Five years ago, when I taught art at a school in Seattle, I used Tinkertoys as a test at the beginning of a term to find out something about my students. I put a small set of Tinkertoys in front of each student, and said: “Make something out of the Tinkertoys. You have 45 minutes today-and 45 minutes each day for the rest of the week.”
A few students hesitated to start. They waited to see what the rest of the class would do. Several others checked the instructions and made something according to one of the model plans provided. Another group built something out of their own imaginations.
Once I had a boy who worked experimentally with Tinkertoys in his free time. His constructions filled a shelf in the art classroom and a good part of his bedroom at home. I was delighted at the presence of such a student. Here was an exceptionally creative mind at work. His presence meant that I had an unexpected teaching assistant in class whose creativity would infect other students.
Encouraging this kind of thinking has a downside. I ran the risk of losing those students who had a different style of thinking. Without fail one would declare, “But I’m just not creative.”
“Do you dream at night when you’re asleep?”
“Oh, sure.”
“So tell me one of your most interesting dreams.” The student would tell something wildly imaginative. Flying in the sky or in a time machine or growing three heads. “That’s pretty creative. Who does that for you?”
“Nobody. I do it.”
“Really — at night, when you’re asleep?”
“Sure.”
“Try doing it in the daytime, in class, okay?”
1.The teacher used Tinkertoys in class in order to ________.
A. make the lessons more exciting
B. know more about the students
C. raise the students’ interest in art
D. teach the students about toy design
2.What do we know about the boy mentioned in Paragraph 3?
A. He liked to help his teacher.
B. He preferred to study alone.
C. He was imaginative.
D. He was active in class.
3.What does the underlined word “downside” in Paragraph 4 mean?
A. Mistake B. Difficulty C. Drawback D. Burden
4.Why did the teacher ask the students to talk about their dreams?
A. To help them to see their creativity.
B. To find out about their sleeping habits.
C. To help them to improve their memory.
D. To find out about their ways of thinking.
Put technology in the hands of someone like Elon Musk and it can send people into space, make a future of clean and renewable energy a reality, or build electric cars. Put in your hands, and it can help you achieve all sorts of things, from learning to code to learning a language.
Educational apps are becoming increasingly popular as a supplement(补充), and sometimes as an alternative
(替代物), to traditional education. Why? Well, for starters, it’s extremely convenient to learn on a pocket-sized device that you already carry around with you at all times. The best apps are also highly interactive and adaptive, coaxing you in and getting you hooked on learning.
But apps, just like textbooks and language lessons, are a medium through which a language can be studied. The way you use them will affect how successful you are. If you flick through a textbook and don’t dare say a word in your language lessons, you’ll make slow progress. The keen reader who repeats each exercise in the textbook and engages the teacher in the conversation will move ahead. So how do you ensure you get the most out of your app, and what should you consider before you install(安装) one?
Before that, a very quick introduction: I developed the following five points from my experience as both a language teacher and learner, and from working in startups in the field of language. I spent six years teaching in Germany and Spain as well as developing a video learning startup. However, I first came to language learning late. I started learning Spanish at 22, and was able to use Spanish and German freely by about 28. I’ve been using language apps for the last few years, and participated in two successful one-week challenges to go from zero to hero in Italian and French. If you’re interested, you can see the French challenge here.
So, just before downloading an app, here’s what you should think about…
1.We infer that Elon Musk is most probably __________.
A. an app developer
B. a language teacher
C. a professor at college
D. an engineer and tech company owner
2.What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 probably mean?
A. Causing you to get tired of learning.
B. Encouraging you to interact with others.
C. Making you keep learning the language.
D. Providing new leaning methods for you.
3.What does the author want to show by giving the example of how one uses a textbook?
A. Doing exercise is important.
B. Different people learn differently.
C. Textbooks have become out of date.
D. We should use a language learning app correctly.
Albert Hofmann was a Swiss Scientist who was fascinated by nature. This led him to a career in chemistry in which he sought answers to his uncertainties. He worked at Sandoz Laboratories where he nurtured his research work, and there he made a lot of success by working with various plants and changing them into something useful. He became famous when he became the first person to produce lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) (迷幻药). In addition, he was also the first person to taste it and learn about its hallucinogenic (勾起幻觉的) effects. He was deeply connected to the nature and argued that LSD, besides being useful for psychiatry(精神病学), could also be used to promote awareness of mankind’s place in nature. However, he was disappointed that his discovery was being carelessly used as a drug for entertainment. Because of his discovery, LSD fans have fondly called him “The father of LSD”. Besides carrying out his scientific experiments, he also authored numerous books and more than 100 scientific articles. In 2007, he featured in a list of the 100 greatest living geniuses(天才), published by The Telegraph Newspaper.
Childhood & Early Life
Albert Hofmann was born in Baden, Switzerland, on January 11, 1906. He was the eldest of four children. His father was a poor toolmaker in a factory and they lived in a rented apartment. He spent much of his childhood outdoors, and grew up with a very deep connection with nature.
He had mind-blowing experiences in childhood, wherein nature was changed in magical ways that he didn’t understand. These experiences caused questions in his mind, and chemistry was the scientific field which allowed him to understand them.
He studied chemistry at Zurich University, and his main interest is the chemistry of plants and animals. At 23, he earned his Ph. D with honors.
1.What led Albert Hofmann to a career in chemistry?
A. His nature. B. His father. C. His family. D. His interest.
2.It’s likely that Albert Hofmann produced LSD in __________.
A. Baden B. a factory C. Sandoz Laboratories D. Zurich University
3.From the passage, we know the discovery of LSD __________.
A. was being wrongly used
B. was not useful for psychiatry
C. made Albert Hofmann surprised
D. could change mankind’s place in nature
4.Which can be inferred about Albert from the passage?
A. He has four brothers or sisters.
B. He has found many useful plants.
C. He lived up to more than 100 years.
D. He only concentrated on scientific experiments.
The GRAMMY Museum is a musically fascinating journey of music in downtown Los Angeles. Turn up the beat over four floors of modern exhibits, interactive(互动的) experiences and interesting films that will give you a one-of-a-kind experience. They want to engage you, educate you, and inspire you — just like music does!
There are over 30,000 square feet of interactive, traveling and permanent (永久的) exhibits. This includes over two dozen exhibits along that explore the greatest of the GRAMMY music! Your whole family will find something they love — rock, classical, hip hop to country…
The Crossroads exhibition invites you to explore nearly 160 kinds of music! Open them up on the interactive table in front of you to show photos, songs and stories that describe the influence that music has on the world, as well as the music itself.
Journey down the Songwriters Hall of Fame. How many of these songs do you know? How many songwriters have you heard of? You can also try writing a song with some songwriters in the songwriting kiosks(自助式服务设备)!
Have you wondered how a song gets from someone’s head to your radio? The third floor shows the art of recording.
The museum always has a host of programs and events throughout the year, so make sure you keep up to date — you won’t want to miss out!
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
Adults: $ 12.95
Children: $ 10.95 (6-17 yrs)
Free: under 5 years old
WHEN CAN WE GO?
Mon-Fri: 11:30 am – 7:30 pm
Weekends: 10:00 am – 7:30 pm
Sometimes shut for private events, so check before you go.
【小题】 What can you learn through the Crossroads exhibition?
A. Stories that inspire songs. B. The history of the Grammy Awards.
C. The influence of music on the world. D. How some famous photos were taken.
1.Where can you go to learn about the development of music recording?
A. The third floor.
B. The fourth floor.
C. The Crossroads exhibition.
D. The Songwriters Hall of Fame.
2.How much should a couple with a 6-year-old kid pay to enter the museum?
A. $23.90. B. $25.80. C. $36.85. D. $47.70.
3.We know that the museum __________.
A. is open to the public all year round
B. is open for the same time every day
C. cannot be entered until 10:30 am at weekends
D. cannot be entered until 11:30 am on weekdays
某英文网站提出“走路去上学”的倡议，请你就这一话题写一篇约为100字的英语文章。内容如下：
1、走路有利于健康
2、和朋友结伴走路上学很有意思，增进相互了解。
3、父母免于接送
4、…(自由发挥)
注意：1、可适当增加细节使行文连贯； 2、文中不得出现真实的人名等个人相关信息。
短文改错
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加:在缺词处加一个漏词符号(∧)，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限一词。
2.只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分.
Strange things were happening in a countryside of northeast Hebei. For three days the water in the village wells rise and fell. Farmers noticed that the well walls had deep cracks in it . A smell gas came out of the cracks. In the farmyards, the chickens and even the pigs were so nervous to eat. Mice ran out of the fields looked for places to hide. Fish jumped out of their bowls and ponds. At about 3:00 am in July 28,1976, some people saw bright lights in the sky. The sound of planes could be heard about outside the city of Tangshan even no planes were in the sky. In the city, the water pipes in some buildings cracked and burst. But the one million people of the city, whom thought little of these events, were asleep as usual the night.
