"I'm ready." said Alyssa Carson, a now 17-year-old astronaut-in-training from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For her, riding the most aggressive(刺激的)roller coaster in the park is not a big deal. If all goes according to her plans, NASA will send her to Mars in 2033, making her the first human to step foot on the planet. She will spend two to three years doing something on it, growing food, performing science experiments, and searching for signs of life. "The Martian is actually very accurate." she said, "A lot of the things that happened in the movie are similar to what is going to happen." She's devoted her entire life to preparing for this journey.
Her love for space started when she was 3 years old and watched a cartoon called The Backyardigans. Five animal friends go on imaginary adventures in their backyard including in one part, a mission to Mars. "I thought 'This red planet is so cool, ' " she said. "I started watching videos of rovers' landing on Mars. I had a large map of Mars in my room I would look at. We started getting telescopes so we could look at space. "
At 7 her father took her to space camp in Huntsville, Alabama. "That was the weekend of my life, "she said. "I got to learn everything I had been wanting to know and more... I got to see a life-size rocket. " She cherished the rocket so much that she returned 18 times. At the age of 12 she became the first person in history to attend all three NASA space camps in Huntsville, Alabama; Quebec, Canada; and Izmir, Turkey.
At first she mastered the basics of space and how humans have explored it throughout time. As she got older she simulated(模拟) missions, trying to reach a destination in gravity-free, weightless zones.
When she was 9 she met NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus. The experienced explorer told her she was her age when she decided to go to space. At that moment Alyssa knew her love of space was not a passing hobby. "I did the same thing as other kids, like switching my mind about careers, wanting to be a teacher or the president one day, "she said. "But the way I always thought about it was I would become an astronaut, go to Mars, come back, and then be a teacher or the president."
You may have come across several "strange" cultural practices; some would grip you with fear, while others would leave you astonished. The wife-carrying competition in Finland falls into the latter category.
Strange as it might sound, wife-carrying is a real sport in Finland. In fact, it is a highly competitive sport in which male competitors race while each carrying a female teammate. The objective is for the male to carry the female through a special obstacle track in the fastest time. The length of the official track is 253.5 metres with two dry obstacles (障碍) and a water obstacle about one metre deep.
The first modern-day wife-carrying event was held in Finland in 1992 and foreign competitors gained admission in 1995. This event is now held annually in Sonkajärvi, Finland as the World Championship.
Although many might consider the sport a joke, competitors take it very seriously. Like every serious sport, the wife-carrying competition also has its guidelines which are set by the International Wife-Carrying Competition Rules Committee. While the International rules are the basis for all competitions, rules and prizes do vary for each competition.
It is not mandatory that you must be legally married to the "wife" to be carried, she may even be your neighbour's wife or even someone you met during the competition; she must, however, be over 17 years of age. And her minimum weight must be 49 kilograms; otherwise, she will be burdened with a rucksack containing additional weight to bring the total load to be carried up to 49 kg. All participants must enjoy themselves. Yes, that is also one of the rules.
Special prizes go to the most entertaining couple, the best costume, and the strongest carrier. And for the grand prize, the wife's weight in beer goes to the couple who completes the course in the shortest time. Whether you win or lose, the good thing is the sport encourages team spirit among couples.
Quite often, no matter how good you are, your success is dependent on how other people such as your boss, peers, clients and customers notice your communication and responses. So when you come to people who make the key difference between helping you or holding you back, how can you influence and persuade them to give what you want.
Psychological research repeatedly show that people generally make up their minds on whether to help you or not based on whether they like you or not. It is human nature. What can you do about it? You need to make a good impression on others to ensure they like you and give you what you want. Research again shows that people give opportunities to the people they like best. In fact, most people actually make up their minds about other people in the first five minutes or less of meeting someone. These are called first impressions or "moments of truth. "
Once they make up their minds, they tend to be very unwilling to change their opinions. You hardly have room for error when making that first impression on a new acquaintance. Therefore, whether you are applying for a job, going for an interview, attending a meeting with your boss or peers, or serving a customer, you need to prepare yourself mentally and rehearse(排练) how you will manage the first few minutes of your interaction. This includes doing your homework to gather information and researching all possible issues so you will know how to deal with them if the other party (另一方)raise them unexpectedly.
It is amazing how poorly some people can come across at the beginning. The worst thing is that they do not even seem to realize it. Having good qualifications and an excellent work performance does not mean that candidates can succeed in making a good first impression.
China has been the birthplace of many of the world's greatest inventions. It was, for example, the first country to produce paper money. Before the invention of paper money and coins, people used many different kinds of things for buying and sellingThis exchange of goods and services for other goods and services is called bartering.
In 1200 BC, people in China began to use shells (贝壳) as money. Usually the shells used as money were very small. This made it easier for people to carry money over long distances, and allowed for trade to develop between different parts of the country.
In the years which followed this invention, many other countries around the world began to do the same.
The next development was in 1000 BC, when China started making bronze and copper shells. It wasn't long before the Chinese made round coins out of metal.By 500 BC, metal coins had begun to appear in countries like Persia and Greece, and later in the Roman Empire.
About 1,000 years later, leather was used as money in China, and in 806 AD, the first paper banknotes were produced by the Chinese people.
A. People also began collecting foreign coins as souvenirs.
B. During that time, for example, buying a chicken might cost several potatoes.
C. It was still many years before paper currency appeared in Europe.
D. However, as economies developed, such exchanges became impractical.
E. They also used tiny shells as money for buying and selling.
F. As time went by, trade between countries increased.
G. The first coins often had holes in them so that people could string them together.
One small mistake changed Sonia's life. Now she is 1 and tries not to miss any opportunities that come to her way.
One day, Sonia walked 2 a little boy, who wanted to buy crayons, but he couldn't 3them. He looked sad when he saw the money in Sonia's hand. 4 she didn't realize he was in 5 of help at all. Sonia ignored him and 6 on her way home.
After reaching home, she told everything to her brother Gur. Gur told Sonia that God had given you a(n) 7 to help a boy, but you 8 it. There's possibility that God was 9 you; maybe today would have become your big day of your life. Hearing Gur's words, Sonia 10 back to the shop to find the boy but time never
11 for anyone. Sonia got disappointed and returned home, continuously 12 at herself. Why didn't it come into her mind what Gur had13? "Chances are everywhere. All you need to do is to grab them because they don't always 14." said Gur. Now what Sonia has missed is a chance that she can only 15.
On that day Sonia learnt that biggest 16 in her life. Actually not only Sonia, but many of us ignore the chance of helping in 17 ways because we always run after bigger ones. However, big opportunities do come but not every day. Therefore,18 small ones so that you can't miss big ones. Sonia also 19 to wait for big opportunities, but now she knows that with small opportunities she can make big 20 in her life.
Disneynature's film Born in China, which focuses the lives of rare species native to China such as pandas and golden (monkey), hit theaters (上映) in the Friday.
The film, (direct) by Chinese director Lu Chuan, was also screened at the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Washington DC that same day. China's ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai said before the screening that the relationship between human beings nature is as equally important as the relationships between nations. He expressed his hope the cooperation will help to raise the awareness about environmental (protect).
Cui said that social and cultural dialogue is among the new dialogue mechanisms(机制)created after the recent (success) meeting between the presidents of the two countries. That will (certain) mean more cultural exchanges between the two countries in the future.
The film first appeared in China in April. It will (translate) into 10 languages and released in 100 countries and regions in the near future.
Born in China currently has 81 percent approval rating among critics and a 90 percent audience on Rotten Tomatoes.
Ralphie was getting bored in his geography class. Mr. Hudson displayed a map of Europe up on the whiteboard, and asked someone to turn off the lights so they could see it better. "I'll do it," said Ralphie, and he put a paper spitball into a straw(吸管)quickly and blew it at the light switch. It missed, and landed in Mira's hair instead. Mira screamed in disgust. The other students burst into laughter. Mr. Hudson was annoyed.
"Detention(留堂), Ralph. " He wrote up a pink detention paper and slapped(拍)it on the boy's desk. Then he continued with his lesson.
"I was only trying to turn off the lights!" Ralphie protested. The teacher did not want to hear it.
"See you after school. Don't be late. "
Math class was next. Ralphie was pretty good at math, so he started to cheer up. He had done his homework, so when Mrs. Addison asked for a student to solve a problem at the blackboard, Ralphie didn't hesitate.
He jumped out of his seat and announced in a loud voice, "I volunteer as Tribute!" His friends burst out laughing. Mrs. Addison looked at him strictly over the tops of her glasses. Uh-oh, thought Ralphie.
"We do not yell in math class, Ralph. Not another sound out of you, young man." She turned back to the board.
"It's from The Hunger Games …" he tried to explain.
"That's quite enough! Detention, Ralph." The math teacher reached for her pile of detention paper and wrote his name down. "After school. Don't be late. "
"Oh man," murmured Ralphie. "How do I go to two detentions at the same time? "
When the bell rang at the end of the day, Ralphie went to see Mr. Hudson first. The teacher told Ralphie to sit down. The boy did so, and folded his hands in his lap for a minute or two. Then he raised one and said, "Sir? Can I be excused to go to the washroom?" Mr. Hudson nodded.
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:
Once in the hallway, Ralphie raced over to Mrs. Addison's room.
Paragraph 2:
After washing his hands, Ralphie tried to open the door of the washroom, but found the lock was stuck.
