Growing up I've always been very independent. I've never asked my parents for money or help, and I've always lived a pretty _______ life from them. We are _______ , but not in a ''I'm going to tell you every detail of my life'' way.
A little _______ I moved out at 17, went to university, and _______ in my third year. But I go back to school a _______ time. And I find a new house to move into. My car craps out (坏了) and I need to _______ a new one.
These last two years have been HARD. But I’m _________, I'm happier now than I was. Money is extremely tight, but I'm _______. I was speaking to my _________ a few weeks ago getting caught up and he asked about my ________ situation. I opened up and told him things are fine,________ tight. I'm doing okay.
He then tells me he wants to send me some money to ________ my debts. I tell him it's ________. $6000 in student loans and $4000 in credit card debt.
He says he is proud of me and the way I've ________ life so far. He's proud of how independent I am. He wants me to ________ this new chapter of my life with a clean slate (石板) and this ________ me to put the money I was putting towards debt repayment into ________.
I love my dad so much and I'm ________ to him for giving me the gift of no __________ It also feels good to be told that living independently is a good thing. I often feel guilty for not being very open with my parents.
Today I'm feeling all the ________ and I'm excited to start 2020 off on the right foot!
1.A.scheduled B.troubled C.divided D.confused
2.A.faithful B.sincere C.close D.outgoing
3.A.background B.secret C.evidence D.principle
4.A.fell behind B.dropped out C.carried on D.made it
5.A.different B.second C.new D.fourth
6.A.hire B.rent C.buy D.produce
7.A.trying out B.paying off C.taking over D.struggling on
8.A.deserving B.volunteering C.suffering D.managing
9.A.parents B.dad C.companion D.mom
10.A.financial B.economical C.physical D.educational
11.A.and B.so C.but D.or
12.A.return B.cover C.refresh D.afford
13.A.a little B.a bit C.a deal D.a lot
14.A.gone over B.taken up C.moved through D.recovered from
15.A.read B.copy C.start D.quit
16.A.allows B.forces C.persuades D.requests
17.A.pockets B.safes C.incomes D.savings
18.A.grateful B.friendly C.good D.loyal
19.A.difficulties B.regrets C.adventures D.debts
20.A.guilts B.feels C.sorrows D.delights
Living in a culture that is different from your own can be both an exciting and challenging experience. 1. Here are some major cultural differences between China and the US to help promote mutual understanding.
Privacy
Chinese people do not have the same concept of privacy as Americans do. They talk about topics such as ages, income or marital status, which Americans think is annoying and intrusive(侵扰的).
Family
In China, elders are traditionally treated with enormous respect and dignity while the young are cherished and nurtured. In America, the goal of the family is to encourage independence, particularly that of the children. 2.
Friends
Chinese people have different meanings to define friends. 3. Friendship means lifelong friends who feel deeply obligated to give each other whatever help might seem required. Americans always call people they meet friends, so the definition of friends is general and different. There are work friends, playing friends, school friends and drinking friends.
Money
4. They are always conservative when they are planning to spend money. It is different in the USA, where far fewer families are saving money for emergencies and education than their Chinese counterparts.
5.
Basically, China values the community and the US values the individual. If you achieve something in the US, it's because you were great. While in China, if you achieve something in China it's because the team, or family, or company is great. Everything you do gets attributed to the greater whole, while in America individual merits are celebrated.
A.Collectivism vs. Individualism
B.Education and Career vs. Character and Faith
C.You're welcome to leave your comments.
D.As is known to all, the Chinese like to save.
E.Just hanging out together time to time is not friendship.
F.You have to learn different cultural practices and try to adapt to them.
G.Unlike the Chinese, older Americans seldom live with their children.
What do extreme marathoners, mountain hikers and professional bicycle racers all have in common? They push their bodies to unsustainable (不可持续的) extremes of physical stress.
We tend to think there’s no limit to human physical achievements. But a new study, published in Science Advances, says there is a definite limit to human endurance (耐力). Beyond that, our bodies begin to break down.
To find the limit, a US research team tracked marathon runners over a five-month period, measuring competitors’ initial basal metabolic rates (BMR, 基础新陈代谢率) – the amount of energy they expend when they rest. Then they looked at how many calories(卡路里) each runner burned per day.
The team found that the maximum amount of energy a human can expend is 2.5 times of BMR. It equals 4,000 calories of energy per day. These calories can help a trained athlete to run about 42 kilometers in a day.
But people can’t keep using this amount of calories all the time. “You can do really intense stuff for a couple of days, but if you want to last longer then you have to dial it back,” US evolutionary anthropologist Herman Pontzer told the BBC.
Pontzer explained that the problem is our guts (消化道). “There’s … a limit to how many calories our guts can effectively absorb per day,” he said in the Daily Mail. At that point, the body is burning calories more quickly than it can absorb food and convert (转化) it into energy.
These new findings could help athletes to best work underneath this ceiling. For example, they could manage their daily exercise time based on their BMR, to get enough calories and keep going.
However, Pontzer’s team can’t rule out the possibility of someone breaking this limit. “So I guess it’s a challenge to elite endurance athletes,” said Pontzer. “Science works when you’re proven wrong. Maybe someone will break through that ceiling some day and show us what we’re missing.”
1.What did the US research team find in the new study?
A.One’s endurance can be improved through exercise.
B.A trained athlete can do intense activities for more than a week.
C.The average BMR for athletes is 4,000 calories of energy per day.
D.The energy one can expend is no more than 2.5 times of their BMR per day.
2.What is the main purpose of Paragraph 6?
A.To tell us the problem with our guts.
B.To show how our bodies produce energy.
C.To explain why there is a limit to human endurance.
D.To prove the importance of our guts to physical activities.
3.The new findings could help athletes ______.
A.keep a more balanced diet
B.save time and reduce stress
C.arrange their training properly
D.improve their performance quickly
4.Which of the following would Pontzer probably agree with?
A.It’s possible that someone could break the endurance limit.
B.It’s no good trying to work above the 2.5x endurance ceiling.
C.Further data is needed to make the study’s results more accurate.
D.The 2.5x endurance ceiling is not a problem for many elite athletes.
One of the most popular beliefs in parenting is the so﹣called Mozart effect， which says that listening to music by the Austrian composer Wolfgang Mozart can increase a child's intelligence． Some pregnant women have even gone so far as to play Mozart recordings on headphones pressed against their bellies． And it's not hard to see how Mozart's name became associated with accelerated development． He was history's greatest child genius， performing astonishing music for kings and queens at an age when many of us were content with tuneless singing "I'm a Little Teapot"．
So， if you have kids or you're expecting to have them， how seriously should you take the Mozart effect？ Will the child who doesn't listen to Mozart in the cradle （摇篮） be limited to an ordinary life？ Are you a bad parent if your kids don't know about any works of Mozart？
Relax． There is no scientific evidence that listening to Mozart improves children's cognitive abilities． The whole idea comes from a small study done in 1993， which found that college students who listened to Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major （K 448）showed some improvement in a test of spatial （空间的） skills． This finding was later described as something extremely amazing by a musician， Don Campbell， in a book． Campbell's claims about the super powers of Mozart's music were repeated endlessly in the media and fueled a craze for Mozart﹣based enrichment activities． In 1998， for example， the governor of Georgia in the USA requested funds to send classical﹣music CDs to all parents of newborns in the state．
Since then， scientists have examined the claim that Mozart increases intelligence and found no evidence for it． The original experiment with college students was reviewed in 1999， and the increase in the students' spatial skills was found to be negligible． In 2007 the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research asked a team of experts to examine the scientific literature regarding Mozart and child development， and they found no reason to believe that it increased intelligence．
1.People relate Mozart to children's intelligence development because he ．
A.owned extraordinary music talent.
B.could perform music as a child.
C.offered music to pregnant women.
D.was an royal Austrian composer.
2.What can we know about the small study in 1993？
A.It added to the popularity of Mozart's music．
B.It found no evidence for supporting Mozart effect．
C.It helped college students make academic progress．
D.It urged Georgia's governor to spread classical music．
3.What does the underlined word "negligible" probably mean？
A.Sudden．
B.Insignificant．
C.Average．
D.Steady．
4.What can be the best title for the text？
A.New Findings： Mozart Effect to Be Proved.
B.Secrets Uncovered： History of Mozart Effect.
C.Does Listening to Mozart Make Kids Smarter？
D.How Does Mozart Improve Kids' Intelligence？
Just before Christmas in 1994, a letter arrived at our house. The postmark was from Tuskegee, Alabama, so we all knew who it was from. We excitedly gathered around mother as she opened it.
My Dear Mother,
I didn’t get the leave I expected for Christmas. I’ll miss all of you. Please leave the Christmas tree up until I make it back. I hope to be home by March.
Love from your son,
Clifton
My heart sank. I felt profound sadness that my favorite brother wouldn’t be home for Christmas. My mother, being the optimist she always was, said, “Well, it looks like we’ll get to have two Christmases this year!”
After Christmas, my sister and I worked together to make sure we kept that Christmas tree looking as pretty as possible. This was no easy feat. By mid-January, the branches drooped so low to the ground. Each day, ornaments would come crashing to the ground and there were brand new sprinklings of pine needles all over the wooden floor. My sister and I took turns sweeping them up. We repositioned the ornaments to the stronger branches on the tree, hoping they would stay on.
Each time we freshened that tree up, my sister and I were full of thoughts about Clifton and how happy we would be to see him again. It made us feel that he was close by, even though he was hundreds of miles away.
On March 5, the doorbell rang. We ran to the door and gave Clifton a big hug. As he hugged mother, I could see him peek over her head at the Christmas tree.
“It’s beautiful,” he said. “Thank you.” Clifton opened his presents and told us all sorts of stories about his work in Tuskegee. That night as we slept, we heard a crash in the living room. We all ran to see what had happened. The tree had toppled onto the sofa and there were needles and broken ornaments everywhere. We all had a good laugh. It was fortuitous (巧合的) Clifton got home when he did.
1.How did the author feel when he read the letter?
A.Deeply sad. B.Quite annoyed.
C.Very regretful. D.A little disappointed.
2.Why did the author try hard to freshen the Christmas tree up?
A.Because his mother asked him to keep the tree up.
B.Because he wanted to keep all the ornaments on the tree.
C.Because he longed to have another Christmas with his brother.
D.Because he intended to keep the Christmas tree alive until next December.
3.What do you think is the tone of the passage?
A.Approving. B.Upsetting. C.Unconcerned. D.Hopeful.
假如你是李华，计划和同学去敬老院（nursing home）陪老人们国重阳节（the Double Ninth Festival）。请给外教Lucy写封邮件，邀她一同前往，内容包括：
1. 出发及返回时间；
2. 活动：包饺子、表演节目等。
注意：
1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 结语已为你写好。
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Looking forward to your reply.
Yours
Li Hua
