She Says/He Says(U1B1) reading she says: Boys are so different from girls! They never show their emotions
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I. Reading for the Main Idea―Skimming Choose the best answer to the statement.
II. Reading Strategy―Interface Sometimes, we can infer (推論) or figure out information that is not directly expressed in an article. To infer information, we need to read and think carefully and use what we have read as clues. Example:
“The jobs in these programs usually last for a few months at a time and involve unskilled, entry-level work, or physical labor.” → We can infer that traveler-workers cannot get a professional job that requires a high level of education or a special skill or training, such as working as a doctor or a teacher. Exercise:
( ) 1. “A working holiday is not just fun and games.” (A) A working holiday is full of not only fun but also games. (B) A working holiday may also involve some challenges besides enjoyable activities. (C) A working holiday simply means boring or backbreaking work. ( ) 2. “If living on a farm and getting up at dawn is your thing, this might be right up your alley.” (A) If living on a farm and getting up at dawn is what you enjoy, this will suit you well. (B) If you would like to live on a farm and get up at sunrise, you may choose a farm near your house. (C) If you want to buy a farm and live on it, you need to be able to adapt to this kind of lifestyle well. ( ) 3. “Working holidays themselves are not new, but the popularity of the idea has exploded in recent years.” (A) The idea of working holidays is something new. (B) Working holidays have already been very popular for a long time. (C) Working holidays have become much more popular these past few years than they were before. ( ) 4. “Even though a person can get all this help having everything sorted out, how well the person adapts to life in a new country is up to him or her.” (A) If a person can have everything sorted out, he or she will be able to adapt to life in a new country well. (B) If a person wants to adapt to life in a different country well, he or she has to ask for others’ help. (C) Though everything can be arranged by someone else, a person still needs to adapt to this whole new life on his or her own. ( ) 5. “This hard work can pay off, and the rewards are usually nothing to sneeze at.” (A) The only thing you can get from this hard work is an illness. (B) The rewards are usually good enough to be well worth the hard work. (C) You will get paid to do this hard work, but the rewards are very poor.
Imagine if you had to hit your head against the wall dozens of times just to get a meal. Your head would probably be sore, right? That is exactly what a woodpecker does every day. No matter how many times it pecks at a tree, it never seems to suffer from any ill effects such as headaches. This is because woodpeckers’ thick skulls protect them from the impact of these blows. For explaining this, Ivan Roy Schwab won the 2006 Ig Nobel Prize for Ornithology. The Ig Nobel Prizes are organized by the Annals of Improbable Research, an American magazine that celebrates the curious side of science. Each year, ten winners are awarded prizes in different categories in honor of “research that makes people laugh and then think.” Winners of Ig Nobel Prizes receive no money, but many of them are willing to attend the ceremony at their own expense because the awards are often presented by genuine Nobel laureates. Another great example of strange but amusing research is Brian Wansink’s experiment. In 2007, he took home the Nutrition Prize for looking into the visual influence on appetite. In his experiment, he used special bowls that secretly refilled themselves with soup while people were eating. Unaware of what was going on, people kept eating from these “bottomless bowls.” The results showed that those participating in the experiment ate 73 percent more soup than normal. Based on these results, Wansink stated that people eat more with their eyes than their stomachs. That Ig Nobel research is fascinating should by now be clear, but in fact it is more practical than entertaining. Take Catherine Bertenshaw and Peter Rowlinson’s research for example. All over the world dairy farmers raise cows for milk. How could they increase the milk yield of these cows? It is simple. The researchers proved that all these farmers have to do is name the cows. Cows with names apparently produce more milk than those without names. The conclusion was that having a friendlier relationship with humans helped the cows become more productive. Another example of Ig Nobel research could potentially save our lives one day. Terrorism is always in the news these days. In 1995, for instance, there was a poison gas attack in the Tokyo subway. How could we possibly prepare for an event like this? We would look silly if we carry gas masks around all the time. Elena Bodnar, the winner of the 2009 Ig Nobel Prize for Public Health, has the answer: the Emergency Bra. This bra is not just a bra because each cup of the bra works as a gas mask on its own. Therefore, a woman wearing it will be able to not only survive a terrorist attack but also save someone beside her. As the above examples indicate, scientific research can be both funny and practical. So, if you have an improbable idea, just write it down! It might help you win a prize some day.
II. Reading for Details―Scanning Scan the reading and choose the best answer to each of the following questions or statements. ( ) 1. Which of the following about the Ig Nobel Prizes is true? (A) Twenty winners are awarded each year. (B) They are organized by the Annals of Improbable Research. (C) Winners receive a large amount of money. (D) Winners rarely attend the ceremony because they think it is embarrassing. ( ) 2. Brian Wansink used "bottomless bowls" to prove that _____. (A) people eat more with their eyes than their stomachs (B) people eat more with their stomachs than their eyes (C) people eat more when their eyes are covered (D) people stop eating when their stomachs are 73 percent full ( ) 3. According to Bertenshaw and Rowlinson, dairy farmers should _____ if they want to increase the milk yield of the cows. (A) not have a friendly relationship with their cows (B) not talk to their cows at all (C) give their cows more foods (D) give their cows names ( ) 4. In which category did Elena Bodnar’s invention win the Ig Nobel Prize in 2009? (A) Public health (B) Nutrition(C) Ornithology(D) Peace ( ) 5. According to the reading, if you wear the Emergency Bra, you _____ when there is a poison gas attack. (A) will die quickly (B) may look silly (C) can save yourself (D) may kill someone besides you
When I was little, I often asked my parents to buy me things like candy or toys. My parents weren’t wealthy, but they were generous. They would try their best to fulfill my desire for things, and I believed that they could afford anything that I wanted. However, as I grew up, they started to turn down my requests. Most of the time, their reason was “You don’t need it.” I really hated hearing this! Of course I needed it! Or at least I thought I did. “You should distinguish between what you need and what you want” was my parents’ response whenever I argued with them. “Some day, you’ll understand the difference between needing and wanting,” my dad would say, with a little shake of his head. I always wished that he had just given me the money, and I would leave with disappointment, getting annoyed with him.
I had never filled out a job application before, and I worried that they wouldn’t give me a job because I had no previous work experience. Still, I sent in my application. I almost couldn’t believe it when they called me a couple of days later for an interview. I was even more shocked when I got the job! Before I knew it, I was an employee with a uniform, a name tag, and a million things to remember to do every shift. I was always on the go, stocking shelves with products, mopping the floor, and making change for customers when I stood behind the cash register. I also learned to make coffee and helped customers pay their bills. It was a super busy store, and it was not easy for me to handle all the responsibilities there efficiently. As a result, I would often burn myself out trying to get everything done. Yet, when I thought about the money that I would make, I would start to feel happy. I even made a shopping list of my own! However, when I received my wages, I didn’t spend it immediately. I should have spent my money on the things on my shopping list, but I hesitated. Then, I took a second look at the list. Consequently, I decided that I should buy the things I really needed rather than just throw my money around. By starting to handle my own money, I ended up realizing that there is a big difference between necessities and luxuries. Since it is my own money that I’m spending now, I always ask myself, “Do I really need it?” before making a purchase. I think now I finally understand what my parents were trying to tell me.
II. Reading for Details―Scanning Scan the reading and choose the best answer to each of the following questions or statements. ( ) 1. In the reading, the narrator (敘述者) _____. (A) got everything he wanted when he was little (B) got everything he wanted after he grew up (C) was born into a very wealthy family (D) has never argued with his parents about what to buy ( ) 2. The narrator’s attitude changed when he _____. (A) spent all his money buying luxuries (B) was turned down by his parents (C) turned twenty (D) started to earn money ( ) 3. What happened to the narrator when he got his first summer job? (A) He handled all the responsibilities easily (B) He gave up the job immediately (C) He was very busy and burned himself out (D) He had only a few things that he needed to do ( ) 4. The narrator’s parents did NOT ask him to _____. (A) understand the difference between needing and wanting (B) give them the money that he had earned (C) earn some money of his own (D) get a summer job ( ) 5. Which of the following is true? (A) The narrator’s parents helped him to make a shopping list. (B) The narrator’s parents thought that they were too hard on him. (C) The narrator now asks himself, “Do I really need it?” before making a purchase. (D) The narrator has no idea what his parents were trying to tell him.
Sparky always took enormous pleasure in drawing. His kindergarten teacher once told him that he would be an artist some day, but Sparky soon discovered that success was not easy to achieve. In high school, he was a poorly-performing student, flunking Latin, English, algebra, and physics. A drawing of his dog, Spike, was published when he was 15, but his high school yearbook decided not to print the sketches he had submitted. As time went by, Sparky always seemed to remember his disappointments rather than his accomplishments. After he graduated from high school, Sparky could not help but continue to draw. However, before Sparky could begin his career as an artist, he was drafted into the army. Still, he kept on working toward his dream, drawing sketches of his daily life in the army. When Sparky left the army, he drew comics for various publications, but it seemed as if he was doomed to be a struggling artist. He even taught at an art school, where he met a red-headed woman and fell in love with her. He proposed to her, but she turned him down and married someone else. It appeared that Sparky was destined to be unlucky in love as well. In 1948, Sparky tried to have his comic strip Li’l Folks published, but the deal didn’t work out. He tried again a couple of years later by submitting some samples to other publishers in the hope that they would publish this comic strip throughout the United States. Most of the characters in his comic strips were children, and all of them seemed to lose, no matter how hard they tried. Although the publishers liked Sparky’s drawings, they didn’t like the name of the comic strip and renamed it Peanuts. Sparky was so desperate that he had no choice but to accept the changed name, especially after he had experienced so many disappointing failures. On October 2, 1950, the first Peanuts comic strip was released. Sparky named the main character after an old friend, Charlie Brown. In the comic strips, Charlie Brown never won anything. His baseball team always lost, he could never kick a football, and he never found the courage to talk to the red-headed girl he liked. Charlie Brown’s friends were often not very nice to him, either. However, Sparky let Charlie Brown have a daydreaming dog, Snoopy. He modeled Snoopy after his old dog, Spike, which, according to Sparky, was the smartest and most uncontrollable dog that he had ever seen. Something about these lovable losers appealed to people, and Peanuts soon became a massive hit around the world. Sparky, better known as Charles M. Schulz, believed that it was impossible to create humor out of happiness. Therefore, his characters were always in misery, but they never gave up. Charlie Brown, who failed in everything, kept on working hard no matter how badly things would turn out. Fans admired his perseverance and always believed that he would somehow kick the football the next time, even though he never did. By reading Peanuts, people can find hope and learn that being a loser at one time in life does not necessarily mean that they will never succeed.
II. Reading for Details―Scanning Scan the reading and choose the best answer to each of the following questions or statements. ( ) 1. Sparky _____ when he was a student in high school.
( ) 2. According to the reading, which of the following about Charlie Brown is true? (A) He could never kick a football (B) He never won anything (C) He never talked to the girl he liked (D) All of the above. ( ) 3. Which of the following is Sparky’s real name?
( ) 4. Fans of the Peanuts comic strip admired Charlie Brown for his _____.
( ) 5. According to the reading, which of the following is NOT true? (A) Sparky showed some ability in drawing early in his life. (B) Creating humor out of happiness was easy for Sparky. (C) The main character in Peanuts was named after Sparky’s old friend. (D) Spike was the smartest and most uncontrollable dog that Sparky had ever seen.
A statement of purpose (SOP) is a short essay about yourself that explains why you want to study a subject at a college or university. Since an SOP is required in applications to many colleges and universities, it’s better to prepare one early on. A good SOP should clearly point out the goals you have for your chosen program. It should also include how the program is connected to your interests and why the program will be useful in your future career. To persuade the people who read it, your SOP should give specific facts about yourself instead of general statements. What’s more, you can make your SOP even stronger by adding extra details to show your personality and what you are capable of. A good example would be the following: “I enjoy Web design, and I have won an award for designing a graphic presentation for my school’s computer course. I want to enhance these skills in order to work in the computer industry one day.” What this statement emphasizes is both your motivation and achievements. Also, it demonstrates that you would be a good member of any academic department because you have done things for your school─this idea is implied in specific facts rather than in a general statement like, “I am a team player.” Remember, your SOP is the first communication between you and your future place of study. You need to be honest and be prepared to talk more about what you have mentioned in your SOP during the interview. You should also have the teachers who wrote your references read your SOP and give you their advice. Here is a model SOP: My name is Pei-lin Wang. I am a senior at Sanmin Vocational High School in Taipei. I wish to study for a bachelor's degree in Business Administration at your university. I believe your program will allow me to develop my skills and help me prepare for both further study and my future career. I have a wide range of interests, but I am particularly interested in languages, computer science, and management. In a contest for entrepreneurs, I won first place for my project about starting a business. My project had to do with helping my school set up a recycling program that not only was environmentally friendly, but also raised money for the school's sports teams. Moreover, I came in third in my school's English speech contest last year, and I also helped run my school's English drama club. I am considering working in marketing in the future and hope to use my skills in this field. The Business Administration course offered by your university will enable me to develop the administration skills and business knowledge needed to achieve
Unit 7 (Book5) The Golden Windows READING Living in poverty, the boy and his family had to work diligently on the farm every day. The one hour before sunset was the only leisure time for the boy. At that time, he would climb to the top of a hill and look across at another hill several miles away. There was a house standing on that distant hill, and it had the windows blazing like gold and diamonds. The windows shone so brightly that they made the boy blink when he looked at them. After a while, the owners of the house would close the shutters, and the boy knew it was time to go home for supper. One day, the boy’s father told him, “You’ve earned a holiday. Take this day for yourself and try to learn something good.” The boy was delighted. He gratefully thanked his father and then started off for the house with the golden windows. Walking for a long time, the boy came to a big hill. At the top was the house he had been searching for, but it didn’t have the golden windows. To his great sorrow, the windows were just clear glass, like any normal ones. A woman came to the door and asked the boy if he needed any help. “I saw your house’s golden windows from our hilltop,” the boy replied in frustration, “but now I see that they’re only plain glass.” The woman shook her head gently and said, “We are just poor farming people. We don’t have gold in our windows.” Then, the woman went in to get the boy something to eat. Offered a glass of milk and a piece of cake, the boy sat down to take a rest. The woman called her daughter, who was the same age as the boy. The girl came in bare feet, wearing a plain cotton dress. She showed the boy her family’s farm and her black calf with a white star on its forehead. Soon, they became friends, and the boy asked her about the golden windows. The girl said that she knew all about them, but that he was mistaken about the house. “You have come the wrong way!” she said. “Come with me and see for yourself the house with the golden windows.” They went to a hill behind the farmhouse, and the girl told him that the golden windows were only visible before the sun went down. “Yes, I know!” said the boy. On the hilltop, the girl turned and pointed; there on a faraway hill stood a house with bright and shining windows. The boy soon realized it was his own home. However, he said nothing to the girl and only told her that he had to go. The girl stood in the sunset, gazing and waving at him as he walked down the hill. The sun had sunk below the horizon by the time the boy returned home, but the lamplight shone through the windows, almost as bright as the golden windows he had seen. When he opened the door, his mother walked over to embrace him. His father, who sat by the fire, looked up and smiled. “Did you have a good day?” asked his father. “Yes,” said the boy, “a very good day.” “Did you learn anything?” asked his father. “Yes!” said the boy, “I learned that our house, too, has the windows of gold and diamonds.” Directory: uploads uploads -> 587 Return function, r i(X) r i(0) r i(1) r i(2) r i(3) 1 0 2 4 6 Thermal Station, I 2 0 1 5 6 3 0 3 5 6 10 uploads -> Department of science and humanities department of mathematics part-a questions and answers uploads -> The Case Against the nypd’s Quota-Driven ‘Broken Windows’ Policing What Is It? uploads -> For want of a nail uploads -> Ownership Models There are two different types of ownership models uploads -> Police Militarization uploads -> City of rising star regular meting thursday, july 14, 2016 uploads -> Township of winfield uploads -> Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act of 2014 uploads -> The Black Panther Party’s Ten-Point Program What We Want Now! Download 2.48 Mb. Share with your friends:
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