It was the last day of school. The teacher walked around the class and 1 each student a piece of paper except me. It was everybody's2 for the year. I knew that I3 the class because I couldn't read. I was 4 of being asked to come up in front of the class and read.
Suddenly the5 bell rang. My seat was next to the door so I just ran out of class across the playground until the fence (栅栏) of our school. I sat on the grass with my head in my knees and burst out6. A couple of minutes later I heard the crinkle (沙沙声) of a lunch bag and then 7. I saw a girl in my class 8 out my lunch. She set it down next to me then and didn't say a word. She9 sat with me till the bell rang. On the way back she put her arm around me. “You might not 10 so well but I think you are a(n) 11 painter in the class," she said 12. "My mom always tells me if I do the best I can, I will be better," she added.
The rest of the day I was lost in thought13 I had drawn a picture of a black horse 14 to reach some grass on the other side of a fence. When the last bell rang, I went to her15 where she was talking with her 16 and put the picture down. I could hear the girls talking about the 17 as I walked away. That18 a lot to me because it reminded (提醒) me that I was 19 something. At the same time, I also 20 that I wasn't doing the best I could.
Reading can be a social activity. Think of the people who belong to book groups. They choose books to read and then meet to discuss them. Now, the website BookCrossing. com turns the page on the traditional idea of a book group.
Members go on the site and register the books they own and would like to share. BookCrossing provides an identification number to stick inside the book. Then the person leaves it in a public place, hoping that the book will have an adventure, traveling far and wide with each new reader who finds it.
Bruce Pederson, the managing director of BookCrossing, says, "The two things that change your life are the people you meet and books you read. BookCrossing combines both."
Members leave books on park benches and buses, in train stations and coffee shops. Whoever finds their book will go to the site and record where they found it.
People who find a book can also leave a journal entry describing what they thought of it. Emails are then sent to the BookCrossers to keep them updated about where their books have been found. Bruce Pederson says the idea is for people not to be selfish by keeping a book to gather dust on a shelf at home.
BookCrossing is part of a trend among people who want to get back to the "real" and not the virtual (虚拟). The site now has more than one million members in more than one hundred thirtyfive countries.
my dad my mum is at home.
When we learn to drive, we need to learn basic skills such as how to switch on the engine, turn on the wipers, operate the brakes, etc. before we actually take to the road. Once the lower order operations and skills listed above have been automatized or at least routinized to the extent that we do not have to pay attention to them (bypass Working Memory's attentional systems), we can actually be safe in the assumption that we can wholly focus on the higher order skills which will allow us to take the split seconds decisions that will prevent us from getting lost, clash with other cars, break the traffic laws while dealing with our children messing about in the back seats.
This is what the brain does, too, when learning languages. Because Working Memory has a very limited space available when performing any task, the brain has learnt to automatize lower order skills so that, by being performed "subconsciously" they free up cognitive(认知)space. So, for instance, if I am an advanced speaker who has routinized accurate pronunciation, grammar and syntax to a fairly high degree, I will be able to devote more conscious attention (Working Memory space) to the message I want to put across. On the other hand, if I still struggle with pronunciation, word order, irregular verb forms and tenses most of my attention will be taken up by the mechanics of what I want to say, rather than the meaning; this will slow me down and limit my ability to think through what I want to say due to cognitive overload.
In language teaching this important principle translates as follows: in order to enable our students to focus on the higher order skills involved in comprehension and production we need to ensure that the lowerorder ones have been acquired or performance will be reduced.
Earlier this summer, after packing my rucksack for a wildcamping holiday, I gazed at my belongings, and made a final adjustment to the contents of my bag.
I quickly emailed my travel companion, a photographer friend called Jacob to make sure I could have some pictures of our trip afterwards, so I could pop a few up on Instagram when I returned. And then I set off, feeling—for the first time in a number of trips—that I was genuinely escaping the stresses and strains of my everyday life. Because the way stress locates us, these days, is via our phones.
However, I've realized that for a holiday really to function as a holiday, I need an escape from social status anxiety, from caring about "likes", and from having to photograph every tiny detail of life to prove our existence. When we overshare a glossy version of our trip online, we miss out on talking about our trips when we return, which is part of the joy of travel. Posting in the moment denies us this opportunity to relive (回味) our experience, and prolong that holiday feeling.
During my threeday Instabreak, my stress levels decrease quickly within 24 hours. I made mental notes of funny moments, cultural observations, tips and when I returned, I had interesting, detailed chats with friends about my time away.
A. I also changed how I processed the trip itself.
B. So I am fully supportive of screenfree holidays.
C. I took out my iPhone, and threw it under my bed.
D. I would lose track of my coworkers, my friends and my family.
E. None of them could touch me for the next three glorious days.
F. So this summer, as you plan your trip, ask if you can delete Instagram.
G. As a travel writer, abandoning my phone for my holiday felt like the extreme betrayal.
Experienced climbers of Mount Qomolongma are wondering if new proposed rules will solve the root causes of various deadly accidents on the world's tallest mountain. The proposals, if approved by the government of Nepal, would add steps to the permitting process for mountaineers as well as limitations to tourism companies to prevent the disaster in last May happening again.
Traditionally, Nepal has given climbing permits to anyone prepared to pay a fee of $ 11,000. In 2019, the government approved a record high of 381 permits. With essential Sherpas and guides added, more than 800 people were trying to reach the peak during the short weather window. The overcrowding led to deadly delays in what is known as the "death zone", the area above 8,000 meters, and the death of eleven climbers eventually, many of them dying in late May after they were stuck there. It also raised suspicions that guide companies were urging inexperienced or incompetent mountaineers to attempt the climb.
To reduce the potential risks, among the suggested changes is a rule for those who want to climb the Mount to have a qualified doctor prepare a report on their medicial history and general health. Another is that climbers provide evidence they have climbed another tall mountain in Nepal. They will also need to be accompanied by a trained Nepalese guide.
American mountaineer Ed Viesturs said the proposed changes will likely limit the amount of climbers able to plan journeys up the Mount, yet will not do enough to stop the "group think" mentality that led to the traffic jam in late May. He said climb leaders at base camp also needed to consider how to fix the problem. "I know several climbers who waited until later and had the mountain almost to themselves," Viesturs said of the 2019 climbing season. "We really need to answer why so many people are there on the same day? How can you control it？"
After I left the Shenandoah Valley, my next job was in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. I made $ 22,500 a year—and this was 2005. The two other fellow workers, also my best friends there, Travis and Jeff, were in their mid－20s too. Honestly, we'd come to Rocky Mount to leave Rocky Mount. We complained about our shop and admired The Charlotte Observer. We spent our time talking about what life must be like with a "real" career. What resources they had! Those who covered only one team didn't have to proofread (校阅). If we could just get to one of those places! Then we could go somewhere else!
Travis, Jeff, and I came together over our desire to part ways. We ate dinner together, went out to cover our games, and came back to help send the final pages to the printer by our 1：30 am deadline. On the best nights, we'd grab the news editors and copy editors and play golf in the parking lot. We all left there within a year, as intended. Travis finally landed a wonderful job covering the Pittsburgh Pirates. Jeff became well－known in the country working in NASCAR. Now he's got his own media company that's doing quite well.
Last week, Jeff and I went to a Charlotte Knights game, and he said something about Rocky Mount that I won't forget. "I didn't appreciate it then, yet honestly, when I look back, the fast pace, tough tasks and leisure activities probably made up the best time I've ever had in my career. Now with many achievements, I wonder whether it's satisfying, and what is success on earth？" His words left me at a loss. What a broad question! Maybe it isn't measured in achievements, or "being happy with who you are". Individual attainments can bring community attainments. But all these don't leave you feeling successful, right? Maybe it's just a smaller calculation, something more like what Jeff prefers. Or it's having the means to be grateful at the precise moment you have something to be grateful for.
My great-grandfather, my grandfather and my father are farmers, and so are all my family. My father has a fixed idea that I would become a farmer too. Although I respect him and am indeed skilled at doing some farm work, I don't agree that I should automatically follow in my father's footsteps.
When I was a teenager, my father happened to take me to an airport which belonged to one of his friends. It was the first time I had seen an aeroplane in real life. Knowing that I had never been on board, my father's friend Tom offered me an opportunity to fly with him in his small aeroplane. I quickly accepted his offer! When we took off, I felt nervous but thrilled. Being up in the clouds and looking at the view below was unlike anything I had ever felt. I was just enjoying it. I assumed being a pilot would be the most awesome thing in the whole world. From that day a thought crept into my mind that I wanted to become a pilot, but I doubted whether my father would support me. After all, it was a totally different path from what he had planned for me. Therefore, I put the thought to the back of my mind, because I knew he would still insist on holding onto his previous idea.
Anyway, besides helping my father on the farm, I would frequently visit Tom's airport. Gradually, I got familiar with every button and switch on the aircraft and I learned a lot about planes, such as how to fill the plane with fuel, how to check the engines and so on. But what I had learned just left me wanting more, so I decided to go to college to become a professional pilot.
Paragraph 1:
This time I would not hide my desire any more.
Paragraph 2:
At the graduation ceremony, with my father present, I, as "Best Pilot", had to deliver a speech.
|
A. Thank you for your nice advice. B. Sir, I need your suggestion about a topic. C. English is an international language. D. It is necessary to speak English in your daily life. E. Should I learn the grammar of the language? F. Should I write something in English more often? G. Perhaps you can watch English movies and listen to English songs. |
Student: Good morning, sir. How are you?
Teacher: Good morning. I am fine. What about you?
Student: Not bad. .
Teacher: Oh sure! Tell me, how can I help you?
Student: I want to know how to learn to speak English.
Teacher: Hmm. But, you have to work hard to be skilled at it.
Student: I know. How can I achieve that?
Teacher: Firstly, you can practice speaking in English with your friends or classmates. Reading English storybooks and magazines can also help a lot.
Student:
Teacher: Of course. If you know how to use these rules, it will greatly support you in your writing and speaking.
Student: I will make much greater efforts from today.
Teacher: Okay dear. Carry on.
