Powell was walking home one dark night. As he1the city bridge, he noticed something 2--a person was sitting on the rail, legs hanging over a3 about 100 feet below, at this time.

    “At first I thought he was just4 But as I got closer, I heard him whispering.5I clearly heard ‘I'm just going to jump,'” said Powell.

    “Hey, buddy, what are you doing?” Powell asked. He kept his6, standing about six feet away not to 7the guy.

    “I'm going to jump,” the guy said.

    “His8had pain in it, but I could9he didn't really want to do this. He10felt there wasn't any other way.” said Powell.

    Powell sought to11him. “You have any kids?”

    Without turning to look at Powell, the stranger only showed a12of his daughter on his cell phone. She looked to be two years old. “Think about how13her dad at a young age will affect her.” Powell14 Over the next ten minutes they talked, the stranger gradually opened his heart.

    “I'm having a15time.” the stranger said. “I can't make any money and I'm hungry.”

    Thankfully, Powell's calm, sincere persuasion caused the stranger to16turn and look at him. Powell, now about two feet from the stranger, held out his hand and17it there. “I felt I could catch him18if he jumped, but I also wanted him to know that I was there for him.” he said. To his19 the stranger took his hand and climbed down.

    Powell is great! It's always good to offer help and show your care if you find someone in your life20with disappointment.

    Mobile technology has created new ways for all types of learning styles to help discover new information. If you want to teach yourself things, here are some apps that will help you.

    Coursera

    Perhaps one of the biggest advancements in the history of e-learning, Coursera has teamed up with top school like Duke, Stanford, and John Hopkins to bring you direct access to real college courses in psychology, computer science, business, and technology. Each course features pre-recorded videos, projects, and quizzes, just like you'd receive inside the classroom.

    Lumosity

    This app features three-day sessions that target many different areas of brain activity: memory, speed, problem solving, and thinking flexibility. Each day you can participate in a timed session to sharpen mental intelligence and keep track of your progress over time.

    Duolingo

    If you've ever wanted to learn a new language but didn't know where to start or couldn't afford expensive apps, you need to check out Duolingo. This app teaches more than a dozen languages by breaking up exercises into mini games. The developer of Duolingo claims that 34 hours of learning in this app equals a full term's worth of school.

    EarthViewer

    Ever wonder what Earth looked like a million years ago? There's no better way to know than to look for yourself. Earth Viewer takes you on a digital journey to see how the landscape(地貌) and face of the planet has developed over the past 4.5 billion years, and view climate changes, sea level adjustments, or the evolution of famous cities.

    All Alice Waters wanted was bread, jam and lettuce that tasted real, with a cup of good coffee or a glass of wine on the side. The founder of Chez Panisse, the California restaurant famous for launching the farm-to-table movement, certainly didn't plan to start a revolution.

    Returning to the United States in 1965 after studying in France, Waters missed the delicious food and community of the little cafes where she spent most of her time. “The United States was a land of frozen food, so eating even just fresh bread and jam was an extremely pleasant surprise to me,” says Waters. “And spending time in restaurants with friends… it was very important to me.”

    One day, an idea struck Waters that maybe her cooking and sense of community could help her make some money. Believing they could do anything, she and a group of friends raised money, found a house in Berkeley and opened a little restaurant called Chez Panisse in 1971.

    Most ingredients Waters could find were from industrial farms. They tasted totally different from the ones her parents planted during World War II and the ones she had enjoyed in France. Thus she began a search for suppliers who would grow good ingredients.

    “I was looking for taste. And I couldn't find taste until I met the local organic farmers who were growing vegetables for flavor,” Waters recalls. “I realized that I would be dependent on them for the success of my restaurant.”

At first, the finances were a disaster. If any of the ingredients didn't taste right, chefs threw them out. Staff had to taste the wine to sell it. That meant thousands of dollars of wine disappeared on a regular basis. People who offered ingredients were given meals in trade.

    But Chez Panisse had lines out of the front door from the very first night. Waters' sense of taste and her dedication to making the best food possible kept people coming back. It didn't take long for Chez Panisse to catch the attention of foodies (“吃货”). Throughout its existence, the restaurant has earned the highest praise of many critics. It has sometimes been called the best restaurant in America.

    Now 72, Waters is not content with staying at home and cooking in her kitchen. Last September, she flew to Washington D. C., to meet members of Congress to discuss the benefits of free lunch for all schoolchildren.

    Many people have called Waters unrealistic over the course of her 45-year fight for good food. Nevertheless, her single-mindedness ended up sparking a farm-to-table movement. “She didn't start Chez Panisse to change the world,” said Marion Nestle, a New York University nutrition professor. “But what she did was absolutely revolutionary. She's a force and deserves every bit of recognition that comes her way.”

    Neuroscientists have explained the risky, aggressive or just plain baffling behavior of teenagers as the product of a brain that is somehow compromised. Groundbreaking research in the past 10 years, however, shows that this view is wrong. The teen brain is not defective. It is not a half-baked adult brain, either. It has been forged by evolution to function differently from that of a child or an adult.

    The most important of the teen brain's features is its ability to change in response to the environment by modifying the communication networks that connect brain regions. It allows teenagers to make enormous progress in thinking and socialization. But the change also makes them sensitive to dangerous behavior and serious mental disorders.

    The most recent studies indicate that the riskiest behaviors arise from a mismatch between the maturation of networks in the limbic system(边缘系统), which drives emotions at adolescence, and the maturation of networks in the prefrontal cortex（前额皮质）, which occurs later and promotes sound judgment and the control of impulses. Indeed, we now know that one's prefrontal cortex continues to change noticeably until his 20s. And yet adolescence seems to be starting earlier, extending the “mismatch years.”

    The plasticity of networks linking brain regions—and not the growth of those regions, as previously thought—is key to eventually behaving like an adult. Understanding that, and knowing that a widening gap between the development of emotional and judgment networks is happening in young people today, can help parents, teachers, counselors and teenagers themselves. People will better see that behavior such as risk-taking and turning away from parents and toward peers are not signs of cognitive or emotional problems. They are a natural result of brain development, a normal part of adolescents learning how to negotiate with a complex world.

    The same understanding can also help adults decide when to intervene. A 15-year-old girl's departure from her parents' tastes in clothing, music or politics may be a source of anxiety for Mom and Dad but does not indicate mental illness. A 16-year-old boy's tendency to skateboard without a helmet or to accept risky dares from friends is not unimportant but is more likely a sign of short-range thinking and peer pressure than a desire to hurt himself. Knowing more about the unique teen brain will help all of us learn how to separate unusual behavior that is age-appropriate from that which might indicate illness. Such awareness could help society reduce the rates of teen addiction, motor vehicle accidents and depression.

    A cab company in one of Japan's major cities is introducing silent taxi drivers. Miyako Taxi, which is based in Kyoto, shows the new idea in March. The business is currently operating five “Silence Taxis” across the city.

    The cars look like any ordinary taxi，but a notice written on the back of the passenger seat  inform passengers that they have entered one of the new silent fleet. Drivers will offer a greeting when their passenger enters the car, and aside from confirming the route they will not engage in small talk. The drivers can indulge in conversation, only if they are spoken to first, and they are also allowed to communicate in emergency situations.

    Announcing the idea, Miyako Taxi said: “This service is currently in a trial stage, with the goal of creating an in-car atmosphere that provides the most comfortable ride for passengers through limiting the driver's speaking.” According to Japan Today, they made the move after hearing reports from passengers that they were fed up being forced to chat with their drivers.

    The company will assess the popularity of the trial before deciding whether to expand it and roll it out across more of their drivers.

    Language and speaking is at the heart of another issue facing Uber drivers, after lost a High Court Battle to block written tests in London. Drivers applying for a minicab license in the capital will now have to pass the written exam following Uber's failed challenge against Transport for London (TfL). The company argued it could see up to 33,000 existing drivers lose their licences under the new rule.

    The company's London head, Tom Elvidge: vowed to challenge the rule and said, “We've always supported spoken English skills, but writing an essay has nothing to do with communicating with passengers or getting them safely from A to B.”

    Have you used “um…” “like…” “you know…” in your speech? Catch words(口头禅) are unnecessary words used to fill up dead paces while you speak. Speaking too many catch words is like a bad habit that we are unaware of. While most people tend to ignore it in everyday conversation, in a formal speech or an interview, too many catch words can make even the best presentation look bad.      

    Stop when we are in doubt. Catch words are used more often when a person is unsure about the sentence to use next.      If you are lost or in doubt over what to say next, just stop speaking, take a long pause, breathe in , figure out what to say and start again.

    Speak consciously and slowly. If the speech is too long and you talk continuously without thinking, then you might also be pushing in a few catch words in between.

          It is best to memorize the tricky parts of the speech, like the introduction and the conclusion where a majority of the catch words are used.

       Preparing for the speech is very important when trying to remove catch words. Make it a point to pause when there is a comma or give two pauses at the end of the sentence. If certain words in the speech need to be emphasized then underline them and practice them as they need to be said.

    Avoid catch words in conversations. Get a friend or your partner to help you out when rehearsing a conversation.       Although it can be an unpleasant and often embarrassing process, but in the long run it helps in cutting down on catch words.

A. Practise your speech when you can.

B. Remember the saying that silence is golden.

C. Therefore we can find out best friends to guide us well.

D. Anytime you use a catch word, the friend can point it out.

E. So we should learn some ways to avoid speaking such words.

F. Structure the speech well to include as much information as is needed.

G. The mind is so busy trying to figure out what to say that there is a strong urge to speak such words.

    One of the purposes of children's slang(俚语)       (be) to stop adults from being able to understand what they're saying. Obviously, the strategy works. Recent research shows that       majority of adults can't translate the meaning of common slang.

    In a survey of 4,5000 people last month,      was found that 85 percent of adults didn't understand the translations of emoji(表情符号)and text. The researchers warned that a lack of       (aware) of what children are communicating online can leave them unprotected, with phrases that express eating disorders and unhappiness not

          (understand).

    For young people growing up with technology, this new language comes       (natural), but it's leaving some adults unsure about       is being said by their children online. It's important for adults to speak to young people about how they use social media and chat online.

    Caroline Bunting, general manager at Internet matters, said “While it is unrealistic to expect parents

          (know) every piece of Internet slang their children will ever see, online safety starts       a conversation. It's vital for parents to talk to their kids about their digital worlds, including all       (sort) of things they might experience online and the types of problems to be aware of.”

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（＼）划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：1).每处错误及其修改均限一词;

2).只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

    As summer vacation are coming soon, my classmates are trying very hardly to get train tickets to go home. But I have made up my minds to spend the vacation far from home for first time in my life. My parents have agreed to visiting me, and I will have a different vacation. When they came here, I will show them around my university and the city just as well. I have decided to buy me some nice gifts. It will be a big surprising for them. My parents have done a lot for me, and I think it was high time that I did anything special to express my thanks.

假如你是新华中学的学生李华，请你用英文给Amy写一封慰问信，主要内容包括：

1).自我介绍 2).得知的情况 3).表示鼓励 4).打算为她做什么 5).祝她早日康复

提示：1). 信的格式已为你写好

2). 信中不得出现你的真实情况。

3). 词数100左右。

Dear Amy

    I am Li Hua , a senior grade-three student from China.

Yours

Li Hua