If you take a look at the best-selling books in the UK these days, it is almost certain that there will be a lot of autobiographies (自传) in that list. Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela and actor Michael J Fox have all written them. An autobiography is the story of a person's life, written by that person. It is usually a very famous person who might tell us all about their childhood, how they became famous and any other interesting things that have happened in their lives.

    Traditionally, someone would write an autobiography when they were older because they had had a long, successful life. However, these days there are many magazines with stories and photos of the stars which sell very well. Reality TV shows are extremely popular and lots of people become famous very easily just from being on the TV rather than being able to sing or act well. As a result, people become famous very quickly and as soon as they are famous, a lot of money can be made from writing an autobiography, even if they are very young.

    So now you can find an autobiography from almost everyone who is in the public eye. Even though we can follow the lives of the stars very closely on TV or in magazines nowadays, we maybe don't know how they live their lives from day to day. Autobiographies often give the information we never knew about the stars. The British public are very curious to find out more so they are very eager to read autobiographies.

    Not every star wants to write though. Sometimes stars employ writers to write their life stories for them. The writer will interview the stars, listen to everything they want to say, record interviews and then write books based on their words. David Beckham did this with his book My Side.

    Not everyone likes to read books regularly but they might like to read about the lives of stars. Autobiographies are helping to get more British people reading books. About 100 million autobiographies are sold in Britain every year. More stars depend on them for extra income and as more of these books appear in the shops, more people are sure to keep buying them.

    Directions: Read the following passage. Answer the questions according to the information given in the passage.

    Kids and Ponds

    Years ago there was a group of kids who would hang around at some local ponds in the woods near their houses in Warwick, Rhode Island. In summer they caught frogs and fish. When winter arrived they couldn't wait to go skating. Time passed, and the ponds became the only open space for the kids to enjoy themselves in that neighborhood.

    One day. a thirteen-year-old boy from this group of kids read in the local newspaper that a developer wanted to fill in the ponds and build over a hundred small houses called condominiums. So the boy went door to door and gathered more than two hundred signatures (签名）to stop the development A group of citizens met and decided to support him.

    At the meeting of the town planning board (委员会)，the boy was quite nervous at first and spoke very softly. But when he saw the faces of his friends and neighbors in the crowd and thought about what was happening to their favorite ponds，his voice grew louder. He told the town officials that they should speak for the citizens. He also insisted that they should leave enough space for children. A few days later，the developer stopped his plan.

    Nine years later, when that teen was a senior in college, he was informed that the developer was back with his proposal to build condominiums. Now twenty-two years old, he was studying wetlands ecology. He again appeared before the town planning board. This time as an expert witness, he used environmental protection laws to explain restrictions on development in and around wetlands and the knowledge of wetlands ecology to help improve the development. Finally some condominiums were built, but less than half the number the developer wanted. The ponds where those kids used to hang around were protected by a strip of natural land，and are still there today.

    Last December, Doris Low turned 90. Once a week she still drives to the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) in Toronto, where she helps transform literature into Braille(盲文) to bring the power of story and knowledge to the hears and minds of blind readers. She has been volunteering her time and talents to such enterprises foe more than 40 years.

    After working in the business world for a while, Low got fed up. So she turned to teaching at a technical school and later moved into the library.

    Low's mother liked reading. As her eyes began to fail, low read to her. Then “ hearing an advertisement encouraging people to learn Braille, I decided to give it a try.” In 1973, she was certified as a braille transcriber (转译者) and began transcribing books as a volunteer for the CNIB library.

The job was strenuous —she could get to the end of a page, make a mistake on the last line, and have to do the whole thing again. For a number of years, low also worked in the CNIB sound studio reading books onto tape. Three years ago, she took up proofreading (校对) at the CNIB's word factory.

    In April, during Volunteer Week, the CNIB recognized Low for her great contributions. Thanks to volunteers like Low, the CNIB library has got more than 80,000 accessible materials for people unable to read traditional print. “ I can't imagine how many readers of all ages have benefited from

Doris's contribution as a skilled volunteer through her rich voice and her high degree of accuracy in the hundreds of books she has brailled and proofread over the years— and she is still doing so,” said a CNIB official.

     “For me,” said Low, “the CNIB is more than just a place to volunteer. Three thins matter most in my life: a little play, a little work, a little love. I've found them all here.”

    Every summer, hundreds of thousands of students travel to other countries looking for work and adventure. Most of the opportunities are in seasonal work, mainly connected with tourism and agriculture. The pay is usually poor, but most people work abroad for the thrill of travel. You can pick grapes in France, work on a family campsite, entertain kids on American summer camps, and of course, there are always jobs in hotels and restaurants.

    But it is not as easy as it used to be to find work. "Unless you speak the language of the country will, there will be very few openings." Says Anthea Ellis, an adviser on vacation work for students. "If you work as a nanny with a family in Italy, then of course you'll have to speak Italian. When you arrive to wash dishes in a restaurant in Paris, the owner will expect you to speak French."

    Not everyone enjoys the experience. Sarah James was an assistant responsible for a summer camp group of forty America children in Europe. One child lost his passport; another became seriously ill and was flown home; four children were lost in Madrid for a whole day; the whole group was thrown out of one hotel because of the noise they made. "I did visit a lot of new places," she says, "but it wasn't worth it. The pay was awful and really was a 24-hour-a-day job. The kids never slept!"

    "The trouble is, students expect to have an easy time of it," Anthea Ellis points out. "After all, they see it as a holiday. In practice, though, you have to work hard. At the same time, all vacation work is casual work. You'll have a job when the hotel, the restaurant, or the campsite is busy and you have few employment rights. As soon as the holiday season finished, they'll get rid of you. If you don't work hard, or if your employer doesn't like you, you'll get fired."

    What It means to Be a Student Athlete?

    Chances are if you make it to college athletics, you have already put countless hours, blood, sweat and tears into the sport you play. College athletics is the next step in becoming a better athlete. But is it like a hidden life that only the dedicated workers get to experience.

    While the average college student schedules classes alter than 10A.m., most student athletes—me included—get out of bed at 6A.m. and get in practice. We must schedule our classes around our practices to make sure that we can give 100 percent both in the classroom and at practice. Student athletes may experience the joy of going to class sweaty after lifting weights without having any time to shower. Your average girl student, by contrast, comes in wearing a nice outfit and a full face of make-up.

    When the average students shows up to class 45 minutes late, it often angers the student athlete who has been up since the crack of dawn. Some might say student athletes are not smart and that they're only there to play sports. My response to that would be: Try training 20 hours a week and then being attentive every day in class. The free time that we do have is spent at the study hall studying for upcoming tests.

    Being a student athlete is much more than the early wake-up time. It is much more than tight schedule. It is much more than no free time.

    Being a student athlete means that we put our school's name on our backs and represent it doing what we love. We have worked hard to get where we are and that pride of stepping up on game day is worth every ounce of sweat.

    Being a student athlete means that we are among the most athletic ones in our age group. We get to meet other athletes who are gifted and dedicated. We get to create bonds with those who share a passion for athletics.

    Being a student athlete means that young kids look up to us in an admirable way. We have the influence to give them power and keep them reaching for their dreams. When we look back on our time with college athletics, we won't remember how much we hated specific exercises. We will remember the pure joy and great pride that we feel in doing what we love with those who we love.

【写作内容】

⒈用约30个单词概括上述信息的主要内容；

⒉用约120个单词发表你的观点，内容包括：

⑴什么原因导致了这些变化？（不少于两点）

⑵面对即将到来的"智能时代"你所做的准备（至少两点）

【写作要求】

⒈阐述观点或提供论据时，不能直接引用原文语句；

⒉作文中不得出现真是姓名和学校名称；

⒊不必写标题。

【评分标准】内容完整，语言规范，语篇连贯，词数适当。