A Writing Fool

In the seventh grade I realized I was dyslexic, which made it difficult for me to read and spell. I did really badly in my history course, so my mother said to me, “I’ll work with you for a full week. I’m going to show you what you can do if you put in the right amount of effort.” So we did. We worked on history for a full week, an extra hour every day. Then I went to school and failed the test, as always. It was really upsetting.

By the time I got to college I came to know that I couldn’t spell no matter how hard I tried. So I would sign up for extra courses. I’d be in registration lines all day. Then I would go around the first day of class and ask each professor: “What’s your policy on misspelling?” If he said, “Three misspellings is a fail,” I’d drop it.

Although I was an academic failure, I had a great time. I had many friends and I was always popular. I was a good football player, which was important in those years because I could read my name in the newspaper. I never had a day when I would think, “People don’t like me.”

In spite of my obvious weaknesses, I became successful in my career, so much so that people say to me, “So you’ve overcome dyslexia.” No. I don’t overcome it. I just learn to compensate for it. Some easy things are hard for me. Most people read 500 words a minute. I only read 200. I try not to dial a phone because I sometimes have to dial three times to get the number right. I owe my successful career to my writing instructor, Ralph Salisbury. He looked past my misspellings and gave   me   encouragement.   So   I   always   feel   confident.   When   I   write   my   books, I’m   seeing everything in my imagination. I write quickly and go like the wind.

The real fear that I have for dyslexic people is not that they have to struggle with their reading skills or that they can’t spell correctly, but that they will quit on themselves before they get out of school.

4. When the author did badly in the course, his mother thought that    .

A．he needed a better teacher

B．he did not work hard enough

C．he was probably too ill to study

D．he was not as smart as other children

5. In college, the author was in registration lines all day to    .

A．choose most interesting courses

B．become friends with new classmates

C．stay distance from language teachers

D．avoid courses that require correct spelling

6. Which of the following best describes the author in college?

A．Happy and active.

B．Shy and unhappy.

C．Successful and funny.

D．Quiet and unsuccessful.

7. According to the author, it is important for dyslexic people    .

A．not to get out of school

B．not to give up so easily

C．to learn to spell correctly

D．to develop reading skills

If you visit Uluwatu Temple in Bali, take care. The long-tailed macaques(猕猴) there are well-known thieves. Since time out of mind(自古以来) they have made a living by taking away visitors’ belongings and refusing to return them until some food is provided. That is quite clever. But Jean-Baptiste Leca of the University of Lethbridge wondered whether these monkeys are cleverer still. Sometimes, they do not accept the first offer and hold out for more. He therefore asked himself whether they are able to assess how valuable an object is to its owner, and use that knowledge in their negotiations.

Experiments conducted in the past with monkeys and apes suggest such primates(灵长类动物) can indeed attach a value to something worthless to them like a colored plastic counter(筹码), by learning that symbols of this sort may be exchanged for food, and that different counters bring different rewards. These findings, however, were based on rules made by humans but followed by lab animals. The macaques of Uluwatu are true wild animals, though ones that are familiar with, and comfortable in the presence of, human beings.

Dr. Leca and his colleagues conducted their experiment by wandering around the temple with video cameras, recording the robberies. After that, they tried to establish the relative values of food rewards to monkeys, and of stealable objects to people. There are three sorts of rewards: raw eggs, biscuits and small bags of fruit. Different monkeys have different preferences, but Leca established these for individual animals by offering them choices between pairs of goodies. They then observed, from their video recordings, how many times victims bothered to bargain with a thief for the return of property, and thus classified objects into low value (including plastic bottles and key rings), medium value (such as hats and shoes) and high value (like electronics and wallets).

A close analysis showed that monkeys do, indeed, have a complicated sense of what they are doing — at least, adults and sub-adults do. For these animal thieves, high-value items are their first choice, and they will often hold out either for more rewards, or for better ones, if they are in possession of such items. But this is something that they have to learn how to do as they grow up.

12. Why should visitors be careful in Uluwatu Temple?

A．There are strict rules in the temple.	B．There are many thieves and cheats.
C．Some wild animals may attack them.	D．Monkeys may steal their possessions.

13. In what way were previous experiments different from Leca’s?

A．They focused on symbols and rewards.

B．They were conducted in an artificial setting.

C．They looked at how monkeys and apes learned.

D．They mainly examined how primates used counters.

14. What did Leca and his colleagues’ research prove?

A．There is a reward system among adult monkeys.

B．Young macaques are born with negotiating skills

C．Monkeys have a great ability to sense human feelings.

D．Long-tailed macaques can recognize high-value objects.

15. What would be the best title for the text?

A．Name your price	B．Threats to macaques
C．Welcome to Uluwatu Temple	D．Various survival skill in nature

How to Teach Kids About Setting Goals

    16     It can become an easy process for a lifetime if kids are taught goal setting at an early stage. They need to be offered a project to make them work on achieving something personal.

Set smart goals. A goal needs to be measurable, specific, realistic and timely in order to be effective. Kids prefer generalizing when it comes to goal setting. For example, one may want to be the best basketball player in the team.     17     What exactly does a goal like this mean? You need to ask them to be specific. Begin with scoring two baskets in each game(or however many; just something measurable!) so that they can keep pushing the barriers to achieve greater goals.

Write down goals.     18     Recent studies show that when goals are written down, the individual is likely to achieve them.

    19     Kids have the habit of choosing goals that just seem impossible to achieve. You need to teach them the meaning of short and long-term goals and give your child reality checks.

Set up review points. You can ask them to write their main goal on the poster and mention the steps they would take for achieving their goal.     20     It is important to help your children have their own checkpoint systems that actually work for them.

A．Learn to set a long-term goal.

B．How is a goal like this measured?

C．Give up goals that are not realistic.

D．This tip is supported by science as well.

E．Goals can never be achieved unless they are written down.

F．It is essential for everybody, especially for kids, to set goals in life.

G．You can also ask them to track their progress once a week or month.

47. 阅读下面材料,根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段,使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Growing up, my family always had cats—but by the time I got to college, I wanted one l could call my own. So, I visited Animal Home in Michigan, looking for the perfect cat.

There was a black kitten I nearly ignored. He was skinny and small and not even cute, but he stuck his paws through the cage, trying to play with me. He was clearly interested in me, so I asked to hug him. He curled up on my shoulder and began purring(发出咕噜声). Our connection was immediate. I adopted him, named him Adam, and brought him home.

Over the next 16 years, Adam and I were so close. He was gentle, sweet and playful. But one night last year, everything changed.

It was as if one day Adam was still acting like a kitten, and then the next day he was vomiting(呕吐)all the time and no longer acting like his usual self. He'd lost weight and I knew that he was sick. I took him to the vet(兽医)and the diagnosis was sad: stomach cancer. Worse yet, the vet thought he was too old for operation. All I could do was give him medicine to help make him more comfortable.

A month later, Adam got worse. I took him to the emergency vet, where they kept him overnight to administer fluids(输液). When I went to pick him up the next morning, on Christmas Eve, the vet said it was time to end his life. It was the best thing to do for him. With deep sorrow, I said goodbye to him.

Once I got back home, reality hurt me much. Usually, Adam was there to wait for me at the door. But he was gone, leaving an aching emptiness in my life and in my home. I suffered from huge pain. I told my husband I didn't want another cat.

1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Few weeks later, my friend Amy who rescued homeless cats called me.

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After I brought the new cat home, my huge pain gradually disappeared.

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