At a young age, Darrius Simmons fell in love with the piano. As he watched others play, he was _________ by the joy the piano gave them. He wanted to experience that, too, but knew for him it would be a/an _________.
“I decided at age 10 that I wanted to learn how to play the piano, _________ it was going to take a little bit _________ work for me to learn,” Simmons says. “I knew most people had 10 fingers while I had four, yet I was pretty _________ I could make it work.”
The Warren, Ohio teenager was born with a genetic _________ called ectrodactyly (先天性缺指畸形). He has three fingers on his right hand and _________ finger on his left. But it didn’t _________ Simmons from following his _________. With no formal training, Simmons taught himself by ear how to play the piano. He practiced and practiced, finding a way to __________ the keys with four fingers while mastering the pedals with his prostheses(假肢).
Simmons knew he would have to __________ his own style of playing. “I couldn’t base it __________ the technique of somebody who has 10 fingers. It just wouldn’t __________.” He says. “That’s __________ it was hard for me to take piano lessons. It’s very __________ for somebody who has learned how to play with 10 fingers to adjust and teach me with only four.”
The now 18-year-old not only learned how to play and read music but also began composing.
His mother, Tamara Simmons, isn’t surprised by Darrius’ __________. She knows how focused and __________ he can be.
From mastering music to beating __________ challenges, Darrius Simmons sets out to __________ the world. “I like to be somebody’s __________,” he says. “If I play in front of a whole crowd and I see one person smile, that’s a job well done.”
1.A.frightened B.amazed C.interested D.disturbed
2.A.challenge B.opportunity C.fortune D.trouble
3.A.while B.but C.and D.therefore
4.A.more B.much C.fewer D.less
5.A.surprised B.worried C.sure D.glad
6.A.condition B.environment C.situation D.tendency
7.A.one B.two C.three D.five
8.A.encourage B.prevent C.remove D.change
9.A.actions B.roads C.instructions D.passions
10.A.reach B.repair C.remove D.clean
11.A.adopt B.abandon C.develop D.change
12.A.by B.in C.through D.on
13.A.support B.run C.operate D.work
14.A.why B.because C.when D.whether
15.A.easy B.tough C.funny D.stupid
16.A.ideas B.creations C.difficulties D.achievements
17.A.kind B.determined C.talented D.generous
18.A.spiritual B.mental C.physical D.emotional
19.A.please B.persuade C.inspire D.cheer
20.A.partner B.symbol C.aim D.motivation
How to make a vegetable garden for kids
Children love dirt! 1.! Ann Sanders of A Green Hand shared her step-by-step guide to creating a vegetable garden with your kid.
2..
Ensure (确保) it gets a lot of sunlight and is near a water source and has the best soil. You want to make sure that your kid’s garden has all the essentials (必需品) needed to make a successful vegetable garden.
You can set your kid’s vegetable garden near your own garden. The best location though is in his place where he can pick a vegetable to eat while playing.
Allow your kid to choose the layout (布局) for his vegetable garden.
3.. To add color and excitement to your kid’s vegetable garden, you can help him plant some colorful flowers such as sunflowers.
4..
To get your kid excited about his vegetable garden is to have him plant vegetables that are easy to grow. It helps a lot if you help him choose the right vegetables. Here are some easy-to-grow vegetables perfect for your kid’s vegetable garden: tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, and cucumber.
Allow your kid to use real tools and not plastic garden tools.
Small garden tools are not easy to find. 5.. However, by using real tools, your kid will feel that you are giving importance to his work and appreciating his vegetable garden.
A.Find an area that is suitable for your kid
B.Gardening is a perfect excuse to get dirty
C.Choose the right kinds of vegetables to plant
D.You should make sure these tools are safe plastics
E.Plant what they want to make the garden specially for their own
F.It may also be a challenge to find real tools that are safe for kids to use
G.Encourage your kid to use his creativity in designing his vegetable garden
Losing weight comes with a lot of health benefits — including making your brain sharper.
Yes, it turns out that overweight may damage cognitive (认知的) functions such as memory and attention. There have been few studies of overweight and cognitive functioning, possibly because it is generally believed that it is not a primary risk cause for poor cognitive performance. Losing weight, therefore, may help improve these mental functions, according to a new research led by John Gunstad, assistant professor of psychology (心理学) at Kent State University.
Growing evidence suggests that being fat is linked to cognitive deficits (缺陷). So Gunstad and his team guessed that losing weight might improve mental function. For their study, they measured memory and attention in a group of 150 overweight participants, some of whom had some kind of operation for weight loss and some did not. All of the volunteers completed mental skills tests to assess their abilities of memory and attention at the beginning of the study, and again 12 weeks later. To begin with, about 24% of the patients showed damaged learning and 23％showed signs of poor memory when tested. At the end of the study, those who had lost weight after operation improved their scores into the average or above average range for cognitive functions. Scores for the volunteers who didn’t lose weight dropped even further.
The study helped Gunstad to find out whether losing weight had any effect on mental function. Now that he’s seen the positive effect that weight loss can have on memory and attention, he says he will next study those who choose to lose weight by the traditional way — eating healthier and getting more active. He expects that losing weight in this way will have a similarly positive effect on the brain. “If we can improve the condition with operations, then we can probably produce the same change with behavioral weight loss as well,’’ he says.
1.The result of Gunstad’s study shows that ___________.
A.losing weight has little effect on people’s memory
B.losing weight can improve people’s mental functions
C.overweight people are likely to have psychology problems
D.overweight people’s abilities of concentration differ greatly
2.What is Gunstad planning to prove next in his research?
A.Slim people are smarter than overweight people.
B.Healthy diet is better than exercise in losing weight.
C.Traditional ways of losing weight are better than operation.
D.Overweight people will get smarter by the traditional way.
3.Which of the following is the best title for the text?
A.Body Weight and Health B.Losing Weight by Operation
C.Ways to Improve Mental Functions D.Losing Weight to Sharpen Your Mind
Ann was on her first package trip in Rosas, Spain.
At the hotel, she checked in, and then went to her room to change before dinner. She was just ready to go downstairs when she found that her Spanish money wasn’t in her handbag. She carefully looked in all her luggage, but she couldn’t find it. All she had was a small purse with ten English pound notes in it!
Ann found a place to change her English money. She had very few pesetas(西班牙货币单位), and she would be here for two weeks. On her way back to the hotel, Ann bought some cheese, some bread and some oranges. When she got back, she told the manager that her doctor had told her not to eat Spanish food; she’d just have breakfast each day, as she knew the price of hotels included breakfast.
For the rest of her holiday, Ann swam in the hotel swimming pool, or lay on the beach and got a sunbath. When the other tourists went to interesting places, she always said she wasn’t well. In fact, her holiday wasn’t bad, except that she was always hungry. After all, a piece of fruit for lunch, and bread and cheese for supper isn’t very much.
Late in the afternoon of their last day, a girl, Jane, asked her why she never ate with them in the hotel restaurant. Ann told her about her money problems. Jane looked at her for a minute, and then said, “But didn’t you know? The price of this holiday includes everything!”
1.“A package trip” probably means _________.
A.a free trip
B.a long journey
C.a pleasant trip
D.a trip that includes the cost of all the tickets and services
2.Ann didn’t eat dinners in the restaurant of the hotel because _________.
A.she was afraid that she couldn’t pay for them with her little money
B.her doctor told her not to eat them
C.she wasn’t well
D.she wasn’t hungry
3.Why did Ann buy some cheese, some bread and some oranges?
A.Because they were good for her health.
B.Because she planned to eat them instead of lunch and supper.
C.Because she liked them more than dinners in the hotel restaurant.
D.Because she is afraid that she couldn’t eat enough in the hotel restaurant.
4.How do you think Jane would feel after she heard Ann’s answer?
A.Angry. B.Happy. C.Surprised. D.Excited
‘Tribes’ everywhere have their own special language
As someone who's been studying English for many years now, you might think you know the English language pretty well. But if you overheard a British person say, "A Billy left some bees and honey in my sherbet(冰冻果露)last night," would you understand what they meant?
Probably not, but many native speakers may not know what this person was saying either.
His or her tribe. In plain English, the sentence would be, " A customer left some money in my cab last night."
So, what exactly is meant by "tribe"?
A recent article on the BBC Culture website pointed out that nearly all of us are a part of a tribe. This is a group that defines(定义) who we are and even how we speak. And with each tribe comes its own "secret language", as the BBC called it.
If you work in a certain industry---education, for example---you may use slang toords(俚 语)and acronyms(首字母缩略词)that only other people who work in that industry would understand. Or if you live in a certain city, you might use a slang word to describe a landmark in the city, that only locals would understand.
These so-called secret languages each have their own fascinating history. In the US, for example, the underground "ballroom"(舞厅) tribe of 1970s and 80s New York City and its language were showcased(展现) in the 2018 FX show Pose.
These secret words don't always stay within their tribes, however. Words from many tribes, especially musical cultures such as rap and hip-hop, often enter people's everyday vocabulary. For example, the phrase "to have beef"--- meaning " to be in a conflict"---was made popular by US rappers. Today, it's widely used by native English speakers all over the world.
As BBC reporter Susie Dent wrote, " We are all surrounded by amazing secret languages, full of history and stories and in-jokes(内部笑话). And one thing is certain: our tribal conversations will never run out.”
1.The example at the beginning of the text is mainly used to .
A.prove that English is hard to learn
B.explain the meaning of tribes
C.teach readers how to communicate with London cab drivers
D.show how the languages of tribes are often difficult for outsiders to understand
2.What can we know about secret languages?
A.They mostly came from musical cultures.
B.Some words from them are popular in everyday conversation.
C.They first started in New York City in the 1980s.
D.They have failed to become popular among young people.
3.What is Dent's attitude toward the future of secret languages?
A.Confident. B.Worried. C.Uninterested. D.Objective(客观的).
For our homework this week, we need to write a description of the street _________ we live.
A.which B.that C.where D.there
