—____, but not during my lunch break.
—What do you suppose ____ to him?
—I'm terribly sorry.
—A letter from home____ attack of homesickness.
—____. As a matter of fact, I like jazz music better.
Meagan, my youngest child,studies in a high school. She'll 1 it soon and she has gained a scholarship from a university.
Her brother is a physician; her sisters major in computer. In a way, all of this 2 for my New Year's resolution(决定)made years ago. That evening my husband, Gary,said,"I've decided on my New Year's resolution. I'll take 3 lessons. "I answered. "What about me? I'm stuck in the kitchen, bed rooms, and yards due to the kids. It's not that I don't 4 being a mother, but that sometimes I wish to do something for myself, too. "
"Why don't you?" Gary 5 "Surely you can think of something to be away from the 6 "His words comforted me. 7 I was a non-native English speaker, I thought I could take an English class at college to improve my 8 so that people would understand me better. Later, I realized taking a class would 9 me,and that my kids would have an advantage, too.
"You're 10 ,"I replied. "I decide to take an English class and see if the college will accept me. " "Give it a(n) 11 ,"Gary said. "I'm sure you'll make it. " 12 . , in my heart, I just felt a bit doubtful.
And before applying to college,T was 13 baby number three. So I 14 my plan made before. One day, Gary said15 ,"I have finally found an excellent guitar teacher. "And he added, "What about your resolution? Have you signed up for your classes?"
I 16 my head, explaining it was because I was pregnant and that I had decided to apply to college after my delivery. Gary 17 , saying I should register for the spring term before the baby came. I followed Gary's advice. Later, I went to a good college and 18 some papers. I was 19 that after my papers were read, I was given a chance to take classes.
Now I fully realize the 20 of the New Year's resolution. My following through that resolution inspired my kids, greatly contributing to their achievements in education.
College visits are important. Before you commit years of your life and money to a school, be sure you're choosing a place that is a good match for your personality and interests. You can't get the "feel" of a school from any guidebook, so be sure to visit the campus. Below are a few tips for getting the most out of your college visit.
Explore on Your Own
Of course you should take the official campus tour, but be sure to allow time to hang around on your own. The trained tour guides will show you a school's selling points. But the oldest and prettiest buildings don't give you the entire picture of a college. Try to walk the extra mile and get the complete picture of the campus.
Read the Bulletin Boards
When you visit the student center,academic buildings and residence halls, take a few minutes to read the bulletin boards. They provide an easy way to see what's happening on campus. The ads for lectures,clubs and plays can tell you what's going on outside the classrooms.
Eat in the Dining Hall
You can get a good feel for student life by eating in the dining hall. Try to sit with students if you can. Do the students seem happy or stressed? Also, is the food good? Are there adequate healthy options? Man admission offices will give prospective students coupons (优惠券) for free meals in the dining halls.
Visit a Class in Your Major
If you know what you want to study, a class visit makes a lot of sense. You'll get to observe other students in your field and see how involved they are in classroom discussion. Try to stay after class for a few minutes and chat with the students to get their impressions of their professors and major. Be sure to call in advance to schedule a classroom visit—most colleges don't allow visitors to drop in at class unannounced.
Talk to Lots of Students
Your campus tour guide has been trained to market the school. Try to talk to students who aren't getting paid to impress you. These important conversations can often provide you with information about college life that isn't part of the admission script. Few university officials will tell you if their students spend all weekend drinking or studying, but a group of random students might.
For more tips, please go to collegeapps. about. com.
He is a lesson to every boy whoever picked up a basketball and dreamed that it would change his life.
The lights were never brighter and the crowds were never bigger for a homegrown sports hero than they were a quarter century ago for Ray Hall. But his athletic achievements, as impressive as they are, are to my mind not what is most admirable about the man.
Known as "Sugar Ray" in his teens, Hall was rated among the country's top 25 high school basketball players. An inner-city kid from a solid family,Hall took on the challenge of lifting Canisius College—still recovering from its failure—back to respectability, rejecting more favorable offers. His status of a savior (救世主) brought more pressure than any 18-year-old should have to handle. However, I watched him matured into the player who led Canisius back to daylight. After college Hall played professionally in Italy and Greece for over 10 years until a ear accident at 32 ended his basketball career. The news that he would never play again shocked Hall but unlike so many others he was ready for life after basketball. When I met Hall— still fit at 46—for lunch one day,he wore a cut-sharp gray suit, designer tie and blazing white shirt that screamed success. "That was always the question—when the cheers end,where do you go? Who do you turn to?" he said. "It starts and ends with that person in the mirror. "
Hall got the concept of academics first from his parents. He graduated from Canisius a semester early. "No matter how good of an athlete you are,you are just one injury away from losing it all, " he said. "But if you take care of things academically, you are prepared until you leave this earth. "
For the past 14 years, he has been in a computer sales job at Ingram Micro. He married his college sweetheart. They have three kids and a nice house in the suburbs. He figured out early what others learn too late: Athletics is part of a journey, not the destination.
Congratulations, Ray. You made it in more ways than one.
a. He was ranked among the best high school basketball players.
b. He was in a car accidentc. He graduated from Canisius College
d. He started his computer sales job.
e. He gave up his athletic career.
Tiny microbes（微生物） are at the heart of a new agricultural technique to manage harmful greenhouse gas. Scientists have discovered how microbes can be used to tum carbon dioxide into soil-enriching limestone（ 石灰石）, with the help of a type of tree that grows in tropical areas, such as West Africa.
Researchers have found that when the Iroko tree is grown in dry, acidic soil and treated with a combination of natural fungi（霉菌） and other bacteria, not only does the tree grow well, it also produces the mineral limestone in the soil around its root.
The Iroko tree makes a mineral by combining Ca from the earth with CO2 from the atmosphere. The bacteria then create the conditions under which this mineral turns into limestone. The discovery offers a new way to lock carbon into the soil, keeping it out of the atmosphere. In addition to storing carbon in the trees' leaves and in the form of limestone, the mineral in the soil makes it more suitable tor agriculture.
The discovery could lead to reforestation projects in tropical countries, and help reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in the developing world. It has already been used in West Africa and is being tested in Bolivia, Haiti and India.
The findings were made in a three-year project involving researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh, Granada, Lausanne and Delft University of Technology. The project examined several microbiological methods of locking CO2 as limestone, and the Iroko-bacteria way showed best results. Work was funded by the European Commission under the Future&Emerging Technologies (FET) scheme.
Dr Bryne Ngwenya of the University of Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences, who led the research, said:"By taking advantage of this natural limestone-producing process, we have a low-tech, safe, readily employed and easily operating way to lock carbon out of the atmosphere, while improving farming conditions in tropical countries. "
In the college-admissions wars: we parents are the true fighters. We're pushing our kids to get good grades, take SAT preparatory courses and build resumes so they can get into the college of our first choice. I've twice been to the wars, and as I survey the battlefield, something different is happening, We see our kids college background as a prize demonstrating how well we've raised them. But we can't acknowledge that our obsession is more about us than them. So we've created various justifications that turn out to be half-truths, prejudices or myths. It actually doesn't matter much whether Aaron and Nicole go to Stanford.
We have a full-developed panic; we worry that there won't be enough prizes to go around. Fearful parents urge their children to apply to more schools than ever. What causes the hysteria（歇斯底里） is the belief that scarce elite（精英）degrees must be highly valuable. Their graduates must enjoy more success because they get a better education and develop better contacts. All seems right but mostly strong We haven't found any convincing evidence that selectivity or prestige matters. Selective schools don't systematically employ better instructional approaches than less selective schools. On two measures—professors feedback and the number of essay exams selective schools do slightly worse.
By some studies, selective schools do enhance their graduates' lifetime earnings. The gain is reckoned at 2-4% for every 100-point increase in a school's average SAT scores. But even this advantage is probably a statistical fluke （偶然）. A well-known study examined students who got into highly selective schools and then went elsewhere. They earned just as much as graduates from higher-status schools.
Kids count more than their colleges. Getting into Yale may signify intelligence, talent and ambition. But it's not the only indicator and, surprisingly, its significance is declining The reason: so many similar people go elsewhere. Getting into college is not life's only competition. In the next competition-the job market and graduate school—the results may change. Princeton economist Alan Krueger studied admissions to one top Ph. D. program. High scores on the GRE helped explain who got in; degrees of famous universities didn't.
So, parents, take it easy (lighten up). The stakes （利害关系） have been vastly exaggerated. Up to a point, we can rationalize our pushiness. America is a competitive society; our kids need to adjust to that, But too much pushiness can be destructive. The very ambition we impose on our children may get some into Harvard but may also set them up for disappointment. One study found that,other things being equal,graduates of highly selective schools experienced more job dissatisfaction. They may have been so conditioned to being on top that anything less disappoints.
After we all came to the conclusion that our family could responsibly care for a dog, my husband and I started our search at a local animal shelter.
We discovered a medium-sized male dog named Duke. This dog was approximately only two years old and seemed to have the sweetest character. He looked at us through intelligent eyes and already knew how to fetch a ball. My husband and I immediately adopted him Duke quickly fit into our family's lifestyle. And he quickly learned the tricks like "sit", "stay", and "come".
But there was one skill that Duke could not seem to grasp—that of a watchdog, My husband was trying to teach him to remind us by giving a single warning bark when someone came into the yard. Duke would listen carefully to my husband's commands, but would cock （竖起） his head to one side in confusion and disappointment as if to tell his master that he just didn't understand what my husband was asking him to do. My husband would give his "watch" command. Duke would stand up--muscles tightened in readiness, but would not have a clue as to what he was in readiness for.
One morning we heard the garbage collectors come up the driveway to get our garbage. My husband went to the open bedroom window so Duke could hear and see the men through the screen.
"Watch!" my husband commanded. Duke rose up in readiness, looked at my husband as sudden comprehension dawned on him, gave a quick tail wave, and leaped through the window screen, jumping happily out to greet the garbage men.
Seeing that, I couldn't help laughing. My laughter did nothing for my husband's mood when he found what was happening and he just went away to repair the screen with no expression on his face.
Duke brought our family so much fun. We never scolded or beat him. He was one of our family members.
注意：
（1）词数不少于100。
（2）可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
（3）开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
参考词汇："一带一路"国际合作高峰论坛The Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation
Dear Sir,
Yours,
Li Jin
