When I entered Oxford University, I wasn’t particularly interested in joining the rowing club. I just wanted to know what it is like to row in one of those narrow boats, so I signed up with the intention of quitting after the first session. At least that’s what I thought.
Six months later, I found myself sitting in a rowing boat with three teammates, waiting for a 2000-meter race to start. In the boat alongside us sat a crew from the university’s team, two of whom had won medals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. My crew was only rowing at college-level and we had only trained a few times as a team, so facing such strong athletes was quite terrifying. I tried to focus my mind on the race, not on my opponents.
Go! We pushed off with all our might and rowed as fast as we could. As we reached the halfway mark, the other crew was ahead of us. But to my amazement we were gaining on them. If we could win the race, we would get through to the final! We pushed even harder, ignoring the pain in our legs and drawing energy from the cheers of our college friends. I could already sense the sweet taste of victory.
But then, disaster. One of my teammates lost control of his oar (桨), knocking him nearly out of the boat. We came to a sudden stop, and watched as our opponents crossed the finishing line. It was the most disappointing moment in my life. I wanted to punch my teammate who had ruined everything and push him into the water. But when I saw how angry he was with himself, I gave him a hug.
Although we lost, I’m still proud of how well we did that day facing a much stronger team. What I remember now is the thrill of racing, not the pain of defeat.
1. What was the author’s attitude to rowing in the beginning?| A．He was curious about rowing. | B．He was fond of rowing. |
| C．He was eager to win in a rowing race. | D．He was tired of rowing. |
| A．Worried. | B．Terrified. | C．Disappointed. | D．Surprised. |
| A．A group member made a mistake. | B．The opponents were too strong. |
| C．They were worn out. | D．They hurt their legs. |
| A．Nothing is impossible. | B．Trying your best is the best award. |
| C．The early bird catches the worm. | D．Never quit until the last minute. |
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【推荐1】We’ve all experienced failure. Whether we like it or not, failure is part of life. How people respond to it is of great importance both to their decisions and achievements. Some are likely to have such expectations: “If I should reach that goal, how happy would I feel?” In a recent study, we wanted to understand how such expectations may change in the face of failure. Are people able to predict their own happiness?
The old saying “the grass is always greener on the other side” suggests that people spend much of their time longing for things they can’t have. In other words, the harder it is to achieve, the higher the valuation. But is this a good model for how ordinary people process failure? According to the story The Fox and the Grapes, failure often leads us to drop our initial (最初的) plan. In the story, the fox jumps with all his strength, yet he fails to reach the grapes. Finally, he walks away, concluding that the grapes were sour (酸的) anyway.
So, which is it: greener grass or sour grapes? We did an experiment to determine how people react to failure.
In the study, about 1,200 participants (参加者) received either good or poor feedback (反馈) on the practice trial of a test. Half of them were told that they had performed in the bottom 20 percent, while the other half, in the top 20 percent. They were then asked to predict how they would feel if they earned a high score on the actual test.
The research results showed that those who received poor feedback on the practice trial predicted that they would feel less happiness and less pride, compared to those who received strong feedback. However, when they received a top score on the actual test later, they were just as happy as the other half, and much happier than they had predicted before. This suggests that the initial failure made people undervalue how good it would feel to succeed in the future.
The question though, is why failure makes us downplay our future happiness. According to Professor Jon Elster, people don’t always know what they want, and often change their wishes to match what appears within reach. When the outcome doesn’t fit the one they have of themselves, they protect themselves by devaluing the goal—rather than devaluing self. In other words, when personal failure happens, one way of protecting our positive (积极的) sense of self is to refuse to accept the emotional importance of future achievements.
Detachment (超脱) from personal goals can be useful, if it helps people redirect their attention from the impossible to better and more achievable goals. However, if the sour-grape effect kicks in too early and people become fearful of failure, they could miss out on the chance to try again and realize that what once seemed impossible is now within reach.
1. What does the story The Fox and the Grapes suggest?| A．The outcome valuation depends on what goal is set. |
| B．Difficulties result in a higher achievement expectation. |
| C．Past performance doesn’t help predict future happiness. |
| D．Initial failure makes future success appear less attractive. |
| A．undervalue | B．better understand | C．destroy | D．discover |
| A．The participants cared more about strong feedback. |
| B．The happier people are those who predict less happiness. |
| C．The participants’ performance failed to match their abilities. |
| D．People devalue the goal to keep a positive view of themselves. |
| A．Failure is the mother of success. |
| B．Detachment stops people from changing wishes. |
| C．The seemingly impossible is worth trying sometimes. |
| D．The sour-grape effect pushes us to keep moving forward. |
【推荐2】It’s not easy growing up. Actually it’s far from easy. Growing up can be a real “pain” for some of us. We are always doing things that someone else makes us do and aren’t allowed to do all the things we like. Sometimes we feel trapped(落进圈套的), sometimes we are fearful, and sometimes we just don’t understand why we can’t stay young forever. But through it all, all the suffering, all the worrying, we find a reason. We should take a look back at all the hardship(苦难) in life with a positive attitude and learn from them. We should realize that all of our growing pains actually turn into growing gains!
Some of us have just finished taking the high school entrance exams, the first obstacle(障碍物) to our lives we are going to have many challenges and many pains but we can’t let these obstacles keep us from following our dreams. We must overcome our obstacles one small step at a time.
As a young girl my parents pressured(施加压力) my sisters and me to do so many things that I never liked. They made me learn to play the violin and then the piano. At that time I hated music, just because it was what they wanted me to do. But looking back now, I am so glad that my parents encouraged me to take music lessons. Music has enriched(充实) my life in so many countless(无尽的，数不尽的) ways. I realized that my parents and teachers were always pushing me along, not because they wanted to me to suffer but because they wanted me to succeed in life. They’ve always wanted me to have a better life than they did themselves.
Every moment of our lives we are either living or dying, so live life to its fullest! We are all going to experience growing pains, but they are just small pains in the scheme(计划) of life. They might seem so huge at the time but we must be strong. Think about how we would feel if we had no fear and live life like that. The future is ours! A little hard work and sweat never hurt anyone! If we realize that these pains are just small bumps(碰撞) on our road to success we will realize that our growing pains are actually growing gains!
1. According to Paragraph 1, we learn that when we are young, ________.| A．life is full of joy | B．life is easy for us |
| C．we know we can stay young forever | D．we sometimes can’t do things we like |
| A．take music lessons | B．turn gains into pains |
| C．take a negative attitude | D．turn her attention to business |
| A．succeeding under pressures | B．growing up in hardships |
| C．overcoming obstacles | D．finding ourselves |
【推荐3】Should we focus on our goal, or on the process?
What happened to Brenda Martinez, a US Olympic runner, may provide us with the answer. She lost her balance in the 800m race and failed to qualify for the Olympics. Focusing on everything that would give her another chance, she quickly let go of what happened in the 800m race and got back to her routine. A week later, she won the third place in the 1500m race to qualify for the Olympics in Rio. Instead of attaching herself to the goal of making the Olympic team, she concentrated on the process.
Generally, overemphasizing goals based on ultimate outcomes often leads to risk-taking, unethical （不道德的）behavior and reduced motivation. We see this happen in the real world all the time: someone becomes driven by the external rewards and recognition that he hopes accomplishing his goal will bring, and, in the worst case, he'll go to any extreme to achieve it such as taking harmful diet pills to lose weight or using banned drugs in a competition. These are all predictable side effects of overemphasizing goals.
Another danger of only focusing on goals is giving up all the merits after completing them. For example, some marathon runners experience what's called the "post-race blues". Achieving their goal may cause them to drop the good habits that got them there. Dieters often experience this in what's called "yo-yo dieting" — gaining all the weight back while resuming their bad habits after they drop down to a desired weight.
However, focusing on the process will help you to achieve little victories on your way to achieving long-term goals and leave you with a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, regardless of the ultimate outcome. It means breaking down a goal into little parts and concentrating on those parts. For Martinez, this meant not worrying about her bad luck in the 800m race, but rather ensuring she got in the right nutrition, sleep and workouts to give herself the best chance to run a good race in the 1500m race.
Therefore, after you set a goal, it's best to shift your focus from the goal itself to the process that gives you the best chance of achieving the goal, and to judge yourself based on how well you do in the process.
1. With a question at the beginning of the passage, the author intends to________.| A．enhance the persuasion |
| B．persuade readers to accept his views |
| C．provide convincing evidence |
| D．inspire readers to reflect on the topic |
| A．it is important to set big goals |
| B．failure is the mother of success |
| C．focusing on the process can lead to success |
| D．opportunity favors the prepared mind |
| A．Giving too much attention to goals can bring about harmful effects. |
| B．Post-race blues is sure to happen after a marathon race. |
| C．In order to achieve the goals people can adopt aggressive behavior. |
| D．It is normal to feel down after achieving the goal. |
| A．Avoiding failure during the process. |
| B．Gaining a sense of satisfaction by achieving small targets. |
| C．Reducing some unpredictable risk. |
| D．Ensuring enough sleep and good mood. |
| A．ignore the bad effects of overemphasizing goals |
| B．move forward without motivation |
| C．divide a big goal into smaller pieces and concentrate on process |
| D．concentrate on our goals rather than the process |
【推荐1】The Moth Poetry Prize
ABOUT THE PRIZE
The Moth Poetry Prize is an annual contest from Irish magazine. It is one of the biggest prizes in the world for a single unpublished poem of any length with the theme of peace. The prize is open to anyone over 16 as long as the poem is previously unpublished，and each year it attracts thousands of entries from new and established poets from over 50 countries worldwide.
The shortlist will be announced in June 2019 and the four shortlisted poems will feature in the summer issue of The Moth. The winners will be invited to a special prize-giving event at Poetry Ireland in Dublin in the summer of 2019.
THE JUDGE
The poet and novelist Jacob Polley will judge this year’s Moth Poetry Prize. Jacob is the author of four poetry collections published by Picador，the latest of which，Jackself，won the T. S. Eliot Prize. He is also the recipient of a Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize，and his novel Talk of the Tovun won a Somerset Maugham Award. He teaches at the University of Newcastle.
HOW TO ENTER
The entry fee is 15 euros per poem, and you can enter as many poems as you like.
You can enter online or send your poem (s) along with a cheque or postal order made payable to “The Moth Magazine Ltd. ” with an entry form or a cover letter with your name and contact details and the title of poem(s) attached to： The Moth，Ardan Grange, Milltown, Belturbet, Co. Cavan, Ireland.
Please remember to read the rules of the competition before you enter.
Call 00 353 (0)87 2657251 or email enquiries®themothmagazine. com for more details.
1. What information about the contest can we learn?| A．Its closing date. | B．Its evaluation criteria. |
| C．The award to winners. | D．Its organizer. |
| A．One person can only submit one entry. |
| B．The participants must be Irish citizens. |
| C．The entries should be focused on peace. |
| D．Only teenagers of 16 are admitted to take part. |
| A．An award of 15 euros. |
| B．An invitation to Dublin. |
| C．A poetry collection by Picador. |
| D．A chance to interview Jacob Polley. |
Journalist Tough spent five years reporting his previous (先前的) book, Whatever It Takes, a description of education activist Geoffrey Canada and the families influenced by his organization, the Harlem Children’s Zone. In this 2012 follow-up, Tough sets out to answer the difficult questions raised by Whatever It Takes: Why do some kids — particularly poor ones — succeed while others fail? And how can parents and educators help guide more children towards success?
The Death and Life of the Great American School System, by Diane Ravitch
Ravitch, a professor in New York University, takes a hard look at how public education has changed over the past twenty years, offering a reasoned explanation of popular policies, such as the emphasis (强调) on testing, and a solution (解决方法) to how to improve America’s schools.
Saving the School, by Michael Brick
When Anabel Garza became headteacher of Reagan High in Austin, Tex, she was faced with a large number of seemingly very difficult problems: A high dropout rate (辍学率) and low test scores. But as Brick writes Saving the School, a first-hand account of a year in the life of Reagan High, Garza, along with other teachers, was determined to turn things around for her school and her students.
The Flat World and Education, by Linda Darling –Hammond
While scores on the tests required by “No Child Left Behind” have steadily (平稳地) risen, America’s students are always falling behind on international testing measures. Why? According to Stanford education professor Darling-Hammond, it’s because U.S. schools, “designed at the turn of the last century,” are in need of a complete change. In this book, she describes the latest education models used by schools all over the world, which she argues could offer a long-term road map to changing the American public school system.
1. Which book answers questions from another book?
| A．Saving the School. |
| B．How Children Succeed. |
| C．The Flat World and Education. |
| D．The Death and Life of the Great American School System. |
| A．Diane Ravitch. | B．Michael Brick. |
| C．Paul Tough. | D．Linda Darling-Hammond. |
| A．cut down the dropout rate |
| B．help students get high scores |
| C．improve schools in America |
| D．guide more children to success |
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【推荐1】Just when we thought we had seen all the magical things that 3D printing can do, here comes another — a working artificial leg has changed the life of a little Canadian duckling (鸭子) called Dudley, who had been struggling to live after losing a leg.
The story began on August 19th, 2013, when the newly-born healthy Dudley and his brother were placed inside a chicken coop (笼子) at the K9-1-1 Animal and Rescue Services in Sicamous, British Columbia. Within a few hours, an aggressive chicken attacked the two, killing Dudley’s brother and leaving him with a disability!
While Dudley could swim with his single leg, he had a hard time walking on the firm ground. Determined to help him, Doug Nelson, the owner of the shelter decided to consult Terence Loring, the founder of a design company that among other things also offers 3D printing designs.
Considering he had just started 3D printing designs, Terence somewhat hesitated to take on a duckling as his first client. But as soon as he saw brave little Dudley walking around on one leg, Terence knew he had to do something. Using his biomedical engineering training, Terence spent the next few weeks creating a 3D template (模板), after he found out how ducks’ legs work in YouTube videos about ducks. Once ready, he sent them to Ontario-based 3D engineering firm Proto3000, who agreed to print the leg.
The second artificial leg was much stronger than the first one. When the artificial leg was fitted to Dudley, his whole manner changed. He wagged his tail and showed it off to his best friend一a pig called Elsie.
Of course, as Dudley has been growing, the leg and foot have had to be replaced. But that hasn’t bothered Terence who continues to improve the design. The best part is that Terence has put all the designs on his website so that anyone wishing to help out an animal suffering from a similar injury can do so, by simply hitting the print button on his/her 3D printer!
1. How did Dudley lose his leg?| A．He wasn’t well looked after. |
| B．He lost it in a traffic accident. |
| C．He lost it in a chicken attack. |
| D．He was born with a disability. |
| A．It is the first one to offer 3D printing designs. |
| B．3D printing designs are one part of its services. |
| C．Its main clients are injured animals. |
| D．It often cooperates with Proto3000. |
| A．Consulting Dudley’s owner about the solution. |
| B．Creating a 3D template |
| C．Being trained in biomedical engineering. |
| D．Watching YouTube videos about ducks. |
| A．Dudley has got a permanent artificial leg |
| B．a possible solution has been found to help suffering animals |
| C．he succeeded in his first attempt to make Dudley an artificial leg |
| D．his design has become widely known online |
【推荐2】Next week, Pushpa Nagaraj will appear for her 720th exam. But she won’t be taking the exam for herself. Since 2007, she has helped hundreds of visually challenged students take exams by acting as their scribe (抄写员), reading them the questions and then writing down the answers they give.
When Ms. Nagaraj was growing up in Bangalore, the IT capital of India, her father lost his job after a back injury. The family suddenly found itself struggling. She thought she’d have to drop out of school. Luckily, her mother managed to raise enough money to educate her through high school. Today, she’s a project coordinator for an IT firm.
One day, as she was helping a few visually damaged children cross the road, it struck her how difficult even everyday tasks could be for them, let alone finishing their education. Ms. Nagaraj wanted to help those children.
In India, most children with sight challenges do not have access to specialized schooling. Even for those who attend mainstream classes, timed exams — key for Indian educational institutions, where scores are especially important — present additional difficulties. “Many of them balk at the thought of writing exams and drop out,” says Ms. Sundararaman, a local education expert. “And so, their education comes to a sudden stop, midway.” Having a scribe can be the difference between passing and failing.
Over the past 12 years, word about Ms. Nagaraj’s work has spread — so much that she now gets requests from people from all over India. She has also set up a network of volunteers that posts requests through a WhatsApp group.
Ms. Nagaraj is keenly aware of ongoing challenges, chief of which is that, every once in a while, she has to refuse requests from students to give them the answers during exams. Another challenge is to expand the circle of scribes. Despite these, she is very grateful for having the opportunity to help others. “I have no complaints. Actually, I feel very blessed,” she says.
1. What do we know about Ms. Nagaraj from paragraph 2?| A．She suffered from a back injury. | B．She struggled to finish her high school. |
| C．She raised enough money from an IT firm. | D．She had to work to help support her family. |
| A．Become hesitant. | B．Feel unsatisfied. |
| C．Are hopeful. | D．Are surprised. |
| A．The limited number of scribes. | B．The large quantity of exams to take. |
| C．The request to copy answers in the exam. | D．The building of a network of volunteers. |
| A．An Indian woman breaking the record in taking exams. |
| B．The importance of setting up an organization for scribes. |
| C．The problems of students dropping out of school in India. |
| D．An Indian woman helping disabled children by being a scribe. |
【推荐3】A Uber driver stopped her work day so she could help a new mother with a sick child.
Nicole Ihus’s son John Henry was born last month with a rare disease called congenital diaphragmatic hernia. Nicole and her husband, who live in Kansas City, got m touch with doctors from Minnesota and Missouri in hopes of finding a doctor who could treat John Henry for the condition — but to no avail.
Luckily, Nicole managed to get in contact with the “best doctor in the world for this condition” at Johns Hopkins All Children in St. Petersburg, Florida — so she traveled all the way to the Sunshine State to give her newborn son a fighting chance.
After John Henry was bon into the hands of the NICU, Nicole felt sad and alone in the new state, although she knew that she had to leave her son’s side in order to buy him some new clothes.
After ordering an Uber ride to the nearby Rhea Lana children’s clothing store, she was picked up by a woman named Belinda. Shortly after Nicole got into Belinda’s car, the new mother couldn’t help but told her heartbreaking story.
“She told me her story,” Belinda said in the interview below. “She was in tears a couple of times and I was really concerned about her.”
Rather than simply dropping Nicole off at the store, however, Belinda parked the car and was firmly determined to accompany her passenger into the store.
“She was like, ‘I’m going to help you buy some clothes for your son.’ I asked her, ‘Are you serious?’ I can’t even imagine,” said Nicole. “For this stranger to go completely out of her way — stop what she was doing and stop making money — to come to be with me for a couple of hours while we shopped together, that was just unbelievable.”
1. What does the writer mean by saying “to no avail” in Para.2?| A．Henry’s condition became worse. |
| B．The couple lost hope of finding a doctor. |
| C．The doctor didn’t want to treat John Henry. |
| D．The couple didn’t find the doctor they wanted. |
| A．By offering her a free ride. |
| B．By going shopping with her. |
| C．By buying new clothes for her. |
| D．By chatting with her for hours. |
| A．To advise readers to help the baby. |
| B．To tell a story of a helpless mother. |
| C．To speak highly of the driver’s kindness. |
| D．To call on people to learn from the driver. |
