Last summer, I had to stay in the room during the period of my recovery from cancer after the operation. It was unexpected that life highlighted everything that I might tend to take for granted in the normal course.
On the first morning, my children presented me a coffee pot. I liked to begin the day with a cup of coffee and was eager to try the pot.
When I made coffee, it spilled out over the whole table. Fortunately, nobody was there to see my embarrassed look! I kept trying, but each morning would see me wiping up the coffee. Then I realized that if I poured very slowly there would be no spilling.
This was at first a very painful experience. My normal practice was to rush through breakfast so that I could get on with my day. But at that moment I learned not only to pour slowly but to enjoy the experience: the smell, the taste, and the stillness of a new day.
It helped me to reflect upon whether there were other areas of my life 1 was rushing through. Most of life, it seemed. Strangely, those we consider loved ones may go of radar(雷达)when we would expect them to enquire about our well-being. However, others we seldom keep in touch with came into our lives suddenly, full of concern, well-meaning advice and love.
After the recovery period, I started to leave extra time to do even the most ordinary tasks. When shop owners would apologize for keeping me waiting, I would say, "Not a problem, I'm not in a hurry." Even hanging out washing became pleasurable when a couple of extra minutes of standing still, and listening to the birds singing in the trees around me became part of my routine.
Besides, one of my favorite experiences living in the inner city for many years was sitting on the front doorstep of our home spending time with strangers. We sat on the steps, each of us with a cup of coffee in our hands, listening to each other's stories. It was one of the warmest things about living in a busy city.
1. What was the author's life like before the time of recovery from the illness?| A．Awkward. | B．Relaxing. |
| C．Hurried. | D．Thrilling. |
| A．By pilling coffee over the table. | B．By buying a new pot. |
| C．By chatting with the strangers. | D．By pouring coffee slowly. |
| A．She had more time for reflecting on her past. |
| B．She found joy in ordinary daily activities. |
| C．She became impatient with any shop owner. |
| D．She liked listening to mysteries in busy cities. |
| A．To tell people how to make coffee tasty. |
| B．To advocate enjoying slow-paced life. |
| C．To show the gift from her children. |
| D．To recommend making friends with others. |
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When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t saving lives, he was planting trees. His house sat on ten acres, and his life’s goal was to make it a forest.
The good doctor had some interesting theories concerning plant care and growth. He never watered his new trees, which flew in the face of conventional wisdom. Once I asked why. He said that watering plants spoiled them so that each successive tree generation would grow weaker and weaker. So you have to make things rough for them and weed out (淘汰) the weaker trees early on. He talked about how watering trees made for shallow roots, and how trees that weren’t watered had to grow deep roots in search of moisture. I took him to mean that deep roots were to be treasured.
So he never watered his trees. He planted an oak and, instead of watering it every morning, he beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. Smack! Slap! Pow! I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s attention.
Dr. Gibbs passed away a couple of years after I left home. Every now and again, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I’d watched him plant some twenty-five years ago. They’re extremely tall, big and robust since they have deep roots now. However, the trees in my garden trembled in a cold wind although I had watered them for several years.
It seems that adversity (逆境) and suffering benefit these trees in ways comfort and ease never could. I stood there deep in thought.
Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I stand over them and watch their little bodies, the rising and falling of life within. I often pray for them. Mostly I pray that their lives will be easy. But I think that it’s time to change my prayer (祷词) because now I know my children are going to encounter hardship.
1. According to Dr. Gibbs’ theories, trees will become weaker if they _________.
| A．are lack of care | B．are watered | C．are weeded out | D．are beaten |
| A．“Seeing is believing” | B．“Put everything in proper use” |
| C．“Practice makes perfect” | D．“No pain, no gain” |
| A．strong | B．strange | C．deep | D．old |
| A．I wish them strong wings, with which they can fly higher and touch the sky. |
| B．I wish them nice fortune so that they can meet people like Dr. Gibbs in the future. |
| C．I wish them deep roots into the earth since the rains fall and the winds blow often. |
| D．I wish them great shades under the tree since the sunlight is always sharp and bitter. |
A Nice Doctor
| A．The Deep Roots | B．Adversity and Suffering | C．My Childhood Memory |
【推荐2】Famous Irish poet Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) once wrote: “Ah! Realize your youth while you have it.” He pointed out the important truth about how precious youth is in one’s journey through life.
However, the popular Internet slang word foxi—or “Buddhist”—is challenging this norm by encouraging young people to remain calm and peaceful and avoid conflict as much as possible—in other words, to live like a Buddha.
The phrase was reportedly created in Japan in 2014 to describe young men who no longer bother to start relationships with women or follow someone else’s life path. They prefer to stay in their own peaceful world without being disturbed and care little about passion and success.
Now, Chinese Internet users are paring the phrase with other words to describe a similar mindset. For example, “Buddhist students” are those who study just the right amount—they don’t cut class, but they don’t burn the midnight oil, either. There are also “Buddhist parents”, who interfere (干涉) little with their children’s lives and let them develop however they like—the opposite of “helicopter parents”.
In this fast-changing and competitive world, it’s only natural that people are seeking a spiritual anchor (精神支柱).
However, some would compare foxi with “demotivational culture”—a phrase that describes young people without aim and power. They say that foxi actually reflects the reality that young people are losing their will to fight. They are pretending to keep a healthy and wise attitude toward failure simply because they’re incapable of succeeding.
But no matter what, there is one thing that “Buddhist youngsters” should keep in mind: You may want to keep a calm mindset regarding failure, but you should also be passionate and positive about school, work and life.
After all, Wilde also wrote: “Live the wonderful life that is in you! Let nothing be lost upon you. Be always searching for new sensations (感觉). Be afraid of nothing.”
1. What is a Buddhist youngster unwilling to do?| A．Read books alone in a quiet place. |
| B．Complete assignments as instructed. |
| C．Get involved in a fierce competition. |
| D．Allow children to develop naturally. |
| A．Aimless and powerless. | B．Hopeless and realistic. |
| C．Discouraged and fearlful. | D．Intelligent and positive. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Neutral. | C．Critical. | D．Doubtful. |
【推荐3】Everyone has talent, but not everyone succeeds with their talent. More factors than mere talent attribute to a greater personal success. Having talent or being talented is never enough to find success in life.
Dr. John Maxwell has written a new book to explain that there is more to success than just being talented. He says that the only way to find success in life is to apply good choices to talent and rise above the crowd. He believes that talented people need more than their gifts or abilities to succeed in life. There must be something more than just talent to become successful. A talent-plus person, a person who rises above the understanding of mere talent, is much more likely to find success than those with just talent alone.
People who have talent must be willing to make the right choices to maximize their talent. Wrong choices will minimize their talent, preventing them from rising to higher levels in life. Maximizing talent requires people to make good choices, but understanding that there are specific things in life requires no talent at all. Maxwell lists many different choices that people make to become a talent-plus persons including Belief lifts talent, Relationships influence talent, Responsibility strengthens talent, Teamwork multiplies talent, etc.
Following the simple principles found in the book can not only help people raise the level of their talent but also raise their level of living. When people combine the principles with their talents they can become a talent-plus person. The choice becomes one of willingness and personal change. Talent-plus people have the ability to change their life and the world.
1. What’s the possible name of Maxwell’s new book?(no more than 8 words)2. What should one do if he wants to become a talent-plus person?(no more than 8 words)
3. List three specific things which can maximize one’s talent according to Paragraph 3 ?(no more than 5 words)
4. What does the underlined word “maximize” in Paragraph 3 mean in English?(no more than 8 words)
5. Do you want to be a talent-plus person? Why or why not? Please give one or two reasons.(No more than 25 words)
【推荐1】I am not a girl who will scream “Hello” across the street if I see someone familiar, nor will I meet with a complete stranger and begin a conversation. Instead, I will just laugh lightly. I would rather the other person spoke while I listen attentively. I can’t face the fact that I’m such a girl.
After a week---long vacation, we the tenth grade students returned to school. I reached the center of the hallway where my friend was waiting for me. Coming across a bulletin(公告), I saw some letters—Poetry Slam(诗歌朗诵赛). I told my friend how interesting the event sounded. I had heard of the event before, but I knew I couldn’t do it alone. Soon my friend and I , along with twenty other brave ones, planned to take part in the poetry slam.
When the day finally arrived, I still thought I couldn’t do this. As the lights dimmed(变暗), students all sat down. I crossed my arms over my chest as my feet shook. Poets, seated in the first two rows, all held their heads high and were practicing words for he poetry slam.
“Next is Katrina with Unspoken.” Shocked back into reality, I couldn’t move. I had to gather courage and remember I had chosen what to say, how to say it, and most importantly why I was saying it.
Taking a deep breath and looking at an unfamiliar crowd, I began. “Words can’t replace fear. One can’t live with sentences alone.” Words began jumping into the minds of others.
That was my voice jumping into the ears of those who cared. Yes, I spoke and they finally listened-there is no greater reward than pouring your heart out to those who will gently hold it. Slowly but surely, my nerves turned into courage. From now on I can refer to myself as a shy, but not so quiet, girl.
1. From Paragraph 1 we can know that the author is ________.| A．brave | B．smart |
| C．shy | D．lonely |
| A．To meet her friend |
| B．To look at the bulletin |
| C．To join in the poetry slam |
| D．To tell her friend of the poetry slam |
| A．Hopeful | B．Nervous |
| C．Excited | D．Confident |
| A．The author is crazy about poetry |
| B．The audience praised her highly |
| C．No rewards were offered to the winners |
| D．The author changed a lot after the poetry slam |
【推荐2】Every day can be a fresh, new beginning—this is very important if you had a difficult day before. By starting with a positive attitude, you can face the challenges of the day in a good state of mind.
Exercise. Exercising is one of the best methods to start your day for your mind as well as the body.
Organize yourself.
Smile. Starting your day by acting the way you want to feel can help you be more positive.
Keep important items in the same place. To make mornings less busy, start a habit keeping your important items in one easily accessible place.
| A．Try other actions to get yourself to feel happier. |
| B．Write down the tasks for the day. |
| C．Try some of the following tips to start your day right. |
| D．Put your keys, wallet, purse, and other important items there. |
| E．Instead of rushing through the rooming, go slow and take your time. |
| F．If you feel annoyed or tired, do something physical to make yourself feel happy. |
| G．It increases brain function, which can help you get a jump-start on the day. |
【推荐3】Desperate to help his 96-year-old mother to speak her mother tongue again, Keith McDermott made an appeal on social media and was met with a flood of kind responses. The old lady, Ray, was moved to tears after talking on the phone with one of the enthusiastic respondents in Welsh.
Ray moved to America after meeting her husband when she was only 18, hence waving goodbye to her life in Wales. She continued to speak Welsh with her mum-keeping a little bit of home. But she lost her beloved mum four decades ago and hadn't spoken Welsh ever since.
Despite suffering from short-term memory loss and sometimes not remembering what she has done recently, Ray's childhood memories in Wales remain clear. “She wants to return but I know, given her age, such long-distance travel is out of the question.” said Keith, “Once she mentioned ‘I wish I could speak Welsh again but I suppose I never will.’ It was then that I thought I should make her wish happen.”
So Keith, 70, posted on social media in the New York Welsh area asking for any Welsh speakers that could speak Welsh with his mum. And he was touched, as well as a little shocked, to receive over 30 responses within half an hour. Keith thanked everyone and eventually asked Melisa to give his mum a phone call. “Speaking with Melisa, her (Ray's) Welsh was a little rusty. A few more Welsh conversations and I think she'd be fluent again,” added Keith.
“When you have a parent in their nineties, you will find you two have something in common: you're both old, so I am very sympathetic to my mother's feelings of loneliness and isolation (孤立). I'm feeling it myself.” Keith hopes to set up more Welsh phone conversations for his mum and Melisa has promised to send Ray some short stories in Welsh to remind her of her life in Wales.
1. Why did Keith post a message on social media?| A．To gather American Welsh speakers. |
| B．To help his mum speak Welsh again. |
| C．To slow down his mum's memory loss. |
| D．To track down his family's Welsh origin. |
| A．Surprised and moved. | B．Concerned and thankful. |
| C．Sympathetic and excited. | D．Astonished and isolated. |
| A．Social media contribute to closer family ties. |
| B．Mother tongue means more than a language. |
| C．Childhood experiences shape one's later life. |
| D．One will be more sensitive when getting older. |
| A．A community noticeboard. |
| B．A health magazine. |
| C．A language-learning website. |
| D．A local newspaper. |
【推荐1】When my mother died, I was cooking.
One weekend, my husband suggested we cook together. I’d spoken to my mother earlier that day on the phone. I’d told her about our life. She yawned and we said goodbye to one another.
I didn’t know then what I would know 16 hours later. I hadn’t even asked how she was doing. My mother died.
My mother was my best friend. After she died, I felt so lonely. The only person I wanted to talk to about my grief was my mother. The only person who could help me was the one who was missing, however much love and support people gave me.
My mother gave me many things, but an education in cookery was not one of them. She liked eating more than cooking.
But she had learned to cook when she was a teenager and she had some brilliant recipes (食谱).
I know everyone says this, but my mother made the best roast beef dinners in the world. And, above all, fish pie! Almost every week, she would buy a prepared fish pie. Then she would bring it home and make her own white sauce (沙司).
My mother never got around to teaching me how to make a white sauce—and I never got around to asking her. Now that she was gone, I would have to teach myself.
So this became my focus. For the first few weeks, I managed to live on instant foods. But one night, a fish pie mix caught my eye at the store.
When I got home, I set myself in front of our electric stove. Armed with a recipe, I tried to teach myself to make a white sauce.
Halfway through the recipe, I couldn’t believe it—I’d made a white sauce! On my own! I could do this! Then I remembered: I had always hated fish pie.
Admiring my sauce, I wondered why I was so committed to making a dish I had hated for 25 years. Why was it suddenly so important to me?
I spooned the sauce over the fish. Then I ate the pie. It was delicious. More importantly, something strange had happened. The act of making a meal had calmed me.
It helped me find peace.
1. What do we know about the author?| A．She didn’t get along well with her husband. |
| B．She rarely called her mother on the phone. |
| C．She had a close relationship with her mother. |
| D．She regretted not visiting her mother that day. |
| A．expressed her wish to be a person like her mother |
| B．complained that her mother didn’t teach her to cook |
| C．wanted to show how good her mother was at cooking |
| D．meant to tell what was special about the white sauce |
| A．Living a lonely life. | B．Learning to cook. |
| C．Living on instant foods. | D．Looking back on the old days. |
| A．Sad. | B．Peaceful. |
| C．Dependent. | D．Strange. |
【推荐2】I am not a typical graduate student. As an engineer, I have designed electronic control systems for more than 30 years, and I had expected to do so until I retired.
My wife is a scientist at the Australian National University (ANU). One year, I accompanied her to a scientific conference. Jochen Zeil, a professor at the ANU who studies animal behavior, captured my interest.
At lunchtime, Zeil and I had a long and very enjoyable discussion about his idea on the fundamentals of insect vision. When we parted, I joked that if he wanted another PhD student, he could count me in. About a month later he emailed me, “Haven’t heard from you Have you enrolled yet?” And that’s how, at the age of 53, I became a part-time doctoral student in biology at the ANU.
My background in biology was decades ago, so I needed to learn the basics fast. Diving into textbooks, I went through an intense “undergraduate course” in my spare time. After a while, I managed to follow the papers I read. But the more I learnt, the more I realized how little I knew. Every paper aroused my interest to read more. It was tiring, and at times frustrating, but fun. I read, and read, and thought, and suddenly things fell into place. Still, being a part-time graduate student wasn’t easy. I forgot the meaning of “spare time” for a while. Now, at the age of 61, my PhD is nearly at an end in itself.
New knowledge enriches you, regardless of how old you are. If you have the opportunity to dive into a new field, just take it.
1. What motivated the author to study biology at the ANU?| A．His passion for engineering. | B．His curiosity about Zeil’s idea. |
| C．His wife’s suggestion. | D．His job’s requirement. |
| A．He laughed at him. | B．He ignored his words. |
| C．He felt satisfied. | D．He took it seriously. |
| A．Exhausting but enjoyable. | B．Frustrating and worthless. |
| C．Tiring but promising. | D．Happy and relaxing. |
| A．Never too old to learn. | B．Every minute counts. |
| C．Practice makes perfect. | D．Experience must be bought. |
【推荐3】When my daughter Sara was in the fifth grade, she came to me with a problem. “Marcy hates me!” she cried. “Because Kathy is my friend, too. She wants me to be her friend and nobody else’s. You talk to Marcy. You tell her that I want to be her friend, but I can have other friends, too!”
Oh! I looked at her for a few moments, wondering how I got into this mess (困境), when suddenly an idea came to me.
Picking up two baskets from the living room, I explained, “When everyone is born, he or she has a little basket. This little one here is yours. The big one is mine. As you grow, so does the basket. You can see your little basket is inside mine because when you were born, there were too many things you couldn’t do for yourself. I did everything you couldn’t do on your own.”
She nodded.
“Well, as you grew older and began to do some things on your own, I began placing a few more things in your basket. When you learned to tie your shoes, that went in your basket.”
She said softly, “I can tie my own shoes.”
“Right. As you grow older, there will be more and more things you must do on your own.” As I spoke, I gradually took her basket out of mine and handed it to her. “You will finally carry your own basket with things only you can do.”
She looked up at me and said, “I understand. There are some things that I have to do by myself because they are in my basket.”
1. What was Sara’s problem?| A．She didn’t have a basket. | B．She didn’t want her own basket. |
| C．She couldn’t deal with her friendship. | D．Her mother was too hard on her. |
| A．Angry. | B．Crazy. | C．Proud. | D．Helpless. |
| A．gifts given by God when everyone is born | B．something that people use to keep vegetables |
| C．growing abilities as you grow up | D．friendship that needs repairing |
| A．would talk to Marcy herself | B．wouldn’t make friends with Kathy |
| C．was too young to deal with anything | D．managed to persuade her mother to help her |
【推荐1】Once there was a relative who offered a man and his three sons two baskets of peaches(桃子). One basket of peaches were just ripe(成熟) while the other were already overripe and would go bad at once.
The father asked, “Which way of eating can avoid wasting a peach?”
The eldest son said, “Of course, we should eat those overripe, for they can’t be kept for three days.”
“But after you eat up those, the peaches in the other basket will go bad!”Certainly, the father was not satisfied with the eldest son’s advice.
The second son thought for a while and said “We should eat the peaches just ripe. Choose the good ones!”
“If so, won't the overripe peaches be wasted? Don’t you think it pity?” The father turned to the youngest son, “What good idea do you have?”
“I feel,” thinking for a while, the youngest son said, “we’d better mix them together, give some of them to the neighbors, and let them help us eat, so that we won’t waste a peach at all.”
Hearing this, the father nodded and said with a smile, “OK. It is really a good way. Then let’s do it by your way.”
1. Who offered them two baskets of peaches?| A．A boss | B．A friend. |
| C．A relative. | D．A neighbor. |
| A．avoid wasting a peach | B．sell the peaches |
| C．eat the overripe peaches | D．send the ripe peaches |
| A．Eating them up. | B．Eating those ripe peaches first. |
| C．Giving some to the neighbors. | D．Eating those overripe peaches first. |
| A．He felt sad. | B．He felt worried. |
| C．He was satisfied. | D．He was disappointed. |
【推荐2】Pre-College Program Courses
The Harvard Pre-College Program will be hosting all courses online for Summer 2021. To encourage interactive learning, class sizes are small and typically range from 12 to 18 students. In this collegial setting, you will practice the art of healthy debates, learn to communicate clearly on complex topics, and deliver presentations on your own research, all under the guidance of Harvard instructors for a true Ivy League experience. At the end of the program, you will receive a written evaluation from your instructor, as well as a Harvard transcript with a grade of AR or NM （"requirements met" or "requirements not met"）. Please note: You need to attend every online class in its entirety to receive a passing grade of "Met All Requirements".
Course: Care in Critical Times
• Jul 5 —Aug 16, Mon. to Thurs., 8:30 — 11:00 am
• Andrea Wright
What is care? How can and do communities encourage care as a tool for building healing, and hope? This course requires students to not only ask how they might engage in caring acts with their own communities, but to complete a locally based community project that brings care.
Course: Introduction to neuroscience
• Jul 7 — Jul 25, Wed. to Fri., Noon — 3:00 pm
• Grace Francis
This course is an introduction to the nervous system, with emphasis on the structure and function of the human brain.
Course: College Writing
• Jul 1 — Jul 22, Thurs. to Sat., 8:00 — 11:30 am
• Martin T. Greenup
This course introduces students to college writing by taking them through the steps required to complete a five — page analytic essay. Students read a range of classic and contemporary short stories, and develop strategies for careful close reading via class discussion and in-class exercises.
Course: The Economics of Cities
• Jun 17 — Jul 29, Sun. to Thurs., 3:15 — 6:15 pm
• Thomas Shay Hill
What causes cities to grow, and what limits their growth? What are the costs of urban living, and how can they be overcome? We examine a range of major urban issues from an economic view: traffic and transportation; water, public health and the role of cities in generating economic growth and technological innovation.
1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To offer an overview of the program. |
| B．To introduce the program instructors. |
| C．To present the contents of the guidance. |
| D．To explain the requirements of the courses. |
| A．Care in Critical Times. | B．College Writing. |
| C．Introduction to neuroscience. | D．The Economics of Cities. |
| A．Andrea Wright's. | B．Grace Francis's. |
| C．Martin T. Greenup's. | D．Thomas Shay Hill's. |
【推荐3】It is an honor for me to deliver this speech and on behalf of the graduating students, welcome you to this special ceremony 2020.
This is a unique moment. We are stepping up to another phase of our lives at a time of great hardship and global difficulties. Hope this ceremony will help erase sad memories, refresh beautiful ones and add more splendid memories into our lives.
I was born in the middle of war, which caused my family to move to Serbia for three years. When the war ended, we returned to Bosnia. My mother, who is and will ever be my heroine, was the only figure who guided me, provided for me and kept me on the right track, in the hope for a better life. I owed her so much as she is responsible for huge part of my success. I will always remember her teachings “to complain less and always find solutions at the price of whatever it takes” ， which brought me to China, an ancient land of new hopes.
During the COVID-19 outbreak, I got the best opportunity to understand China. I saw millions of people united with one goal-to win the battle against this epidemic. I have never seen such a collective dedication from a nation, turning things for the better by sacrificing personal convenience on a grand scale. China's governance and health care system proves to be one of the most efficient in the world. With a population of 1.4 billion, China not only has successfully controlled the transmission of the corona-virus but also assisted many other countries across the globe.
Everyone has a role to play in the battle against the virus. In Tsinghua, I played a tiny but necessary role: Staying on campus, studying online, cooperating during temperature checks and respecting social distancing measures. The rules set by the university and Chinese government had everyone's health and safety as first priority. This made me feel safe and confident that China was on the right track towards victory. Throughout this time, despite the immense challenges, Tsinghua has facilitated many online conferences, which helped me nurture more skills in my field of study.
……
Let's undertake everything we can for the sake of unity, humanity and the international community. Let's work together for a more promising future and prosperous world.
1. In the author's eyes, the special ceremony 2020 should| A．be a unique moment to deliver speech |
| B．be a time to say good-bye to hard times |
| C．be a moment to open a new chapter of life |
| D．be a specific time to embrace a beautiful past |
| A．she expected to escape the terrible war |
| B．she longed to possess her own career |
| C．she was encouraged by her inspiring mom |
| D．she found the good control of COVID-19 in China |
| A．The rules of the government. |
| B．The joint devotion of the nation. |
| C．The breaking-out of the epidemic. |
| D．The great challenges of the school. |
