It is hard not to desire victory with all your efforts when the world seems so competitive, especially if you’re a boy growing up with those values. A boy called Edward grew up in a similar environment where winning was all that was valued, and he longed to succeed. He was good at running, so he called everyone in the nearby villages for a race. A large group of people from around came to see this exciting event!
Edward had been training hard for this race. He ran among the strongest boys from around the villages, and the young boy came out victorious! The crowd went wild with excitement as they cheerfully held banners (横幅) praising him. The boy loved the attention. It made him feel happy and energetic.
There were two types of races-short distances and long distances. The boy was unbeatable in both the races he competed in. The crowd loved him even more after the second victory; they clapped with excitement. The boy felt very proud of his achievements.
But among the crowd was a wise older man who did not seem as impressed with the boy’s performances as the rest. Just as the boy thought the races for the day were over, the old man shouted from the crowd, “There is one more race left, the most important one.” The boy was surprised by the additional race, but he was, confident he could win any race.
The old man brought two new competitors for the boy, a blind man and a weak old lady. “What type of race is this? I can easily win them,” the boy said. “The most important one,” repeated the old man. So, the boy ran the race as he knew he would win this time, too. When the boy crossed the finish line, the blind man was still at the start, and the old lady had just started to move. The boy was successful, and he raised his hands with great joy after his victory.
注意：1.续写词数应为150个左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
To his disbelief, the crowd was very silent.
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Finally, all three crossed the finish line together.
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2 . Is language, like food, a basic human need without which a child at a critical period of life can be starved and damaged? Judging from the drastic experiment of Frederick I in the thirteenth century, it may be hoping to discover what language a child would speak if he heard no mother tongue, he told the nurses to keep silent.
All the infants died before the first year. But clearly there was more than lack of language here. What was missing was good mothering. Without good mothering, in the first year of life especially, the capacity to survive is seriously affected.
Today no such severe lack exists as that ordered by Frederick I. Nevertheless, some children are still backward in speaking. Most often the reason for this is that the mother is insensitive to the signals of the infant, whose brain is programmed to learn language rapidly. If these sensitive periods are neglected, the ideal time for acquiring skills passes and they might never be learned so easily again. A bird learns to sing and to fly rapidly at right time, but the process is slow and hard once the critical stage has passed.
Experts suggest that speech stages are reached in a fixed sequence and at a constant age, but there are cases where speech has started late in a child who eventually turns out to be of high IQ. At twelve weeks a baby smiles and makes vowel-like sounds; at twelve months he can speak simple words and understand simple commands; at eighteen months he has a vocabulary of three to fifty words. At three he knows about 1,000 words which he can put into sentences, and at four his language differs from that of his parents in style rather than in grammar.
Recent evidence suggests that an infant is born with the capacity to speak. What is special about man’s brain, compared with that of the monkey, is the complex system which enables a child to connect the sight and feel of, say, a toy-bear with the sound pattern “toy bear”. And even more incredible is the young brain’s ability to pick out an order in language from the mixture of sound around him, to analyse, to combine and recombine the parts of a language in new ways.
But speech has to be induced(激发), and this depends on interaction between the mother and the child, where the mother recognizes the signals in the child’s babbling(咿呀声), grasping and smiling, and responds to them. Insensitivity of the mother to these signals dulls the interaction because the child gets discouraged and sends out only the obvious signals. Sensitivity to the child’s nonverbal signals is essential to the growth and development of language.
1. Frederick I did the experiment to _____.| A．find out nursing is essential to a child’s language development |
| B．to confirm that good mothering ensures the survival of a child |
| C．to find out what a child would speak if raised in a no-human speech context |
| D．to confirm that many children would not grow up without learning to speak |
| A．he will certainly be stupid in adult years |
| B．he will not necessarily be less intelligent |
| C．his language development will be limited to babbling |
| D．he will be insensitive to verbal signals |
| A．Efficient nursing contributes to a child’s speech ability. |
| B．A child may never learn to speak if the sensitive periods are neglected. |
| C．Like a child, a monkeys’ brain can connect the sight and feel of an object. |
| D．A child can choose words and phrases that interest him and make new sentences |
| A．when it comes to language, a child’s brain is highly selective |
| B．nonverbal signals affect a child’s language development as much as verbal ones |
| C．A child has his language ability developed randomly and irregardless of age as well |
| D．A mother’s brain is programmed to instruct language efficiently |
3 . It was Jennifer Williams’ mother who got her interested in books. As a librarian, Williams’ mother read to her three children every day. “From when we hadn’t gone to kindergarten,” Williams told vadogwood.com, a local news site, “until we went to college.”
When Williams, who is now 54, became an elementary school teacher and tutor in Danville, Virginia, she wanted her students to be falling in love with reading just as she had. But early on, she realized that some kids had little chance to get enough books to read.
To Williams, the solution was simple: give kids books. In 2017, she donated (捐赠) 900 used children’s books over three days. “I wanted to do something that’s going to continue my faith,” she said.
So she started a new project for herself: give away one million books. It sounds like an unreachable number, but as Williams posted on Facebook: “Don’t complain in the stand if you aren’t willing to work hard out on the field.”
She got to work, first by persuading her friends to donate books or money to buy books. Before long, as news of Williams’ project spread, strangers started leaving varieties of books on her front walk way. As quickly as the books came in, Williams gave them to local schools—free of charge —and also supplied 41,000 books to little free libraries around the city just over the North Carolina border. She also hosted a book club for prisoners in the local prison.
Over the four years she’s been doing all this. The Book Lady, as Williams has come to be celebrated, has given away more than 78,000 books—only 922,000 more to reach her goal! And she’s not slowing down. “Reading can take you anywhere,” she told CNN. “You can travel in time and space. If you can read, you can learn almost anything.”
1. What made Williams decide to give away books?| A．The requirement of teaching. |
| B．The shortage of kids’ books. |
| C．Her mother’s faith in reading. |
| D．The desire for being famous. |
| A．She hosted a book club locally for prisoners. |
| B．She persuaded her friends to donate only money. |
| C．She gave all the books collected to local schools. |
| D．She invited strangers to leave books in her house. |
| A．Positive. | B．Serious. |
| C．Proud. | D．Famous. |
| A．Humorous and confident. | B．Independent and smart. |
| C．Curious and professional. | D．Kind and influential. |
One day, I found a wallet on the street. The wallet contained only three dollars and a very old letter. The envelope was worn and the only thing on it was the return address. I started to open the letter, hoping to find some information. Then I saw the date-1990, and the signature-Beatrice. The letter was written several decades ago.
Then I made every effort and found out that Beatrice was now working in a hospital. I showed her the letter. The second she saw the letter, she took a deep breath and said, “Young man, this letter was the last contact I ever had with Henry. He is my only brother. I loved him very much. I was only 16 at the time and my brother is two years younger than me. If you can find him, tell him I'm still looking for him,” she said and tears began to well up in her eyes. “Mother is waiting for him to come back home.”
When I walked out of the building with the wallet in my hand, the guard of the building recognized the wallet, and with his help, I finally found its owner, Henry. I handed the wallet to Henry and he said, “Yes, that's mine! It must have dropped out of my pocket this afternoon.”
“I read the letter in the hope of finding out who owned the wallet.” I said. The smile on his face suddenly disappeared. He asked, “You read that letter?” “Not only did I read it, but also Beatrice read.” I replied. He suddenly became excited. “Beatrice? You know where she is? How is she? Please tell me,” he begged. “She's fine. She has been looking for you.” I said softly.
He grabbed my hand and said, “Sir, you know she is my only sister in this world. I've always missed her.”
Henry and I took the elevator (电梯) down to Beatrice's room. I walked over to her. “Beatrice,” I said softly, pointing to Henry, who was waiting with me in the doorway. “Do you know the man?”
注意：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。
Beatrice adjusted her glasses, looked for a moment, but didn't say a word．
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________About three weeks later I got a call at my office from Beatrice．
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It was dark and freezing cold outside though it was four o'clock in the afternoon. The wind kept blowing. At that time, the bell rang loudly, and everybody packed their schoolbags and got ready to go home. The teacher dismissed the students, and they walked orderly to the school gate.
David was in Class One, Grade Seven. His mother would come and pick him up from school but today she was absent. David wondered what had happened, but he was not worried at all. It usually took only ten minutes for his mother to get to school by riding an electric bike. David saw his best companion, Tommy, who was his deskmate. Tommy was waiting patiently for his mother as well. They began to talk freely and happily. David congratulated Tommy on his excellent performance in the last math exam. At the same time, Tommy thanked David, without whose help he couldn't have made such rapid progress. Five minutes later, Tommy's. mother picked up Tommy and they said goodbye to each other.
David had to put up with his moments of solitude. He had no choice but to wait until his mother came into his sight. However, half an hour passed, and there was no sign that his mother would come. David was determined to walk home.
On his way home, David could hardly see any passers-by. The trees shook with the wind and the leaves fell from them without making any noise. David was lost in thinking what was wrong with his mother. Some terrible thoughts jumped out of his mind. “Maybe an accident happened to her. Maybe she got hurt by some robbers. Maybe she was seriously ill. ”Little David burst into tears and quickened his step. He did not dare to think over the results. What he could do was pray for the safety of his mother and wish everything was all right.
Time slipped away like an arrow. 2 In the short distance, it was his beautiful house with a garden. “This must, be the worst experience in my life," David thought to himself and felt scared.
注意: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。
David stood in front of the door and opened it hurriedly.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and came a familiar voice.
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