We are not born with courage,but neither are we born with fear.Fears,even the most basic ones,can totally destroy our ambitions.Fear can destroy fortunes.Fear can destroy relationships.Fear,if left unchecked,can destroy our lives.Fear is one of the many enemies living inside us.
1.
The first enemy we face is indecision.Indecision is the thief of opportunity.2.Take a sword to this enemy.
The second enemy inside is doubt.3.But you also can't let doubt take over.Many people doubt the past,doubt the future,doubt each other,doubt the government,doubt the possibilities and doubt the opportunities.Worst of all, they doubt themselves.I'm telling you,doubt will destroy your life and your chances of success.It will empty both your bank account and your heart.4.
Do battle with the enemies.Do battle with your fears.5.Be courageous in your life and in your pursuit of the things you want and the person you want to become.
A.Sure,there's room for healthy doubt.You can't believe everything.
B.Build your courage to fight what's holding you back,what's keeping you from your goals and dreams.
C.Let me tell you about two of the other enemies we face from within.
D.Below are the ways which might be useful for us to overcome our fears.
E.Doubt is an enemy.Go after it.Get rid of it.
F.It will steal your chances for a better future.
G.Some people doubt everything.
Legend has it that the performing arts began when a Greek singer named Thespis invented tragedy.In 534 B.C., Thespis was performing a hymn（赞美诗）to the god Dionysius.Such hymns,called dithyrambs,were usually sung by a lead singer and a chorus.Thespis added a speaking actor.Performances at the annual Dionysian festival soon included plays with three actors as well as the standard hymns.By 449 B.C.,the Greeks were giving prizes to the best actor and the best playwright at the festival.A modern word for actor—thespian recognizes the debt today's drama owes to Thespis.
Performing in a Greek play required physical strength.Because each play had only three actors,performers had to play several roles.Chorus members both sang and danced.Being in the chorus for the many performances given at a festival was said to be as demanding as competing in the Olympic Games.
The Theater of Dionysius in Athens could hold 20,000 people.Even those in the front rows were quite a distance from the actors.Performers used grand gestures and wore masks so that they could be seen by everyone in their huge audience.Tragic（悲剧的）actors wore long clothes and masks.Comic actors wore short costumes that let them move freely and masks designed to make them look ugly or silly.Sometimes the chorus were dressed up to look like animals.
Another legacy（遗产）of the ancient Greeks is the deus ex machina,or "god from the machine".If a playwright was having trouble with the plot,he might have a god appear through a trap door（天窗）.The god would rescue the main character and find a solution to any difficult plot situations.Modem writers might not call on gods,but they do sometimes use unlikely ways to end a story.A character or an event that brings a complicated plot to an unlikely conclusion is still called deus ex machina.
1.We can learn from Paragraph 1 that .
A. the word "thespian" means "debt" in English
B. the Dionysian festival was held once a year
C. there were four actors in early Greek drama
D. the first tragedy was performed in 449B.C
2.From the passage we can know .
A. it was not easy to get a chance to perform in the chorus
B. the best actor and the best playwright would be given money
C. the playwright must play a role in the performance
D. the audience sat very close to actors to have a good view
3.According to the passage,one difference between early Greek comedies and tragedies is .
A. the actors' distance from the audience
B. the play's beginning
C. the number of performers
D. the actors' clothes
4.Deus ex machina is .
A. a kind of tragedy popular with ancient audience
B. a type of character that modern writers often write about
C. a way ancient Greek dramatists used to develop the plot
D. a style of performance first used by ancient Greek actors
Pushy parents and teachers who "hothouse" the under-5s risk causing damage to the children's long-term development,a leading education expert said.
Lilian Katz,Professor of Education at the University of Illinois,told that four-year-olds engaged in reading and writing went on to perform worse academically than those,engaged in imaginative learning.They scored higher in tests at the age of 5,but children whose first year at school was stimulating（使人兴奋的）outstripped them years later.
The findings suggest that the government's structured approach to early-years learning could be storing up problems for children.They also raise serious questions about the plan for all children to be able to read by the age of 6.
In many countries formal teaching does not start until children are 6 or 7 and have improved their social and manual skills.Children start learning to read and write at 6 in the United States,France and Germany,and at 7 Finland and Sweden.
Professor Katz said that in many schools the courses were “boring children to tears”.Much academic teaching required I children to learn by memorizing pieces of information out of context,she said.Teaching in reception class should instead allow children to develop their intellect by exploring their environments and asking questions.
"Research suggests the benefits of formal academic instruction for four and five-year-olds seem to be promising when they are tested early,but considerably less so in the long term.When these children arc followed over a period of three or more years,those who had early experience in more intellectually engaging curricula were more likely to do well in school than their peers,who had received early academic instruction."She advocates teaching children through first-hand experience and play,in mixed-aged classes.This can include puppet shows,drawing or running a pretend shop in the classroom.
1.According to the passage,those who "hothouse" the under-5s would probably______.
A. prefer a lot of interaction and stimulation while teaching
B. teach in a lively way to motivate kids' interest
C. push the kids to memorize pieces of information
D. care about the kids' physical development
2.What does the underlined word "outstripped" in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. did better than
B. looked down upon
C. caught up with
D. performed worse than
3.The message the author wants to deliver through the passage is that formal teaching______.
A. can start at different times in different countries
B. should not be started too early
C. is best carried out in Finland and Sweden
D. should include teaching children social and manual skills
4.Which of the following is NOT the opinion of Lilian Katz?
A. Children should be taught through first-hand experience.
B. Learning in a mixed-age class is good for children.
C. Running a shop can help children get good marks.
D. Puppet shows and drawing are useful ways in teaching children.
Not so long ago,most people didn't know who Shelly Ann Francis Pryce was going to become.She was just an average high school athlete.There was every indication that she was just another American teenager without much of a future.However,one person wants to change this.Stephen Francis observed then eighteen-year-old Shelly Ann as a track meet and was convinced that he had seen the beginning of true greatness.Her time were not exactly impressive, but even so,he seemed there was something trying to get out,something the other coaches had overlooked when they had assessed her and found her lacking.He decided to offer Shelly Ann a place in his very strict training seasons. Their cooperation quickly produced results,and a few year later at Jamaica's Olympic games in early 2008,Shelly Ann,who at that time only ranked number 70 in the world,beat Jamaica's unchallenged queen of the sprint（短跑）.
"Where did she come from?"asked an astonished sprinting world,before concluding that she must be one of those one-hit wonders that spring up from time to time,only to disappear again without signs.But Shelly Ann was to prove that she was anything but a one-hit wonder.At the Beijing Olympic she swept away any doubts about her ability to perform consistently by becoming the first Jamaican woman ever to win the 100 meters Olympic gold.She did it again one year on at the World Championship in Briton,becoming world champion with a time of' 10.73—the fourth record ever.
Shelly-Ann is a little woman with a big smile.She has a mental toughness that did not come about by chance. Her journey to becoming the fastest woman on earth has been anything but smooth and effortless,She grew up in one of Jamaica's toughest inner-city communities known as Waterhouse,where she lived in a one-room apartment, sleeping four in a bed with her mother and two brothers.Waterhouse,one of the poorest communities in Jamaica,is a really violent and overpopulated place.Several of Shelly-Ann's friends and family were caught up in the killings;one of her cousins was shot dead only a few streets away from where she lived.Sometimes her family didn't have enough to eat.She ran at the school championships barefooted because she couldn't afford shoes.Her mother Maxime,one of a family of fourteen,had been an athlete herself as a young girl but,like so many other girls in Waterhouse,had to stop after she had her first baby.Maxime's early entry into the adult world with its responsibilities gave her the determination to ensure that her kids would not end up in Waterhouse's roundabout of poverty.One of the first things Maxime used to do with Shelly-Ann was taking her to the track,and she was ready to sacrifice everything.
It didn't take long for Shelly-Ann to realize that sports could be her way out of Waterhouse.On a summer evening in Beijing in 2008,all those long,hard hours of work and commitment finally bore fruit.The barefoot kid who just a few years previously had been living in poverty,surrounded by criminals and violence,had written a new chapter in the history of sports.
But Shelly-Ann's victory was far greater than that.The night,she won Olympic gold in Beijing,the routine murders in Waterhouse and the drug wars in the neighbouring streets stopped.The dark cloud above one of the world's toughest criminal neighbourhoods simply disappeared for a few days.“I have so much fire burning for my country,”Shelly said.She plans to start a foundation for homeless children and wants to build a community centre in Waterhouse.She hopes to inspire the Jamaicans to lay down their weapons.She intends to fight to make it a woman's as well as a man's world.
As Muhammad Ali puts it,"Champions aren't made in gyms.Champions are made from something they have deep inside them.A desire,a dream,a vision."One of the things Shelly-Ann can be proud of is her understanding of this truth.
1.Why did Stephen Francis decide to coach Shelly-Ann?
A. He had a strong desire to free her family from trouble.
B. He sensed a great potential in her despite her weaknesses.
C. She had big problems maintaining her performance.
D. She suffered a lot of defeats at the previous track meets.
2.What can we infer from Shelly-Ann's statement underlined in Paragraph 5?
A. She was highly rewarded for her efforts.
B. She was eager to do more for her country.
C. She became an athletic star in her country.
D. She was the envy of the whole community.
3.By mentioning Muhammad Ali's words,the author intends to tell us that_____.
A. players should be highly inspired by coaches
B. great athletes need to concentrate on patience
C. hard work is necessary in one's achievements
D. motivation allows great athletes to be on the top
4.What is the best title for the passage?
A. The Making of a Great Athlete
B. The Dream for Championship
C. The Key to High Performance
D. The Power of Full Responsibility
Fearful parents are saying no to sleep-overs（在别人家里过夜）,banning children as old as 15 from using public transport on their own and watching over their kids like hawks（鹰）at the local park,according to a new British study.
The survey of 6,099 people commissioned by LV,a charity that educates children about safety,showed that nearly a quarter of children aged 15 or under were not allowed to sleep at a friend's house,60 percent were forbidden to travel on public transport alone and 43 percent couldn't go to the park without a parent or guardian（监护人）.
It said more than 60 percent of mums and dads think the world is more dangerous than when they were kids. "It's difficult for parents to know when is the right time to step back and allow children to experience things on their own,"said one person in the survey.
In contrast,just four percent of today's adults said they were banned from sleeping-over when they were 15 or younger,only two percent were forbidden to use public transport,and the same number couldn't go out on their own in familiar surroundings,such as their local town or park.
“Stranger danger” is the number one worry for over half of all parents (54 percent),followed by bullying（欺侮）(47),mugging (46) and road danger (34).On average,children today can look forward to walking to school on their own by the age of 11,use public transport on their own at 12,and babysit their brother or sister by the time they're 14.
In contrast,parents say they were allowed to walk to school unaccompanied at the age of nine,use public transport alone by the time they were 11,and babysit a brother or sister by the time of their 12th birthday.
Parents know they are being tougher on their children and over a third said they felt uneasy that their kids do not get the same opportunities as they did to experience freedom as a youngster.
1.Most parents have more control over their children because_______.
A. they love their children more than their parents did in the past
B. they are more protective than their parents were
C. they think the world is more dangerous than it was in the past
D. they think children don't need to experience things on their own
2.According to the survey,children nowadays______.
A. pay more attention to their safety
B. have less freedom than their parents' generation
C. grow up in a better environment
D. have no ability to ensure their own safety
3.What would be the best title of the passage?
A. Kids want the same freedom as their parents.
B. When can children have their freedom?
C. Why are children not allowed to sleep-over.
D. Fearful British parents keep kids closer than ever.
假定你是李华，你的美国笔友Allen下个月要参加全美高中生汉语演讲比赛，来信询问你如何写一篇精彩的汉语演讲稿。请根据下列要点给Allen写一封信。
1.愿意提供帮助；
2.给出具体建议；
3.祝他取得佳绩。
注意：1.词数100左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Allen,
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Yours,
Li Hua
