How to Have a Successful Teenage Life
Everyone wants to succeed in their life, don’t they? Even as a teenager, you can achieve success in your life, it really isn’t that hard.1.
Do well in school. No matter how boring it is now, education will help you be a productive member in society. Try your best for excellence in school: listen to the teachers, do your homework, study, and get good grades. Doing so will help you get into a better university, which will enable you to have a bright future.2.
Do good in your community(社区). Volunteering can not only improve your community's status, but could make you happier. Studies show that people who volunteer are less likely to develop depression(抑郁) than people who don’t.3.For example, if you love animals, volunteer at an animal shelter. If you love helping the environment, plant trees or pick up litter. When you help others, it will make you feel better about yourself.
4.Remember, they’re there to help you be the best that you can be. Respect them and value their opinions, even if they annoy you sometimes.5.You don't get to choose your teachers or your family, but you still have to put up with them. Learn how to deal with people now, because when you’re an adult, you don’t get to choose your boss or your co-workers, so learn how to respect them now.
A. Here are some important points that you may find helpful
B. Be nice to your parents and teachers
C. School sets you up on the right track
D. Find chances to do volunteer work that interests you
E. Keep in mind that they do the things they do because they care about you
F. Live life to the fullest
G. It will help you pass time and develop your personality
Why Do People Blink Their Eyes?
People blink(眨眼) their eyes tens of thousands of times every day. Scientists have long believed blinking was an involuntary movement and served mainly to keep the eyeballs wet. But a new study suggests it has a more important purpose.
An international team of scientists from the University of California at Berkeley studied the blinking of human eyelids. The journal Current Biology published their findings. The team said they found that blinking “repositions our eyeballs so we can stay focused” on what we are seeing. They said that when we blink our eyelids, the eyes roll back into their sockets--the bony area that surrounds and protects the eyes. However, the researchers found the eyes don’t always return to the same position. They said this causes the brain to tell the eye muscles to reorganize our eyesight.
Gerrit Maus is the lead writer of the report. He serves as an assistant professor of psychology at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Maus says: “Our eye muscles are quite sluggish(迟缓的) and imprecise, so the brain needs to constantly adapt its motor signals to make sure our eyes are pointing where they’re supposed to. Our findings suggested that the brain measures the difference in what we see before and after a blink, and commands the eye muscles to make the needed corrections.” The researchers said that without such corrections our surroundings would appear unclear and even jumpy. They said the movement acts “like a Steadicam(摄影稳定器) of the mind.”
The researchers said they asked volunteers to sit in a dark room while staring at a small dot on a flat surface. They used special cameras to follow the volunteer’s blinks and eye movements. After each blink, the dot was moved one centimeter to the right. The volunteers did not notice this, but the brain did. It followed the movement and directed the eye muscles to refocus on the dot. After the dot was moved in this way 30 times, the volunteers’ eyes changed their focus to the place where they predicted it would be.
Professor Maus says “Even though participants did not consciously register that the dot had moved, their brains did, and adjusted with the corrective eye movement. These findings add to our understanding of how the brain constantly adapts to changes, commanding our eye muscles to correct for errors in our bodies’ own hardware.”
1.According to the new study, blinking eyes can .
A. serve to keep the eyeballs wet
B. consciously correct eye movements
C. reposition eyeballs to stay focused
D. make our eyes adapt to motor signals
2.From the experiment, we can learn that .
A. the brain commanded the eye muscles to refocus on the dot
B. the eyeballs could stay in the place as they were predicted
C. participants were aware of the dot’s movements to the right
D. volunteers could see the moving dot with special cameras
3.The underlined word “register” in Paragraph 5 possibly means .
A. reason B. refocus
C. reserve D. realize
4.This passage shows that .
A. eye muscles are quite inactive and imprecise
B. the research is of great value in the eye movement
C. volunteers control their blinks to follow the changes of the dots
D. the brain plays an important role in seeing things clearly
Nobody is sure where and when the expression “apple-pie order” began. Some say that Scottish and English writers used the expression a long time ago. Others say it was first used in the northeastern American states known as New England. The housewives of New England cut their apples in even slices. Then they filled pie pans with them in an organized way, row upon row. As one writer said, the women of New England loved to have everything in its place. This perhaps explains why it generally is believed that the expression “apple-pie order” began in New England.
Another old expression, “apple of discord”, comes from ancient mythology(神话), however. The myth says that all the gods and goddesses were sitting around the table to celebrate the marriage of Thetis and Peleus. One of the goddesses-Discord was a troublemaker. She threw away a golden apple on the table to be given as a prize to the most beautiful goddess.
At one time, the tomato was called a love apple. That was a mistake. This is how the mistake happened: In the sixteenth century, Spain brought the tomato from South America after Spanish explorers had landed there. Spain then sold the tomato to Morocco. Italian traders carried it on to Italy. The Italian name for the tomato was “pomo di Moro” meant “d’amour” -the French word for love. And so “pomo di Moro” became the apple of love.
People believe many things about the apple. One belief is that it has great powers of keeping people healthy. A very common expression is "an apple a day keeps the doctor away."
Another belief is based on fact. The expression is "one rotten apple spoils the barrel." When an apple begins to go bad, it ruins all the other apples around it in the container. The expression has come to mean that one bad person in a group can cause everyone to act bad.
1.Which of the following can we know about the phrase “apple-pie order”?
A. No one knows for sure where and when it began
B. It has been put into use recently
C. Everyone is sure of where it began
D. It began in New England
2.What’s the meaning of “apple of discord”?
A. Everything in good order B. Situation of danger
C. Everything in agreement D. Cause of disagreement
3.What’s the purpose of the third paragraph?
A. To show us a mistaken idea
B. To explain how the tomato was called the apple of love
C. To tell us a love story about apple
D. To show how the tomato was brought in from south America
4.Which of the following expressions is about health?
A. Apple of discord
B. Apple-pie order
C. An apple a day keeps the doctor away
D. One rotten apple spoils the barrel
With five breakout(破纪录的) games, Jeremy Lin has become the NBA’s newest star.
In the New York Knicks' 92-85 won over the Los Angles Lakers last Saturday, Lin had a career-high 38 points. A day later, he led the Knicks to their fifth victory, 100-98 to Minnesota Timberwolves. In his previous games, Lin, 23, had 23 points against the Washington, 25 points against New Jersey and 28 against Utah in his first start.
Lin is smart. Before graduating from high school in California, he had sent his application to all the Ivy League Schools(常青藤联盟). He only got into Harvard and Brown, and he chose Harvard. In 2010, Lin graduated with a degree in economics.
Lin is the first Chinese-American player in the NBA. He was born in the US and his family is Asian. Although not born in China, Lin has attracted nearly all Yao Ming's old fans, who see him as a powerful role model.
He started off on the Golden State Warriors. Lin first signed with the Warriors in July, 2010, but seldom played in games before the start of the fourth quarter. His first time on the court for the Warriors earned him seven points, three rebounds(篮板球) and two assists in just 11 minutes.
He is really perfect for the Knicks. The New York Knicks has been in need of a reliable point guard and to Mike D'Antoni, the Knicks coach who's going through a difficult season, Lin is a most unexpected figure. Lin just does everything easy and the rest of the guys around him are playing the way we want to," D'Antoni said. "I think it's for real, and it can only get better."
1.In which team did Lin start his career in NBA?
A. the New York Knicks B. Minnesota Timberwolves
C. The Golden State Warriors D. The Los Angles Lakers
2.From the passage, we learn that .
A. most of Yao Ming's fans take Lin as a great role model
B. Lin is an American-Chinese basketball player
C. the New York Knicks has never been defeated
D. after graduation from Harvard, Lin signed with the Knicks
3.From the passage, it can be inferred that .
A. Lin is the team leader of the Knicks
B. the Knicks' coach puts strong hopes on Lin
C. the Knicks' success only depends on Lin
D. the Knicks is sure to win the season this year
4.The author's purpose of writing the report is .
A. to introduce a newest rising NBA star
B. to express his love for Jeremy Lin
C. to report the progress of the Knicks
D. to show his support for the Knicks
The Coolest Inventions
An Oceans Vacuum(吸尘器)
There’s a collection of plastic trash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It’s bigger than Texas and growing. The way to clean it up now is to catch it with nets. That is both costly and slow. Instead, the Ocean Cleanup Project proposes a 62-mile-long floating barrier that would use natural currents to trap trash. If next year’s trials succeed, a full cleanup operation would aim to start in 2020. It could reduce the trash by 42% over 10 years.
Easy-On Shoes
In 2012, Matthew Walzer, a high school student with a disability, sent a note to Nike. “My dream is to go to college,” he wrote, “without having to worry about someone coming to tie my shoes every day.” Nike assigned a design team to the challenge. This year, they came out with their solution: the FlyEase. The basketball shoe can be fastened with one hand. A pair of Nike FlyEase shoes sells for $130.
An Airport for Drones (无人机)
As Amazon, Google, and others get ready for drone delivery service, there is one big question: What kinds of home bases will their drones have? Rwanda, in Africa, may have the answer. There, workers will soon start work on three “drone ports”. The goals is to make it easier to transport food, medical supplies, electronics, and other goods through the hilly countryside. Construction is set to be completed in 2020.
1.What’s the advantage of the Oceans Vacuum?
A. It can be put into wide use soon B. It can grow year by year
C. It can tear plastic into pieces D. It can be a money-saver
2.What do we know about Nike?
A. It provides customer-friendly services
B. It is designing new shoes frequently
C. It offers free shoes to the disabled
D. It responded to Matthew’s request passively
3.Why is Rwanda setting up “drone ports”?
A. Because they are receptive to new technology
B. Because there are too many drones
C. Because they’re easier to construct than roads
D. Because road travel there is rough
假设你是李梅，你的好朋友苏珊前不久随父母去美国，她写信告诉你她很不适应美国的校园生活，感到孤独。请你根据以下要点用英语给她写一封建议信。
（1）多交一些朋友，友情会使她忘记孤独。
（2）学好英语，从而增加和别人交流的机会。
（3）空余时间多去旅游，使自己的生活更加有趣。
词数：100个左右；可适当增加细节。
Dear Susan,
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Yours,
Li Mei
