Roller Coaster Ride

I had never been on a real roller coaster. Fear of speed, fear of heights: They just weren't for me. The closest I had ever got was a kiddie-coaster when I was six. It was probably six feet tall, but I had it stopped even before we got up to the first slope.

So today I just waited for my friends while they took the 53 mph roller-coaster-riding. As they stepped off the ride,

they all tried to persuade (说服 ) me to follow them onto the next one. roller coaster

"Come on, Lisi!" Jennifer said, "You're so boring! Just come with us!"

"It's not that scary," added Jackie, "I'll sit next to you."

"Look: This is the slowest ride in the park!" Christina pointed out.

Finally, I gave in and agreed to get on the roller coaster, although I still wasn't sure. Of course everyone had come out alive so far, but you never know what will happen.

As we stood in line, I got more scared. "It looks really big from down here," I worried out loud.Finally, we reached the front of the line. I sat in a seat with Jackie and said that I would not let go of her hand until we were safely off the ride.

As soon as we started moving, I began to scream and held Jackie's hand tightly. We started to climb the slope toward the highest point of the ride.

WHOOOOSH!

It felt as if something had broken. We started falling fast. The wind blew hard and it seemed like my face would blow off. I screamed so loud that I couldn't hear myself anymore. Oh my gosh, we weren't going to stop! I knew it. This had been a terrible idea. I closed my eyes, never stopping my scream.

CLUNK!

The ride came suddenly to a stop. I opened my eyes. We were back where we started! I hadn't died! I stepped off the ride, tired and dizzy. My friends looked at me, searching for my reaction.

"Can we do that again?" I said in a low voice.

1.What happened when Lisi was on a kiddie-coaster at six?

A. She fell off the ride. B. She refused to step off.

C. She had it stopped. D. She screamed with joy

2.Lisi finally decided to ride the roller coaster because

A. her friends persuaded her B. she loved trying new things

C. her friends enjoyed the ride D. she disliked waiting for friends

3.What did the writer think of the roller coaster ride in the end?

A. It was boring and tiring. B. It was challenging but fun.

C. It was scary and dangerous. D. It was safe but disappointing.

Everyone has traits ( 4+性 ) that make us who we are. We have physical. traits, like red hair, long legs and funny-looking toes. We also have character traits including humor, warmth, creativity and so on.

Certain physical traits are fully inherited (遗传 ), such as blue eyes and knobby knees. About 25,000 t0 35,000 genes (基因 ) are in a single cell in the human body. These genes carry the traits that are passed down genetically from parents to their children.

Many traits exist between inheritance and development - the interaction with environment.One example is body shape. It tends to be passed down from parents. But once diet becomes a factor, environment begins to play an important role in how the body develops. Body shape is a trait that is a mixture ofinheritance from parents and influence of environment.

So lots of our most important traits have been learned, rather than inherited. For example, if you're really great at video games, it's not because your parents passed down the skills in genes. It's because you have practiced a lot of video games and developed those skills yourself. If you have kids who turn out to be great at video games, it is because they put in the hours, learned the skills, and memorized

the moves that are necessary to play the video games well.

Of course, some of us have brains that are more advantageous to video game playing. Say you were born with a large and powerful part of the brain that controls your hand-eye coordination (协调能力 ).That's inherited. What you do with it, how you choose to develop that advantage, is up to you.

You can pierce your nose or get a tattoo - it doesn't matter how much you change your body during the lifetime. None of those things will turn into genetic material to be passed down to the next generation. However, if your children grow up in an enwronment with role models who are pierced and covered in tattoos, they are more likely to get piercings and tattoos!

1.is a physical trait that is fully inherited

A. The eye color B. The special diet

C. The body shape D. The pierced nose

2.According to the passage, the writer believes that

A. character traits can hardly change during the lifetime

B. the skills of video game playing are passed down to kids

C. a kid's hand-eye coordination isn't related to inheritance

D. environment plays an important role in traits development

3.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A. Why are Traits Important? B. How does Inheritance Influence Traits?

C. Where do Traits Come from? D. What are Physical and Character Traits?

Motivated (有内驱力的 ) or Overachieving?

Everyone has the occasional classmate who hands in his work ahead of time with really beautiful handwriting. Some teachers may cheerfully get the homework by saying "Of course you did it early.I'm sure you've done a good job!" Some teachers may feel annoyed because "The deadline is not until next Friday." Behind this student's back are tons of whispers from his classmates, "Ugh, he is such an

overachiever and it's so annoying ..."

If you ask the same student to explain his behavior, he probably says that he is simply "motivated". Such students refuse to call themselves overachievers but prefer "motivated" instead. They want to shy away from the unpleasant term

"overachiever" but choose to embrace the word "motivated" .

Why is the term "overachiever" used as an insult (侮辱 )? Do we not all work hard to achieve our goals? Why does the "motivated" student not proudly call himself an "overachiever" ?

In my personal experience, being called an overachiever in front of my classmates is not pleasant at all. The word is often connected with an unkind smile or sometimes a hint ofjealousy (嫉妒 )."Overachiever" carries the implied (暗指的 ) sense which "over" lends it - you have done too much and you have gone too far. Anyway, it is beyond the proper degree and just annoying to those students who refuse to put in the effort themselves and get unhappy with you for doing so.

A student would rather think of himself as an excellent student and it is motivation that drives him to do his best. What is the implied meaning of "motivated" ? Connected with positive words like willpower, spirit and determination, the "motivated" student would appear to be competing in an event of the brain Olympics.

Although there are differences in their implications, the student who calls himself "motivated" could actually be a secret overachiever, going over the top for all his work; while the "overachiever" is nothing more than a motivated student, driven by the simple desire to do well and willing to put in time and effort. In fact, the choice lies within the student: to overachieve or not to overachieve; to find the motivation to do well and be driven by it, or to sit back and blame others for overachieving to hide his inability to achieve.

1.According to the passage, overachievers

A. are popular with their classmates B. hand in homework ahead of time

C. are much loved by their teachers D. look down on others for being slow

2.The word "embrace" in Paragraph 2 probably means "_ ".

A. understand B. explain C. doubt D. accept

3.What can we learn from the passage?

A. Teachers expect students to benefit from their extra work.

B. Students compete with each other to become overachievers.

C. Classmates may laugh at overachievers to hide their inability to achieve.

D. The writer has some pleasant experiences of being called an overachiever.

4.The writer probably agrees tahat

A. students shouldn't be encouraged to be overachievers

B. students without motivation will become overachievers

C. motivated students make better progress than overachievers

D. motivated students have something in common with overachievers

（海淀一模）阅读短文,根据短文内容回答问题。

Cartoonist: Charles Schulz

Charles Schulz is a true hero. For nearly 50 years, Schulz's comic strip, the Peanuts collection has been the most well-known cartoon in the world. It has 355 million daily readers in 75 countries. On February 13th, 2000, Schulz died of cancer. But he will always be remembered by people old and young worldwide.

In Schulz's works, he always stayed positive. He tried to give readers a happy feeling. Kids like Peanuts because the characters live a simple life and go through the same troubles as they do. He did not pick out stressful topics of the day. Instead, he always brought readers into a joyful world by writing about a happy place with simple worries.

Schulz was also a good father of four children. It's said that he never failed to stop his work to play a pick-up baseball game or have lunch with his family. He was always very involved in his children's lives and supported their decisions. He taught them the importance of a person's inner worth. His family describes Schulz as a man with the fewest needs.

His youngest daughter, Jill, said, "He's a fighter, but he always has bad luck." When Schulz leamed his cancer was senous, he was forced to give up the job he loved - writing the Peanuts cartoons. Unluckily, Schulz died the night before the last strip of his comics came out in the Sunday papers. Some might say this was unlucky, but Jill said her father enjoyed spending his whole life writing to make people happy.

Charles Schulz put a little comedy into our often-stressful world. He will be remembered as the world's favorite cartoonist. "You're a good man, Charles Schulz!"

1.How many daily readers does the Peanuts collection have?

2.How did Schulz bring readers into a joyful world?

3.What did Schulz teach his children？

4.When was Schulz forced to give up the job he loved?

5.Why is Charles Schulz a true hero?

假如你是李华，在你的帮助下，交换生Tom在中文演讲比赛中获得了一等奖。请你给他写一封祝贺信，表达你的真诚祝贺，回忆他比赛时的表现，以及你从他身上学到了什么。

提示词语：wm，priZP,，speech competition，pronounce，practlce

提示问题：

Why do you congratulate Tom?

What made him successfulin the competition?

What can you leam from him?

自信赋予人力量，带给人快乐。拥有自信，人生处处是舞台，生活越来越精彩。

假如你是李华，请你为校刊英语园地“自信助我成长”专栏写一篇短文，谈谈自信的重要性，分享一次使你更加自信的经历，并说说我们如何更加自信。

提示词语：powerful，happy，believe in，keep doing

提示问题：

Why is it important to be confident?

What experience made you more confident?

How can we become more confident?

It's very important to be confident

—Jack, thank you for the flowers.

—It’s all right. I hope you like _______.

A. they B. them C. their D. themselves

—What’s the weather like in Australia _____________ July?

—It is winter there, so it’s a little cold.

A. in B. on C. at D. with

The North Star is one of _____________ stars in the night sky.

A. bright B. brighter C. brightest D. the brightest

I’d love to go to the theatre tonight, _________ I am too busy.

A. so B. or C. but D. and