1 . 请在以下对话中提取相关信息，参考已给的例子将其整理好一篇小短文，内容包括大学录取方式、大学和专业的选择。
Liu Ming: Hi,Susan! Hi, Olivia! I have been thinking a lot recently about university. Have you guys made any plans yet?
Susan: Hi, Liu Ming! I guess I’ve thought about it, but I haven’t made any firm plans yet. How about you, Olivia?
Olivia: The same. My parents said that my future career might depend on what university I end up getting into.
Liu Ming: If I had a chance, I’d love to go to a top Chinese university. But it’s so hard. I need a really high score to pass the National College Entrance Exam.
Susan: Oh, in the UK, we don’t have a university entrance exam. We take a separate exam for each subject that we study. Then we use our grades to apply to a university. We also have to give a long essay to the university saying why we want to study our chosen subject.
Olivia: Well, in the US, we need to get really high grades and we need to take a college entrance exam. Plus we have to write an admission essay.
Liu Ming: So, we must all study extra hard, then. I really want to major in computer game design. I'd like to design fun games for children to learn with.
Susan: That’s a great idea! I’d like to study international business. According to the school’s careers advisor, it could help me find work overseas. It would be great to see more of the world!
Olivia: Hmm ... I’m not sure what I want to study as my major yet. But right now I’m thinking about robotics. I’m really interested in futuristic things.
Liu Ming: How about cybersecurity or data science? I read that they’re really fascinating subjects you’re good at computer programming. But I’m hopeless at programming!
Susan: That’s a good point. I was told that there’s no point choosing a subject that you like you’re not very good at.
Olivia: Yes, and don’t forget that where you study is also important, too. I’m planning on taking few campus tours to see what the atmosphere and facilities are like.
Liu Ming: Good idea! I really hope that we can all find good universities.
Susan: Me, too. I hope we are all lucky and find great universities.
Olivia: Luck? Ha-ha! I think we all need to start studying even harder, too!
短文样例：
Liu Ming has been thinking a lot recently about university, which Liu considers to be a top Chinese university. It’s so hard to be admitted to a top university with a high score to pass the National College Entrance Exam. For success, Liu has to study extra hard, hoping to major in computer game design out of love for fun game design for children to learn with.
Susan
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Olivia
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2 . 根据Unit 2 Reading部分课文，写一篇60词左右的概要
Effective communication
If you heard someone shout “Hey you!” from across the room, how would you react? Just these two words can carry a lot of information. They could be interpreted as a welcoming greeting from a close friend, especially if accompanied by a gentle smile. When spoken by a stranger, they can function as a means of attracting your attention. Much of what we communicate is dependent not only on the words we use, but also on how we use them. So, let’s look a little deeper into the topic of communication.
Communication is the process of exchanging information between a sender and a receiver. The sender encodes a message and sends it face to face, or through video, telephone, mail or social media. This message is then received and decoded by the receiver. In response, the receiver sends an encoded message back, which is referred to as feedback. This feedback is decoded by the original sender and the entire cycle repeats itself until they have finished communicating.
This communication process can be challenging but, with practice and patience, you can become a highly competent communicator. To accomplish this, you need to know with whom you are communicating. What is their age or position? What is their relationship with you? What expectations and cultural backgrounds do they have? Once you have obtained this information, you can use it to determine how best to communicate with them. Depending on whether you are communicating with a stranger, friend, family member or co-worker, you will need to decide which communication channel best suits the situation. Furthermore, you will need to determine the appropriate style to use and how complex your choice of words should be. For example, if you are a business person negotiating with a large enterprise about a deal, you should do it face to face, using formal language in a straightforward manner.
Your body language is equally important, since it reveals a lot about your thoughts and attitudes. Make sure it clearly supports the message you want to deliver. A smile shows you are attentive to the issues being discussed, while looking away with your arms folded can indicate disinterest and create distrust or friction. Additionally, you should not ignore the other person’s body language, which will give you clues as to whether the conversation is going well or not. When you notice a change in the other person’s body language, you should adjust how you are communicating accordingly. If someone looks at you with a confused expression, this could indicate that they have not completely understood your point. Then you will need to clarify your message before moving on.
While being knowledgeable about body language is vital, the value of empathy should not be understated. Seek to understand the other person’s emotions, by putting yourself in their shoes and looking at the situation from their perspective. Suppose you are discussing a project with your partner, who has just lost an important basketball game and is inactive. To engage him or her in the discussion and make your communication more effective, you may express your sympathy by, for instance, saying, “I understand how you feel ...” However, some issues may be complicated and you may be confused about why others feel the way they do. Only when you give serious consideration to their points of view will you be able to see what accounts for their emotions and empathize with them. You may not approve of their ideas but at least you will see where they are coming from, which means you can make adjustments to your own tone and choice of words accordingly.
Effective communication will enable you to settle differences and disagreements appropriately and improve your interactions with others. Good communication skills will also help you build trust and gain respect, allowing relationships to become more positive and productive. So, get practising and good luck!
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Babe Didrikson Zaharias was one of the most extraordinary athletes of all time. She achieved particular success in basketball, track and field, and golf. She also competed in baseball, boxing, diving and many other sports. In 1950, the Associated Press declared Babe Zaharias to be the “Woman Athlete of the Half-Century”.
From a young age, her goal was to be “the greatest athlete to ever live”. As a teenager, she acquired the nickname “Babe” in reference to Babe Ruth, a professional baseball player. She never passed up a chance to play ball. One day, when she was a little girl, her mother sent her to the grocery store to buy some beef for dinner. On the way home, Babe spotted some boys playing baseball. She dropped her purchases and joined the game. An hour later, her angry mother showed up, looking for the groceries. Babe pointed to where she’d left it. A dog was happily enjoying the last piece.
Zaharias gained fame at the 1932 Olympic Games. She won gold medals in the javelin (标枪) throw and the 80-metre hurdles (跨栏), but she was deprived of a third gold medal in the high jump because she had used the unorthodox (不正规的) Western roll to achieve the highest jump. Her Olympic success brought her national attention.
In 1932, Zaharias began playing golf and was soon winning important championships in the sport. In 1950, Zaharias helped found the Ladies Professional Golf Association, and she became the LPGA’s star competitor. Not only did she attract interest in the women’s game, she revolutionized the sport and was known for her powerful drives.
Zaharias died of cancer in 1956, at the age of 45.
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On Sunday, the second day of Spring Festival, a man was killed after he fell into the tiger enclosure while trying to get into the zoo in Ningbo, East China’s Zhejiang Province, without paying for a ticket.
The tragedy cost two lives, as the tiger was shot dead when zoo employees tried to rescue the man.
As news of the incident spread, the majority of voices online blamed the dead man for the animal’s death. Some said this was a sign that people are becoming more cold hearted. But they are wrong. People have been displaying increasingly more enthusiasm for helping those in need and participating in charity work. In 2016, the China Charity Federation received donations of 18.8 billion yuan ($2.7 billion) in total, 46 percent more than the donations received in 2015, and they sent helping hands to one tragedy after another.
People are just tired of forgiving those in the wrong. While sympathy is right, it has been abused too much. When somebody commits a crime, no matter how cruel the crime is, media outlets explain the criminal’s miserable childhood and there are calls for forgiveness. When someone smokes in public, there are always people calling for tolerance.
People are fed up and angry with lawbreakers escaping their due punishments in the name of forgiveness and tolerance.
But going back to the tragedy at the wildlife park in Ningbo, the tiger’s death shows the park was not well prepared for such emergencies. They did not have any tranquilizer guns that could sedate the tiger immediately and save the lives of both the man and the endangered animal.
In the meantime, it is necessary to raise people’s awareness that the animals in zoos and wildlife parks are not domesticated pets, and of the need for visitors to observe rules for their own safety.
The man in the Ningbo incident paid for his fault with his life, but the tiger was killed for his fault, too. We sincerely hope no more tigers or humans will pay for such fault.
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Microplastics in Water — a Wake-up Call for All of Us
Today researchers announced that they have found tiny pieces of plastic in water samples from around the world. These pieces are called microplastics and are so small that they are invisible to the naked eye and are very difficult to remove from the water. When in the water, they are swallowed by fish and other animals and then enter the food chain.
Even more concerning is the fact that the plastic has also been found in drinking water across the world. This means that we are drinking plastic every day. Scientists do not know what level of harm this will cause us in the future.
Microplastics come from a number of different sources, in particular from washing and drying synthetic (non-natural) clothing and from cosmetics and cleaning products, such as toothpaste and face washes. Microplastics are even found in the air outside and at our homes.
Almost every country across the world agrees that we cannot continue using so much plastic in our lives. We need to find a solution to remove microplastics from our oceans. We also need to introduce new taxes and other means to encourage companies to choose environment-friendly ingredients and recyclable packaging for their products.
We need to take personal responsibility, too. We all have the freedom to choose how we spend our money and what kids of business and products we support. Let’s work together to protect our environment, both now and for the future.
Remember: Reduce — Reuse — Recycle. (244 words)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Dealing with One Missed Workout
It’s a common dilemma (图局)for anyone on a training plan: You miss one workout and become awashed with guilt. To make up for it, you add those extra miles to your next workout. But according to the professionals, this isn’t the right way to go about it. “A single workout is not going to make or break a training plan. The key to training is consistency over time,” says John Raglin, PhD, professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Indiana University Bloomington.When you miss a workout, the temptation is to think, “Oh, I’ve got to do more tomorrow”. But when you try to catch up on your workouts, you run a couple of risks: “Certainly an injury, but also becoming over-tired, which could ruin your training after that, ” says Raglin. This is a phenomenon called ‘non-functional overreaching’, “he says. Eventually, this could lead to overtraining syndrome (综合症), which is characterized by a decrease in performance later due to a long-term increase in training load without adequate recovery.
So how do you move forward if you skipped a run or five?Well first, people download generalized training plans without understanding that they are meant to be adapted to life. There is a whole host of life stressors—job, kids, friendships, travel—and exercise is just another type of stress. Actually, when things get chaotic in your life, it may be necessary to just let go. Next, if you missed a workout, you have to ask yourself why: “Was it just because your schedule got out of hand or because you were feeling overly exhausted? ” Understanding why you missed the workout can offer some insights into how to tailor your program to suit your lifestyle.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Drawing High Schoolers to Science
A group of educators and plant scientists at Michigan State University (MSU) are connecting to reshape science classes. And this particular partnership isn’t just helping students get a better understanding of biology; it’s turning them into young scientists, even if only during class.
It doesn’t take long to see that the curriculum born from this collaboration makes for a much different experience than the traditional high school biology classes. For starters, it has a comic book for a workbook. Secondly, students are getting their hands dirty growing plants. MSU researchers are also studying the plant. The high schoolers are asking some of the same questions professional plant scientists are trying to answer.
“We’re getting them engaged with science in science practices, not just having them learn about science,” says Hildah Makori, a researcher at MSU. “They learn to look at things differently. That’s a life-time impact.”
The main characters of the comic book are a pair of young field scientists. They invite the high school students to help with plant research inspired by a real project at MSU. By growing their own plants, the students learn about genetics, evolution and how these interact with the environment.
The team has seen how this practice could keep students in the driver’s seat of their learning. To help the characters out, students set up different experiments to test their ideas.
The program is working. “This comic personally gave me a click that sparked my curiosity,” reads one student’s survey response. “The comic book put a lot of creative atmosphere into the story instead of just looking at words, instead of just listening to the teacher talk,” says another.
Teachers also had positive reviews. In a survey, one remarked how helpful it was to have the comic to refer to. The students could see the comic’s characters doing something in the lab and realize, “I’m able to do this right here at my table and I can do the same thing,” the teacher says.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Do you have a favorite podcast? That can be a difficult question to answer for some as there are so many options. That is because the world is full of interesting topics and thoughts about them. If you feel you have something engaging and valuable to share, start a podcast.
A podcast is a series of audio episodes that cover a particular subject. The first step to creating a podcast is to find your topic. It’s believed that the best topics are ones that you know a lot about and love.
Another important step is to make sure you have the right equipment. While podcast equipment can be complex and expensive, it doesn’t have to be. For your first podcast, you can simply rely on your phone and computer. You can record all of your audio on your phone. Then with your computer — and the right software — you can mix the audio. This is the process of putting your audio together into one perfect-sounding file.
After you have your topic and equipment, you’ll want to choose your format. Your podcast could be one person speaking, two people talking, or many people offering their opinions. Your podcast could also include more than one of these options.
Once you’ve decided, you can start drafting your episodes. However, whatever format or formats you choose, maintain the same structure for each episode. The next step is to find a quiet place and do your recording.
When you’ve completed your recording and audio mixing, you’ll need to find a platform for your podcast. Luckily there are plenty of free and paid platform options on which to upload your podcast. Before uploading, make sure you have an interesting title and good tags for your show. Be sure to post about your show on social media. Get your podcast listed in a podcast directory, too. You want to get the word out about your podcast to grow your audience. Your podcast just might become someone’s new favorite.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Ignoring Your Biggest Regrets
Regrets, people often feel, are to be avoided. Mistakes may be unavoidable, but they should be kept to a minimum. And when they do occur, the best course of action is to ignore them as inevitable steps on our journey. That seems logical, at least until you consider that one of the criteria for mental illness is an inability to feel regret. As author Kathryn Schulz argues, “If you want to be fully functional, and fully human, and fully humane, I think you need to learn to live not without regret, but with it.” Counterintuitively, she and other experts argue feeling regret is essential for living your best life. No one is saying, of course, that getting trapped in your past mistakes is a good idea. But neither is a “no regrets and never look back” mentality.
Regret forces us to engage in a reflective analysis to understand why we thought or acted the way we did and makes us try things differently in the future. If you keep telling yourself “no regrets,” then learning isn’t going to happen. Besides, hiding from regret doesn’t make it hurt less. Action does. Action, recent research shows, is the best way to make regret hurt less. So if you’re troubled by your failure to travel when you were young, science suggests you consciously plan an adventurous trip now that you’re older and wiser. Upset about a broken friendship? Act to try to repair it.
Acknowledging our mistakes, rather than ignoring them, reminds us that we are valuable and worthy despite our faults. That sort of acceptance is the basis both of real self-confidence and of true kindness. As Schulz sums up in her talk: “Regret doesn’t remind us that we did badly. It reminds us we know we can do better.”
DJ: Hello. A lot of you have probably just got your A-levels and you’re looking forward to going to university. But more and more young people are deciding to take a gap year before they start their degrees. Today I’m talking to a group of young people who’ve all decided to take a year out before they go to university. What are they going to do? Rosie? What are your plans?
Rosie: I’m going to work in a department store.
DJ: Why do you want to do that?
Rosie: Two reasons really. I’m going to study Management at university and this will give me the chance to find out what it’s like to work in a big organization. And I’ll also be able to earn some money.
DJ: What about you, Christopher?
Christopher: I’m going to do community work with a conservation group. I think it’ll be good to do something really useful. And I’ll meet a lot of interesting people, I’m sure.
DJ: Will you get paid for it?
Christopher: Well, we won’t get rich doing it, but we’ll be all right. We’ll get about £20 a week plus food and accommodation.
DJ: Helen, what are you going to do?
Helen: I’m going to travel around Europe.
DJ: Are you going to work there?
Helen: I hope so, or I’ll have to come home again. I might try and get a job—you know—in a hotel or something like that.
DJ: Why do you want to do it?
Helen: Well, mainly because it’ll be a change. After all, I’ve been at school for 13 years. I just want to do something different. It’ll give me new experiences and I’ll need to be more independent.
Note: A-levels英国普通中等教育证书考试高级水平课程, 也是英国学生的大学入学考试。
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