Have you ever wondered what goes through your mind when you choose where to sit in a new classroom? Or in a waiting room full of strangers? Or on a bus? Researchers have 1some interesting facts.
Perhaps, we prefer to sit 2 to people like ourselves. Girls sit by girls and boys sit by boys. Adults sit together and young people choose another young person to sit near. We even choose to sit near someone 3looks like us. People with glasses sit near4people with glasses. People with long hair sit closer to other people with long hair.
We seem to believe5 people with similar habits or hobbies will share similar attitude, or even we think we may be safer with people who look like us. Sometimes that's true6it's a pity if we always stick to the same people, the same group. The7in always staying in our comfort zone (舒适区)is that we just recycle the same opinions, the same tastes and the same ideas. We lose the chance to learn 8 find out about interesting things, hear funny stories and discover differences.
Move9 your comfort zone. Go and sit next to someone10.And don't just sit there in silence. Say hello. Ask a question. Start a conversation. That's we make friends. That's how we learn about people. That's how we open our minds to new ideas.
I have come to realize that life is a long journey. Whether we choose to keep moving around, or we choose to stay in one place, we are on a journey. That journey is not an easy one because every day it makes our face new problems in new ways.
When I was a little boy, I always looked forward to the next trip or the next holiday. Maybe it is because we lived in a small and boring town. When I finished school, I kept moving. In the first year out of school, I travelled with a friend and we visited over 17 countries in Europe, working in different jobs as we went. After this, I started studying. I studied at three different universities and lived in five different towns. That was my life. There was always someone else to get to know. All this carried on for many years until I got married and had my own family. When you stay in the same place, with the same persons, you start a whole new journey.
Then you will stay in the same town, choosing one place to live and one job to remain in. There you are challenged to face life, doing things such as trying hard to get along well with your boss. You have to keep on at your job when you feel like giving it up and traveling again.
So rather than move around on different trips, you are on a new journey. This journey of staying still is just as important as all the travels in the world.
“I will think of it.” It is easy to say this, but do you know what great things have come from thinking? We cannot see our thoughts, or hear, or taste, or feel them, yet what power they have!
A boy named Watt sat quietly by the fireside, watching the lid(盖子) of a pot move up and down. The boiling water makes steam. He wanted to find out why the steam in the kettle moved the heavy lid. He went on thinking and thinking. When he grew up, he improved the steam engine(发动机) so much that it could easily do the work of many horses. When you see a steamboat or a steam train, remember that it would never have been built if it had not been the hard thinking of someone.
James was a poor farmer's boy from Scotland. Once, seeing the inside of a watch, he thought, “I am sure that I could make a watch too.” He kept thinking and then made a wooden clock which kept good time. In a few years while still a small boy, he made enough money to support his father. When he grew up, he went to London to live. Some of the wisest men in England, and the king himself, used to come and listen to him speak. His motto was “I will think of it” which means that he would be able to think of how to do something. In this way, he made his thoughts useful to himself and the world.
Boys and girls, when you have a difficult lesson to learn, don't feel discouraged. Think, and by thinking you will learn how to think in a way that solves your problems, and the problem of others.
The Smith family moved to the United States in 1981. At that time, they decided to stop speaking Spanish at home and only communicate in English. This was because they were now living in an English-speaking country. Now the Smith children are adults, and they sometimes travel to Spain to visit their family and friends. But they cannot communicate with them. Unfortunately this is common. When people move to new countries, they often leave their own customs and mother language behind. This is a mistake because there are many advantages to knowing more than one language.
If you can speak more than one language, you can communicate directly with more people around the world. You do not have to depend on others to talk for you, so you're more independent. People who know only one language must use others to help them communicate.
Furthermore, speaking a second language also allows people to experience other cultures and customs more effectively. Local expressions, vocabulary, and even jokes can have a powerful effect on a person's understanding of another culture. So, knowing more than one language increases your knowledge of other cultures.
Finally, having more multi-language speakers improves relationships between countries. If people from different countries can communicate well, the world can become closer. Countries will then have more respect for each other and better understand each other's problems.
It's clear that knowing more than one language is really good. In fact, there are no disadvantages. It is very sad that many people don't try to learn another language. It is even worse when people let themselves forget their mother language and become silenced.
Years ago in Scotland, the Clark Family had a dream. Mr. Clark and his wife worked and saved, making plans for their nine children and themselves to travel to the United States. It had taken years, but they had finally saved enough money and had received passports and tickets for the whole family to travel on a new ship going to the United States However, seven days before their departure, the youngest son was bitten by a dog. Because of the possibility of rabies(狂犬病), he was not allowed to leave the house for fourteen days.
They would not be able to make the trip to America as they had planned. The father, filled with disappointment and anger, watched the ship leave--without the Clark family. The father was really disappointed and complained both his son and God for their bad luck.
Five days later, terrible news spread across Scotland. The huge Titanic had sunk(下沉)The Clark family was to have been on that ship but because the son had been bitten by a dog, they were left behind in Scotland.
When Mr. Clark heard the news, he hugged his son and thanked him for saving the family. He thanked God for saving their lives and turning what he had felt was a bad thing into good luck
A. The family's dream was broken.
B. Although we may not always understand, all things happen for a reason.
C. Nothing is impossible if we put heart into it.
D. The family was filled with excitement about their new life.
E. The unsinkable ship had sunk, taking hundreds of lives with it.
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What's hotter than the summer of 2017? Wolf Warrior 2(战狼2), of course! Like a storm, the movie quickly swept across the whole country this summer. Thanksit, many people walked into cinemas for the first time. The movie has made history—it's now the highest-grossing Chinese movie of all time. For its director-actor Wu Jing, it is something he never imagined.
For Wu, the movie was a dream project. Before he made this movie, he was an actor and worked for years. he was already successful and well-known, he dreamed big. He decided to try his hand at directing anda different and meaningful movie. The first-time director put lots of time, money and into the movie. To film it, he led the team to several African countries and they experienced many unexpected things, for example, many of his workers were bitten by spiders and helost his life at sea. In fact, these accidents or difficulties were only the tip of the iceberg（冰山）. The strong-willed man kept going and believed it was worth all risks, anyway. “I was stressed, but not .All these are experiences,” he said.
Wu's hard work paid off. The big success of wolf Warrior 2 has broughta lot of fame. Now he is no the hottest director in China. “I will continue to work hard to make more great movies for Chinese,” said Wu a firm look in the eye.
China had one of the earliest civilizations(文明) in the world. ⑶We know the Chinese had a written language as early as 1500 BC. You can see that Chinese writing is very different from the writing in other countries. The Chinese use a different character for each word. People in many countries have to learn only 26 letters but people in China have to memorize about 600 characters before they can do even basic reading and writing.
A man in China, named Confucius(孔子), was teaching the people of China what they should and should not do. He was a great wise man. His teachings filled several books and became a way of life for the Chinese, and many other people in Asia. Confucius taught that people should listen to their kings, and also that rulers should take care of their people. He taught people to listen to their parents and teachers and to be kind to others. He said, “⑷Don't do to others what you would not want others to do to you.”
Many inventions were made and used in China before the rest of the world even heard of them. By 600 AD the Chinese had invented printing. After a few centuries, they made the compass, which was a great help to sailors. A compass can tell north from south. The Chinese were the first to discover how to make explosive powder(火药).
From all this, you can see that the Chinese were very busy making things that the rest of the world found really exciting and helpful when people learnt about them.
⑴⑵根据短文简要回答问题；⑶⑷将短文中划线的句子译成汉语；⑸请给短文拟一个适当的标题。
We all know that a mobile app(short for “application”) is a computer software program which is made to run on mobile phones. There are many thousands kinds of apps which are related to our life, study, work and so on.
Word Easy is a fantastic English learning app with (word) exercises of different levels. Only when you pass a test of certain level can you go on to learn words of a higher level.
Himalayas Reading(have) millions of books including poems, short stories, novels and even fairy tales for children. What's great about it is that you can use it(listen) to book recordings.
Rall friend can(be) the best helper when you feel it hard to buy the train or airline tickets. You can buy tickets anywhere any time.
Vocabulary Hero may help you learn more English words you are playing games. So if you have problems(remember) the new words when you learn English, use it!
Fooducate can provide people with much information about that food if they scan bar codes(条形码) on food. It is a free app that(use) on mobile phones. It can tell users what is in(they) food, with simple information about calories, sugar, salt and fat.
What great apps can you think of that would improve your life?
