请根据以下提示并结合一个事例，就“潜能无限”这一话题，用英语写一篇短文。
As we all know, one’s potential is limitless. Especially in times of crisis, you can never imagine how powerful one’s potential will be. Therefore, it’s unwise to set limits to your potential.
注意：
不得照抄英语提示语；除诗歌外，文体不限；
文中不得透露个人姓名和学校名称；词数120以上。
阅读下列各小题，根据括号内的汉语提示，用句末括号内的英语单词完成句子，并将答案写在答题卡上的相应题号后。
1.With the fog-haze weather appearing frequently, nowadays many a citizen _____________________ live where the air is fresher. (long)
由于雾霾天气频繁出现，现在很多市民正渴望能生活在空气更清新的地方。
2.Hardly ____________________ amazed when he received the admission notice from Beijing University because he thought it was the result of his efforts. ( feel)
当他收到北京大学的录取通知书时，他并没感觉意外，因为他认为那是他努力所得。
3.But for the fact that I ___________________ in that accident, without doubt, I wouldn’t be alive today. (fasten)
在那次事故中，要不是我系了安全带的话，毫无疑问我是活不到现在的。
4.The sports meet, originally _________________last Friday, was finally delayed because of the bad weather. (due)
原本定于上周五举行的运动会最终由于恶劣的天气而推迟。
5.At first, the way, ______________________ pictures, was laughed at by others, but it didn’t discourage him. (draw)
起初，他绘画的方式遭到他人嘲笑，但那并没有使他气馁。
6.At the foot of the mountain _____________, where people lived a peaceful life. (lie)
在那个山脚下有个村庄，那里的人们过着宁静的生活。
7.Several deaths from drowning _________________ in the past few days, swimming in that river is said to have been banned. （happen）
近几天发生了几起溺水身亡的事件，据说在那条河里游泳已被禁止了。
8.It never occurred to me ____________________________a new life in a strange city. ( tough)
我完全没想到在一个陌生的城市开始一种新的生活有多么的难。
9.Because the wireless network is widely applied , the users surfing the Internet by cellphones is about ______________________________ those by computers. (as)
由于无线网络的广泛应用，现在使用手机上网的用户大约是使用电脑上网的用户的两倍一样多。
10.I am afraid that I didn’t see the speed limit just now, officer. I _________________(dream )
警官，恐怕我刚才没看到时速标志，我肯定是正在开小差。
If you live in America in the 21st century you'll probably have to listen to a lot of people tell you how busy they are. It's become the default response when you ask anyone how they are doing: “Busy!” “Crazy busy!”. It is, pretty obviously, a boast disguised as a complaint. And the common response is a kind of congratulation:“ That's a good problem to have, ”or“ Better than the opposite.”
Notice it isn't generally people pulling back-to-back shifts in the ICU or commuting by bus to three minimum-wage jobs who tell you how busy they are. What those people are is not busy but tired. Exhausted! Dead on their feet. It's almost always people whose busyness is purely self-imposed work and obligations they've taken on voluntarily, classes and activities they've “encouraged” their kids to participate in. They're busy because of their own ambition or drive or anxiety, because they're addicted to busyness and dread that they might have to face in its absence.
Almost everyone I know is busy. They feel anxious and guilty when they aren't either working or doing something to promote their work. It's something they have chosen. Busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance(令人安心的保证），a measure against emptiness, obviously your life cannot possibly be silly or tiny or meaningless if you are so busy, completely booked, in demand every hour of the day.
Idleness is not just a vacation. It is as necessary to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as ugly as rickets. The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration.” Idle dreaming is often the essence of what we do”, wrote Thomas Pynchon. Archimedes' “Eureka” in the bath, Newton's apple :history is full of stories of inspirations that come in idle moments.
1.When many Americans say “Crazy busy”, they mean______.
A. they are really tired of their present situation
B. they are really proud of their present life
C. they are complaining about their current work
D. their life are full of all kinds of problems
2.The writer mentions Archimedes'“Eureka” and Newton's apple to show that________.
A. history is full of interesting stories
B. Archimedes and Newton were very busy, so they made great discoveries
C. people may get inspiration when they are idle
D. inspirations come from hard work
3.The word “its” in the second paragraph refers to_________________.
ambition B. anxiety C. busyness D. dread
4.From the article, we can infer that ___________________.
A. generally people pulling back-to-back shifts in the ICU tell you they are busy
B. “Dead on their feet” means “being tired out”
C. all the kids are self-imposed due to the drive and motivation
D. The author seems to agree that idleness is better than busyness
Today, in many high schools, teaching is now a technical miracle of computer labs, digital cameras, DVD players and laptops. Teachers can e-mail parents, post messages for students on online bulletin(公告，告示) boards, and take attendance with a quick movement of a mouse.
Even though we are now living in the digital age, the basic and most important element of education has not changed. Most students still need that one-on-one, teacher-student relationship to learn and to succeed. Teenagers need instruction in English, math or history, but they also want personal advice and encouragement. Kids talk with me about their families, their weekend plans, their favorite TV shows and their relationship problems. In my English and journalism classes, we talk about Shakespeare and persuasive(富有哲理的) essays, but we also discuss college basketball, the war in Iraq and career choices. Students show me pictures of their rebuilt cars, their family vacations, and their newborn baby brothers. This personal connection is the necessary link between teachers and students that no amount of technology can improve upon or replace.
A few years ago I had a student in sophomore English who was struggling with my class and with school in general. Although he was a humorous young man who liked to joke around, I knew his family life was far from ideal. Whenever I approached him about missing homework or low test grades, he always had the same reply, “It doesn't matter because I'm quitting school anyway.” Even though he always said this in a half-teasing way, I knew he needed to hear my different opinion and my “value of a high school education” lecture. He needed to hear this speech from me. After he left my class, he struggled through the next two years of school. But, he did finally graduate because we kept telling him to hang in there. We’d cared about him finishing school.
Recently, I saw this former student working at a local Italian restaurant. I told him again how proud I was of him. He said that he was hoping to go back to school to become a certified electrician. I encouraged him to get that training.
Students rely on compassionate teachers to guide, to tutor, to listen, to laugh and to cry with them. Teachers provide the most important link in the educational process—the human one.
1.The first paragraph mainly talks about _____________.
A. the variety of modern teaching methods.
B. the wide use of modern technology in education
C. the importance of teacher-parent relationship.
D. the importance of using modern technology.
2.The underlined word “ compassionate” in Para 5 means ____________.
A. ambitious B. knowledgeable C. sympathetic D. generous
3.According to the text, the most important element in education is _________.
A. teachers’ good instruction B. advanced technology
C. teachers’ encouragement D. personal connection
4.The author states his view of education by __________.
A. example B. description C. figure D. Comparison
400-year-old plants from the Little Ice Age were brought back to life, which could help us understand how the Earth will deal with climate change.
Moss(藓类植物) found buried beneath the Teardrop glacier(冰川) on Ellesmere Island in Canada has been brought back to life. Findings suggest that these plants could help repopulate regions exposed by melting ice caps. Plants that were buried beneath thick ice in Canada more than 400 years ago and were thought to have frozen to death have been brought back to life by Canadian scientists.
Samples of the moss plant, covered by the glacier during the Little Ice Age of 1550 to 1850 AD, were replanted in a lab at the University of Alberta and grew new stems(茎). Researchers now think these findings can give indication as to how regions can recover as the ice covering them melts.
Biologist Dr. Catherine La Farge and her team at the University of Alberta were exploring the region around the Teardrop glacier on Ellesmere Island. Ice on Ellesmere Island region has been melting at around four meters each year for the past nine years. This means that many areas of land that were previously covered by ice have since been exposed. Many ecosystems that were thought to have been destroyed during the Little Ice Age between 1550 and 1850 AD can now be studied, including many species that have never been studied before.
While examining an exposed area of land, La Farge and her team discovered a small area of moss called Aulacomnium turgidum. It is a type of bryophyte(苔藓类植物) plant that mainly grows across Canada, the US and the Highlands of Scotland.
Dr La Farge noticed that the moss had small patches of green stems, suggesting it is either growing again or can be encouraged to repopulate. Dr La Farge told the BBC, “When we looked at the samples in detail and brought them to the lab, I could see some of the stems actually had new growth of green branches, suggesting that these plants are growing again, and that blew my mind. When we think of thick areas of ice covering the landscape, we’ve always thought that plants have to come from refugia(濒绝生物保护区), never considering that land plants come from underneath a glacier. It’s a whole world of what’s coming out from underneath the glacier that really needs to be studied. The ice is disappearing pretty fast. We really have not examined all the biological systems that exist in the world; we don’t know it all.”
Dr La Farge took samples of the moss and, using carbon-dating techniques, discovered that the plants date back to the Little Ice Age. Dr La Farge’s team took the samples, planted them in dishes full of nutrient-rich potting soil and fed them with water.
The samples were from four separate species including Aulacomnium turgidum, Distichium capillaceum, Encalypta procera and Syntrichia ruralis. The moss plants found by Dr La Farge are types of bryophytes. Bryophytes can survive long winters and regrow when the weather gets warmer.
However, Dr La Farge was surprised that the plants buried under ice have survived into the twenty-first century. Her findings appear in proceedings（论文集）of the National Academy of Sciences.
1.Dr La Farge’s research is of great importance to ________.
A. knowing what the plants during the Little Ice Age were like
B. understanding how ecosystems recover from glaciers.
C. regrowing many species that have been destroyed before.
D. figuring out the effects of melting ice caps on moss.
2.The underlined part “blew my mind” in Paragraph 6 can best be replaced by “________”.
A. surprised me B. greatly frightened me
C. put my doubt out of my mind D. was exactly what I had in my mind
3.According to the passage, Aulacomnium turgidum ________.
A. lives better in small groups
B. is very active in hot weather
C. is strong enough to survive coldness
D. is chosen from Canadian refugia
4.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A. Bryophyte ecology is greatly affected by climate change.
B. 400-year-old moss’s survival is a mystery to solve.
C. Moss in ancient times was discovered in Canada.
D. 400-year-old plants were brought back to life.
The power of humor and laugher is numerous. They entertain us and make us feel good. But, above all, we have discovered that humor and laughter are the best medicine. They relieve pain, reduce stress and anxiety, and are anti-aging and longevity facilitators（促进者）.
They are extremely necessary for helping us to find and maintain a balance between life and work. However, they are slipping away from us. We have become far too serious. The only ones who still enjoy humor, laughter, fun and play to the fullest are young children. Children tend to laugh an average of 200 times a day. For adults, however, it is a totally different story.
In the 1950s people laughed on average 18 times a day. Today, we are lucky if we average between 4-6 times a day.
As a matter of fact, a recent study found that people laugh 6 more times in the presence of one person but 30 more times in a group of people. You can get a chuckle(咯咯笑) from jokes you get on the Internet, but it is not the same as belly jiggling laughter (a deep laugh) you get when you interact with others.
Socializing(交际) with friends and relatives was much looked forward to. However, this is no longer the case. In fact, the majority of people can hardly find time, nor do they have the inclination towards socializing outside home. They turn to electronic media such as television, computers, the Internet, videos, CDs, and audio equipment, which can provide them with instant self-entertainment at the push of a button.
The workplace does not fare(进展) much better. Due to the pressures to produce more in the same or fewer hours available and to compete, for example, in a manufacturing field with cheaper labor elsewhere in the world, humor and laughter in the workplace have gradually eroded（逐渐毁坏） away.
I have developed a real appreciation, perhaps closer to a strong desire for the power of humor and laughter. This encouraged me to write my first book titled “The Power of Humor” and subsequently my second book titled “Kids Say the Goggonest Things” based on the natural humor, laughter, play and fun that kids experience and they freely share with parents, grandparents and teachers.
From writing about humor and laughter, people start to ask me to speak up for them. To date, I have developed a number of humor-laughter topics that I use in my keynote presentations. You are invited to subscribe to my free monthly e-magazine “The Humormeister’s Forum” by clicking on the Free Humor E-zine navigation button on the website.
1.According to the author, laughter is leaving us partly because ________.
A. the pace of change in our lives is becoming faster
B. we fail to reflect on fun times in our lives
C. we treat everything in a serious way
D. humor of situations lies beneath
2.The fourth paragraph mainly tells us that ________.
A. researchers have made a new discovery about the effect of laughter
B. people laugh more heartily when spending time with others
C. we can entertain ourselves with the help of the Internet
D. getting a deep laugh nowadays is difficult
3.The underlined word “inclination” in Paragraph 5 most probably means “________”.
A. destination B. tendency C. attitude D. approach
4.Which of the following articles can we most probably find in “The Humormeister’s Forum”?
A. The power of honesty.
B. Don’t be your own worst enemy.
C. Live life purposefully: The relationship within.
D. Funny Christmas stories to share with your loved ones.
