Centerville High School Essay Contest “Write All About It”
Calling All Aspiring Authors—Centerville High School Essay Contest
◇Rules
1．Students are asked to present essays of 500 to 700 words of their own work. Any essay containing material plagiarized(剽窃) from another source will be disqualified（取消资格）.
2．Manuscripts should be typed double－spaced，with the student's name，address，and grade level on a separate sheet of paper.
3．Essays must be turned in by 4∶00 p.m. on November 30.They can be brought to Mrs. Elton in Rom 104 or to Mr. Markham in the school library.
◇Essay－Writing Tips
1．Catch your readers' interests—Your opening should immediately pull your readers into your essay. Asking a question or starting with an story，quotation，or surprising statement is a good way to do this.
2．Create a picture—Use active words that show your readers what is happening. Instead of telling your readers vaguely that “the room was disordered”，paint a picture using active verbs and lively adjectives.
3．Have a purpose—Well－written essays do more than just describe an incident or express a viewpoint，and they also communicate a message.
4．Check for mistakes—Read your paper over to check for mistakes. Ask another student to read your paper and make suggestions. Another pair of eyes will often spot a mistake you've overlooked.
5．Format your essay—Neatly type your essay on white paper. Choose an attractive cover for submission. The computer lab will be open after school from 3∶15 to 4∶45 p．m. each day this month so that students can use the computers.
◇Prizes
Winning essays will be published in the Centerville Times. Every contestant(选手)will also receive a free pass to enter one school activity or athletic game this year.
First Prize： $150
Second Prize: Dictionary and thesaurus
Third Prize: Pen set and journal
Special thanks to the Centerville Writers' Association for the prizes to help encourage our aspiring authors. Good luck to all contestants.The first writing tip given is mostly about________.
| A．the use of quotations and stories in an essay |
| B．using active verbs and lively adjectives |
| C．how a student should begin an essay |
| D．how to submit your essays |
Information in the passage suggests that________.
| A．the essay contest has been carefully planned |
| B．the students of the school are all athletic lovers |
| C．most essay contestants have published their work previously |
| D．Mr. Markham is an English teacher at Centerville High School |
The prize section of the poster is included in order to________.
| A．show organizations how to donate prizes |
| B．inform teachers of the prizes available |
| C．persuade students to enter the essay contest |
| D．convince students to buy the local newspaper |
Thanks are given to the Centerville Writers' Association because it has________.
| A．offered to judge the contest |
| B．prepared the essay－writing tips |
| C．organized the essay contest |
| D．donated prizes for the contest |
What do we know by inference from the passage?
| A．The computer lab usually closes at 4∶15 p.m. each day. |
| B．Winning essays will be published in the Centerville Times. |
| C．Every contestant will benefit from the essay contest. |
| D．The essay contest is held annually at Centerville High School. |
Chinese are very generous when it comes to educating their children. Not caring about the money, parents often send their children to the best schools or even abroad to England, the United States and Australia. They also want their children to take extra-course activities where they will either learn a musical instrument or ballet, or other classes which will give them a head in life. The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is. So parents will spend an unreasonable amount of money on education. Even poor couples will buy a computer for their son or daughter.
However, what most parents fail to see is that the best early education they can give their children is usually very cheap.
Parents can see that their children are very skilled in some areas while poor in others. What most parents fail to realize though, is that today’s children lack self-respect and self-confidence.
The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but parents are not teaching them the most important skills that they need to be confident, happy and clever.
Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing other housework.
Teaching a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in life. Cooking demands patience and time. It is an enjoyable but difficult experience. A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and gradually finish his job successfully. His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and lots of self-confidence.
Some old machines, such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your child to play with will make him curious and arouse his interest. He will spend hours looking at them, trying to fix them; your child might become an engineer when he grows up. These activities are not merely teaching a child to read a book, but rather to think, to use his mind. And that is more important.Generally speaking, children’s skills __________.
| A．come from their parents |
| B．have nothing to do with their education |
| C．may be different from child to child |
| D．have something to do with their marks in the exams |
The writer of this passage does not seem to be satisfied with_______.
| A．the parents’ ideas of educating their children |
| B．the education system |
| C．children’s skills |
| D．children’s hobbies |
Doing some cooking at home helps children_________.
| A． learn how to serve their parents |
| B． learn how to become strong and fat |
| C． benefit from it and prepare themselves for the future |
| D． make their parents believe that they are clever |
According to the passage, which of the following is True?
| A．Chinese are not very generous on educating their children. |
| B．All Parents know how to teach their children well. |
| C．Teaching a child to cook can improve the skills that he will need in the future. |
| D．Poor parents cannot buy a computer for their children. |
It was a dark and cold night. The car driver didn’t have even one passenger all day. When he went by the railway station, he saw a young man coming out with two bags in his hands. So he quickly opened the door of the car and asked, “Where do you want to go, sir?”
“To the Star Hotel,” the young man answered. When the car driver heard that, he didn’t feel happy. The young man would give him only three dollars because the hotel was not far from the railway station. But suddenly, he had an idea. He took the passenger through many streets of the big city.
After a long time, the car finally arrived at the hotel. “You should pay me fifteen dollars,” the car driver said to the young man. “What! Fifteen dollars? Do you think I’m a fool? Only last week I took a car from the railway station to this same hotel and I only gave the driver thirteen dollars. I know how much I have to pay for the trip. I won’t pay you one dollar more than I paid to the other car driver last week.”Which of the following is true?____________
| A．The young man went past the railway station. |
| B．The young man was working in the railway station |
| C．The young man had just got off a train. |
| D．The you man was waiting for his friend there. |
What do you think of the car driver?__________
| A．He was a nice and clever man. | B．He liked to work very hard. |
| C．He was good at driving | D．He was not an honest person. |
The driver felt very _________ when he saw the young man coming out of the railway station.
| A．sad | B．sorry | C．happy | D．worried |
From the passage we know that the young man__________.
| A．knew clearly how far it was from the station to the hotel. |
| B．Had been to the hotel several times. |
| C．Didn’t want to stay in this city. |
| D．Must be a stranger and didn’t know the city very well. |
A healthy dose of sunshine may be the secret to staying young, British scientists have disclosed.
Vitamin D is produced naturally by the skin in response to sunlight and may help to slow the ageing process and protect against heart disease, according to the study.
Researchers from King's College London studied 2,160 women a
ged between 18 and 79, looking at their telomeres - a biological marker of ageing found in DNA．As people get older, their telomeres get shorter and they are easy to have illnesses.
But the study found women with high levels of vitamin D had comparatively longer telomeres - a sign of being biologically younger and healthier.
The study suggests vitamin D may help to slow down the ageing process of DNA, and therefore the ageing process as a whole.
Lead researcher Dr Brent Richards said: "These results are exciting because they prove for the first time that people who have higher levels of vitamin D may age more slowly than people with lower levels of vitamin D．
"This could help to explain how vitamin D has a protective effect on many ageing related diseases, such as heart disease and cancer."
He said further studies are required to confirm the findings.
Professor Tim Spector, head of KCL's twin research unit, and a co-author of the report, added: "Although it might sound absurd(荒谬的), it's possible that the same sunshine which may increase our risk of skin cancer may also have a healthy effect on the general ageing process."
Vitamin D made by the action of sunlight on the skin accounts for 90 per cent of the body's supply, but lower levels can also be obtained through food such as fish, eggs and breakfast cereals.
Other studies have suggested the vitamin plays a key role in protecting against cancer and heart disease.What’s the best title of this passage?
| A．Sunshine helps to keep you young. |
| B．Vitamin D has a protective effect on many diseases. |
| C．Telomeres - a biological marker of ageing. |
| D．People have found the secret to having a long life. |
How can people get Vitamin D?
A.through water. B. through sunshine.
C.through food. D.both B and C.Which of the following is not true according to the passage?
| A．women with high levels of vitamin D shows a sign of being biologically younger and healthier. |
| B．vitamin D has a protective effect on many ageing related diseases. |
| C．too much sunshine may increase our risk of skin cancer. |
| D．It has been proved that sunshine helps to keep you young. |
Every once in a while, it is necessary to take a step back in order to take a long, hard look at where we are in our lives. At this point, it is good to ask yourself a bunch of critical questions. Are you at the point in your career where you want to be ? Have you so far accomplished all o
f your goals in life ? If so, then maybe it is time to make goals that stretch yourself a bit more. If you have not accomplished your goals in life, then perhaps you have made the mistake of setting too many goals or trying to accomplish them at an unnaturally fast pace.
It is necessary to set reasonable, intelligent goals in order to succeed in life. Do not be unrealistic because life is not a fairy tale. But you should try to recognize what you want, and to be as specific as possible when attempting to visualize（形象化） or otherwise express what your goals in life are.
In order for a goal to sufficiently motivate you, it needs to be a major one. The bigger your goals are, then the more motivated you will need to be to work towards accomplishing them. If you want, for example, to be the greatest concert pianist, in the world, then you are going to find yourself a lot more motivated than you would be if your goal were merely to, say, play a couple of Beethoven pieces extremely well. If you are a beginner, then no doubt mastering those tough songs is a very intelligent and realistic goal to set. But if that is your only goal as a pianist, then you will stop growing as a pianist once that goal has been achieved. This is why it is necessary to constantly stop and re-evaluate our goals so that we are aware of what they are, and thus stay motivated.From the passage, if your goals have all been achieved, you should then ______.
| A．ask yourself some serious questions |
| B．take a hard look at your success |
| C．set some other intelligent goals |
| D．stretch yourself to relax |
By saying “life is not a fairy tale”, the author suggests that you should ________ .
| A．set as big a goal as possible |
| B．try hard to realize your dream |
| C．make your goals practical |
| D．abandon all your ambitions |
To perform several Beethoven pieces well is a goal that __
_____.
| A．is not suitable for the pianist |
| B．is appropriate for a beginner |
| C．stops you from growing as a pianist |
| D．is very easy to achieve |
What is the best title for the passage ?
| A．Set Intelligent Goals for Yourself |
| B．Try to Accomplish Your Goals |
| C．Get Yourself More Motivated |
| D．Goals Help You to Succeed |
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has declared October 15 as Global Handwashing Day in 2005．The first Global Handwashing Day is on October 15 of 2008.Activities are planned over twenty countries to get millions of people in the developing world to wash their hands with soap. Global Handwashing Day is the idea of the Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing with Soap. Partners include the UN Children's Fund, American government agencies, the World Bank and soap makers Unilever and Procter and Gamble. The goal is to create a culture of hand washing with soap.
Hand washing can prevent the spread of disease. Experts say people around the world wash their hands but very few use soap at so-called critical moments. These include after using the toilet, after cleaning a baby and before touching food.
When people get germs on their hands, they can infect themselves by touching their eyes, nose or mouth
. Then they can infect others.
The organizers say all soaps are equally effective at removing disease-causing germs. The correct way to wash is to wet your hands with a small amount of water and cover them with soap. Rub it into all areas, including under the fingernails. Rub for at least twenty seconds.Then, rinse well under running water. Finally, dry your hands with a clean cloth or wave them in the air. Soap is important because it increases the time that people spend washing. It also helps to break up the grease and dirt that hold most of the germs.And it usually leaves a pleasant smell,which increases the likelihood that people will wash again.
Washing with soap before eating and after using the toilet could save more lives than any medicine. It could help reduce cases of diarrhea(痢疾) by almost half. And it could reduce deaths from pneumonia and ot
her breathing infections by one-fourth. Diarrhea is the second leading cause of child deaths, killing more than one 
and a half million children a year. Pneumonia is the leading cause, killing about two million children under five each year. Hand washing can also prevent the spread of other diseases.We can learn from Paragraph 1 that _______.
| A．the first Global Handwashing Day was held in 2005 |
| B．many originations support the idea of Global Handwashing Day |
| C．Global Handwashing Day was founded by many soap makers |
| D．the content of Global Handwashing Day is to wash your hand frequently |
The underlined phrase “critical moments” in Paragraph 2 refers to _______.
| A．the important occasions |
| B．schedules |
| C．the arrangement of a time |
| D．the necessary parts in health |
The main purpose of the story is to tell us ________.
| A．hand washing is very important |
| B．to create a culture of hand washing with soap |
| C．germs can infect ourselves and others |
| D．soaps play an important role in everyday life |
The last paragraph implies that ___________.
| A．a soap is a kind of medicine to prevent a disease |
| B．it is important for children to wash hands in a correct way |
| C．Pneumonia kills about two million children each year |
| D．Diarrhea is the second leading cause of child deaths. |