Sometimes, a person’s whole life is easily changed by something unexpected.

Matthew Newman who always stayed alone had a   _______ time making friends in Grade 5. And _______ were a comfort. At that time, he was introduced to the fantasy novel Red Wall written by English writer Brian Jacques. “I _______ in love with it,” said Mathew. “Brian Jacques is my hero.”

Later, as a high school student, he was surprised to hear _______ the author’s death. “I burst into tears.” Matthew recalled. This was a turning point for Mathew and made him want to become a _______.

“If this man I’d never met had this influence on me, by writing words on a page, imagine the influence I could have _______ I could do that and make the world a better place. ”

Matthew published two novels when he was 18 and was _______ about writing.

“I’ve got this kid who is so sunny,” said Eric Whiteside, who taught him creative writing at high school. “He’s like, ‘Teach me, I want to learn to be a better writer.’”

Mathew practices his writing _______, at least for an hour. He said, “I can’t   imagine life _______ writing.” Now, Mathew is beginning to think more about his future. He has decided he wants to work on publishing his own books.

Profits (收益) from writing are not his main ________. Matthew said: “I want my writing lo be about reaching out to people and helping other people.”

When you have a fever

Do you know what to do when you have a fever? If you don’t know, here are some suggestions for you. Keep them in your mind, and you will use them one day.

Check whether you have a fever. You can do it by using the thermometer. The average body temperature of a person is about 37 degrees Celsius, so when your body temperature appears higher than this, you might have a fever.

Stay at home. There is no need to attend work or school. Your state of health will make it hard to focus. If you keep working, that may only add stress to your mind and body.

Have a good sleep. When you have a fever, lie down and have a good sleep. Sleeping helps you and your immune system to recover faster from the illness.

Check your temperature regularly. Your temperature is always changeable when you have a fever. You’d better keep a thermometer handy so that you can check your temperature regularly.

Take pills. Sudden aches may occur in your body or head. Take some medicine to help relieve the pain, such as Panadol. It is effective in lessening pain brought by body aches.

See a doctor. The doctor will offer you medical treatment. For example, they may give you the right medicine. If the medicine doesn’t work, you may have to get an injection.

Breakthrough or bad science?

It’s long been a scientific dream: to give people a special vaccine (疫苗) before birth to prevent them from getting terrible illnesses. Gene editing (基因编辑) is one way in which we could do this. But this method has also created some controversy (争议).

In an online video posted on Nov. 26, He Jiankui, a researcher at the Southern University of Science and Technology, said that he had helped to make the world’s first genetically edited babies.

The babies are twin girls who were born in November. Their father had HIV. The twins’ genes were edited in order to prevent them from being infected (感染) by the HIV virus.

He said he chose to do this because HIV is widespread in China. “I feel such a strong responsibility not only to be the first to do this, but also to set an example,” He told AP. But his actions raised many questions. Although gene editing may help to prevent disease, many people are wondering if it is safe and ethical (道德的) to use it on humans.

Some believe that gene editing could benefit HIV patients. HIV is “a major and growing public health threat (威胁),” according to Harvard Medical School genetics professor George Church. Using gene editing for HIV is “justifiable (无可厚非),” Church told AP. However, others think that gene editing is still in its experimental stages and could result in problems later in life, including the development of cancer, Julian Savulescu from the University of Oxford told BBC News. Besides, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China has worked with other departments to investigate his project. In an open letter released on Nov. 27, 140 Chinese HIV/AIDS researchers described the research as “unethical”. They questioned the need for his project.

Others fear that some wealthy people might use gene editing technology to make “designer babies”. It would give parents the ability to choose everything from their baby’s eye color to their intelligence.“You could find wealthy parents buying the latest ‘upgrades’ for their children, leading to even greater inequality than we already live with,” Marcy Darnovsky, director of the San Francisco Center for Genetics, told BBC News.

GARDEN CITY COLLEGE

GENERAL RULES FOR ONLINE CLASSES

It is very important to carefully read the rules and cancellation policies of the online classes before beginning your class.

You should enter the virtual (虚构的) classroom at least 2 days before your first class in order to learn how to work within the system. If you need any technical support, you can call our technical workers during their office hours (From 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on weekdays).

Make sure to log onto the platform (平台) 15 minutes before your class. We will not make up class time because of late arrivals. Check your course timetable.

You should behave properly and have good manners. Being polite on the Internet should be as common as in real life. Respect other people’s opinions. Besides, online privacy is something you should keep in mind when typing anything. You should stay away from anything considered not suitable and rude.

At the beginning of each new course, we will place you with a new teacher. This change will allow you to experience different learning styles with other teachers who are fully trained to teach online courses.

It is strongly recommended that you actively take part in each class. Listen carefully and don’t talk over with someone.

If your present teacher is not available to teach (because of sickness or an emergency). We will not cancel class. Instead, class will be given by a substitute (代替的) teacher. These rules may change over time because of the changing nature of the online space.

What do you do when you come across problem while doing your homework? Andy would take out his smart phone, open a special app and searched the problem. Answers soon came out on the screen.

Nowadays, many students do homework with the help of the Internet. They search for information online, use apps or discuss through social networks like QQ and WeChat.

“It’s convenient,” Andy said, “You also lean by seeing how others work them out.”

“It also improves students’ abilities,” said John, another student. He said it’s true for new types of homework.

John’s Chinese teacher often asks students to give speeches on great authors. When it comes to John’s turn, he usually searches online, picks out certain stories and makes PowerPoint presentations.

“I’ve become skilled at finding information online and using Microsoft Office,” Wang said.

However, many students think this trend(趋势) also brings up problems. Some students just copy the answers online and don’t think twice about them. As a result, they become lazy.

A head teacher in Andy and John’s school said that knowing how to use the Internet is important. The key is to have good self-control.

“No matter how difficult the problem is, think about it independently (独立地) first,” the teacher said. “Be sure to understand the reasons behind the answers, or you won’t make progress. If you don’t have confidence about your self-control, ask your parents for help.”

81. 假如你是李明，你的英国笔友Mary给你发了一封电子邮件， 想了解一下你在学校的学习和生活方面的一些收获、困惑和感受，请认真阅读下面的邮件，根据信中的内容，结合你的实际用英语回复。

I'm glad to hear from you.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

All the best,

Li Ming