Bliss (幸福) is boring! That’s a cautionary (告诫的) line I’ve heard a lot about the Common Application writing prompt (提示): “Describe a place where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?”
It’s true. Just how much can you say about big mountains or peaceful ocean waves? This is a tougher prompt than you might think.
Part of the challenge associated with this prompt is that it is — so broad. The place is limitless and it could even be a place in a student’s favorite book.
How should you approach this prompt?
— Figure out where you’re happiest. Where are you when you’re feeling that way? When do you truly feel comfortable in your own skin?
— Determine why you are so happy there. Try to think of an anecdote that happened at that place. Who were you with? What was going on?
— Use your sensory details. The first part of the prompt asks you to describe your place. This is not where you should provide analysis but rather a straightforward description with significant details.
— Be reflective. The second and third parts of the prompt are inviting you to be analytical. This is the part of the essay that college admissions professionals are most interested in reading. This is where you will need to talk about how your place has influenced you.
— Here's another way to approach the prompt. Think about a time when you were unhappy. Where did you go to “get happy”? Why do you go there? What’s special about that place?
If you can’t discuss why this place is meaningful to you with maturity (成熟) and perfection, you are probably better off responding to a different writing prompt.
1.The author wrote “Bliss is boring!” at the beginning to suggest that __________.
A.no one in the world could have a tally perfect life
B.many students have no idea of what true happiness is
C.students should avoid talking about happiness in their essays
D.it is hard for students to produce a satisfactory essay on this topic
2.What is the purpose of the article?
A.To remind students to keep an eye on the details in their life.
B.To give tips on responding to a writing prompt on the topic of happiness
C.To display basic skills for essay organization.
D.To teach students to balance facts and analysis in their essays.
3.Which part of the essay will interest admissions officers the most?
A.Description of where, when and how much the experience was enjoyed.
B.Fun anecdotes about times when people felt the happiest.
C.Analyses of the sources of happiness and their influence.
D.Advice on how to get over negative feelings in daily life.
4.What does the author mean by saying “you are probably better off responding to a different writing prompt.” in the last paragraph?
A.you had better live a wealthy life
B.you had better give up this writing prompt
C.you had better leave for a new place
D.you had better understand this place in a new way
Humans share Earth with many different kinds of wildlife. However, many of our animal friends may not be around for much longer.
According to the Living Planet Report released by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in October, the populations of animals including mammals, birds and fish have fallen by an average of 60 percent since 1970.
“We are sleepwalking towards the edge of a cliff (悬崖), Mike Barrett, executive director of science and conservation at WWF, told the Guardian. “If there was a 60 percent decline (下降) in the human population, that would be equivalent (等于) to emptying North America, South America, Africa, Europe, China and Oceania."
According to the report, one of the biggest causes of wildlife losses is human activity. Three- quarters of the world's land is largely affected by human activity. Many natural habitats (栖息地) have been destroyed to create farmland.
About 300 mammal species are dying out because we eat them. Another example is the industrial over fishing of the oceans, the Guardian noted.
“The astonishing decline in wildlife population…is a reminder and perhaps the ultimate (最终的) sign of the pressure we exert (施加) on the plane,” Marco Lambertini, the director general of the WWF, wrote in the report.
These developments lead scientists to believe that there could be a sixth mass extinction, the first to be caused by humans according to the Guardian. There have been five mass extinction before, the last being 655 million years ago. That time it was the dinosaurs that died out.
WWF has called on world governments and businesses to strike a deal to protect people and nature.
Neither is the situation in China promising. According to a report by China Daily in November, Chinese paddlefish (白鲟) in the Yangtze River, may have become extinct. And there are now less than 500 green peafowl (孔雀) in the wild, reported CCTV in June.
To protect endangered animals, measures have been taken in China and progress has been made. For example, China has banned the use of rhino horn and tiger bones; and ivory (象牙) trade, reported China Daily. It also emphasizes increasing public, awareness by holding activities when celebrating the World Wildlife Day.
But more efforts are still needed to protect wildlife in China and around the world. “We are the first generation to know we are destroying our planet and the last one that can do anything about it,” WWF UK Chief Executive Tanya Steele told CNN.
1.What did the Living Planet Report point out?
A.The loss of animal populations has sped up over the past decade.
B.China is losing more animals than any other country.
C.The animal population will decrease by 60 percent in the next decade.
D.The animal population has dropped sharply in past decades.
2.What is a main cause of the loss of the fish population, according to the Guardian?
A.Over-hunting. B.Food shortage.
C.Climate change. D.Environmental pollution.
3.What can we learn from the last two paragraphs?
A.China provides a model of animal protection for other countries.
B.China has made some progress in protecting endangered animals.
C.Experts are not optimistic about the future of wildlife.
D.Governments should take the responsibility to protect wildlife.
4.What does the underlined part mean?
A.the last generation to do more things to save our planet
B.the last generation that can do anything they want to save the planet
C.we should not do anything more to destroy our planet
D.we could not care less about the planet
I have a neighbor who is a capable, fashionable, seventy-year-old, single woman. Her name is Grace. Grace was laid off from her job a little over two years ago and has been living off her savings ever since but not officially “retired”. Grace called me up one day about this time last year and asked if I had a ladder. She needed to clean out her gutters (水槽) on the roof and wanted me to hold the ladder.
She didn’t want me to climb up and clean the gutters. She just wanted me to hold the ladder. As it happened I did have a ladder. I said: “The leaves are going to fall off the trees in a month, why don’t we wait till they finish and do it then?” She agreed and naturally we didn’t talk about it again until spring. Spring in Tennessee is wild and we talked about it over the course of three weeks in which it rained nearly every day, then I got busy and Grace went into seclusion (隐居).
A couple of weeks ago, she told me she’d been spending too much money and decided to apply for a bar tending job at a local hotel. “Now I don’t know about you all but I’d never considered what it would be like to apply for and begin a new job at the age of seventy. I’m fifty-three and the older I get, the more I think about how great it’ll be if I can just get out of bed when I’m seventy.” Anyway, she got the job, serving the bar and tending banquets at the hotel.
The day when she left for her training at 6 am, I walked across the street with my ladder and cleaned out her gutters.
1.When did the author advise Grace to clean her gutters?
A.In early spring. B.In rainy season.
C.In time of leaves falling. D.In time of few leaves on trees.
2.What was the author’s neighbor doing when the author wrote the text?
A.Working at a hotel. B.Training for her job.
C.Cleaning out her house. D.Walking with the author.
3.What did the author think of her neighbor’s re-employment?
A.Valuable. B.Impossible.
C.Reasonable. D.Unbelievable.
假定你是李华，你所在的学校要征集一封英文感谢信，以致意奋战在抗击新型冠状病毒肺炎第一线的医护人员，请你根据下列要点写一封信用于投稿。
1. 表达谢意； 2. 个人感受； 3. 表达信心。
注意：1.词数120左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3.开头语和结束语已为你写好。
参考词汇：流行病epidemic 疫情 epidemic situation 新型冠状病毒 novel corona virus
Dear Medical workers，
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours sincerely,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同学们交换修改作文，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。错误仅涉及一个的词的增加、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:在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注童：1.毎处错误及修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处.多者（从第11处起）不计分。
On August 21,I was working on my homework, a composition titling “My Hero/Heroine”. I stuck at the very beginning, trying to figure out what would be my hero/heroine.
Attracted by the cheers from the living room, I opened the door only to find my parents were watching the volleyball matches of women's final. Then I decided to take the break and joined in them. The sense of nervousness was overwhelming as the score was quite closely between China and its opponent.
To our delight, China won in the end. We couldn't help feel proud as Chinese! The volleyball players had trained so hard before and fight till the last minute. Without doubt, they were not only my heroines, and the heroines of China! I started to write my composition.
阅读下面材料.在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。
Many people take the idea of saving money very seriously. Back in 1924, in Italy, a group of people1. (think) the inability to resist spending a major social problem. They had the idea of starting a day to remind people to put away some money for a rainy day. This is how World Saving Day, held on Oct 31st 2.(annual) ,was started, and it's still going strong in 2019.
Not surprisingly, a movement 3.（ target ） the poor was started. People in the underdeveloped world are more open 4. calls to be careful with money. But 5. idea of being thrifty （节俭）has also become popular among the rich. Take Mark Zuckerberg for example. The Facebook founder, one of the world's 6.（ rich） people, doesn't spend very much money on himself.
Other people don't spend money because they don't like the culture of 7.（ consume）. This is connected to the view 8. we should make ourselves happy through the activities we take part in, rather than with what we buy.
But however we view money, moderate 9. （spend） is certainly a good idea when we are still too young to get a job. There is a British saying that offers some good advice in this situation: “ Look after the pennies, and the pounds will look after 10.（they）."
