My First Day of School
Fear started taking over, I was walking into my first school in America. I had traveled a long distance from India in order to join my parents, who had been here for three years, hoping America would help my future. My father decided that I would be better off going to school here, so I enrolled(登记) in the local high school in my new town.
I was afraid how I would do. On the first day, I went to my second period class after I had missed my first. With anxiety, I reached for the door, opening it slowly. Without paying attention to my classmates, I went straight to the teacher and asked if this was the right class. With a soft voice he answered. "Yes." His voice comforted me a little. He gave me a sheet called Course Requirements, which I would never get in India because we didn't have anything like that. Then he asked me to choose where I would sit. I didn't actually want to pick a seat. In India we had fixed seats, so I never needed to worry about that. I spent the rest of the class taking notes from the image produced by the overhead projector. In Indian schools, we didn't use the technology we had. We had to take notes as the teacher spoke.
It was noon. I was very confused about when I would have lunch. I went to my next class and the bell rang as I entered. I went through the regular process of asking the teacher if I was in the right class. She said, "It's still fourth period."
"But the bell just rang," I said.
Changing from a gentle tone to a harsher(刺耳的) one, she said, "That is the lunch bell, young man."
I apologized. Without another word I headed for the cafeteria. I felt lucky because we didn't have this in India. Every confusion seemed like a barrier I had to get through to reach my goal. At the end of the day, I was on my way to the bus which we didn't have in India either. I spotted my bus and sat down inside happily. I was thinking, today wasn't so bad.
To most of us, school means classes, teachers, schedules, grades and tests. But for the children at Sudbury Valley School, Massachusetts, school is very different.
Firstly, there are no lessons. All the children, aged between 4 and 19, do whatever they want to. There are no teachers —only "staff members". The idea behind this is that you do not need to make children learn, because children want to learn anyway. "You do not need to say to a three-year-old, 'Go to explore your environment.' You can't stop them!" says Daniel Greenberg, a founder of the school. "But if you make children do what you want all day, they will lose all taste for learning."
At Sudbury Valley School, you will permit children to talk, read, paint, cook, work on computers, study French, play the piano, climb trees, or just run around. Two boys spent three years just fishing!
The other way that Sudbury Valley School is different is that the children can decide the rules. Every week, there is a school meeting where both children and staff have one vote each—even the four-year-olds. They decide the school rules, how to spend the school budget, and even which staff they want and do not want any more.
When the school first opened in 1968, people said it would never work. But today, the school has 200 students, and 80% of its students go on to college. Even the two boys who went fishing all the time have successful careers today. One of them is a musician and the other is a computer scientist.
Football is my favorite sport. I loved to watch it, but I had never played in a football game before I went to college. I lacked self-confidence and I doubted if I could do well in a team, which was why I hardly did sports in company with others. I just loved practicing playing football in the backyard of my house.
About one month after I went to college, one day some of my classmates said they'd play a football game with some players of another class. I really looked forward to it but never thought I'd join them to play. That day finally came and I went to watch with my classmates. However, just about ten minutes after the game started, one member of our football team got injured and could no longer play. The other members looked worried. Then one of them came to me and asked, "Can you play?" At first, I shook my head, but then I nodded. "Great! Come and play," he said. I followed him, having no idea at all what to do. To my joy, he asked me to play in defense (防守). Defense was my favorite because I found it more fun and less complicated (复杂的). Then the game began again. There weren't a lot of big kids on the offensive line (攻击线) of the other team and I suddenly gained some self-confidence. About five minutes later, the ball was kicked toward the guard. I thought it was a good opportunity for me. I quickly ran past the guard and got the ball. When the guard came to the offensive line, I kicked the ball. I scored and all my classmates cheered. You may not believe it, but I scored twice that time. The final score was 6-2 and we won. My teammates thought that I did very well and none of them believed I hadn't played in a game before.
That game really changed me. I am a really confident person now and often play football games with my teammates.
I work with Volunteers for Wildlife, a rescue and education organization at Bailey Arboretum in Locust Valley. Trying to help injured, displaced or sick creatures can be heartbreaking; survival is never certain. However, when it works, it is simply beautiful.
I got a rescue call from a woman in Muttontown. She had found a young owl(猫头鹰) on the ground. When I arrived, I saw a 2-to 3-week-old owl. It had already been placed in a carrier for safety.
I examined the chick(雏鸟) and it seemed fine. If I could locate the nest, I might have been able to put it back, but no luck. My next work was to construct a nest and anchor it in a tree.
The homeowner was very helpful. A wire basket was found. I put some pine branches into the basket to make this nest safe and comfortable. I placed the chick in the nest, and it quickly calmed down.
Now all that was needed were the parents, but they were absent. I gave the homeowner a recording of the hunger screams of owl chicks. These advertise the presence of chicks to adults; they might also encourage our chick to start calling as well. I gave the owner as much information as possible and headed home to see what news the night might bring.
A nervous night to be sure, but sometimes the spirits of nature smile on us all! The homeowner called to say that the parents had responded to the recordings. I drove over and saw the chick in the nest looking healthy and active. And it was accompanied in the nest by the greatest sight of all — LUNCH! The parents had done their duty and would probably continue to do so.
What to expect at high school
Are you super worried about what to expect at high school? Well, guess what? Everyone is! The following tips will help guide you safely through your first day!
► Understand that you'll be moving a lot.
Depending on the school you're at, there could be more subjects and you'll have more classrooms! Be ready to move around and remember what classrooms they are in.
► Understand the newness of high school.
There are usually more strict teachers and more classrooms! Don't worry.More friends and more freedom (hopefully)! There will be a lot of differences, so go along with it and don't feel nervous about the change.
►
Stay away from students who have higher grades than you! They're older and you will be an easy target (目标), so watch your back! If they do try to threaten (恐吓) you or anything, tell your parents or teachers to help you with it.
► Be prepared for the dining room.
Make sure you have friends to sit with, or you'll look lonely and feel lonely. Make some new friends to sit with.
► Remember to stay good in school.
You don't need an "A" for everything, but an "F" on everything is not good! Spend enough time on study and take notes during class.
A. One for every subject.
B. Put your books in order.
C. Know who to watch out for.
D. There are some advantages!
E. Try to eat healthily on your first day.
F. Try to make a good impression on the teachers.
G. Do your homework and make sure you study hard!
Finding Home
"I hate New Orleans! I wanna go home!" I 1 to my mother as we moved boxes. 2 , going home was not easy because my home was 1, 100 miles away.
I was born and 3 in northern Virginia. Virginia was my home, and I never expected that to 4 . In 2014, my family experienced a tragedy (悲剧), so my parents decided to move to my mom's hometown of New Orleans.
Only three months after my parents made the 5 to move, I found myself moving boxes into our new house. My announcement to my mother that I 6 the new environment was partly motivated by how hot it was, but it was mostly due to the fact that I felt like my entire life had been turned upside down. 1,100 miles away from everyone and everything I had ever known, I was 7 . To make matters worse, I was starting high school in two weeks. Beginning high school is a scary 8 on its own.
I spent my first few months in New Orleans, 9 wanting to go home to Virginia. But after a few months of missing home, I 10 that I had a choice. I could continue thinking about how much I missed my old home, 11 I could start trying to build a new home right here. I chose the latter.
As soon as I stopped giving all my 12 to how much I missed Virginia, I was able to begin accepting the love that people were already giving me. I joined some clubs at school, which gave me the chance to make friends. My neighbor taught me how to cook some New Orleans food, and I found a wonderful 13 of fellow cooks and neighbors. Overall, I seized every possible opportunity to 14 myself and to rebuild my life.
Because of my resilience (复原力) in creating a new home for myself and the 15 that people have shown to me, home is right here.
Han Jing has entered senior high school. She is not outgoing and a little anxious. She wonders how to make a good first (impress).
She found that her first maths class was quite difficult. But (lucky) she had a kind and friendly maths teacher. He even told the students funny story to make them laugh. In the afternoon, she had a chemistry class in the science lab. She found that the lab was new the lesson was great. However, the student next to her (keep) talking to her. That made difficult for her to concentrate on the experiment. She was annoyed and wanted him to be quiet.
However, after the first school day was over, Han Jing's worry disappeared. She didn't feel awkward and (frighten) any longer. Although she misses her friends from junior high school, she believes that she will make new friends here. What's more, there is a lot for her (explore) in senior high school. She is curious about she will learn and becomes more confident, (believe) that tomorrow will be a great day!
Sara and Vivian had different attitude to studies. Sara took studies seriously white Vivian never considered studies important.
It was Monday morning and the start of their term assessments (评估) As usual. Sara got up early, freshened up and after breakfast, she left for school,
Sara was confident about her preparations as she had studied the whole weekend, but a bit nervous like everyone during the exam time,
On the other hand, Vivian wasn't prepared for her exams and was careless as ever. She had spent the whole weekend with her family at the beach. She really had fun and so she was excited to tell this to her friends.
That day also, Vivian got up late and therefore did everything in a hurry. She rushed to the school to get a seat beside Sara or any other good student in the class so that she could ask them to show her the answer sheet. Luckily, she found an empty chair beside Sara in the examination room.
She gave a smile to Sara and asked in a low voice if she could show her the answer sheet, To her surprise, Sara refused at once. Vivian was very surprised because she hadn't expected that.
When the exam started, Vivian tried to peak (偷看) at sara's paper while Sara kept hiding her answers. But it was impossible for Sara to keep hiding answers while still writing. Thus forgetting her peeping friend, she completed her paper and left the alas room.
Vivian copied almost nil the answers from Sara and was expecting good graded. Sara didn't like Vivian's attitude and was angry with her. She didn't speak to her after that.
After one week, the results were announced and the papers were handed back to the students. Sara got first place in the exam while Vivian failed.
注意： 1. 续写词数应为 150 左右;2. 请按如下格式在相应位置作答.
Vivian was surprised.
……
Sara looked at Vivian's tea paper and found that Vivian had written everything wrong.
