Rahanna Bisseret Martinez is a 13-year-old chef(厨师) from Cambridge, UN. Early this year, she took part in "Top Chef Junior", a cooking competition show for 12 chefs, ages 11 to 14, from all over England. Rahanna finished second in the competition. Here is an interview with her.
Reporter: How did you get into cooking?
Rahanna: My earliest memories are of being in the kitchen and cooking. But I started working on recipes (食谱) at 10 years old.
Reporter: What is your favourite recipe?
Rahanna: I like to cook everything. I really like to cook whatever I haven't cooked before.
Reporter: _______.
Rahanna: I'm better about making sure I have my ingredients (原料) in order. I' m able to work a lot faster in the kitchen.
Reporter: How did you get on the show?
Rahanna: I went to London for a boot camp (集训营). There were 20 to 25 children, and we all had little challenges (挑战) that we had to do, showing our skills. They whittled the group down each day and the top 12 got to go on the show.
Reporter: What's next for you?
Rahanna: I'll be looking for a part-time job in a restaurant kitchen. I'm also working on a book. It'll be more than just a cookbook, there'll be surprises too!
Kids in primary schools in Bellaire, Ohio, US have something to sing about. For the past several years, public primary schools in that town didn't offer music classes. They didn't have the money to pay for them. But now they have got the money to bring back music.
Many school officials (行政官员) across the US say music classes get students excited about going to school. Also, studies have shown that music classes may boost brainpower (促进脑力). For example, researchers from the University of Southern California did a study. They found that the brains of 10 and11-year-olds who learned to play a musical instrument developed faster than the brains of kids who didn't.
Though most people aren't opposed to teaching music in schools, not everyone says it's necessary. Many school teachers say that learning music means less time spent on maths, writing and science, all of which may be more useful to students later in life. Here's what two kids think.
Music should be taught in school for the simple reason that it makes learning more fun. We have music classes at my school, and I love them! In 2018, a research company called Grunwald Associates did a survey (调查) on music education. More than 60% of parents whose kids took music classes in school said their child is more focused (专注的).
Noah
At my school, we don't have music classes. I think that's OK because it gives us more time to focus on main subjects, like reading and maths. It's more important to learn these subjects than it is to learn how to play a musical instrument. If someone wants to take music classes, he or she can do it outside of school. I take piano classes after school, so it doesn't take time away from my other classes.
Sophia
Littering is a big problem in cities around the world. People know it does harm to the environment, but few do something for years to make a difference. However, "Butt Lady" sets an example to all.
The true name of "Butt Lady" is Sally Dawly. She lives in Auburn, a city in California, US. because she had spent most of her free time picking up cigarette butts (香烟头) from the streets of her city. After picking up one million cigarette butts in three and a half years, she has set a new goal for herself-two million cigarette butts.
Dawly got tired of going on her walks and seeing cigarette butts everywhere, so in 2014 she started to take action. Armed（装备）with a broom(扫帚), dustpan and a pair of tongs, the anti-littering activist walked down the streets in search of cigarette butts, picked them up and threw them in the trash can. To see how many butts she picks up, the Butt Lady has been using a counting device (装置). after picking up as many as 3,000 butts a day. She said she wanted to shout "Come on people. Don't throw your butts.."
Dawly knows it's not easy to completely solve her city's cigarette butt littering problem in no time, but she hopes her efforts will help smokers think twice before throwing away butts on the street. as she has got more and more supporters in the city.
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A. She sometimes felt really bad B. In fact, her efforts have paid off C. Better yet, stop smoking D. She was so great E. She got a nickname |
It's hard to believe that a beautiful silk dress comes from thousands of very little worms (虫子)called silkworms! It takes about 5,500 silkworms to make 2.2 pounds of silk. The process (工序) was 1 by the Chinese about 5,000 years ago.
2 is silk made? The process starts with silkworm
eggs. The eggs are collected and kept warm. After a few days 
silkworms come out of the eggs. They are3 leaves from mulberry trees every 30 minutes, all night and all day. The room 4 be kept warm, without loud noises or bad smells. After a month, they start to make cocoons (茧). After four days, the cocoons are 5 .
The cocoons are heated (加热), and the silkworms are killed inside them. Then the cocoons are put into water to make the silk loose (松散的). The silk6 three or four cocoons is put together and made into a thread (线). One cocoon can make a thread 1 kilometre long!7 , the silk threads are made into cloth, and the cloth is used for things like dresses, scarves and neckties.
Today, silk is produced in many 8 , including India and Thailand, but more than 80 percent of the world's silk comes from China. Every year, enough silk thread is 9 to go from the earth to the sun 300 times. People love silk clothes because they are beautiful and 10 --silk feels cool in warm weather and warm in cool weather. Now you know why silk is so expensive!
Today skateboarding is popular around the world. Many young people like the sport, and so (do) Marcelo Lusardi. However, the young man is quite different from many others -- he is a blind skateboarder.
Marcelo was born in Argentina, and now he lives in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. He used to live an easy life but everything changed when he went blind in 2015. He felt (hope), as he couldn't imagine living without sight (视力).(Luck), a friend of his (father) stepped in and helped him out. Thanks to her help, Marcelo was able (accept) his condition and started getting out more.
Marcelo went to the skate park he had often visited. At first, he thought skating was out of the question for a blind man like him. But his skateboarding friends (tell) him he was still one of them and he had to get back on the skateboard. They helped him learn to use his other senses except sight ( ride )the skateboard again and even try out some new tricks.
Looking back, Marcelo thought(lose) his sight helped him realize who he is and what he wants to do. “People sometimes have problems and think that's the end of the world, but in the end you can solve these problems. Look at me, I was skating, then I went blind, and now I (skate) again. Not as well as before, but I can still do it and leave people with their mouths (open).” So, remember: Everything has a solution in life.
Students generally find it difficult to prepare for a speaking test because they have nobody to practise (A) or correct their mistakes. But that doesn't mean you can't test yourself.
Whether you're taking an end-of-course
test or an official (官方 
) exam like PET or IELTS, there's one great tool you can use: your mobile phone. Nearly every smartphone these days has an inbuilt recording feature (内置录音功能) which you can use to test your speaking skills. You can record yourself speaking, play the recording back, and correct your own mistakes.
I practised this way in Italian. I chose some speaking questions from PET and did the exercise three times. The first time, I made a few grammar mistakes and didn't speak for long enough. The second time was a bit better, and the third time was nearly perfect.
All in all, I made a real improvement with my grammar, pronunciation and how long I spoke. Also, recording myself put me under the pressure (压力) I would experience during an important speaking test.
Many students found this method (B) . Nelia, from Brazil, said that she could hear her mistakes when she listened to her voice. She was mainly using the wrong verb tense (时态) and using prepositions(介词) incorrectly. When she tried the exercise again, she got its right! Donghyeon, from South Korea, said that the exercise helped him to improve his English skills in general.
（A） (B)
要点提示：
Advantages | Be convenient, less pollution, reduce the traffic pressure（减缓交通压力） Take exercise… |
Problems | Throw away, damage（毁损）, be stolen… |
Advice | Civilized（文明的）, follow the rules, take good care of… |
注意：
1）短文应包括以上要点，可适当发挥，以使行文连贯；
2）文中不得出现真实的人名、校名及地名；
3）词数：80-100（文章开头已给出，不计入总词数）。
Bike-sharing
Today, as a greener means of transportation, bike-sharing is becoming more and more popular in many cities.
