An old man lived in a nice house with a large garden. He took care of his flowers all the time, watering and fertilizing them.
One day a young man went by the garden. He looked at the beautiful flowers, imagining how happy he could be if he lived in such a beautiful place. Then, suddenly he found the old gardener was 1. He was very surprised about this and asked, “You can't see these flowers. Why are you busy taking care of them every day?”
The old man smiled and said, “I can tell you four 2. First, I was a gardener when I was young, and I really like this job. Second, 3 I can't see these flowers, I can touch them. Third, I can 4 the sweetness of them. As to the last one, that's 5.”
“Me? But you don't know me,” said the young man.
“Yeah, it's true that I don't know you. But I know that flowers are angels(天使) that everybody 6. We enjoy the happiness these flowers have brought us.”
The blind man's work opened our eyes and 7 our hearts, which also made his life 8. It was just like Beethoven, who became deaf in his later life and wrote many great musical works. Beethoven himself couldn't 9 his wonderful music, but his music has 10 millions of people to face their difficulties bravely. Isn't it one kind of happiness?
A well-known old man was being interviewed and was asked if it was correct that he had just celebrated his ninety-ninth birthday.
“That's right.” said the old man. “Ninety-nine years old, and I haven't an enemy in the world. They're all dead.”
“Well, sir,” said the interviewer, “I hope very much to have the honour of interviewing you on your hundredth birthday.”
The old man looked at the young man closely, and said, “I can't see why you shouldn't look fit and healthy to me!”
“Do you believe in life after death?” Jack's boss asked Jack.
“Yes, Sir.”
“Well, then, that makes everything just fine,” the boss went on. “About an hour after you left yesterday to go to your grandfather's funeral(葬礼), he dropped in to see you.”
Grace, usually known as the Home of Microsoft, is inside an office building in Redmond, Washington. Once you come into the building, you will feel that you're in a modern and future home.
When you enter the building, Grace's voice, coming from a hidden speaker, tells you your messages. In the kitchen, you set a bag of flour(面粉) on a flat stone table. Grace sees what you're doing and makes a menu of flour-based foods on the table. Once you choose one, Grace gives you ingredients(配料).
There's also a notice board in the kitchen made of “intelligent(智能的) cloth” that works like a touch screen computer. You can deal with postcards and invitations and surf the net with the touch of a finger. The invitations could be encoded(编码). You can deal with them on the computer. It's part of Microsoft's Smart Personal Objects Technology, whose aim is to make every object more efficient(有效率的).
“The day when your house becomes a member of your family is not far,” says Pam Heath, a manager of Microsoft. At the Andersen Windows Company, Jay Libby imagines that windows made of intelligent glass can be changed into TVs.
“Nobody wants a television set,” says Libby. “What you want is the service it provides.” If the TV isn't improved, it will disappear in the future.
Home entertainment is one consideration for the future. At the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, scientists are designing systems that will allow old people to live better on their own. So Grandma's home can be cleverly designed to recognize(识别) her ways of waking, sleeping and movement. Family members will be told any change by their computers.
For those of us who are studying at school, the time of exams is very stressful (紧张的) and difficult. Some people find exam times so bad that they become ill, because they are afraid of failing; they are afraid of letting their parents and family down. If exams are really making you ill or worried, don't hide your feelings. Talk to someone about it. Maybe you can speak to a friend, or someone in your family, or teachers at your place of study. If one person doesn't help you, ask someone else.
How to get through exams? Here is some advice:
Ask a teacher or tutor about how to review your lessons, and exam skills—how to work when you are in an exam. Take short rests during your time of work. If your mind is tired, it will not remember well. Plan your work: study at times when you know you will work at your best. Get enough sleep, and eat healthy food. You need exercise to work well. Walk, run, play sports — whatever you enjoy. Stop thinking about the future and failing.
If you feel ill, talk to someone about your worries. But don't be too relaxed! Some stress over exams makes you work hard for them.
If it upsets(使某人不安) you to talk to your friends about an exam when it is finished, don't do it! In fact, don't even think about the exam you have finished. What is done is done. You cannot change what you have written!
To this advice, we could add: If you are studying in the evening, don't go straight to bed. Your mind will still be “going round and round”—thinking too much. Do something else, maybe walk or get exercise. Choose something that will relax you, and make you think of other things.
The stressful and difficult time of | |||
Cause | Be afraid of and letting their parents and family down | ||
Being ill or before an exam | Thinking too much after studying in the | Being upset after an exam | |
Advice | Talk to someone about your worries. But being too relaxed isn't for the exam | Don't go to bed and choose something to you. | Don't talk to your friends about the exam after it. Because you cannot change your |
注意： 1. 发言稿必须包括所给内容要点, 要求语句通顺, 意思连贯。2. 第5点的内容须用2-3句话展开合理想象, 可作适当发挥。3. 发言稿的开头已给出, 不计入总词数。
Boys and girls, the final exams are coming. What should we do in order to prepare well for the exams? Here are some suggestions.……
