The College Essay:Why Those 500 Words Drive us Crazy Meg is a lawyer-morn in suburban Washington,D.C., where lawyer-morns are thick on the ground. She’s asked us not to use her last name to prevent mortification (难堪) to her son Doug. He is quite mortified enough already. Doug is one of several hundred thousand high-school seniors who had a painful fall. The deadline for applying to his favorite college was Nov.1, and by early October he had yet to fill out the application. More to the point, he had yet to settle on a subject for the personal essay accompanying the application. According to a college legend, a well-turned essay has the power to convince an admissions committee. "He wanted to do one thing at a time," Meg says, explaining her son’s delay. "But really, my son is a huge procrastinator (拖延者). The essay is the hardest thing to do,so he’s put it off the longest." Friends and other veterans of the process have warned Meg that the back and forth between editing parent and writing student can be extremely unpleasant. "But I tell them, you can’t scare me," she says. "I’m already there. I mean, I was an English major, I’m a lawyer, I write for a living! And I’m panicking already." The panic is arriving early this year. Back in the good old days--say, two years ago, when the last of my children suffered the ordeal--a high-school student applying to college could postpone all the way to New Year’s of senior year, assuming he or she could withstand the parental bothering. But things change fast in the upsetting world of college admissions. The recent trend toward early decision and early action among selective colleges and universities has pushed the traditional deadline of January up to Nov. 1 or early December for many students. If the time for heel-dragging has been shortened, the true source of the anxiety and panic remains what it has always been. And it’s not the application itself. A college application is a relatively straightforward questionnaire asking for the basics:name,address,family history, employment history. It would all be innocent enough--20 minutes of busy work-- except it comes attached to an incendiary (纵火的) device: the personal essay. "There are good reasons it causes such anxiety," says Lisa Sohmer, director of college counseling at the Garden School in Jackson Heights, N. Y. "It’s not just the actual writing. By now everything else is already set. Your course load is set, your grades are set, your test scores are set. All that’s done. But the essay is something you can still control, and it’s open-ended. So the temptation is to write and rewrite and rewrite." Or stall (拖延) and stall and stall. The application essay,along with its mythical importance, is a recent invention. In the 1930s, when only one in 10 Americans had a degree from a four-year college, an admissions committee was content to ask for a sample of applicants’ school papers to assess their writing ability. By the 1950s, most schools required a brief personal statement of why the student had chosen to apply to one school over another. Today nearly 70 percent of graduating seniors go off to college, including two-year and four-year institutions. Those schools usually require essays of their own, but the longest essay, 500 words maximum, is generally attached to the Common App. Students choose one of six questions. Applicants are asked to describe an ethical dilemma they’ve faced and its impact on them, or discuss a public issue of special concern to them, or tell of a fictional character or creative work that has profoundly influenced them. Another question invites them to write about the importance (to them, again) of diversity--a word that has assumed magic power in American higher education. The most popular option:write on a topic of your choice. "Boys in particular look at the other questions and say, ’Oh, that’s too much work, ’" says John Boshoven, a counselor in the Ann Arbor,Mich. ,public schools. "They think if they do a topic of their choice, ’ I’ll just go get that history paper I did last year on the Roman Empire and turn it into a first-person application essay! ’ And they end up producing something utterly ridiculous." Talking to admissions professionals like Boshoven, you realize that the list of "don’ts" in essay writing is much longer than the "dos." "No book reports, no history papers, no character studies," says Sohmer. "It drives you crazy, how easily kids slip into repetitive and boring topics," says Boshoven. "They don’t realize how typical their experiences are. ’I scored the winning goal in soccer against our arch-rival. ’ ’My grandfather served in World War Ⅱ, and I hope to be just like him someday. ’ That may mean a lot to that particular kid. But in the world of the application essay,it’s nothing. You’ll lose the reader in the first paragraph." "The greatest strength you bring to this essay," says the College Board’s how-to book, "is 17 years or so of familiarity with the topic=YOU. The form and style are very familiar, and best of all, you are the world-class expert on the subject of YOU... It has been the subject of your close scrutiny (仔细检查) every morning since you were tall enough to see into the bathroom mirror." The key word in the Common App prompts is "you." "For all the anxiety the essay causes," says Bill McClintick of Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania,"it’s a very small piece of the puzzle. I was in college admissions for 10 years. I saw kids and parents beat themselves up over this. And at the vast majority of places, it is simply not a big variable in the college’s decision-making process." Still, at the most selective schools, where thousands of candidates may submit identically super high grades and test: scores, a marginal item like the essay may serve as a tiebreaker between two equally qualified candidates. The thought is certainly enough to keep the pot boiling under parents like Meg, the lawyer-mom, as she tries to help her son choose an essay topic. For a moment the other day,she thought she might have hit on a good one. "His father’s from France," she says. "I said maybe you could write about that, as something that makes you different. You know. half French, half American. I said, ’You could write about your identity issues. ’He said, ’ I don’t have any identity issues! ’" "And he’s right. He’s a well-adjusted, normal kid. But that doesn’t make for a good essay, does itIn the 1930s,school papers were required______. A. to assess the applicants’ writing ability B. to see why students chose one school over anotherC. to divide students into different classes D. as a very important method to give scholarships

31.Since you used to __ in the remote village, I believe you can get used to __ under difficult condition-|||-A.live;working B.living;work C.living;working D.live;work

Expressions in use-|||-6`Fill in the blanks with the expressions given-|||-below.Change the form where necessary.-|||-can be used only once.-|||-as well as at first keep on lie down-|||-lift...out of name...after-|||-speak for itself talk of-|||-turn one`s attention to work on-|||-1 Last year the city __ the high school-|||-__ the hero who sacrificed his life to-|||-save other people.-|||-2 __ I thought he was joking,-|||-but then I realized that he was very serious.-|||-3 Young people play an essential part in-|||-the worldwide effort to __ people-|||-__ poverty for good.-|||-4 The professor has been __ an-|||-article about how to learn a foreign language-|||-more effectively.-|||-5 We should move away from traditional energy-|||-sources,and begin to __-|||-cleaner forms of energy.-|||-6 It was the first time she __-|||-how she became an architect rather than a-|||-lawyer in front of so many people.-|||-7 John is very talented.He is a famous-|||-musician __ a productive-|||-writer.-|||-8 If you like table tennis and __-|||-practicing it,you will become very good at it.-|||-9 Richard was very tired,so he __-|||-on his bed and fell asleep immediately.-|||-0 I don`t need to say more about how effective-|||-this new method can be.The results

Expressions.in use-|||-6 Fill in the blanks with the expressions given-|||-the form where necessary.-|||-Each expression can be used only once.-|||-as well as at first keep on lie down-|||-lift . out of name ..after-|||-speak for itself talk of-|||-turn one`s attention to work on-|||-1 Last year the city __ the high school-|||-__ the hero who sacrificed his life to-|||-save other people.-|||-2 __ I thought he was joking,-|||-but then I realized that he was very serious.-|||-3 Young people play an essential part in-|||-the worldwide effort to __ people-|||-__ poverty for good.-|||-4 The professor has been __ an-|||-article about how to learn a foreign language-|||-more effectively.-|||-5 We should move away from traditional energy-|||-sources, and begin to __-|||-cleaner forms of energy.-|||-6 It was the first time she __-|||-how she became an architect rather than a-|||-lawyer in front of so many people.-|||-7 John is very talented.He is a famous-|||-musician __ a productive-|||-writer.-|||-8 If you like table tennis and __-|||-practicing it,you will become very good at it.-|||-9 Richard was very tired,so he __-|||-on his bed and fell asleep immediately.-|||-10 I don`t need to say more about how effective-|||-this new method can be.The results

Which subject is supposed to have no direct value for job hunting?A. Mathematics.B. English.C. Technical drawing.D. History.

9.The way on which he looks at problems is much too ideal.-|||-A B C D

Directions: Fill in the blanks using some of the words or phrases given below. Change the form where necessary. paralyze bold facility absorb modestly assume invariably virtue summon haste falter blank strain rid sb./sth. of sth. in the hope that 1) I made a mistake and I will responsibility for it. 2) She is only 4 years old but she can play the piano with . 3) My mind was a(n) and I could not remember her name. 4) Wilson was so in reading that he kept reading without his dinner. 5) The economy is showing signs of during the period of economic crisis. 6) Too heavy a load will the rope to its breaking point. 7) The electricity failure the water supply the day before yesterday. 8) The wine made him enough to approach her and introduce himself. 9) They left in , without even saying goodbye. 10) We will keep searching for survivors of the earthquake a miracle might happen.assume facility blank absorbed faltering strain paralyzed bold haste in the hope that

The patient was warned ______ oily food after the operation.（ ）A. to eat notB. eating notC. not to eatD. not eating

B When I first entered college, I was afraid that I was not “up to it”. I was afraid of being away from my family for the first time. Here I would have to make friends with strange people and perhaps also compete with them for grades in courses I would take. Were they smarter than I was? Could I keep up with them? Would they accept me? I soon learned that my life was now up to me. I had to set a study program if I were to succeed in my courses. I had to regulate the time I spent in my study and socializing. I had to decide when to go to bed, what to eat, and with whom to be friendly. These questions I had to answer for myself. At first, life was rough. I made mistakes in how I used my time. I also made mistakes in how I chose my first friends in college. Shortly, however, I had my life under control. I managed to get myself to class on time, do my homework and hand them in, and pass my first exams with satisfying grades. In addition, I developed a circle of friends with whom I felt comfortable and could share my fears. I set up my own routine, one that really met my needs. As a result, I began to look upon myself from a different perspective (视角). I began to see myself as a person responsible for myself and responsible for my friends and family. It felt good to make decisions and see them turn out to be wise ones. I guess this is what people call “growing up”. What did life have in store for me? At that stage in my life, I was really uncertain where I would go and what I would do with the years ahead of me. But I knew I would be able to handle what was ahead because I had successfully overcome the major problem in my life: I had made the change from a person dependent on his family to a person who was responsible for himself. We can learn from the author’s early experience at college that ______.A. he got used to the new life without much trouble B. he lost the ability to handle things independently C. he came to realize he should be in charge of his own business D. he was a failure in many aspects except in school performance

As he left that house, he not only started to feel stronger physically, but also had a stronger faith in the human race.A. 正如他离开那座房子时一样,身体变强壮了,也对人类有了更坚定的信念。B. 由于离开了那户人家,他只感觉更有力气了,但是对人类失去了信心。C. 离开这户人家时,他不仅开始觉得有了力气,而且对人也更有信心了。