1 . How might you drag a good writer’s work down to a bad one? Try the spell-check button. A study at the University of Pittsburgh indicates spell-check software may shorten the gap between people with different levels of language skills, hampering (妨碍) the work of writers and editors who place too much trust in the software.

In the study, 33 undergraduate students were asked to correct a one-page business letter, half of them using Microsoft Word with red and green lines underlining potential errors. The other half did it the old-fashioned way, using only their heads. Without grammar or spelling software, students with higher SAT verbal scores made, on average, five errors, compared with 12.3 errors for students with lower scores. Using the software, students with higher verbal scores reading the same page made, on average, 16 errors, compared with 17 errors for students with lower scores.

Dennis Galletta, a professor of information systems at the Katz Business School, said spell-checking software is so sophisticated that some have come to trust it too thoroughly. “It’s not a software problem, it’s a person behavior problem,” he said. Microsoft technical specialist Tim Pash said grammar and spelling technology is meant to help writers and editors, not to solve all their problems. The study found the software helped students find and correct errors in the letter, but in some cases they also changed phrases or sentences underlined by the software as grammatically suspicious, even though they were correct.

1. On whom might spell-check software have a bad influence?

A．Authors who have age gaps.	B．People with lower language levels.
C．Writers having too much faith in it.	D．Editors seldom taking advantage of it.

2. What can we learn from Paragraph 2?

A．Using spell-check software helps reduce the mistakes.

B．Spell-check software causes students to make more mistakes.

C．There is no obvious difference after using spell-check software.

D．Spell-check software has advantages over the old-fashioned way.

3. What does the underlined word “sophisticated” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Advanced.

B．Complicated.

C．Difficult.

D．Cheap.

4. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．Spell-check restricts writers’ creativity.

B．Spell-check software can make writing worse.

C．The advantages and disadvantages of softwares.

D．The reasons for people’s abandoning spell-check software.

2 . Here are some of the best nonfiction books of 2021.

Somebody’s Daughter

$16 at Amazon

Ashley C. Ford talks about growing up as a black gird in Indiana, dealing with poverty, the complexities of adolescence, and a tense relationship with her mother. She often wished that she could express her feelings with her father, but failed for reasons she didn’t know. Until one day — after going through a heart-broken experience with a boy, which she kept from her family — her grandmother told her. And what she learned turned her entire world upside down.

Crazy Stories About Racism

$14 at Amazon

New York-based comedian Amber Ruffin, along with her sister Lacey Lamar, share their everyday experiences about their bad conditions. It gets especially bad for Lacey who still lives in their home state of Nebraska, and is a start for these ridiculous but all-too-real encounters (遭遇).

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain

$25 at Amazon

If you want to get in touch with your creative side, this book might just be the trick. As the title suggests, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is a literary master class that takes readers into the mind of Booker Prize-winning author George Saunders. He discusses what makes great stories, how they work, and what they say about ourselves and today’s world.

All In

$21 at Amazon

Sports legend Billie Jean King writes a self-portrait that talks about the highs and lows of her amazing tennis career, her work in activism, and the ongoing fight for social justice and equality.

1. What is special about Somebody’s Daughter?

A．It tells a girl’s success.	B．It tells a confused girl.
C．It tells a girl’s education.	D．It describes a girl’s good luck.

2. What can we get from A Swim in a Pond in the Rain?

A．Something about Ashley C. Ford.	B．A boy’s heart-broken experience.
C．The situations of the present society.	D．Experiences about a man of casual racism.

3. Which describes the sport career?

A．All In	B．Somebody’s Daughter
C．A Swim in a Pond in the Rain	D．Crazy Stories About Racism

3 . Life has a way of shaping us. Life can make you doubt or question your purpose.    1    . I have seen this in my own life.

Poetry prepared me for my purpose. I did not see this initially, so I tried taking a different direction.    2    . I finally left behind my failures and fully launched into my destiny.

In my journey towards purpose, poetry became my safety net. Poetry was my outlet from bullying by peers, which gave me low self-esteem.    3    . For every important moment in my life, I wrote poetry. During tough times, I wrote poetry. I connect with poetry on a deep level.

However, writing poetry lacks financial stability.    4    . In America, I was an assistant teacher for kindergarten. When living in China, my job was an English teacher. The work I did was similar. I inspired children, giving them my love, my time and my heart. Still, poetry brought me joy.    5    .

Where you are is preparing you for your purpose. Your purpose is waiting for you!

A．I pursued teaching instead

B．I started writing poems at age 5

C．My original plan never worked out

D．The only person standing in your way is you

E．It showed me how to make sense of the world

F．Poetry is my voice to be seen, heard and known

G．However, when you live out your purpose, you are unstoppable

4 . Whether you’re looking for a gifted idea, or you are hoping to find a way to help your teen make better choices, there are a variety of books on the market that can help you.

●Do Hard Things

Written by twin brothers, Alex and Brett Harris, Do Hard Things says that how expectations are the reason why teens are not motivated to create a better world for themselves. By encouraging readers to take the hard road and put challenges in front of themselves, teens can gain motivation to achieve greater things in life.

●Who Moved My cheese?

Adolescence is filled with change and uncertainty and this book, written by Spencer Johnson, helps young people learn how to adapt. Rather than resist change, teens can learn how to accept change and develop increased resilience. It’ll undoubtedly help teens create positive change in their lives as well.

●The Code: The Five Secrets of Teen Success

The author, Mawi Asgedom, overcame adversity when he grew up during civil war in Ethiopia and became a student on scholarship to Harvard. In this quick reading, your teen will learn valuable lessons from Asgedom’s own real life examples, and receive practical direction.

●What Color Is Your Parachute for Teens

Written by career authorities Carol Christen and Richard N. Bolles, this book will help teen discover their interests, which could be beneficial in helping them decide on a future. The book is a quick reading and has been updated to include the social media aspect of finding a career and job.

1. Who is the passage intended for?

A．Parents.

B．Students.

C．Educators.

D．Teachers.

2. If students have trouble getting used to a new environment, they are advised to read ________.

A．Do Hard Things	B．Who Moved My Cheese?
C．What Color Is Your Parachute for Teens	D．The Code: The Five Secrets of Teen Success

3. Whose book may be the most attractive to students who will graduate from college?

A．Alex and Brett Harris’s.	B．Spencer Johnson’s.
C．Mawi Asgedom’s.	D．Carol Christen and Richard N. Bolles’s.