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Digging through kids' school bags, looking up all the assignments, sitting beside them going through each item, and finally 1.(have) all the homework checked with a name signed is a 2.(day)routine for most Chinese parents, as required by teachers. A demanding task especially after a long day’s work at office, isn’t it? 3.（lucky）, some parents in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, have been liberated. A local primary school has recently announced that parents will no longer have to sign their names on their kids' homework, as students should be responsible 4.their own assignments.
Making mistakes is 5.essential part of the process of understanding. Who cares how much you 6.(score) in your homework after you have settled down in life and found your directions? The ability to realize one's mistakes and learn from them is what matters, 7. is also the main purpose of education. Why not give students a chance 8.(find) out and correct their mistakes themselves?
It is by no 9.（mean）parents' duty to go through the kids' assignments. 10. parents are supposed to do is to create a friendly studying environment for kids, and teach them to be an independent learner. After all, independent learning is much more important than high scores.
In the 1950s, I was an only child of a single mother , living in a modest cottage in New Zealand. There was no TV and very little _______to spend on entertainment. _______we had our books and enjoyed _______better than reading aloud to each other. My mother read me The Faraway Tree Stories, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Treasure Island and poetry as well. _______I turned seven, I was able to take my _______at the reading role, and we spent many pleasant evenings laughing over _______ characters.
In 1964, I was 18 and moved to Auckland, but we still phoned each other and talked about books. Years later, Mum’s eyesight began to _______. She found it _______difficult to read the small print of her beloved books. She enjoyed looking at magazines but missed _______up with the latest books by her favourite __________.
Later, I became a Special Needs library assistant and my __________was to select books for __________impaired（损伤的）people. In time, I introduced my mother to large-print novels and audio-books, which gave her a great deal of __________as her eyesight grew more dim(模糊的).
In her 70s, Mum’s choice of reading seemed to __________to mainly murder mystery stories. I was __________to see that, so I bought her a more “worthy” audio-book. The next day, I asked, “How are you getting on with that latest book?” “Oh, not so well,” she replied__________. I didn’t try to “improve” my mother’s literary __________after that.
A few years ago Mum __________away. There are still so many thing I’d like to tell her. I’d like to __________her for her early guidance in the __________world of books. And I’m happy to say that I’m also into audio-books now.
1.A. time B. money C. energy D. interest
2.A. Though B. However C. But D. And
3.A. something B. anything C. everything D. nothing
4.A. When B. Unless C. If D. Until
5.A. chance B. turn C. responsibility D. part
6.A. real B. innocent C. funny D. happy
7.A. fall B. fail C. lose D. drop
8.A. increasingly B. quickly C. slowly D. suddenly
9.A. catching B. keeping C. ending D. coming
10.A. readers B. publishers C. authors D. assistants
11.A. task B. dream C. plan D. promise
12.A. mentally B. physically C. bodily D. visually
13.A. anxiety B. joy C. passion D. sympathy
14.A. narrow down B. open up C. change D. remove
15.A. desperate B. content C. sad D. pleased
16.A. positively B. awkwardly C. coldly D. eventually
17.A. choice B. taste C. level D. degree
18.A. went B. gave C. moved D. passed
19.A. appreciate B. express C. thank D. impress
20.A. wonderful B. abstract C. accessible D. ambiguous
With modern technology, much written communication tends to focus on the keyboard, but handwriting is still a necessary and important skill.1.Here are some tips for you to improve your handwriting.
Examine Your Handwriting
2. Look through your writing to decide what makes it difficult to read or what makes it unattractive. Perhaps you write your letters too small. Check on spacing of letters and words, and proper formation of letters. If your letters are small, put more effort into writing larger letters. If certain letters trip you up, practice those letters separately and within words.
Write Correctly
Positioning and technique play a role in how your handwriting looks. Hold the pen between your thumb and first two fingers so that it rests against your fingers. Hold it firmly enough to control the tip but not so hard that it hurts your fingers. Lighter pressure on the paper helps you create smooth lines and focus on your letter formation.3.
4.
Letters are formed from several basic strokes(笔划). Practice those strokes separately to get your hand used to forming them. Strokes found in letters include vertical lines, horizontal lines, and circles. Build on those to practice specific letters.
Write for a Purpose
Teach young children handwriting in meaningful contexts. Use that same idea by picking up a pen to write lists and notes by hand instead of typing. Keep a journal daily with slow, correct strokes. 5.These true and sincere writing opportunities make the practice meaningful.
A. Build on Basics.
B. Practice makes perfect
C. Focus on improving your correctness instead of speed
D. Writing at a slower speed also helps you focus on letter formation
E. Put a handwritten letter in the mail to surprise a friend or a relative
F. Handwriting requires your brain, eyes and hands to work together to form letters.
G. Before you can improve your handwriting, you need to know where you’re falling apart.
As the days get shorter and the chilly weather rolls in , we all want to curl up in a blanket and hibernate until spring rolls around. But making time to get outside in the sun, even when it’s cold out, could have bigger mood benefits than you might realize.
While the link between sunshine and mental health is nothing new, new research from Brigham Young University(BYU) has shown that the association may be even stronger than previously realized. It finds that sunlight exposure is by far the greatest weather-related factor determining mental health outcomes. In other words: more sunshine, more happiness.
For the study, a psychologist, a physicist and a statistician from BYU teamed up to compare daily environmental data from the university’s Physics and Astronomy Weather Station with emotional health data archived by day for 16,452 adult therapy patients who were being treated at the BYU Counseling and Psychological Services Center.
Exposure to sunlight is a significant factor in seasonal affective disorder. Research has shown that the brain produces more of the feel-good neurotransmitter serotonin on sunny days than it does on darker days. What’s more, lack of sunlight is linked with lower vitamin D levels, which in turn has been correlated with depression and low energy.
If you’re getting enough sun, your emotions should remain relatively stable, the researchers found. But as the amount of sunlight in the day is reduced, levels of emotional pain can soar. Other weather variables including temperature, pollution and rain were not found to have an impact on mental health.
“We were surprised that many of the weather and pollution variables we included in the study were not significantly correlated with clients’ scores on the distress measure once we had accounted for suntime,” Dr. Mark Beecher, a professor of psychology at the university and the study’s lead author, told The Huffington Post. “People tend to associate rainy days, pollution, and other meteorological phenomena with sadness or depression, but we did not find that.”
1.What does the author suggest we do in Paragraph 1?
A. Realized the benefits of sunshine. B. Avoid hibernating in springtime.
C. Curl up in a blanket in cold weather. D. Enjoy sunshine even in cold weather.
2.The underlined word “soar”in Paragraph 5 most probably means “ ”?
A. Rise sharply. B. Vary unstably.
C. Drop slightly. D. Change greatly.
3.What does the passage say about the research done by BYU?
A. It is done on normal adults of various ages.
B. It is carried out by Dr Mark Beecher alone.
C. It concludes the sunshine means happiness.
D. It finds that temperature affects mental health.
4.What can be inferred from the passage?
A. Lower vitamin D levels are helpful in keeping us energetic.
B. The research findings are inconsistent with the popular belief.
C. The more sunshine we get, the less excited we are likely to feel.
D. The link between sunshine and mental health was unknown before.
Coming to the end of my assistantship in Barcelona, I start to think about what the future might hold.
It’s been seven months and a few days since I arrived here and things have changed so much in what some might call a short period of time. When I first arrived in Terrassa I was excited and nervous to start a new adventure in a country I love. The first few days seem so long ago now, trying to find a place to live, organizing my timetable with the schools, meeting new people.
However, a fortnight later, the excitement started to fade and I began to spend more than a few nights thinking about family and friends back home, wondering if I should be there with them. Everything started to change after meeting some new friends and spending good time with them, eating together and seeing new places as a group. I suppose we should never forget how important it is to have good people in your life, because they can make a difference.
Coming back to Terrassa after visiting home for Christmas felt like returning to a second home, to a place that was mine with people I cared about. Things got even busier and more people came into my life; new friends, romance and a whole lot of good food flowed by in what seems to have been weeks, not months.
Now, looking forward, there are some decisions to make. Should I return home to Scotland and move on with life there or try to extend my time here, perhaps make it something permanent? Experiencing other cultures or learning about the world is such an important thing to do if you have the means.
My advice from my experience so far is to travel and try new things whenever you get the opportunity. You may find somewhere you were always supposed to be.
1.Why did the author go to Barcelona?
A. To meet his curiosity. B. To conduct his work.
C. To begin a new adventure. D. Do experience a new culture.
2.When did the author begin to feel homesick?
A. As soon as he set foot on Terrassa.
B. When he was considering his future.
C. After a few weeks’ stay in Terrassa.
D. When he was trying to find a living place.
3.What is the author unsure about?
A. Where to spend his future life.
B. How to enjoy his life in Terrassa.
C. What to do to extend his time in Terrassa.
D. Whether to celebrate Christmas with locals.
4.What has the author learned from his experience?
A. Having a clear idea of oneself is important.
B. Traveling alone brings a great many benefits.
C. Learning about the world makes life more colorful.
D. Keeping an open mind toward new things is necessary.
Nowadays, top performing sportsmen earn huge amount of money as compared to people in other professions. Some people consider it a rational approach. However, there are a few who think it is unjustifiable.
Some people think sports professionals with outstanding performance should be overpaid as it is a short-lived career which requires rigorous hard work as compared to other professions. This field demands a strict, disciplined life with extensive physical efforts, consistent practice, a fixed diet schedule to bring pride and glory to the country. Due to such tough requirements, people in this field have an average career span of 10-15 years. As sports professionals have limited tenure, they should be rewarded with high monetary gains to acknowledge their excellent performance.
However, there are a few who think that top performing sportsmen and women should not have high salaries as it is a biased approach. They feel that there are other critical professions which are more valuable to the country as compared to the sports field. For example, the professions, like doctors, social worker, works for the betterment of the society. Their efforts not only help to reduce the social issues prevailing in the community, but they also contribute in providing a healthy environment. As a result, they significantly contribute to the growth of the country. Henceforth, their efforts should be equally recognized along with the sports professionals.
In my opinion, although there are some logical reasons for huge earnings of the top performing players, people from other professions should also be equally appreciated in terms of lucrative monetary benefits for their outstanding contribution. As all the professions are critical in their own field and contributes to the overall development of the country.
To conclude, sports people delivering excellent performance should not be overpaid in comparison to other professionals who make a significant contribution to the society.
1.A key reason for overpaying sports professionals with outstanding performance is that .
A. they work harder than others B. they have to keep a strict diet
C. their career is relatively short D. they meet tough requirements
2.What can be inferred from Paragraph 3?
A. Some people look down on sportsmen.
B. Valuing sports can lead to prejudice.
C. Not all professions can get great incomes.
D. Not all professions can get great incomes.
3.What’s the author’s attitude towards overpaying top sportsmen?
A. Opposing. B. Supportive.
C. Ambiguous. D. Unconcerned.
4.What does the passage mainly talk about?
A. People’s various attitudes to top sportsmen.
B. Whether top sportsmen should be overpaid.
C. Top sportsmen bring honor to their homeland.
D. Overpaying top sportsmen harms other professions.
