The first day of school began on a bright note for a teacher who was glancing over the class roll. After each student’s name was a number, such as 138,140,154 and so on. “Look at these IQs,” she thought to    1    (she). “They’ve given me a terrific class.” As a result, the elated teacher worked harder with this class than with her others. She tried new    2    (innovation) that she thought would challenge them and hold their interest. And it worked. The class did much better than any of her other classes,    3    she had taught in the usual way. Only later did she find out that the figures after each pupil’s name stood for their locker numbers.

ChatGPT is a chatbot. Some schools     1     (ban) it since its birth. They need time to make rules about     2     it’s to be used properly in class. Some teachers see it as a     3     (cheat) tool. But many principals believe it’s too late to keep AI out of classrooms. A growing number of     4     (educate) say the panic about AI is a lot like the panic caused by the Internet when it was new. One of them says, “ChatGPT is to English and to writing what the calculator is to math.”

5 . As one of the most common students. I pulled myself through every day hoping to stay invisible(隐形的)，yet somehow I wondered why it was impossible for anyone else to_______me.

Then one day, a simple_______from a teacher changed my life.

That day, Mr. Curtis, our band director, played a B-flat pitch and asked us to tune(调音) our instrument one by one. As he listened，his serious face and impatient steps showed his ______with each note.   No one____

My turn was coming soon, and I was fearful. I had to play all by myself while others sat and listened! I felt_______in my chair.

“Maya! It’s your turn. Play!”

“It was only a note.” I closed my eyes, and took my turn. I played my single note quietly, and with all the feelings I had felt that year. I poured my heart into that one moment of music, and the sound echoed softly through the room. I was right on pitch, but I didn’t _______Mr. Curtis’s reaction.

He looked at me as if for the first time; his serious face relaxed into a relieved smile. “That is what I have been_______! That was a perfect note!” And then he said something I have never forgotten. “Maya, that one note has earned you an ‘A’ this year. Keep it up.”

Nobody could imagine my_______at that moment. I had remained unnoticed for so long, yet Mr. Curtis helped me see my________

One ray of light came into the shadow of my school life, and a seed started to sprout(发芽). Thanks to Mr. Curtis， I found a place to________

6 . To help new students, the International Business Institute (IBI) plans to set up a buddy (伙伴) peer support project. The project will help new students meet current students at IBI who can provide them with some friendly company during their first months in Newcastle and help them with any small problems that they may have.

What’s in it for you?

We believe that being a buddy will be rewarding in several ways. As a volunteer, it will be personally satisfying to know that you are able to help new students. It will also help you make contacts that may be valuable in your future academic and professional lives. If you are an overseas student, it will give you another opportunity to practise speaking English.

Responsibilities of buddies

·Telephone and arrange to make contact with the new student.

·Meet the student and show him/her around the campus and the local area. Answer questions about living in Newcastle and administration procedures at IBI.

·Arrange to meet the new student one morning or afternoon one weekend early in the semester, and take the student to places that you enjoy in Newcastle.

·Be prepared to take phone calls from the new student to answer further questions that he/she may have from time to time. Meet to explain information to the new student in person, if required.

·You will be matched to an individual new student. However, if you have friends who are also buddies, you might prefer to form a support group together. This would mean that you meet the new students as a group rather than one-on-one.

·Being a buddy is voluntary. There is no “requirement” to provide assistance beyond the help outlined above.

Please note that if you agree to become a peer support buddy, you will be expected to fulfil your role conscientiously and cheerfully. It will be important to be considerate and reliable so that the student can feel confident in your support.

7 . Though new term had begun for weeks, the new girl Molly still remained _______ around her classmates. Now she was sitting at the picnic table alone. She seemed unsure of what to do or say, yet I could see her eyes longing for _______.

Brianna, the class clown, was standing near the playground making the other students laugh, as usual. “Brianna, Molly looks awfully _______. Would you invite her to join us?” I said.

Brianna sighed. I could tell that she was _______ to do what I was asking of her, but I also knew she was so sweet and kind. I had specifically _______ her for this task. She looked at her friends, then at Molly.

Knowing this choice was _______ her, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a D-buck, our class currency(货币). I needed to _______ her cooperation.

“Here, I’ll _______ you for your time.”

She offered an insincere smile, grasped the green paper, and headed off.

I watched closely as the girls talked. When they finally walked back together, I sighed with _______.

A minute later, Brianna came back and handed me the D-buck.

“I shouldn’t keep this.” Her eyes fell to her feet, __________ radiating from her quiet voice. “I don’t want Molly to think I only went to get her so I could earn a D-buck. She’s my friend.”

Then Brianna skipped back to amuse her classmates again, and who laughed for the first time that week? Molly.

9 . Have you ever seen a kid in class who wouldn’t volunteer to read or answer a question? I was that type of student. Talking in class was a struggle for me because the fear of saying the wrong thing was always on my mind.

There were constant announcements about students in our class winning writing awards. It was a dream for me. I have always felt unsure of myself when writing. Semicolons confused me and I used too many commas. I had no idea how to cite anything. During my freshman year, the teacher would pick the best essay in our class to be read out loud, but mine was never chosen. I found it really hard to write an essay.

One teacher Mr. Wilson, who taught me the next semester, changed everything. He was in his fifties and had a reputation for having a particular teaching style. He connected writing and reading to football, but somehow it made sense. What really made him special to me was that every class he would pick someone to read their writing out loud to the class.

In one of his lessons, he said: “I will not always pick the essay that I think has the best grammar or use of vocabulary. I will pick the one that I think has the most character.” This part was confusing tome because how can writing have character? He went on to explain: “I want to read something that I can tell the writer feel a lot while writing it. I want to feel the emotions you were going through as you wrote it.”

A few weeks later, for the first time, my essay was chosen to be read to my classmates. I can’t even remember what it was about, but I remember how nervous I was to see his reaction, mixed with pride at the fact that he felt like my work was worth sharing. He gave me his comments at the end of it, but I was too nervous to remember them. After class, he told me he was excited to read more of my work.

He made me feel special in the way he led the class, and I got over my fear of sharing my work in class. He made me believe in my writing abilities and gave me the confidence to continue writing.

Children are unwilling to seek help in school because they feel it makes them look incompetent. However, if they are afraid to ask for help, their learning experience     1    (suffer). How can we help children overcome the barrier? First, teachers could create activities     2     each student becomes an “expert” on a different topic, and then children must ask for help to master all of the material. If seeking help     3    (understand) as a commonplace classroom activity, kids may be less likely to think of it as an indication of one’s ability.