相关试卷

A recent study suggests that when it comes to the benefits of reading, just doing it matters more than the content. Researchers have found that reading novels helps the brain development in understanding others and imagining the world. They also have found that people who spend a few hours per week reading books live longer than those who don't read. 

But how to build a habit of reading? Like any habit, the trick is in figuring out what suits you. The hardest part about reading is actually picking up a book. You have to sit down, pick up a book and start reading. "I always have a book next to wherever I put my phone, "My friend Jimmy once told me. "So if I want to check my phone, I physically can see the book there. Nine times out of ten. I end up reading the book instead of using my phone for nothing."

Another challenge is time, and in that case, audiobooks（有声书）can be a good choice. Audiobooks are great for filling the mind while you're on the way to work, washing dishes or working out at the gym. 

If you're still stuck on the way to developing a reading habit, the best way is to revisit your old favorite books to get your youthful reading pleasure. You should free yourself from the opinion that only important or educational books are worth reading. There's no shame in rereading the books that made you fall in love with reading in the first place. Restarting the practice of reading is a little like picking up painting. It takes some work to get into the best state, but once you begin, the results are beautiful and satisfying. 

Is there a way to turn back the clock on your age? A new study says yes. Exercise can make you look younger. At least it can lower your fitness age — that is the measure of how well your body works. 

A study of athletes in the National Senior Games found that their fitness age was more than 20 years younger than their chronological age. The games took place in the Midwestern state of Minnesota. Tony Diamond took part in the games. Every morning he went to a local park and walked fast for an hour. Then, the retired navy captain ran for an hour. Two or three times a week, he went to a gym for muscle（肌肉）training. Mr. Diamond won three medals at the 2015 National Senior Games. 

"My current age is 86 years old, and my fitness age is 44. I think I am in such good physical condition because I do a lot of exercise during my life. I have been exercising since I was a little boy," said Mr. Diamond. 

"I'm 62 years old and my fitness results showed that I was 32 years," said Ms White. 

Ms. White and Mr. Diamond are some of the 5, 000 Senior Games participants who took part in the fitness age study. 

Pamela Peeke was an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Maryland. She worked on the study with Ulrik Wisloff at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Mr Wisloff developed a fitness calculator. 

An online calculator is available for anyone to use for free. Ms. Peeke says there are benefits from attending this test. 

The National Senior Games take place every two years. They are the competition for athletes older than 50. The games include a variety of sports. 

This year the average age of the people competing was 68. But their average fitness age was 43. 

In early November of 1942, my geology（地质学）class was supposed to go on a field trip to see the mica mine（云母矿）. Although it rained, everyone showed up on time. I was the only girl in the class. We all fit into two cars. 

Near Deary, Mr. Tier, our teacher, went into a store to ask about the direction, while townsmen looked at us with curiosity. On the store owner's advice, we drove out into the hills for a few miles. Then we left the cars. We were afraid they would get stuck in the mud. 

Eventually, we located the mine near the top of the mountain. There was a very small hole, running about two or three hundred feet into the mountainside. The passage（通道）was so narrow that we could touch both sides with our hands, and not tall enough to allow us to stand up straight. The first boy held the torch; we took hold of the backs of each other's coats, in a line, and followed him in, ducking our heads. After getting in, we were disappointed because it was not the mine our teacher was looking for. 

The rain was coming down hard as we started back to the cars to go home. Back at Deary, we went into a drugstore and stood around its big heating stove to dry out. The clerk was a middle-aged lady. Seeing our entirely wet hair and clothes, she handed each of us a cup of hot water immediately and asked if there was anything wrong with any of us. 

Hiking eight miles in the rain had not reduced our interest at all. We all felt we had a wonderful time, even if we didn't find the mine. 

If you are looking for apps to learn English for studying abroad, you might be confused. There are so many apps to choose from. How can you decide which English language learning app is right for you? Our list of top four favorite apps to improve your English will help. 

Hello English—Best app for middle learners

If you already understand the basics but want to improve your English, this app is for you. Hello English starts with a language test, and then serves up English lessons based on your test results. Hello English supports learners with 23 native languages and lets you play games, watch videos and listen to audio books, too. 

Free versions available for iOS, Android and Windows. 

FluentU-Best media-based app

This app sources English-language videos from the real world—including news, music videos and commercials（商业）—to help you learn English. Interactive captions（字幕）allow you to tap any word and see more information about it. 

Free trial（试用）and paid monthly subscriptions available for Android and iOS. 

Rosetta Stone—Most multi-use app This award-winning English language learning app teaches vocabulary and English grammar. Rosetta Stone includes lessons on pronunciation so you can improve your English accent. You can also download audio lessons to learn offline. 

Free trial and paid versions available for Android, iOS and Windows. 

Duolingo-Most fun app

This personalised English-learning app turns studying into a game. Earn virtual coins to unlock new levels and spend them on fun upgrades. An animated owl（动画猫头鹰）keeps you company and encourages you as you learn. When you have questions, get help from fellow students inside the app using the Duolingo message boards. 

Free and paid versions available for Android, iOS and Windows. 

I was angry about my father in the first year of college, because he didn't care about my feelings all.

One day I had a serious quarrel with him. I was fed up with his direction and correction. How could he interfere with my life and my study plans? How could he understand the importance of my university activities? The only thing that he cared about was my academic performance! He didn't understand my world and I didn't understand his, either.

I stormed out and sighed all the way to school. Suddenly I realized that I didn't have the assignment that was due: a thought card. This class was taught by Dr. Sidney B．Simon. The thought card was the admission ticket to his class. He would return them to us with his comment.

My first thought card read, "All that glitters(发光) is not gold." He commented, "What does this quote mean to you? Is it significant?" Obviously, he was taking it seriously. I surely didn't want to reveal myself to him.

The week progressed. Dr. Simon's class was quite brilliant. He challenged us to think and come up with our own responses. But I had no handling strategies to deal with it.

The second Tuesday came. I wrote on my card, "The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said." The next day the card came back: "You seem to need a listener. Is this important to your life?" I couldn't remember a teacher caring personally about me since primary school.

With all these memories filling my mind, I raced to class. Just outside tho door, I took a card and wrote, "I have the most terrible Dad of the world!" Then I dashed in. Looking up at me, he reached out for the card, and I took my seat. The moment I sat down, I felt terrible. I didn't mean to let that out. That night I had difficiulty sleeping. What if he contacted my dad?

注意：1.续写词数应为150左右：2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

On Wednesday morning I came to class with mixed feelings.

……

I held the card tightly, thinking about his words.

注意：1. 写作词数应为80左右；2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Dear fellow schoolmates,

It's my great honor to make a concluding statement here.

……

That's all. Thank you!

When Han Jing was a senior student  last, she was a little anxious. Since she wanted to make a good first  (impress), she was rather worried about  she could make any friends.

Having had  (she) first maths class in senior high school, she realized though the class was difficult, most of her (classmate) and teachers were friendly and (help). And in the afternoon, her chemistry class in  science lab was great, even though there was a guy who always made her not concentrate on the experiment.

All day long, Han Jing didn't feel awkward and (frighten) at all. She missed her friends from junior high school, but she believed she would make new friends soon. With a lot (explore) at senior high school, she felt more confident and (believe) that tomorrow would be a great day.

Jenna, a popular girl from Westwood Middle School, had graduated first in her class and was ready for new1  in high school. 

2 , high school was different. In the first week, Jenna went to tryouts for cheerleaders. She was competing against very talented girls, and she knew it would be 3  for her to be selected. Two hours later, the 4  read a list of the girls for a second tryout. Her heart 5  as the list ended without her name. Feeling 6 , she walked home carrying her schoolbag full of homework. 

Arriving home, she started with math. She had always been a good math student, but now she was7 . She moved on to English and history, and was 8 to find that she didn't have any trouble with those 9 . Feeling better, she decided not to10 math for the time being.

Later in math class, Jenna devoted herself to figuring out the problems that had given her so much11 . By the end of class, she understood how to get them right. As she gathered her books, Jenna decided she'd continue to try to 12 at her new school. She wasn't sure if she'd succeed, but she knew she had to 13 . High school was just as her mom had said, "You will feel like a small fish in a big pond 14 a big fish in a small pond. The challenge is to become the 15 fish you can be."

Make the Most of Holidays

Holidays are a wonderful time to spend with friends and family, eating and sharing stories.  These situations can give you great chances to learn English. Here are some ideas that you can use to improve your English over the holidays.

Blogs

The Learning English Broadcast is a 30-minute daily blog that features the audio (音频) from our main stories each day. Listening to the blog will help develop your ability to understand spoken English.  Once you have finished a program, tell someone what you have learned.

Published materials

 Buy an English- language publication to read it while you are waiting or spending quiet time at a hotel or in a home. Look at the images and read the lines below them. Even if you do not understand all the words, you can use the images to help you understand some of them. Later, you can use an online dictionary to look up the words you want to learn.

Conversation

While traveling, it is not unusual to see people from other countries.  If you hear someone asking for information in English, you might offer to help or simply greet them in English to talk. A friendly chat is usually welcome as travelers share their experiences.

Writing about your day

Writing about your day is a great way to practice your English writing skill. Using English to describe how you spent your holiday will help you to put new words to use and make them stay in your memory longer. And you will have a wonderful record of your travel.  It is a good reminder of your past holidays.

A．We hope you enjoy your travels this year.

B．You can read it long after the holiday is over.

C．They are also waiting or exploring a new place.

D．We have spent too much time at home the past two years.

E．And it can also keep you informed of news and information.

F．Airports and train stations often have stores selling published materials.

G．You may celebrate at home, wait at airports or spend time on trains, buses or cars.

One of the reasons I became a teacher was how much I loved the reading and writing process, and how excited I was to help young children develop as readers and writers. One day, I discovered a work of Vivian Paley, who developed a storytelling curriculum (课程) for young children, which involves writing down the contents of students' drawings and having their classmates act out these stories. I was immediately drawn to Paley's focus on drama.

One morning, as my students gathered in our classroom for our writing lesson, I told them that they could draw anything they'd like, imaginary or real. They discussed with one another what they liked to draw and some shared their ideas loud, which helped inspire those who weren't ready with their own ideas. For the next half hour or so, I observed that even my most hesitant and unwilling students were drawing with a sense of concentration and purpose.

Later, we sat in a circle and I explained that we would act out some of their stories. The writer would choose classmates to be the characters in the story, and I would tell the story. Then a student stood up to announce which characters she'd need. I watched as one student played a rabbit, another played a fairy, and another played a rainbow cloud. When the play was over, the actors and the "director" bowed, and the class clapped for them. The next "director" jumped to her feet, shouting, "My story is the next!"

After I taught in this way, my students began to write down their own stories, though I always provided aid in the writing process when they needed. The goal of these lessons is not to turn my students into fluent writers in kindergarten but to provide them with the chance to become writers, to see themselves as storytellers, and to experience the magical feeling when their ideas come to life.

The Australian accent developed because so many early settlers were drunk. Dean Frenkel, a communications expert at Victoria University in Melbourne, said that the first British arrivals to the country were such big drinkers that the distortion (失真) to their speech caused a verbal change that persists to this day.

Academic Mr Frenkel wrote in the Australian newspaper The Age, "Our forefathers regularly got drunk together, and through their frequent interactions added an alcoholic slur (模糊) to our national speech patterns. For the past two centuries, from generation to generation, the drunken Australian accent continues to be taught by parents to their children."

Mr Frenkel continued, "The average Australian speaks to just two-thirds capacity — with one-third of our speaking muscles always keep still as if lying on the couch. Missing consonants can include missing ‘t's (Impordant), ‘l's (Austraya) and ‘s's (yesh), while many of our vowels are lazily transformed into other vowels, especially ‘a's to ‘e's(stending) and ‘i's to ‘oi's (noight)."

The Australian accent has historically lacked regional variation because although the communities began as isolated (孤立的) settlements, there was a great deal of internal migration, particularly from Sydney where the first accent began.

The most common fear people have about the Australian accent is that it's becoming more Americanised. But Dr Felicity Cox, an associate professor of linguistics at Macquarie University, said that accents are remarkably resistant to change from factors such as social media, and as long as people want to be known as Australian, they will keep the distinctive Australian sound. It will always remain a strong marker of national identity.

Spare time activities at the University of Victoria

Arts

There are many art galleries and ongoing displays on the campus of the University of Victoria (UVic). The Student Union Building lounge displays various local students' artworks. The Maltwood Art Museum Gallery, located in the main lobby of the University Center, features local, national, and international works. The McPherson Library Gallery located on the main floor of the library, features art produced by UVic students. To see ongoing art displays. you can visit the Fine Arts Building.

Movies

Cinecenta is the students' society's 300-seat movie theater, which always offers an excellent choice of movies. Take the time on a Sunday afternoon and catch a 2:30 matinee (午后) for only $3.75 or catch a midnight classic! Movies are only $4.75 for students with a-valid student ID—or buy a 10-movie pass and pay only $3.75 each. You can pick up a free timetable around campus.

Music

The music department on campus holds over 100 concerts a year. Everyone is welcome to attend student recitals (独奏会), held every Friday at 12:30 pm in the Phillip T. The Victoria symphony offers reduced price tickets to students if tickets. are purchased on the day of the concert.

Publications

Copies of the following publications can be picked up from campus publication boxes that are located in every building on campus. The Martlet, the official student paper of UVic, is funded partially through student fees and is produced by an autonomous collective of students and staff. A publication funded by UVic and produced by the women's center, the Women's Publication Network, which is available every other Thursday, is the oldest women student newspaper in Canada. The paper has a feminist (女权主义者) focus. Published monthly by CFUV (Victoria's campus & community radio station), Offbeat is your guide to CFUV's program schedule. The Ring, published every two weeks, is UVic's community newspaper for staff, students and off-campus readers.