题型:任务型阅读 题类:常考题 难易度:困难
辽宁省协作校2019-2020学年高二下学期期中考试英语试题(外研)
My husband and I had tried for many years to have children, but it just never happened. So we applied to be foster parents(养父母). We decided we should start with an older child for a number of reasons. Since we both worked, child care might be a problem. Our dog Corby might be a bit too energetic for a young child.We sat back and prepared to wait for the few months they thought it might take to get a school-age child to pass—which was why we were at a loss when the agency called us within weeks, just before Christmas, and asked if we would take Kaleb, a two-and-a-half-year-old boy, for a few months.
This wasn't what we had discussed a few weeks before. It was such short notice. We had made holiday plans and most of all, the boy was toddler(初学走路的孩子)! We went back and forth, and in the end, we just couldn't say no.
The day was set for Kaleb to arrive. We went outside to greet our little guest. But before we could even reach the child, I heard a noise from behind me. I gasped(因惊异吸气). Corby would frighten Kaleb——probably even knock him down.
Corby reached Kaleb before either of us could grab her. She hounded up to the boy and immediately began licking his face with joy. . His face light up with excitement, he cried, "Can this be my dog?
Kaleb came to stay those few months. Yes, we 'adopted Kaleb. He became our son, and Corby…well, she couldn't have been happier. She turned out to be Kaleb's dog, after all.
A. Privately, I was full of doubts.
B. There were so many difficulties,
C. Eight and a half years later, he is still with us.
D. Turning, I saw Corby heading straight for the little boy.
E. In our hurry, we must not have closed the door completely.
F. And honestly, we were a little nervous about taking on a baby.
G. In response, this little boy threw his arms around the dog's neck and turned toward us.
Writing A Letter To Your Future Self
Just imagine writing a letter to your future self 5 years from now, then opening it at that exact moment to see how much of it has come true. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}
As you read the letter in the future, you can assess how many things agree with your expectations in the past. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Often times, the goals we set and our goal achievement process are affected by a lot of changes along the way. The letter lets you recognize how your current idea differs from the past.
In addition to that, at the very moment you are writing the letter, your thoughts are stored right there in those words. When you open the letter in the future, you as your future self gets to compare how you used to be in the past with how you are now. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. It's very interesting to do so.
Take out a pen and paper right now and start writing your letter to your future self. Set a time period to write to. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Then start writing. Think about the type of person you will be, your place in life, what you will have realized then, and so on.
{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Put it in a safe space where no one can find it. When you open this sometime in the near future, you might gain additional insights(了解) about yourself and your journey in the past few years.
A. And you can think about why that's the case. B. It is a useful tool to be used in goal achievement. C. Imagine how you will be like during that time period. D. If you haven't, join me in writing a letter to yourself. E. This lets you see how much things have changed since then. F. At the end of the letter, write the date to open it on the cover. G. It wasn't until we moved into our new house that I found it again. |
Do you think you could learn a language in an hour?
We know, we know! We would expect you to be skeptical. It's ridiculous to think you can learn a language in 60 minutes. You wouldn't even get through the As in a bilingual dictionary in that amount of time! Best-case situation: in an hour, most of us could probably stuff a few words and ready-made phrases into our short-term memory (with a high likelihood of forgetting it all by the following day). Accomplishing anything more than that in one hour? Impossible. Unless…
We posed the one-hour language challenge to four polyglots(通晓数种语言的人) who are experts on how to study languages. To keep the challenge from becoming completely impossible, we gave them a bit of a break: to learn Romanian in one hour. Why Romanian? Because it's a Romance language and shares many similarities with the languages that the polyglots already know: French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese. And to make sure their hour of learning was as effective as possible, all of them were assigned a personal Romanian tutor to help coach them on their way to success.
Although each polyglot has a different technique for picking up and remembering a new language, all four methods offer valuable insights to anyone, from casual learners to hard-core language enthusiasts.
Alex Rawlings — UK
"I'm a bit nervous. This is probably the craziest language-learning thing I've ever done, but learning languages has always been about fun. I expect that, after this, I'll be prepared to have a simple chat over a coffee in Romanian. Is that reasonable?"
Method: Learn the verbs first
With only an hour until he had to start demonstrating his grasp of Romanian, Alex knew he had to start talking quickly. He chose to focus first on commonly used verbs and how to conjugate(动词变形) them. Once he had some verbs down, he could start collecting nouns from his tutor and plugging them in to make more interesting and relevant sentences.
Luca Lampariello — Italy
"Every time I have a conversation with native speakers, it really motivates me. Human contact is really important when learning a language."
Method: Start speaking right away
Speaking doesn't mean speaking perfectly. Speaking even a little bit is a huge confidence boost. When you can say something in a new language and people actually understand you, it's very motivating. Yes, you'll make mistakes, but you'll also learn faster than if you try to get it all perfect in your head first.
Michael Youlden — UK
"We all speak a variety of Romance languages which I think will help us get into Romanian quickly."
Method: Write everything down
Language learning is about recall; there's no use learning something if you don't remember it. Speaking new words aloud is very important, but so is writing them down — after all, words exist as sounds and in written form. Taking notes is a proven way to put new vocabulary and grammar into your memory. Writing supports memorizing which supports speaking... it's a cycle. Plus, you have an easy reference when you want to review what you've learned.
Matthew Youlden — UK
"I'm going to look for the patterns and similarities with languages I already know. We won't be able to speak fluently after an hour of study, but we should be able to get by with some basic vocabulary and phrases."
Method: Look for cognates
Cognates are words in different languages that look and sound similar and have the same meaning, due to a common origin. Almost every language combination contains cognates (even if two languages aren't seemingly related), but languages from the same language family have many more. Whichever language you are learning, identify the familiar words and then use them to anchor the new words that aren't so familiar. To use English as an example, because it's a sort of Germanic-Romance hybrid, English already has many words that cognate with German, Dutch and Swedish on one hand, and on the other hand it also has lots of words that cognate with French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and, of course, Romanian!
Learn a language with courses designed by the experts. Start here, today!
Pick a language to learn. German, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Swedish.
Four Learning Methods From Four Language {#blank#}1{#/blank#}:How To Make Meaningful Progress In Your First Hour | |
The people who are {#blank#}2{#/blank#} | Four polyglots who are good at learning languages |
The language they are to study | Romanian |
{#blank#}3{#/blank#} limits 1 hour | 1 hour |
The reason for choosing the target language | Romanian has much in {#blank#}4{#/blank#} with their familiar languages |
The {#blank#}5{#/blank#} to learning the language | the language Alex: give {#blank#}6{#/blank#} to commonly used verbs; add some {#blank#}7{#/blank#} to make sentences |
Luca: attach great {#blank#}8{#/blank#} to speaking; don't be afraid to make mistakes | |
Michael: take notes to keep new words and grammar in {#blank#}9{#/blank#} | |
Matthew: try to {#blank#}10{#/blank#} similar words and patterns with familiar languages |
试题篮