Andy’s finger traced the lines on a blank United States map, each state represented by a number. He whispered to himself, “New Jersey is eating Pennsylvania, and Ohio is a chicken nugget.” Beside him lay another paper with numbers 1—50 written down. Despite 20 minutes of intense concentration, all Andy had to show for his efforts were those numbers.
“OK, and Utah is the washing machine. No, Montana is the washing machine. Or North Dakota? Gah! They’re all washing machines!” Andy was caught in his confusion.
This wasn’t the first time his memory had failed him during a test. No matter how hard he studied, nothing seemed to stay in his brain for long. He had tried memory tricks, even spending nights examining an old paper map in his bedroom. It had given him a glimmer of hope, but now that hope felt distant.
The time was up, and Mr. Crane began collecting the answer sheets. Andy quickly stuffed his blank test into the pile, wanting to forget about it. Unfortunately, his brain seemed to remember only the things it should forget. During lunch, Andy stared at a map, frustrated that he had handed in a blank sheet of paper.
Andy’s friend Aaron shrugged. “You only need a 70 to pass.”
“Yeah, well it’s hard to get a 70 when you hand in a blank sheet of paper,” Andy mumbled, frowning.
Aaron popped a grape into his mouth. “Well, Mr. Crane will let you retake (补考) it tomorrow.”
Andy was the only one standing at Mr. Crane’s desk after school. He apologized quickly, head drooping. But instead of scolding him, Mr. Crane patted his shoulder, saying, “I think you are trying, but you might learn better by being active. Just practice more!”
Andy looked into Mr. Crane’s eyes, finding comfort in the teacher’s understanding gaze. Mr. Crane invited Andy to help him organize a pile of magnets (磁铁), each with the name of a state on it. On the wall hung a large magnetic map — part of a review game the class had been playing.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在相应位置作答。
As Andy arranged the magnets, an idea suddenly came into his mind.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When doing homework, Andy was told he scored an 88 on the retake.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2 . “Can we eat this one, Dad?” my four-year-old daughter, Alicia, asks. We’re on one of our Thursday adventures, searching the nearby woods for eatable mushrooms. She’s pointing at a bright-red cap covered with white dots. I pull out my handy mushroom-identification app, which notes that Amanita muscaria, while eatable if prepared properly, is also a known hallucinogen (致幻剂). I have a firm “tell them the truth and be as precise as possible” philosophy and explain what the app says, and that I don’t think our Thursday adventures are ready to get quite that adventurous yet.
Watching your kids learn new skills is extraordinarily rewarding, but I’ve experienced more personal growth than I have at any other point in my life.
Last year, after a winter of practicing skiing on the green tracks for beginners each week, Alicia was french-frying her way down blues and even attempted her first black. That month also witnessed me visiting the mountain more times than in the 15 years combined and I’ve got myself a partner for life.
It’s not all easy—but sometimes that’s the point. Alicia practices the violin every day, and although she enjoys it, even 15 minutes of practice can upset her. The trick, I’ve found, is to let her watch me try to get better at something, too. I start taking piano lessons at 41 years old with the idea that if she sees me struggling as I practice and then improve, she’ll understand that things don’t come easy, even for grown-ups. I know there’s going to be a time when I’ll end up on the sideline cheering her on as she finds her own passions. I’m okay with this, and I’m hoping that by then she’ll carry the joy of practice and knowledge through life.
1. What does the father imply by saying “I’ve got myself a partner for life.”?| A．It is rewarding to learn new skills. | B．Skiing has become his lifelong hobby. |
| C．He will explore more with his daughter. | D．His daughter will accompany him forever. |
| A．To prove it is never too old to learn. | B．To set a good example for his daughter. |
| C．To experience the joy of piano practice. | D．To share with his daughter musical knowledge. |
| A．Rigid and humorous. | B．Cautious and inspiring. |
| C．Creative and thoughtful. | D．Ambitious and patient. |
| A．The Thrill of the Skill | B．Practice Makes Perfect |
| C．Like Father, Like Daughter | D．The Power of Knowledge |
3 . It all started when I learned to read,or rather,before I learned to read.Throughout my childhood, I'd always had a bunch of ideas about who I would become when I was older. I'd be an inventor,a doctor,a waitress, or an artist. But the ideas ran out in middle school. I spent a few years wandering aimlessly through life,having no clue what I was passionate about.
In my first year of high school, I had an English teacher-let's call her Mrs.A-who changed my life.She was the type of person who captured everyone's attention the second they walked in a room. Midway through the year,I realized that I didn't just want to get a good grade in her class for my own sake,but I wanted to make her proud. Months went by, and I worked harder. I wrote in class and practiced essays at home on top of that.And each time,I'd bring it to her for feedback."Veronica," said Mrs.A after pulling me aside on the last day of school."I told the editors of the school newspaper you should write for them.”aimlessly anymore-I had a destination.I had decided I'd become a writer.Doing well at the school newspaper was the first step to get there.
No way.They wouldn't take me.I applied anyway,A few months later,I was editor-in-chief. somewhere.
Thirteen years after I wrote my first word, three years after Mrs.A gave me the "go ahead".I’m writing for newspapers all around the world. Each article reminds me of the little girl who said she’d become a writer.
It's still the bottom rung of the ladder, and I've got miles left to climb, but at least I’ve made it somewhere.
1. Which of the following words best describe Mrs.A?| A．Patient and intelligent. | B．Inspiring and remarkable. |
| C．Out-going and helpful. | D．Approachable and imaginative. |
| A．Panicked. | B．Surprised. |
| C．Confused. | D．Unconfident. |
| A．Be brave enough to try. | B．Be ready to voice her opinions. |
| C．Cherish whatever life has to offer. | D．Continue to improve her writing skills. |
| A．To inspire passion for writing. | B．To discuss a teacher's role |
| C．To highlight the key to success. | D．To share her journey to writing. |
4 . Last year, 138,000 San Francisco residents used Airbnb, a popular app designed to connect home renters and travelers. It’s a striking number for a city with a population of about 850,000, and it was enough for Airbnb to win a major victory in local elections, as San Francisco voters struck down a debatable rule that would have placed time restrictions and other regulations on short-term rental services.
The company fiercely opposed the measure, Proposition F, with a nearly $10 million advertising campaign. It also contacted its San Franciscan users with messages urging them to vote against Proposition F.
Most people think of Airbnb as a kind of couch-surfing app. The service works for one-night stays on road trips and longer stays in cities, and it often has more competitive pricing than hotels. It’s a textbook example of the “sharing economy”, but not everyone is a fan.
The app has had unintended consequences in San Francisco. As the San Francisco Chronicle reported last year, a significant amount of renting on Airbnb is not in line with the company’s image: middle-class families putting up a spare room to help make ends meet. Some users have taken advantage of the service, using it to turn their multiple properties into vacation rentals or even full-time rentals. Backers of Proposition F argued that this trend takes spaces off the conventional, better-regulated housing market and contributes to rising costs.
“The fact is, widespread abuse of short-term rentals is taking much needed housing off the market and harming our neighborhoods,” said ShareBetter SF, a group that supported Proposition F. Hotel unions have protested the company’s practices in San Francisco and other cities, saying that it creates an illegal hotel system.
San Francisco is in the middle of a long-term, deeply rooted housing crisis that has seen the cost of living explode. Actually, explode is a generous term. The average monthly rent for an apartment is around $4, 000. Located on a narrow outcropping of land overlooking the bay, San Francisco simply doesn’t have enough space to accommodate the massive inflow of young, high-salaried tech employees flocking to Silicon Valley.
As the Los Angeles Times reported, some San Francisco residents supported the measure simply because it seemed like a way to check a big corporation. Opponents of Proposition F countered that the housing crisis runs much deeper, and that passing the rule would have discouraged a popular service while doing little to solve the city’s existing problems.
1. The intention of Proposition F is to ________.| A．place time limits in local election. | B．set limits on short-term rental. |
| C．strike down a controversial rule. | D．urge users to vote against Airbnb. |
| A．It shrinks the living space of middle-class families. |
| B．Users are taken advantage of by the service financially. |
| C．It makes the house market more competitive. |
| D．It indirectly leads to high house rental price. |
| A．explosion of the living cost | B．its geographic characteristics |
| C．generosity of local enterprises | D．inflow of migrant population |
| A．objective | B．supportive |
| C．negative | D．indifferent |
