1 . Often people receive a guitar, mandolin, or some other musical instrument as a birthday or Christmas gift. There’s joy everywhere. The giver of the gift knows how much the receiver wants to learn this instrument and the receiver is actually holding it in his hands instead of longing for it through the shop window.

Finding an instructor that fits into a busy work schedule is hard enough, but once you decide on a lesson plan, then you must consider the practice time, how to practice, what to practice — and let’s face it — not all people learn something the same way. So in order to learn a musical instrument, how much practice time is enough and what kind of practice is right for you?

There is no set amount of time that anyone should practice a musical instrument. When I was in programming classes, I could have studied nightly for 5 hours each night. It would have taken me years to learn the art of computer programming. Though I’m attracted by the systematic logic of it, my talent is towards another thing. However, on the other hand, if I spent an hour every couple days with a passionate (充满热情的) hobby like playing the violin, not only would the time fly quickly, I’d also be learning at a much greater speed since the built-in passion is the motivation for advancement.

So as much as it’s important to practice, a step back is to first find the harmonious instrument that fits you as a person as development of your personality. If you’re learning the guitar because it’s cool — obviously that’s the modern-day mindset, however, you might not be actually linking your talent for musical satisfaction with your most creative advantages you have to offer.

It’s been my experience that every person has a certain level of musical talent. My enjoyable challenge has been to assist them in this adventure and actually locate their best abilities as quickly as possible. Then and only then can we match learners with instruments and truly begin a fun and exciting walk down the road of happiness and contentment, where music, ability, personality and soul all meet. Once this piece of the mystery puzzle is in place, I’ve never had to work at motivating a learner to practice.

1. In the author’s opinion, which of the following is the most important when learning a music instrument?

A．The amount of time for practice.	B．A scientific learning method.
C．A good music instructor.	D．The strong fondness for music.

2. According to the author, a learner should choose to learn a music instrument which ________.

A．is received as a birthday or Christmas gift

B．follows a modern fashion in music training

C．is easy to learn and fits the learner very much

D．contributes to developing the learner’s character

3. What do we know about the author?

A．She writes pop music.	B．She’s a music instructor.
C．She advertises for music lesson.	D．She’s a music instrument collector.

4. Which of these questions does the passage answer?

A．Does practice make perfect?	B．Does talent make a difference?
C．Does a lesson plan really fit you?	D．Does hard work make up for lack of talent?

2 . 假设你是红星中学学生李华。你和同学在寒假期间去医院参加了志愿者活动，请按照以下四幅图的先后顺序，给校刊英语角写一篇英文稿件，介绍此次经历。
注意：词数不少于60。
提示词：自助挂号机   self-service registration machine

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3 . Can We Stop Food Longing Through Imaginary Eating?

Are you fighting an urge to reach for chocolate? Then, let it melt in your mind, not in your mouth. According to the recent research, imagining eating a specific food reduces your interest in that food, so you eat less of it.

This reaction to repeated exposure to food—being less interested in something because you’ve experienced it too much—is called habituation.     1    

The research is the first to show that habituation can occur through the power of the mind. “If you just think about the food itself—how it tastes and smells—that will increase your appetite,” said Carey Morewedge, a well-known psychologist. “It might be better to force yourself to repeatedly think about chewing and swallowing the food in order to reduce your longing.     2     Visualizing yourself eating chocolate wouldn’t prevent you from eating lots of cheese,” he added.

Morewedge conducted an interesting experiment. 51 subjects were divided into three groups. One group was asked to imagine putting 30 coins into a laundry machine and then eating three chocolates.     3     Another group was asked to imagine putting three coins into a laundry machine and then eating 30 chocolates. Lastly, a control group imagined just putting 33 coins into the machine—with no chocolates.     4     When they said they had finished, these were taken away and weighed. The results showed the group that had imagined eating 30 chocolates each ate fewer of the chocolates than the other groups.

    5     Physical signals—that full stomach feeling—are only part of what tells us we’ve finished a meal. The research suggests that psychological effects, such as habituation, also influence how much a person eats. It may lead to new behavioral techniques for people looking to eat more healthily, or have control over other habits.

A．What’s more, this only works with the specific food you’ve imagined.

B．People were advised to try different methods to perform the experiment.

C．For example, a tenth bite is desired less than the first bite, according to the study.

D．All of them then ate freely from bowls containing the same amount of chocolate each.

E．It meant those who repeatedly imagined eating would concern about some specific food.

F．This requires the same motor skills as eating small chocolates from a packet, the study says.

G．This study is part of the research looking into what makes us eat more than we actually need.