Life is often like a game of cards—you can't help the hand you're dealt，but you can help the way you play it. It's easy for us to do something without careful thinking，but it's hard for us to take back what we have done.
There was once a who repeated a bit rumor(谣言)about a neighbor. Within a few days the whole community the story. The person it concerned，was deeply and annoyed. Later，the woman responsible for the rumor learned that it was completely . She was very sorry and went to a old man to find out what she could do to the damage.
“Go to the marketplace，”he said，“and a chicken，and have it . Then on your way home，pluck its feathers and drop them along the road.” surprised by this advice，the woman did she was told.
The next day the wise man said，“Now，go and collect all those you dropped yesterday and them back to me.”
The woman the same road，but to her disappointment，the wind all the feathers away. After searching for ，she returned with only three in her hand. “You see，” said the old man，“it's easy to drop them， it's impossible to get them back. So it is with rumor. doesn't take much to spread a rumor，but you do，you can never completely make up for the wrong.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
About a year ago, I went to stay at a Detroit hotel.I didn’t want to too much money with me, so I the desk clerk to put a hundred-dollar bill in the for me.
The next morning, however, the clerk said that he knew nothing about my money. I didn’t have any proof I had given the man the money. There was clearly left to do but go to the nearest lawyer at once.
The lawyer me to return to the hotel with him and give hundred-dollar bill to the clerk. we did.An hour later, I went back to the desk and asked for my money together with the lawyer. I had the lawyer as an eyewitness (证人) to the hundred-dollar bill,the clerk could not he knew nothing about it.
Another hour later, I put the second park of the lawyer’s plan into action. This time both the lawyer and I went to the to ask for the hundred-dollar once again. No matter I said, the clerk who kept my bill that he had given it to me. I said it was not .The lawyer said to him, “I this gentleman give you a hundred-dollar bill. If you don’t hand it in immediately, I will be forced to call the .” Now the clerk felt quite , so he gave me back the first hundred-dollar bill.
“I don’t know to thank you enough for getting my money back,” I said to the lawyer. And what do you suppose he answered? He said, “Oh, don’t me. That will be one hundred dollars, please.”
A．borrow B．spend C．waste D．carry
A．made B．asked C．allowed D．let
A．safe B．desk C．box D．bag
A．that B．which C．where D．when
A．something B．nothing C．anything D．everything
A．hoped B．agreed C．insisted D．advised
A．the other B．another C．others D．other
A．Such B．All C．So D．Much
A．For B．Though C．Even if D．Because
A．first B．second C．third D．one
A．say B．admit C．permit D．recognize
A．restaurant B．bank C．hotel D．hospital
A．what B．whatever C．which D．how
A．suggested B．insisted C．required D．requested
A．true B．sure C．exact D．nice
A．forced B．made C．allowed D．saw
A．police B．judge C．official D．officer
A．content B．nervous C．angry D．sad
A．when B．what C．where D．how
A．thank B．praise C．leave D．fool
Lang Lang is a world-class young pianist who grew up in Shenyang. He went to a piano school in Beijing when he was just eight. “You need ,” his father said. “But if you don’t work hard, no fortune will come.”
What made him sad was his piano teacher in Beijing didn’t like him. “You have no talent(天赋). You will never be a pianist.” nine-year-old boy Lang Lang was badly. He decided that he didn’t want to be a any more. For the next two weeks he didn’t touch the piano. , his father didn’t push, but waited.
Luckily, the day came when his teacher asked him to some holiday songs. He didn’t want to, but as he placed his fingers on the piano key, he that he could show others that he had talent____.That day he told his father he had been waiting to hear— that he wanted to study with a new teacher. that point on, everything turned around.
He started competitions(比赛). In the 1994 International Young Pianists Competition, when it was that Lang Lang had won, he was too to hold back his tears. Soon was clear that he couldn’t stay in China forever—he had to play on the world’s big . In 1997 Lang Lang again, this time to Philadelphia, U.S. There he spent two years practicing, and by 1999 he had worked hard enough for fortune to take over. After his performance at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival, gigs(特邀演出 ) in Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall started . Lang Lang finally worked to reach the place where fortune spots(发现) him, and lets him .
A．exercise B．fortune C．knowledge D．wealth
A．whether B．why C．when D．that
A．Like B．With C．To D．As
A．hurt B．weakened C．ruined D．frightened
A．singer B．pianist C．conductor D．player
A．Hopefully B．Patiently C．Wisely D．Painfully
A．play B．sing C．write D．study
A．seemed B．admitted C．noticed D．realized
A．in all B．above all C．after all D．at all
A．that B．what C．which D．when
A．From B．At C．Since D．After
A．receiving B．accepting C．winning D．beating
A．told B．mentioned C．announced D．recognized
A．excited B．encouraged C．shocked D．satisfied
A．this B．it C．that D．what
A．concerts B．tours C．competitions D．stages
A．started B．left C．moved D．performed
A．successful B．cheerful C．respectful D．meaningful
A．pulling B．breaking C．falling D．pouring
A．brighten B．shine C．admire D．develop
One day a few years ago we had an uninvited guest—a sparrow. the little bird had flown into our open garage. Then I the bird before I saw it.
“What’s that?”I asked when I first heard the sound.
“It’s coming from the .”my wife, Anita, said. “Maybe it’s one of the little .”
I looked into the garage. No children at all. But there was that sound again, coming from right up there. And that’s I saw the sparrow. It was flying just inches below the ceiling. It was clearly to get out, but couldn’t see the way out was not up, but and and out through the garage door. So the bird continued flapping its wings and bumping its little head the ceiling.
I tried to terrify it out, but only succeeded in driving it into the open space between the door and the ceiling. Then I tried to show the bird how to fly down a few feet it could get outside, but that only seemed to it more.
“Why don’t we just leave for a few minutes,” Anita .“I’m sure he’ll figure it out eventually.”
We went back into the house, where we to hear the ongoing struggle between the sparrow and the ceiling. Then suddenly, it was and our uninvited guest was gone.
I’ve that little sparrow through the years, and I’ve decided that birds are not different much from people. We think we were to fly ever upward, and we don’t even consider the that something good might happen if we just fly down a little bit. Once we figure out that we can make without banging（碰）our heads against ceilings, we can usually save ourselves much .
A．Still B．Somehow C．Instead D．Perhaps
A．heard B．caught C．searched D．observed
A．house B．backyard C．garage D．basement
A．birds B．guests C．cats D．kids
A．when B．how C．why D．whether
A．quickly B．anxiously C．cautiously D．slowly
A．deciding B．hesitating C．trying D．choosing
A．up B．backward C．forward D．down
A．against B．off C．along D．into
A．free B．small C．wide D．dark
A．in case B．even if C．as though D．so that
A．puzzle B．confuse C．frighten D．disturb
A．suggested B．explained C．insisted D．demanded
A．attempted B．continued C．refused D．failed
A．fierce B．empty C．safe D．silent
A．looked after B．worried about C．thought about D．brought up
A．forced B．determined C．born D．urged
A．idea B．possibility C．challenge D．problem
A．progress B．peace C．decisions D．efforts
A．panic B．pressure C．loss D．trouble
When you are little, it’s not hard to believe you can change the world. I remember my ______ when, at the age of 12, I _______ delegates at the Rio Earth Summit. “I am only a child,” I told them .“Yet I know that if all the money spent on war was spent on ________ poverty and finding environment answers, ________ a wonderful place this would be. In school you teach us not to __________ others, to work things out, to respect others, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to _______, not to be greedy. Then why do you go out and do the thing you tell us not to do? You grown-ups say you love us, but I _________ you, please, to make your __________reflect your words.”
I spoke for six minutes and received a standing ovation（长时间的喝彩）. Some of the delegates _______ cried. I thought that maybe I had ________ some of them, that my speech might actually spur(激励) action. Now, a decade from Rio, after I’ve sat through many more conferences, I’m not sure what has been accomplished. My confidence in the people in power and in the power of an individual’s voice to reach them has been deeply shaken.
When I was little, the world was simple. But as a young adult, I’m learning that as we have to make _________ — education, career, lifestyle — life gets more and more _________. We are beginning to feel __________ to produce and be successful. We are taught that economic growth is ________, but aren’t taught how to _________ a happy, healthy or sustainable(可持续的) way of living. And we are learning that what we wanted for the future when we were 12 was ideal and __________.
Today I’m no longer a child, but I’m worried about what kind of _________ my children will grow up in. I know change is _________, because I am changing, still figuring out what I think. I am still deciding how to live my life. The challenges are great, _________ if we accept individual responsibility and make sustainable choices, we will rise to the challenges, and we will become part of the ___________ tide of change.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On a number of drives throughout my childhood, my mother would suddenly pull over the car to examine a flower by the side of the road or rescue a beetle from tragedy while I, in my late teens and early twenties, sat __________ in the car.
Though Mother’s Day _______ Earth Day, for me, they have always been _________ each other. My mom has been “green” since she became_________ the environment. Part of this habit was _________of thrift (节俭). Like her mother and her grandmother before her, mom _________her plastic bags.
Mom creates a kind of ________ relationship with wildlife in her yard. She knows to pick the apples on her trees a little early to _________ the bears and that if she leaves the bird feeders(给食器) out at night, it is _________that they will be knocked down by a family of raccoons (浣熊). Spiders that __________ their way into the house and are caught in juice glasses will be ________ in the garden.
I try to________ my children that looking out for the environment starts with being ________of the environment. On busy streets, we look for dandelions (蒲公英) to fly in the wind; we say hello to neighborhood cats and _________ plastic cups and paper bags. This teaching comes easily, I realize, because I was taught so well by __________. Mom didn’t need to lecture; she didn’t need to beat a drum to change the world. She simply slowed down enough to ________ living in it and with that joy came mercy and an instinct for protection.
I am slowing down and it isn’t __________the weight of my nearly forty years on the planet, it is out of my concern for the planet itself. I’ve begun to save glass jars and reuse packing envelopes. I pause in my daily tasks to ___________ the squirrels race each other in the trees above my house.
Last summer, in the _________of my son and daughter, I planted tomatoes in my yard. With the heat of August around me, I ate the first while sitting on my low wall with dirt on my hands. Warm from the sun, it burst on my tongue with a sweetness I immediately wanted to __________ with my mom.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
