My Year Abroad                                                           

This month in Travelers Corner there are three teenagers’ experiences in year-abroad programmes.

Mariko Okada – Tokyo

My year abroad in the United States was a fantastic experience. I’m not a shy person, and I was very comfortable speaking to everyone. So I got lots of speaking practice. I also learned lots of interesting things about American culture. When I got home, my friends all said that I had improved so much! I hope to go back again in the future.

Carla Fonseca – Rio de Janeiro

I spent last year studying English in London. I’m from a small town, and London is a very big city. Sometimes I felt it was too big. There were so many people to talk to, but I always felt bad about my English. I missed my family, and I really missed my two cats. My roommate was always using our telephone, so I hardly had the chance for a nice long talk with my parents. I think it was a good experience for me, but I’m glad to be home!

Alvin Chen – Hong Kong

Studying in New Zealand was a fun experience for me, but it was also lots of hard work! I had English classes six hours a day, five days a week——with lots of homework. I also kept a diary of my experience. I like to write, and I wrote two or three pages in my diary every day. On Saturdays, my homestay family took me to lots of interesting places and showed me so many wonderful things about the culture. I’m really glad I went!

1.All the three teenagers went abroad           .

A．to study English                         B．to visit friends

C．to have a holiday                        D．to find a job

2.Who didn’t really enjoy the stay in a foreign country very much?

A．Mariko.           B．Carla.             C．Alvin.             D．None of them.

3.Travelers Corner is most probably         .

A．a(chǎn) sports club newsletter                  B．a(chǎn) science documentary

C．a(chǎn) travel magazine                       D．a(chǎn) news website

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Imagine there is a bank that puts $86,400 in your account（賬戶(hù)）each morning．It carries over no balance from day to day．Every evening the bank writes off（注銷(xiāo)）the balance that you failed to use during the day．What would you do? Take out every cent，of course!

Each of us has such a bank．Its name is TIME．Every morning，it puts in 86,400 seconds．Every evening it writes off, as it is lost．There is no balance or overdraft（透支）．If you fail to use the day's savings，the lost is yours．There is no going back．There is no taking from “tomorrow”．You must make good use of it so as to get more in health，happiness and success!

The clock is running．Make the most of today．To realize the value of ONE YEAR，ask a student who failed a grade；To realize the value of ONE MONTH，ask a mother who gave birth to a premature（早產(chǎn)）baby；To realize the value of ONE WEEK，ask the editor of a weekly newspaper；To realize the value of ONE HOUR，ask the lovers who are waiting to meet；To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who missed the train；To realize the value of ONE SECOND，ask a person who just avoided（避免）an accident．

Make good use of every moment that you have．Remember that time waits for no one．Yesterday is history．Tomorrow is a mystery．Today is a gift．That's why it's called “The Present”．

1．The underlined word “balance” in paragraph l means                  ．

A．平衡                   B．貸款                    C．余款                   D．提款

2．What is special about the TIME bank we each have?

A．We can store time in it whenever we like．

B．Someone puts $86，400 in it every day．

C．The time in it will surely get lost if you don't use it．

D．Someone helps you spend your time every night．

3．What can be the best title of the passage?

A．The Bank of Money                                 B．The Bank of Time

C．The value of one hour                                D．The clock is running

4．In this passage，the writer tries to tell us                    ．

A．what a bank is                                         B．how to save money

C．the difference of time units                         D．to make good use of time