I created a writing group at my school this year, and it has become a hit with all students who enjoy writing. Now students of the group make rapid progress in their writing. Let me share a few tips that you can use to start your own writing group.
Set up separate groups for different ability levels
You probably don’t want to mix a gifted eighth grader with a second grader who writes very little. In a larger school, you could have a beginner group, a more advanced group, and a publishing group. Members can move to more appropriate groups if they are not comfortable in the current one.
Advertise the group in different ways
Send advertisements home with students, and put an advertisement on the school website or in the school newsletter.
The first meeting should be very open
At the first meeting, you should tell the students that this group is all about them. It is not a class, not a grade and not a requirement. Then tell them what some other writing groups do, and ask what they would like to do.
Set up a time to meet once or twice a month
It is important that students bring their writing with them. The group could go in any direction: criticize each other’s work, read your writing aloud, read silently, publish your work in a booklet (小册子), play creativity games or do an online chat with a published author.
It will take a little while to find out what works best for your group
Search for creativity exercises and role plays. You might even be able to set up a special section of your school’s website just for your writing group.
The purpose of this passage is to ________.
| A．introduce how to start up a writing group |
| B．offer some advice on how to teach writing |
| C．train highlevel students to start up a writing group |
| D．compare different tips on starting up a writing group |
What does the underlined word “hit” probably mean?
| A．problem | B．test | C．tool | D．success |
Which of the following is NOT the activity of a writing group?
| A．Practice role plays. |
| B．Meet a published author. |
| C．Criticize each other’s work. |
| D．Play creativity games. |
The average person learns most of the 30 000～40 000 words whose meanings he or she recognizes by hearing them or getting familiar with them in the context or simply absorbing them without conscious effort. The best way to build a good vocabulary, therefore, is to read a great deal and to participate in a lot of good talks. There are relatively few words that we learn permanently by purposefully referring to dictionaries or keeping word lists. However, even those extra few are of value, and no one will make a mistake by working on developing a larger vocabulary. Here are some suggestions of how to do it.
Read plenty of good books. When you come across a new word, or a new meaning of an old word, stop and see if you can understand it from its context. If you can't, and if you can manage without interrupting the thought of the book too much, look it up in a dictionary or ask somebody and then repeat its meaning to yourself a couple of times. If you are really conscientious(认真的), write the word and its meaning in a personal vocabulary list － preferably using it in a sentence, or you can keep a special vocabulary notebook. Go over the list from time to time. Further, try to use a new word in writing or conversation a few times over the next several days.
Listen to good talks and be alert to new words you hear or to new meanings of words you already know. Then treat them just as you treat the new words you read.
Learn and be alert to the parts of words: prefixes, suffixes and roots. Knowing them enables you to make intelligent guesses about the meanings of words.
If you are studying a foreign language, be alert to words in that language which relate to words in English. English has inherited(继承) or borrowed much of its vocabulary of 500 000～600 000 words from Latin, Greek, French, Spanish and German.When you meet a new word in reading, what should you do?
| A．Guess its meaning. | B．Ask somebody. |
| C．Look it up in a dictionary. | D．All of the above. |
According to this passage, the best way to build a good vocabulary is ______.
| A．to remember a lot | B．to read a great deal |
| C．to take part in a lot of good talks | D．both B and C |
The phrase “be alert to” in the third paragraph may best be replaced by “______”.
| A．look at | B．pay attention to | C．write down | D．learn by heart |
In the fourth paragraph, the word “them” refers to ______
| A．the parts of words | B．prefixes | C．suffixes | D．Roots |
Thousands of people in the world are a hundred years old － or more and certain parts of the world are famous for the long lives of their inhabitants: the Vilacamba Valley in Ecuador, and the home of the Hunzas in the Himalayas.
Why do so many people live to a healthy old age in certain parts of the world? What is the secret of their long lives? Three things seem to be very important: fresh air, fresh food and a simple way of life. People work near their homes in the clean mountain air instead of traveling long distances to work by bus, car or train. They do not sit all day in busy offices or factories, but work hard outdoors in the fields. They take more exercise and eat less food than people in the cities of the West. For years the Hunzas of the Himalayas did not need policemen, lawyers or doctors. There was no crime, no divorce and not much illness in their society. They were a happy, peaceful people, famous all over India for their long, healthy lives.
Do you want to live to a hundred years old? Here are some rules for success. First, live in the right place. Second, choose the right kind of job. Doctors, dentists and bus－drivers die young. Farmers, priests and orchestral conductors live much longer. If you are in the wrong kind of job, you can still improve your way of life.
An old man in the Caucasus was talking about his past life. “I was young then，” he said, as he described his 87th year. His secret was: “Think young and stay young.” An old woman from Missouri, the USA, gave this advice, “Drink a little whisky and some warm beer every day.” An English lady just said, “Take a cold bath every morning.” The shortest, simplest piece of advice came from Mr Jim Chapman, aged 103. “Just keep breathing，” he told reporters.Who is most likely to live a long life?
| A．A doctor. | B．A bus－driver. | C．A dentist. | D．An orchestral conductor. |
We can see from the passage that long－lived people avoid ______.
| A．working hard | B．drinking | C．eating too much | D．taking cold baths |
The passage indicates that we can change our ______ to live a long life.
| A．jobs | B．places of living | C．ways of living | D．ways of thinking |
What is mainly talked about in the last paragraph?
| A．Whose advice is the best. |
| B．Who is the most long－lived person in the world. |
| C．Lifestyles of long－lived people. |
| D．How long－lived people think of their life. |
In our life, we have rarely expressed our gratitude to the one who lived those years with us. In fact, we don't have to wait for anniversaries to thank the ones closest to us and the ones so easily overlooked. If I have learned anything about giving thanks, it is this: give it now! While your feeling of appreciation is alive and sincere, act on it. Saying thanks is such an easy way to add to the world's happiness.
Saying thanks not only brightens someone else's world, it brightens yours. If you're feeling left out, unloved or unappreciated, try reaching out to others. It may be just the medicine you need. Of course, there are times when you can't express gratitude immediately. In that case, don't let embarrassment sink you into silence and speak up the first time you have the chance.
Once a young minister, Mark Brian, was sent to a remote parish(教区)of Kwakiutl Indians in British Columbia. The Indians, he had been told, did not have a word for thank you. But Brian soon found that these people had unusual generosity. Instead of saying thanks, it is their custom to return every favor with a favor of their own, and every kindness with an equal or superior kindness. They do their thanks. I wonder if we had no words in our vocabulary for thank you, would we do a better job of communicating our gratitude? Would we be more responsive, more sensitive, more caring?
Thankfulness sets in motion a chain reaction that transforms people all around us－including ourselves. For no one ever misunderstands the melody(旋律)of a grateful heart. Its message is universal; its poems transcend(超越)all earthly barriers; its music touches the heaven.Who do we easily forget to express our thanks to according to the writer?
| A．Friends not meeting for a long time. | B．Former teachers and friends. |
| C．People we want to get close to. | D．Our family members and good friends. |
When we say something for what others do for us, it ______.
| A．benefits the people who do something for us |
| B．is good for both us and people who help us |
| C．wastes our and our friends' time at the same time |
| D．does harm to both us and people who help us |
What does the writer mean in the third paragraph?
| A．The only way to thank others is to express by your own words. |
| B．The best way to thank others is to do something for them. |
| C．We can thank people who help us in various ways. |
| D．We can thank people who help us in two ways. |
The way to make us feel happy is ______ when we think we ourselves are forgotten in the world.
| A．to help and appreciate others | B．to ask others to help us |
| C．to remind others of our helping them | D．to ask someone to help others |
Welcome to your future life!
You get up in the morning and look into the mirror.Your face is firm and younglooking.In 2035，medical technology is better than ever.Many people your age could live to be 150，so at 40，you're not old at all.And your parents just had an antiaging（抗衰老的） treatment.Now，all three of you look the same age!
You say to your shirt，“Turn red.” It changes from blue to red.In 2035，“smart clothes” contain particles（粒子） much smaller than the cells in your body.The particles can be programmed to change your clothes' color or pattern.
You walk into the kitchen.You pick up the milk，but a voice says，“You shouldn't drink that” Your fridge has read the chip （芯片） that contains information about the milk，and it knows the milk is old.In 2035，every article of food in the grocery store has such a chip.
It's time to go to work.In 2035，cars drive themselves.Just tell your “smart car” where to go.On the way，you can call a friend using your jacket sleeve.Such “smart technology” is all around you.
So will all these things come true？“For new technology to succeed，” says scientist Andrew Zolli，“it has to be so much better that it replaces what we have already.” The Internet is one example—what will be the next?We can learn from the text that in the future______
| A．people will never get old |
| B．everyone will look the same |
| C．red will be the most popular color |
| D．clothes will be able to change their pattern |
What can be inferred from Paragraph 4?
| A．Milk will be harmful to health. |
| B．More drinks will be available for sale. |
| C．Food in the grocery store will carry electronic information. |
| D．Milk in the grocery store will stay fresh much longer. |
Which of the following is mentioned in the text?
| A．Nothing can replace the Internet. |
| B．Fridges will know what people need. |
| C．Jacket sleeves can be used as a guide. |
| D．Cars will be able to drive automatically. |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．Food and clothing in 2035. |
| B．Future technology in everyday life. |
| C．Medical treatments of the future. |
| D．The reason for the success of new technology. |
What happens inside the skull of a soccer player who repeatedly heads a soccer ball? That question motivate a challenging new study of the brains of experienced players that has caused discussion and debate among soccer players, and some anxiety among those of us with soccer-playing children.
For the study, researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York selected 34 adults，men and women. All of the volunteers had played soccer since childhood and now competed year-round in adult soccer leagues. Each filled out a detailed questionnaire developed especially for this study to determine how many times they had headed a soccer ball in the previous year, as well as whether they had experienced any known concussions（脑震荡）in the past.
Then the players completed computerized tests of their memory and other learning skills and had their brains scanned, using a complicated new MRI technique which can find structural changes in the brain that can’t be seen during most scans.
According to the data they presented at a Radiological Society of North America meeting last month，the researchers found that the players who had headed the ball more than about 1,100 times in the previous 12 months showed significant loss of white matter in parts of their brains involved with memory，attention and the processing of visual information, compared with players who had headed the ball fewer times.
This pattern of white matter loss is “similar to those seen in traumatic（外伤的）brain injury” , like that after a serious concussion, the researchers reported，even though only one of these players was reported to have ever experienced a conc ussion.
The players who had headed the ball about 1,100 times or more in the past year were also generally worse at recalling lists of words read to them, forgetting or fumbling the words far more often than players who had headed the ball less.The passage is most probably a _________________.
| A．news report | B．research report |
| C．story for soccer players | D．text for doctors |
From the passage we can conclude that frequent heading may have _________________.
| A．significant effect on one’s brain |
| B．little effect on one’s brain |
| C．nothing to do with the brain injury |
| D．one’s memory improved |
What is likely to be the cause of memory loss?
| A．Playing soccer frequently. | B．Tests of their memory. |
| C．White matter loss. | D．Information processing. |
The underlined word "fumbling" is closest in meaning to ________________.
| A．remembering | B．misunderstanding | C．recalling | D．missing |
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