As we drove off from Columbia, I wanted to write a letter to you to tell you all that is on my mind.
I want to tell you how proud we are. Getting into Columbia is a real testament of what a great well-rounded student you are. Your academic, artistic, and social skills have truly blossomed in the last few years. You have become a talented and accomplished young woman.
College will be the most important years in your life. It is in college that you will truly discover what learning is about. You often question "what good is this course". I encourage you to be inquisitive, but I also want to tell you: "Education is what you have left after all that is taught is forgotten." What I mean by that is the materials taught isn't as important as you gaining the ability to learn a new subject, and the ability to analyze a new problem. That is really what learning in college is about – this will be the period where you go from teacher-taught to master-inspired, after which you must become self-learner. So do take each subject seriously, and even if what you learn isn't critical for your life, the skills of learning will be something you cherish forever.
Follow your passion in college. Take courses you think you will enjoy. Don't be trapped in what others think or say. Steve Jobs says when you are in college, your passion will create many dots, and later in your life you will connect them. In his great speech given at Stanford commencement, he gave the great example where he took calligraphy, and a decade later, it became the basis of the beautiful Macintosh fonts, which later ignited desktop publishing, and brought wonderful tools like Microsoft Word to our lives. His expedition into calligraphy was a dot, and the Macintosh became the connecting line. Enjoy picking your dots, and be assured one day you will find your calling, and connect a beautiful curve through the dots of yourself .
Most importantly, make friends and be happy. College friends are often the best in life, because during college you are closer to them physically than to your family. Also, going through independence and adulthood is a natural bonding experience.
So please treasure your college years – make the best of your free time, become an independent thinker in control of your destiny, evolve yourself into a bi-cultural talent, be bold to experiment, learn and grow through your successes and challenges.
When I faced the greatest challenge and opportunity in my life in 2005, you gave me a big hug and said "bonne chance", which means "good luck" and "good courage". Now I do the same for you. Bonne chance, my angel and princess. May Columbia become the happiest four years in your life, and may you blossom into just what you dream to be.
Love,
Dad (& Mom)
1. What can we learn from the passage?
| A．The daughter is a well-rounded college student. |
| B．The father faced the greatest challenge in 2006. |
| C．The daughter is a freshman in college. |
| D．Steve Jobs gave the great example where he took calligraphy at Columbia commencement. |
| A．you will be well-educated if you forget all is taught |
| B．there are only master-inspired students in college |
| C．the daughter will be thinner if she goes on a diet |
| D．the skills of learning is very important for his daughter’s life |
| A．how Steve Jobs invented the basis of the Macintosh fonts |
| B．it is important for the daughter to follow her passion in college |
| C．Steve Jobs made great contributions to Microsoft Word |
| D．the father wishes his daughter to be as successful as Steve Jobs |
| A．your family are far away while college friends are around you within an easy reach |
| B．they are closer to you psychologically than to your family |
| C．they are better than your family |
| D．going through independence and adulthood is unusual bonding experience |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】It was one week before Teachers’ Day. Tom’s mother was very busy. But she didn’t forget to buy cards for her son’s teachers. She drove to a gift store on her way home from work. When she came back, she put the cards on the table in the living room. She was so busy that she did not have time to write them.
When Tom came home from school, she said to him, “Here are the cards for your teachers, and here are some stamps, a pen and our book of addresses. Can you write the cards when I am cooking the dinner?” Tom did not say anything, but walked out of the living room and went into his room. Tom’s mother was a little unhappy, but she did not say anything either. She knew that her son always talked little. She was just thinking how to teach Tom to be thankful and make him write the cards.
A few minutes later, Tom came back with a box full of cards. All of them had addresses and stamps on them. Tom’s mother was very surprised and asked, “Oh, what are these?” “Mom,” Tom answered, “I bought the cards and wrote all of them a few days ago.” Hearing this, his mother was very moved and said,“________.”
1. How did Tom’s mother go to the gift store?| A．By bus. | B．By car. | C．By bike. | D．By subway. |
| A．To cook the dinner. | B．To find some stamps. |
| C．To write some cards. | D．To clean the living room. |
| A．quiet | B．serious | C．funny | D．smart |
| A．Unhappy→Moved→Surprised. | B．Moved→Unhappy→Surprised. |
| C．Unhappy→Surprised→Moved. | D．Surprised→Unhappy→Moved. |
| A．Don’t be afraid, dear | B．You’re really great, dear |
| C．Many thanks for helping me, dear | D．I think you did something terrible, dear |
【推荐2】When it comes to making lunch for their kids, moms and dads have usual favorites. For some parents in the US, those favorites are peanut butter and jelly sandwiches-also known as PB&.Js. Fruit like apples and bananas are also popular.
But one mother has an unusual go-to ingredient for her children’s lunches. Jenny Mollen uses funny-looking candy eyes. She has learned that her children will eat any healthy food if it has edible eyeballs attached. The “eyeballs” are really pieces of candy.
Her children laugh while they eat healthy foods like bell peppers, kiwis, or dates. Mollen says candy “eyes” make lunch more fun.
“Honestly, first of all, just buy yourself some candy googly eyes. They are tried-and-true,” she said. She admits that “you lose something nutritionally” by giving children candy. But she thinks that getting children to eat healthy food by putting candy on it is worth it.
Mollen’s lunch tricks bring together food and craft. She uses tricks because her two sons hate to eat different kinds of foods. So, she decorates their food to resemble animals or even their favorite Pokémon characters. She makes edible “bugs” made from dates, pretzel sticks for the legs, and, of course, candy “eyes”. She also uses leftover Chinese food to make panda bears from rice and seaweed.
Mollen says her lunch projects are easy to do. And her sons think they have won a big prize at their midday meal. Mollen says making fun-looking, artful lunches for her children helps ease her guilt as she is a working mom. Her artful lunches are her way of reminding her children that she is thinking of them.
Mollen says she also wants to teach them healthy eating habits. She says that by getting kids to eat vegetables at a young age, they will grow up to eat healthy foods later in life. She also says it is a good way to get children to try foods from other cultures. If they need to be “tricked” sometimes, that is okay.
1. What’s the purpose of Mollen’s lunch projects?| A．To make her children’s day. |
| B．To remind people to save food. |
| C．To persuade other parents to follow suit. |
| D．To ensure her children’s healthy diet. |
| A．It contains all kinds of food. |
| B．It is made up of candy. |
| C．It combines art and nutrition. |
| D．It is full of Chinese styles. |
| A．They have taken to their fun-looking lunches. |
| B．They have broaden their knowledge of food. |
| C．They have bonded with their favorite animals. |
| D．They have swept to victory in the meal competitions. |
| A．Mollen’s plans for cooking lunches. |
| B．The benefits of Mollen’s lunch tricks. |
| C．Mollen’s expectations of her children. |
| D．The culture elements in Mollen’s lunch. |
【推荐3】Mid-afternoon on a particularly busy Tuesday, I took leave of my desk at work and walked into a local Starbucks, only to find a space where neither my clients (客户) nor my children would ask me to do something.
Inside, I ran into Kate, a co-worker of mine. The topic of parenthood came up. I complained about how packed my schedule was. From the minute I woke up to the minute I fell asleep, I was constantly in demand and always had someone knocking at the door. But a bit of sadness seemed to come over Kate’s face.
“Well, my daughter’s in San Francisco and she doesn’t seem to need me at all these days.” Kate said. It was in that moment that I realized although I might often feel in high demand, there will come a day when I’ll actually miss that same stress I now complain about.
And as our conversation continued, it turned to our children’s younger years, with Kate smiling proudly, thinking of the little boy and girl she raised who are now a man and a woman. But I noticed her smile was marked with regret. She explained that she often wondered about what she could have done differently when her children were in their earlier years.
This got me thinking Is regret an unfortunate footnote (注脚) to parenthood? With that in mind, I asked six older parents one question: What is your biggest regret from your early days as a parent?
It turned out that all of them thought they could have done it better. But, each of them also has a strong, healthy relationship with their kids. Whatever regrets their parents might have had about their upbringing, one thing is clear—it didn’t affect them in a meaningful way.
The bottom line is, we all feel like we could be doing this parenting thing better, And quite clearly, years later, we’re still going to look back and wish we tried things differently. But the past can’t be changed, and neither should it.
1. What can be inferred from the first three paragraphs?| A．Kate had the same problem as the author’s. |
| B．The two people had arranged to meet in the coffee shop. |
| C．Kate went to the coffee shop so no one could find her there. |
| D．The author went to the coffee shop to escape from the pressures around him. |
| A．Because she and her daughter had a fight. |
| B．Because she hadn’t paid enough attention to her kids. |
| C．Because she was disappointed with her kids’ performance. |
| D．Because she thought that she could have done better in raising her kids. |
| A．Some of the parents have a bad relationship with their kids. |
| B．He was moved by the love of these parents for their children. |
| C．These parents improved their behavior after their kids grew up. |
| D．None of the parents were completely satisfied with the way they raised their kids. |
| A．Give more love to their kids. |
| B．Let your children grow up with freedom. |
| C．Cherish the present time and do one’s best to be a parent. |
| D．Never stop learning how to be a good parent from others. |
【推荐1】The pandemic has been particularly hard on people working for tips. Some haven’t been able to do their jobs at all while others don’t interact with customers the same way. Just as many services have changed, so should tipping. Some old standards no longer seem fair, and several newer ones will apply long after the pandemic is over. As for specific situations, here’s what the experts recommend:
FOOD AND DRINKS
Restaurant workers
OLD RULE:Leave a tip only when you dine in.
NEW RULE:Always tip, even for takeout.
TIP: 15 to 20 percent when you dine in, and 10 to 15 percent on takeout or delivery orders.
HOME DELIVERIES
Package delivery drivers
OLD RULE:Don’t tip.
NEW RULE: Show appreciation if you get deliveries more than once a week.
TIP: Drinks, snacks, or $5 to $20 if a package is particularly heavy or large. Postal workers cannot accept cash or gifts worth more than $50 per year. UPS tells drivers to decline tips unless a customer insists. And FedEx bans employees from accepting cash or cash equivalents (such as gift cards).
PERSONAL SERVICES
Ride-share drivers
OLD RULE:Tip in cash.
NEW RULE:Ask your driver. The Lyft and Uber apps let you add gratuities, but some drivers prefer cash.
TIP:15 to 20 percent.
Hotel housekeepers
OLD RULE: Tip at the end of your stay.
NEW RULE: Many hotels now do housekeeping by request only, so tip every time you ask them to come.
TIP:A few dollars per night, plus $5 for any extra requests, such as asking for additional toiletries.
Next time, you’re unsure whether a tip is in order, follow this simple rule: When in doubt, tip. “Tipping well is one way to make things easier for someone else.”
1. According to new rules, which of the following cannot get tips in cash or similar things?| A．A restaurant waiter. |
| B．A FedEx deliverer. |
| C．A Lyft driver. |
| D．A hotel housekeeper. |
| A．Paying 22 dollars through the app. |
| B．Leaving a gift card. |
| C．Tipping 3 dollars in cash. |
| D．Offering a bag of snacks. |
| A．A research report. |
| B．A fashion magazine. |
| C．A short story. |
| D．An advice brochure. |
【推荐2】Whoopie Whizzer
This thrilling ride that has you holding onto your seats in fear attracted more visitors than any other single attraction last year. The ride starts with a few gentle spins that gradually increase in speed, so that after thirty seconds you're moving round at 15 miles per hour! Suitable for anyone over 14 years of age, this ride is open throughout the season. It’s one you certainly don’t want to miss, so make sure you have a go early on in the day to avoid disappointment.
Spooksville
This is a haunted house with a difference－come and visit if you dare! A hired team of professional actors perform stunts and try to frighten you senseless, and be warned－they will! Still, you have to judge for yourselves so bring all the family along to this attraction. Enter alone at your own risk!
Aladdins Magic Maze
Our Magic Maze is Europe's biggest, as you will realize as soon as you try to find your way out! The walls of our corridors are covered with mirrors so that when you start walking through, it can be pretty confusing－we're still waiting for someone to beat the record exit time of twenty－two minutes. If you think you can do it, come along and try.
Pirate Ship
This huge pirate ship has been specially designed just for kids－it's made of inflatable plastic so they can't hurt themselves! During our thirty-minute sessions they can climb up and down in the ship and enjoy themselves. Around the ship is the Slippery Scales swimming pool which they can swim around in－its new wave-machine will make them believe they're really at sea! Teams of trained staff always keep an eye on their activities so parents can relax and enjoy themselves too!
1. What can we learn about Whoppie Whizzer?| A．It attracts less visitors than any other attraction. |
| B．The ride increases in speed rapidly while starting. |
| C．It is available for anyone less than 14 years old. |
| D．Visitors can experience a high speed ride there. |
| A．Aladdin's Magic Maze | B．Spooksville |
| C．Whoppie Whizzer | D．Pirate Ship |
| A．To celebrate a few events. | B．To describe several parks. |
| C．To announce new activities. | D．To introduce some attractions. |
【推荐3】Online courses offers people abundant opportunities to learn. Try some of the Harvard online courses about humanities.
The Path to Happiness
From Confucianism to Taoism, the philosophies developed over two thousand years ago are among the most powerful in human history. This course brings voices from the past into modern contexts to explore the path to a good life today.
Duration: June 16, 2022-June 14, 2023
Fees: Free of charge
Pace: Self-paced
Difficulty: Introductory
Introduction to the Ancient Greek World
This course is about ancient Greece with its unique places, ways of life and historical changes. We survey the most important social institutions and cultural traditions. We also study everyday features such as food and dress.
Duration: June 21-August 6, 2022
Fees: $ 3400+
Pace: Instructor-led
Difficulty: Introductory
Biotechnology and the Human Good
Biotechnology offers exciting and promising prospects for healing the sick and relicving the suffering. In this course we consider possible functions beyond common treatments like making people look younger, perform better and become perfect.
Duration: June 21-August 6, 2022
Fees: $ 3400+
Pace: Instructor-led
Difficulty: Intermediate
Superheroes and Power
What makes superheroes popular? How can they help us think about super powers? In this course, we explore those questions in Marvel and DC favorites (especially the X-Men) as well as independent comics novels.
Duration: June 22-August 6, 2022Fces: $ 3400+
Pace: Instructor-led
Difficulty: Intermediate
1. Which course can you take if you are free in October 2022?| A．The Path to Happiness. | B．Introduction to the Ancient Greek World. |
| C．Biotechnology and the Human Good. | D．Superheroes and Power. |
| A．Powers of superheroes. | B．Ways to increase human happiness. |
| C．More uses of biotech. | D．Exciting achievements of biotech. |
| A．They are of intermediate level. | B．They are led by professional instructors. |
| C．They are free of charge. | D．They are subjects of the same category |
