“He who bears the greatest hardship becomes the greatest man.” This idiom shows Chinese people's traditional belief in the vital role that hardship plays in a person's life as they grow up. But today, as our lives have greatly improved, do we still need this so-called “hardship education”?

    “We definitely do.” said Wang Weiqiong, mother of a 15-year-old girl in Jiangxi. “Many children take everything for granted, as they've never known how difficult it is to make money.”

    Wang is not alone. According to a recent survey of 2,017 people done by China Youth Daily, 81.8 percent of the interviewees supported hardship education including experiencing life in poor areas, outdoor training, taking part-time jobs, and doing housework.

    Qiao Yu, from Tianjing Foreign Languages School, also supports the idea. “Hardship helps us grow and be prepared for the difficulties of society,” said the 18-year-old, who worked in a cake store this summer.

    But while it contributes to students' development, “hardship education shouldn't be seen as simply making students suffer,” Sun Yunxiao, deputy director of the China Youth and Children Research Center told China Youth Daily. “It should follow teenagers' growth” Sun said students could also do sports to learn to face difficulties, for doing sporting can greatly strengthen their bodies and minds.

【写作内容】

1). 以约30个词概括上文的主要内容。

2). 以约120个词发表你“对吃苦教育”的看法，内容包括：

（1.）你对“吃苦教育”概念的理解；

（2.）支持或反对对青少年进行“吃苦教育”，并给出2-3点理由。

【写作要求】

1). 可以参考阅读材料的内容，但不得直接引用原文中的句子；

2). 作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称；

3). 不必写标题。

【评分标准】

概括准确，语言规范，内容合适，语篇连贯

    A farmer grew some vegetables in his garden. One day his wife was ill and he had no money. He had to sell some cabbages and carrots in the market. The next morning he took two baskets of vegetables to town. But it was raining hard that afternoon and there were few people in the street. When his vegetables were sold out, it was dark. He bought some medicine and hurried to his village.

    On his way home he saw a person lying on the snow. He placed his baskets on the ground and was going to help the person to get up. At that time he found it was a dead man and there was much blood on his body. He was so afraid that he ran away quickly, without taking the baskets with him.

    The next afternoon the farmer was sent to the police station. Having shown the baskets, an officer asked: “Are these yours?” “Yes, sir.” the farmer answered timidly(胆怯地).” Have you killed the man?” “No, no, sir.” the farmer said in a hurry. ”When did you see the dead man?” ”About seven last evening.” “Did you see who killed the man?” “No, Sir.” The officer brought out a knife and asked, “Have you seen it yet?” ”No, Sir.' The officer became angry and told the policemen to beat him up and send him into prison. the officer wanted to trap the farmer into the confession(供认), but the farmer didn't admit he was the murderer.

注意：

1).所续写的短文词数应为150左右；

2).应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；

3).续写部分分为二段，每段的开头语已经为你写好；

4).续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。

Paragraph 1:

    The officer was so angry that he asked the policeman to beat him up again.

Paragraph 2

    The farmer was lucky. A few days later,

    What started as a race to space between the United States and Russia has turned out to be a technological revolution that has greatly improved the quality of daily life throughout the world. Scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have invented new technology to make space flights doable. The same technology, when applied on Earth, has produced thousands of products in the areas of health and sports that have significant impacts on our lives.

    Many of these improvements are in the fields of health and medicine. NASA-inspired technology fueled the great advances in the early detection of deadly diseases. For instance, computer chips designed for the Hubble telescope are used in digital imaging devices that help medical professionals detect cancer at very early stages. Eye doctors can now diagnose vision problems in very young children by using ocular screening. Ultrasound scanners, portable x-ray devices, and bone analyzers are among the medical devices developed with the help of space technology.

    Fogless ski goggles and special sportswear are among the hundreds of items of sports equipment inspired by NASA technology. Space technology has been applied to sports too. The running shoes that athletes use today have midsoles that act like shock absorbers and keep the runners steady while in motion. These shoes utilize the technology NASA used to design the moon boot. In golf, athletes use a new ball that employs NASA research on how to make the flight of the ball from the tee to the green faster and more accurate. In swimming, athletes can swim faster because of NASA-developed riblets in the fabric of their swimsuits.

    Almost all aspects of daily life continue to improve because NASA scientists are still at work. Transportation, methods of preparing food, and work environments are other ways in which NASA technology has made significant changes.

    Peter woke up one morning with all the usual signs of a nasty cold: severe headache and blocked nose. Then he did what almost everyone does on a day like this. He got up and went to work. Such is the state of what the human resources industry has come to call presenteeism.

    Many experts claim that presenteeism is now a bigger problem in the UK than absenteeism and could even help explain the country's weak productivity growth. A growing number of companies are realizing presenteeism and doing something about it. This generally takes the form of programmes full of once unimaginable sweets: cheap gym membership, veggie salads in the canteen, stand-up desks and the odd massage, of course, there's nothing against lunchtime dentistry or free workout. They do more good than harm. But such welfares alone won't do much to stop people from presenteeism.

    The chief reasons why people soldier on have nothing to do with how fit they are. They work for leaner, more stressed companies where dismissals are common. This makes some people worried that they will be targeted in the next round of job cut if they have taken a lot of time off. Others worry about troubling stretched colleagues with more work in their absence. How annoying it is to be faced with cold faces when you return to office after two days' rest at home.

There is not much to be said for "silly things" like ping-pong tables and office bean bags. The key to dealing with presenteeism lies in training managers to be better at spotting swifly when employees are under too much stress or ill, and dealing with the situation sensibly—putting the sick employee to sick leave although he is reluctant. Of course, work has to be done to eliminate employee's concern about his job prospect thereof.

The Possible Health Dangers of Air-conditioners

Although many of us may feel air-conditioners bring relief from hot, humid or polluted outside air, they pose many potential health hazards. Much research has looked at how the movement of air inside a closed environment—such as an office building—can spread disease or expose people in the building to harmful chemicals.

    One of the more widely publicized dangers is that of Legionnaire's disease, which was first recognized in the 1970s. This was found to have affected people in buildings with air-conditioning systems in which warm air pumped out of the system' cooling towers was somehow sucked back into the air intake, in most cases due to poor design. The warm air, filled with bacteria, was combined with cooled, conditioned air and was then circulated around various parts of the building. Studies showed that even people outside such buildings were at risk if they walked past air exhaust pipes.

    Large air-conditioning systems add water to the air they circulate by means of humidifiers. In older systems, the water used for this process is kept in special reservoirs, the bottoms of which provide breeding grounds for bacteria which can find their way into the ventilation system. The risk to human health from this situation has been highlighted by the fact that the immune systems of approximately half of workers in air-conditioned office buildings have developed the ability to fight off the organisms found at the bottom of system reservoirs. But chemicals called “biocides” are added to reservoirs to make them germ-free, and they are dangerous in their own right in sufficient quantities, as they often contain compounds strongly linked to cancers.

    Finally, it should be pointed out that the artificial climatic environment created by air-conditioners can also affect us. In a natural environment, whether indoor or outdoor, there are small variations in temperature and humidity. Indeed, the human body has long been accustomed to these normal changes. In an air-conditioned living or working environment, however, body temperatures remain well under 37℃, our normal temperature. This leads to a weakened immune system and thus greater exposure to diseases such as colds and flu.

How to Improve Your English Pronunciation

    Accurate pronunciation is an important part of learning English, or any language for that matter. The way your speech sounds can have a big impact on whether or not people understand what you are saying and their initial impression of you. There are no shortcuts to perfect pronunciation; there are, however, some ways you can practice more effectively and improve your skills faster.

    It's often difficult to hear pronunciation errors in your own speech because you are concentrating on actually communicating rather than the sound you are making. If you can't hear your pronunciation problems, it's tough to correct them. Try recording your speech with your smartphone or PC and making a note of specific areas you need to improve on.

    Moreover, many English learners think that speaking fluently means they need to speak fast. This is wrong. Speaking too fast reinforces bad habits and makes the speaker sound nervous and indecisive. Speaking slowly will give you time to breathe properly and think about what you want to say next.

    Pronunciation is a physical skill. You're teaching your mouth a new way to move and using different muscles. Focus on difficult sounds each day. Having trouble with "th"? Put your tongue between your teeth (don't bite down) and blow air out of your mouth. Feel the air move over the top of your tongue. Another method worth a try is learning popular English songs. Singing helps you relax and just get those words out, as well as helping your rhythm and intonation (语调). Because you don't need to concentrate on constructing sentences for yourself, you can concentrate on making your pronunciation sound great!