There was a little, but always strange girl. Everything was bad for her. She wished to meet an enchantress (女巫) that would turn her life a 1tale.
One day an enchantress came and said that one of her wishes would 2 The girl became very happy at first, but then she started to think that she had a lot of wishes and all of them were 3 for her. She could not 4 just one. Then the 5 enchantress that she would help her realize one wish every day. The girl became 6—now all her dreams will become realities.
From that day on, she was waiting every morning with joy and 7. Then as days passed, the dreams became real ones.... But soon the little girl realized that 8 of the wishes d give her joy and happiness which she 9for. Many wishes brought her disappointment, and some 10 a pain. Almost every dream was an empty little girl's caprice (任性). Though being 11 she suddenly found that she did not 12 this. Soon she started to 13 dreams. She was afraid to 14 every day, waiting for the realization of another wish. Crying, she asked the enchantress to 15 only one her dream-to live as she lived 16and enjoy life.
The good enchantress had 17 upon the little girl. She waved her magic wand and disappeared. The girl was happy 18 she knew that now she would carefully seek for her one big 19 dream, not wasting time with short-term20 quite unnecessary wishes.
In no particular order, here are some songs on the Music app of my phone:
On a Sunday Afternoon by Lighter Shade of Brown—A student of mine introduced this rap song lo me all the way back in the early 1990s, when 1 was teaching Spanish at a local university. The story in the song takes place not too far from where I live in Los Angeles. It's a good "driving" song, nothing complicated or "deep".
Say Something by A Great Big World—A more recent song about a couple losing contact with each other. The piano part is very little playing but beautiful.
American Pie by Don McLean—Another song from my youth in the 80s, very popular with almost every American of my generation. It retells some of the key events of the middle 20th century, a song of happy memories of the past and wanting to return to those better times.
The Weight by The Band—Another old song, originally made public in 1968, but one I didn't hear until I was in high school more than 10 years later. I don't understand the words to the song completely, but the feeling of the song is very comforting to me.
Under the Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers—This Los Angeles group wrote a song that 1 used to listen to when I first moved to LA more than 25 years ago. I didn't know anyone here when I first arrived. When I got bored, I used to drive up and down the major streets that cross the city from east to west, listening to this song about the "city of angel" being as "lonely as I am. (Don t worry! I have plenty of friends now.)
I've never been the kind of person to say, “it's the thought that counts” when it comes to gifts. That was until a couple of weeks ago, when my kids gave me a present that blew me away.
For years now, I've been wanting to sell our home, the place where my husband and 1 raised our kids. But to me, this house is much more than just a building.
In the front room, there's a wall that has hundreds of pencil lines, marking the progress of my children's growth.
Every growth stage is marked in grey, with each child's name and the date they were measured. Of all the objects and all the memories, it's this one thing in a home that's the hardest to leave behind. Friends I know have returned home after work only to discover their wall of heights has been freshly painted over. A new paint job wouldn't normally be greeted by tears, but erasing that evidence of motherhood hurts more than it should. Our kids grow in so many ways, but the wall is physical evidence of their progress, right there for everyone to see.
Over the years, I've talked about how much I would hate leaving that wall behind when I moved, even though the last marks were made 10 years ago when my kids stopped growing.
So one day, while I was at work, my children decided to do something about it.
They hired Jacquie Manning, a professional photographer whose work is about capturing (捕捉) the beautiful things in life, from clear lakes and skies to diamonds and ballgowns (舞会礼服).
She came to our house while I was at work, and over several hours, took photos of the hundreds of drawings and lines, little grey fingerprints (手印), and old marks. Somehow, she managed to photograph all those years of memories perfectly. Afterwards, she put all the photos together into one image, transforming them into a beautiful history of my family.
Three weeks later, my children's wonderful gift made its way to me—a life-size photo of the pencil lines and fingerprints that represents entire lifetimes of love and growth.
Nov. 21 is World Hello Day. It began back in the 1970s as part of an effort to make the world more peaceful. It was created by the United Nations just after the war between Israel and Egypt in 1973. The philosophy (理念) behind it is: Say “Hello” and stop war.
It sounds like a fine idea, but most of us know that simply saying “Hello” won't bring about world peace. Still, on a smaller range, the simple act of saying hello to someone can make a lot of difference.
This might not be obvious. After all, it's such a casual thing and requires so little effort. You raise your head to someone as you pass by them in the school corridor (走廊), say “Hello' then it's over.
Although we might not realize it, a small thing like a greeting can mean a lot to a person. Many people are lonely because they're shy. They find it difficult to communicate with people, even though they want lo. It leads to them feeling cut off.
On this basis, maybe it's a good idea, not just on Nov. 21, but every day, to remember to say “Hello” to as many people as we can. The stranger who hears your greeting may secretly smile in their heart. You might even make their day.
Greeting other people is the easiest way to be polite. Politeness is the way we individual humans link up with the rest of the human world outside of our circles of family and friends. Politeness is one of the aspects of culture that make us a society rather than just many individuals living in the same space.
No one said it better than the French author Joseph Joubert: “Politeness is the flower of humanity''. A “Hello” to a stranger is a small thing, and often neglected (忽视), but through it we can make the world better for another person.
A new library in Tianjin—Tianjin Binhai Public Library—recently became an online hit. The Daily Mail described it as the “world's ultimate (终极的) library”, while the word “breathtaking” was the choice of Newsweek magazine. One look at the library and you'll see why. With its futuristic (未来主义) design and walls loaded with books, it's the dream library of every book lover.
But as the surprise continues, there's a burning question lying in the back of our minds: When physical bookstores are closing down one by one, what makes libraries safe from the wave of digitalization (数码化)? And do we really still need libraries now that we've got the Internet in our hands?
Reporter Ian Clark has the answer. “Libraries are not declining in importance—people are simply changing the way they use them,” he wrote on the Guardian website.
What Clark means is that libraries have shifted from simply being storehouses of books to a medium to help “bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots” according to website Libraries Are Essential. Since not everyone can afford a smartphone, a tablet or an Internet connection, and not everyone has the know-how to search the Internet correctly and efficiently, it's public libraries that make sure that these resources and technologies are available to a larger group of people.
"Nobody is trying to sell you anything in the library. There is no pressure to buy and there is no judgment of your choices/' Anne Goulding, a professor at Victoria University in New Zealand, wrote on the Newsroom website. “There are few other spaces that you can just 'be' without somebody questioning your presence or your motivation."
Reading is an interesting and useful thing. You can read a novel or a poem. But do you know how to read? Here's some advice for you.
Define your purpose for reading. Before you start reading, ask yourself why are you reading this book.Being specific and clear about your reading purpose not only helps you to eliminate books that you don't need to read. It also reminds you why reading the book is important to you as you are reading it.
Whether you are reading fiction or nonfiction, it's important to enjoy what you read. Your friends may recommend books that they love, but those books might not necessarily be the ones you enjoy.
Give up books that you don't enjoy. You may have selected books that are aligned with (与……一致) your purpose. But as you are reading them, there may still be some books that you won't enjoy reading. Whenever you realize that you aren't enjoying the book you are reading, give it up. Remember reading shouldn't be a chore (杂事).
Give yourself a deadline to complete each book. Before you read each book, ask yourself when you need to complete this book. When you don't set a deadline to complete your book, there isn't a sense of urgency.you tend to procrastinate (拖延).
A. When something is urgent
B. When something isn't urgent
C. Because reading is very important
D. Read only what you are attracted to
E. You may have selected books that you are attracted to
F. Most people read for two main reasons—pleasure or knowledge
G. This motivates you to keep reading and complete the book faster
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1).每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2).只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
There was a farmer who sell a pound of butter to a baker. One day the baker decided to weigh the butter to see that he was getting a pound and he was found that he was not. This angered him and he took the farmer from court. The judge asked farmer if he was using any measure. The fanner replied, “Your Honor, I am innocently. I don't have a proper measure, and I do have a scale (天平).” The judge asked, “Then how do you weigh the butter?” The farmer replied “Your Honor, long before the baker started buying butter from me, I have been buying a pound of breads from him. Every day when the baker brings the bread, I put it on the scale and give her the same weight in butter. If anyone was to blame, it is the baker.''
Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is often inaccurately (call) “Lunar New Year”, because—as part of the lunisolar Chinese calendar (农历)-the date is partially determined based on lunar phase (月相). The festival traditionally (begin) on the first day of the first month in the Chinese calendar and ends with Lantern Festival is on the 15th day. Chinese New Year's Eve, a day when Chinese families gather for their annual reunion dinner, is known as chú xī. It literally means “Year-pass Eve”.
According to (tale) and legends, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the fight against mythical beast (神兽) called Nien (年). Nien would come on the first day of New Year to devour livestock (牲畜), crops, and even villagers, (especial) children. To protect the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nien (eat) the food they prepared, it wouldn't attack any more people. One time, people saw that the Nien was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nien was afraid the colour red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used fireworks (frighten) away the Nien. From then on, Nien never came to the village again.
要点如下：
1)．节日的日期；
2)．节日的由来；
3)．庆祝的方式．
注意：1)．词数100左右；
2)．短文开头已给出，不计入总词数；
3)．可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯．
参考词汇：战国时期the Warring States Period； 自杀 commit suicide； 粽子Zongzi．
The Dragon Boat Festival
