Everyone has done experiments in high school laboratories, but have you ever thought about designing a satellite to explore space?
On Nov. 19, a team of students from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in the US awed peers and even scientists by successfully launching a satellite.
The first satellite designed and built by high school students was sent up into space along with a record-setting. 28 other small ones on a rocket were sent from a NASA center in Virginia, CNN reported. It took the students seven years to build.
The students call their tiny satellite TJ3Sat, which is named after their school. It is just 10x10x12 centimeters and weighs only 0.89 kilograms, according to Orbital Sciences, a company which developed the rocket and supported the students’ project. It can be controlled with a smartphone.
Like most satellites, TJ3Sat can send and receive data. The small spacecraft is equipped with a voice synthesizer (合成器), which can switch text to voice and transmit those sounds back to Earth over radio waves, said Orbital officials. In this case, anyone can give it a try via the project’s website (school website) by submitting (提交) a text. The texts that get approved will be sent to the satellite, changed to voice and then broadcast back to Earth via radio waves.
“I can say ‘Go Colonials’ on our ground station and when it is on the other side of the world, in India, someone can hear ‘Go Colonials’over the radio,” the team explains on the website.
The satellite will stay in space for at least three months.
School principal Evan Glazer told The Washington Post that the project started in 2006 as an activity in the spare time. Later it became a research project for a select group of seniors.
At a time when American students are busy with SATs, the launch of the satellite shows what diligent teenagers can achieve when allowed to pursue their own curiosities, Glazer said.
“It used to be that kids growing up wanted to be an astronaut,” Andrew Petro, program executive (主管) for small spacecraft technology at NASA, said in a statement. “I think we might be seeing kids saying what they want to do is build a spacecraft. The idea here is that they really can do that.”
1. The underlined word “awed” in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to ___.
A. influenced B. amazed C. delighted D. inspired
2.Which of the following statements about TJ3Sat is TRUE according to the article?
A.It took a group of students about a decade to build the satellite.
B.Besides TJ3Sat, 28 other small satellites were built by the students.
C.TJ3Sat can receive text messages that the students send into space, which it can change to voice messages and broadcast back to Earth.
D.TJ3Sat is expected to stay in orbit for the next year, sending out messages together with information about its position in space.
3.According to the article, the launch of the satellite _______.
A.is evidence of the advance of spacecraft technology
B.proves that hard-working teenagers can achieve a lot
C.shows the importance of extracurricular activities at school
D.has inspired many people to take an interest in space travel
Whether you’re eating at a fancy restaurant or dining in someone’s home, proper table manners are likely to help you make a good impression. According to a US expert, Emily Post, “All rules of table manners are made to avoid ugliness.”
While Henry Hitchings of the Los Angeles Times admits that good manners can reduce social conflict, he points out that mostly their purpose is protective – they turn our natural warrior-like selves into more elegant ones.
So where did table manners come from?
In medieval England, a writer named Petrus Alfonsi took the lead to urge people not to speak with their mouths full. And King David I of Scotland also proposed that any of his people who learned to eat more neatly be given a tax deduction (减除).
Disappointingly, that idea never caught on. It was during the Renaissance, when there were real technical developments, opinions of correct behavior changed for good. “None of these was more significant than the introduction of the table fork,” wrote Hitchings. “Gradually, as forks became popular, they brought the new way of eating, making it possible, for instance, to consume berries without making one’s fingers dirty.”
Forks were introduced to Britain in 1608 and 25 years later, the first table fork reached America. Yet while most of the essentials (基本要素) are the same on both sides of the Atlantic, there are a few clear differences between what’s normal in the US and what holds true in the UK. For example, in the US, when food needs cutting with a knife, people generally cut a bite, then lay aside the knife and switch the fork to their right hand. Then they pick up one bite at a time. By contrast, Britons keep the fork in the left hand and don’t lay the knife down.
Though globalization has developed a new, simpler international standard of table manners, some people still stick with the American cut-and-switch method.The Los Angeles Times noted, “They are hanging on to a form of behavior that favors manners above efficiency.”
1.What does the story mainly talk about?
A. The importance of proper table manners .
B. The development of table manners in Western countries.
C. Some unwritten rules of table manners in the US and UK.
D. Differences between American and British table manners.
2. The underlined phrase “caught on” in the passage probably means ______.
A. worked in practice B. became popular
C. drew attention D. had a positive effect
3.Which of the following events influenced people’s table manners most according to the article?
A. The introduction of forks.
B. The tax deduction policy.
C. The rise of the Renaissance.
D. Petrus Alfonsi’s efforts in promoting table manners.
4.What can we conclude from the article?
A.British and American table manners are completely different from each other.
B.American people pay more attention to their table manners than British people do.
C.With globalization, the American cut-and-switch method has been abandoned in the US.
D.British people’s way of using a knife and fork may be more efficient than American people’s.
Homework and stress are rarely reduced inside the classroom. Meanwhile, outside the classroom, the pressure is on to find scholarships for college.
According to Braintrack, a higher education database with worldwide reach, more than 3 billion US dollars (18 billion yuan) in private scholarships are awarded to college students annually. Average awards range from $2,000 to $3,000.
The scholarship application process is similar to the college application process: forms to be completed, test scores and transcripts to be sent, essays to be written and often interviews to be prepared for.
A few great places to start looking for scholarships are: www.fastweb.com, www.finaid.org and www.collegexpress.com.Check out the annual scholarship guidebooks Scholarships, Grants & Prizes by Peterson’s and the Ultimate Scholarship Book: Billions of Dollars in Scholarships, Grants and Prizes by Gen Tanabe and Kelly Tanabe.
Be selective. Thoroughly research the qualifications required by each of the scholarships. Don’t waste your time applying for those that are need-based if you can’t produce the appropriate documents.
Research past recipients (接受者). Check out the websites of the organizations sponsoring the scholarships. Many post the biographies of past recipients. You don’t need to have cured cancer, but if you don’t think your résumé (履历) measures up to the past winners’, you might be better served by moving onto the next scholarship on your list. Prepare for the interview.
You’ll want to dazzle them with your personality, but above all you’ll want to be prepared. Find someone you trust to conduct a similar interview with you – someone who will be honest with you and provide valuable suggestions.
Let your personality shine through in your essays. The essays are the best way for students to share who they are, where they’ve come from, what they’ve overcome and so on. Tell your story in an interesting and persuasive way. And if you do have an interview, send a thank-you note afterward.
By Lee Bierer
1.What is the author’s main purpose in writing the article?
A. To explain where to find scholarships for US colleges.
B. To inform readers of the scholarship application process.
C. To introduce some typical scholarships offered by US colleges.
D. To give tips on applying for US college scholarships.
2.If you want to learn about past recipients of a scholarship, you can use __.
A. www.collegexpress.com
B. the annual scholarship guidebooks published by Peterson’s
C. the websites of the organizations sponsoring the scholarships
D.The Ultimate Scholarship Book: Billions of Dollars in Scholarships, Grants and Prizes
3.The underlined word “dazzle” in Paragraph 7 is closest in meaning to ___.
A. influence B. impress C. guide D. present
4.To increase your chance of winning a scholarship, you are advised to ____.
A. apply for as many scholarships as you can
B. tell an interesting story in your essay
C. do a similar interview to help you prepare for the real one
D. have a talk with past recipients and try to talk like they do
Dear Dad,
Today I was at the shopping mall and I spent a lot of time reading the Father's Day cards. They all had a special message that in some way or another reflected how I feel about you. Yet as I selected and read, it occurred to me that not a single card said what I really want to say to you.
You'll soon be 84 years old, Dad, and you and I will have had 55 Father's Days together. I haven't always been with you on Father's Day but I've always been with you in my heart.
You know, Dad, there was a time when we were separated by the generation gap. You stood on one side of the Great Divide and I on the other.
The Father-Daughter Duel shifted into high gear ( 档位) when you taught me to drive the old Dodge and I decided I would drive the '54 Chevy whether you liked it or not. The police officer who sent me home, after you reported the Chevy stolen, didn't have much tolerance for a stubborn 16 year old, while you were so tolerant about it, Dad, and I think that was probably what made it the worst night of my life.
Our relationship greatly improved when I married a man you liked, and things really turned around when we began making babies right and left. Somewhere along the line, the generation gap disappeared. I suppose I saw us and our relationship as aging together, rather like a fine wine.
But the strangest thing happened last week. I was at a stop sign and I watched as you turned the corner in your car. It didn't immediately occur to me that it was you because the man driving looked so elderly and fragile behind the wheel of that huge car. It was rather like a slap in the face delivered from out of nowhere. Perhaps I saw your age for the first time that day.
I guess what I'm trying to say, Dad, is what every son and daughter wants to say to their Dad today. Honoring a father on Father's Day is about respect and sharing and acceptance and tolerance and giving and taking. It's about loving someone more than words can say, and it's wishing that never had to end.
I love you, Dad.
Love,
Jenny
1.How did Jenny probably feel on the night she was sent home by the police?
A. Disappointed. B. Nervous. C. Guilty. D. Frightened.
2.We can learn from the passage that Jenny and her father_________.
A. kept in touch by writing each other
B. are separated due to the generation gap
C. have been getting along very well
D. had a hard time understanding each other
3.Why did Jenny feel strange when she saw her father last week?.
A. She seldom saw him driving that huge car.
B.She had never realized his being old and weak.
C. She didn't expect to meet with him there.
D.She had never seen him driving so slowly before.
4.Jenny wrote his father this letter to _________
A. tell him about their conflicts
B. say sorry for her being stubborn
C. express her gratitude to him
D. remind him of the early incident
My 9-year-old daughter and I were flying from our home in Carolina to spend a week with my husband in Florida.We were__ _ about the trip because we hadn't seen him for five months, and __ her Dad terribly.
As usual on the Charlotte-to-Miami flight, the plane was totally__ . Because we did not get our boarding passes until we__ at the gate, Kallie and I could not get seats together and were __ by the aisle（过道）. I asked two passengers in my row if they would switch places with Kallie and me, __ we could be together. They __ , saying they thought they should stay in their assigned seats.
Meanwhile, a mother and her three children were in a _ several rows ahead of us. There had been a mistake in their boarding passes, and _ the whole family had been split up. The passengers in her row_ refused to move elsewhere. She was very__ about the younger boy sitting with strangers. She was in tears, yet nobody__ to help her.
There were a troop of Boy Scouts(童子军) on __ . Suddenly the Scout leader stood up and said, "Ma’am, I think we can help you." He then __ five minutes rearranging his group so that adequate space was __ for the family. The boys followed his directions cheerfully and without _ , and the mother's relief was obvious.
Kallie, however, was beginning to panic at the _ of not being next to me. I told her that there wasn’t anything I could do. __ , the man sitting next to the Scoutmaster, __ to me and asked, "Would you and your daughter like our seats?" __ to himself and the Scoutmaster. We traded seats and continued our trip, very much relieved to be together and watch the scenery from Kallie’s window seat.
1.A.worried B.excited C. anxious D. eager
2.A.loved B. considered C. imagined D. missed
3.A. full B. crowded C. empty D. overweight
4.A. reached B. arrived C. landed D. knocked
5.A. divided B. blocked C. separated D. connected
6.A. in case B. even if C. as if D. so that
7.A. prevented B. refused C. agreed D. promised
8.A. panic B. hurry C. rush D. seat
9.A. however B. otherwise C. therefore D. instead
10.A. too B. even C. ever D. also
11.A. concerned B. curious C. particular D. content
12.A. suggested B. offered C. provided D. supplied
13.A. duty B. watch C.board D. spot
14.A. took B. cost C.paid D. spent
15.A. convenient B. available C. probable D. comfortable
16.A. permission B. excuse C.apology D. complaint
17.A. thought B. end C. feeling D. sense
18.A. Immediately B. Puzzlingly C.Clearly D. Amazingly
19.A. turned up B. turned around C. turned out D. turned away
20.A. sticking B. keeping C.waving D.referring
－So you gave Mary your dictionary?
－______.She said she'd return it to me when she could afford her own.
A. Not exactly. B. My pleasure. C. No doubt. D. Good idea.
