—The purple one.
—She's my aunt Martha.
— Sorry, Mum. I won't.
— I'm not sure. You can check it online.
It was the school's Talent Show, and it was the first time for Abby to perform with The Racket. Abby had got used to singing with the group and she no longer felt at all 1 during practices, but the idea of 2 on the stage (舞台) was making her head hurt. They had spent the last month working hard to 3 the songs, so that they could put up a pretty good show, and everyone was confident at their final practice.
Abby sat backstage and saw her bandmates hopping around and high-fiving each other. She couldn't tell if they were just excited or trying to work out their nerves, but Abby knew how she felt: frightened. She kept 4 walking onstage, opening her mouth to sing, but nothing would come out.
Headmaster Gruber announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, let's welcome The Racket!" As the band members headed out onstage, Abby's legs moved and carried her over to the microphone, but her mind seemed to be flying somewhere nearby. And before she even knew it, the first song was halfway done. It all came 5 All of the practice was paying off. Abby knew the songs so well, she really didn't have to think much about what she was doing. Suddenly she realized that she was 6 the moment. She just carried on like the audience (观众) wasn't really there, and it was no different than being at practice.
The highlight of the performance came during the song written by the band —"Let's make a racket!" At the end, the audience jumped to their feet and sang with 7.
As The Racket ran offstage, Headmaster Gruber smiled at them and said, " I have a feeling I know who's going to take the prize for Audience Favorite this year."
Abby wasn't too worried about the prize, though. She knew she had already got something even better: the 8 to perform.
Thinking about going camping? You might want to try one of these campsites!
Le Val de Cantobre,Aveyron(France)
France's number-one campsite is in the Grands Causses Regional Park. There's a swimming pool, a river and a pizza restaurant all on-site. The scenery around the park is beautiful and great for walking. A day here will cost you about €45.
Three Cliffs Bay, Gower (Wales)
The Three Cliffs Bay is in a beautiful part of the country, and it won't cost you much either: a tent (帐篷) is about €28 a day. There's a shop and some restaurants nearby. You can water-ski from the beach, or go walking along the Gower Way.
Playa Montroig Camping Resort, Tarragonna (Spain)
This Spanish campsite is great for a family trip, with prices starting from about €20 a night. You'll be able to enjoy the beach by day, and learn about historic Tarragonna in the evenings. The site has restaurants and also offers lots of activities for adults and children.
Four Seasons Tented Camp, Golden Triangle (Thailand)
This must be one of the most expensive campsites in the world. Instead of tents, there are" canvas cabins" (帆布小屋）. Plus, there's a nice restaurant, a spa and a pool. There are only 15 cabins so you'll have to book early. You can only reach the camp by river boat, but once there you can learn to ride an elephant. One night here will cost you about €50!
Have fun and we hope it doesn't rain!
Dean felt his arms and legs were burning. With each breath, Dean wondered if he should be done, but as he touched the wall at the end of the pool he turned for another lap (圈). "I can do one more. This is for Kevin," Dean told himself. He was starting his seventh lap.
Dean and the other members of his swim team were swimming to raise money for Dean's best friend, Kevin Hawking. Earlier in the year, Kevin fell ill. He needed expensive medical care that his family couldn't afford. After Kevin's friends learned what was happening, they started brainstorming ways to help. Several of Kevin's friends were on the swim team, which led to the idea of swimming.
For a month, Dean and the other swim team members had asked for pledges (承诺) from anyone who would help: family members, friends, and neighbours. Most people pledged a dollar or two each lap. Dean's grandmother said she would offer $ 10 for each lap Dean swam!
Finally, as Dean completed his tenth lap, he knew he was too tired to keep going. If I try another lap. I'll end up lying in the middle of the pool, waiting for someone to come and get me, he thought. Dean pulled himself up onto the edge of the pool and sat breathing quickly for a couple of minutes, quietly resting before he tried to stand.
Dean's father came over and said, "Wow, Dean," shaking his head in amazement, "I am so proud of you. That's farther than anyone else has swum today, and I know it's farther than you've ever swum before."
Dean stood up and slowly walked with his father back to the seats where the other swimmers sat next to Kevin. "Thank you," Kevin said.
"It's no big deal. I know you'd do the same for me," Dean said.
Art and science may seem like polar opposites. One involves the creative ideas? and the other cold? hard numbers — or some people believe so. In fact, both require a lot of creativity. People also use both to better understand the world around us. Now? a study finds art also can help students remember better what they have learned in science class.
Mariale Hardiman is an education expert at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. Back when she was a school headmaster, she had noticed students seemed to remember more of what they had been taught when their lessons had involved art. To test whether and how well art might really improve learning, Hardiman teamed up with other researchers and six local schools.
The researchers created art-focused versions (版本) of traditional science lessons. In a traditional science classroom, students might read aloud from a book. In the art-focused class, they might sing the information instead. Each student in the experiment had both an art-focused class and a traditional one.
Before and after each period of the experiment, students took tests. They took a third one 10 weeks later. This one tested how well they still remembered what they learned two months earlier. The team also looked at each student's performance in a reading test. This let them compare how art and non-art classrooms influenced students with different learning abilities.
Students who read at or above their grade level did just as well in both types of classes. Those who had lower reading abilities got much more of the science if it had been taught in an art-focused class.
Hardiman says some kids actually performed best in the third test months later. And classroom teachers reported “many students continued to sing the songs they learned in an art-focused class after finishing the unit."
Students who started in traditional classes performed better after they moved into an art-focused class. But those who started in an art-focused class did well even when they went back to a traditional class. "Some continued to draw or sing to help them remember information, Hardiman notes." This suggests that the arts may help students use creative ways of learning on their own."
Everyone benefits from the arts, Hardiman agrees. "All educators should learn how to use the arts as an instructional tool to improve learning."
I'm a big fan of awful first drafts (草稿). All of my writing starts with a bad first draft with grammatical mistakes and half-finished sentences. No one else sees those drafts. I tear up (撕毁) that awful first draft and start again — and that's when things start to click. That's when sentences become complete, when ideas make sense, and when the real work gets done.
Too often, when it comes to self-improvement, we create idealized plans with unnatural rules. We suppose that we will stick to our plans. Monday might be leg day in the gym, but if your kid falls off the bike and needs stitches (缝针), your carefully made eight-week exercise plan isn't going to get a look.
Every plan starts off like an awful first draft. You make stupid mistakes, things you thought were a great idea turn out to be dead ends, and at the end you just need to start again.
When a plan fails, the solution (解决办法) isn't to give it up and try a new one next time. It's to build on what worked, cut what didn't and start straight away on a much-improved second draft. Trying to run three miles every day while eating nothing but vegetables might be a terrible idea—but running a few days a week isn't.
The benefit of an awful first draft is to use it to get everything down on the page. It doesn't matter whether you think it's good or bad, you're trying out different things to find out what works and, more importantly, what doesn't. You have to read over your first draft and make changes to write the second. The second draft is where you build on the strong points and cut the weak ones.
Sara loved running outside but hated the indoor strength training in her fitness program. How could she make changes to write the second draft? She looked back and saw which part she found fun and easy to stick with and which went wrong. By building on what worked for her, she slowly developed a health plan she could stick with.
If your second draft doesn't work out quite as planned, you tear it up and write a third. And, if needed, a fourth. But if you build on what's good and cut the rest, finally you will have something that works.
International Mother LanguageDay
A language is much more than just a way ofcommunicating, Language, and especially our mother language, is an importantpart of our culture. There are about 6, 500 languages in the world, but did youknow that a language disappears and dies every two weeks?
In 1999, a special day to celebrate andprotect all the languages of the world was created: International MotherLanguage Day, It is on 21 February. The idea for this special day came fromBangladesh, a country in South Asia, and 21 February is also the day whenBangladeshis mark the day that the Bangla language was officially (官方) accepted. Bangladeshis celebrate the day by holding competitionsand singing songs.
Every year, UNESCO (联合国教科文组织) chooses a different theme (主题) and holdsdifferent events. For example, in 2005, there was a focus on Braille and signlanguages, and in 2017, a focus on how multilingual (多语言的) education could help the world to have a better future. Manycountries have also set up special projects to mark this day. For example, in2014, the Indian government provided digital (数字的) learningmaterials for schools and colleges in the 22 most widely spoken Indianlanguages. It is said that there are around 750 languages in India, and, sadly,that around 250 more languages have been lost in the last 50 years.
The Director General of UNESCO, AudreyAzouley, pointed out in a recent speech on International Mother Language Daythat mother languages "shape millions of developing young minds". Shebelieves that children learn best in their mother language, and that it isimportant that children should have this opportunity. Around the world, 40% ofthe population can't be able to learn in a language they can understand orspeak.
At least 43% of all languages are at risk,and fewer than 100 of the world's languages are used in the digital world. MostInternet communication is in one of the following languages: English, Chinese,Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, Indonesian, Malayan, Japanese, Russian and German.But everyone has the right to use their own mother language, and to keep thememories, traditions and ways of thinking that their language represents. Andthis is what International Mother Language Day is all about.
题目①
假如你是李华，是你校学生英语俱乐部的负责人。俱乐部要举办一次关于如何学好英语的微讲座（micro lecture）。请你给你校外教Peter发一封邮件，邀请他录制微讲座，向他说明举办本次讲座活动的目的，你建议讲座谈论的内容以及发送讲座视频给你的时间。
提示词语:difficult, make progress, advice, remember new words, reading
提示问题: Why do you hold this activity?
What do you advise Peter to talk about in the lecture?
When would you like Peter to send you the video?
|
Dear Peter, I'm writing to invite you to record a micro lecture on hoe to learn English well. Thank you! If there is anything more that you want to know, please tell me. Yours, Li Hua |
题目②
初中三年的学校生活即将成为美好的回忆。回首三年时光，你有哪些收获？即将毕业，你有什么感受?
假如你是李华，你校英文校刊邀请你写一篇短文谈谈毕业之际的感想，内容包括你三年学校生活的收获以及你即将毕业的感受。
提示词语:knowledge, friend, memory, happy
提示问题:
What have you got during the past three years?
How do you feel upon graduation?
