5 . It was the end of the school day, and I was tired. I grabbed a pile of about 130 exam papers to _________ on the train ride home. I’d bring them back the next morning.

My principal (校长) pushed her head into my classroom and said, “Friendly _________! You need to make sure your word wall is _________ by tomorrow morning.” She then moved on to the next classroom to _________ the message. I sighed and thought, “Are you making a(n)_________? What a waste of my time!”

My principal was _________ about making our school beautiful, while my goal was to get my students to pass the Algebra Regents Exam. She wanted every classroom to have a word wall, where student’s works on creative projects would be _________. She brought in beautiful planters (花盆) that _________ the hallways with greenery. However, I assume that school and classroom _________ aren’t important when it comes to learning. To me, spending time and money making our school and classrooms beautiful was just a distraction (使人分心的事). Those things don’t __________ my students with math.

However, after three years of teaching, I went to graduate school in part to study how resources __________ teachers and students. What my research found __________ me: When teachers __________ their classroom environment resources, their students did better on standardized tests. My principal was __________. She was creating more than just a beautiful __________—she was building a welcoming and positive environment for students to learn and teachers to work.

9 . 为了丰富校园生活，你校将组织迎新年音乐会，请你写一则通知，刊登在学校英文网站上。内容包括：

1. 举办时间和地点；

2. 活动的内容；

3. 活动的意义。

注意：词数80左右。

Notice

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10 . With graduation time around the comer, it’s a bitter-sweet moment for everyone involved.

Leaving school with style

It was inevitable that I would leave my school in London where I had spent most of my time. That day, we wore something a bit different from our usual suits and uniform and we all sat down and watched a high-light video of the last two years, including inspirational messages from our teachers and some funny photos. Two weeks later, we attended our school prom (毕业舞会), where we could dance and say a final goodbye to our teachers and friends.

Coming out strong

The graduation ceremony is one of the most memorable parts of school life in Kazakhstan. At the official farewell, teachers and parents expressed their wishes for our future and cracked some jokes about the graduates. Then students danced “the last waltz at school”. One or two days later, the graduating students went to the after-party event, involving fresh air, camping and having cozy chats by campfire. There is a tendency not to spend money on after-parties. Instead, many choose to give it to charities.

Filled with traditions

There are many traditions in the graduation ceremony in the United States. On the graduation ceremony day, four hundred of us sat on the football field and listened to speeches before we got to “walk”—went up for our diplomas and shook hands with the principal. We were dressed in formal clothing, went out for dinners and then danced the night away. There was usually an after-party at some-one’s house.