Once when I was facing a decision that involved high risk, I went to a friend. He looked at me for a moment, and then wrote a sentence containing the best advice I’ve ever had: Be bold and brave and mighty (强大的) forces will come to your help.
Those words made me see clearly that when I had fallen short in the past, it was seldom because I had tried and failed. It was usually because I had let fear of failure stop me from trying at all. On the other hand, whenever I had jumped into deep water, forced by courage or circumstance (环境), I had always been able to swim until I got my feet on the ground again.
Boldness means a decision to bite (咬) off more than you can eat. And there is nothing mysterious about the mighty forces. They are inner powers we have: energy, skill, sound judgment, creative ideas––even physical strength greater than most of us realize.
Admittedly, those mighty forces are spiritual ones. But they are more important than physical ones. A college classmate of mine, Tim, was an excellent football player, even though he weighed much less than the average player. “In one game I suddenly found myself facing a huge player, who had nothing but me between him and our goal line,” said Tim. “I was so frightened that I closed my eyes and crazily threw myself at that guy like a bullet (子弹) ––and stopped him cold.”
Boldness—-a willingness to get yourself to the extreme—is not one that can be gained overnight. But it can be taught to children and developed in adults. Confidence builds up. Surely, there will be setbacks (挫折) and disappointments in life; boldness in itself is no guarantee (保证) of success. But the person who tries to do something and fails is a lot better off than the person who tries to do nothing and succeeds.
So, always try to live a little bit beyond your abilities — and you’ll find your abilities are greater than you ever dreamed.
1.Why was the author sometimes unable to reach his goal in the past?
A.He faced huge risks. B.Fear prevented him from trying.
C.He lacked mighty forces. D.Failure blocked his way to success.
2.What is the meaning of the underlined part in Paragraph 3?
A.Swallow more than you can digest. B.Develop more mysterious powers.
C.Act slightly above your abilities. D.Learn to make creative decisions.
3.What was especially important for Tim’s successful defense in the football game?
A.His spiritual force. B.His basic skill.
C.His real fear. D.His physical strength.
4.What is the author’s purpose in writing this passage?
A.To advise people to develop more abilities.
B.To advise people to build up physical power.
C.To tell people the ways to guarantee success.
D.To encourage people to be courageous.
Breathing dirty air can cost someone's life span(寿命) months—even years, a new study finds.Worldwide, air pollution lowers average life spans by a year. Scientists shared their new findings in Environmental Science & Technology Letters.
Air pollution has been linked to many health problems.Most earlier studies has looked at how tiny air pollutants affected rates of illness or death. But now an environmental scientist, Joshua Apte, is going even further. He works at the University of Texas, Austin. He together with his team is looking at life expectancy, hoping to make the threat easier to understand.
PM 2.5 is what scientists call tiny particles of pollution in the air. Higher levels of PM 2. 5 can cause health problems and cut months, if not years, from the average life span. This analysis show show pollution affects life expectancy in different parts of the world.
The World Health Organization(WHO) recommends limiting PM 2.5 to 10 micrograms(微克) per cubic (立方)meter of air. Apte's group used data to try to find how this low level would help people. But meeting the WHO standard won't get rid of health damage from dirty air.That's because even below 10 micrograms per cubic meter pollution still causes huge risks.
Reducing air pollution could increase life expectancy. The scientists also compared how other threats shorten life spans across the globe. These risk factors included smoking and cancer.
These results show that in poor countries, cleaning up dirty air could greatly increase life spans. It could have as big an effect as cleaning up drinking water, or curing lung cancer. However, in wealthier countries air pollution shortens life expectancy by less than half a year. All forms of cancer, in fact, shorten the average life expectancy by more than 3.5 years.“Knowing this can really help people, or policymakers, decide where to spend their money,” says Kirk Smith.
1.What is Joshua Apte's team trying to do?
A.Let people understand air pollution better. B.Know how small air pollutants are.
C.Study the life expectancy of different people. D.Study many different healthy problems.
2.What will happen if one country limits PM 2.5 to 10 micrograms per cube meters?
A.Its people will live a healthy life. B.Its air is very clean.
C.It will get a prize from WHO. D.It still has pollution risks.
3.What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A.Cancer is the leading killer in all kinds of diseases.
B.It's very hard to clean up dirty air in a short time.
C.The study will help different countries take different policies.
D.Reducing air pollution can increase all people's lifespans much.
4.What can be the best title for the text?
A.The Effect of Cancer Is Worse than Dirty Air
B.Air Pollution Is Shortening Lives Worldwide
C.Many Factors Are Affecting People's Health
D.Governments Are Trying to Make Life Span Long
For centuries, people have moved to and lived in cities. These urban centres are places to find work, friends and fun. It's no surprise that they continue to grow as more and more people flood in hoping to make the most of the chances they offer but adding to the congestion and pollution that already exist.
According to a report by the United Nations, 54 percent of the world's population lives in urban areas and it predicts that by 2050,this figure will have increased to around 70 percent. But as more and more people move from the countryside to the city to get better chances, they can end up with nowhere to live.
This is true in places such as Rio de Janeiro, where the people from the countryside can't rent or buy a home,and they end up building their own communities and houses on unoccupied land. These are called shanty towns— poor communities where the houses are built out of cheap materials—and often don't have any electricity or water supply.
These are, of course, not the future cities we want to see. Some serious urban planning is needed to make our cities of the future good, safe and modern places to live in. This involves improving the housing conditions, the chances for education and employment and so on.
Something urban planners are looking at now is the creation of“smart cities”. According to John Rossant, founder and chairman of the non-profit organisation New Cities Foundation, technology is the way forward. He thinks that it's generally accepted that “cloud computing, ubiquitous Internet, robust 5G networks etc, will change our cities”. He says technology is really “a game changer” in urbanization (城市化). It would collect large amounts of data about how a city is working and may improve how a city functions.
1.Why will a larger population be living in a city by 2050?
A.Because the government encourages the development of cities.
B.Because more people will have more children.
C.Because the countryside will disappear.
D.Because more people will move into the city to get more good opportunities
2.What can we know about shanty towns?
A.They have good quality housing built for poor people.
B.They are filled with people living under poverty.
C.They are built by the government.
D.They are developed and modern.
3.What name is given to a city that uses technology to help it function properly?
A.Traditional cities. B.Future cities.
C.Smart cities. D.Developing cities
Volunteer Opportunities for Young Adults
When you give back——to others less fortunate or in need of special help, you will definitely feel good about yourself and the world. If you have a wish to be personally connected to the charity or organization where you are giving your time and money, here are some volunteer opportunities.
★Watsi
Founded by Chase Adams after a bus ride in Costa Rica in 2011, Watsi is a digitally focused heath nonprofit for young adults. Watsi offers real-time tracking of where money donated goes, from basic medical services to surgeries.
★Pencils of Promise
Pencils of Promise was founded by Adam Braun in October 2008. It is an on-profit organization that puts all of its time and funds into education in the developing world. Pencils of Promise encourages their donors to connect with others to increase donation. All the donation will be used to build schools, provide supplies and train teachers in poor and under educated countries.
★Project Linus
Everywhere you see young men and women knitting and crocheting(钩). They are using those skills to make blankets for children in need. Founded in 1995, in Denver, Colorado, Project Linus is an non-profit organization. Its goal is to provide warmth and safety through blankets to children across the nation in need. The organization is now led by Carol Babbit with the headquarters in Normal, IL.
★Girls on the Run
Girls on the Run was set up in1996 in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a team of 13 brave girls. Program founder Molly Barker struggled in her own life, and came to realize that a running program gave her “respect for my body and all the things it can do”. Girls on the Run is a volunteer opportunity for teaching young girls about the benefits of running.
1.Which organization has existed for about 9 years?
A.Watsi. B.Pencils of Promise.
C.Project Linus. D.Girls on the Run.
2.How does Pencils of Promise help the world?
A.It sells pencils to poor students. B.It focuses on children's health.
C.It provides social media for poor kids. D.It helps increase educational opportunities.
3.Which is right about Project Linus?
A.It was set up by Carol Babbit. B.Its goal is to teach children how to knit.
C.It supplies blankets to kids in need. D.It's an all-female organization.
4.Who set up Girls on the Run?
A.Chase Adams. B.Molly Barker.
C.Carol Babbit D.Adam Braun
假如你是李华，是一名中牟三高高二年级的学生。你听说美国哥伦比亚大学对外交流部暑假期间对中国中学生进行英语培训，你有意参加。请你给该校对外交流部写一封报名信。
内容包括：1). 学习时间。
2). 学习目标。
注意：1. 词数100左右。
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Sir or Madam,
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Best wishes,
Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。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（∧），并在其正下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（╲）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词正下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均限一词，请严格按照要求格式修改。
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
My cousin and I usually stay out lately with some friends on Saturday evenings, left Grandpa alone at home. It was so cold yesterday, however, that none of us wanted to suffer from the frozen wind outside. So after dinner we stay at home sitting around a fire and listening to Grandpa tell his experiences in Second World War. In fact they sounded familiar to us, so we were still listening attentively so as to make him be happy. Now and then we asked Grandpa some questions, that he answered in a humorous way. We burst out laughing from time to time and he laughed too. Full of joy, we all felt especially warm in the cold evening.
