Nobody says school is easy. Studying is difficult, as is memorizing information for a test. Fortunately, there are books that can help you to make dealing with school easier.
Unlimited Memory by Kevin Horsley
This book is a bestseller in memory improvement. It has strategies to help learn faster and become more productive. Of course, having a good memory comes in handy outside of the classroom as well. Really, this is a great book for life in general.
On Course by Skip Downing
It is another book worth reading. In its eighth edition, the book provides self-assessment tools to help identify what is needed to change for academic success. It contains guided journal entries to help readers with responsibility, self-management, self-awareness, learning and self-esteem.
Student's Guide to Writing College Papers by Kate L. Turabian
Many students reach college and find that essay writing in college is very different from that in high school. Whether this is the case or not, Student's Guide to Writing College Papers is a perfect choice for those who want to improve writing skills. It's available on Kindle or in hardback or paperback forms. Right now, this one is its fourth edition. The book covers writing actual paper, citing sources, and style.
How to Become a Straight-A Student by Cal Newport
The book came out in 2006. It enjoys great popularity among learners all over the world. The book deals with different approaches and strategies to help achieve good academic performance but spend less time on studying, with a focus on studying smarter, not harder. It's available on Kindle and in audio book and paperback forms.
One beautiful day, I showed up for work, where I had just been promoted. I was right in the middle of training a new girl, when my boss asked to talk to me for a second. After that conversation, you can effectively cross "had a good job" off my comfortable living checklist. No warning. In fact, just the month before I had received my fifth Employee of the Month award. I was speechless and so was everyone else. Seven of us were cut from my department that day. Later, I would discover that there were thousands of cuts companywide. I worked at a bank. A failing one.
When something like this happens to you, it's natural to ask why. I reviewed all my work accomplishments. I thought about how I had been a top performer every month since I was hired and about how they gave me the highest rating on my review. What had I done wrong? What could I have done better?
The truth is that sometimes we search for a logical explanation in a situation that can't be understood. The only way to move past it is to have confidence in the job you did as an employee and understand that you are a victim of an unfortunate circumstance.
Speaking of writing, with all of the extra time on my hands, I reunited with the long lost love of my life: writing.
I decided to pursue writing as an actual job. I designed a website and applied for writing jobs. I started getting more and more clients. It occurred to me that with some hard work I might be able to make a living doing what I love. So there I was, three months after the sky fell, thinking about how incredibly blessed I was. And this would never have happened had I not lost something in the first place.
Could looking through trees be the view to a greener future? Trees replacing the clear glass in your windows is not a work of science fiction. It's happening now.
Forest Products Laboratory researcher Junyong Zhu together with colleagues from the University of Maryland and University of Colorado has developed a transparent wood material that may be the window of tomorrow. Researchers found that transparent wood has the potential to outperform glass currently used in construction in nearly every way.
While glass is the most common material used in window construction, it comes with quite a few bad consequences. Heat easily transfers through glass and amounts to higher energy bills when it escapes during cold weather and pours in when it's warm. Glass production used for construction also comes with a heavy carbon footprint. Manufacturing emissions alone are approximately 25,000 metric tons per year, without considering the heavy footprint of transporting the glass.
The innovation was developed using wood from the balsa tree, which is native to South and Central America. The team treated balsa wood to an oxidizing bath, where the wood is kept in a bleach solution at room temperature to remove the light-absorbing substance from the structure. The wood is then penetrated（注入）with a synthetic polymer called polyvinyl alcohol（PVA）, creating a product that is virtually transparent. So the transparent wood is created, which is far more durable and lighter than glass.
Switching to transparent wood could prove to be cost efficient as well. It is approximately five times more thermally efficient than glass. cutting energy costs. It is made from a sustainable, renewable resource with low carbon emissions.
With all of these potential benefits for consumers, manufacturing and the environment, the case for transparent wood couldn't be clearer.
Visual language is a form of communication that uses visual elements (元素) as opposed to formal written language to convey meaning or an idea. Graphicacy, the ability to communicate visually, is considered as important as literacy and numeracy, the abilities to read and count. Some people are visual thinkers, using that part of the brain that is emotional and creative to process and give meaning to information. Visual communication can find expression in paintings, drawings, symbols, or simply lines and shapes arranged for a specific effect.
Art is an example of visual language. A painting or sculpture can convey ideas or arouse specific kinds of emotional responses. It may also express ideas about historical events, abstract concepts, or simply be about the way certain shapes or forms "work" together or create a certain effect on the mind. Some researchers believe that different parts of the brain respond in unique ways to colors and shapes.
Pictograms (象形文字) and ideograms (表意文字) are types of visual language. Pictograms are pictures that are similar to what they represent. They are still used today to communicate information. Many people around the world are familiar with the pictograms indicating such things as airports, public facilities, and non-smoking areas indicated by a cigarette in a circle with a line across it. Ideograms are pictures that represent ideas and can often be understood without the aid of written language. Some scholars track modern alphabets to pictures. Letters are actually ancient pictures, and words are a series of pictures. Modern alphabet letters are not only phonetic (语音的) symbols but are based on ancient religious images and symbols.
Musivisual communication is also a part of visual language. The term refers to music created specifically to improve the visual experience of film. It corresponds to the images being seen on the screen, and the music arouses a sense of terror, fear, or other emotions. Most movie goers understand the language of musical clues showing that something dramatic or important is about to happen.
On May 7, 2008, three men robbed a bank in a city called Waldorf of Maryland in the USA. They drove away in a van with a bag of money. They thought they had escaped. But the bank had put a pack of chemicals in the money bag, and the pack exploded. Soon afterward, the police arrested one of the robbers. How did the police find him so quickly? DNA from the robbers' blood was found on the bag of money.
DNA consists of genetic material that is found everywhere in our body, such as in our blood, skin, and saliva. It is our genetic fingerprint. All people have similar DNA, but no two people have the exact same DNA.
The testing works like this: After a crime occurs, the police collect evidence from a crime scene. Some of this evidence may be DNA samples, such as hairs or blood. The database is computerized, and it has millions of DNA samples in it. These DNA fingerprints are taken from people all over the country who have been arrested or convicted of crimes. If the DNA in the evidence matches someone's DNA fingerprint, that person is probably guilty of the crime. But if the evidence does not match, the person is probably innocent.
If DNA evidence is not collected or stored properly, for example, the tests may give wrong results. But it is still more reliable than other types of evidence. Witnesses may identify the wrong person. Lawyers, jurors, judges, and the police can make mistakes. DNA testing is usually accurate.
A. DNA testing is not perfect.
B. The police then set up a DNA database in the country.
C. The robbers dropped the bag, got out of the van, and ran away.
D. The robbers didn't think the chemicals were anything dangerous.
E. How is DNA used to identify a criminal when a crime has been committed?
F. The police then compare this DNA to DNA samples from an official database.
G. It is the best way we have to prove that someone is guilty or innocent of a crime.
"WELCOME TO HELL, LADIES!" says Mr. Smith, the 1 of the adult ballet class. I force a smile as he presses down on my stiff back, attempting to be a little more 2.
When I was a little girl, I 3 elegantly dancing across the stage like the Swan Princess. With several reasons, my hopes of taking ballet lessons were killed. But every so often, usually while watching a brilliant performance of Swan Lake, those little4 of unfulfilled desire would speak up and say that I should take lessons before it's too late.
And here I am – more than 50 years – finally 5 for it.
I'm an absolute 6 , but 30 years older than the rest of the participants in the adult class. We are practising "port de bras," a ballet term for the 7 of the arms. I flutter(挥动) my arms, awakening my inner 8,"Your hands, they look like claws of a chicken," Mr. Smith 9 ,"No one wants to look at that. It's ugly."He points his finger at various body parts while 10 giving feedback, "Head up. neck long, chest proud, stomach in, back straight, bottom tight." Every time he looks at me, I instantly know that I've missed something. So I take note of every previous adjustment to gain his approval.
After a few sessions, I find myself looking forward to taking ballet classes with a mix of anxiety and excitement. Between classes, I 11 my posture in every window I pass. I'm 12. My hands are less claw-like and my posture a little more straight. And I constantly imagine I'm on stage, holding the audience entirely in my 13.
Learning ballet as an adult has been a much bigger 14 than I expected, but I'm glad that I 15and that ballet still appeals to me as it did when I was a little girl.
I (edit) a photo caption when I saw the phrase "Smith said his kids favorite part of the event was the snow cone truck." I walked over to student photographer who wrote the caption and asked whether Mr. Smith had one child or many.
The photographer wanted to know why. The word "kid" needed an apostrophe, I replied, and where I put that punctuation mark would change the size of Mr. Smith's family.
"Wow," the photographer said. "One punctuation mark can make a big (differ)."
This exchange isn't made up. And the fact that it happened in the same month as National Punctuation Day—which is Sept. 24— (emphasize) the importance of proper use of punctuation.
For National Punctuation Day, my goal is (promote) proper use of commas, semicolons and so on my good example. I will use punctuation in all text (message), never leaving out periods on Twitter.
Jeff Rubin, who founded National Punctuation Day in 2004, wrote that he started National Punctuation Day because of concern about (decline) language skills. He noted that almost 60 percent of incoming college freshmen needed remedial(补救的) English classes (urgent).
Information like that is our anger should be focused. So classroom is a great place to celebrate National Punctuation Day.
要求：文章必须包括描述和评论两部分；
注意：1）词数 80左右；
2）可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
This past summer, I joined my sister's family for their annual Adirondack vacation in a rented cottage on a lake, the same place my family has stayed since I was a little kid. There are plenty of activities to keep everyone busy: swimming, fishing and sand castle building on the beach.
By the third day, I had noticed that my ten-year-old niece, Jannie, had spent most of her time watching cable TV and browsing through the gift shops in town. Not exactly the wilderness experience I remembered from my youth. So, at dinner, I told Jannie we should hike to the top of the mountain across the lake the following morning, which was called Rocky Point because the peak is bare and rock-covered.
"Well." replied Jannie, "Tomorrow there are some shows on the Disney Channel, so I'm going to be pretty busy."
"When your mother and I used to come here when we were your age, we were too busy swimming and hiking up mountains."
"Sounds more like punishment than a vacation." She shrugged her shoulders. "Besides, I don't think I can walk that far."
When I said it only took a half-hour of steady walking to get to the top. She grumbled, "Fine, I'll go." I knew she was agreeing just to shut me up, but I would take anything I could get.
The next morning was a perfect day for a hike, with sunshine and clear skies. I got up early and took some sandwiches and water bottles, which I tucked into my backpack along with the bug spray and the camera.
Jannie came shuffling downstairs, sighed dramatically, rolled her eyes and announced in a very unenthusiastic, robot-like voice. "I'm ready to go hiking, Uncle David." Anyway, we climbed into my car and drove to the trailhead about ten minutes away. As we stood at the edge of the parking lot and looked down the shaded trail that led into the woods. "I am still not sure this is a good idea, but if you and Mom could do it, I can too, I guess."
注意：
1）续写词数应为150左右；
2）请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph l:
For the moment she was determined to start our journey.
Paragraph 2:
A while later we did it to the top.
