Society today tells us that automatic pencils are a lot better than manual ones which you have to sharpen every 5 seconds. Maybe this is true. However, there are some benefits from using an old-fashioned traditional pencil which you cannot get with an automatic one.
To be honest, it is quite convenient to use an automatic pencil with an easy press on the button. Meanwhile a manual pencil doesn’t enjoy any plus point. But it is sort of strange that manual pencils should be used in standardized tests today. Chances are that the manual pencil makes the line of grey look nicer.
Nowadays, it is always a battle of who has the newest, most high-tech gadget(小装置), from pencils, cars to clothes. The newer it is, it seems the more popular it becomes. If you walk around school, you will for sure find at least three out of ten people walking around with the latest iPhone 4S. If you are one of the luckier ones walking around with the newest Nokia phones, you will get laughed at.
Maybe an automatic pencil is better at the moment, but after using it for a while, usually the pencil will break. Most people lose them and don’t remember to carry extra lead(铅芯) to fill them up with, as it sometimes can do so much that it needs a lot of lead, just like an iPhone 4S needs to be charged after it has done so much work. As for the manual pencil, the lead will also run out but unlike the mechanical pencil it will last longer. Besides, the automatic pencil and the iPhone 4S are more likely to get stolen while the manual pencil along with the Nokia phone will be left alone and most likely-returned to you.
| Title |
Automatic Pencils |
| People’s |
●The newer-gadget like the iPhone 4s becomes more ●You will be |
| Advantages |
●We can use the automatic pencil more easily by ●The manual pencil is ●The manual pencil can last longer. |
| |
●The automatic pencils usually tend to ● People often ● |
Chinese parents are very generous when it comes to educating their children. Not caring about the money, parents often send their children to the best schools or even abroad to England, the US or Australia. They also want their children to take extra-course activities where they will either learn a musical instrument or ballet, or other classes that will give them a head start in life. The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is. So parents will spend unreasonable amount of money on education. Even poor couples will buy computers for their sons or daughters.
However, what most parents fail to see is that the best education they can give to their children is usually very cheap.
Parents can see that their children’s skills vary, skilled in some areas while poor in others. What most parents fail to realize though, is that today’s children lack self-respect and self-confidence.
The reasons are that parents are only educating their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but parents are not teaching them the most important skills: they need to be confident, happy and clever.
Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing other housework.
Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in life. Cooking demands patience and time. It is an enjoyable but difficult experience. A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and gradually finish his job successfully. His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and a lot of confidence. These activities are not only teaching a child to work, but rather to think, and to use his mind. And that is more important.
Romanticism (浪漫主义) was a literary, artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. And it reached its peak from 1800 to 1840.
Romanticism urged people to look at nature and surroundings from a scientific point of view. It was also a rebellion against scientific rationalization (合理化 ) of nature. It permitted a person's imagination and freedom in art. The concept of romanticism was present in all the major art forms, like literature, the visual arts and music.
Friedrich Schlegel, a German philosopher, writer and critic, used the term “Romantic” for the first time to name a new school of literature which arose in opposition to “Classicism”. Though the concept of Romanticism was identified much earlier, critics believe that Romanticism in English literature dates from the Lyrical Ballads. The romantics were very interested in mystery, ambition and adventure.
In the visual arts, the term Romanticism refers to a trend that appeared in the 19th century, which was characterized by opposition to the classical forms and its rules. Romanticism in the visual arts focused more on the spiritual and emotional representation of nostalgia（怀旧）. Romantics used objects, like wild trees, moonlight, and so on, to convey their ideas and concepts.
In music, Romanticism was characterized by the freedom of forms and an emphasis on the emotions. It was German composers who used romanticism widely and developed this concept. Many famous composers worked in smaller forms of music that had flexible structure; for instance, ballads, solo piano music, and so on.
Romanticism influenced the literature and arts of the 18th and 19th century. The popularity of this movement declined gradually with passing time, but it has a significant place in the history of literature and art development.
阅读下面短文，按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求，在空格处填入一个适当的词或用括号中词语的正确形式填空，并将答案填写在答题卡标号为1～10的位置上。
Scientists have discovered that ______(stay) in the cold could help us lose weight. Researchers at the University of California found that exposure to the cold increases levels of a protein that helps form brown fat -------- the type of fat that produces heat and keeps us warm. Brown fat burns energy, ___
____ helps us lose weight. White fat stores extra energy, which results __
____ weight gain. The researchers said that because air conditioning and heating give us constant, ___
____ (comfort) temperatures, our body's need for brown fat has decreased. They found that: "Outdoor workers in northern Finland who __
____ (expose) to cold temperature have __
____ significant amount of brown fat when ___
___ (compare) to same-aged indoor workers."
The research was conducted on two different control groups of mice. ______ group was injected with the protein that helps create brown fat. This group later gained 30% less weight after both groups were fed high-fat diets. The researchers say this could be good news in the fight against obesity. People who are obese have ___
____（low) levels of brown fat than thinner people. Head researcher Hei Sook Sul said: "This protein could become an important target for research into the treatment and prevention of obesity and obesity-related diseases." She added: "If you can somehow increase levels of this protein, you could __
____ (possible) lose more weight even if eating the same amount of food."
任务型阅读（共 10 小题，每小题 1 分，满分 10 分）
Thanksgiving day is celebrated mainly in America and Canada. Much like the annual harvest festivals celebrated in other countries throughout the world, Thanksgiving Day was meant to pay our homage to the Almighty for this bountiful harvest. While the purpose and origin of the concept remains the same, the day of its celebration differs from country to country. In the United States, the holiday is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November while in Canada (which has an early harvest cycle and season), the holiday is observed on the second Monday in October, known as the Columbus Day. Much like the Christian Thanksgiving day, it is celebrated with pomp and show.
Since 1930, the end of Thanksgiving season marks the beginning of Christmas shopping season. In Canada, Thanksgiving holiday lasts for only three days but the time period may vary in the US. Let's have a look at the brief history of Thanksgiving in North America, U.S. and Canada:
In North America: Thanksgiving Day was first celebrated on September 8, 1565 in St. Augustine when Pedro Menendez de Aviles and his men shared a feast with the natives. After that Pilgrims held a three days feast to make merriment on their enormous harvest.
In United States: The immigrants who sailed to this country aboard the Mayflower were basically members of the English Separatist Church (a Puritan sect). They took shelter in Netherlands but soon were disgusted by their lifestyle. They settled in United States with a desire for a better lifestyle. But their beginning was horrendous. The climate was unfavorable and many of them died. But in 1621 they hard turmoil bore fruits for them as there was a huge harvest. They celebrated it with a feast with 91 Indians who had helped them during their harsh times.
Thanksgiving was celebrated after that at irregular intervals until Franklin Roosevelt, had set it one week to the next-to-last Thursday of November in order keeping an eye on commercial benefits as Christmas was nearby. Allegations were brought against this decision, which made the President to move Thanksgiving back to its original date two years later. And in 1941, Thanksgiving was finally set by Congress as a legal holiday, as the fourth Thursday in November.
In Canada: Probably the Americans who migrated to Canada after American Independence brought with them the practices of Thanksgiving. Initially it was celebrated in English Canadian Society but later it became a countrywide practice. Formally, Canadian Thanksgiving Day was celebrated on April 5, 1872 on behalf of the Prince of Wales' recovery from illness. Innumerable transformations took place before the date of celebration finally settled on the second Monday in October in 1957.
复现课文
The Human Development Report
In the year 2000，147 world leaders to work together to reduce poverty by 2015 or
. From this agreement
the Human Development Report.
One of the most important of this report is the Human development Index. This
the achievements of 175 countries. The Index __
____ a country’s achievement _
___ three ways: life expectancy, education and income. The Index has some ___
____. Norway is at the ___
____ of the list, _
___ the US is __
__ number 7. The bottom ten countries are all African countries, __
_ Sierra Leone at the ___
__ of the list.
The report ____ eight Development Goals and gives _
_ of successful development. _
__, the __
___ are still great. In developing countries, about 115 million children are not being __
__. More than 1 billion people in developing countries do not drink _
__ water.
The report ___ that we are making some _
__ but we need to make greater __
__. __
_, the countries that give the most money are the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
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