When Charles Lee handed me the small red notebook in 1974, he changed my life. “While you are traveling, you should keep notes of things you see and do,” he explained.
I was 20 years old, a junior in college, spending a term at the University of London. Charles was a retired traveling salesman. I was staying with him in his cottage in Kendal, located in the Lake District of northern England. It was a one-week homestay the university arranged for us before classes began.
I took his advice. I wrote in the notebook every day during the homestay. Back in London, I recorded weekend trips to Wales, Yorkshire, France, and Spain. I commented on my classes, professors, and classmates. I contrasted my life at a small college in the US with my wandering through the streets of London, my introduction to life in a big city, and my initial travels outside the US. I tracked ideas I had about my life and my future.
When I wrote in the notebook, I struggled with a sense of my audience and purpose. Who would read this? Were these writings just for me, or did I want others to read them? Was I recording events and ideas just as a prompt(提示)to memory, or was there some larger purpose for this daily exercise?
I knew I was recording events, thoughts, words that were important to my life. I imagined a future me sitting down to read the pages. I wondered what it would feel like to read those words later. I wondered where I would be and what my life would be like.
I filled the notebook Charles gave me. I bought a new one and filled it. Then another and another. I continued writing in notebooks for four decades. By that time, they filled two boxes in my garage.
I had reread some of the journals. Specific volumes had provided me with the background I needed for dozens of articles for magazines. But I had never read them all. Recently, I decided to bring my collection of notebooks into my office and replay my life. As I opened the first box, I suddenly became nervous would I like the former me described on those pages? There was a risk in opening that first notebook. I did it anyway.
Charles had been right. I remembered the big events and the central happenings, but on each page were many details I hadn’t retained(保留).
The pages revealed highlights from college classes and stories about roommates and friends. I read anxious comments I’d written as I’d launched my teaching career, learned to write lesson plants, assigned grades for student work, and solved discipline problems. I reflected on my coming marriage, then the wedding, and eventually the proud moments when I held each of my three girls as a father. I recounted more trips---returning to Europe, teaching in South America, going on safari(游猎)in Africa, and exploring Greenland. I relived memories of trails hit, rivers crossed, and mountains climbed.
The writings in those journals framed my life. I hadn’t written every day. I often skipped a few days or even weeks, but I always picked up the writing when it felt important. Journals wet with my when I traveled , and I often wrote in them at school when my own students were writing.
It took several long evenings to read through the notebooks, taking me on tour spanning(持续)42 years. As I read I could recall sitting on a bench in Trafalgar Square in London or in our apartment in Peru to write to the future me. It was then that I realized: I am now the person I was writing to throughout those years.
45. What can we learn about Charles Lee?
A. He was an Englishman the author came across
B. He gave the author a notebook as birthday present
C. The author gained valuable experience of life from him
D. The author once lived in his house as a college graduate
46. One reason why the author kept writing journals was that he wanted to _______.
A. let others read what he wrote in the future B. live up to Charles Lee’s expectation for him
C. know what his life would be like in the future D. leave something special to his three daughters
47. How did the author feel when he opened the first box filled with his journals?
A. Curious B. Worried C. Surprised D. Disappointed
48. By mentioning the highlights in Paragraph 10, the author intends to tell us _________.
A. the regrets he had about his life B. the benefits of keeping journals
C. the big events that happened to him D. the themes of his articles for magazines
49. We can learn from the passage that the author _________.
A. rarely wrote journals at school B. keeps a daily journal of his life
C. even wrote journals when traveling D. had kept writing journals for five decades
50. What would be the best title for the passage?
A. Rereading my journals B. My interesting experience of life
C. A red notebook D. A gift to my future self
CCBBCD
In a society, such as the United States or Canada, which has many national, religious and cultural differences, people highly value individualism--the difference among people. Teachers place a lot of importance on the qualities that make each student special. The educational systems in these countries show these values. Students don't memorize information. Instead, they work individually and find answers themselves. There is often discussion in the classroom. At an early age, students learn to form their own ideas and opinions.
In most Asian societies, by contrast, people have the same language, history, and culture. Perhaps for this reason, the educational system in much of Asia reflects society’s belief in group goals and purposes rather than individualism. Children in China, Japan, and Korea often work together and help one another in assignments. In the classroom, the teaching methods are often very formal. The teacher lectures, and the students listen. There is not much discussion. Instead, the students recite rules of information that they have memorized.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both of these systems of education. For example, one advantage to the system in Japan is that there much more math and science than American students learn by the end of high school. They also study more hours each day and more days each year than North Americans do. The system is difficult, but it prepares students for a society that values discipline and self-control. There is, however, a disadvantage. Memorization is an important learning method in Japanese schools, yet many students say that after an exam, they forget much of the information that they have memorized.
The advantage of the educational system in North American, on the other hand, is that students learn to think for themselves. The system prepares them for a society that values creative ideas. There is, however, a disadvantage. When students graduate from high school, they haven’t memorized as many basic rules and facts as students in other countries have.
Title: 76 of Educational System between North America and Asia
Students in the US and 77 | Students in China, Japan and Korea | |
What do they 78 | Individualism | 79 goals and purposes |
Different 80 of study | Working individually | Listening to the teachers |
Forming their own ideas and opinions | Reciting rules and memorizing information | |
A lot of discussion in the classroom | Not much discussion | |
81 | Learning to think for themselves | Learning much more math and science |
Studying more hours each day and more days each year | ||
Good for a society that values 82 | Good for a society valuing 83 and self-control | |
Disadvantages | Students haven’t memorized many basic rules and facts before 84___ | Information is 85 easily. |
Directions: Read the following passage. Complete the diagram by using the information from the passage. Write NO MORE THAN 3 WORDS for each answer.
American public education has changed in recent years. One change is that increasing numbers of American parents and teachers are starting independent public schools called charter schools.
In 1991, there were no charter schools in the Unite States. Today, more than 2300 charter schools operate in 34 states and the District of Columbia. 575. 000 students attend these schools. The students are from 5 years of age through 18 or older.
A charter school is created by groups of parents, teachers and community members. It is similar in some ways to a traditional public school. It receives tax money to operate a number of students. The charter school must prove to local or state governments that its students are learning. These governments provide the school with the agreement, or charter that permits it to operate.
Unlike a traditional public school, however, the charter school does not have to obey most laws governing public schools. Local, state or federal governments cannot tell it what to teach.
Each school can choose its own goals and decide the ways it wants to reach those goals. Class sizes are usually smaller than in many traditional public schools. Many students and parents say teachers in charter schools can be more creative.
However, state education agencies, local education-governing committees and unions often oppose charter schools. They say these schools may receive money badly needed by traditional public schools. Experts say some charter schools are doing well while others are struggling.
Congress provided 200 million dollars for establishing charter schools in the 2006 federal budget. But, often the schools say they lack enough money for programs. Many also lack needed space, District officials say they have provided 14 former school buildings for charter education. Yet charter school supporters say officials should try harder to find more space.
Title: 71.
72 ________ | Independent public school | ||
Similarities between charter schools and traditional schools | ●73 ________ to operate U number of students ●Having to prove the students are learning ●Getting 74 ________ to operate from government | ||
75 __________ between charter schools and traditional schools | ●Not having to obey most laws for public schools ●Being free to decide the 76 ________ ●Being free to choose the goals and decide 77 ________ them ●There usually being 78 ________ students in charter schools’classes ●Having teachers who are more creative | ||
Charter school's problems | Opinions from education departments | These schools receiving money badly needed by 79 ________ Not all doing well | |
Opinions from charter schools | Lacking enough money Lacking 80._________ |