乌鲁木齐市第61中学2022-2023学年高二上学期12月月...

I'm 16. On a recent night, while I was busy thinking about important social issues, like what to do over the weekend and who to do it with, I overheard my parents talking about my future. My dad was upset — not the usual stuff that he and Mom and, I guess, a lot of parents worry about like which college I'm going to, how far away it is from home and how much it's going to cost. Instead, he was upset about the world his generation is turning over to mine, a world he fears has a dark and difficult future — if it has a future at all.

He sounded like this: "There will be a pandemic that kills millions, a devastating energy crisis, a horrible worldwide depression and a nuclear explosion set off in anger."

As I lay on the living room couch, eavesdropping on their conversation, starting to worry about the future my father was describing, I found myself looking at some old family photos.

There was a picture of my grandfather in his Citadel uniform. He was a member of the class of 1942, the war class. Next to his picture were photos of my great-grandparents, Ellis Island immigrants. Seeing those pictures made me feel a lot better. I believe the world my generation grows into is going to get better, not worse. Those pictures helped me understand why.

I considered some of the awful things my grandparents and great-grandparents had seen in their life times: two worlds wars, killer flu, a nuclear bomb. But they saw other things, too, better things: the end of two world wars, the polio vaccine, passage of the civil rights laws. They even saw the Red Sox win the World Series—twice.

I believe that my generation will see better things, too — that we will witness the time when AIDS is cured and cancer is defeated; when the Middle East will find peace and Africa grain, and the Cubs win the World Series — probably, only once. I will see things as inconceivable to me today as a moon shot was to my grandfather when he was 16, or the Internet to my father when he was 16. Ever since I was a little kid, whenever I've had an awful day, my dad would put his arm around me and promise me that "tomorrow will be a better day." I challenged my father once, "How do you know that?" He said, "I just do." I believe him. My great-grandparents believed that, and my grandparents, and so do I.

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What's the meaning of the "dark horse"? It is someone who wins when no one expect it.

Han Xiaopeng took China's first gold on snow. He became an Olympic "dark horse" by winning the gold medal in men's freestyle skiing aerials (自由式滑雪空中技巧) at Turin in Italy. He made two almost perfect jumps for the highest score. Han had never won a world gold medal before, let alone in the Olympics!

"I never thought this would happen," said Han Xiaopeng, "I feel like I'm in a dream." It's China's second gold medal at the Turin Olympic Winter Games. But more important, Han's gold was the country's first ever in a snow sport. In 2002, China's Yang Yang won the gold for speed skating at the Winter Olympic in Salt Lake City, US.

That Han's win was unexpected doesn't mean that he didn't work hard.

Han grew up in Jiangsu Province. Before he started his training on snow, he used to be an acrobat (杂技演员) at a circus. In 1995, a coach found his talent. The coach, Yang Er'qi, said Han had the agility (灵活性) and courage to be a ski jumper. When Yang first took the 12-year-old boy to northern China, he couldn't swim, skate or ski. But he wasn't afraid of the high platform and kept on training.

Han almost left the sport after hurting his knee months before the Salt Lake Games. In that Olympics he only got 24^th. "I was hopeless at that time, but my family and the coach stood behind me, helping me through," he recalled.

Han Xiaopeng worked so hard that he won the gold medal in the Olympics at last. Because of his success, more and more people in China are becoming interested in skiing. We are proud of him.

Flower-drum dancing is a traditional Chinese folk performance. It is popular across the county especially in places such as Fengyang in Anhui, Guangshan in Henan, and Haian in Jiangsu.

The Haian flower-drum dance dates back to more than 400 years ago. It became popular in the areas of the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The art form was used to show the peaceful lives of local fisherwomen. It is still popular with local people, known for its lively movements and gentle music. In 2007, the Haian flower-drum dance was included in the list of art forms that make up Jiangsu's provincial intangible (非物质的) cultural heritage.

Yang Peijie, 71, is an inheritor (传承) of the Haian flower-drum dance. He has been performing the dance for more than 50 years. "It has become a part of my life," he said.

In the 1960s, Yang joined an art troupe (艺术团) and started to learn the dance from older artists. At that time, people could only learn it in this way. There were no textbooks. Worrying the art may become lost, Yang spent five years studying the history of the dance and recorded its movements in detail. He visited almost all the local artists and wrote a book about the subject in the 1980s.

According to Yang, the dance movements are easy to learn and understand as they come from  everyday life. "For example, there is a movement called fengbailiu (风摆柳)，it means you twist (扭动) your body like the wind blowing the willow trees (柳树). ''

Nowadays, Yang focuses on promoting the dance among all age groups, especially the young. He set up a team to work on this. The team members visit about eight schools each year to teach students. It has been added to break-time exercises in many local schools. "To make it easier for kids to learn, we break down difficult movements into several simple ones," Yang said. They also go to communities and parks to teach older people. "It's my responsibility to pass down the art. I don't want to see it get lost in my lifetime," Yang said.

How does it feel when you solve your problem by yourself? Things may not always go as planned, but being resourceful can help you stay calm and work your way out of tricky situations.

Being resourceful means finding smart and creative ways to solve a problem, using whatever resources you have at the time. They can also be anything else that's useful, such as information, advice or your own experience. It also means trusting your instincts, the ability you're born with, rather than through training and being confident about your ability to face challenges. A resourceful person is not the one getting cross or panicking when something goes wrong. They're thinking about how to solve the problem.

when we learn to problem solve for ourselves rather than immediately going to others for help, it can help to build our confidence, help us feel more independent, and feel better about making decisions. Being resourceful may not help you avoid problems, but thinking creatively about how you can deal with them will make you feel less stressed and more prepared next time. This can boost self-esteem, that is, how you feel about yourself.

When you're facing a challenge, try to focus on the actual problem rather than how you feel about it. Think about where and when it happened and what the causes are. Next, think up as many solutions to the problem as you can. Finally, review what has and hasn't worked, so you're equipped to deal with a situation next time.

And remember, if you have a tricky problem that you're unable to solve, then ask a trusted adult for help.

A. You also learn what you're good at.

B. Here is how you can be more resourceful.

C. These may be practical things like pens and paper.

D. No one is expected to solve all problems by themselves.

E. Resourcefulness is a skill that's good for you in lots of ways.

F. They can be famous mottos that always inspire us to move on.

G. Weigh up what's good and bad about each one and choose the best.

Next week, as millions of families gather for their Thanksgiving feasts (大餐), many other Americans will go without. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, more than 12 million households 1enough food for everyone in their family at some time during the year — including 2.

Hunger is surprisingly widespread in our country — one of the world's wealthiest — yet the government estimates that we waste almost 100 billion pounds of food each year, more than one-quarter of our total supply.

Reducing this improper distribution of 3is a goal of America's Second Harvest, the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization. Last year, it 4nearly 2 billion pounds of food to more than 23 million people in need.

America's Second Harvest is a network of 214 inter-connected food banks and other organizations that 5food from growers, processors, grocery stores and restaurants. 6, the network distributes food to some 50,000 soup kitchens (施食处), homeless 7and old people's centers in every county of every state.

A great deal of work is involved in distributing tons of food from thousands of 8to thousands of small, non-profit organizations. Until a few years ago, America's Second Harvest lacked any 9way to manage their inventory (存货). Without accurate and timely information, soup kitchens were sometimes empty while food was left to 10 in loading places.

In 2000, America's Second Harvest began to use a new inventory and financial-management system — Ceres. It is a 11 designed specifically for hunger-relief operations. It is used by more than 100 America's Second Harvest organizations to 12 food from donation to distribution.

Ceres has helped 13 the spoiling of food and improve distribution. An evaluation found that the software streamlined (精简) food banks' operations by 23 percent in the first year alone.

With more accurate and timely reports, Ceres saves time, frees staff members to focus on finding new donors, and 14 more efficient use of donations.

Hunger in America remains a(n) 15 social problem. Technology alone cannot solve it. But in the hands of organizations such as America's Second Harvest, it is a powerful tool that is helping to make a difference — and helping more Americans to join in the feast.

Please Let Education AloneThere is something badly wrong with the way standards for school science being set in the US. When the Texas State Board of Education voted in new standards last week, it left the door open for teaching creationism in the name of science infunded schools. These must be closed, and quickly.

Because standards are set at state level, students in one state might be learning different science and using different textbooks than students in another. What is worse, the state boards of education that are responsible for standards and textbooks are made up ofofficials who lack any specific skills or qualifications in theareas of science or education. As we saw in the 2005over teaching intelligent design in Dover, Pennsylvania, and are now seeing in Texas, school boards have become a political battleground. Many board members appear to be acting on behalf of religious groups like local churches or the Discovery Institute.

School science standards should be set up by people who understand science and science education. At the same time, it is dangerous to argue that the powers ofvoted officials should be taken away if they don't produce the outcome you want. Yet that is what may happen in Texas. Some lobbyists have introduced legislation that would transfer authority for textbooks and curricula to the Texas Education Agency.

Is there a way out of this impasse? One possibility is that candidates for school boards should bebefore they stand. Another is for the pro-science try to engage more fully with the democratic process. After the Dover trial, board members who favored intelligent design wereby the voters. Something similar could happen in Texas.

Another possibility is to push decisions further up the democratic ladder. President Barrack Obama has already called for all states to have the same achievement standards, raising hopes that he might push for federal standards across all US schools. While this might drive conservative insane, it would put an end to the present situation in which an accident of geography canwhether a child is taught valid science.

Obama has already made remarkable changes in Washington by restoring scientificto its rightful place in government. Many teachers and scientists would like to see him do the same in the place where it canmost: in the classroom.

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在此符号下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

Last week, I went to travel or bought a glass vase. It was originally packed in a box, and the gaps in the box was filled with waste paper. Considering the inconvenience of taking so many luggage, I threw away the box and the paper, and directly put the vase into small suitcase. When I got on the bus, because of I tripped, the suitcase hit the chair heavy. I opened it and saw the vase have been broken. At that time, I regretted throw away the seemingly useless waste paper. There is nothing really useless in the world, even those piece of waste paper. Unless they are used in the right place, they can also be of great use.

注意：1）词数80左右；2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

参考词汇：高速动车组high-speed EMU