Do you want to create more successful writings? Perhaps you can benefit from the following suggestions on excellent writing.
You need time. A lot of smart people lie to themselves like, “I finish my task best at the last minute.” In fact, it’s not true. 1. Sure, you are smart, but you still need to have some pressure. For example, if you are working on an important topic, why do you think that you can write well at midnight just before the conference? Writing can be a miracle if you are given enough time.
Writing requires practice. 2. Would you do nothing before running a marathon? No, you would practice running gradually to make your body stronger. In order to become a writer, you need to write.
Write at the best time. I happen to be a morning person, so I write early in the day. Then I spend the rest of my day teaching or having meetings. 3.
4. Or, at least, they are not correct to some extent. Nearly all of the best scholars are changed by their experiences in doing research and writing about it. They learn by doing, and sometimes what they learn is that they were wrong.
Revise your writing again and again. Have other people look at it. You need to overcome a fear of refusal. 5. The difference between a successful scholar and a failed one is about who is better at writing and revising.
A. Not all of your thoughts are influential.
B. No one works better with time running out.
C. You get better and faster through exercise.
D. Exchange papers with peers or an instructor.
E. Your first thoughts are often wrong.
F. Make sure you save your most productive time for writing.
G. Nobody’s first drafts (草稿) are good.
The government says spending £4.2 million on planting trees in towns and cities will improve the quality of people’s lives. But do trees really make people happy?
Some British and US surveys suggest a thick green lawn, or well-landscaped yard can increase the government property prices by as much as 15%. But the government’s Big Tree Plant campaign, which aims to plant one million trees in English urban areas over the next four years, says trees are not only good for our bank balance, but they do wonders for our happiness. And it says getting people to plant makes communities even happier. So do people really care about trees and do they improve lives? Margaret Lipscombe, director of urban programs at the Tree Council, says, “Not only are trees beautiful but they are practical. Trees also encourage healthier lifestyles and studies have shown people are calmer when trees are in their community,” A US study suggests that patients who have a view of nature through hospital windows recover better after operations.
Ms. Lipscombe says that the trees have also been known to slow down the traffic because drivers will go more slowly when there is something in their sights. She admits some people have negative feelings about trees because they worry about slipping on berries, bird droppings on cars or blocked light.
Ms. Lipscombe also says when she first moved into the area, there were no trees on her street. “I t was an area where there were lots of factories with high walls. It looked like an abandoned place that you didn’t want, especially as a woman on your own. Now everything is different. With lots of trees around, the street looks more attractive. People are not as frightened and no longer run down the road to get home. The trees also bring people out onto the street and make a stronger community feel.”
1.What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?
A. The use of trees in medical treatment
B. The benefits of trees to people’s lives
C. The role of trees in cutting down government expense
D. How to make the best of trees
2.What can be inferred from Ms. Lipscombe’s words in the last paragraph?
A. Trees may offer people a sense of safety.
B. Trees may help people forget sad memories.
C. Factories should be built where people live.
D. Women shouldn’t go out alone at night.
3.Where does this passage most probably come from?
A. A news report
B. A scientific report
C. A health magazine
D. A textbook
Music is not just a set of sounds and rhythms. Its influence on the brain is much deeper than any other human experience. Keep on reading to know all those amazing powers of music.
A recent study suggests that preterm (早产的) babies appear to experience less pain and feed more when listening to music. Experts led by Dr. Manoj Kumar of the University of Alberta, Canada, found that music had a beneficial effect on reducing pain for preterm babies experiencing painful medical tests. It also appeared to benefit full-term babies during operations.
Many people experiencing brain damage have speech and movement-related problems. Music can help recover from brain injuries. As a different and effective treatment, doctors often advise such patients to listen to good music to improve the parts of the brain responsible for these two functions. When people with neurological (神经的) disorders hear a musical beat, it helps them to regain a balanced walk.
Though music cannot make deafness disappear, it really can stave off the loss of hearing. There was an experiment involving 163 people where 74 were musicians. Participants were asked to pass some listening tests. Musicians heard the sounds better than non-musicians, and this difference gets clearer with age. This means that a 70-year-old musician hears better than a 50-year-old non-musician, even in a noisy environment.
Besides, music mends a broken heart. It is not about a thrown-away love, but about a heart attack. The matter is that music can help people recover from a heart attack or heart operation by reducing blood pressure, slowing down the heartbeat rate, and reducing anxiety. Listening to the quality music produces positive emotions, improves the movement of blood, and expands blood vessels, thus, promoting quick recovery of the whole cardiovascular (心血管的) system.
1.How does music affect preterm babies?
A. It helps reduce their pain.
B. It helps develop their potential in music.
C. It helps improve their hearing systems.
D. It helps repair their neurological systems.
2.What does the underlined phrase “stave off” in Paragraph 4 mean?
A. Lead to
B. Increase
C. Prevent
D. Break into
3.Why can music mend a broken heart?
A. It has a positive effect on human body systems’ work.
B. It can help people prevent diseases caused by anxiety.
C. It helps make a person feel optimistic about life.
D. It can help patients recover in a slow way.
4.What may be the best title for the text?
A. Who can benefit from music
B. The best time to listen to music
C. The way to choose quality music
D. How music affects our mind and body
In 2010 I left the United States for the first time to fly over 9,000 miles to Uganda, a country in recovery from civil war. I was going there to help the local kids learn soccer.
As I played soccer with some kids, the sun burned my skin. I took many breaks to drink from my water bottle before realizing I was the only one who did that. All the energetic children running around never stopped to get water. After looking around, I realized there was NOWHERE for them to get water, and there was no well or water pump in sight.
I asked a man who was traveling with us why the kids didn’t ever stop to drink water. He told me that they would have to walk all the way to the pump in the next village and they didn’t want to miss out on playing soccer with a real ball. The kids seemed happy but it was not fair that to get a drink of water meant they would miss out on such a rare occurrence of playing with an actual soccer ball.
When I got home, I spoke with other people about kids in Uganda. They told me to do something to help them. That sounded like a great idea, but how? I spoke with my friends about helping kids in Uganda. We decided that we could try to solve their most urgent problem—water. And we decided to organize soccer camps to collect money.
It has been three years since our first camp and we have successfully run two more and funded two water filtration (净化) systems as well as 60 water pumps for farmers. We have been able to improve the health of thousands of Ugandans.
1.The kids didn’t drink water while playing soccer, because ______.
A. they didn’t feel thirsty at all
B. they couldn’t get any nearby
C. they were too poor to afford bottled water
D. they were not allowed to drink water during the play
2.How did the author most probably respond after hearing that man’s explanation?
A. She was unwilling to stay there anymore.
B. She decided to buy water for the kids at once.
C. She felt very proud of her own life.
D. She felt very sad for the kids.
3.What can we learn from the passage?
A. We should fully enjoy what we have.
B. We can make a difference to others’ life.
C. We should be grateful for what we receive.
D. We can change our lives through hard work.
Directions: Write an English composition in 80-100 words according to the instructions given below in Chinese.
最近你了解到班级中有些同学从不吃早餐；有些同学虽然吃早餐，但营养不均衡。明天的英语课轮到你进行课前英语小演讲。请你针对这一现象以“健康早餐”为主题写一份演讲稿。（注意:不得使用真实姓名和学校名称。）
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Directions: Translate the following sentences into English, using the words given in the brackets.
1.过去我们全家常常晚饭后去散散步。 (used to)
2.饮食习惯接近西方人的亚洲人更容易出现体重方面的问题。 (whose)
3.我觉得你用手机就能拍出差不多的效果， 根本用不着去买昂贵的照相机。 (effect)
