My school makes students take one religion (宗教) class every year. But religion is really hard, especially with Mr Frank Smith for a teacher.

Mr Smith is 55 years old, with grey hair and a moustache (胡子). He always wears a blue school T-shirt, shorts and tennis shoes with long white socks. My friends say he looks like a cat.

In his class, we did yoga (瑜珈) and meditation (冥想) (actually most of the children in my class lay on the ground sleeping), tasted some strange tea, had classes outside in the garden, and watched videos and movies about Tibetan Buddhism (藏传佛教), God, and so on.

It was fun sometimes. However, the course (课程) was quite hard when it came to tests. The girls often worked until one or two o'clock in the morning on nights before the tests, but they still got bad scores.

When our test scores were bad, he would give us some makeup assignments (补考作业). Once I got a B, which I thought was bad, so I asked Mr Smith for an assignment to bring up my grades.

As a matter of fact, his assignments were often worse than the tests. The tests were just a lot of multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blanks, or short essays (文章). But his assignments usually included a speech in class.

I was not afraid of public speaking, yet it took me three days to collect the information, two days to write the speech, one day to make a PowerPoint and several hours to prepare. I knew my presentation (课堂展示) was good, because I saw Mr Smith's big smile when he listened to me. He gave me an A at last.

After finishing the course, I may not remember how hard it was or the meaning of some vocabulary. But through Mr Smith, I learned a lesson that will be with me my whole life. That is: no matter what we do, we need to put our hearts into it, and then our work will pay off.

1.The religion class is hard because Mr Smith _______.

A. uses strange ways to teach in his class.

B. never gives good scores, however hard you try.

C. gives difficult tests and make-up assignments.

D. likes students to make good presentations.

2. How could students get good scores in Mr. Smith’s class?

A. Work hard by studying late into the night.                  

B. Remember all of the vocabulary.

C. Pay attention and take notes in class.                              

D. Do well on the make-up assignment.

3.From the course, the writer learned that ____.

A. people should always be given a second chance

B. people should always put their hearts into their work

C. it is good to do yoga and meditation             

D. it is good to choose strict teacher

C
By far the most common difficulty in studying is simple failure to get down to regular concentrated work. This difficulty is much greater for those who do not work to a plan and have no regular routine of study. Many students muddle (胡乱对付) along, doing a bit of this subject or that, as the mood takes them, or letting their set work pile up until the last possible moment.
Few students work to a set timetable. They say that if they did work out a timetable for themselves they would not keep to it, or would have to change it frequently, since they can never predict from one day to the next what their activities will be.
No doubt some students are more willing to accept a regular routine than others. There are many who shy away from a self-controlled weekly timetable, and dislike being tied down to a fixed program of work. Many able students state that they work in cycles. When they become interested in a topic, they work on it attentively for three or four days at a time. On other days they avoid work completely. It has to be admitted that we do not fully understand the motivation (动机)to work.. Most people over 25 years of age have become used to routine, and the majority of real productive workers set aside regular hours for the more important areas of their work. The “tough-minded” school doesn’t fully accept the idea that good work can only be done naturally, under the influence of inspiration.
Those who believe that they need only work and study as the fit takes them have a mistaken belief either in their own talent or in the value of “freedom”. In fact, freedom from control and discipline（纪律）leads to unhappiness rather than to “self-expression” or “personality development”. Our society insists on regular habits, timekeeping and punctuality (准时), and whether we like it or not, if we mean to make our way in society, we have to meet its demands.
【小题1】The most widespread problem in applying oneself to study is ______.

A man has returned three library books to a Melbourne library—21 years overdue（误期）.The books were returned to Sam Merrifield Library with a (n)__ 21___note and a $50 bill.

    ___ 22___Margaret Young was pleased that the books had been returned. They were in excellent___23__ , except for the one that the borrower admitted had been damaged by a___24___.

“They’re all spy books. We were just surprised and___25 ___that he has returned the books, ___26 ___after so many years,” Mrs. Young said.

HOW would you like to step into the world of other people’s dreams? That’s just what Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) does. His work is to steal secrets from people when they are asleep and dreaming. He has an even rarer ability: He can plant an idea in someone’s sleeping mind, and watch it grow and take root in reality. This ability is called inception.

The movie Inception (《盗梦空间》) was on show in Chinese cinemas not long ago. It is imaginative, of course. The movie leads one to wonder just how much we know about dreams. For years, scientists and researchers have been trying to solve sleep’s greatest mystery.

Is it possible to enter someone’s dreaming mind? In the movie, DiCaprio uses a drug and a dream machine to put a scenario (某一特定情节) into someone’s sleeping mind. He then goes to sleep himself, connected to the machine, and enters the other person’s dream.

In real life, there is a machine that can read someone’s mind. A brain scanner takes pictures of brain activity, and then the software recreates images of what the person was looking at.

Researchers say it may be possible one day to record someone’s dream – without the danger (or the fun) of actually sharing that dream.

What’s a dream, anyway? A dream is a group of images and sounds our brain creates when we’re sleeping. In the 1950s, researchers discovered a sleeping condition that happened around every 90 to 120 minutes during sleep: rapid eye movement, or REM. During this period you’re fast asleep, yet your eyes move around quickly under your eyelids (眼皮) and your brain is nearly as active as during the day. That’s when most dreams happen.

What do dreams mean? Dreams are not always filled with meaning. Sometimes dreams are just your mind playing with thoughts and images from your life, or things you may have read or seen on TV. But at other times, dreams show things that you want to achieve in real life, or things that cause you trouble or stress.

The movie Inception is mentioned at the beginning of the article to ______.

       A. encourage readers to watch the movie

       B. tell readers about people with special dreaming abilities

       C. inform readers about the science of dreams

       D. warn reader about the threat of dream stealers

According to the article, how does a brain scanner work?

       A. It records dreams.

       B. It uses a special drug that causes no pain.

       C. It finds out what dreams mean.

       D. It takes pictures of brain activity and recreates images.

According to the article, which of the following statements about REM sleep is TRUE?

       A. Most dreams occur in REM sleep.

       B. Over the last ten years scientists have solved the mystery of REM sleep.

       C. People always remember what they have dreamed in a REM sleep.

       D. People can have REM sleep all night.

The article claims that ______.

       A. dreams tell us a lot about a person’s character

       B. dreams are connected to real life

       C. dreams are useful and help keep our brains active

       D. dreams are usually about meaningful things

For a long time I saw happiness as a huge banner (旗帜）across the finish line of a long race. I felt that only when I 36 _____ certain things could I finally be happy in my life. Most of the time I felt like a tortoise believing that being slow and 37 _____ would win the race. At other times I would 38 _____ like a rabbit trying different side roads at a dangerous 39 _____ hoping to reach that banner a little faster. 40 _____ , I began to see that no matter how long I raced towards it, the banner was never any 41 _____ I finally decided one day to 42 _____ and take a break. It was then that I saw my 43 _____ sitting beside me.
It had been with me as I 44 _____ hard to support my family, as I played with my children and heard their 45 _____ and even when I was 46 _____ with my wife at my side looking after me. It had been with me as I raced towards that stupid banner. I just didn’t have the 47 _____ to see it.
There is an old Chinese proverb that says, “Tension is what you think you should be. 48 _____ is who you are” Perhaps we all should stop our race towards the 49 _____ life we think we should have and 50 _____ the life we have now. Happiness will never be found under some banner far away. If will be found 51 _____ your own heart, soul and mind. It will be found when you 52 _____ that others love you just as you do.
Don’t be a tortoise or a rabbit when it comes to your happiness. Be a playful puppy and carry your stick of 53 _____ with you everywhere you go. 54 _____ yourself out of the race and realize that when it comes to love and happiness you are 55 _____ there.