Teenage Problems

谢建民 龚海霞

主  持  人：谢建民（正高级教师，江苏省特级教师）

本期撰稿：江苏省无锡市谢建民名师工作室成员龚海霞（江苏省江阴市敔山湾实验学校）

Reading 1

It was Saturday again. Grace and Karen disliked Saturdays. That was another thing the twins had in common. They shared the same clothes and tied their hair in the same manner. In fact， it was hard for their classmates and teachers to tell the difference between them sometimes.

Unlike their classmates， they had to get up early at seven every Saturday to prepare for their lessons. Grace had to attend the art lesson and Karen had to attend her ballet（芭蕾） lesson. “How I wish I could do something different today，” said the twins with one voice. All at once， an idea came to Grace and Karen at the same time. “Would you like to be me for a day？” they asked each other. It seemed like a wonderful plan to them. After giving each other a description of their own friends， Grace put on Karens ballet dress while Karen put Graces brushes and paints into her bag. Then they left for their classes.

When the art lesson started， Karen was lost. Unlike Grace， Karen was poor at drawing. When the art lesson finally ended， Karen didnt dare（敢） to hand in her work.

At the same time， Grace was struggling（掙扎） in the ballet class as well. As she had no idea about the dance steps， she had to follow her classmates blindly. As a result， she kept knocking into them. Their ballet teacher became impatient with her， “Karen， you should remember the basic steps. You cant depend on copying what others are doing.”

When Karen and Grace got home， they were tired. They decided that they would never try to be someone else. It seemed that the grass was not always greener on the other side of the fence.

Task

If you have the chance， would you like to be someone else for a day？ Why or why not？

Writing 1

假设你是李华，你以前的同学杨林向你抱怨英语太难学了，他上次的英语考试又不及格。请你给他写封邮件，给他一些鼓励和建议。

升格展示

Dear Yang Lin，

Im sorry to hear that you failed in English exam again and I can understand your feelings. Many students have the same problem， so you are not alone. Now Im writing to give you some advice.

First， you should listen attentively in class and take notes. If you have any problem， turn to your teacher. Besides， a large vocabulary is a must， which can help you read more smoothly. Last but not least， I suggest you read some English stories for it can help develop your thinking.

As the saying goes， “Practice makes perfect.” I believe you can make progress in English as long as you put time and efforts into it.

Best wishes！

Yours sincere，

Li Hua

综合点评

本篇书面表达属于应用文，要求小作者给初中同学杨林写一封建议信，对他上次英语考试不及格表示理解，给出学习英语的建议并进行鼓励。升格后的作文第一段情感自然，过渡句合理。第二段是文章的主体部分， first， besides以及last but not least使建议层次分明，逻辑清晰，要点齐全。第三段结尾巧用谚语“Practice makes perfect.”以及as long as和make progress in 等进行鼓励，表达期待。总体来看，文章主题明确，结构紧凑，语句连贯，表达清晰。