题型:阅读理解 题类:常考题 难易度:普通
福建省厦门双十中学2019届高三上学期英语期中考试试卷
Love for language
Very few of us become fluent in another language by studying it in high school. I went to university and then moved across the country, pursued a demanding career, married and raised children.
I made an effort to maintain the little bit of French that I learned in school, but eventually realized that this was pointless. I was well aware that new languages are best learned when young, and that our abilities in that regard decline with age. However, just before my 50th birthday, I signed up for French classes. After I was tested to see which group I belonged in, I was placed at almost the introductory level. When I looked around at my first Saturday morning class, I was struck by how many of the students were learning French as a third, fourth, or even fifth language.
Contrary to my assumption that learning a new language was impossibly difficult, there were people who learned new languages as a matter of course. I found that it really was true that certain linguistic (语言的) abilities fade with age.
While I'd always thought of myself as a quick learner, that was no longer the case. I absorbed new vocabulary very slowly. What I learned one week seemed to slip away as soon as I learned the next skill. I looked up the same words and language structures over and over again.
Now, a couple of years in, I can listen to the news in French and catch 90 percent of it on the first try, read a novel if the language is not too difficult, and hold up my end of a conversation if it doesn't go too fast.
Who knows what I might still accomplish?
I've learned so much beyond grammar and vocabulary. I've met people from around the world and all walks of life who have the courage to make fools of themselves in order to learn something new.
I've been taught by patient and inspirational teachers from many corners of the world, including France, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean and Africa.
Listening to the news as it is presented to the people of France, I have a renewed understanding of how something can look completely different from another perspective. I've learned that a language is not just a set of words, but a way of thinking. But most of all, I've learned that it really is never too late to learn something new.
The Healthy Habits Survey shows that only about one third of American seniors have correct habits. Here are some findings and expert advice.
1)How many times did you brush your teeth yesterday? ● Finding: A full 33% of seniors brush their teeth only once a day. ● Step: Remove the 300 types of bacteria in your mouth each morning with a battery-operated toothbrush. Brush gently for 2 minutes at least twice a day. 2)How many times did you wash your hands or bathe yesterday? ● Finding: Seniors, on average, bathe fewer than 3 days a week. And nearly 30% wash their hands only 4 times a day—half of the number doctors recommend. ● Step: We touch our faces around 3,000 times a day-often inviting germs(病菌)to enter our mouth, nose, and eyes. Use toilet paper to avoid touching the door handle. And, most important, wash your hands often with hot running water and soap for 20 seconds. 3)How often do you think about fighting germs(病菌)? ● Finding: Seniors are not fighting germs as well as they should. ● Step: Be aware of germs. Do you know it is not your toilet but your kitchen sponge (海绵) that can carry more germs than anything else? To kill these germs, keep your sponge in the microwave for 10 seconds. |
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