巴靈芝

突如其來的大火讓高中的第一天姍姍來遲，也讓“我”惴惴不安。媽媽的鼓勵(lì)、嶄新的校園、優(yōu)秀的師長(zhǎng)，一切都讓高中的第一天充滿了新奇與希望，也讓“我”重拾了對(duì)未來的信心。

1 I knew my first day of high school would be challenging. There would be higher expectations and the teachers would be stricter. Would I fit in？ Would I make friends？ Would I have nice teachers？ Would I look like an ugly duckling（丑小鴨） among my classmates？ But my mum told me that I was great. Then I was hopeful about the new day.

2 On Friday， one day before the first day of school at La Ca ada High School， the phone rang. Sounding incredibly serious， the principal said that school would be delayed until Tuesday because of the fire in La Ca ada Flintridge. Frustrated as I was with the fire， strangely， I was also happy because I had several extra days of vacation.

3 On Monday evening， I was preparing for my big day. My red backpack was filled with new notebooks. Then the phone rang. Again the principal told me to stay at home. I could feel the anxiety growing inside of me. When was school going to start？ I just wished that the first day of school would hurry up and come soon.

4 Finally it was Wednesday. The real first day of school， I walked into campus feeling nervous. Everything looked different. The middle school buildings looked so cute. I looked at my schedule. The fist period was German. I took a deep breath as I opened the door to my first class. Class started and quickly I was fascinated by the teacher. He was a magician who had a superpower that kept me spellbound（著迷的）. The other teachers were also so great. My first day slipped away quickly before I could even realized it.

5 In the evening， I recalled what had happened on my first day of high school. All in all， it was really amazing. I enjoyed all my teachers， classmates and classes. I was able to see my friends who I didnt see all summer. But most importantly， I am now in high school. I am well on my way toward a successful high school career！

Ⅰ. Choose the best answers according to the text.

Detail 1. What got rid of my anxiety according to paragraph 1？

A. Making new friends soon. B. My successful experience.

C. My mothers encouragement. D. Greater expectation of the new life.

Detail 2. How did I feel at the principals first announcement？

A. Lonely but hopeful. B. Frustrated but happy.

C. Depressed and worried. D. Angry and disappointed.

Inference 3. What can be inferred about my first day at high school according to the text？

A. It went by slowly and made me homesick.

B. It began with an interesting physics lesson.

C. It started as planned despite an unexpected fire.

D. It made the author hopeful about his high school life.

Structure 4. In what order is the text organised？

A. Time. B. Places. C. Characters. D. Importance.

Ⅱ. Discussion

What did you do to prepare for your own first day of high school？ What happened to you on that day？ What do you think of your first day of high school？ Please share your own story with your classmates.

Ⅰ. Discover useful structures in the text

1. “adj. + as +主語+...”，as引導(dǎo)倒裝句，意為“盡管……”。

Frustrated as I was with the fire， strangely， I was also happy because I had several extra days of vacation. 盡管我因這場(chǎng)大火感到沮喪，我也莫名其妙地感到高興，因?yàn)槲业募倨谟挚梢远喑鰩滋炝恕?/p>

2. before與can/could/be able to連用，意為“還未來得及……就……”。

My first day slipped away quickly before I could even realized it. 我甚至還沒意識(shí)到，我的第一天很快就溜走了。

Ⅱ. Memorize some text？鄄centered chunks

make friends （with） 與……交朋友

look like 看起來像……

be hopeful about 對(duì)……充滿希望

because of 由于;因?yàn)?/p>

prepare for 為……做準(zhǔn)備

stay at home 待在家中

take a deep breath 深呼吸