1. Why do people write poems?
2. Are poems good for our life?
3. What can we get from poems?
4. What have you learnt from the reading passage?
| Dear headmaster, As president of Sullivan Junior High School’s student council, I have been chosen to write to you on behalf of the eighth grade class. We would like to propose an eighth grade promotion trip to Sea World in San Diego, California. We chose Sea World for several reasons. In science class, we have been studying oceans and the marine life. Going to Sea World would provide us with the opportunity to visit these creatures and to better understand their habitats. This could be a once in a lifetime experience for those of us who have never been outside Arizona. We will have lots of fun and learn at the same time. The close location of San Diego was also a factor in planning this trip. San Diego can be reached by bus in about six hours. If the buses leave Sullivan after school on Friday afternoon, we should arrive in California in time to have a late dinner and get settled into our hotel rooms before midnight. |
You may be asking yourself. “How will this trip be financed?” We are suggesting that the school host an “Oceans of Fun” night for family, friends, and community members for a small fee. The activities would be organized and supervised by eighth grade students. Some of our ideas for the night include a Surfer’s Snack Shop with homemade treats for sale, Pirate Pete’s Treasure hunt, and a short production of “A Whale of a Tale.” This would the best chance to show our ocean animal reports. Many of the eighth grade students have gone to school together since kindergarten. We believe that this trip would be a fantastic way to celebrate friendships. This trip may also be one of the last times we see our friends because students from Sullivan Junior High School attend four different high schools. We invite you to our next student council meeting on December 7, 2013, to discuss your thoughts and work out any concerns you still may have. Thank you for taking the time to consider our request for an eighth-grade promotion trip. Sincerely, Julie Martino |
1. Who has written this letter? What is she?
2. What idea has the author mainly expressed in Paragraph 4?
3. Why has the author written this letter?
4. Why does the author mention that many students have gone to school together since kindergarten in Paragraph 5?
The Importance of Global Education
Global education plays a crucial role in preparing individuals for the challenges of an interconnected world. It promotes understanding, empathy, and respect for different cultures and perspectives. Global education also fosters critical thinking skills and encourages individuals to become active global citizens. By learning about global issues, individuals can develop a sense of responsibility and contribute to positive change. It prepares them to navigate diverse environments and collaborate with people from different backgrounds.
Questions:
1. Why is global education important?
2. What are the benefits of global education?
3. How does global education contribute to positive change?
The Impact of Social Media
Social media has revolutionized the way we communicate and interact with others. It allows people to connect with friends and family, share updates, and discover new information. However, excessive use of social media can have negative effects on mental health. Studies have shown a correlation between heavy social media use and feelings of loneliness, depression, and low self-esteem. It is important to use social media in moderation and maintain a healthy balance between online and offline activities.
Questions:
1. What are the benefits of social media?
2. What are the potential negative effects of excessive social media use?
3. How can individuals maintain a healthy balance with social media?
The Benefits of Exercise
Regular exercise has a range of benefits for both physical and mental health. Firstly, exercise helps to strengthen the heart and improve cardiovascular health. It can also help to maintain a healthy weight and prevent obesity. Additionally, exercise boosts mood and reduces stress levels. People who exercise regularly often report feeling happier and more relaxed. Finally, exercise can improve cognitive function and memory. It has been shown to enhance concentration and increase mental clarity.
Questions:
1. What are the benefits of exercise for physical health?
2. How does exercise affect mood?
3. What are the cognitive benefits of exercise?
Group-Chat Culture Is Out of Control
For better or worse, we might be in the Age of the Group Chat. In a recent survey, most people said they felt stressed out by group messages, which can feel like a part-time job.
Connection is wonderful. Grexts, short for group texts, have the feature of imitating the casual back-and-forth of a dialogue, and the result can be more dynamic and fun than a two-person thread. Having a chat going also means you have a space to share your updates throughout the day, a reminder that you’re part of something.
Some researchers call this “ambient(周围的) virtual presence”: Even when you’re alone, you’re not alone. One researcher compares this phenomenon to echolocation(回声定位), the process that some animals, such as bats and dolphins, use to locate objects: They produce a continuous sound and use the resulting echo to sense their surroundings. Humans might use technologies such as group chats in a similar way—as a call-and-response, taking in information about their social networks and locating themselves within those webs.
But taking in too many signals can be overwhelming. Professor Bayer argued that group chats can create a “waterfall type of effect”, where messages keep flooding in and adding up. Eventually, you’re underwater. Another researcher suggested that different chat members all bring their own personalities, communication styles, and expectations for group norms. Without a standard etiquette (礼仪), people have varied opinions about what degree of responsiveness is required—which can cause real tension.
Grext anxiety is hard to resolve because it isn’t just about the group-chat or even mobile technology in general; it’s about the tension between being our own person and being responsible to others. Ultimately, most of us do want connection, even if it involves some duties.
1. What is the feature of Grexts?2. How might humans use group chats like echolocation?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
▶Without a standard etiquette, people have different ideas about what messages should be answered.
4. Please describe how another mobile technology affects your relationship with others. (In about 40 words)
When I was ten years old, on a family vacation to Las Vegas, I felt very uncomfortable. I was immediately taken to the hospital. It turned out that I had a big stroke(中风). It made me no longer able to talk, read, write and understand what anyone was saying to me. The entire right side of my body had no feeling.
I stayed in the hospital for months. There I met my favorite doctor. Her last visit was the most important visit of all. She sent me a box as a gift. Inside was a little toy figure of a soldier. She said, “He’s a fighter. You should be like him, David. As long as you try to be him, you can triumph over your illness at last.” She moved her arms as she was fighting to help me understand.
The next few years’ fighting was really hard. I went to lots of speech and physical treatments. I did learn to walk again, but my right arm remained unable to feel anything. Slowly, I learned to talk again. I started with one syllable(音节)-then more. It allowed me to go to a special school. But I couldn’t even spell my own name. Everything was about language and letters. Talking was hard. So was reading. I was sad. But I was still intelligent. Eventually, I decided to let life move on and do something for other stroke survivors.
To help them, I founded a nonprofit organization. I wrote a book on stroke recovery, which has become a guide for stroke survivors and their family members. To help people like me, I also keep speaking at national conferences and hospitals about how to better recover from the disease. Recently, I was invited to speak at a stroke conference to doctors and patients and tell my story.
Today, I can walk, run, and drive. But I still can’t use my right arm. However, there are so many things I can do. The fight to recover is hard. I’ll never, ever give up.
1. What happened to the author when he was ten years old?(No more than 10 words)2. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 mean?(1 word)
3. Why was the author sad in the special school? (No more than 10 words)
4. What’s Paragraph 4 mainly about?(No more than 10 words)
5. What do you think of the author? Please explain.(No more than 20 words)
Food takeaway rider who finds respite from his daily work stress in writing poetry publishes his second collection in as many years, Chen Nan reports.
In 2019, Wang Jibing, a food delivery rider living and working in Kunshan, East China’s Jiangsu province, had an unpleasant experience due to the wrong address left by a customer. Wang searched three buildings and climbed 18 floors before he finally managed to deliver the food to the customer, who rudely scolded Wang for arriving late.
Wang was sad and frustrated. As a husband and father of three children, who shoulders the majority of the financial responsibility in his family, he had to swallow the insult.
“If I argued with him, he would give me negative feedback and the company would have imposed a fine on me. I had no choice but to apologize repeatedly,” recalls Wang, 54, who makes about 6,000 yuan ($823) a month by delivering food.
On his way home that day, Wang wrote a poem, Man in a Hurry, expressing his feelings.
“Wind is born from air in a hurry. A knife is forged from the wind in hurry… Man in a hurry has no four seasons. He only has one stop after another. His world is about the name of a place,” he wrote.
Since then, Wang has been writing poems inspired by his daily life, including a poem New Temple, which was conceived after he delivered food to construction workers repairing an old temple, and Forgive, based on his observation of a young couple fighting.
1. respite from his daily work stress2. shoulders the majority of the financial responsibility
3. swallow the insult
4. imposed a fine on
5. What does writing poetry mean to Wang Jibing?
6. What do you think Wang Jibing is like?
We need to get back to the natural, built-in mechanisms that we have for self- preservation and health. Laughter is one of them.
Laughter Yoga is a way for people to use laughter without telling jokes and being able to get the laughter to help them feel better. The interesting thing is that it helps ease pain, it can ease depression, it’s a way to move and get into your inner child and it’s a lot of fun. And adults don’t remember necessarily how to have fun
The bottom line of our research is that laughter not only makes us feel good but it has a direct effect on our blood vessels. And our blood vessels control the likelihood of us developing a heart attack or a stroke. So if we keep the blood vessels healthy, then we’re going to be healthy.You can burn up to 40 calories for 5-10 minutes of laughter. But equally important is that the blood vessel opening that we see is the same as going jogging or even taking one of our cholesterol medications. You get the same effect in terms of opening up your blood vessels as you do with a good, deep, belly laugh. Laughing on a regular basis is not only good for our soul, but also great for our heart.
Laughter is a way of communication and that’s why it’s contagious. Because when I’m laughing, you’re looking at me and you’re like “wow, this is a positive energy” and you’re more likely to join me in the laughter.
But laughter’s not present at birth. It appears about 3-4 months of age and it’s one of the most important early means of communication between babies and mothers. A mother will tickle the baby and the baby will smile and laugh. And the mother will do more of that. If the baby does not like it, the baby will fuss or cry and the mother stops. It’s a kind of instinctive language that exists before we learn to talk. Laughter, like speech, evolved to change the behavior of other individuals. Does it have to have other purposes? It probably does, but we’re just now starting to tease out what those differences are. Did the benefits of laughter come from the act of laughing or is it the social context, spending time with friends, family, and lovers? All of these are very difficult scientific issues that haven’t been teased out. But laughter clearly feels good when we do it. Isn’t that enough?
1. What are the functions of Laughter Yoga?2. How does laughter help us medically?
3. What role does laughter play in a person’s growth?
10 . HEFEI, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) - A poetry festival kicked off Wednesday to commemorate Li Bai, a famous Chinese poet from the Tang Dynasty (618-907), in Ma’anshan City of east China’s Anhui Province.
More than 500 representatives attended the opening ceremony of the 33rd Li Bai poetry festival, including poetry experts, scholars and poetry lovers from across the country. A poem recital activity will also be held online this year between Chinese and Japanese poem enthusiasts to promote bilateral cultural exchange.
Li Bai is a household name in China as Shakespeare to the UK or Tagore to India. He lived between 701 and 762, also a golden age of Chinese poetry, and his poems are brimful of patriotism and romanticism. He spent his last days in Ma’anshan and wrote about 50 poems about the city throughout his life. It is said he was buried at the foot of Daqing Mountain in the city after he passed away.
A total of 871 poems have been submitted to the organizing committee to participate in this year’s festival. More than 100 statues of Li Bai and figures that appeared in his poems have been collected from all over China for exhibition at the festival.
Participants will pay homage to places in and around Ma’anshan City which Li Bai once visited. They will also pay a visit to Li Bai’s tomb on Thursday.
The first Li Bai poetry festival was held in 1989 in Ma’anshan, and it has become a shining cultural activity of the city ever since. Ma’anshan was named as Chinese City of Poetry by the Poetry Institute of China in 2014.
1. For what was a poetry festival held in Ma’anshan City?2. Who attended the 33rd Li Bai poetry festival?
3. Why is Li Bai recognized as Tagore in India?
4. Besides 871 poems submitted to the organizing committee, what else were acquired?
5. What influence has the Li Bai poetry festival on the City of Ma’anshan?
