Dear Daughter,
As we drove off from Columbia, I wanted to write a letter to you to tell you all that is on my mind．
First, I want to tell you how proud we are．Getting into Columbia is a real testament of what a great well-rounded student you are．It is in college that you will truly discover what learning is about．I encourage you to be curious, but I also want to tell you “Education is what you have left after all that is taught is forgotten”．That is really what learning in college is about–this will be the period where you go from teacher-taught to master-inspired, after which you must become self-learner．So do take each subject seriously, and even if what you learn isn’t critical for your life, the skills of learning will be something you cherish forever．
There is no single simple answer to any question．Remember during your high school debate class, I always asked you to take on the side that you don’t believe in? I did that for a reason– things rarely “black and white”, and there are always many ways to look at a problem．You will become a better problem solver if you recognize that．This is called “critical thinking”, and it is the most important thinking skill you need for your life．This also means you need to become tolerant and supportive of others．I will always remember when I went to my Ph．D．a(chǎn)dvisor and proposed a new thesis topic．He said “I don’t agree with you, but I’ll support you．”
Do your best in classes, but don’t let pressure get to you．Your mother and I have no expectations for your grades．If you graduate and learn something in your four years, we would feel happy．Please don’t be worried．The only thing that matters is that you learned．The only metric you should use is that you tried．Grades are just silly letters that give the vain people something to brag, and the lazy people something to fear．You are too good to be either．
College is the four years where you have:·the greatest amount of free time．·the first chance to be independent．·the most flexibility to change．·the lowest risk for making mistakes．
So please treasure your college years．
Love,
Dad (& Mom)
(A letter from Kaifu Lee)
1．According to Kaifu Lee, the underlined sentence in the second paragraph means_________．
A．you should learn by yourself instead of learning from your teachers．
B．the knowledge isn’t as important as the ability to learn．
C．the knowledge from college is of less worth than that acquired after college．
D．education is nothing but what you have remembered．
2．Kaifu Lee expects his daughter to _________．
A．a(chǎn)gree with those who hold the opposite opinions．
B．find out the difference between ‘right and wrong’．
C．think of more ways to solve a problem critically．
D．step into others’ shoes and think from others’ positions．
3．Based on the letter, it can be inferred that ________．
A．high grades are not important for people．
B．Kaifu Lee and his wife don’t care about their daughter’s grades or college life．
C．Kaifu Lee doesn’t expect her daughter to make any mistakes in her life．
D．Kaifu Lee’s daughter is a freshman in Columbia University．
4．We can conclude that Kaifu Lee’s daughter is _________．
A．dependent and curious B．tolerant and supportive
C．well-rounded and worried D．excellent and hard-working
科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解
Los Angeles June 14, 2006 – Hollywood actress Daryl Hannah was arrested yesterday after spending two weeks sitting in a walnut tree on an urban farm a few kilometers from downtown Los Angeles. She was one of 40 people, including celebrities from the music and movie world, who were protesting at the proposed destruction of the 14 – acre farm. Police officers cut away branches from the tree and used a fire engine to reach Ms Hannah and her co – protester, environmentalist John Quigley. The two of them raised their fists in defiance（反抗）as they were removed.
Protesters, some of whom had chained themselves to concrete –filled barrels（桶），said that it was essential to keep the farm operating, as it provided food for hundreds of poor families in the area. About 350 people grow produce and flowers on the farm, which has been there for more than a decade and is situated in an inner –city area surrounded by warehouses and railroad tracks. However, the local authority recently approved plans for the area to be cleared and redeveloped for the construction of a huge new warehouse.
Ms Hannah, 45, star of films such as Splash and Kill Bill was not thrilled about being arrested. “But I felt it was important to show my support for the people,” she said. “This farm should be a model for sustainable (可持續(xù)的) urban agriculture. It needs to be replicated, not eradicated.”
The record length for a tree protest is held by a woman called Julia Hill, who remained on top of a 30-metre-high redwood tree in Northern California for 738 days from December 1997 to December 1999. She was successful in saving the tree and those around it from destruction. Ms Hill was also at the Los Angeles urban farm project this week, but her presence failed to stop the inevitable (不可避免的). No sooner had the protesters been removed than earth-moving machines moved in and began to clear the land.
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