Our family made a decision to host an exchange student at the beginning of this month. I really wanted to host an exchange student, but I knew my husband wouldn’t agree because of our financial situation. I spent a couple of days reading about the exchange program and trying to see how much money would be involved in this process. I found out that the cost wouldn’t be that much. Finally, my husband agreed.

    The next step in the process was to decide on an exchange student. The first thing my husband said when we discussed this was that it would have to be a girl. I completely understood because we have two young girls. Our daughters are 4 years old and 7 years old.

    We were looking for someone that would coincide withour family. We ended up narrowing it down to 5 girls, but one of these girls just stood out to us. Her name was Victoria. She not only was involved in sports, but also she seemed very outgoing. After a couple of days, we made our final decision on that girl that stood out to us all along.

    We had the interview with a local coordinator who had to check out the house to make sure it was suitable for another child to stay in. Thankfully, after some hard work from my husband and me, we made a great impression at the interview.

     Finally, the Tuesday after the interview, I received an email with a 15-page profile with our exchange student’s information. I received the email when I was with a close friend of mine and we talked about what I should say to her in the first email I write to her. I was so nervous!

     Now, we have been having so much fun exchanging email and we both are very excited about her arrival next month..

  In a recent business magazine article, a president said, laughter in the workplace is a waste of time. This is a place to do business, not to laugh, some researchers, however, disagree with his words. As scientists have learned more about the brain, they’ve discovered that smiles and laughter stimulate the brain, which can help increase happiness and reduce pain.

Why do we need laughter in our lives? Laughter is a powerful tool for our health. In a number of studies that were carried out, it was shown that people who are more humorous have stronger immune systems(免疫系统)while people who feel stressed have weaker immune systems. Humor can help make your immune systems stronger.

Here are some tips to add more humor to your life:

    Laugh at yourself. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Have a positive attitude towards yourself and your worries will become lighter too.

    Don’t worry why people laugh---just appreciate it. Be funny. Look for the humorous side of and otherwise difficult situation.

Prepare a fist-aid laughter source. This could include books, cartoons, CDs, or videos.

Write down the amusing things that happen and save them for a sad day.

    Be open to silly things. Humor is the child within yourself.

    Laugh with others for what they do, rather than what they are.

    Research has shown that laughter is indeed the best medicine, so make time for humor now.

请认真阅读下面短文，并按照要求用英语写一篇150词左右的文章。

Grinding an iron rod into a needle

Li Bai was a great poet in the Tang Dynasty of China.

It is said that in his childhood, he was very fond of playing and afraid of difficulties, and made slow progress in his studies. One day, on his way home after school, he walked by a creek and saw an old woman grinding（磨碎）a very, very thick iron rod. Being curious, he went to the old woman and asked, “Old grandma, why are you grinding this iron rod?” The old woman replied, “To make a needle.” At this moment, Li Bai felt more curious and asked again, “How can you grind such a thick iron rod into a needle?” “Yes, I can. I certainly can,” the old woman said. “If one works with constant effort, one can grind an iron rod into a needle.” Hearing what the old woman said, Li Bai was enlightened. Since then, Li Bai studied hard and made rapid progress. Eventually he became a famous poet.

【写作内容】

1. 用约30个单词概括上文主要内容；

2. 用约120个单词，以“坚持不懈”发表你的观点，内容包括:

(1)故事给你的启示；

(2)以你或他人的经历举例说明“坚持不懈”的作用或意义。

【写作要求】

1. 概述故事或提供论据时，不得使用原文语句；

2. 作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称。

参考词汇：坚持不懈 perseverance

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Maybe you are an average student. You probably think you will never be a top student. This is not necessarily so, however. Anyone can become a better student if he or she wants to. Here is how.

Plan your time carefully.

When planning your week, you should make a list of things that you have to do. After making the list, you should make a timetable. First arrange your time for eating, sleeping, dressing, etc. Then decide a good, regular time for studying. Don’t forget to set aside enough time for playing. A weekly timetable may not solve all the problems, but it will force you to realize what is happening to your time.

Find a good place to study.

Look around the house for a good study area. Keep this place, which may be a desk or simply a corner of your room, free of everything but study materials. No games, radios or TV! When you sit down to study, concentrate on the subject.

Make good use of your time in class.

Take advantage of class time to listen to everything the teacher says. Really listening in class means less work later. Taking class notes will help you remember what the teacher says.

Study regularly.

When you get home from school, go over your notes. Review the important points that your teacher has mentioned in class. If you know what your teacher is going to discuss the next day, read the material. This will help you understand the next class. If you do these things regularly, the material will become more meaningful, and you will remember it longer.

Develop a good attitude about the tests.

The purpose of a test is to show what you have learned about a subject. They help you to remember your new knowledge. The world won’t end if you don’t pass a test, so don’t be overly worried.

There are other methods that might help you with your studying. You will probably discover many others after you have tried these.

 16-year-old Laresce Brown has become the strongest schoolgirl in the UK. She says her success is due to a joint condition, which used to engender great pain.

   Laresce has six British and World Champion power-lifting records under her belt. Yet until just two years ago, a condition called hypermobility left her in so much pain that she was unable to take part in sport. Rather than letting her illness limit her Life, Laresce took inspiration from her father, and began weight-lifting. This put an end to her pain, and she became a champion in her field.

   Laresee loves to dance and she was a keen Morris dancer at the age of eleven. After that, she had to face daily pain in her knees, elbows and hands. She was forced to miss several days of school each month, due to pain and the lack of sleep that caused.

   However, she is now effectively cured, since taking up the sport of power-lifting 18 months ago.

   Laresce's position as Britain's strongest power-lifter for her age is down to her spirit and determination. To ensure her success, Laresce must train for eight hours a week. "I really enjoyed the feeling of power I got and the excitement of people encouraging me to do my best. Becoming a champion was a big surprise—I just started off for fun and I was not expecting anything. So to win six titles was amazing," she said.

   Laresce's father said, "Being the father of such a high-achieving teen, I couldn't be more proud. She's truly the apple of my eye and has worked so hard to be where she is today. She's made us all so happy, and I feel we all enjoy a bright future together thanks to her."

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阅读下面图表和文字，然后按照要求写一篇150字左右的英语短文。

Brunswick, the international advisory firm, has just released their global survey of over 40,000 people from 26 countries that includes generations, geographies and measures globalopinionon a large group of topics such as globalization and automation(自动化).

      Here are the 10 countries from the survey that were optimistic about the future.

(1)Denmark: 20%;

(2)Finland: 22%;

(3)Singapore: 24%;

(4) Hong Kong, China: 32%;

(5)Brazil: 34%;

(6)Thailand: 41%;

(7)Indonesia: 60%;

(8)United Arab Emirates: 63%;

(9)India: 73%;

(10)Mainland China: 74%｡

【写作内容】

① 用大约30个单词概况以上内容；

②用大约120个单词发表你的观点，内容包括：

③你觉得中国人为什么对未来非常乐观（至少两个理由）？

④具体在你个人生活中，该如何保持乐观的心态？

【写作要求】

①发表观点时必须提供理由或论据；

②阐述观点或叙述经历时，不能直接引用原文语句；

③作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称；

④不必写标题。

假定你是李华，请根据来信内容代表同学们写一封回信，内容包括：

1   表达对Dr. Smith到来的期盼。

2  回复信中提出的问题。

注意：  1   词数100左右；  2  可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。