A gap year is often a time when young people travel or work to earn more money for school.

Gap years are much more 【小题1】 in Europe than in the United States, especially among children born to wealthy families. But now, more Americans are showing an interest in the idea of a gap year. In fact, several U. S. colleges and universities are now 【小题2】 students to delay their studies to make use of a gap year.

In 2016, Malia Obama, daughter of then-president Barack Obama, 【小题3】 a lot of media attention when she decided to postpone the start of their studies by a year. Like Malia Obama, Rosalie Stoke, who had already been accepted for 【小题4】 by her university of choice, made the same choice.

In 【小题5】 2013，Stoke connected with a family in Barcelona, Spain. They agreed to let her live with them and paid her a small amount to help care for their children for seven months. Stoke studied Spanish during her free time in Barcelona. She then used the money to travel for two months.

When returning to the United States to begin her studies at Virginia Tech in 2014, Stoke said she felt at ease and that she knew more about herself as a person. Also, when talking with friends who went 【小题6】 to college from high school, she found many had a difficult time in their first year of college. Some told her they 【小题7】 the field of study they had chosen. Others said they felt lost at the college or that they were wasting time doing things like 【小题8】.

Jennifer Powell-Lunder, a 【小题9】 psychologist who works mostly with young people, says these feelings are common among first-year college students. She says more young people are 【小题10】 admission to college than ever before. That means the level of competition is the highest it has ever been. She says young people today have to do more than ever before to be seen as successful. Taking a gap year may help reduce some of the pressure.

I’ve been writing for most of my life. The book Writing Without Teachers introduced me to one distinction and one practice that has helped my writing 【小题1】 greatly. The distinction is between the creative mind and the critical mind. While you need to employ both to get to a final result, they cannot work in 【小题2】 no matter how much we might like to think so.

Trying to criticize writing while it is still in progress is most possibly the single greatest 【小题3】 to writing that most of us meet with. If you are listening to that 5th grade English teacher correct your grammar while you are trying to seize a fleeting (稍纵即逝的) thought, the thought will die. If you capture the fleeting thought and simply share it with the world in raw form, no one is likely to understand. You must learn to 【小题4】 first and then criticize if you want to make writing the tool for thinking that it is.

The practice that can help you pass your 【小题5】 bad habits of trying to edit as you write is what Elbow calls “free writing”. In free writing, the 【小题6】 is to get words down on paper non-stop, usually for 15－20 minutes. No stopping, no going back, no criticizing. The goal is to get the words 【小题7】. As the words begin to go smoothly, the ideas will come from the shadows and let themselves be 【小题8】 on your notepad or your screen.

Now you have raw materials that you can begin to work with using the critical mind that you’ve persuaded to sit on the side and watch quietly. Most likely, you will believe that this will take more time than you actually have and you will end up staring blankly at the pages as the deadline draws near.

Instead of staring at a blank screen, start filling it with words no matter how bad they are. Halfway through your 【小题9】 time, stop and rework your raw writing into something closer to a(n) 【小题10】 product. Move back and forth until you run out of time and the final result will most likely be far better than your current practices.

How are you? I am Michael, a senior English teacher in Linchuan No. 1 Middle School in Jiangxi Province. This letter is written to ask for your opinion.

The other day, I met with a multiple­ choice exercise. The teachers argued heatedly with 【小题1】we met. Unfortunately, neither side could convince the other after a fairly longtime argument. There is no doubt 【小题2】the reference answer C is correct. But I don’t think【小题3】it is the only answer to this sentence. Personally, I do think A is also a reasonable choice.

What puzzles me is 【小题4】we should deal with so many multiple­ choice exercises. But being a teacher, you know, it’s very important and necessary to make it clear to students which answer is correct, 【小题5】is more proper, and which is the best one since they keep asking why and why. I can think of many cases 【小题6】students obviously know a lot of English words and expressions but can’t write a good essay or express themselves freely.

In my personal opinion, what I think is 【小题7】multiple­ choice test with more than 75 percent of the total scores in college entrance examination is not a very good and effective testing method. Instead, more subjective testing forms can depend on 【小题8】he or she really knows or not. I don’t know 【小题9】more subjective testing forms will come up in NMET. Do you think so?

I am looking forward to your authoritative opinion. And if you can tell me 【小题10】we can improve our English both in papers and abilities, I will be very much appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Liao