Our heavy lesson
When my brother and I were children, we spent a few weeks each summer in the countryside with our uncle. He was a geologist and loved to go on long walks to find stones to add to his 1 at the university. More often than not, we 2 him.
One day, we left early, and this time, our uncle had brought us 3. "You can help me carry the 4," he explained.
Sure, why not? The whole day, we walked around the countryside, and every now and then, our uncle put stones in our bags. We were a bit surprised that he also took some stones out from our bags 5, but 6 he had just found better samples (样品) than the ones we already had.
Still, when we reached the house in the late afternoon, we were 7. The backpacks were so heavy we gave a big sigh of 8 when we put them on the ground. 9 our uncle's backpack was half-empty.
"Why did you give us so 10 stones?" we asked.
"I didn't. You did," he said, waiting for a while before 11. "You did not know it, but I made you 12 a little attitude test today."
"What do you mean an ‘attitude test'?" we wanted to know.
"It is something someone once did to me – and I shall always remember it. You see, I 13 to every word you said. And whenever you 14 about anyone or anything, I added a stone to your bags. And whenever you talked about something with an attitude of 15 and positive thinking, I took out a stone. And now look at your backpacks."
We did. They were full.
"I hope you remember this little attitude test. You see, your 16 thoughts are like stones. You carry them in your mind just like those stones in a backpack. The more negative thoughts you have, the 17 your mind is. A positive thought, however, 18 a negative one. So look at those bags and start paying attention to what you say and how you say things."
This little lesson was one of the most important I 19 had. And I remember my uncle with great love for teaching us one of the most important lessons in life – the 20 of attitude
Set goals for the future
When someone asks me what my goals are for the coming year, I don't usually know how to reply. Of course I, as most people do, want to see an improvement in my grades. This year, however, I'm hoping for something different.
Through the course of my school life, I've gradually developed a new understanding of the word "prioritization (优先次序)". The first thing I wish to get in Senior 1 is the ability to manage my time better. I'll surely become busier with the coming semester, and proper organization is important. From school clubs to academic competitions, everything should be set up in a way that doesn't influence my health, which leads me to my second goal.
My mother has always told me to put my health first, so in the future, I hope to be both physically and mentally (精神上) healthy. A person can't study without having the energy to do so. In order to stay energetic, they must put their health first, no matter how busy they are, or how much work they have to complete.
And finally, I hope that I won't be discouraged by my failures and never give up on my dreams. I hope that I'll have the courage to try new activities and clubs. I believe my final goal can apply to every student around the world. We should all respect one another's likes and dislikes, and focus on each other's strengths, not our weaknesses. Everyone should strive to take part in all of life's opportunities.
Albert Einstein once said, "Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance (平衡), you must keep moving." In my case, it's the other way around. In order to keep moving, I must keep my balance – the balance between studies and activities, efficiency and procrastination (拖延症), academics and health, passions and dislikes. The new journey is going to be a hard one, but if I establish these goals, I believe I will make it through to the end.
A year ago, I paid no attention to English idioms, though my teacher stressed the importance again and again. But soon, the importance of English idioms was shown in an amusing experience.
One day, I happened to meet an Englishman on the road, and soon we began to talk. As I was talking about how I was studying English, the foreigner seemed to be astonished. Gently shaking his head, shrugging his shoulders, he said, "You don't say!" "You don't say!" I was puzzled. I thought, perhaps this is not an appropriate topic. "Well, I'd better change the topic." So I said to him, "Well, shall we talk about the Great Wall? By the way, have you ever been there?" "Certainly, everyone back home will laugh at me if I leave China without seeing it. It is magnificent." He was deep in thought when I began to talk like a tourist guide, "The Great Wall is one of the wonders in the world. We are very proud of it." Soon I was interrupted again by his words, "You don't say!" I couldn't help asking, "Why do you ask me not to talk about it?" "Well, I didn't request you to do so," he answered, greatly surprised. I said, "Didn't you say ‘You don't say!'?" Hearing this, the Englishman laughed to tears. He began to explain, " 'You don't say!' actually means 'Really!' It is an expression of surprise. Perhaps you don't pay attention to English idioms." Only then did I realize I had made a fool of myself. Since then I have been more careful with idiomatic expressions.
"Snowplow(扫雪机) parenting" is the newest parenting style that can include parents booking their adult children haircuts, calling their college kids to wake them up so that they don't sleep through a test, and even calling their kids' employers.
"'Helicopter (直升机) parenting' means monitoring their kids' every activity, which is out of date." Claire Cain Miller and Jonah Engel Bromwich wrote in The New York Times. "Some rich mothers and fathers now are more like snowplows: clearing any problems in their children's path to success so that they don't have to meet failure or lose opportunities."
There is a mother who started a charity in her son's name to try to raise his chances of being accepted to the college. Another parents spent years helping their daughter avoid foods with sauce, which she didn't like. Once she got to college, she had problems with the food in her school because it was all covered in sauce.
A survey says that three-quarters of parents of children between the ages of 18 and 28 ask for doctor visits or haircuts for their children, and 11% say they would call their kids' bosses whether their children are having an issue at work.
As reported, wealthy parents try to get their children into top colleges by giving a large amount of money to a school, such as paying for a building. This parenting has become the most popular way to raise children, whatever the income, education, or race is.
Julie, a teacher at Stanford, told the Times that "snowplow parenting" is not a reasonable approach. "The parents should prepare the kid for the road, instead of preparing the road for the kid," she said.
High school student Gabriella MacAdam already has a lot on her plate.
A senior at San Juan Hills High School in the US, MacAdam is senior class president, vice-president of the school's National Honor Society, and captain of the volleyball team.
But twice a month, MacAdam heads to the Oak Knoll Clubhouse to attend meetings of the Teen Leadership Council (TLC), a volunteer program that gives students the chance to work on leadership skills while contributing to events and activities. "We're trying to inspire other teens to get involved ... not only for our generation, but for future teenagers," she said. "It's never too early to start learning to be a leader."
MacAdam is one of 26 middle school and high school students in the group, which was formed in 2010. Its activities range from Teen Movie Nights to setting up booths at public events, such as the Harvest Festival. The purpose of the group is not only to allow teenagers to have a say in the shape of the community, but to mold (塑造) them into young leaders. "The thought was to have a good, positive place for teens to get together, to learn these basic leadership skills, to send them out to the community and to be our future leaders," said Tamara Bush, an adviser for TLC.
In the group, everyone gets a chance to present their ideas, and everyone gets a voice and a chance to vote. MacAdam said that inclusiveness (包容) helps boost (增强) the confidence of individual members. "It's really made a positive difference in people," she said. "Everyone is getting involved. They aren't afraid to volunteer or speak their minds."
MacAdam waited for her chance to join TLC after watching her older sister volunteer on the council. Others, like San Juan Hills student Anya Searle, joined because they enjoy the extra responsibility. "We didn't have that many responsibilities and we wanted to act older than we really were," Searle joked. MacAdam said being on the council has helped her manage all the different activities in which she participates. She plans to study communications in college and recently had an interview with USC.
"I feel I'm more prepared to go into that industry knowing how to communicate with people and get things done in a time-management order," she said. "It's taught me how to work with a diverse group of people and manage things well."
When I arrived in Britain, I could hardly order food in English. Two years later, I calmly explained the
Chinese grammar to a British friend in English. .
Pay special attention to the basic words
Not all words are of the same importance. Some are far more important than the others. Studies have shown that the most common 300 words in any language account for about 60% of the communication. The most common 1,000 words account for more than 90% of the communication. The most basic 3,000 words account for more than 95% of the communication. .
Study hours a day for a certain period of time
Studying five hours a day for two months will be better for you than studying five hours a week for two years. . Repeating in time is very important for our memory. This is one reason why so many students find it so easy to forget.
As with anything, if you're going to stick to it, you have to make it interesting. Don't just sit in a classroom in front of a book, or you're likely to get tired quickly. Go to events where you can practice while doing something fun instead. . Find out about the person you're talking with. Talk about personal topics which you care about. Make it a personal life experience, or else you're going to be bored and forget everything you have talked.
A. Find ways to make it fun
B. Look for people you enjoy talking to
C. The first 300 words will get you quite far
D. I'd like to share the tips I've discovered over the past two years
E. In other words, we should spend most of our time on the basic vocabulary
F. Make meaningful simple sentences with the most common 300 words
G. It's because if you study five hours per week you cannot repeat in time
Keeping a diary in English is one of the effective ways (improve) our English writing ability. Compared with other forms of writing, it is shorter and (take)less time. It can help us to develop the habit of thinking in English. we keep practicing, gradually we'll learn how to express ourselves in English. In keeping a diary in English, we (certain) run up against many (difficult). In the first place, often happens that we have trouble (find) suitable words and phrases to give expression to our mind. Secondly, there are many idiomatic ways of saying things in Chinese. And it is extremely hard for us to put them into English properly.
As far as I am concerned, my (suggest) is that we should always have a notebook and a Chinese-English dictionary within easy reach. Whenever something beats us, we can first put it down in our notebook and then look it up in our dictionary. We can also turn our English teacher for help, if necessary. In short, I believe that it is of great use to keep a diary in English for development of our writing skills.
Yesterday, we went to Fred's birthday party. After all the dishes were served, he told us that he had bigger fish to fry.
Note: Having bigger fish to fry in English means having something more important to do.
可参考使用短语： express one's wishes to sb; present sb with sth;expect sb to do sth; explain to sb that
