A hobby is an activity we can do in our free time, so that we can keep ourselves busy with something that makes us happy. Different people pursue (追求) different kinds of hobbies, according to their personal likes and dislikes. Hobbies are activities we choose to do, but not activities we have to do. There is a lot of difference between wanting to do something and having to do it. We only want to do those things we like to do, and things that give us pleasure and peace of mind.
Hobbies hold a very important place in our lives. For example, they are a means of connecting us with our inner self. The time devoted to taking up a hobby is our own time. This is the time when we can connect and communicate with ourselves. During this personal time, we can do whatever we like. Doing things according to our own wishes gives us a sense of inner satisfaction, and also helps develop self-confidence.
Hobbies also help discover talents. There is a possibility that we are interested in a certain activity, but have never had a chance to actually try it. If we develop our interest as our hobbies, it’s obvious that we’ll do it with great interest. So, even if we have never tried a certain thing before, we can still learn to do it. Thus, the hobbyists’ hidden talents can be discovered, and this can make them feel extremely proud and satisfied.
It’s human nature to try to know more about the things we like. The moment we pursue some activities as our favorite hobbies, we tend to gain more knowledge about the same hobby. Whether it’s gardening, cooking, painting or collecting stamps, we always try to get a deeper understanding of what we’re doing, so that we can do it more correctly. What’s more, we also happen to meet people with similar tastes and sometimes, possessing (拥有) rich knowledge about their hobbies. Thus, besides gaining knowledge, hobbies also provide us with a chance to meet people who share similar likes and dislikes with us.
Whatever our hobbies are, they can be developed at any age, as a child or as an adult. However, if we begin at a young age, we can get more time to experience the joys of our favorite pursuit. The hobby tends to grow with us, and someday, may also take us to great heights.
| Why to take up a hobby |
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·Hobbies are activities we do in our free time and can make us ·Our hobbies are based on our likes. ·Hobbies are those activities people are |
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| Helping connect With the inner self |
·The time ·We’ll feel |
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| Helping discover talents |
·We can learn a lot by trying some activities with great ·We’ll be able to find our |
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| Helping gain knowledge |
·When pursuing a hobby, we tend to try our best to ·We can also |
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| Though all hobbies can be developed at any age, yet it’s better to develop one when we are young. |
Step into an American preschool classroom today and you are likely to fall into a so-called print-rich environment，every surface colorfully decorated with instructional posters，classroom rules，chedules，and mottos，few of which a 4-year-old can understand in fact．
Besides the confusing things on classroom walls，teaching methods and curriculums have changed recently，by which more time is spent on what’s called “seat work”一workbooks and worksheets—but less time devoted to music and art．School—readiness skills are essential for the youngest learners to move on to a subsequent stage. As a result, expectations that may arguably have been reasonable for 5-and 6-year-olds, such as bemg able to sit at a desk and using pencil and paper，are now directed at even younger children, who lack the motor skills and attention span to be successful．
However，parents of preschoolers tend to be on board with these changes，because they fear that the old—fashioned pleasures of unhurried learning have no place in today’s highly competitive world．The stress is obvious：Pick the “wrong” preschool and your child might not go to college．She might not be employable. She might not even be allowed to start first grade!
As preschoolers are learning so much academic knowledge at earlier ages，they seem somehow less curious and less engaged．Some teachers say that more children today seem to lack the language skills．The real focus in the preschool years should not be just on vocabularv and reading，but on talking and listening．By talking with adults, and one another，they pick up information，learn how things work and solve puzzles that trouble them．For our littlest learners，what could be more important than that?
Which of the statements does the author probably agree with?
| A．Younger children can fully understand the instructional things in classrooms． |
| B．3-and 4-year-olds shouldn’t be expected too much in school readiness skills． |
| C．More time should be spent on“seat work’’ instead of music and art． |
| D．Even 5-and 6-year-olds have good motor skills and attention span． |
The underlined phrase “be on board with” in the third paragraph most probably means “ ”.
| A．accept | B．reject | C．doubt | D．worry |
Why are parents so picky when choosing a preschool for their kids?
| A．Because some preschools are too old fashioned． |
| B．Because a wrong preschool might ruin kids’ future． |
| C．Because the competitions between kindergartens are fierce． |
| D．Because it is easy for them to choose a right preschool． |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．New Preschool Breaking down the Kids． |
| B．The Early Bird Gets the Worm． |
| C．Preschool，the Gatekeeper to Elementary School? |
| D．Seat work，a Better Choice for the Youngest Kids? |
“At least you’ll be close to home!”That phrase dominated the weeks before my move to my college．I took comfort in knowing that home was close by if I needed it
The night before the move，I spoke with a sophomore(大学二年级)friend of mine who was moving back the next morning．I asked if he was sad to be leaving home and his response sparked in me an internal debate．“It was nice to be back but honestly。I’ve come to think of the college as my home．”Up until that moment，the move to college seemed like an extended version of summer camp．School wasn’t a home；it was a place for me to explore when I was away from home right?
As I packed my things，I really started thinking about the concept of home，and I couldn’t help but wonder would I ever consider college my own home? The next day，once my bags were unpacked and my parents were gone，I took a moment to look around my dorm．It was absolutely nothing like my room…no bunnies，no blue curtains and no queen—sized bed．Despite the fun I was having and things I was learning in the following Welcome Week，I couldn’t bring myself to call it home．I longed for my bunnies．I even wanted my mom’s calls．“There’s no place like home．”I murmured．
Last night，I went to visit my friends and we spent the next hour talking about that missing feeling we all shared-our families，our friends，our old lives—and soon the sadness turned to fondness．One by one our friends came in to say goodnight and the room was filled with girls，all laughing and sharing our high school experiences．It wasn’t until about l：00 a．m．that I turned to my roommate，unconsciously saying，“It’s getting late…we should probably go home soon．”I was taken aback by my own words．Somehow in the few hours，my dorm room had turned into a home．
How did the author react to her sophomore friend’s response at first?
| A．She quite agreed with her friend． |
| B．She was completely certain about it． |
| C．She thought he was telling a lie． |
| D．She was surprised by his response。 |
The author mentioned the bunnies twice in the passage to suggest that .
| A．college lacked a friendly atmosphere |
| B．she didn’t get used to her college life then |
| C．pet-keeping was not allowed in college dorm |
| D．college should prepare bunnies for new students |
Whv was the author taken aback by her own words at the end of the passage?
| A．Because she began to call her college a home． |
| B．Because there were so many girls gathering in the dorm． |
| C．Because she lost a good chance to forget homesickness． |
| D．Because it was rude to say that when everyone was happy． |
What made the author begin to take college as a home?
| A．Decorating her dorm like a home． |
| B．Her previous family lives. |
| C．Friends’ shared feelings． |
| D．Comforts from other girls. |
In recent years some extreme weather events have arisen from global warming because of human activities, with studies indicating an increasing threat from extreme weather in the future. Scientists were certain that global warming is being caused mostly by increasing concentrations ofgreenhouse gasesand otherhumanactivities.
Its effects include warming global temperature, rising sea levels and expansion of deserts in the subtropics(亚热带). Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic, with the continuing loss of glaciers, permafrost and sea ice. Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves, droughts, heavy rainfall with floods, heavy snowfall and species extinction due to great change of temperature. Bad effects on humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the loss of populated(住人的) areas because of rising sea levels.
Possible responses to global warming are reduction of emissions(排放), adaptation to its effects, building systems resilient to its effects, and possible future climate engineering. Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC), whose objective is to prevent dangerous climate change. It has adopted a range of policies designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to assist in adaptation to global warming. It is agreed that future global warming should be limited to below 2.0 °C (3.6 °F) relative to the pre-industrial level.
On 12 November 2015, NASA scientists reported that human-made carbon dioxide continues to increase above levels that have not been seen in hundreds of thousands of years: currently, about half of the carbon dioxide released from the burning of fossil fuels remains in the atmosphere and is not absorbed by vegetation and the oceans.What does the underlined word “resilient” mean?
| A．be easily damaged | B．be able to recover easily |
| C．can be bent easily | D．be difficult to change |
Which of following is NOT mentioned as an effect of global warming?
| A．rising sea levelsand expansion of deserts |
| B．more frequent extreme weather events |
| C．species extinction |
| D．increasing crop yields |
Which of the following can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?
A. It is likely for us to deal with global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to its effects and climate engineering.
B. There is no solution to too much carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere.
C. It is common that human-made carbon dioxide keeps on increasing greatly in the previous several centuries.
D. Future global warming should be limited to below 3.6 °C.
There have always been a lot of commonly believed but false ideas about being fat and doing exercise. Some people believe that they can’t help putting on weight as they get older, while others hold that if they stop exercising, their muscles will turn into fat. Here are some more myths:
I’ll never lose weight --- I come from a fat family
Wrong! While we can’t change the body type we are born with, we can’t blame our genes for making us fat. There’s plenty of evidence that fatness runs in families, and the main reason is that they share the same habits of eating too much and exercise too little.
I am fat because I burn calories slowly
Wrong! Fatness is not caused by a slow metabolism(新陈代谢). If fact, although fat people consume more energy that slim people, they also fail to realize how much they eat! Keeping a diary can help you work out your daily food intake more accurately.
Exercise is boring
Wrong! Anything will become boring if you do it repetitively. The key is to develop a balanced and varied program that’s fun as well as progressive. If you enjoy a Sunday walk, take a different route. If you do Yoga, try a tai chi class. If you like swimming, set a distance or time challenge.
No pain, no gain.
Wrong! Exercise is not meant to hurt. Indeed, pain is your body telling you something’s wrong, and continuing to exercise could lead to serious injury. You may experience mild discomfort as you begin to exercise regularly, but when your body adapts to the positive changes in your lifestyle and the aches should disappear relatively quickly. If you don’t, rest and seek medical advice.What does the author think about being fat?
| A．It is the family genes that make people fat. |
| B．People are fat because they consume too little energy. |
| C．It is the consequence of people’s unbalanced lifestyle. |
| D．A diary of exercise can prevent people from becoming fat. |
According to the author, how can we make exercise more interesting?
| A．By taking varied exercise. |
| B．By choosing simple exercise. |
| C．By doing regular exercise. |
| D．By sticking to outdoor exercise. |
What is the author’s opinion about “No pain, no gain” in exercising?
| A．Exercise should be stopped if continuous pain is felt. |
| B．Keeping fit is essentially a painful experience. |
| C．Pain in exercise is a precondition for reaching your goal. |
| D．Getting used to pain leads to positive changes in your body. |
What is the purpose of the passage?
| A．To argue the importance of keeping fit. |
| B．To prove some medical facts about being fat and doing exercise. |
| C．To confirm what has long been believed about keeping fit. |
| D．To inform readers of some misunderstandings about fatness and exercise. |
No poem should ever be discussed or “analyzed”, until it has been read aloud by someone, teacher or student. Better still, perhaps, is the practice of reading it twice, once at the beginning of the discussion and once at the end, so the sound of the poem is the last thing one hears of it.
All discussions of poetry are, in fact, preparations for reading it aloud, and the reading of the poem is, finally, the most telling “interpretation”(解读) of it, suggesting tone, rhythm, and meaning all at once. Hearing a poet read the work in his or her own voice, on records or on film, is obviously a special reward. But even those aids to teaching can not replace the student and teacher reading it or, best of all, reciting it.
I have come to think, in fact, that time spent reading a poem aloud is much more important than “analyzing” it, if there isn’t time for both. I think one of our goals as teachers of English is to have students love poetry. Poetry is “ a criticism of life”, and “ a heightening(提升) of life”. It is “an approach to the truth of feeling”, and it “can save your life”. It also deserves a place in the teaching of language and literature more central than it presently occupies.
I am not saying that every English teacher must teach poetry. But those who do teach poetry must keep in mind a few things about its essential nature, about its sound as well as its sense, and they must make room in the classroom for hearing poetry as well as thinking about it.To have a better understanding of a poem, one should________.
| A．discuss it with others | B．analyze it by oneself |
| C．copy it down in a notebook | D．practise reading it aloud |
According to the writer, one of the purposes of teaching English is to get students________.
| A．to understand life. | B．to enjoy poetry. |
| C．to become teachers. | D．to become poets |
What does the last sentence in the third paragraph imply?
| A．More importance should be attached to the teaching of poetry. |
| B．Poetry is more important than any other subject. |
| C．One cannot enjoy life fully without an understanding of poetry |
| D．Poetry is the foundation of all language and literature courses |
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