Five Things to Do Before You Are 18

Are you bored with your daily routine? Here are some things you should try before you are 18, because after that it’s too late.

Write your family tree

When you are young, get to know all the older people in your family and find out as much as you can about when they were young. Draw a family tree and make notes about each person so that you won’t forget.

Learn to swim

Seriously, this is so important that it could save your life. If you can’t swim well, you won’t be able to do water sports like waterskiing, surfing and diving. Even taking a boat trip will be dangerous for you. Make sure you do it.

Try at least one kind of team sport

Being a good team player is an important skill in life. You can’t just think of yourself, but have to work well with other people. Other advantages of team sports like basketball, football and baseball are that they keep you fit and healthy, and they are also great fun. Teams usually have a good social life too---you’ll go to lots of parties and make many friends.

Collect something

One of the best hobbies for under-18s is collecting things. You could collect rare Chinese stamps, or you could collect things that make you remember what you have done, like cinema tickets for films you have seen or emails from friends. The best way to collect is to have a special album to put your collection in and to write what each thing means to you. That way you won’t forget.

Camp out in the garden

If you don’t have your own garden, find a friend who has one! You will need: two or three friends, a small tent, sleeping bags and warm blankets. Take a lot of food and drink with you into the tent and play games until it gets dark. When it gets dark, tell ghost stories, and at midnight, eat all your sweets. You will need a torch or else you won’t be able to see all your sweets, and it might get too scary.

1．Draw a family tree and________ about each person so that you won’t forget.

A．know the name                                            B．write down some notes

C．find the birthday                                           D．ask the older for help

2．What’s the most important reason for learning to swim? 

   A．You might feel well.                                      B．It could make you healthy.

   C．You might easily do lots of things.                  D．It could save your life.   

3．The writer tells us that one of the best hobbies is to________.

   A．collect something                                         B．do some water sports

   C．camp out in the garden                                  D．send emails to your friends

4．What’s the passage mainly about?

   A．Hobbies to share.                                          B．Skills to have.

C．Things to do.                                               D．Sports to play.

We are all asked to make a speech at some point in life，but most of us don’t do a very good job. This article gives us some suggestions on how to make an excellent speech.

Usually people are often afraid of making a speech in public. You get nervous, you forget what you want to say, you talk too long, and you get your audience bored. Later you think,“Thank Goodness！It's over. I'm just not good at public speaking. I hope I will never have to do that again.”

Cheer up！It doesn’t have to be that hard. Here are some simple steps to make preparations. Firstly, ask yourself the purpose of your speech. Why are you speaking？Secondly, collect as many facts as you can on your subject. Thirdly, spend enough time organizing your material so that your speech is clear and easy to follow. Use as many examples as possible, and use pictures, charts and graphs(图表) if they help make your points clearer. Lastly, never forget your audience. Treat your audience with respect. They will be thankful.

Just remember！Be prepared. Know your subject and your audience. Be brief. Say what you have to say and then stop. And ee yourself. Let your personality (个性) come through so that you make person to person contact(联系) with your audience.

If you follow these simple steps, you will see that you don’t have to be afraid of speaking in public. In fact, you may find the experience so enjoyable that you volunteer to make more speeches！Have a try and ice what happens.

81.The second paragraph mainly tell us_________________________________________

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82. What should you do when you are preparing a speech？(至少列出三个建议)

________________________________________________________________________

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83.The underlined phrase “Be brief”in paragraph 4 means_______________________

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84. Translate the underlined sentence in the last paragraph into Chinese.

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85. 请给短文拟定一个适当的英文标题。

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Have you ever imagined yourself as a travel writer? Send us 500 words on your 2008 summer holiday，explaining what made it special—with as much detail as possible（place names，names of hotels／restaurants．what you especially enjoyed seeing and doing）．The best five entries，as chosen by our editors，will each win one of our five holiday prizes，and will be published in full in the Travel section of the Guardian（《卫报》）and on guardian.co.uk．

There are five categories（类别）and five different prizes which everyone can get．

Category：Activity，Adventure

Prize：a two-week campervan（野营车）holiday to New Zealand with Discover the world and Air New Zealand．Spend two weeks traveling in the country wherever the road takes you-from the beaches and cities of North Island to the beautiful scenery of the South Island．

Category：Family

Prize：A weekend in a tent for four people，staying on a private nature reserve（自然保护区）near Padstow，with Cornish Tent Holidays in connection with Neal's Yard Holidays．

Category：Beach

Prize：A trip for two to Damascus with Black Tomato，The prize includes return flights from London，a private guided tour of the city and four nights on the way．

Category：Camping

Prize：A pair of return flights for two to New York with STA Travel，including taxes．

Category：UK

Prize：A week of river cruising（乘船巡游）for two on a motorboat in Germany with European Boating Holidays．Visit the great lakes or travel in and around Berlin by river，and the trip includes return flights from London．

To enter the competition，send your entry to our website．Don't forget to tell us which of the five categories you are writing about，and include your name，address and telephone number．The deadline for entries is 11：59p．m．on Friday August 22，2008．

1．The purpose of the passage is to _______．

A．invite readers to travel abroad                    B．introduce holiday places to readers

C．ask readers to write articles on travel           D．help readers become writers

2．The underlined word entries in the first paragraph probably refers to “_______” ．

A．articles entered for a competition

B．words that are written by readers

C．editors，favorite readers

D．the best articles that wilt be popular soon

3．If you want to win a trip to New York，you should write something about _______．

A．family                  B．adventure             C．camping                 D．beach

4．_______ will arrange（安排）your trip if you win the prize for Category “Beach” ．

A．Cornish Tent Holidays                              B．Black Tomato

C．STA Travel                                               D．European Boating Holidays

5．You will go to _______ for a holiday if you win the prize for Category “UK”．

A．New Zealand        B．England               C．USA                      D．Germany

One day, a teacher was speaking to a group of students about how to best use their time. He gave an example those students would never forget.

   He pulled out a big bottle and put it on the table. He also took out about a dozen rocks and carefully put them into the bottle, one rock at a time. When no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, “Is this bottle full?”

   Everyone in the class shouted, “Yes.” The teacher replied, “Really?” He pulled out of a bucket of very small rocks. He poured some small rocks in and shook the bottle. The small rocks went down into the spaces among the big rocks. He then asked the group once more, “Is this bottle full?”

   “Probably not,” one of them answered. “Good!” he replied. He brought out a bucket of sand and poured the sand in the bottle and it went into all of the spaces left among the rocks. Once more, he asked the question “Is this bottle full?”

   “No!” the class shouted. Once again he said. “Good.” Then he poured a cup of water in until the bottle was full. The he asked, “What is the idea here?” One student put up his hand and said, “The idea is, no matter how busy your life is, you can always do more things if you try really hard!’

   “No,” the teacher replied, “ that’s not the idea. The idea is if you don’t put the big rocks at first, you’ll never get them in at all. What are the big rocks in your life? Family, friends, your education, or your dreams. Remember to put these big rocks at first or you’ll never get them in at all.”

 46. Why did the teacher do the experiment(实验)?

          A. Because the students were having a science class.

          B. Because the teacher tried to tell the students about how to best use the time

          C. Because the students were interested in the rock experiment.

          D. Because the teacher tried to tell the students how important the experiment was.

47. How many times did the teacher ask “ Is this bottle full?”

          A. Once             B. Twice          C. Three times         D. Four times

 48. The teacher didn’t put ____________ into the bottle.

          A. rocks             B. water           C. rice               D. sand     49. The sentence “ you’ll never get them in at all” in the passage really means_________.

          A. You can never do more things in your life.

          B. You’ll never get the big rocks out of the bottle.

          C. You’ll never put all the big rocks into the bottle.

          D. You’ll never finish the most important things in your life.

    50. What is the bet title for the article?

          A. First things first                        B. Is this bottle full?

          C. Make yourself busier                    D. Put more big rocks into the bottle