I've been writing for most of my life. The book Writing Without Teachers introduced me to one difference and one practice that have greatly helped my writing processes. The difference is between the creative mind and the critical mind. While you need to use both of the creative mind and the critical (批判) mind to reach a finished result，they cannot work in parallel (平行_k.&s~5*u，并行) no matter how much we might like to think so.

　Trying to criticize writing on the fly is possibly the single greatest trouble with writing that most of us meet. If you are listening to a 5th grade English teacher correcting your grammar while you are trying to capture a fleeting（稍纵即_k.&s~5*u逝的）thought, the thought will die. If you catch the fleeting thought and simply share it with the world in raw form, no one is likely to understand. You must learn to create first and then criticize if you want to make writing the tool for thinking as it is.

　The practice that can help you overcome your learned bad habits of trying to edit as you write is what Elbow calls“free writing”. In free writing, the goal is to get words down on paper non-stop，usually for 15-20 minutes. No stopping, no going back, no criticizing. The aim is to get the words flowing. As the words begin to flow，the ideas will come from the shadows and let themselves be captured on your notepad or your screen.

　Now you have raw materials that you can begin to work with using the critical mind that you’ve persuaded to sit on the side and watch quietly. Most likely，you will believe that this will take more time than you actually have and you will end up staring blankly at the pages as the deadline draws near.

　Instead of staring at a blank start and filling it with words no matter how bad they could be，stop halfway through your available time and rework your raw writing into something closer to the finished product. Move back and forth until you run out of time and the final result will most likely be far better than your current practices.

When the author says the creative mind and the critical mind“cannot work in parallel”in the writing process，he means _______.

A. no one can be both creative and critical               

B. they can’t be regarded as equally important

C. they are in constant conflict with each other 

D. one cannot use them at the same time

What usually prevents people from writing on is _______.

A. putting their ideas in raw form             B. attempting to edit as they’re writing

C. ignoring grammatical problems            D. trying to capture their fleeting thoughts

What is the chief purpose of the first stage of writing？

A. To organize one’s thoughts logically.     B. To choose an appropriate topic.

C. To get one’s ideas down quickly.           D. To collect many more raw materials.

In what way does the critical mind help the writer in the writing process？

A. It refines(improves) his writing into a better shape. 

B. It helps him to come up with new ideas.

C. It saves the writing time available to him.

D. It allows him to sit on the side and observe.

Speaking in public is most people's least favorite thing．The reason is that we are all afraid of making fools of ourselves．The more important the speech is, the more frightened we become．In fact, public speaking is not a "gift" like musical talent （天赋） ．Anybody who can talk can speak in public．Here are some of the lessons I have learned:

Try to make your idea clear and brief．If you can't express what you intend to get across in a sentence or two, and then your speech is not focused well enough．If you don't have a clear idea of what you want to say, your audience will make no sense．After all, what you can impress your audience in your speech is one or two of your main ideas．One or two．Not ten or twenty．

No matter how long or short your speech is, you've got to organize it well-how you are going to open, what major points you want to make and how you're going to close．A strong close is critical: the last thing you say is what your audience will most likely remember．When I do a radio or TV piece, I often write the last sentence first．When you know where you're headed, you can choose any route to get there．

Finally, you'd better limit the time of your speech as properly as you can to hold the audience's curiosity．Take a vaudeville act （杂耍） for example．The standard length of one is usually 12 minutes．Just imagine how you are feeling if you have been watching all the performers singing and dancing their hearts out for more than the standard time!

Should struggling students be banned from clubs and sports?
Getting a bad grade in Rockingham, Vt. could get you kicked off the team! School officials there are considering k*s#5^unew guidelines that would prevent students with bad grades from participating in extracurricular activities, such as sports and clubs. The proposal would affect students in eighth grade and below.
School board member Mike says the policy would motivate students to work harder in school. He drafted a letter to coaches, parents, and after-school program leaders to encourage them to allow only kids who are meeting certain academic standards into their program.
Not everyone gives such policy an A+. Some people argue that no student should be excluded from after-school activities. They say taking part in extracurricular activities can help kids do better in class by improving their participation and concentration skills. They say a 2009 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that time spent in extracurricular physical activities does not take away from students’ ability to do well in the classroom . In fact, it may even help boost girls’ academic performance.
Students themselves have different opinions.
SCHOOL COMES FIRST
Why not require good grades to participate in those activities?
Kids need to understand that grades are important. School comes first, period. Getting good grades help you with life, help you go to college, get a job, and so on. Banning underachieving students from extracurricular activities not only gives them motivation to get their grades up, but allows more time to study or get help from a tutor.
DON’T BAN STUDENTS
Every student should be able to participate in extracurricular activities, no matter what his or her grades are. Extracurricular activities can help kids concentrate more on doing homework. They can help kids develop mentally and physically.
A school policy that tells kids with bad grades that they can’t be in sports or the school play is like judging a book by its cover. Every student is unique. A kid may have a learning disability, an attention issue, or a difficult time studying in his or her home environment. His or her teachers should find why the student is struggling. Together they should find out a solution that will keep the student in the activity.
72. Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the underlined word “excluded”?
A. protected   B. approved C.  blamed   D. banned
73. What’s the author’s attitude to the policy that prevents students with bad grades from participating in extracurricular activities?
A. supportive   B. critical     C. neutral   D. indifferent
74. In the second paragraph “a 2009 study…”is used by the critics to        .
A. To indicate the author is against the policy.
B. To emphasize there is no need to ban the students with bad grades to take part in extracurricular activities.
C. To suggest girls can benefit from extracurricular activities.
D. To prove grades have nothing to do with extracurricular activities.
75. Some don’t think the policy is reasonable for the following reasons EXCEPT        .
A. Every kid is unique.
B. Extracurricular activities will benefit students mentally and physically.
C. . Grades will help students get a job.
D. One can learn more that can’t be learned in class.

The word “conservation” has a thrifty meaning. To conserve is to save and protect, to leave what we ourselves enjoy in such a good condition that others may also share the enjoyment. Our forefathers had no idea that human population would increase faster than the supplies of raw materials: most of them, even until very recently, had the foolish idea that the treasures were “limitless” and could “last forever”. Most of the citizens of earlier generations knew little or nothing about the complicated and delicate system that runs all through nature, and which means that, as in a living body, an unhealthy condition of one part will sooner or later be harmful to all the others.

　　Fifty years ago, nature study was not part of the school work; scientific forestry was a new idea; wood was still cheap because it could be brought in any quantity from distant woodlands; soil destruction and river floods were not national problems; nobody had yet studied long-term climatic cycles in relation to proper land use; even the word “conservation” had nothing of the meaning that it has for us today.

　　For the sake of ourselves and those who will come after us, we must now set about correcting the mistakes of our forefathers. Conservation should be made part of everybody’s daily life. To know about the water table in ground is just as important to us as a knowledge of the basic math formulas. We need to know why all watersheds (上游集水区) need the protection of plant life and why the running current of streams and rivers must be made to give their full benefit to the soil before they finally escape to the sea. We need to be taught the duty of planting trees as well as of cutting them. We need to know the importance of big, grown trees, because living space for most of man’s fellow creatures on this planet is figured not only in square measure of surface but also in cubic (立方体的) volume above the earth. In a word, it should be our goal to restore as much of the original beauty of nature as we can.

1.The author’s attitude towards the use of natural resources is _________.

A. positive         B. uninterested     C. optimistic           D. critical

2.According to the author, the greatest mistake of our forefathers was that _________.

　　A. they had no idea about scientific forestry

　　B. they had little or no sense of environmental protection

　　C. they were not aware of the importance of nature study

　　D. they had no idea of how to make good use of raw materials

3.To avoid repeating the mistakes of our forefathers, the author suggests that ______

　　A. we plant more trees

　　B. natural sciences be taught to everybody

　　C. environmental education be directed toward everyone

　　D. we return to nature

4.How can you understand the underlined sentence in the last paragraph?

A. Our living space on the earth is getting smaller and smaller.

B. Our living space should be measured in cubic volume.[来源:Z。xx。k.Com]

C. We need to take some measures to protect space.

D. We must preserve good living conditions for both birds and animals.