My mother, a nurse at Stony Brook University Hospital, worked at night so that she could come home in time to send me to school. She'd sleep during the day and be ready when we returned home before heading out again in the evening. This went on for 23 years. She never complained (抱怨). No matter how tired she was, she always had enough energy to be my mom.
She often had to work on holidays, even on New Year's Eve, which made me unhappy. However, before holidays she always decorated the inside and outside of our house. She'd also have cookies baking in the oven, a holidaythemed movie in the VCR, and music playing throughout our house for us. But when it was time to go to work, there was no room for debate. "Why do you have to work on this day of all days?" I'd ask sadly. "They need me, too, dear son," she'd say.
For a long time I didn't understand why she should care so much about those sick strangers. Recently, as my grandmother became ill, I found myself spending more time in the hospital. The scenes I saw in the hospital made me see the different side of my mother. The nurses checked the heart, blood and oxygen levels to make sure patients were comfortable. They lifted patients in and out of bed and helped them to the bathroom. Beyond their duties, the nurses showed consideration(体贴) for each patient.
What I saw helped me understand why my mother was devoted to her occupation (职业). I was filled with more admiration for my mother.
Since his students began using Quizlet, English teacher Tristan Thorne has noticed an improvement in their ability to learn and use new words. Quizlet is a learning app, a computer program you use on your mobile phone. It can help users build and test their knowledge of English words. Quizlet has words set for millions of subjects. And, it is quickly becoming a useful mobile tool for language learners.
Thorne teaches at Columbia University in New York City. Thanks to learning apps, Jeff Strack, another English teacher, has also noticed the improvement in his students' ability to remember information. He teaches at Hostos Community College, also in New York. He and Thorne are part of a growing number of language educators adding mobile apps to their classes.
Strack and Thorne seem to agree that the days when teachers would not permit (允许) the use of mobile phones are gone. When they use apps, language learners communicate more differently than in a traditional classroom. Users act on or respond to something, instead of just listening to new information.
Thorne believes that apps can help learners become more active in learning. For example, each week, his students are required to add vocabularies into Quizlet for others to use. He says some apps also make it easy for students to know their language strengths and weaknesses.
The biggest improvement Strack has seen in his students is that they are much more active in wholeclass or smallgroup discussions. "Apps let all students take part in the activity, whether it's a game, quiz or practice activity," he says.
Many existing learning apps are designed for students of all ages and levels. Some are designed for group activities. Some support independent learning. Still some are good for homework. Thorne says he especially likes Quizlet and three other apps: QR Codes, Socrative and Evernote.
In order to achieve in math, science, English, history, geography, and other subjects, reading skills must be developed when the students are young. Students cannot struggle with word recognition (识别) when they should be reading quickly for understanding of a text.
Since reading is very important to success in school, parents can and should play a role in helping their children become interested in reading and in encouraging their growth in reading skills.
Research shows that children learn about reading before they enter school. In fact, they learn in the best way—through observation. Young children, for example, see people around them reading newspapers, books, maps, and signs.
Parents can do a lot to cultivate an understanding of print by talking with their preschoolers about signs in their environment and by letting their children know they enjoy reading themselves. When reading to your preschooler, you should run your index finger under the line of print. This process is simple and helps children begin to notice words and that words have meaning. They also develop habits of reading.
In the early elementary years, from first through third grades, children continue learning how to read. It is a complex process (过程), difficult for some and easy for others. Care must be taken during these early years not to put too much stress on the learningtoread process.
Reading for pleasure and information develops reading interests and offers children the chance to practise their reading skills in meaningful ways. Parents of preschoolers should provide reading materials in the home that arouse curiosity or extend their children's natural interest in the world around them.
By encouraging reading in free time, parents take the most important step in improving their children's reading development.
Parents can cut the chances of their children getting fat simply by keeping them longer at table. Just three minutes extra at a family mealtime could help prevent child obesity. Research found that among poor families, the extra minutes at mealtimes made great improvement of a normal weight for the youth. The factors are likely to be communication and the importance of a scheduled mealtime.
Dr Barbara Fiese said," Children, whose families have a 20minute meal over four times a week. weigh less than kids who leave the table after 15 to 17 minutes. Over time, those extra minutes per meal add up and become really powerful."
The researchers studied 200 family mealtimes, testing the effects of factors and mealtime behavior of families with children in primary school. They found that families, who said that shared mealtimes were an important part of family life and had special meaning for them, were less likely to have an obese child. Similarly, families, who talked more together and interacted more positively during the meal，were more likely to have healthyweight children.
Teaching lowincome families how to make the most of family mealtimes was a wise idea. Dr Fiese said, "This is something we can target and teach." She added, "It's also important to recognize the increasing differences of families and their sometimes complex living arrangements that may challenge their abilities to plan ahead and arrange a single time to communicate with each other."
Families in poorer US neighborhoods faced a lot of problems，including poor access to healthy food. But even so, regular high quality family mealtimes made a difference to the children's weight. Dr Fiese said," Three to four extra minutes per meal will make a healthy weight more possible."
How to Be a Good Listener
Being a good listener can help you see the world through the eyes of others. It enriches your understanding and expands your capacity for empathy (同情). Good listening skills can provide you with a deeper level of understanding about someone's situation.
1 Place yourself in other people's shoes. It's easy to only consider the impact of the other person's "telling" on you. But you must open out and look at the problems from the other person's view.
2 Avoid comparing the person's experiences to your own. You may think that the best thing you can do to really listen is to compare the person's experiences to your own. But this type of thinking actually makes the person feel like you're not really listening at all. That means that you're focusing more on yourself than on the person's situation.
3 Some people think that, when they're listening, they should find a quick and easy solution to the person's problem. According to the research, it is totally wrong to do so. Instead focus on absorbing (理解) everything the person is saying to you. Only after that can you really try to help.
4 Know what not to do. Knowing what to avoid when you're trying to be a good listener can be almost as helpful as knowing what to do. If you want the speaker to take you seriously you'd better not interrupt in the middle of a point. Make eye contact with the person so that the person realizes that you are interested and are listening.
A. Don't try to help immediately.
B. Avoid saying "I" or "me" a lot.
C. Try to solve the person's problem quickly.
D. Don't try to change the subject, even if it's a little uncomfortable.
E. If so, you would see your way through the problems much faster.
F. Therefore you had better listen to what the person is saying carefully.
G. If you want to know how to be a good listener, read on to get started!
Remember the heartwarming story of Hachiko, the Akita Inu who spent nine years waiting for his owner to return without knowing his death. His being 1 to his owner is being challenged by Thor.
In December 2015, Thor's owner died at 58, and his loyal companion fell into 2.The owner's family looked after Thor, but they didn't give him the same love and attention. Seeing the miserable dog, a neighbor called Saionara asked if she could 3 him in, and maybe help him 4 the death of his owner. Then under her loving care, Thor started getting better. About a year ago, he started following the same 5 he had taken alongside his owner.
Every morning Saionara gets up early, makes his food and then opens the gate for him to take the walks he was already 6 with. Thor has a good memory, and he 7 at all the usual places his owner used to spend time in, and lets those who 8 him pet him on the head. That's become his routine for the last year or so. And it seems that he is waiting for his 9 to come back
Wherever he goes, Thor always 10 love and affection. Everyone knows his story and is eager to make his 11 more bearable. People stop to pet him. His food and water bowls are always 12 at the shoe store he walks by every day, and some people even stop to take photos with the famous dog.
After 13 his walk and spending time outside the places his owner used to spend time in, 14 the lottery (彩票) office, which he visited every day, Thor returns to his new owner, Saionara. "I'll tell you that I love him, but I'm also 15 because I'm old. But I'll take good care of him," she says.
A reporter from Jiangsu Province went to Australia and some other countries with his father for a 3month trip，which turned out to be a miracle(奇迹).
The reporter's father spent most of his life (work) on the farm. The son started these (amaze) trips with his father because the father got cancer—a serious (ill).
The reporter wanted (take) his father to travel in the hope that his father can find his younger self in his last days. They (travel) more than 13,000 kilometers and took over 110,000 (picture) on their trips to different countries. Well, a miracle happened during the “rebirth” trips. their surprise, his father got (good) and became more openhearted.
He even taught himself to play violin，and then he played it very well after practice. After that miracle trip，now he is expecting another trip to Africa. He is the most stylish dad ever.
Time carves (雕刻) the old father's face youth (青春) flows in his blood. This is the real style.
Mr Brown lived in a house less than two miles from his office, so he was able to drive home every day for lunch. Every time he drove home at noon, he found many cars were parked outside his house and there was no room for his own car. He had to drive somewhere else to park his car. Then he had to walk back home. This made him very angry.
He had put up a board, which said, "No parking" in the garden facing the road, but nobody noticed it. People seemed to obey (遵守) only a police notice, but not a private one. There were no parked cars where there was a blue board with letters on it：Police Notice—No Parking!
Mrs Brown suggested that he could steal a police notice. He dared not, being afraid of going to prison. She then suggested that he could make one just like a police notice. He said he was not a policeman and couldn't use the word "police". Several days later, Mr Brown made a blue board with white letters：Polite_Notice—No Parking!
"Oh!" Mrs Brown said, "You told me you weren't going to use the word "police", but why do you use it now？""Really？" he asked, "Look again." She started to laugh. "You are really clever."
注意：
1）所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2）应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3）续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4）续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1：
Why did Mrs Brown say her husband was really clever? ……
Paragraph 2：
If the police discovered that the Browns were using a police notice.……
