One of the most popular comments I have heard about time is that we need to balance our time in order to live a more balanced life. We often feel that if we are focused and devoted, happy and positive, loving and generous, healthy and energetic, then we will be balanced people. And if the pie chart of our daily life has just the right ratios(比率) of work, life, family, health, and service, then our time will be balanced.
The problem with trying hard for balance is that most people’s understanding of this state is so different from what balance actually is! Balance is not about walking around with a bunch of positive qualities; it’s about walking on the tight rope between the poles within us and the circumstances outside of us. Strictly speaking, in order to achieve true balance, we should accept we may have some shortcomings. We should accept and love the most challenging parts of life because they offer gifts for full, real living.
Even though we measure time in a linear(线状的) way, time is and will always be asymmetrical(不均匀的). One moment is not like another, just like each day is different and each tide that rolls in is different from the previous one. This is why it is impossible to balance our time through a pie chart in a time management book. Exploring asymmetrical time allows us to move in line with an unbalanced time and thus regain our relative balance. If we stop measuring ourselves against the standards of linear time, we can accept ourselves more fully. New possibilities arise as we accept the uncertainty.
1.Why does the author think it’s difficult to achieve balance in life?
A. People don’t know the true meaning of balance.
B. People may not have enough good qualities.
C. People cannot create their pie charts of daily life.
D. People fail to realize the qualities they really need.
2.In the author’s opinion, what does a balanced life mean?
A. We should arrange our time wisely.
B. We should try to believe ourselves.
C. We should learn to improve ourselves and our lives.
D. We should accept the bad aspects of ourselves and life.
3.What does the last paragraph mainly want to tell us?
A. Uncertainty can help build up confidence.
B. It is difficult for us to accept ourselves fully.
C. There are always uncertain things occurring in life.
D. New possibilities can help us achieve balance in life.
4.What may be the best title for the text?
A. The true meaning of time
B. Seeking relative balance
C. Struggle for a balanced life
D. Popular comments about time
Two 5-year-old girls, best friends, held hands in Tolson’s office at Van Ness Elementary School in Washington, D.C., one saying she didn’t feel well. Tolson, the school nurse, asked, “How long has your stomach been hurting?” “It just started,” she said.
The other one said her head hurt last night, too. Tolson knew she had a history of fevers, so she checked her temperature and asked her what she ate, whether she went to the bathroom, and whether her head still hurt. It could be that these two little girls that went to Tolson’s office were fine. Or maybe they had mental problems. And that is what school nurses have to judge every day.
School nurses generally get very little training when it comes to mental health. Mazyck said she herself was astounded when she was a school nurse. She saw upset, anxiety, sadness and students who didn’t even know what to do to calm themselves down. She never expected these. So Mazyck went back to school for a graduate degree in counseling (咨询) and now she focuses on getting nurses more training in mental health.
Sharon Stephan, who co-directs the National Center for School Mental Health at the University of Maryland, tells nurses there are two simple questions to ask themselves to see if a child needs help:
Is the student acting or behaving differently than he/she was before?
Is the student somehow far outside the norm (标准) of what you would expect?
The only time everyone pays attention is when there’s a tragedy(悲剧), like a school shooting. However, we actually can catch the students who might harm others and recognize the students who might want to kill themselves.
Mental health is ranked one of the top problems all school nurses deal with, and school nurses need to be better at it.
1.Why does the author mention the two little girls?
A. To show school nurses do a difficult job.
B. To show the importance of school nurses.
C. To show school nurses need much patience.
D. To show the importance of students’ health.
2.What does the underlined word “astounded” in the third paragraph mean?
A. Tired. B. Troubled.
C. Shocked. D. Embarrassed.
3.Why did Mazyck go back to school?
A. To give nurses more training in mental health.
B. To find school students with mental problems.
C. To learn what mental problems students may have.
D. To improve her skills of dealing with mental health.
4.What can we learn from the last but one paragraph?
A. There are too many kids in need of help.
B. Something tragic often happens at school.
C. Students’ mental health is always ignored.
D. It’s hard to find students with mental problems.
My students entered the art room with their usual eagerness to see what they would be learning in today’s class. Little did they know they were going to be students for a new teaching method that is spreading the nation.
I often use videos as previews and supplements (补充) to our art lessons providing students with a variety of artists showing their skills in real-life situations outside the classroom. Finding a new painting technique called glue batik(胶水蜡染), I thought of something new I hadn’t tried before! How awesome would it be to learn a new technique together with artists? The lesson was planned, presented to the students without any introduction or set objectives. I also asked the students to watch and pause the video as often as they needed to.
They watched as the artist explained and showed her skills, taking notes on her steps and results. After the video, they shared what they felt the artist’s objectives were, her end result using art vocabulary as well as the steps they would need to know to present their own examples. Then they began creating their works using the glue batik technique.
Surfing the Internet a couple of weeks later, I found that the teaching method I used sounded very familiar to a new movement in education called flipped teaching, which was developed by Jonathan Bergmann. He asked his students to watch video lectures at home and do exercises (homework) in class under supervision (监督). He found that grades went up and he also found time for other types of activities, which Bergmann states are more important than the videos.
Back to my art class, the students were learning to get ideas, make predictions, and explain reasoning to their classmates. Together they compared, asked questions and made discoveries as they presented the technique.
1.Which of the following is one of the benefits of flipped teaching?
A. Teachers needn’t check students’ homework
B. Students can control their own learning pace.
C. Students can choose whatever they want to learn.
D. Teachers can develop their own teaching methods.
2.Who plays a central role in the flipped teaching?
A. The artist. B. The parent.
C. The teacher. D. The student.
3.What is the best title for the text?
A. The flipped teaching I used in art class
B. Jonathan Bergmann’s flipped teaching
C. A teaching method spreading the nation
D. A new painting technique called glue batik
Where to enjoy a picture-perfect white Christmas?
Quebec City, Canada
When the narrow streets of Quebec City are covered in snow, it feels like you’ve wandered into a beautiful Victorian Christmas card which has come to life. Enjoy the friendliness of this charming Canadian city with joyous outdoor concerts, holiday markets and Quebec Adabra — an evening festival of music, lights, animation (动画) and architectural projections held city-wide.
London, England
The capital is bursting with holiday cheer. Bright Christmas lights brighten up Oxford Street, Covent Garden and Carnaby Street. Skating people can go for a seasonal spin in Somerset House, Hyde park, Canary Wharf and the Tower of London. Love holiday music? St. Martin-Fields hosts an inspiring line-up of Christmas concerts while London’s most famous Christmas tree entertains visitors in Trafalgar Square.
Prague, Czech Republic
Prague’s beautiful architecture provides a dramatic setting for its Christmas activities. At the foot of the Church of Our Lady before Tyn, the Old Town Christmas market sells Christmas gifts and treats to the thousands of shoppers who visit it each December. Carol (圣诞颂歌) singers perform seasonal favourites while a well-decorated Christmas tree adds to the joyous atmosphere.
Rovaniemi, Finland
For a storybook Christmas, Rovaniemi in Finland is hard to beat. Lapland’s capital becomes a winter wonderland. The area is lit by the impressive northern lights，and they can be witnessed around the city from mid-August to early April. This magical place is also the official home of Santa Claus himself and visitors of all ages can meet everything about Christmas at Santa Claus Village right at the Arctic Circle.
1.Why does the author mention the Victorian Christmas card?
A. To indicate Quebec City is beautiful.
B. To show it always snows at Christmas.
C. To tell us Christmas is a lively holiday.
D. To suggest that we buy Christmas cards.
2.Where can you skate in London at Christmas?
A. In Oxford Street.
B. In Covent Garden.
C. In Canary Wharf.
D. In Trafalgar Square.
3.What makes a Christmas in Prague more attractive?
A. The unique gifts offered to tourists.
B. The great architecture of Prague.
C. The Old Town Christmas market.
D. A well-decorated Christmas tree.
4.What is special about Rovaniemi?
A. Its scenery attracts visitors of all ages.
B. It is a winter wonderland full of magic.
C. Its Christmas celebrations last long.
D. It is where Santa Claus comes from.
短文写作（共1题；满分30分）
请根据以下提示，并结合事例，用英语写一篇短文。
“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” －Albert Einstein.
注意：
①无须写标题，不得照抄英语提示语；
②除诗歌外，文体不限；
③文中不得透露个人姓名和学校名称；
④词数不少于120词左右。
完成句子（共10小题；每小题2分，满分20分）阅读下列各小题，根据汉语提示，用句末括号内的英语单词完成句子，并将答案写在答题卡上的相应题号后。
1. a car, I could get out of this place. (only)
要是我有一辆车，我就能离开这个地方了。
2.Afraid of the fire, away . (run)
由于怕火，那些野生动物逃跑了。
3.The girl fell down on the playground but got up quickly, the race. (determine)
这个女孩摔倒在操场上，但很快爬了起来，决心完成比赛。
4. sitting in the classroom all day may account for these students’ dropping out. (feed)
厌倦了整日坐在教室里可能是这些学生辍学的原因。
5. the job was the chance to travel. (attract)
这份工作最吸引我的地方是有旅行的机会。
6. the poem than the students began to ask her questions. (finish)
她刚读完这首诗，学生们就开始向她提问题了。
7.It won’t make much difference today or tomorrow. (go)
无论你是今天还是明天去，关系不大。
8.In Australia, health authorities confirmed on Thursday that a 57-year-old woman
in a hospital in Queensland state for the deadly Ebola virus. (assess)
澳大利亚卫生当局星期三证实，一位57岁的妇女正在昆士兰州一家医院接受致命的爱博拉病毒评估。
9.The records are not so good the standards. (compare)
这些记录和标准比起来还不算很好。
10.Our situation has been made worse now, and we have reached a stage almost no right at all. (have)
现在我们的情况变得更糟糕，已经到了这样一个阶段：我们几乎没有任何权利。
