Troy longed to be a professional basketball player. He had loved the _______ ever since he was a small child. He was also very skilled. However, he had one small _______. He was very short. Although his school coach had suggested that he would never _______ it in the professional leagues, he _______ to give up on his dream.
Troy had several _______ tries at professional clubs. Then he went to a club in Los Angeles and _______ the coach for a try. As usual, he was refused.
“But you haven't even given me a(n) _______ ,” said Troy.
“Why should I?” asked the coach.
“Because one day I am going to be the best player in the world _______ I will be able to help you out,” Troy replied seriously.
The coach smiled at the _______ of the answer.
“Alright kid,” he said.
Troy took part in a short practice match and the coach was ________ at his skills.
“You ________ have a lot of talent,” he said.
After two short years, Troy was a regular for the ________ and had even won the award as the team' s most valuable player. ________ with Troy's help, the team wasn't winning many games and the coach was said to be close to losing his ________ . It was before a game against the New York team that he called Troy into his office for a discussion.
“I have heard that if we lose tonight then I will be replaced as coach,” he told Troy. “I need you to carry the team and win the game. Do you remember your ________ before I signed you?'
Troy nodded. He went on to play the game of his life that evening. The team won the game and won every game that was left that season.
1.A.task B.class C.sport D.place
2.A.doubt B.problem C.dream D.reason
3.A.change B.learn C.hear D.make
4.A.tried B.regretted C.refused D.feared
5.A.unsuccessful B.meaningful C.unfair D.careless
6.A.found B.asked C.forced D.considered
7.A.choice B.instruction C.suggestion D.chance
8.A.and B.but C.if D.as
9.A.influence B.confidence C.interest D.shortness
10.A.annoyed B.disappointed C.puzzled D.surprised
11.A.certainly B.usually C.finally D.possibly
12.A.program B.party C.club D.school
13.A.Again B.Almost C.Even D.Only
14.A.money B.job C.team D.patience
15.A.promise B.purpose C.advice D.secret
Tests can be stressful even for the best students. 1. Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to make your stress much more manageable.
Get Enough Sleep
Getting 6 hours of sleep or less can put you into what's called a sleep deficit(不足),which makes you less sharp mentally and prevents you from performing properly on tests. 2. This way, you needn't stay up for the test and can get a good night of sleep before your big day.
Study Smarter
3. Make a list of the most important things you need to learn and hit the items at the top of the list first. This will ensure they're mostly covered if you run out of time. Make a list of all the work you have to do, estimate how long each item will take, and compare that with the amount of hours you have available. This will tell you if you can carefully read or just skim, how many times you can afford to revise the papers.
Visualize(想象)Success
A proven way to build your confidence is to visualize yourself taking the tests and doing wonderfully. Visualization can not only help you perform better in the tests but can help you remember facts. You can create detailed situations that involve the information you're trying to remember. 4.
Stay Calm
There're several techniques that can help you calm down quickly.5. Just close your eyes, take a deep breath, hold it for a while and then let it out slowly. Your stress will come out with your exhales(呼气).
A.Be organized with your studies.
B.Extra time on tests can bring success to students.
C.Test anxiety has a negative impact on your performance.
D.In this process you can strengthen the facts in your memory.
E.Breathing exercises can be extremely effective in helping you relax.
F.So it's very important to get all your studying done before your exam.
G.There are options for easing stress and potentially improving test performance.
In a recent announcement, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology（MIT）said that they have joined forces to offer free online courses in an effort to attract millions of online learners worldwide.
Beginning this fall, a number of courses developed by teachers at both universities will be offered online through a new $60 million program, known as edX. “Anyone with an Internet connection anywhere in the world can use our online courses,” Harvard President Drew Faust said during a meeting to announce the plan.
MIT has offered a program called OpenCourseWare for ten years that makes materials from more than 2,000 classes free online. It has been used by more than 100 million people. In December, the school announced it also would begin offering a special certificate, known as MITx, for people who complete certain online courses. Harvard has long offered courses to a wider population through a similar program.
The MITx will serve as the foundation for the new learning platform.
MIT President Susan Hockfield said more than 120,000 people signed up for the first MITx course. She said Harvard and MIT hope other universities will join them in offering courses on the open-source edX platform.
“Fasten your seatbelts,” Hockfield said.
Other universities, including Stanford, Yale and Carnegie-Mellon, have been experimenting with teaching to a global population online.
The Harvard-MIT program will be monitored by a not-for-profit（非盈利的）organization based in Cambridge, to be owned equally by the two universities. Both MIT and Harvard have provided $30 million to start the program. They also plan to use the edX platform to research how students learn and which teaching methods and tools are most successful.
1.According to this text, edX is _______.
A.a part of the free MIT OpenCourseWare
B.a free computer program by MIT and Harvard
C.a Harvard-MIT platform of free online courses
D.a free program online for universities worldwide
2.What is said about online education in the text?
A.Universities have been trying online courses.
B.About 2,000 online courses have been offered.
C.Over 100 million people have finished courses online.
D.Stanford and Yale together have courses similar to edX.
3.The underlined part in the text probably means “ ”.
A.Get ready for the difficulties
B.Get ready for this educational change
C.Get prepared to complete the online courses
D.Get prepared to make materials for the edX courses
4.What can be said about MITx according to the text?
A.It is first offered as part of the edX learning program.
B.It is another free MIT-Harvard online learning program.
C.It is a standard to recognize online learners’ achievement.
D.It is a new kind of free online course of Harvard and MIT.
Getting rid of dirt, in the opinion of most people, is a good thing However, there is nothing fixed about attitudes to dirt.
In the early 16th century, people thought that dirt on the skin was a means to block out disease, as medical opinion had it that washing off dirt with hot water could open up the skin and let ills in. A particular danger was thought to lie in public baths. By 1538, the French king had closed the bath houses in his kingdom. So did the king of England in 1546. Thus began a long time when the rich and the poor in Europe lived with dirt in a friendly way. Henry IV, king of France, was famously dirty. Upon learning that a nobleman had taken a bath, the king ordered that, to avoid the attack of disease, the nobleman should not go out.
Though the belief in the merit(优点) of dirt was long-lived, dirt has no longer been regarded as a nice neighbor ever since the 18th century. Scientifically speaking, cleaning away dirt is good to health. Clean water supply and hand washing are practical means of preventing disease. Yet, it seems that standards of cleanliness have moved beyond science since World War II. Advertisements repeatedly sell the idea: clothes need to be whiter than white, cloths ever softer, surfaces to shine. Has the hate for dirt, however, gone too far?
Attitudes to dirt still differ hugely nowadays. Many first-time parents nervously try to warn their children off touching dirt, which might be responsible for the spread of disease. On the contrary, Mary Ruebush, an American immunologist(免疫学家), encourages children to play in the dirt to build up a strong immune system. And the latter position is gaining some ground.
1.The kings of France and England in the 16th century closed bath houses because .
A. they lived healthily in a dirty environment
B. they thought bath houses were too dirty to stay in
C. they considered bathing as cause of skin disease
D. They believed disease could be spread in public baths
2.Which of the following best describes Henry IV’s attitude to bathing?
A. Curious B. Afraid C. Approving D. Uninterested
3.How does the passage mainly develop?
A. By following the order of time. B. By making comparison.
C. By providing examples D. By following the order of importance.
4.What is the author’s purpose in writing the passages?
A. To call attention to the danger of dirt.
B. To introduce the history of dirt.
C. To present the change of views on dirt.
D. To stress the role of dirt.
Shelton Murray has been playing the didgeridoo(迪吉里杜管乐器) since he was five years old. Now 22, the musician will be travelling to the United States with the Australian Chamber Orchestra for the first time.
Mr. Murray comes from an Aboriginal (土著的) community and said his love of the didgeridoo had grown out of his culture. He was taught by his father Lazarus Murray from a young age, but said he was also inspired by his grandfather Peter Apaak Jupurrula Miller. ''My father learnt from David Blanasi. Then he taught me what he learnt from David,'' he said.
As the youngest member of a Tiwi Islander band called B2M (Bathurst to Melville) in the Northern Territory, Mr. Murray played the didgeridoo for the opening act of the Tina Arena Darwin concert in 2014. Now his didgeridoo skills have caught the attention of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, where he was invited to perform in the show The Reef Revisited, which will be touring the US next week.
''It's exciting for me to be travelling over to America, '' he said. Mr. Murray said there were challenges for young Aboriginal artists to break into the industry but said it is all about having the right attitude.
Richard Tognetti, artistic director of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, said the team was excited to have Mr. Murray join the 25 - person orchestra. ''He's bringing a really traditional approach. We respect the sound that he brings into the orchestra. We're used to the sound of a didgeridoo but playing it in LA, New York and Richmond Virginia will be interesting for the audience,'' he said.
Another member of the orchestra, Aboriginal musician Steve Pigram, said he was proud of Mr. Murray's achievement at such a young age. ''He's coming through that thing of performing in a reggae (popular music in the West Indies) rock band, same as what I did. But he's got to this kind of level a little quicker. Well it's taken me 40 years, '' he said.
1.How did Murray learn to play the didgeridoo?
A.He taught himself. B.He learned from his grandfather.
C.He drew inspiration from David. D.He followed his father' s instructions.
2.What do we know about B2M?
A.It's a popular local band. B.Its members are all very young.
C.Its tour around the US will come soon. D.It's a band in the Australian Chamber Orchestra.
3.What did Richard Tognetti think of Murray?
A.He needed to get along with the orchestra members.
B.He would play a valuable part in the orchestra.
C.He would face lots of challenges in the US.
D.He needed to learn traditional approaches.
4.What do Steve Pigram and Murray have in common?
A.They became famous at a young age. B.They have played in a rock band.
C.They came from the same city. D.They are of the same age.
假定你是李华，你校将举办音乐节。请写封邮件邀请你的英国朋友Mike参加。
内容包括：
1. 时间；
2. 活动安排；
3. 欢迎他表演节目。
注意：1. 词数80左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Mike,
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Best wishes,
Li Hua
