As a teenager, school was difficult for me. I had a kind of attention disorder, which means I couldn’t direct my attention to what I was doing. So when everyone else in the class was centering their attention on tasks, I could not.
In my first reading class, Mrs. Smith asked us to read a story and then write on it, all finished in 45 minutes. I immediately put up my hand and said, “Mrs. Smith, you see, the doctor said I have attention problems. I might not be able to finish the task.”
She looked down at me through her glasses, saying, “You are not different from your classmates, young man.” With her encouragement, I tried. But I didn’t finish the reading when the bell rang. I had to take it home.
In the quietness of my bedroom, the story suddenly all became clear to me. It was about a blind person, Louis Braille. He lived in a time when the blind couldn’t get much education. But Louis didn’t give up. Instead, he invented a reading system of raised dots(点), which opened up a whole new world of knowledge to the blind.
Wasn’t I the “blind” in my class, being made to learn like the “sighted” students? With thoughts running through my head, I found myself deeply attracted in reading and writing. I completed the task in less than 40 minutes. I realized that I was not different from others. I just needed a quieter place. If Louis could find his way out of his problem, why should I ever give up?
I didn’t expect anything when I handed in my paper to Mrs. Smith, so it was quite a surprise when it came back to me the next day with an “A” on it. At the bottom of the paper were these words, “See what you can do when you keep trying?”
1.School was difficult for the writer because ________.
A.he didn’t like the teacher B.the tasks were too boring to him
C.he got a kind of attention disorder D.his classmates talked with him in class
2.Mrs. Smith’s words in Paragraph 3 show that ________.
A.she encouraged him B.she laughed at him C.she felt sorry for him D.she was pleased with him
3.What can we learn from the passage?
A.Never stop reading. B.Never give up easily. C.How to be a great teacher. D.How to learn as a blind.
AI(人工智能) makes our lives easier and better. Let’s see the amazing AI.
| Cool driverless bus A bus door opens and you get on. Wait, where is the driver? Here is a new kind of driverless bus called Apolong. It was produced in 2018. It can seat 14 people and doesn’t need a driver. The bus follows traffic rules. |
| Your close friend Hi, everyone. I’m Xiaoice, a chatbot(聊天机器人). I was “born” in 2014. I speak like a 17-year-old girl. If you feel lonely, you can talk with me. I’m good at singing and telling stories. I want to be your friend! |
| World’s first AI presenter Hey, look! The famous Chinese presenter Qiu Hao is reporting the news for us. But, is “he” really Qiu Hao? The answer is “no”. This is the world’s first AI presenter. It was invented in 2018. It looks and speaks just like a real person. |
| Popular AI artist This beautiful painting was at an auction(拍卖) in 2018. It sold for about 3,000,000 yuan! But it is not a work by a famous painter, such as Vincent van Gogh. It was painted by an AI artist. Three Frenchmen created the AI artist in 2017. |
1.When was Apolong produced?
A.In 2019. B.In 2018. C.In 2017. D.In 2014.
2.Both Qiu Hao and Xiaoice can ________.
A.drive B.paint C.swim D.speak
3.________ created the AI artist.
A.Three Frenchmen B.A 17-year-old girl C.The Chinese presenter D.Vincent van Gogh
I take after my mother. From her I took over a curious nature, a sense of adventure and bright red hair. However, I did not receive a talent(才能) for _______ from her.
My mother never doubted that I would be a child Mozart. She found a strict Russian woman to be my piano teacher when I was four. I did whatever the teacher told me in order to _______ her. “Feel the music,” she always told me, I “felt” it. But what is more unpleasant than too many wrong notes played continuously? She “felt” my music, too, which is why she always left with a(an) _______ expression.
Once, in order to _______ my practice, I managed to record one of my own rehearsals(练习). I put on the tape recording and read until the tape had finished. That method worked for a week, until my mother began to _______ why I always missed the same note. She came in and found that I had fallen asleep while the tape of my performance played on and on.
Realizing I couldn’t be a Mozart, my mother told me to pick another instrument. From then on, I worked my way through several other instruments, but I still couldn’t play any of them _______.
Then my mother hit on another idea. She took me to a drama(戏剧) teacher. However, the teacher put me into painting scenery(舞台布景) instead of teaching to sing. Immediately I fell in love with this active and practical world, and I discovered that I had a skill for building and painting. I loved the _______ of taking our limited supplies and using them to make something beautiful!
I’m a sculptor(雕刻家) now, and every day I _______ once again the pleasure of being fully involved in the act of artistic creation. It’s a wonderful feeling. I realize that my mother was trying to give me this feeling. Perhaps she went about it in the wrong way, but her heart was in the right place.
1.A.music B.sports C.cooking D.writing
2.A.praise B.please C.believe D.help
3.A.excited B.happy C.angry D.shy
4.A.stop B.continue C.begin D.escape
5.A.require B.argue C.wonder D.expect
6.A.secretly B.perfectly C.quietly D.politely
7.A.challenge B.change C.risk D.advice
8.A.create B.consider C.share D.experience
— Could you tell me ________?
— Next Sunday.
A.when we will have a picnic B.when we had a picnic
C.when will we have a picnic D.when did we have a picnic
Look at the flowers on both sides of the street. They ________ last month.
A.plant B.planted C.are planted D.were planted
— What were you doing at 10 o’clock yesterday morning?
— I ________ with my parents.
A.read B.will read C.am reading D.was reading
