but the trees have cut down for firewood. However, they cannot find enough food any more.
Most of us haven’t been taught how to apologize. That’s
When you’re apologizing for something, it’s critical to show true sorrow and regret. It feels
Your attention when apologizing should be on the impact of your words or deeds, not on your
An apology isn’t the only chance you ever get to address the underlying issue. The apology is the chance you get to establish the ground for future communication. When
In 2014, Mom wanted to live closer to us. My husband, Kevin, and I found a lovely
I asked Kevin. “Do you think I complain a lot?” Kevin hesitated a few seconds before saying no. I realized that the family nature of complaining had taken
I decided to keep a better watch on my
A few days later, I received from my friend Torry a
The next morning, I
Over the next few months, as I
Looking for things to be thankful for
| A．hospital | B．school | C．apartment | D．garden |
| A．called | B．invited | C．asked | D．forced |
| A．root | B．shape | C．place | D．efforts |
| A．health | B．tongue | C．weight | D．attitude |
| A．method | B．chance | C．success | D．growth |
| A．scared | B．excited | C．relaxed | D．nervous |
| A．necessary | B．powerless | C．possible | D．happy |
| A．book | B．present | C．brochure | D．journal |
| A．thankful | B．eager | C．prepared | D．meant |
| A．received | B．read | C．opened | D．copied |
| A．host | B．trust | C．warn | D．encourage |
| A．Satisfaction | B．Sorrow | C．Inspiration | D．Completion |
| A．refuse | B．overcome | C．update | D．understand |
| A．Honor | B．Adaptation | C．Gratitude | D．Balance |
| A．imagined | B．applied | C．required | D．continued |
| A．addicted | B．blind | C．related | D．used |
| A．dance | B．die | C．grow | D．move |
| A．clarified | B．lifted | C．restored | D．improved |
| A．went | B．replied | C．led | D．connected |
| A．people | B．lessons | C．blessings | D．love |
Reading is an important part of learning English, but many students find it difficult. This collection of tips can be of great help to you.
Read for the main ideas
Read the text a first time to understand the main idea, and don’t look up new words.
Use Context
Context refers to words and situations around a word you don’t understand. Look at the example sentence：
I went to the shlumping to buy some chitla for dinner.
What’s ‘schlumping’? - It must be a store because you bought something there.
What’s ‘chitia’? -
Use Your Own Language
Ask yourself this question：Do I read every word in my own language when I am reading a schedule, or summary?
Understand Different Reading Skills
Here is a quick overview of the four types of reading skills used in every language： skimming, scanning, extensive reading and intensive reading.
You can use these reading skills to improve other areas of English learning, such as pronunciation, grammar and increasing vocabulary.
| A．The answer is most definitely：No! |
| B．You may not be so sure about the answer. |
| C．You can usually understand the general idea. |
| D．Skimming is used to quickly gather the main idea. |
| E．It must be food because you are going to eat it for dinner. |
| F．Scanning is used to find a particular piece of information. |
| G．Words you don’t know may contain important information. |
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