When I was a kid, my parents were busy working so they enrolled (登记) me in the Spartak Tennis Club in Moscow. Every day after school my parents would take me to Spartak and I would be there until maybe nine o'clock. All we did was play tennis, eat, do homework, have fun and hang out. It was basically my second family.
In that second family was a woman who was like a mother to me, my first coach, Larissa. I still refer to her as my second mother. She taught me everything I know about how to play tennis, but she’s also a wonderful person. She’s kind and patient, which is not what you expect from one of the top tennis coaches in Russia.
Her program when I was little was based on tricking us into doing our exercises. She would put a candy under the cones (锥形物), and we would try to hit the targets with balls, you got to have an ice cream.
Of course we worked hard and I didn’t let her down.
My second-ever tournament was the Moscow Championships, and I won. Afterwards Larissa came up to me and said, “Congratulations, Enjoy today because tomorrow it’s back to work.” She was always telling us to celebrate and have fun with any particular achievement but to always remember there is something more you can do, something more you can achieve.
Now every time I go back to Russia I go to Spartak to see Larissa. We look at all the pictures from all the birthday parties and tournament and celebrations. It is really cool to have someone like her in my life. Larissa is still coaching, but we don’t talk much about tennis any more. We just talk.
1. Why did the author go to Spartak every day? (no more than 15 words)2. What does the author think of his coach? (no more than 10 words)
3. What’s Paragraph 3 mainly about? (no more than 10 words)
4. What does the underlined phrase “let her down” in Paragraph 4 mean? (no more than 5 words)
5. What can you learn from Larissa? (no more than 25 words)
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he will read a book every two weeks, and he’s invited people all around the world to join him.
The “year of books” is Mark Zuckerberg’s 2015 goal. The billionaire is famous for his quirky New Year’s plans. Two years ago, he challenged himself to meet a new person a day. Last year he attempted to write a “thank-you note” every day. He said, “Although I’m very busy, I always have many strange ideas and I still have time to achieve my goals. If you set a goal, you must try your best to make it come true.”
It will come as no surprise that he’s already launched a Facebook page — entitled “A year of books” — to serve as the reading group’s discussion center. Over 62,000 people from all around the world have liked the page in the first 24 hours. Many of them expressed their desires to join Mark Zuckerberg in reading a book every two weeks in their message of the page.
“I hope all the people who participate in the discussion actually have read the books and have relevant points to add. The group will keep it continuously focused,” he stressed on his Facebook page. “With the development of technology, fewer people in the world read books. I do hope people read more books in their spare time rather than surf the Internet or play with their mobiles,” he added on his Facebook page.
The plan is to select books about various topics and cultures. “The Bible” and “Quran” (《可兰经》) have been popular suggestions among hundreds of other titles. The first book is “The End of Power” by Moisés Naím, a former Foreign Policy editor. It’s a 300-page deep dive into the changing nature of leadership today that was published in March 2013.
1. What is Mark Zuckerberg’s New Year’s plan in 2015? (No more than 10 words)2. What does the underlined word “quirky” most probably mean in English? (1 word)
3. Why did Mark Zuckerberg start a page named “A year of books”? (No more than 10 words)
4. What is the book “The End of Power” about? (No more than 10 words)
5. What do you think of Mark Zuckerberg? Give your reasons. (No more than 25 words)
An 89-year-old man has reached a goal he spent 20 years working toward. He earned his doctor degree and became a physicist.
Steiner values this degree because it is what he always wanted — and because he overcame health problems that could have interfered with his studies.
As a young person in Vienna, Austria, Steiner wanted to become a physicist after reading about Albert Einstein and Max Planck.
But after World War Ⅱ, his mother advised him that studying medicine would be a better choice. He earned his medical degree from the University of Vienna in 1955 and moved to the United States soon after. In the U.S., he had a successful career studying blood, became a full professor and led the hematology (血液学) department at Brown’s medical school from 1985 to 1994. He helped establish a research program in hematology and directed that program until he retired from medicine in 2000.
Steiner found medical research pleasing, but it was not quite the same as his interest in physics.
“It was something like a wish that was never fulilled, that always stuck in the back of my head,” he said. “Once I’m finished with medicine, I really don’t want to spend my life just sitting around and maybe doing a little golfing or doing something like that. I wanted to keep active.
At age 70, he started taking undergraduate classes at Brown University. He was planning to just take a few classes that interested him. But by 2007, he had earned enough credits to join the doctoral program.
Physics professor Brad Marston soon realized how serious Steiner was about the subject and how hard he worked. “He already had a scientific way of thinking that younger students have to develop,” Marston said. “One thing that’s really true about Manfred is he perseveres.”
After the university published a story about Steiner on its website, people across the U.S. contacted him to ask for advice on how to go after their dreams later in life.
He said his advice is: Do what you love to do.
1. Why does Steiner attach great importance to this degree? (no more than 10 words)2. What is paragraph 4 mainly about? (no more than 7 words)
3. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 5 mean? (no more than 7 words)
4. What is Marston’s comment on Steiner after he joined the doctoral program? (no more than 10 words)
5. What do you think of Steiner? Please explain. (no more than 20 words)
On my first job as a sports editor for the Montpelier Leader Enterprise (MLE), I didn’t get a lot of fan mail, so my attention was caught by letter on my desk one morning.
When I opened it, I read: “Sweet piece of writing on the Tigers. Keep up the good work.” It was signed by Don Wolfe, the sports editor. Because I was a teenager, his words couldn’t have been more inspiring. I kept it in my drawer until it got old. Whenever I doubted I had the right stuff to be a writer, I would reread Don’s note and walk on air again.
Later, when I got to know him, I learned that Don made a habit of writing a quick, encouraging note to people in all walks of life. “when I made others feel good about themselves,” he told me, “I feel good, too.”
Over the years, I’ve tried to copy Don and write uplifting words, in a world too often cold and unresponsive, such notes bring warmth.
Why are positive note writers in such short supply? My guess is that people who shy away from the practice are too self-conscious. They are afraid they will be misunderstood. Also, writing takes time; it is far easier to pick up the phone. The drawback(缺点) of phone calls, of course, is that they do not last. And it sounds insincere on the phone. A note attaches more importance to our well-wishing. It is a matter of record, and our words can be read more than once, savored (品味) and treasured, and they bring strength and love to us.
Today I sent а warm letter to my old boss. I don’t know if it will make his day, but it made mine. As my friend Don Wolfe said, “Making others feel good about themselves makes me feel good too.”
1. What does the underlined part “walk on air” in Paragraph 2 probably mean? (No more than 5 words)2. According to the author, why aren’t people willing to write letters? (No more than 15 words)
3. Why did the author write to his old boss? (No more than 15 words)
4. What’s the text mainly about? (No more than 10 words)
5. Have you ever been encouraged by someone? And how? (No more than 20 words)
Mental health conditions are an increasing problem in Australia and around the world. Around one in two Australians will experience a mental health issue in their lifetime. Globally, about 1 in 10 people live with a mental health disorder.
Eating a diet rich in fruit and vegetables is associated with less stress, according to a new research from Edith Cowan University(ECU). The findings revealed people who ate at least 470 grams of fruit and vegetables daily had 10 percent lower stress levels than those who consumed less than 230 grams. Lead researcher, Simone Radavelli-Bagatini said, “We found that people who have higher fruit and vegetable intakes are less stressed than those with lower intakes, which suggests diet plays a key role in mental health.”
According to Ms Radavelli-Bagatini, some stress is considered normal, but long-term exposure can lead to a range of health problems including heart disease, depression and anxiety, so we need to find ways to prevent and possibly reduce mental health problems in the future.
Previous studies have shown the link between fruit and vegetable consumption and stress in younger adults. But this is the first time we’re seeing similar results across adults of all ages,” said Radavelli-Bagatini. While the mechanisms (机制)behind how fruit and vegetable consumption influences stress are still unclear. Radavelli-Bagatini said key nutrients could be a factor.
“Vegetables and fruits contain important nutrients such as vitamins, minerals andcarotenoids(类胡萝卜素) that can reduce inflammation(发炎) and oxidative (氧化应激) stress which are recognized factors that can lead to increased stress, anxiety and lower mood, and therefore improve mental health,”. she said. These findings encourage more researches into diet and specifically what fruits and vegetables provide the most benefits for mental health.
1. According to the passage, what problems can be caused by long-term stress?2. What might be the reason why eating a diet rich in vegetables and fruits can lead to less stress?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
Researches carried out before have shown that higher consumption of fruits and vegetables is associated with lower stress level in people of all ages.
4. Besides eating fruit and vegetables, what other ways do you often use to cope with stress to maintain mental health? (about 40 words)
Rounding the corner into the classroom to pick up my daughter, I heard the teacher tell her, "You've done the most beautiful tree. Well done." A few days later, she pointed to another of my daughter's drawings and said, "Wow, you really are an artist!"
Both times, when I heard my daughter being praised, I felt at a loss. As a mother, how could I explain to the teacher that I would prefer it if she didn't praise my daughter?
Nowadays, we give a lot of praise to our children. Praise, self-confidence and performance at school, it is commonly believed, rise and fall together. But the present research shows something else—over the past decade, a number of studies on self-confidence have suggested that praising a child as "clever" may not help her at school. In fact, it might cause her to underperform. Often a child will react to praise by quitting—why make a new drawing if you have already made "the best"? Or a child may simply repeat the same work—why draw something new, or in a new way, if the old way always gets praise?
In a now famous 1998 study of children aged 10 and 11, psychologists Carol Dweck and Claudia Mueller asked 128 children to solve a series of math problems. After completing the first set of simple exercises, the researchers gave each child just one sentence of praise. Some were praised for their intelligence—"You did really well, you're so clever"; others for their hard work—"You did really well, you must have worked really hard." Then the researchers had the children try a more challenging set of problems. The results were eye-opening. The students who were praised for their effort showed a greater willingness to work out new methods. They said they failed because of a lack of (缺少) effort, not a lack of intelligence. The children who had been praised for their cleverness worried more about failure and tended to choose tasks that they had done before. All in all, the excitement created by being told "You're so clever" gave way to an increase in anxiety and a drop in self-confidence and performance. When asked by the researchers to write to the children in another school, remembering their experience, some of the "clever" children lied about their scores. In short, all it took to knock these youngsters' confidence, to make them so unhappy that they lied, was one sentence of praise.
1. How did the author feel when she heard her daughter being praised? (不多于 5 个单词)2. What have studies on self-confidence suggested? (不多于 11 个单词)
3. According to the study, what followed the children's excitement when they were praised for cleverness? (不多于 11 个单词)
4. What might the author say if her daughter really did a great job? (单词数不限)
If you step into a bookstore, you might notice a section(区域) labeled “self-help”. You might also notice that the section is getting bigger. That’s because more people are turning to self-help books for advice. The Guardian once reported that sales of these books in the UK rose by 20 percent, to a record high of three million books.
Self-help books try to guide readers through various life problems. Popular themes include getting along with coworkers, time management and finding happiness.
Different kinds of people write self-help books, including some celebrities, but usually these books are the work of psychologists(心理学家).
“People come into the shop and they're really fed up with things. They're looking for reassurances(安心) and peace of mind,” Paul Sweetman, the owner of City Books in the UK told the Guardian.
In addition, millennials-people born after 1980—tend to be more aware of their own flaws and shortcomings(缺点), according to US psychologist Caroline Beaton. This means they're more likely to feel a need to improve themselves. Self-help books may have the answers they're looking for.
Self-help books used to be something people laughed at. Many people didn't take “Chicken Soup stories” or “success theory” books too seriously. But now they’re more respected. “They're as good to read as any novel,” Sweetman said.
Whatever the reason for the increased interest in self-help books, it's nice to know that help is at hand if we need it. But are these books truly helpful? Read one and find out.
1. What is the passage mainly about? (no more than 12 words)2. What do the “Self-help” books aim to do? (no more than 12 words)
3. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 4 mean in English? (no more than 8 words)
4. Why do people turn to “self-help” books according to Paul Sweetman? (no more than 10 words)
5. What kind of books are you fond of and why? (no more than 20 words)
8 . Radhika is just an average Indian woman who wants to help other women. She travels from Afghanistan to Kenya, addressing everything from poverty to illiteracy（文盲）.
Radhika, however, is not real. She's an imaginary character in the game Half the Sky, started by journalist Nicholas Kristof. By using a Facebook account to download the game, users can learn how to help real women in the developing world.
Half the Sky is part of a larger trend of social cause games, which nonprofit organizations use to connect gamers to causes. The group holds an annual festival to bring together funders, nongovernmental organizations, and educators with game developers. They have also worked together to create and distribute games that serve as tools to educate on global issues and raise funds for organizations in need.
So how does Half the Sky work? Users help Radhika to complete "quests" by solving problems. For example,in the first round, users help Radhika obtain a vaccination（接种疫苗）for her daughter. The first challenge is to start a dialogue with her husband about the importance of helping their child. Then, users help Radhika pick mango（芒果）in the backyard to sell. That money pays for a cab to the hospital and the vaccination. At the end of the round, the screen flashes the message: "Give a gift to change a life." Users then have the choice to donate, or invite friends to donate, to real-life groups that need to address the challenges Radhika has overcome.
"The whole idea is that Radhika can do certain things and make a difference in the virtual world, and the player is aware that he or she can do the same thing in the world whenever he or she wants," said Mr. Burak, Co-President of an organization that has promoted social cause games since 2004. "All social important games are created with a purpose in mind".
1. Who created Radhika?（no more than 5 words）2. What is the purpose of social cause games?（no more than 5 words）
3. How does Half the Sky work?（no more than 10 words）
4. What does the underlined word "aware" in the last paragraph mean?（1 words）
5. What do you think of social cause games like Half the Sky?（no more than 25 words）
Story One
Once upon a time a psychology professor walked around on a stage while teaching stress management principles to an auditorium filled-with students.As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they'd be asked the typical glass half empty or glass half full question. Instead, with a smile on her face, the professor asked "How heavy is this glass of water I'm holding?"
Students shouted out answers ranging from eight ounces to a couple pounds. She replied, "From my perspective, the absolute weight of this glass doesn't matter. It all depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute or two. it's fairly light. If I hold it for an hour straight, its weight might make my arm ache a little. If I hold it for a day straight, my arm will likely cramp up （抽筋） and feel completely numb and paralyzed, forcing me to drop the glass to the floor. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn't change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it feels to me."
As the class nodded their heads in agreement, she continued, “Your stresses and worries in life are very much like this glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and you begin to ache a little. Think about them all day long, and you will feel completely numb and paralyzed – incapable of doing anything else until you drop them."
Story Two
One day a bright student wishing to be successful put this question to Socrates(苏格拉底）.
“Teacher, I have studied many years with you and even though I have learned many things I still have not learned the secret to success or what it really takes to be successful. Please train me in this mystery.”
Socrates looked at his student with a thoughtful expression and after a long pause, he responded. “My son, the secret is within each one of us if we only truly want it. If you walk-with me, I will take you to the river of life and show you.”
They walked side by side in silence for a while and upon reaching the river Socrates spoke. “My son, bend down here by-the edge of the river and stare deeply at these flowing waters." As the student bent down beside the river Socrates took him by the neck and plunged his head into the water. After only a few seconds (that felt like eternity to the young man), he started struggling to get his head out of the water, gasping for a breath.
After a couple of minutes, suddenly some inner strength burst into the young man and he pushed himself out of the water and gulped in precious air. After a few deep breaths he composed himself and pondered what had just happened. Was his teacher mad at him? What other reason would he act so strange?
The student blurted out, "Why did you do that?!"
Socrates answered rhetorically, "While your head was underwater, what was the one thing you wanted more than anything in life?"
“To take a breath of air to be able to stay alive,” he said.
“It is just as I told you earlier, the secret to success is already inside all of us. When you desire success as much as you wanted that breath of air, you will be successful.”
1. What is the moral(寓意，教益）of the first story?2. As teachers in these two stories, what approach do the psychology professor and Socrates share in common to inspire their students?
3. What is the moral of the second story?How do you understand it?
In 1952, my daddy traveled with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He worked on a very large dredge vessel(挖泥船), and he went where it went. This meant he spent a lot of time away from our North Carolina home.
As Christmas approached, he called from Galveston, Texas. Daddy explained to my mother why he would not be celebrating the holiday with us. Money was tight and he didn’t have a way to get back to his family. Disappointed as she was, Mother knew he was right. She also knew we would be upset, so she told my two sisters, brother and me right away. The news hit me very hard. Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without Daddy. I knew he had tried his best. Still, I went to bed on Christmas Eve with a heavy heart.
When we woke up on Christmas morning, Santa had come. I don’t remember what gift my brother received that year, but my sisters and I found new Dy-Dee dolls. We were all happy with our gifts, so we went outside to play. Unable to show Daddy what Santa had brought me, I just felt so glum. As we were playing, I looked up and thought I saw my Daddy in the distance. I ran inside to tell Mother. She did not believe me and told me not to make up stories. She just repeated he would have been there if he could, but it just wasn’t possible. But I was sure it was Daddy! I turned to go back outside when I heard familiar footsteps. I ran down the stairs. Daddy was home!
As I rushed into his outstretched arms, Daddy explained that he had tried everything to get home for Christmas, but without success. At the last minute, a group of the workers decided to drive. But the nearest guy lived miles away. So Daddy started walking on Christmas Eve until he arrived home. He had walked all night to get home to his family.
Though the presents that year were wonderful, the best gift was not found under the tree.
1. Why couldn’t Daddy celebrate Christmas with his family at first?(no more than 10 words)2. Why did the writer go to bed on Christmas Eve with a heavy heart?(no more than 15 words)
3. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 3 mean?(no more than 8 words)
4. How did Daddy manage to get home at last on Christmas Eve? (no more than 5 words)
5. Why did the author say “the best gift was not found under the tree”? Please explain.(no more than 20 words)
