I was having a great morning until I sat down in front of my office computer. “Your password has expired(过期),” a server message flashed on my screen, with instructions for changing it.
Coming up with a new code doesn’t seem like a big deal, unless you work at my company, where we have to change it monthly, using at least one uppercase character, one lowercase character, one symbol, and one numeral. Oh, and the whole darn thing can’t be fewer than eight characters. And I can’t use any of the same passwords I’ve used in the past three months.
Suddenly I was furious. What didn’t make it any better was that I was deeply depressed after my recent divorce. Disbelief over what she had done to me was all I thought about. Every day.
My anger didn’t mean anything to the empty input field with a pulsating cursor (闪动的光标), waiting for me to type a password that I’d have to re-enter — many times — for the next 30 days. I remembered a tip I’d heard from my former boss. He’d said, “I’m going to use a password to change my life.”
I couldn’t focus on getting things done in my current mood. There were clear indicators of what I needed to do to regain control of my life, but I couldn’t notice them.
My password became the indicator. My password reminded me that I shouldn’t let myself be a victim of my recent breakup and that I was strong enough to do something about it.
I made my password Forgive@h3r.
I had to type this statement several times a day. Each time my computer would lock. Each time my screen saver with her photo would appear. Each time I would come back from eating lunch alone. In my mind, I wrote Forgive her every day.
The simple action changed the way I looked at my ex-wife. That constant reminder of reconciliation led me to accept the way things had happened at the end of my marriage and embrace a new way of dealing with my depression. As the month wore on, I felt a slow healing begin to take place. By the time my server prompted me to reset my password the following month, I felt free.
One month later, my dear Exchange server asked me yet again to reset my password. I thought about the next thing that I had to get done.
My password became Quit@smoking4ever.
I quit smoking overnight. This password was a painful one to type during that month, but doing it helped me to yell at myself in my mind as I typed that statement. It motivated me to follow my monthly goal.
One month later, my password became Save4trip@thailand.
Guess where I went three months later: Thailand.
Seeing how these reminders helped to materialize my goals kept me motivated and excited. While it’s sometimes difficult to come up with your next goal, keeping at it brings great results.
Here is a simplified extract of what some of my passwords have been in the past two years, so you get an idea of how my life has changed, thanks to this method:
Forgive@h3r To my ex-wife, who started it all.
Quit@smoking4ever It worked.
Save4trip@thailand It worked.
Eat2times@day It never worked, still fat.
Sleep@before12 It worked.
Ask@her4date It worked. I fell in love again.
No@drinking2months It worked. I feel better.
Get@c4t! It worked. I have a beautiful cat.
MovE@togeth3r It worked.
Facetime2mom@sunday It worked. I talk with Mom every week.
And the one for last month: Save4@ring Yep. Life is gonna change again soon.
1.The underlined word “furious” in the third paragraph is closest in the meaning to ______.
A. depressed B. doubtful
C. nervous D. angry
2.Why did he decide to use “Forgive@h3r”as his password?
A. Because he decided to forgive his wife.
B. Because he hoped his wife would forgive him.
C. Because he hoped it would remind him to be strong.
D. Because his former boss told him to use it to change his life.
3.What can we learn from the password “Save4@ring”for last month?
A. He will call his mother every week.
B. He will soon ask his girl friend to marry him.
C. His password will help him save money.
D. He will be reminded to save his password.
4.What might be the best title for the passage?
A. How a Password Changed My Life. B. Why I Changed My Password.
C. How a Slow Healing Took Place. D. How I Followed My Monthly Goal.
I’d like to share a little story with you about something that happened when I was four. I remember it clearly. Our loving family dog was nearing the end of his life. My father picked him up and put him in a little bed we had made for him. Our dog, my companion, whom we had cared for, bit my father when he attempted to help him. How could he? Why? I couldn’t understand it. I didn’t like him anymore.
I hadn’t thought about that story for a long time but something that happened last week brought it back to me. I went to speak with a friend. When I knocked on the door, I met in an instant an angry look and a few harsh(尖刻的)words. When the door was slammed(砰地关上)in my face, I stood there shocked, and in a rush, I was reminded of my dog bit my father 20 years ago or so. What brought that story back was that same feeling of betrayal.
Both stories taught me something the next day. You see, when I got up in the morning and was told my dog had died, it became clear to me that he must have been in great pain. For him to have bitten a family member, he could not have been himself. Much the same for the other story when I learned that my friend’s wife had just left him.
We are all beings of our environments, our opinions and feelings. And all of those things can cause you to say and do things that can’t be understood by those who are not in the same situation with you.
If you meet someone either behaving out of character or acting in a way that doesn’t seem to fit the situation, put out your hand and be patient when you think it is least possible for him to do so. You may turn around a story that has a sad ending simply by your actions.
1.What is the influence of the incident mentioned in Paragraph 1?
A. It hurt his father’s feeling deeply. B. It has puzzled the author ever since.
C. It left a deep impression on the author. D. It made the author dislike dogs.
2.Why did the author’s friend say harsh words to the author?
A. He was ill-tempered.
B. He was suffering the pain of losing his wife.
C. He was bothered by an unexpected visit.
D. They once quarreled and he couldn’t forgive the author.
3.What’s the author’s advice to us?
A. Help those in need. B. Look before you leap.
C. Respect for others is a kind of virtue. D. Learn to put yourself in others’ shoes.
Russ Gremel, now 98 years old, decided it was time to donate $2 million to the Illinois Audubon Society, a charity to purchase nearly 400 acres of land for wildlife protection. Gremel was able to make this amazing donation because he purchased $1,000 worth of Walgreens stock seven decades ago whose value has grown recently.
“A single man with no kids, Gremel has lived in the same Chicago house for 95 years, and has always lived simply”, neighbor Patrick Falso told TODAY. Falso said he heard Gremel say many times the “money wasn’t mine to begin with” and that he always intended to give it away.
The Gremel Wildlife shelter was founded on June 4. Illinois Audubon Society president Jim Herkert said Gremel’s donation was extremely generous. “It’s allowing us to protect a really valuable and important possession and realize one of Gremel’s wishes that we could find a place where people could come out and experience nature the way he did as a kid,” Herkert told TODAY.
After doing all this, this past weekend, Gremel adopted an old Chihuahua（吉娃娃犬）. Winnie the dog was picked up as a homeless dog several months ago. She suffered from a kind of cancer, which was treated—and all she needed was a loving home, which Colleen Collins, the founder of Perfect Pooches Adoption Agency, was determined to find.
Gremel had lost his own beloved Chihuahua earlier this year. When he reached out to Collins about Winnie, she felt this could be a good match. That feeling grew when she brought Winnie to his house for a meet and greet, and Winnie was introduced not only to Gremel but also some of his friends and neighbors. One had brought over a lot of fresh strawberries; all said they’d be there to help out in any way needed.
1.Patrick Falso is mentioned in the text mainly to explain _________.
A. how Gremel earned the money B. what kind of person Gremel is
C. why Gremel made the donation D. where Gremel has been living
2.What can we learn about Russ Gremel from the text?
A. He raised many pet dogs in his life.
B. He bought Walgreens stock at age 28.
C. He adopted a young Chihuahua recently.
D. He volunteered in wildlife shelters regularly.
3.What can we infer about Gremel’s neighbors from the text?
A. They live in harmony with animals. B. They are impressed with dog Winnie.
C. They lead a healthy and wealthy life. D. They are caring and kind to each other.
假定你是李华，你收到加拿大笔友David的电子邮件，询问你校体育运动的情况，也特别想知道你最喜欢什么运动，请你根据下列要点给他回复：
1.你们学校平时开展哪些运动；
2.你最喜欢的运动及原因。
注意：
1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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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。
删减：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错词下面划一横线，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仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Yesterday I went to see a film with my best friend. We set off at 1:30 in the afternoon and plan to arrive at the cinema before 2:30 so that we could watch the 3:15 show. The traffic was terrible bad. That made it even worse was that our bus broke up on the way. They stopped a taxi but rushed to the cinema, arriving ten minutes before the show. “Two ticket for 3:15,” Kate said, put the money on the courier. The film started at the moment we sat down in the cinema. It was an exciting film and we had great time yesterday afternoon.
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。
Artist Song Peilun is known1.“The Father of Yelang Valley” after spending the last two decades turning a village into an artistic village.
Yelang was an ancient political centre first2.(describe) in the 3rd century BC, and it was centered in3.is now western Guizhou Province, China. Experts believe that many ancient4.(culture) were rooted here,5.there are unfortunately no buildings left standing in the great valley. Inspired by Crazy Horse, a mountain monument in the US slate, Chinese artist Song Peilun devoted his life to building a memorial to the artistic culture of Yelang Valley.
It was in 19966.Song quit his job as a professor and purchased a 200,000 square meter plot of land in a mountainous forest area. Then he began to follow his dream.
When he first arrived in the area, most of the locals7.(mine) in the mountain and selling the stones to make ends meet，but he convinced many of them to help him instead.
So far, Song Peilun and the villagers8.(turn) the forest land that he bought into an artistic village full of stone sculptures,9.were inspired by Chinese Nuo culture. It is now a10.(relative) popular tourist attraction.
