In recent years, Internet voting has become increasingly popular in China. People not only cast on-line votes themselves, but also urge others to vote for competitions like the “Most Beautiful Teacher” and the “Cutest Baby”.
Li Jiang, a high school student, is invited to vote in the “Best Police Officer” competition, organized by the local government to let the public have a better understanding of police officers’ daily work. Li Jiang visits the website and reads all the stories. He is deeply moved by their glorious deeds. He is already thinking of becoming a policeman himself in the future.
Su Hua is invited by his uncle to vote for his cousin in the “Future Singer” competition. He has already received three similar invitations this week. His uncle tells him that if his cousin wins the competition, the family will win an overseas tour for free. Su Hua likes his cousin very much, but he finds other singers perform even better. To vote, or not to vote? This is a question that troubles him very much.
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注意：1. 词数100字左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节；
3. 标题已给出，不计入总词数。
参考词汇：优点 advantage 缺点disadvantage
The advantages and disadvantages of Tik Tok
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| 使用互联网的益处 | 使用互联网的弊端 |
| 1、资源丰富 2、节省时间 3、方便交流和沟通 | 1、内容良莠兼有 2、沉迷网络游戏会影响学业 3、过多使用会影响健康 |
1．词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 开头已给出，不计入字数。
With the development of computer technology, the Internet has become more and more popular.
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Now another American education icon may be disappearing: the hardbound (精装的) textbook. More and more school districts are replacing traditional textbooks with electronic ones. Electronic textbooks are usually accessed either through an online server or are downloaded to student laptops.
In North Texas, Plano and Irving schools are introducing e-books into a few classrooms, and Lancaster school officials also are considering them. But no local district appears to be going as far as Forney. The district most likely would be the first in the state to use e-books in every classroom for grades five to twelve.
Officials point out several reasons for turning to e-books. For one, they are easier to update. Thus the publishers are able to find ways to do online textbooks and they can go back and change information. Using e-books will better prepare students for college and the workplace.
Rapid district growth is another reason. The number of the students in the district is expected to double within five years. It's difficult to know textbook needs in advance and some students wait months for their books. But e-books can be uploaded onto a“blank” laptop in a few hours.
Cost may eventually be a deciding cause for choosing e-books, but there are no big savings yet. Even if they get it electronically, they still have to pay for the book because they're buying the instructional material. That may change as more and more districts move toward e-books.
Today's students have little trouble adjusting to laptops and e-books, said Connie Cooley, who has taught at the Academy of Irving ISD for five years. But she said it could worry teachers. "It's harder for people who are right around my age and older," said Ms. Cooley, 36. "I'm laptop-savvy, so I was ready for it, but those that aren't area little worrying."
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It was a very hot afternoon. My friend Leah and I were waiting for the rush hour train. We were tired and couldn’t wait to get back to the place where we were living.
When the train arrived, we got into the second carriage from the front. The air-conditioning wasn’t working at the rear (后部), so the front was particularly crowded that day. I sat by the window admiring the changing landscape.
Suddenly we felt enormous pressure pushing us backwards into our seats. The windows broke into tiny pieces and dust flew around violently. I could barely open my eyes.
The train was suffering from a crash, and it didn’t feel as if it were going to stop. I thought I would be dead. I thought about my husband Guy, who was supposed to receive the news first. I thought of my dear father and other family members, wondering how each would deal with my death.
Voices began to break through my thoughts. People were anxious. Strangely, I was totally calm. I wasn’t panicking; my heart wasn’t even beating fast. When the train finally stopped, we slowly stood up, pushing off the table that had fallen onto us; others stayed in their seats and many were injured and covered in blood. I could hear screaming. A soldier pushed the damaged door open for us to escape.
Our carriage had run out of rails and we were halfway home. We had a lot of blood on us and I searched my body for wounds, but I didn’t find any. My knees felt painful and my hips were black and blue, and Leah had her hand cut when jumping off the train, but that wasn’t serious.
Helicopters landed and we saw soldiers running in and out. All around us were ambulances (救护车) and people lying on the ground. Everyone was shouting for help. I rang Guy, who was very calm and said he would come and get us. Seeing all these brought me great emotional hurt.
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It was almost dark by the time we found Guy and he drove us home.
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In the days that followed, I convinced myself I had internal bleeding.
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时下，各类电视节目广泛使用短信参与方式，对此人们评价不一。请你对此现象谈谈个人看法：
| 态度一 | 态度二 | 你的观点 |
| 给观众提供了更多的参与机会 | 控制不当，节目品位无法保证 | ？ |
| 给媒体带来更多收益 | 短信费用过高，观众易生反感 | |
| 迎合年轻人对新事物的追求 | 沉溺于此，浪费精力 |
1. 词数：120词左右。
2. 可根据内容要点适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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社会生的不断变化，催生了从多的流行词汇，其中有些，如因特网、大款和博客等，由于广大泛使用，长期存在，遂逐步转变为普通、口语词汇；有些则昙花一现，不久即消失得无影无踪。请结合你自己对语言的观察，写一篇短文，说说语言与社会生活的关系。
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I recently attended a Little League baseball game held in Nassau County. It turned out to be a lesson on how not to parent a Little Leaguer.
I went there to watch a family friend play ball. School was winding down, and it was possible that stress levels would below, especially on the ball field. These kids were supposed to be having fun. But why did they look so angry? Why were the parents so tense? These were 11-and 12-year-old children, not professionals. But it seemed that the parents were not aware of that.
Some of the kids looked miserable. Both coaches were shouting at their players. With every pitch (投), every catch and every swing of the bat came sounds of “No, not like that!” or “Better keep that up, son!” After a while , it seemed to have a negative effect on the kids.
In the fifth game, after a player missed a play on the infield, a man told the boy, “Pay attention to the action! Get your head in the game!” The player responded, “Dad, it’s just a game, and I’m exhausted!”
I thought to myself how embarrassing that must have been for both of them. It’s been years since I was on the field, but I played in many different sports leagues as a kid. I recall how competitive some parents were when it came to watching their children. And it’s fine to want your children to win. Winning is important.
But winning is not everything. Is that the message you want to get across to your child—to win at all costs, and to put fun second? Because that is certainly what it seemed like, and that’s not the healthiest environment for a kid, not in Little League, anyway.
I played for and against my share of competitive coaches. But at the baseball game, the parents seemed to care about the outcome much more than their kids. Arguments over whose kid was the better pitcher and calls missed by the judge often broke out between parents in the stands.
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It seemed as if the kids weren’t the ones who got up on Saturday morning to go and play with friends.
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They’re just kids. Let them be kids.
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Prepare for Water Day Zero
Earlier this year alarming headlines blared that Cape Town, South Africa, was headed for Water Day Zero — the date when the city's taps would go dry because its reservoirs would become dangerously low on water. That day — originally expected in mid-April 2018 — has been postponed until at least 2019, thanks to water rationing and a welcome rainy season. But the conditions that led to this desperate situation will inevitably occur again, hitting cities all over the planet.
As the climate warms, extreme droughts and vanishing water supplies will likely become more common. But even without the added impact of climate change, normal rainfall variation plays an enormous role in year-to-year water availability. These ordinary patterns now have extraordinary effects because urban populations have had tremendous growth: by 2050 the United Nations projects that two thirds of the world's people will live in cities. Urban planners and engineers need to learn from past rainfall variability to improve their predictions and take future demand into account to build more resilient infrastructure.
How did Cape Town get into a Water Day Zero situation? The city gets its water from six reservoirs in Western Cape province, which usually fill up during the rainy season, from May through August. But since 2015 the region has been suffering from the worst drought in a century, and the water in those reservoirs dwindled (减少) dangerously. Compounding the problem, Cape Town's population has grown substantially, increasing demand. The city actually did a pretty good job of keeping demand low by reducing leaks in the system, a major cause of water waste, and has even won awards for its conservation policies. But the government of South Africa was slow to declare a national disaster in the areas hit hardest by the drought, paving the way for the recent crisis.
Fortunately, steps can be taken to avoid urban water crises. In general, a combination of approaches that relies on multiple water sources is probably most effective. Cape Town has already begun implementing a number of projects, including tapping groundwater and building water-recycling plants.
The global community has an opportunity right now to take action to prevent a series of Water Day Zero crises. If we don't act, many cities may soon face a time when there isn't a drop to drink.
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Technological change is everywhere and affects every aspect of life. However, social changes brought about by new technology are often mistaken for a change in attitudes.
An example at hand is the involvement of parents in the lives of their children who are attending college. Surveys on this topic suggest that parents today continue to be “very” or “somewhat” overly-protective even after their children move into college dormitories. The same surveys also indicate that the rate of parental involvement is greater today than it was a generation ago.
However, greater parental involvement does not necessarily indicate that parents are failing to let go of their “adult” children. In the context (情境) of this discussion, it seems valuable to first find out the cause of change in the case of parents’ involvement with their grown children. If parents of earlier generations had wanted to be in touch with their college- age children frequently, would this have been possible? Probably not. On the other hand, does the possibility of frequent communication today mean that the urge to do so wasn't present a generation ago? Many studies show that older parents- today's grandparents- would have called their children more often if the means and cost of doing so had not been a barrier. Furthermore, studies show that finances are the most frequent subject of communication between parents and their college children. The fact that college students are financially dependent on their parents is nothing new; nor are requests for more money to be sent from home.
Thanks to the advanced technology, we live in an age of bettered communication. This has many implications well beyond the role that parents seem to play in the lives of their children who have left for college. But it is useful to bear in mind that all such changes come from the technology and not some imagined desire by parents to keep their children under their wings.
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