That two bicycle salesmen were the first people to fly is as surprising today as it was over a century ago. In 1903 , the Wright brothers flew above the crowd at a public exhibition in the United States. For a long period, the whole world was still in shock.
The Wrights’ success is worth reviewing today because it challenges the 21st century's belief that, for young engineers, courses in arts and humanities are not as important as math and science. In fact, however, neither of the Wright brothers went to college or had any formal technical training.
To see what we can learn from the Wright brothers today, we must consider what made them different then. The Wright brothers grew up in a family where there was always encouragement on curiosity. The bookshelves in their home were filled with novels, poetry, and ancient history. The Wrights’parents had great curiosity for learning. They encouraged their children to read widely and find out the truth on their own. In their late 20s , the Wrights began reading books on the movement of bird wings , which led to their original air-control system.
The Wright brothers often compared themselves to artists because their invention had a lot to do with arts. For example, the art of flying was actually a complicated dance between man, machine and air, which required thousands of hours of practice to perfect. Technical skills and math were certainly necessary to build the machine, but much of the challenge lay in the art of flying in order to have beautiful lines during flight and landing.
If today’s schools hope to have more extraordinary engineers, they should broaden the limited academic requirements and encourage students to be curious about different subjects as the Wright brothers did.
1.What was peopled attitude to the Wright brothers, flight in Paragraph 1?
A.They were eager to fly. B.They wondered its safety.
C.They were shocked at it. D.They doubted if it was true.
2.Which of the following led to the brothers, success according to the passage?
A.Formal technical training. B.Research on birds' movement.
C.Math and science in college. D.Curiosity about finding the truth.
3.What does the passage encourage today's schools to do?
A.To abandon academic requirements on learning.
B.To encourage students to be artists and engineers.
C.To broaden students’ knowledge about the Wright brothers.
D.To be supportive to students' curiosity on different courses.
阅读下面材料, 根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。续写的词数应为150左右。
'Usual boring day!' This would be the answer from Roman if somebody asked him how his day was. These days he found everything boring, nothing excited him.
One day he was lying in his room as usual. Suddenly light went off. His room was rather hot without an air conditioner. Though he did not want to leave his room, he had to. Unwillingly, he left his room and came to living room. Living room was slightly cool as it had two huge windows.
His young brother was playing with his friend. They were rolling on the floor. He was looking out for the TV remote, but couldn't find. He got up and searched it everywhere, but remote was nowhere. He looked at his brother who was still lying on the floor playing.
He asked him, "Where is the remote?"
"Under the Sofa," his brother yelled.
He tried to look through, but it was dark. He put his hand under the sofa. He touched something, grabbed it and took his hand out. OMG! It was a snake in his hand!
After seeing that his brother started to yell, “ Snake, snake!” Mom came as soon as she heard their shouting. She too was horrified to see a snake. She was so scared that she even couldn’t speak a word. Two kids were trying to hide into each other's back. “What an old trick!” Roman thought and threw it over kids.
As the snake landed on the floor near to the kids, it started moving from left side to the right. Only then did Roman realize that the snake was real, not a toy. He threw the snake over kids because he thought it was a fake snake and kids were playing some tricks.
This time mom almost got heart attack. Now he was scared too. The snake was only 10 meters away from kids and was staring at kids. They even couldn’t call a rescue team. There might be some deadly damage before their arrival. There was not much time to think. It was the time for a quick action.
Paragraph 1：
As Roman was farther from the snake, he jumped to the window and grabbed the curtain.
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Paragraph 2：
After the rescue team caught and took the snake away, everyone went inside the home.
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假如你是李华，你的英国笔友Jean来信了解中国青少年的上网喜好。请你予以回复，并以自己为例，谈谈你最喜欢的网站或APP及理由。
注意：1. 词数80左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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When I was a kid, my family didn’t live a rich life. As a result, we couldn’t ______ to eat out in a restaurant. My mother ______ cooked in the evening after she returned home from work.
One day, my mother had a very_____ day in the office and was exhausted. After work,she went into the kitchen and started preparing supper for us. When she was frying some eggs, she ______ to concentrate on her cooking and the eggs burned . She wanted to throw them away, but eggs were ______ for a family like mine back then. So she placed them in a plate and______to eat them herself.
After the eggs were put on the table, my father looked at them for a while. But he said ______. He just smiled at my mom and then asked me how my ______ was at school. Then he started eating the eggs. He finished them ______ so that my mother and I wouldn’t have to eat them.
Later that night, I heard my mom ______ to my dad for burning the eggs. And I’ll never ____ what he said, “Honey, I love burned eggs.”
The next day, I asked Dad ______ he really liked burned eggs. He held me in his arms and said, “Your mom had a ______ day at work yesterday and she was really tired. I didn’t want to ____ her. Besides, a little bit burned egg won’t hurt anyone.”
My father was a very ______ man, and I learned to be such a man from him.
1.A.agree B.afford C.promise D.prepare
2.A.seldom B.even C.always D.simply
3.A.tiring B.boring C.exciting D.relaxing
4.A.tried B.failed C.refused D.managed
5.A.rare B.fresh C.cheap D.delicious
6.A.struggled B.started C.hoped D.decided
7.A.something B.nothing C.everything D.anything
8.A.plan B.day C.status D.reputation
9.A.easily B.calmly C.carefully D.completely
10.A.lie B.complain C.apologize D.shout
11.A.forget B.catch C.accept D.understand
12.A.whether B.how C.why D.when
13.A.sad B.hard C.romantic D.comfortable
14.A.cheat B.lose C.upset D.disturb
15.A.modest B.hospitable C.optimistic D.understanding
There are numerous “secrets” out there on attaining success. The vast majority of these so called secrets all have one thing in common – Attitude.
1.
The key to developing a successful attitude is to decide that there are certain things in life that you need, rather than merely want. For example, do you want a luxury house? 2. Do you want fame and fortune in your career?
Sure, everyone wants these things. 3. That is because it’s never enough to merely want something. You have to be the type of individual who feels that they need these things in order to survive. This gives you the motivation to work towards your dream and do whatever it takes – except, of course, for breaking laws or hurting people – to get there. And all this must be done with the “fuel” of a positive attitude.
How do you begin to change your attitude?
It is always useful to connect with useful resources outside us in changing our attitude for the better. 4. Try to pay closer attention to your inner thoughts.
Realizing where negative thoughts come from can help us get to the point where we are able to erase them. Once they are erased, it is vital to replace them with more positive thoughts. 5.
Perhaps your friends and loved ones will not understand the new you. But you can become a role model for them — and it begins by developing a positive attitude!
A.What do you need?
B.Do you want a lot of money?
C.What is the secret to Success?
D.Do you find yourself constantly in doubt?
E.However, the change will always begin inside you.
F.Problem is, very few people are able to attain them.
G.This is how we begin to make an attitude adjustment.
Rosie, a first-year university student in Beijing, entered a classroom for her oral English exam and slid her topic across the table to Joe, a foreign teacher. My Story, it read. “In middle school, my classmates laughed at me for having deaf-mute parents,” she began softly. “From that moment on, I decided not to tell anybody. But today…”
It’s widely considered taboo(忌讳) in Chinese to discuss the details of an unhappy family life with anyone other than very close friends. However, as Joe has noticed, many Chinese students appear surprisingly comfortable discussing emotional moments from their lives when they speak with foreign teachers in a language different from their own.
“Speaking English,” one of his Chinese students told him, “I feel like another person.” When speaking Chinese, he is kind of reserved; in English class, he is more open. English, to the Chinese speaker, may be like a mask, creating a buffer(缓冲物)between speaking the truth and the listener’s reaction. Students focus on how to speak rather than what is being said. If there’s a misunderstanding, English can take the blame.
Another reason why Chinese students are more comfortable sharing their secrets during English class may be the distinct approach to teaching used by their foreign teachers. “I always try to come to each student, make eye contact, have a 20-second conversation and see how they are doing,” Joe said. Classes taught by Chinese teachers, in contrast, are more formal. Many students said they had never been asked their opinion in class.
Rosie’s English vocabulary is now extensive, but she still can’t find the words to describe her feelings towards the English language. “English makes me feel I am different,” she said. “English is beautiful.”
1.Which might be the best title of this passage?
A.Sharing Secrets in English. B.English Is a Beautiful Language.
C.Learning with Foreign Teachers. D.Which Is More Popular, Chinese or English?
2.What can we infer from paragraph1?
A.Rosie and Joe are good friends. B.Rosie will mention her personal affairs.
C.Rosie looks down upon the disabled. D.Rosie lacks confidence in the oral exam.
3.The underlined word “reserved” can best be replaced by ________.
A.shy B.curious
C.terrified D.distinctive
4.What is the main idea of paragraph 3 and 4?
A.How students feel when speaking English.
B.What Joe’s approach to teaching English is.
C.How Chinese acts as a mask while communicating.
D.Why students prefer to share emotional stories in English.
