高中英语细节阅读理解材料(2)

　　高中英语细节阅读(三)

　　Sharing sweet 17 stories

　　IF being 16 seems a young age and 18 is the year you associate with (与……联系起来) university, 17 is the happy balance of not wanting to grow up but wanting to feel mature. If you are asked what it feels like being 17, what will you share with us? Here, two teenagers born in 1990 speak about their lives.

　　Huangzhen Keli, a girl from Shanghai

　　I don’t see extra-curriculum activities as a waste of time. I think they are building up my life experiences.

　　I study at a boarding school (寄宿学校). The first day we started our Senior 2, our teachers emphasized (强调) this is a crucial year on our way to the college entrance examination. I am a little bit scared, but it’s fine. I know what I want: I’ve always had the dream of being a diplomat (外交官). So I will apply for *China Foreign Affairs University (外交学院).

　　“Our classes finish at 4:30 pm. After that, I play basketball with friends or go running for half an hour. I also joined two interest groups, one is basketball and the other is debating. In the debating group, we’ve discussed issues like whether high school students should go aboard to study and the pros and cons *of living on campus.

　　I go back home every Friday afternoon. Weekends are my sweet time. I am the branch secretary of the Chinese Communist Youth League (团支书), so I sometimes organize some volunteer things on weekend. We go to a primary school specialized (专门) for the education of deaf and dumb kids. We play games with them and we learn sign language.

　　Shopping is a good way for me to relax. I like to buy accessories (小饰品). Some of my classmates put those lovely little things on their school uniform to show their individuality (个性). But I don’t bother. Another thing I like to do on weekends is to go to KTV with my friends.

　　The National Day holiday is coming. There will be a get-together party with my middle school friends. I am usually the organizer of this sort of party. But this time I have classes so I don’t have time. But I will certainly go.

　　Interviewed by Mao Ling, 21st Century Teens staff

　　Adenike Thomas, a 17-year-old from New York

　　I take on so much and I have no time for myself. I do it on purpose. I love it and I hate it. If I’m not busy, I complain that I’m bored, but when I am busy, it’s like, oh, my God.

　　From Monday to Thursday, I have all sorts of after-class activities: dance, acting lessons and soccer games. I also work for the student government. I want to run for* president. On Friday, I work at a museum. It used to just be a volunteer thing and then they offered me a job. I love it.

　　Then Saturday, I have had SAT preparation classes since last September. Sunday is my rest day to catch up on homework.

　　I took my SATs on September 15, on my birthday. I forgot it was my birthday. I woke up and thought, “Oh, my God, I have to take the SATs?”

　　The exam was at Columbia University. I got there late, and they were not going to let me take it at first. It actually was pretty scary, because I was taking the test and they said, “Move on to Section 9.”

　　I moved on, but I was still writing my answers in Section 8. Then this lady came over and she was like, “Oh, what are you doing?” If she didn’t stop me doing that, I would probably have failed that test.

　　I have two best friends but we don’t hang out as much as we used to. I was really sad on my birthday because they couldn’t hang out. At school, I have a lot of surface-level friends.