As my husband, Doug, stood on the busy New York city street trying to stop a taxi, I tried to protect my daughter from the cold December wind and rain. I put my head down to kiss her tiny face.
Frustrated and1, my husband gave up his try to flag down a taxi. I knew the feeling. Just after her first birthday, we2that our daughter Katie had a rare(罕见的) brain illness. Since that moment, Doug and I felt like runners in a marathon race where the finish line kept disappearing. We knew Katie was running out of3. It had taken months before we finally 4 a name for the illness, but only a few doctors in the world knew 5 to treat it. Now, as we finally found a brilliant doctor to save our girl, we were in a strange6in the cold rain.
Just at the moment, a middle-aged woman pulled over and said, "Pardon me? May I offer you a ride?"
7we could say anything, she continued, "It's really no trouble for8. Just get in."
It was then that I noticed her thick Irish accent(口音), which9 me up like hot soup. We 10said, "Thanks! Roosevelt Hospital, please, "as we got in her car for the ride.
"Are you going11the baby?" she asked us.
I nodded my head, holding back my tears.
At the hospital, we12 her a dozen times for the ride, as the woman hugged me. I noticed her face was wet with tears. She promised to pray for(为……祈祷)us before she left.
After three more visits to New York and two more13operations,Katie is cured. But the14of the Irish Angel still rang as a reminder of a tiny ray of light that appeared in our15days. We would pray for her just as she did for us.
Li Ping and her family are going to spend holiday in Sydney during the summer holiday. She finds a hotel on Airbnb and this is the reply from the manager.
From: Charlotte, hotel manager of Vinh& Stuart |
Hi Li Ping, Thanks for choosing our hotel. Your Sydney Home: Amazing views of the Sydney Harbour, Opera House, and White Bay Only 5 minutes to walk to Art Gallery, Australian Museum and 10 minutes to Bondi Beach Close to the Airport & all public transport like bus and train Surrounded by busy cafes and popular restaurants Free wifi throughout the entire hotel Fully air-conditioned Light Breakfast (cereals, fruits, toasts, teas & coffees) It is also important to mention the shopping malls and the most famous shops in the world that are close to my hotel. My hotel is ideal for those who look for sightseeing, for those who want to shop, for those who come to business or local events. Things you do need to know before you book: The location is great, but the Kings Cross area is busy on a Friday/Saturday night. While the hotel itself is quiet, and I doubt you might hear some noise from the street at night on the weekends. But I think the location is totally worth it. Bring enough clothes, we are now in winter. Please just send us a message if you've any question about staying with us or visiting Sydney. Can't wait to meet you! Cheers, Charlotte |
My father was German, but he worked in England. He married my mother, who was English. Her family name was Robinson, so when I was born in 1632 in England, they called me Robinson, after her.
My father did well in his business and I went to a good school. He wanted me to get a good job, and live a quiet, pleasant life. But I wanted adventure and an exciting life.
"I want to be a sailor and go to sea", I told my mother and father. They were very unhappy about this.
"Please don't go." my father said, "You won't be happy you know. Sailors have a difficult and dangerous life." And because I loved him, and he was unhappy, I tried to forget about the sea.
But I couldn't forget, and about a year later, I saw a friend in town. His father had a ship and my friend said to me, "We are sailing to London tomorrow. Why don't you go with us?"
On September 1, 1651, I went to Hull and the next day we sailed for London.
But, a few days later, there was a strong wind. The sea was rough and dangerous, and the ship went up and down, up and down. I was very ill, and was very afraid.
"Oh, I don't want to die!" I cried, "I want to live! If I live, I will go home and never go to sea again!"
The next day the wind stopped, and the sea was quiet and beautiful again.
"Well, Robinson," my friend laughed, "How do you feel now? The wind wasn't too bad."
"What!" I cried. "It was a terrible storm."
"Oh, that wasn't a storm," my friend answered, "Just a little wind. Forget it, come and have a drink."
After a few drinks with my friend, I felt better. I forgot about the danger, and made up my mind not to go home. I didn't want my friend and family to laugh at me!
I stayed in London for some time, but I still wanted to go to the sea. So, when the captain of a ship asked me to go with him to Guinea in Africa, I agreed. And so I went to the sea for the second time.
It was a good ship, and everything went well at first, but I was very ill again. Then when we were near the Canary Islands, a Turkish pirate (海盗) ship came after us. They were famous thieves of the sea at that time. There was a long, hard fight, but when it finished, we and the ship were prisoners. The Turkish captain and his men took us to Sallee in Morocco. They wanted to sell us as slaves (奴隶) in the market. But in the end, the Turkish captain decided to keep me for himself, and took me home with him. This was a sudden and terrible change in my life.
a. Robinson drank with his friend.
b. A long and hard fight happened.
c. The Turkish captain took Robinson home.
d. A captain asked Robinson to go with him to Guinea.
e. One of Robinson's friends invited him to sail to London.
When you write a text message or an email, you might put a smiling face or other pictures at the end to make the message more fun. These pictures are emojis. The first emojis were on Japanese mobile phones in the 1990s. Later, they were used on Apple's iPhone and Android phones. Now they are everywhere!
Before emojis, there were emoticons. The word is a mixture(混合) of emotion(感情) and icon(图标). Emoticons are made of the signs you can find on your keyboard, for example:) for a smiley or @};—for a rose. The first use of :-)was in 1982 and it was called "joke marker". Emoji is a Japanese word which means pictograph: e(picture) +moji (character). Emojis are real pictures, for example ,or . There are 1851emojis that can be used on mobile phones and other devices. There are all kinds of emojis, from faces and weather to things in the kitchen and animal.
In England, we have a saying: A picture paints a thousand words. For many people, an emoji is like a punctuation mark(标点). It's like the tone of voice when we speak on the phone, or hand movements(gestures) used in conversation. Emojis are also changing the way we write. The more we use emojis, the less we use slang(俚语), such as LOL or OMG.
When someone speaks and looks serious, we try to look serious, too, and when someone smiles, we smile as well. This is how we show empathy(同感) and make friends(and enemies!). But when we're online, we can't see the person's face and there's no emotion. The invention of emojis changed that! Scientists in Australia have discovered that when we look at a smiley face online, the same parts of the brain start working as when we look at a real smiley face. Our mood changes, and we try to change our face to match the emoji. This is something we learn as we get older. Our brains have developed this ability over the last two or three years. This means that emojis have created a new brain pattern(模式)in us!
To share is simply to let someone else have or use a part of something that belongs to you. It doesn't mean we're losing anything—because what's actually happening is that we're giving ourselves more of a chance to be sincere(真诚的), which in turn makes us feel better. Sharing also means that you are not alone because others have the similar experience with you. Here is a story about learning to share.
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful flower with beautiful colors: red, orange and yellow. The flower was very happy because everyone who saw it said it was beautiful. As time went by, she thought she was the most beautiful among all flowers. And she was very proud of her colors, but she didn't want others to enjoy them. She was worried that others would imitate her. In that case, she would not be the most beautiful in this area. So she only came out at night.
One day, it began to rain during sunrise and didn't stop until nightfall(黄昏). When the flower woke up in the evening, she opened her petals(花瓣) and realized that she had lost all colors. Now she was all white like the snow. What had happened? The flower was so sad that she couldn't stop crying.
Suddenly, a fairy(仙子)wearing a dress with a colorful magic stick appeared in front of her. "What's wrong with you? Why are you so sad?" she asked.
"I've lost my lovely colors. The rain in the day has washed them away completely," the flower cried.
"Don't worry. I can give them back to you, but under one condition…"
"Which one?" the flower asked.
"I want you to ▲ . I don't want to see that you just come out at night. You should share it with others."
Now everyone who passed by the flower would stop." This is the most beautiful flower I've seen!" many of them said. The flower was really happy because she understood that sharing good things with others was so wonderful.
follow sky silent lay nine |
Nancy is my sister. She was born on the (第十二) day of July. Last Saturday was her 18th birthday. She was excited that she wasn't a (孩子) any more. To celebrate her birthday, she had planned to take a (假期). However, she was afraid that there would be too many tourists during the vacation (季节). So she finally decided to go to a concert. Nancy had never been to a concert because our parents always told her that she couldn't do that (直到…才) she was 18. When she told our parents the plan that morning our mother was laying the table and our father was reading a book about how to make (演讲). They both agreed. I have two days (不上课). So I could stay with Nancy on her birthday. During the daytime we went to the city park and had great fun. After dinner, I helped my mother do the dishes. Then I went to the concert with Nancy. It was held at the (大的) stadium in our city in the evening. The stadium was (创建) in 2005. All kinds of concerts have taken place there since then. It's among the most popular places in our city. We enjoyed (我们自己) at the concert.
Hearing is very important to all of us. We can hear beautiful music, nice songs of birds, the laughter of people or other different (kind) of sounds in the world with our ears. How(wonder) it is to have a good hearing! So we must try to protect our ears. The following will tell you to protect your ears.
It's reported that (listen) to loud music a lot can be bad for years, especially when headphones (use). So turn them down when you are wearing headphone try not to wear them. You should let your ears have rest if you really like wearing them. If you're going to a concert, wear earplugs to protect your ears the terrible music. In fact, earplugs are special can be made for you if you go to concerts a lot or if you're a musician yourself. If your ears hurt, it's necessary (see) a doctor. Follow the advice above and you won't be saying, "What?" when you are getting old.
Itinerary(行程)of Overseas Study in the USA |
||
Group Members |
22 students (10 girl students and 12 boy students) 2 teachers (Cathy and Doris) |
|
Day |
Dates |
Itinerary |
Day 1 |
August 15 |
Shanghai → New York China Air Flight MU 297 Departure(出发):19:00;Arrival(抵达):22:15 (New York time) |
Days 2-9 |
August 16-23 |
Study in Harrison Middle School English courses: Spoken English, English writing Home stay: Stay for 7 nights at the local students' homes |
Days 10-12 |
August 24-26 |
Tour cities: New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco |
Day 13 |
August 27 |
San Francisco → Shanghai China Air Flight MU 584 Departure: 01:00;Arrival:07:05+1(the next day) |
Hello, everyone. I'd like to have a brief introduction to the overseas study group. There will be group members visiting the USA. We will start our journey at 19:00 on August 15 from Shanghai and will arrive in at 22:15. From August 16 through 23 we'll in Harrison Middle School. As for the nights, we'll stay at the local students' homes so that we'll have more time to practice our English. After that, we'll tour some large and the last stop is San Francisco. On August 27, we'll fly back to our homeland, and we will enjoy parents' warm hugs the next day.
注意:1)发言稿中必须包含卡片上的信息,并适当发挥;
2)文中不得出现真实姓名、学校等信息;
3)词数80~100;
4)文章的开头和结尾已给出,不计入总词数。
Ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome to the Chinese culture tour.
That's all. Thanks for listening.