Here are some books which can inspire kids to think about nature and the environment.
How to Raise Monarch Butterflies
—By Carol Pasternak
Have you ever watched a monarch transform from a caterpillar (毛虫) to a butterfly from up close? In this book, learn everything about the monarch life cycle and how to raise monarchs from eggs to adult butterflies. You will also get to know the efforts involved to protect the species.
A Kid’s Guide to America’s Parks
—By Erin McHugh
This year, the US National Park Service’s National Park Week is on April 21-29. During the week, all the national parks offer free admission. Enrich your knowledge with this book, as it introduces the national parks and some interesting places in the US, including their geography, specific animals as well as environmental challenges. The book’s featured places include Yosemite National Park, Ellis Island (home of the Statue of Liberty) and the National Park of American Samoa, the only U.S. national park south of the equator (赤道).
Where Do Recyclable Materials Go?
—By Sabbithry Persad
Tiana had been learning about recycling at school. But when her dog, Bubbles, gets lost running after a recycling truck, she ends up learning a lot more about recyclable materials than ever! Follow Tiana and her family as they search for Bubbles around town and at the Materials Recovery Facility. Along the way, readers will learn a lot about recycling and how they can do their part in protecting the environment.
Scrap Kins Build-It Book Volume 1
—By Brian Yanish
Meet the Scrap Kins. They are creative, friendly monsters (怪物) who live in a recycling center, known as Scrap City. They’ll show you how to turn junk into pretty cool things. Readers will learn how to create cute bags from old jeans, beautiful ships from milk boxes, and more. Remember that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure!
1.Which author teaches you how to make an artwork from wastes?
A. Carol Pasternak. B. Erin McHugh.
C. Sabbithry Persad. D. Brian Yanish.
2.Why is the National Park of American Samoa special?
A. There is a famous statue in it.
B. It is free for admission.
C. It has its specific animals.
D. It lies south of the equator.
3.Which book is most probably written in the form of a story?
A. How to Raise Monarch Butterflies
B. A Kid’s Guide to America’s Parks
C. Where Do Recyclable Materials Go?
D. Scrap Kins Build-It Book Volume 1
4.The common goal of the four books is to _________.
A. teach kids practical skills
B. raise kids’ environment awareness
C. comment on kids’ behavior
D. make kids interested in geography
假如你是李华，你校国际部即将举行一次主题为“我爱中国古典诗词”的读书活动。你将代表全体学生，在启动仪式上发言。请你根据以下提示，用英文写一篇发言稿。内容包括：
1. 说明活动的目的；
2. 从中国古典诗词的特点的角度，陈述热爱它的理由；
3. 对学习中国古典诗词的认识。
注意：
1. 词数100词左右；
2. 开头已写好，不计入总词数；
3. 可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：古典诗词 classical poetry; 押韵 rhyme
Good morning, everyone!
Welcome to our Reading Activity._________________________________________________________
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假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，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。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、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。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均限一词;
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
With Teachers’ Day draw near, I would like to express my thanks to Ms. Li, who taught me English last year.
At that time, I was having a trouble studying English and my scores fell. Ms. Li encouraged me and tell me her story that she never gave up before her studies didn’t go well. She also said that it was necessary to make efforts so that I would not regret waste time. Her words were the best medicine because she stood in her shoes to deal with problems and gave me sincere advices. She didn’t simple comfort me. Her teaching methods also counted. It had never occurred me that studying could be so interested until I met Ms. Li.
Make the right choices
What is life’s gift? 1. Choice is the ability to select one course of action from a set of alternatives to achieve a goal. What is so great about choice? It transforms us from dumb animals into artists. Each of us becomes another Michelangelo. Choice becomes nothing other than the tool we use to sculpt (雕刻）our life. The tool doesn’t come free, however, for the price of choice is responsibility. 2. The reward is happiness.
Life is not still. It is a flow. 3. We constantly need to monitor where we are on our journey. We need to ask questions: Am I moving closer to my goals? If not, what corrective measures can I take? What action will I take now to readjust myself to my goals? Choice is power. Choice is at the heart of life. It is the creative power of life.
4. And your life becomes more convenient or comfortable because of them. For example, you decide which stores to shop at and which gas station to go to. But the decisions that we make to sculpt our lives are far more important than deciding where to shop. The more we appreciate the difference between minor and major decisions, the greater the probability that we will experience happiness and fulfillment.
All chess lovers realize that it isn’t necessary to win to enjoy the game. The pleasure is in the playing. Life is like a chess game. 5.
A.But when we accept ad carry it out, we get a great return.
B.Make the best moves you can under the circumstances.
C.Life is full of hard choices, and the bigger they are, the harder they get.
D.Every choice we make leads us closer to or farther from our goals.
E.Choose to carry out responsibilities not because you have to, but because you want to.
F.You have to make choices every day.
G..It is free will or choice.
I was in the fifth grade when I first dipped my fingers into the endless ocean of expression and allowed my hands to grow a(n)_______.
I remember my hands being sweaty as I wandered _______ into her classroom. From corner to corner, the_______were decorated with clippings (剪报) and posters _______ Deafness and American Sign Language. Pictures of _______hands hung from the bulletin boards (宣传牌).
Once the rest of my classmates _______ in their seats, she began. She did not speak. Her hands _______ about gracefully as she signed, “Hello. My name is Ms. Lewison. Your name what?” These signs did not _______ until later that week, but still I sat upright at my desk, trying to figure them out. My entire first impression of her was “_______”.
As months passed, my class transformed to an unusually large family. Ms. Lewison was like our ________. When we were feeling troubled, we just let our ________do the talking. The lesson became less about following the lesson itself and more about ________.
Ms. Lewsion performed a tough task. She ________ repla
ced all the ignorance in me with ________. Then she opened my ________ and opened it even wider. She would find time to turn me into a ________ signer. She taught me that there are no limits and my abilities are ________.
Today my fingers have learned to ________. Ms. Lewison pushed me ________ into the ocean of Deaf Culture and I have become a strong swimmer in diverse ________.
1.A. picture B. voice C. order D. poster
2.A. calmly B. excitedly C. quickly D. anxiously
3.A. walls B. ocean C. students D. desks
4.A. caused by B. related to C. contributing to D. aimed at
5.A. welcoming B. outstanding C. signing D. waving
6.A. settled B. seated C. backed D. locked
7.A. flowed B. wandered C. flew D. came
8.A. draw attention B. make sense C. catch sight D. hold breath
9.A. silent B. dull C. strange D. strict
10.A. teacher B. partner C. friend D. mother
11.A. bodies B. hearts C. hands D. eyes
12.A. sings B. language C. love D. life
13.A. successfully B. finally C. easily D. unwillingly
14.A. confidence B. patience C. curiosity D. freedom
15.A. mouth B. mind C. arms D. fingers
16.A. clever B. unique C. special D. fluent
17.A. endless B. strong C. weak D. uncertain
18.A. dip B. dance C. swim D. think
19.A. firmly B. hardly C. gently D. heavily
20.A. classes B. worlds C. families D. waters
Certain aspects of music have the same effect on people even when they live in very different societies, a new study reveals.
Researchers asked 40 Mbenzele Pygmies in the Congolese rainforest to listen to short clips of music. They were asked to listen to their own music and to unfamiliar Western music.
The same 19 selections of music were also played to 40 amateur or professional musicians in Montreal. Musicians were included in the Montreal group because Mbenzele Pygmies could be considered musicians as they all sing regularly for ceremonial purposes, the study authors explained.
Both groups were asked to rate how the music made them feel using emoticons, such as happy, sad or excited faces.
There were significant differences between the two groups as to whether a specific piece of music made them feel good or bad. However, both groups had similar responses to how exciting or calming they found the different types of music.
"Our major discovery is that listeners from very different groups both responded to how exciting or calming they felt the music to be in similar ways," Hauke Egermann, of the Technical University of Berlin, said in a news release from McGill University in Montreal. Egermann conducted part of the study as a postdoctoral fellow at McGill.
The Montreal participants felt a wider range of emotions as they listened to the Western music than the Pygmies expressed when listening to either their own or Western music. This may be due to the different roles music plays in the two cultures.
"Negative emotions are felt to disturb the harmony of the forest in Pygmy culture and are therefore dangerous," Nathalie Fernando, of the University of Montreal's faculty of music, said in the news release. "If a baby is crying, the Mbenzele will sing a happy song. If the men are scared of going hunting, they will sing a happy song — in general, music is used in this culture to evacuate all negative emotions, so it is not really surprising that the Mbenzele feel that all the music they hear makes them feel good," she explained.
1.Why could Mbenzele Pygmies be regarded as musicians?
A. They are crazy about music.
B. They major in music at school.
C. They can play musical instruments well.
D. They often sing songs on ceremony.
2.The study mainly finds that ________.
A. music is universal across cultures
B. music varies among different countries
C. western music results in negative emotions
D. music makes people happy
3.The underlined word “evacuate” probably means ________.
A. set off B. benefit from C. get rid of D. account for
4.The examples mentioned in the last paragraph are to show that ________.
A. music plays different roles in the two cultures
B. music plays the same role in the two cultures
C. negative music disturbs the harmony of the forest
D. happy music is welcomed everywhere
