天津市静海区重点中学2023-2024学年高二上学期12月学生学业能力调研考试英语试题

—____. Let's chat about it over there.

— _____, as long as it won't take long.

When I was a child, my mother didn't force me to eat everything in my dish. She said I had to1 every food three times. Her2 was the first time to try it, the second time to get over the fact that you had just tried it, and the third to3 that you don't like it. After that, if I still4 the taste, she would5 make me eat it again. Her reasonable approach

6 almost every time—except with bananas, which I still don't eat now.

As I grew older, I brought that simple7 into my life. I had been8 the diving(跳水) board at the pool, but I had9 to make the first jump off the board. When I breathed in water, my mother jumped in to10 me. Before she could even reach me, I was up and out of the pool, heading back to that diving board. I jumped off11 ．More coughing followed, but I was determined to get over the fear. When I12 the pool the second time, my mom tried to cover me with a towel.13 , I threw off the towel and14 trying. The third time there was no15 and no water in my nose. In fact, there were16 from the others at the pool. At that point, I fell in love with the pool.

In my mid-thirties, I17 a successful job that didn't satisfy me in order to achieve my dream of being a writer. Having been18 twice, I tried for a third time. I have been happily living the life of a writer ever since. We are all afraid of something19 . But how can we be sure that something won't be20 — unless we give it a try.

Active Challenge

Weight loss camp for girls aged 13-18 in Canada

Location:

Beautiful Bear Creek Outdoor Centre near Ottawa Ontario

Season: July 2-August 28th

Capacity: 40 

Activities include

hiking, rafting, canoeing, yoga (瑜伽), cooking, camp skills, mountain biking, nutrition classes, swimming, fitness classes, etc

Choose what you like

Active Challenge is a weight loss program specially for young women. The burden of being overweight is heavier than just the extra pounds. We use outdoor adventures to challenge the girls, to give them something to draw strength from.

Because you'll be losing weight alongside young women just like you, you'll find no one laughing at you and you'll help each other. At Active Challenge you'll make lifelong friends with young women of your own age and learn to love new adventurous activities.

Unlike any other weight loss program, Active Challenge is designed so you'll lose weight and have the strategies (策略) and skills to keep the weight off forever. Active Challenge does not put you on a diet. We follow the Canada Food Guide to healthy eating and exercise appropriate portion (一份) control. We help you develop healthy habits.

The staff at Active Challenge combine experienced outdoor adventure professionals with highly qualified clinicians. All of us are absolutely devoted to helping you achieve lasting behavioral change and weight loss. Most of all, we are devoted to having a great time doing it.

Pre-Camp: Upon registration (注册) in Active Challenge, a registration package will be sent out to you with forms to be completed before camping as well as program preparation materials, an introduction to Active Challenge and pre-program personal challenging assignments to get you on your way toward a healthier self.

Post-Camp: Our post program is designed to keep you focused and remind you of the goals that you set during the camp. After the camp ends we will send you home with your personal meal and exercise plan and keep in touch with you for a full three months through letters, emails and phone calls, tracking your progress and giving you strategies and support.

Plastic bags are not costly to produce. They are also strong and easy to carry. This is why they are a popular container in most parts of the world. But they are also a major source of pollution. It can take hundreds of years for plastic bags to break down. As they do, tiny pieces can poison soil, lakes, rivers and oceans. Therefore, environmental experts urge people to reuse and recycle plastic bags.

Maryland artist Allita Irby does just that. It starts with the morning newspaper. What is more important is getting that plastic bag the paper comes in. The mixed media artist recognized its rich possibilities about three year ago. "As I was taking the newspaper out, I felt the texture of these bags. They were soft. I just looked down and realized it would take three to make a braid (辫子)." Since then, Irby has been using plastic bags to create abstract lines in her art works.

Before incorporating plastic bags in her works, Irby used natural materials like feathers, leather and dried plants. All those elements represent her Native American ancestry (血统) and identity, like one of her works called "Navaho Bundles".

Ms. Irby's neighbors praised her ability to turn waste into treasure. Some, like Charlotte Hogan, asked the artist to teach them how to create art using the used plastic bags. "I think it is fascinating, and it is wonderful. I do plan to share it with my seniors at my church." One of Irby's neighbors Aleta Meyer expressed her surprise, "I have never given any more thought to what to do with a plastic bag. This is definitely different."

Shirley Watts also lives in the neighborhood. She plans to show others her art. "I want to make a masterpiece that I can put in a frame and put it up on my wall and then I know that I did it."

"Making art with found materials is not a new idea. Anyone can do it. Recycled paper, cloth and metal goods can become beautiful pictures and sculptures," Allita Irby said, "I think we are all artists really, and there is beauty all around us." The artist also said that all you had to do was open your eyes and bring the outside in.

One of the greatest sources of unhappiness, in my experience，is the difficulty we have in accepting things as they are. 

When we see something we don't like, we wish it could be different.We cry out for something better.That may be human nature, or perhaps it's something ingrained(根深蒂固的)in our culture.The root of the unhappiness isn't necessarily that we want things to be different. However，it's that we decided we didn't like it in the first place.We've judged it as bad，rather than saying，"It's not bad or good，and it just is it."

In one of my books, I said"You should expect people to mess up and expect things to go differently than you planned"．Some readers said it's too sorrowful to expect things to go wrong. However, it's only negative if you see it as negative and judge it as bad.Instead，you could accept it as the way the world works and try to understand why that is.

This can be applied to whatever you do：how other people act at work，how politics works and how depressing the news media can be.Accept these things as they are，and try to understand why they're that way. It will save you a lot of sadness，because you'll no longer say，"Oh，I wish bad things didn't happen！"

Does it mean you can never change things? Not at all.But change things not because you can't accept things as they are，but because you enjoy the process of changing，learning and growing. 

Can we make this world a better place? You can say that you'll continue to try to do things to help others, to grow as a person，and to make a difference in this world.That's the correct path you choose to take，because you enjoy that path.Therefore，when you find yourself judging and wishing for difference，try a different approach：accept and understand.It might lead to some interesting results.

My father was 44 and knew he wasn't going to make it to 45. He wrote me a letter and hoped that something in it would help me for the rest of my life.

Since the day I was 12 and first read his letter, some of his words have lived in my heart. One part always stands out. "Right now, you are pretending to be a time-killer. But I know that one day, you will do something great that will set you among the very best." Knowing that my dad believed in me gave me permission to believe in myself. "You will do something great." He didn't know what that would be, and neither did I, but at times in my life when I've felt proud of myself, I remember his words and wish he were here so I could ask, "Is this what you were talking about, Dad? Should I keep going?"

A long way from 12 now, I realize he would have been proud when I made any progress. Lately, though, I've come to believe he'd want me to move on to what will come next: to be proud of and believe in, somebody else. It's time to start writing my own letters to my children. As mothers, our children look to us with the same unanswered question we had. Our kids don't retreat because they're afraid to fail. They're only afraid of failing us. They don't worry about being disappointed. Their fear—as mine was until my father's letter—is of being a disappointment.

Give your children permission to succeed. They're waiting for you to believe in them. I always knew my parents loved me. But trust me: That belief will be more complete, that love will be more real, and their belief in themselves will be greater if you write the words on their hearts: "Don't worry; you'll do something great." Not having that blessing from their parents may be the only thing holding them back.

How to Improve Yourself 

At present, our school is launching How to Improve Yourself campaign. ...