Goal

Goal① is one's purpose or aim in life and study. Setting a goal② is important to a person. Once a goal is set， one has a clear idea of what one wants to achieve. Of course， goal-setting is the constant effort to go after what you want. Once you reach your goal， it is not the end. What you have to do is to set another goal. Thus one is constantly making effort.

The goal one aims at has a lot to do with one's interest. One cannot be expected to do things better if he is not interested in it at all. The interest is the key factor in our goal-setting. Some one even goes so far as to say that interest is the best teacher. A person interested in something is better motivated ③. He is more likely to do it better than somebody not interested in it. So one thing one must be clear about is what he is interested in.

Once the goal is set， the next thing to do is to come up with the effort to do it. It often happens that one fails to reach his goal. The problem is that he does not keep on④ doing things. The success of a person depends on the perseverance⑤ and diligence. They are essential factors to the realization of one's goal.

注釋

① goal n.目標(biāo)

② set a goal v. phr.樹(shù)立目標(biāo)

③ motivate vt.激勵(lì)

④ keep on v. phr.繼續(xù)

⑤ perseverance n.堅(jiān)定不移

Character

Character is the combination① of qualities which make a per- son special.

In my opinion， every person has his particular qualities. In my class， some students like to talk. Others like to remain there thinking. These are different characters. Some people say that character is something one is born with. One can not change his character once it is there.

But I think it is not that absolute②. One can change his character by his effort. A child who is shy at talk can grow up to be an eloquent③ speaker. Things are changing， so are the characters. It all depends on what you like to be. The character may develop in the way you direct it. It has to do with your confidence， and what you expect yourself to be.

Once a small child was found to live with monkeys. After he returned， he was found to have problem with communication in human society. The reason is that he was outside human society since he was a baby. The environment he was exposed④ to made him unable to communicate. The consequence is that he lost the ability to develop a human character. So character is something one develops after he is born. It is not something one is born with at the beginning.

注釋?zhuān)?/p>

① combination n. 結(jié)合

② absolute adj. 絕對(duì)的

③ eloquent adj. 雄辯的

④ expose vt. 暴露

Self-confidence ①

Since childhood， we are told to be good boys or good girls. We are told to admire ② this one or that one. We are satisfied with being good students， to act according to the standard behavior.

What is the attitude we have about ourselves? We are now growing up. We learn to consider our role ③ in this world. We are taught to respect， but the first person to respect in the world is oneself. We must respect ourselves before others respect us. Society cannot advance unless we are confident of ourselves. Man will no make progress unless he is confident of himself. We should trust ourselves. That's the first and the most important lesson to learn in the world today. China cannot hope to win glory④ in the world unless we Chinese people are confident of ourselves.

注釋

① self-confidence n.自信

② admire vt.羨慕

③ role n. 角色

④ glory n. 光榮，榮譽(yù)

My View on Cars in the Futrure

As big cars cause many problems， such as pollution， shortage of parking space， crowded traffic， I think in the future small cars should be designed and made to take the place of today's big ones.

Such small cars have several advantages. First， if more people begin to drive such cars in the future， there will be less air pollution. Second， there will also be more space for parking cars ill cities， and the streets will be less crowded. For example， three such cars will be parked in the place where only one car is parked now. Third， the little cars will be very cheap and driving will be much safer as these cars can go only 60 kilometers every hour.

The cars of the future will be suitable for driving around the city and not for long trips， because these cars need to stop for refilling after 450 kilometers.

注釋

shortage n. 不足，缺少

My Views on TV

Today it would be difficult to imagine life without television in almost every corner of the world. Television now plays a big role in both society and our life. It reaches almost everyone in most countries. It reshapes① our lives and our world. Some reports show that many people spend three and four hours every day watching television.

Television has proved useful in bringing comfort to people unable to leave their beds， to lonely people and to the old. In some ways it may even have brought families close together， as they stay at home more to watch their favorite programes. As to the students， they can watch a lot of English learning programmes such as \"Modern English\" \"Disney English\". They are helpful to improve their listening， and spoken English. But every coin has two sides. Television also has its disadvantages. There are a lot of articles about bad effects television has made on the family. Before buying a television， the family members talk with each other a lot and the atmosphere at home is very lively. But since they have a television， each member is at- tracted by the programmes， they seldom talk and become strange to each other.

Another bad effect is that the number of near-sighted young children is increasing as they spend long time watching television.

However， televison can not be separated from us. There is no turning back. What is most important is how to make full use of it.

注釋

① reshape vt.給……以新形式

Growing-up

What does growing-up mean? This is the question many stu- dents ask. Looking to the future， we are full of hopes. It is a wonderland1. We are prepared for it. Growing-up means responsibilities --for yourself， for others and for the country.

One often hears adults say， \"How would I like to be a child again!\" Yes， growing-up means more labor in some sense. But I look forward to the day when I am an adult. The day must be exciting when I can make decisions2 and depend on myself. I can have a job. I can be a translator. I can do a lot of things on my own. I can have a family of my own. I can teach my child how to behave. What a wonderful thing it is! I must work hard in order to be qualified in the future.

注釋?zhuān)?/p>

1 wonderland n.仙境，奇境

2 decision n. 決定