Exams never made me break out in a nervous sweat with tears threatening to ruin my already-trembling façade — but this one did. Even booking my piano exam reduced me to a blubbering mess of anxiety.
I feel permanently scarred inside churches — no longer admiring their beauty because, over the years, I have received such terrible marks from examiners hiding behind the stained-glass partitions. Despite being 15 — too old, too cool to be frightened — I remember trembling inside the bathroom stalls before my tests. I wished I never had to play in front of others.
But this time, after booking my Level 8 Royal Conservatory of Music piano exam, I went back to my normal routine. A little practice here, a little practice there. And then it happened.
My trusty, 10-year-old electric piano gave out. Middle C started to sound like an F-sharp and all other keys sounded like they were a fourth above their natural tone. Thankfully, my precious, boredom-saving buttons still worked. I could still change my piano’s settings from “piano” to “harpsichord .” I admit, it was a lot of fun banging on my wacky keys. Each note bonged like the sound on children’s TV shows when a character repeatedly runs into a wall.
Goofiness aside, I had to get my act together. I hated practicing but I really wanted a good mark. When I told my father what had happened to my piano, he only glared at me with disappointment, “When I was your age, I learned to be resourceful.”
Hmm. I had a broken piano, an exam coming up in a few months and a father who refused to buy me a new piano because he wanted to teach me a “life lesson”. I finally came upon a decision: I’d practice at school.
Going to a private school had to have its benefits, so I looked for a place to play. The school had many pianos but only a few in tune. Within a few days of searching, my piano books, my artistic best friend and I headed off to a music room at every available opportunity.
I loved finding new pianos in hidden corners of the school and I laughed at the dusty old historic pianos. They really had character. I spent hours in those music rooms while my friend honed her art skills in sketching and drawing. She suffered through my annoying, repetitive scales while I looked over my shoulder once in a while and admired her work. Not only did I become a better musician, but I also managed to gain a few subpar skills as an art critic.
As my exam drew close, all the music teachers knew to look for me in the piano rooms during recess, after school and late on Fridays. In anticipation of my assessment, one of my music teachers let me perform for her as a mini practice exam. To my surprise, she was greatly impressed.
Within a few months I went from not caring about my playing to feeling actually, maybe, kind of proud of my work. And over countless hours spent in my favorite, soundproof music room, I discovered that behind the piano, I could become anyone. Talking to other people never came easy to me, but I was able to express myself through music. I became overjoyed. It was like I had developed a sixth sense, one that only musicians could understand.
When I played, my worries about what others thought of me and how I viewed myself merged to reveal who I really am. All my adolescent musings made me feel like I was in a cage, but music gave me the key. Sitting behind a piano and creating music combined the movement of my body and the inner workings of my heart.
Music had never been the love of my life but that was changing. I loved the idea of being on a stage and creating something for others to enjoy and remember. Actually, it wasn’t a something, but rather a feeling that the audience would carry outside into a world where music wasn’t the only thing that people cared for.
When the time came to play in front of an examiner, instead of fearing my judge, I feared nothing but being unable to represent all my hard work. All the anxiety I had about going up on stage dimmed, and when the lights went on, all I could think about was the marvellous journey I’d had to get here. Trilling the keys reminded me of when I’d spent nearly two hours alone in a music room, more content than I had been anywhere else. Playing the melody reminded me of the bittersweet music experiences of past years.
Many days later, I received my mark. Not only did I earn a rarely mentioned “well done” and an 82 per cent, I had rewritten what music meant to me.
Now whenever I get caught up in the daily struggle, I remember the hard work that it took to reach my goal. Whenever I feel discouraged, I never forget to look at the gleaming keys of my new upright piano. As my father always says, some lessons are just learned the hard way.
1.What made the author so stressful inside churches these years?
A.The religious atmosphere. B.The artistic performance.
C.The horrible surroundings. D.Her colorful fantasy.
2.What can be inferred according to the underlined sentence in Para 5?
A.The author’s family was too poor to afford a new piano.
B.The father was quite angry about the author’s bad behavior.
C.The author showed great dissatisfaction about her father.
D.The father wanted the author to address the problem independently.
3.Which of the following word has the closest meaning to the underlined word in Para 11?
A.mixed B.separated C.interacted D.exploited
4.The author changed her attitude towards music mainly because________.
A.Her good friend accompanied her to get through hard time.
B.Her teachers treated her much better than before.
C.Her family supported her quite well.
D.Her own understanding of musical value.
5.Which of the following indicates the change of the author’s feelings?
A.Nervous — disappointed — angry — calm
B.Curious — frustrated — hopeful — grateful
C.Frightened — indifferent — passionate — proud
D.Depressed — satisfied — disappointed — peaceful
6.What might be the best title of this passage?
A.An important Music Test
B.A Hard but Enjoyable Life
C.The Key to Happiness
D.My Favourite Piano
For some people, higher education is not just a goal in life, but also an expectation. In the United States, if your parents attended a college or university, there is a good chance that you will, too. Even if your parents did not go to college, you still have a good chance of completing higher education if your family is wealthy.
But your chances are reduced if you come from a needy family, a community with limited educational resources or you simply have no one to follow as an example.
Helping those in need is one of the main ideas behind a strategy of behavioral science called nudge theory or nudging. Nudging is a way of changing people's behavior through indirect suggestion and by supporting positive actions.
A growing number of U.S. colleges and universities look to nudging as a way to support poor, minority and first-generation students. They also are using it to increase overall graduation rates. Two common forms of nudging are emails to students and text messages to their mobile phones. Schools and other educational organizations keep in contact with students this way, offering advice and help when needed.
However, Alejandra Acosta — a higher education policy expert at New America — notes that there are several qualities a nudge campaign must possess in order to be successful.
Acosta says messages must be timely, meaning they reach college students well before the date by which a student is required to take action. Additionally nudges should be written clearly and provide as much information as possible. If students start to struggle in class, school officials should not just message them, saying they should seek academic support. The message should give information about what kinds of support the college or university offers and exactly how the student can make use of them. That is why nudges should possess interactive qualities, Acosta says. For example, students should be able to ask questions of school officials or be directed to a website for more information. In addition, colleges and universities must ensure their support services are in place and working as best they can.
When nudges work, they can do a lot of good. In 2018, a nonprofit group launched a nudging campaign at four U.S. community colleges. They worked with nearly 10.000 first-year students at three such colleges in Ohio and one in Virginia. A recent study found that older and minority students who agreed to receive these nudges were 16 to 20 percent more likely to continue into their second year than those who did not.
1.Who is most likely to receive and complete higher education according to the passage?
A.Tony, whose father is the only bread-winner in the family.
B.Jimmy, whose mother is a worker in a small factory.
C.Betty, whose grandmother is a housemaid of a famous university professor.
D.Cathy, whose parents failed to attend college but succeeded in starting a big company.
2.What can we know about nudging?
A.It is rooted in psychological science.
B.It is a way to improve people’s mind.
C.It offers concrete and direct advice.
D.It helps students via emails and text messages.
3.What is the passage mainly talking about?
A.The problem with higher education.
B.A way for colleges to support students.
C.The popularity of nudging campaign.
D.A national campaign dealing with poverty.
Scientists have discovered a “monster black hole” so massive that, in theory, it shouldn’t exist. It’s a stellar (恒星) black hole — the type that forms after stars die, collapse, and explode. Researchers had previously believed that the size limit was no more than 20 times the mass of our sun because as these stars die, they lose most of their mass through explosions that expel (排出) matter and gas swept away by stellar winds.
This theory has now been toppled by LB-1, the newly discovered black hole. Located about 15,000 light years away, it has a mass 70 times greater than our sun, according to a press release from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The findings were published by Chinese researchers in the journal Nature on Wednesday. “Black holes of such mass should not even exist in our galaxy, according to most of the current models of stellar evolution,” said Liu Jifeng, head of the team that made the discovery.
“LB-1 is twice as massive as what we thought possible. Now theorists will have to take up the challenge of explaining its formation.”
Scientists are now scratching their heads at how LB-1 got so huge.
The Chinese team has proposed a number of theories. LB-1’s sheer size suggests that it “was not formed from the collapse of only one star,” the study said — instead, it could potentially be two smaller black holes orbiting each other.
Another possibility is that it formed from “fallback supernova.” This is when a supernova — the last stage of an exploding star — ejects (排出) material during the explosion, which then falls back into the supernova, creating a black hole.
This fallback formation is theoretically possible, but scientists have never been able to prove or observe it. If this is how LB-1 formed, then we may have “direct evidence for this process” for the first time, the study said.
There are several types of black holes and stellar black holes like LB-1 are on the smaller side, according to NASA. Supermassive black holes are much bigger — they can be billions of times the mass of our sun.
Scientists believe supermassive black holes may be connected to the formation of galaxies, as they often exist at the center of the mass star stems but it is still not clear exactly how, or which form first.
1.Why does the writer write the article?
A.To report the great achievement Chinese scientists have made in black hole theory.
B.To inform the readers of the basic knowledge about the black hole.
C.To share with the readers the new development of the black hole discovery.
D.To demonstrate the significance of discovering new black holes for science.
2.What does the underlined word “toppled” mean in the second paragraph?
A.overturned B.supported C.suspected D.tested
3.Which of the following about LB-1 is true to the passage?
A.It is the biggest black hole ever discovered.
B.It lost only a small part of its mass through explosion.
C.It couldn’t have been formed from the collapse of one star,
D.Its discovery may lead to some breakthrough in the “fallback formation theory”.
4.Which of the following is right according to the passage?
A.If the sun in our galaxy dies some of its mass will be taken away by stellar winds.
B.A massive supernova will be formed and then exploded if the sun in our galaxy dies.
C.“The Milky Way” was formed after a supermassive black hole collapsed and exploded.
D.If “the Milky Way” dies, a supermassive black hole will be formed after its death.
Welcome to Teaching English-a site for teacher educators who are working in schools，colleges，universities or language academies. On Teaching English you'll find lesson plans，tools and activities for your classroom. We have a range of resources to help with your professional development. Our site is free of charge.
Here are two ways to find a page where you can get started：
*Use the menu links at the top of every page to see what materials we have.
*Use the search button at the top-right of every page to find topics of interest to you.
Where to start Explore the site. Our practical teaching resources are divided into three main areas，which you'll see in the top menu: Teaching kids，Teaching teens and Teaching adults.
Resources for teachers of primary
There are more than 100 teachers lesson plans and activities for the primary classroom. All our lesson plans and activities are divided by level and you'll find a range of topics-from seasons and festivals to ideas for using flashcards and a focus on grammar.
In our teaching tools section for primary，we have classroom rule posters in four different designs，badge builders and star charts to motivate your students and a range of board games.
Resources for teachers of teenagers
There are more than 200 lesson plans and activities with different levels. You'll find a range of topics-from a series of plans to develop higher level thinking skills to online safety.
In our teaching tools section for teens，we have classroom rules posters in four different designs，badge builders to motivate your students and a range of skills posters with top tips.
Resources for teachers of adults
There are more than 150 graded lesson plans and activities for adult learners of English. You'll find a range of topics-from a series of activities around rants and raves to cooking！
Our English for business section has 15 lesson plans to help you with your business English classes. With lesson plans around the themes of meetings，negotiations and socializing，you are sure to find what you need.
1.When you get started on Teaching English，what should you pay much attention to？
A. All the lesson plans，tools and activities are designed specially for your classroom.
B. The menu links can help you know of every detail of the site efficiently.
C. The search button can help you locate what you are interested in.
D. There are only three areas in the top menu on every page.
2.What is the similarity among the Resources for teachers of primary，teenagers and adults？
A. The number of their lesson plans and activities are similar.
B. Their lesson plans and activities are all divided by level.
C. They share a range of similar topics with each other.
D. They all have classroom rule posters as their teaching tools.
某英文杂志在其“互动栏目（Q & A）”刊出Lora的来信，欢迎读者就信中提到的问题进行分析并提出建议。假定你是读者李华，请给Lora回信。
Dear editor,
I’m a senior high school student, and I want to read more books of classic literature. But some friends suggest I watch movies based on the books instead. What are the advantages of each approach and what do you suggest?
Thanks!
Lora
注意：
1. 词数 100 左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 信的开头和结尾已给出，不计入词数。
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假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（＼）划掉。
修改：在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：
1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第 11 处起）不计分。
The first a few weeks of the term are over and it has definitely been a new experience.
Having school lesson online is something I’ve only read about in articles where discuss future technology. Now I am living in the future! They took me some time to get used to my new Internet classroom. At first, I can’t always hear what the teacher or my classmates was saying. Sometimes I wasn’t well preparing. Slowly, however, I adapted the new learning environment but now things are going smoothly. Of course, I still miss seeing my classmates and play together outside. Hopefully, we can meet in person soon.
