How a Teacher Can Change Your Life
Smiling with satisfaction, Karin Anderson continues to conduct while dozens of students were playing their instruments, and Gustav Mahler’s Fifth Symphony fills the hall. The emotional (情感的) drama of conducting an orchestra (管弦乐团) of teenagers is part of a typical day’s teaching for Karin. “Teaching is like surfing,” she says. “You have no idea what’s going to happen and there’s no guarantee that things will go according to plan. You have to be on guard at all times.” But the unpredictability of her students doesn’t make her job hard, she says. In fact, working with sometimes difficult teenagers, which she says might exhaust other teachers, is what keeps her coming back day after day.
Karin believes music lessons may have unexpected benefits. Research has found that they improve a child’s language development, and the reasoning skills extremely important to maths and science. “We can’t be sure if music really makes kids perform better academically, or if smarter students just naturally become involved with music anyway, but there might be a connection. Certainly, schools need something for those brighter students. It’s not so much giving them a release from studying hard, but more that they need to be stretched, and pushed in a different direction.”
But the benefits of music education are for everyone, not just the clever kids. Karin points out that there are strong connections between music and the motivation to learn, the ability to focus, and even someone’s confidence and tolerance.
Music can also help to create a positive, supportive learning environment, which Karin always tries to create in her orchestra. Being grouped by age, not ability, makes everyone new feel welcome and part of a family. “In school you’re very aware of social classes—the rich kids and the poor kids—and all the little groups that gossip all the time,” says orchestra member Laura Greene. “But in the orchestra, everyone is part of the group, and equally important. We’re all trying to improve together. We’ve all got unique talents.”
In Karin’s classroom, there are no awards decorating the walls. She says this might put the orchestra under pressure or make them worry about competition, though in fact the school has won many prizes, which she is clearly proud of. “What’s most important to me is that everyone works as a team,” she says. “It’s a magic moment when there’s absolute unity.”
Karin wants the orchestra to widen the horizons of everyone who joins. When some parents weren’t able to afford certain trips of the orchestra, Karin surprised everyone by organizing what she called “scholarships”, with the school paying part of the money to students who had been positive and cooperative. They weren’t awarded on the basis of who had a special gift for music.
In her office, Karin proudly displays a picture of another student. Karin says, “Thomas was smart, but he hated school, and he seemed cut off from his peers, alone in a world of his own. The orchestra made him come out of his shell.” After graduating, Thomas wrote to Karin, “I’m so grateful to you for allowing me to play the most beautiful music in the world, even though I never took it up professionally. I understand now that music educates the mind and the heart, and helps you to connect with others.”
1.What is Karin’s attitude to teaching music?
A.It is emotionally tiring. B.It is about controlling the class.
C.It requires careful preparation. D.It gives wonderful surprises.
2.What does Karin think of music lessons?
A.They serve the needs of problem students.
B.They are more beneficial for smart students.
C.They are more rewarding than people thought.
D.They mean a lot for students’ academic work.
3.Which of the following would Karin agree with?
A.Teamwork is important in music lessons.
B.It is not worth making efforts for prizes.
C.Teachers should not ignore social classes.
D.Gifted students should have more chances.
4.What point does the example of Thomas support about music education?
A.It builds up self-confidence. B.It changes one’s attitude
C.It presents new challenges. D.It reduces academic pressure.
Papa, as a son of a dirt-poor farmer, left school early and went to work in a factory, for education was for the rich then. So, the world became his school. With great interest, he read everything he could lay his hands on, listened to the town elders and learned about the world beyond his tiny hometown. “There’s so much to learn,” he’d say. “Though we’re born stupid, only the stupid remain that way.” He was determined that none of his children would be denied an education.
Thus, Papa insisted that we learn at least one new thing each day. Though, as children, we thought this was crazy, it would never have occurred to us to deny Papa a request. And dinner time seemed perfect for sharing what we had learned. We would talk about the news of the day; no matter how insignificant, it was never taken lightly. Papa would listen carefully and was ready with some comment, always to the point.
Then came the moment—the time to share the day’s new learning.
Papa, at the head of the table, would push back his chair and pour a glass of red wine, ready to listen.
“Felice,” he’d say, “tell me what you learned today.”
“I learned that the population of Nepal is ...”
Silence.
Papa was thinking about what was said, as if the salvation of the world would depend upon it. “The population of Nepal. Hmm. Well …” he’d say. “Get the map; let’s see where Nepal is.” And the whole family went on a search for Nepal.
This same experience was repeated until each family member had a turn. Dinner ended only after we had a clear understanding of at least half a dozen such facts.
As children, we thought very little about these educational wonders. Our family, however, was growing together, sharing experiences and participating in one another’s education. And by looking at us, listening to us, respecting our input, affirming our value, giving us a sense of dignity, Papa was unquestionably our most influential teacher.
Later during my training as a future teacher, I studied with some of the most famous educators. They were imparting what Papa had known all along—the value of continual learning. His technique has served me well all my life. Not a single day has been wasted, though I can never tell when knowing the population of Nepal might prove useful.
1.What do we know from the first paragraph?
A.The poor could hardly afford school education.
B.Those born stupid could not change their life.
C.The town elders wanted to learn about the world.
D.The author’s father was born in a worker’s family.
2.The underlined word “it” in the second paragraph refers to “__________”.
A.one new thing B.a request
C.some comment D.the news
3.It can be learned from the passage that the author ___________.
A.enjoyed talking about news B.knew very well about Nepal
C.appreciated his father’s educational technique D.felt regret about those wasted days
4.What is the greatest value of “dinner time” to the author?
A.Showing talents. B.Continual learning.
C.Family get-together. D.Winning Papa’s approval.
B
Graph can be a very useful tool for conveying information especially numbers， percentages, and other data . A graph gives the reader a picture to interpret. That can be a lot more pages and pages and pages explaining the data .
Graphs can seem frightening, but reading a graph is a lot like reading a story. The graph has a title ,a main idea ,and supporting details .You can use your active reading skills to analyze and understand graphs just like any other text .
Most graphs have a few basic parts: a caption or introduction paragraph, a title , a legend or key, and labeled axes. An active reader looks at each part of the graph before trying to interpret the data. Captions will usually tell you where the data came from (for example, a scientific study of 400 African elephants from 1980 to 2005). Captions usually summarize the author's main point as well. The title is very important. It tells you the main idea of the graph by stating what kind of information is being shown. A legend, also called a key ,is a guide to the symbols and colors used in the graph. Many graphs, including bar graphs and line graphs, have two axes that form a corner, Usually these axes are the left side and the bottom of the graph .Each axis will always have a label. The label tells you what each axis measures.
Bar Graphs
A bar graph has two axes and uses bars to show amounts. In Graph 1 ,we see that the x-axis shows grades that students earned, and the y-axis shows bow many students earned each grade .You can see that 6 students earned an A because the bar for A stretches up to 6 on the vertical measurement. There is a lot of information we can get from a simple graph like this(See Graph 1).
Line Graphs
A line graph looks similar to a bar graph ,but instead of Bars, it plots points and connects them with a line .It has the same parts as a bar graph – two labeled axes –and can be read the same way .To read a line graph, it’s important to focus on the points of intersection rather than the line segments between the points, This type of graph is most commonly used to show how something changes over time.
Here is a graph that charts how far a bird flies during the first Five days of its spring migration (See Graph 2).
The unit of measurement for the x-axis is days. The unit of measurement for the y-axis is kilometers. Thus we can see that ,on the first day, the pipit flew 20 kilometers. The line segment goes up between Day 1 and Day 2,which means that the bird flew farther on Day 2.If the line segment angled dawn, as between Day 4 and Day 5,it would mean that the bird flew fewer kilometers than the day before. This line graph is a quick, visual way to tell the reader about the bird’s migration.
Pie Graphs
A typical pie graph looks like a circular pie. The circle is divided into sections, and each section represents a fraction of the data. The graph is commonly used to show percentages; the whole pie represents l00 percent, so each piece is a fraction of the whole.
A pie graph might include a legend，or it might use icons or labels within each slice. This pie graph shows on month’s expense, (See Graph 3 ).
Food $ 25
Movies $ 12
Clothing $ 36
Savings $ 20
Books $ 7
1.When used in a graph，a legend is_____
A.a guide to the symbols and colors
B.an introduction paragraph
C.the main idea
D.the data
2.What is the total number of students who earned a C or better ?
A.4. B.6. C.10. D.20 .
3.The bird covered the longest distance on _____
A.Day 1 B.Day 2 C.Day 3 D.Day 4
4.Which of the following cost Amy most ?
A.Food. B.Books C.Movies D.Clothing.
One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door to door to pay his way through school, found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry. He decided he would ask for a _______ at the next house. _______, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door. Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water.
She thought he looked _______ so brought him a large glass of _______. He drank it slowly, and then asked, “How much do I owe you?”
“You don’t owe me anything,” she replied. “Mother has taught us never to accept pay for a _______.”
He said... “Then I thank you from my heart.” As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his _______ in man was strong also. He had been ready to give up and quit.
Years later, that young woman became _______ ill. The local _______ were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they called in _______ to study her ________ disease. Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the ________. When he heard the name of the ________ she came from, a strange light filled his eyes. Immediately he rose and went ________ the hall of the hospital to her room.
Dressed in his doctor’s gown he went in to see her. He ________ her at once. He went back to the consultation room, ________ to do his best to save her life. From that day he gave special attention to the ________.
After a long struggle, the battle was ________. Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for ________.
He looked at it, then ________ something on the edge and the bill was sent to her room. She feared to open it, for she was ________ it would take the rest of her life to pay for it all. Finally she looked, and something caught her attention on the side of the bill.
She read these words...
“Paid in full with one glass of milk.”
1.A.dinner B.feast C.meal D.soup
2.A.However B.Therefore C.Consequently D.Moreover
3.A.warm B.cold C.excited D.hungry
4.A.water B.coffee C.milk D.tea
5.A.donation B.kindness C.supply D.investment
6.A.faith B.imagination C.inspiration D.doubt
7.A.slightly B.naturally C.critically D.gradually
8.A.nurses B.doctors C.priests D.nuns
9.A.laymen B.professionals C.specialists D.amateurs
10.A.simple B.rare C.incurable D.familiar
11.A.responsibility B.innovation C.experiment D.consultation
12.A.town B.country C.capital D.hospital
13.A.over B.under C.on D.down
14.A.called B.recognized C.forgot D.remembered
15.A.confused B.determined C.clarified D.interested
16.A.case B.matter C.event D.thing
17.A.delayed B.missed C.conducted D.won
18.A.approval B.editing C.revision D.rejection
19.A.drew B.signed C.wrote D.copied
20.A.hopeful B.suspicious C.helpless D.sure
阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写 1 个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。
The Palace Museum is working to take cultural relics into people’s daily life and bring their cultural value into full play by selling cultural and creative products, on the theme of “Bring the Palace Museum culture home”. The creative products mostly are creative daily necessities, like stationaries, bags, decorations and so on. 1.(Base) on the treasures in the museum, the Palace Museum has developed products such as Qianli Jiangshan series and Qingming Shanghe Tu series, Palace Dolls, folding fans,2.are very popular with young people. The Palace Museum now 3.(change) the traditional way of communication, learns to use a variety of ways to publicize excellent traditional culture, and lets the Palace Museum cultural heritage resources live. The culture creative products are definitely brilliant choices for 4.(gift) that bear unique royal features.
阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写 1 个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。
As we know, the global water shortage is becoming increasingly severe mainly due to global warming, environmental pollution and the ever-increasing population. Therefore, it’s high time we did something about it. Firstly, an1.(effect) way, I think, is to reserve water in a scientific way for future use. Secondly, new methods need to be developed to use the existing water resources, for example, 2.(turn) sea water into fresh water. Thirdly, we must stop water pollution by law. Last but not least, it’s everyone’s responsibility 3.(make) good use of water, such as recycling and saving water in our daily life. In conclusion, people around the world should be aware of the real situation of water shortage, protect the present water resources and explore potential ones scientifically.
