Universities ranked (P2)
I. Pre-reading
Discuss the following question with your partner.
What factors will you take into consideration when it comes to choosing where to study?

II. Reading
Read the article and answer the following questions.
1. What is the text mainly about? (Within 15 words)
What factors university rankings are usually based on.

2. Which country has the most universities in the rankings list recently released by Times Higher Education? (No more than two words)
The US.

3. Why are some universities at the top of one list and placed low in other rankings, according to the text? (Within 10 words)
Because each list has its own set of criteria.

4. What do the QS World University Rankings mainly focus on? (No more than 25 words)
The qualities of the university, including subject reputations, how many times their teachers’ works have been cited by other researchers, and other factors.

III. Language study
Study the following sentences:
1. “Any university ranking is likely to help students and their parents make better decisions about where to study, but the need to balance them with other more human factors will continue to be important,” said Phil Moss, an education and admissions consultant from the UK.
句中引号内是一个由but引导的并列句，but后的分句的主干是“the need … will continue to be important”。整句话句意为：Phil Moss是一名来自英国的升学指导顾问，他说：“任何一个大学排名都可能帮助学生与家长更好地决定在哪上学，但是接着将这些排名与其它更人文的因素平衡一下也很重要。”

2. There are a lot of university rankings now, with people paying the most attention to the UK’s QS World University Rankings …
句中使用了“with+宾语+宾语补足语”结构作状语，由于宾语与动词pay之间在逻辑上是主谓关系，所以用了动词-ing形式。如果宾语与动词之间是动宾关系，则要用过去分词形式，例如：All the afternoon he worked with the door locked. 该结构里的宾语补足语也可以是形容词、副词或介词短语。

Price we pay for maps (P5)
I. Pre-reading
Discuss the following questions with your partner.
 Have you ever used a GPS to navigate?
 What do you think are the benefits of using GPS devices?
 Do you think there are any disadvantages of using GPS devices? If so, what are they?

II. Reading
Read the article and choose the best answer for each of the following questions.
1. The underlined word “atrophy” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to _____.
A. become better B. become weaker
C. become more useful  D. become less important
2. People who have a poor sense of direction _____.
A. rely more on the first strategy than the second for navigation
B. usually find the second strategy more reliable and flexible
C. tend to have problems creating spatial maps in their mind
D. were discovered to have more activity in their caudate nucleus
3. How could the frequent use of GPS affect people according to the article?
A. It might ruin people’s ability to navigate for themselves.
B. It is likely to lead to more activity in the hippocampus in their brain.
C. It enables them to see an overview of an area and create spatial maps more easily.
D. It allows them to build a better connection to the environments they travel through.

Key：
1. B。第一段提到了“But the price we pay for the convenience could be our sense of direction.”下文的研究也是讲的GPS的频繁使用对于我们方向感的损害，所以可知atrophy在这里应该是表示“衰退，变弱”，故答案为B。
2. C。由第六段的“but according to Newcombe’s research, people who are bad at navigation have trouble with the first strategy － creating spatial maps.”可知C为正确答案。
3. A。由第八段“It turns out that our sense of direction isn’t the only thing we could lose.”可知D为正确答案。由第七段可知，过度依赖GPS会导致人们大脑里的尾状核更活跃，海马体活跃度降低或萎缩，而海马体是大脑里帮助我们创建空间图形的重要区域，所以B、C不对；由倒数第二段的“One thing that could go is our connection to the environment we travel through. ”可知D不对。

III. Language study
Study the following sentences.
According to Veronique Bohbot of McGill University, people using navigation based on direction show more activity in their caudate nucleus (尾状核) – the part of the brain that is good at following directions – but less activity in the hippocampus (海马体), which creates the spatial maps.
本句的主干为：people … show more activity in their caudate nucleus but less activity in the hippocampus。句中的v-ing短语using navigation based on direction作后置定语修饰people；两个破折号之间的部分用作同位语，解释说明caudate nucleus的属性；which引导的非限制性定语从句修饰先行词hippocampus。

Learn to be tough (P6)
I. Pre-reading
Discuss the following questions with your partner.
 What kind of teachers do you like best?
 Which teacher impressed you most?
 What did he or she do to impress you?

II. Reading
Read the article and choose the best answer for each of the following questions.
1. What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 probably mean?
A. S. didn’t agree with each new project.
B. S. liked to complain about each new project.
C. S. seemed uninterested in each new project.
D. S. voiced different opinions about each new project.
2. What do we know about the author’s attitude toward S. before he dropped the course?
A. She tried hard to bear with him.
B. She disliked him from the beginning.
C. She knew he would become nice in the end.
D. She made it known that she disliked him.
3. What surprised the author one day?
A. S. agreed to drop the course.
B. S. went back to his seat as he was asked to.
C. S. agreed that he would show more support.
D. S. intended to walk out in the middle of class.
4. The main purpose of the article is to _____.
A. warn against making friends with students
B. show how to deal with disrespectful students like S.
C. tell the story of how the author became good friends with S.
D. share what the author learned about how to treat students

Key：
1. C。从该段最后一句“S. 发出长长的叹息声，全班都听得到”可知他表达失望或者厌烦，再结合每一个新的任务，可知，他对作者的所有新任务都不感兴趣或者不喜欢，所以正确选项是C。B和D错在明确地表达了不满或者反对意见，而从他只是叹息可以看出，他并没有明确用言语表达出自己的感受。A的意思是不是对所有的新任务都不同意，只是表达部分情况，所以也不对。
2. A。根据第三段“The night before class, I’d lie in bed thinking about how I had to put up with him the next day. Somehow I still thought I’d win him over.”可知作者一直在忍耐，甚至是存有能把S.争取过来的心思。所以A正确，同时排除D。B根据第一段可判断错误。单从文章无法推断出C正确。
3. A。根据第五段“Surprisingly, he seemed to understand.”可知A正确。
4. D。根据倒数第二段“And in the process, he’d taught me something valuable: Sometimes, you need to be tough to be a good teacher. I needed to create a place in which they could learn.”以及全文可知，作者主要讲述自己从和S.的打交道过程中明白了，不能一味迁就学生，该强硬也要强硬，所以D正确。

III. Language study
Study the following sentences.
1. He was a virus, and he was infecting everyone around him!
释义：他就是病毒，而且传染了周围的所有人！
分析：通过这个比喻作者形象生动地说明了这个学生带来的坏影响。

2. I was giving them the boot!
释义：我不再对他们那么好了。
分析：口语中，词组give sb the boot本意是“end a romantic relationship with someone”，这里是一种引申。作者对待学生的态度不再像以前更多去迎合，而是该强硬就强硬。

Translate the following sentences with the given words or phrases.
1.她发出一声尖叫。(let out)
She let out a scream.
2. 房子凌乱我能忍受，但这种状态不能太长。(put up with)
I can put up with the house being untidy, but not for long.
3. 他现在对这一想法还拿不定主意，不过我肯定最后我们能说服他。
He’s not sure about the idea at the moment, but I’m sure we’ll win him over in the end.
4. 我父母总是对我很严厉。(tough)
My parents are always tough on me.
5. —你难道还没准备好吗？
—不要这么不耐烦，没必要这么赶。(impatient)
—Aren’t you ready yet?
—Don’t be so impatient. There’s no need to hurry.