第二十七天
一．美文晨读
“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” ——Henry David Thoreau Everything about my future was ambiguously assumed. I would get into debt by going to college, then I would be forced to get a job to pay off that debt, while still getting into more and more debt by buying a house and a car. It seemed like a never-ending cycle that had no place for the possibility of a dream.
I want more—but not necessarily in the material sense of personal wealth and success. I want more out of life. I want a passion, a conceptual dream that wouldn't let me sleep out of pure excitement. I want to spring out of bed in the morning, rain or shine, and have that zest for life that seemed so intrinsic in early childhood.
We all have a dream. It might be explicitly defined or just a vague idea, but most of us are so stuck in the muck of insecurity and self-doubt that we just dismiss it as unrealistic or too difficult to pursue.
We become so comfortable with the life that has been planned out for us by our parents, teachers, traditions, and societal norms that we feel that it's stupid and unsafe to risk losing it for the small hope of achieving something that is more fulfilling.
“The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.” ~Jawaharlal Nehru
Taking a risk is still a risk. We can, and will, fail. Possibly many, many, many times. But that is what makes it exciting for me. That uncertainty can be viewed negatively, or it can empower us。 Failing is what makes us grow, it makes us stronger and more resilient to the aspects of life we have no control over. The fear of failure, although, is what makes us stagnant and sad. So even though I couldn't see the future as clearly as before, I took the plunge in hopes that in the depths of fear and failure, I would come out feeling more alive than ever before.
If you feel lost, just take a deep breath and realize that being lost can be turning point of finding out who you truly are, and what you truly want to do.
二．词汇训练(短语)
1．We were short of water but we could ________ for another day. 2．We had to think of a way to ________ the spread of the infection.
3．I informed the police of a theft that took place ，and they have promised to ________ the matter.
4．The king decided to retire and ________ the power to his son. 5．Let’s start to ________ the good apples from the bad ones.
6．I ________ those who keep complaining about their life without thinking of any ways to improve it.
7．The scientist has ________ a plan to measure Mars’atmosphere.
8．In my first job interview, I waited for more than two hours before I was finally ________. 9．The authorities showed no signs of ________ to the kidnapper’s demands.
10．I frequently quarreled with my father,although most of those ________ due to misunderstanding.
三．短文改错
There are many different signs in the public. They tell you what to do or what not to do in a place. Do you know what they exact mean? For example, if you go to see a film, you should enter the cinema at the ENTRANCE and leave for the EXIT. You will either find NO SMOKING signs in many cinemas. If you visit a museum, don’t take some photos inside the halls. You are not allowed. You will find NO PHOTOS signs in many museum. When you drive a car, don’t park in a street without a NO PARKING sign. Making sure you understood the signs and you won’t get into any trouble.
四．阅读理解
A
Louis Braille was a blind man and he invented the code for the blind. His code gave windows to the blind. In the year 1812, Louis Braille was a very small boy. He lived in a small town. His father had a small shop. One day, Louis was playing in the shop and picked up a small tool with a very sharp point. Louis fell down and the point of the tool hurt his eyes, and later he became blind in both eyes.
At ten, Louis went to the school for the blind in Paris. One day, on a visit home, he said to his father, “Blind people are very lonely in the world. Only books can free the blind. But there are no books for us to read.”
Since then Louis wanted to make books for the blind. Instead of letters, he wanted to use shapes that were easy to tell apart by touch. Louis tried and tried, but he couldn’t come up with a code that would work.
Later, while teaching at a school for the blind in Paris, Louis heard of a kind of “night writing”, which was a code that a French army captain had made up for sending messages on the battle field. The message was “written” in raised dots and dashes. It was “read” by touch. Louis had
been trying to find a code that blind people could read, but he failed again and again. Now he thought the idea of “night writing” might be the answer. He never rested from the time when meaning of “night writing” hit him until five years later. He worked and worked and finally came up with a simple system in which he made six holes in different positions within a small space on a piece of paper. With these six holes, he could make sixty-three different combinations. Each combination meant a letter or a short word. In addition to the letters, he could have punctuation marks and even short words like “the” and “for”. Soon Louis wrote a book using the Braille system.
Louis died in 1852, when he was only 43. But his name lives on. It lives on as the name of the code that he invented and the code is still used by the blind. 1. When were Louis Braille’s eyes hurt? A. When he was only ten years old.
B. When he was only nine years old.
C. When he was only four years old.
D. When he was only three years old.
2. How long did it take Louis Braille to invent the Braille system of reading for the blind? A. Five years
B. More than five years
C. Less than five years
D. Not mentioned
3. Braille was excited by the captain’s “night writing” because _____. A. people could read this kind of writing at night B. it used dots and dashes instead of letters
C. it could be used to send messages on the battle fields D. it could be recognized by touch
4. Braille system uses sixty-three combinations to show ______. A. short words and C
5. Which is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Braille is the name of the man and the code that gives windows to the blind. B. Braille system can be read by everyone.
C. Braille used from one to six dots for each letter of the alphabet. D. There are books, magazines printed in the Braille now.
B
I fell in love with England because it was quaint (古雅)—all those little houses, looking terribly old-fashioned but nice, like dolls’ houses. I loved the countryside and the pubs, and I loved London. I’ve slightly changed my mind after seventeen years because I think it’s an ugly town now.
Things have changed. For everybody, England meant gentlemen, fair play, and good manners. The fair play is going, unfortunately, and so are the gentlemanly attitudes and good
B. letters
C. punctuation marks
D. A, B,
manners—people shut doors heavily in your face and politeness is disappearing.
I regret that there are so few comfortable meeting places. You’re forced to live indoors. In Paris I go out much more, to restaurants and nightclubs. To meet friends here it usually has to be in a pub, and it can be difficult to go there alone as a woman. The cafes are not terribly nice. As a woman, I feel unsafe here. I spend a bomb on taxis because I will not take public transport after 10 p. m. I used to use it, but now I’m afraid.
The idea of family seems to be more or less non-existent in England. My family is well united and that’s typically French. In Middlesex I had a neighbor who is 82 now. His family only lived two miles away, but I took him to France for Christmas once because he was always alone. 6. The writer doesn’t like London because she ______. A. is not used to the life there now B. has lived there for seventeen years C. prefers to live in an old-fashioned house D. has to be polite to everyone she meets there 7. Where do people usually meet their friends in England? A. In a cafe.
B. In a restaurant.
C. In a nightclub. D. In a pub.
8. The underlined part “it” (in Para. 4) refers to______. A. a taxi
B. the money C. a bomb
D.public transport
9. The writer took her neighbour to France for Christmas because he ______. A. felt lonely in England
C
You may be interested in the present situation of Black Americans today. It is true that their conditions have changed for the better since the mid - 1970's. Many Blacks are attending colleges and three -fourths Black college students are now studying in the formally all -white institutions. Better education offers better openings for Blacks. With better employment, the percentage of Blacks doing skilled labor rose after the 1970's by about 76 %. Many Blacks entered the middle class and moved out of the slums. Many have been elected to governmental positions.
Whatever they might be, however, they must share with other Blacks the bond of being Black. Frustrated by white xenophobia (恐惧人) or superiority, all Blacks suffer from various forms of racism(种族歧视). Nobody can ignore the fact that over a third of all Black Americans are still living below poverty level. Statistics tell us that half of all Black children grow up in poverty and almost 2 million Blacks are jobless, that is, over 12 % of the Black work force is unemployed. The rate is 2. 5 times than for Whites. In comparison with Whites, Black families earn so much less than is needed for a decent(像样的) but modest living standard. Usually a Black family’s income is only 55% that of a white one. While seeing the rise of a few Blacks, we
B. had never been to France
D. didn't like the British idea of family
C. was from a typical French family
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