Since I had always taken pride in my sharp tongue and brilliant response whether in class debates or casual arguments, I was extremely confident of myself when I was selected to represent our school in a national debate last year.
Of course, all the members in my team were good at debating and we had a very experienced teacher who trained us well. But I was undoubtedly the most outstanding speaker. In each of the rounds that I took part in, all the judges selected me as the best one. The more I won, the more confident I became. And my confidence reached the highest level when we were entering the final. I had every reason to believe that I would be voted the best speaker for the debate series.
But overconfidence brought me the unexpected downfall. During the week before the final, I began to feel so self-important that I started behaving very badly with my teammates. I would laugh at Eton’s poor debating style. I would complain of Vivian’s slow response. I saw myself as the best debater who was disappointed by their bad performances. In short, I became more and more dissatisfied with my team as the final round drew near and began missing the training. My teacher was increasingly worried. My teammates were very unhappy. However, they had no choice but to rely on me to win the final. Even if they would love to kick me out of the team, they could not because there was no replacement good enough.
The day of the final eventually came. The lecture hall was crowded with audience, who were eager to watch a wonderful debate because they had learned from the news that I was the one that was most likely to be the best speaker for the debate series. I was very excited that I was able to show off my debating skills in front of a larger audience, too.
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。
However, they would be totally disappointed, soon.
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As soon as the debate finished, I ran to the washroom, crying.
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1. 讨论的结果;
2. 你的看法。
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1. 写作词数应为80左右;
2. 可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
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Sometimes called the Japanese Day of the Dead, Obon
If you want to experience the
4 . Charles Schulz, creator of the famous comic books, Peanuts, was one of my true heroes. He accompanied me through childhood to
So, last year when he came up to me at the Reuben Awards ceremony in Washington and
How often do you get a(n)
It was a lovely, quiet place on a hillside, with a beautiful view of rolling hills. Charles Schulz wanted to take us for a
“Your
Looking through his closet, he
“My goodness, I’m really walking in your
A.fatherhood | B.manhood | C.adulthood | D.boyhood |
A.collected | B.wrote | C.sold | D.lost |
A.on purpose | B.in person | C.in secret | D.on occasion |
A.dressed | B.fed | C.hugged | D.introduced |
A.breath | B.nap | C.walk | D.shower |
A.pay | B.visit | C.ignore | D.help |
A.gift | B.job | C.invitation | D.award |
A.sadness | B.relief | C.disappointment | D.amazement |
A.work | B.stay | C.read | D.interview |
A.meeting | B.competition | C.hike | D.fight |
A.formal | B.dirty | C.old | D.cheap |
A.gloves | B.shoulders | C.glasses | D.feet |
A.pulled | B.sent | C.worked | D.tried |
A.steps | B.clothes | C.shadows | D.shoes |
A.applied | B.nodded | C.occurred | D.said |
5 . Praising kids is an important part of building their self-respect and confidence. But before you start praising, there are some important dos and don’ts to keep in mind that will help your child find value in your words of encouragement.
Don’t keep praising their talents. Of course, parents would love to talk about them and that is all right.
Focus on the process. Praise children for their effort and hard work. Remember, it’s the process not the product that matters. After all, not all kids with their talents will be great athletes or brilliant musicians. But children who learn to work hard have a special talent.
Say it when you mean it. Say “Good job” only when they have accomplished a really demanding task. It tells your children that you know the difference between when they work hard at something and when it comes easy.
Actually, kids have a way of knowing whether your praise is sincere or not.
A.Be specific in your praising |
B.Encourage new and creative activities |
C.But if your kids hear “you’re so smart” too often |
D.Therefore, your praise should always be heart-felt |
E.When they realize you are insincere, you lose their trust |
F.It shows you don’t recognize the value of their hard work and effort |
G.As a saying goes, every trade goes far as long as you try hard enough |
6 . Everyone dreams of pleasure, but few know how to obtain it and at what cost. Surprisingly, some of the most useful tips come not from modern psychology but from a 2,000-year-old Greek philosopher, Epicurus.
Yes, he dreamed of a life of pleasure but not as we typically think of the word. For Epicurus, pleasure consisted not of a presence of anything but an absence—a complete lack of anxiety. “It is better for you to lie upon a bed of straw and be free of fear, than to have a huge palace yet be troubled in mind,” he said.
We now live in a golden age of pleasure. So many options lie just a click away: delicious food, better smartphones and nicer cars…
“Such things are traps,” Epicurus would say. “Beyond a certain point, pleasure cannot be increased—just as a bright sky cannot get any brighter—but only varied. The new smartphones or cars represent pleasure varied, not increased. That is why the new car that thrilled you on the test drive bores you after a month on the road. Yet our entire consumer culture is based on the assumption that pleasure varied equals pleasure increased. It leads to needless unhappiness.”
Epicurus also thought a lot about a question we have ignored very often: How much is enough? “Live a natural life and welcome whatever goodness comes its way. Don’t grow dependent on unnatural pleasures since each of them comes with hidden costs-not only monetary but also psychological,” Epicurus would say. “Don’t live beyond your natural needs. Nature has made the necessary desires easy to satisfy and the unnecessary ones difficult. Bananas grow on trees. Expensive cars don’t. Natural desire will guide us toward the highest pleasures and away from the unnecessary ones.”
Friendship, Epicurus thought, is life’s greatest pleasure, especially during mealtimes. “To eat and drink alone is to devour like the lion and the wolf,” he said. “The meal does not have to be good. With the right mindset, and in the right company, even a simple pot of cheese will turn out to be a feast.”
1. What did Epicurus consider important for a happy life?A.A lot of money. | B.Ambition for a palace. |
C.Equal opportunities | D.Freedom from anxiety. |
A.Types of consumer goods. | B.Rich choices in our age. |
C.Traps of consumer culture. | D.Convenience in modern life. |
A.The unnatural pleasure. | B.The natural need. |
C.The unnecessary desire. | D.The highest happiness. |
A.He enjoyed exchanging ideas with his friends. |
B.His followers would like unaffordable foods. |
C.He avoided having dinner with other people. |
D.His lifestyle was very popular in ancient Greece. |
7 . If you’ve ever emerged from the shower or returned from your walk with a clever idea or a solution to a problem you had been struggling with, it may not be a surprise. Rather than constantly concentrating on a problem, research from the last 15 years suggests that people may be more likely to have creative breakthroughs when they’re doing a habitual task that doesn’t require much thought.
“People always get surprised when they realize they get interesting, novel ideas at unexpected times,” says Kalina Christoff, a scientist at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, “because our culture tells us that we should do it through hard work.”
Now researchers begin to understand why these clever thoughts occur during more passive activities and what’s happening in the brain. They have found that the key is a series of brain activities—within what’s called the default mode (DM) network—that occur while an individual is resting or performing habitual tasks that don’t require much attention.
“Simply put, it is a state that your brain returns to when you’re relaxed,” explains Christoff. “By contrast, when you’re working on a demanding task, the brain’s executive control (EC) systems keep your thinking focused, analytical, and logical.”
Researchers find that the DM network is also involved in the early stages of idea generation, drawing from past experiences and knowledge about the world. When your mind wanders, you’re allowing thoughts to playfully cross your mind, which helps you combine information and ideas in new ways and something clicks.
“A cautionary note: While the DM network plays a key role in the creative process, it is the EC systems that help you to evaluate and apply the creative ideas effectively to your problems in the real world,” Christoff says. “So it’s unwise to place blind faith in the discovery that creative ideas can be generated in the shower or during any other kinds of mind wandering. Instead, you have to do the work to set the groundwork for creative ideas to emerge in the first place.”
1. What is the most unlikely function of the EC systems?A.To make you feel stressed. | B.To help you analyze. |
C.To let you get novel ideas | D.To keep you focused. |
A.A clever idea occurs. | B.Something drops down. |
C.A memory disappears. | D.A funny thought happens. |
A.Disapproving. | B.Positive. | C.Doubtful. | D.Unconcerned. |
A.Practice makes perfect. |
B.Where there is a will, there is a way. |
C.Everything comes to him who waits. |
D.All work and no break makes Jack a dull boy. |
8 . In living memory, no world leader has been as widely identified with a particular animal as Queen Elizabeth with her dogs. They are seen with her on so many occasions that they have become a key part of her public image.
They are more than her public image, though. In a life that is full of rules, they provide an easy way for the Queen to break the ice with strangers. She also gets from them unlimited amounts of true love and affection, unaffected by the knowledge that she is a queen. Whenever possible, the Queen feeds the dogs herself and leads them on daily walks. Her husband, Prince Philip, has referred to these chores (杂活) as his wife’s private “dog moments”.
When the Queen was young, the dogs kept her company, too. During WWII, she and her sister Margaret were moved to Windsor Castle in secret while their parents stayed at Buckingham Palace to face the bombing with the public. Through the war’s long days and nights, they could be relied upon to comfort them. Jane, in particular, was Elizabeth and Margaret’s childhood strength.
On her 18th birthday, the Queen was given a two-month-old baby dog, Susan. They soon became inseparable. In 1947, hidden under blankets in the carriage, Susan rode with the Queen as she left with Prince Philip for their honeymoon in Scotland.
Susan became such a public figure that, when Elizabeth gave birth to her first baby—Charles, The Mirror asked readers to advise the Queen on how to keep Susan from growing jealous (妒忌的) of the infant. One of the answers read: “First, hug Susan all the time. Second, let Susan have a bowl of milk when you are nursing the baby.” A year later, Susan produced two babies—Sugar (who belonged to the infant Prince Charles) and Honey (who lived with the Queen Mum).
In the minds of dog fans, Susan remains the most significant figure. This is not because she was the Queen’s dog. It is because her genes have been so long-lived—Susan is the common ancestor of all the Queen’s dogs.
1. Why does the Queen personally take care of the dogs?A.She has too much time to spend at home. |
B.She wants to have a normal life in private. |
C.She tries to show her unique skills to dog fans. |
D.She uses dog-caring to connect with the public. |
A.The long days and nights. | B.The Queen’s parents. |
C.Jane and the other dogs. | D.Elizabeth and Margaret. |
A.Susan. | B.Jane. | C.Honey. | D.Sugar. |
A.A True Love Story: Queen Elizabeth and Her Dogs |
B.Queen Elizabeth’s Beloved Dogs: Her Public Image |
C.Jane: Elizabeth and Margaret’s Childhood Strength |
D.Susan: the Common Ancestor of the Queen’s Dogs |
9 . Thanks to its geographical advantages, China’s province of Jiangsu has played a starring role in China’s ancient Maritime Silk Road. Today, it still has a lot of ancient sites related to it.
Nanjing
In 1403, the Emperor of Ming dynasty ordered the construction of a fleet (舰队) of “treasure boats” under the command of Zheng He, who led seven historical sea voyages across the world. It was one of the largest and most advanced fleets the world had ever seen. A reconstruction of one of the ships can be seen at the Treasure Shipyard Relic Park in Nanjing.
Taicang
From Jiangsu’s busy port city of Taicang, goods have flowed in and out of the province by water for centuries. In the busy port, Lusi, where visitors can try the freshest seafood at Lusi Seafood Market, huge vessels sail the same waters where Zheng He set out on his historic adventures centuries earlier. It’s a continuity of commerce and exploration which shows that the historic Maritime Silk Road has never really gone away.
Yangzhou
In the city of Yangzhou, which is famous for its Huaiyang cuisine and historic gardens, there is a Tang-dynasty temple. In the 8th century, Jianzhen lived there before he attempted several sea voyages to Japan to spread the teachings of Buddhism there. It can still be visited on Shugang Mountain today.
Lianyungang
Close to the present-day city of Lianyungang in northern Jiangsu is Kongwang Mountain. Visitors can climb the mountain to view a collection of the earliest Buddhist carvings. These carvings prove the importance of the Maritime Silk Road and Jiangsu province’s role in the spread of religion across China.
1. What can tourists see at the Treasure Shipyard Relic Park?A.Jianzhen’s temple. | B.One of the “treasure boats”. |
C.A Buddhist museum. | D.The earliest Buddhist carvings. |
A.Nanjing. | B.Yangzhou. | C.Taicang. | D.Lianyungang. |
A.They are famous for Huaiyang restaurants. |
B.They are well-known for historic gardens. |
C.They have ancient silk products on exhibit. |
D.They are home to important religious relics. |
1. Which of the following is known for its architecture?
A.Gion. | B.Ryoanji Temple. | C.The Golden Pavilion. |
A.Japanese art. | B.Japanese tea. | C.Japanese history. |
A.At 2 pm. | B.At 4 pm. | C.At 6 pm. |