That black woman was a cleaner in our school and her job was to wipe down the lockers, clean the floor, and check the drawings on the wall. She never seemed to smile and was always yelling at kids for throwing trash on the ground.
One afternoon, I saw that two boys kicked over garbage cans, spilling garbage.
“What are you doing? Get back and clean this mess up!” the woman shouted.
The boys ran away, making faces to her.
She sighed sadly and began collecting the trash A few tears fell from her eyes. I went up to help her pick up piece of crumpled (皱巴巴) paper and smiled at her. The woman looked at me with shock, and for a moment I thought she would smile back, but she simply went to gather the trash. The next time when I saw her, I called out, “Good morning!” She stopped and looked at me. Then, she smiled back. It was a really beautiful smile.
We continued this relationship. We both smiled and waved as we met but we didn’t know each other, until one day when she asked me a question, “You are not from around here, are you?”
“Well, I’ve lived here all my life, if that’s what you mean,” I told her.
She was surprised. “Oh, I just thought you talk differently and you’re so friendly. I didn’t get that a lot...” she said.
After that day, we have become real friends. What this experience has taught me is that little gestures of kindness are often the most appreciated. By offering a simple smile and pleasant helle, I helped give this woman a better day and gained a valuable friendship.
1. The black woman cried because ________.| A．boys drew pictures on the wall. | B．she lost her job as a cleaner. |
| C．she didn’t like her job as a cleaner. | D．two boys made her job more difficult. |
| A．The writer helped pick up garbage. | B．The woman asked a question. |
| C．The writer greeted the woman. | D．The woman smiled at the writer. |
| A．She was friendly to others. | B．She had known the writer before. |
| C．She was thankful to the writer. | D．She was respected in the school. |
| A．Honest. | B．Humorous. | C．Kind. | D．Curious. |
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【推荐1】Wearing a protective suit, Jiang Aiqin waited for the arrival of the garbage trucks.
She was about to start her voluntary work: garbage classification. But once she’d been working for a while, the 17-year-old of Chongqing Nankai Middle School realized that sorting out garbage by hand is a torturous(折磨人的) and time-consuming process.
From the 2,000 replies to an online questionnaire she designed, Jiang found that only half of the residents were able to sort out their garbage and many blamed their difficulties on the poor classification system.
Jiang wondered what she could do to help out with the problem. It was her mother that gave her the hint: She suggested that Jiang introduce artificial intelligence(人工智能) into garbage classification.
Inspiration struck, leading her to design a new app.
When users come to the front of a bin, they describe the garbage on their smartphones and create a QR code sticker(二维码标签). Using a machine beside the dustbin, they scan the code, which then tells them the correct bin to use.
With the app, you can track(追踪) the progress of your trash. “It would save residents troubles and inform them about garbage classification,” said Jiang. “As the method spread from household to household, the efficient disposal of garbage in cities would be established.”
Although the teenager had a blueprint in mind, she didn’t know how to program an app. To this end, Jiang visited an environmental protection company for help. She told the company about her app idea, and as a result won recognition for her innovation(发明) from the company’s experts.
Finally, Jiang did a further duty as a citizen: She wrote to local government about her idea. Replying, the government told her that “The design is creative and workable” and that “a clean environment needs the help of citizens like you.”
1. All of the following contribute to the creation of the garbage sorting app EXCEPT _______.| A．Jiang Aiqin’s mother. | B．environmental experts |
| C．the government | D．Jiang Aiqin’s classmates |
| A．To make garbage classification efficient. |
| B．To earn her a large quantity of money. |
| C．To earn her much higher social status. |
| D．To monitor people for garbage classification. |
| A．come to the front of a bin |
| B．create a QR code sticker |
| C．use a smartphone to scan the code |
| D．describe garbage on their smartphone |
| A．Particular. | B．Determined. |
| C．Sensitive | D．Modest |
【推荐2】In late 2020, Detroit resident Oleita posted a video on Facebook that explained how to make sleeping bags from used potato chips and other snack bags. She could help the city’s homeless people find warmth during cold winters while also giving a second life to chip bags, which aren’t easily recyclable and usually end up in the trash.
Almost immediately after Oleita posted that first call for bags, people took notice. Local businesses offered to serve as collection points, and volunteers raised their hands to get involved.
“We’re all humans who share this planet together, and it’s my duty to make sure the person next to me has access to basic necessities,” says Oleita. “We have a major climate issue happening, and the people who are most influenced are those who are economically poor.”
For most of the Chip Bag Project’s existence, Oleita made sleeping bags all by herself. Now, she has some help. The group operates with a core team of 10 volunteers who do everything from making and delivering the bags to sourcing financial sponsors and doing community outreach.
The road to success has its ups and downs. For a while, the Chip Bag Project operated out of a small space donated by a local business, and the team recently had to leave. Yet they’re not giving up. Instead, the team does everything — including production, back-end business tasks and equipment and supply storage.
Oleita has served as a community organizer for the past decade, and she has experienced homelessness herself. She knew that this project needed to do more than just hand out sleeping bags. “This isn’t just a trash issue; it’s also a climate issue. And it’s not just a climate issue, but a human issue too. I’m always thinking of the world as interconnected — energy is neither created nor destroyed, only transferred.”
1. What made Oleita want to help homeless people?| A．Cold winter. | B．Polluted environment. |
| C．Personal experience. | D．Social responsibility. |
| A．It consists of ten people. | B．It is facing low efficiency. |
| C．It managed to run well. | D．It is just about a human issue. |
| A．Modest. | B．Kind-hearted. | C．Ambitious. | D．Self-motivated. |
| A．A touching story. | B．Turning trash into treasure. |
| C．An accidental post. | D．Helping people in need. |
【推荐3】When it comes to friends, I desire those who will share my happiness with me. When I was in the eighth grade, I had a friend. We were shy and “too serious” about our studies when it was becoming fashionable with our classmates to learn acceptable social behaviors. We said little at school, but she would come to my house and we would sit down with pencils and paper, and one of us would say: “Let’s start with a train whistle today.” We would sit quietly together and write separate poems or stories that grew out of a train whistle. Then we would read them aloud. At the end of that school year, we, too, were changed into social creatures and the stories and poems stopped.
When I lived for a time in London, I had a friend. He was in despair (失望) and I was in despair. But our friendship was based on the idea in each of us that we would be sorry later if we did not explore this great city because we had felt bad at the time. We met every Sunday for five weeks and found many excellent things. We walked until our despairs disappeared and then we parted. We gave London to each other.
For almost four years I have had a remarkable friend. We write long letters in which we often discover our strangest selves. Each of us appears, sometimes in a funny way, in the other’s dreams. She and I agree that, at certain times, we seem to be parts of the same mind. In my most interesting moments, I often think: “Yes, I must tell...” We have never met.
It is such comforting companions I wish to keep. One bright hour with their kind is worth more to me than the lifetime services of a psychologist (心理学家), who will only fill up the healing (愈合的) silence necessary to those darkest moments in which I would rather be my own best friend.
1. In the eighth grade, what the author did before developing proper social behavior was ________.| A．become serious about her study | B．go to her friend’s house regularly |
| C．learn from her classmates at school | D．share poems and stories with her friend |
| A．our exploration of London was a memorable gift to both of us |
| B．we were unwilling to tear ourselves away from London |
| C．our unpleasant feelings about London disappeared |
| D．we parted with each other in London |
| A．call each other regularly | B．have similar personalities |
| C．enjoy writing to each other | D．dream of meeting each other |
| A．ask for professional help | B．be left alone |
| C．stay with her best friend | D．break the silence |
【推荐1】Mr Scold,77 years old, came to me for his blood pressure reading of 190/80. He claimed he hadn't changed any of his medicine. During the appointment with him, I found an interesting detail—a few months ago, he had received a subscription(订阅)to a national newspaper.
Rather than think about growing the prettiest roses in town, Mr Scold began to worry about mad cow disease, global trade wars and more he learned from the newspaper. With his new and vast circle of concern, his blood pressure was through the roof.
Our little three-pound brain was once busy securing bread and meat for the longest time. But now it has suddenly become aware of massive unsolvable problems, from a large asteroid (小行星)that nearly missed the earth, to the man-made conflicts that occupy the headline news. However, no matter how predictable your daily life is, once these big problems occupy your mind, peace and good sleep will disappear.
A few years ago, in our house, we faced a very different local threat. An unwelcome visitor got into our basement—a mouse. The whole family came together to face this threat. When we finally caught the mouse, I realized that during those two days, we forgot that parts of the world were still at war and that the economy was facing headwinds.
“Sometimes, maybe the little daily problems are a gift for us, ”I thought. A solvable problem draws attention away from big unsolvable problems. I felt genuinely thankful that the mouse gave me this wisdom. The clicking refrigerator noise, the overgrown weeds and my one-star reviews—I have started welcome the little annoyances, which keep my mind busy and serve as the protection against the worry of the big unsolvable issues.
I almost forgot to tell you about Mr. Scold. He cut down the daily dose(剂量)of negative information, and in a few weeks his blood pressure was back to normal.
1. Why did Mr. Scold's blood pressure rise?| A．He failed to grow the best roses in town. |
| B．He devoted much time to the newspaper. |
| C．He was exposed to a lot of negative news. |
| D．He was concerned about his physical health. |
| A．It increased his concern about his disease. |
| B．It drew his mind off the unsolvable issues. |
| C．It turned his normal life totally upside down. |
| D．It warned him that our daily life is predictable. |
| A．Keep track of social concerns. |
| B．Care about the elderly in need. |
| C．Have regular medical check-ups. |
| D．Focus on the solvable problems. |
| A．The gift of little daily problems |
| B．The power of working as a family |
| C．The pursuit of living a fulfilling life |
| D．The secret to normal blood pressure |
【推荐2】Albert Einstein, the genius behind the theory of relativity, which provided a new framework for all of physics and proposed new concepts of space and time, has recently been making headlines again. However, this time it is not for a new scientific breakthrough, but because of two handwritten notes the scientist gave a bellboy 99 years ago.
The story goes something like this. In 1922, Einstein was invited to Tokyo to deliver lectures. As the scientist was making his way from Europe to Japan, he received a telegram informing him that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Though pleased at the news, he decided to continue with his Japanese trip instead of heading to Stockholm to accept the honor.
When in Tokyo, he penned two notes in German. One of them, written on a piece of plain paper, said, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
Why did Einstein write the notes? Some believe they were to express Einstein’s delight at the reception he received from the people of Japan who crowded to attend the laureate’s (获奖者) lectures. Others think they were specially written for the bellboy who came to deliver a message, either because the scientist did not have loose change to tip him, or because the messenger refused to accept tips. Regardless of the reason, Einstein purportedly told the bellboy, “Maybe if you are lucky, those notes will become much more valuable than just a regular tip.” He was right!
Earlier this year, the bellboy’s nephew decided to part with the notes and handed them to auction houses. One note brought the owner an astonishing $ 1.56 million. The second note, which opened at $ 1,000 and was expected to fetch a maximum of $ 6,000, was sold for $ 240,000!
1. What made Einstein become people’s focus again?| A．The theory of relativity. | B．His new concepts of space. |
| C．The notes written by himself. | D．His notes about his theory. |
| A．In Berne. | B．In Stockholm. | C．In Germany. | D．In Japan. |
| A．They had a great effect. | B．They attracted a lot of people. |
| C．They successfully inspired people. | D．They were hard to understand. |
| A．Disappointed. | B．Curious. | C．Unfair. | D．Unexpected. |
【推荐3】I was feeling splendid this morning! When approaching the bakery I saw a man asking for coins. I’ve often seen him and usually don’t react well to his whiney (嘀咕不停的) tone of his voice. This time I decided I’d give him something. After I’d paid for my tea-to-go, I got a 5 Euro bill ready. Leaving the store really slowly so he’d have a good chance to approach me, I nearly ran into him.
“Would you maybe have some coins for me?” He asked.
I said, “No, sorry, I don’t,” and watched his face fall already at what he thought was a refusal, one of many thousands he probably gets each day.
“I only have this for you”, I said and held the bill in front of his eyes. The way his jaw nearly fell and his eyes widened were priceless.
“Err… wow!” he said, doing a double-take. “That’s really… Thanks.”
“No problem,” I said. “I’m doing well at the moment, and I wanted to share it—have a good day!”
And I walked away. Actually, I walked away leisurely (悠闲地), and I did giggle and laugh out loud for the next 200 meters. Really, you should have seen his face. He totally had not seen that coming! The joy, I think, did not just come from the fact that I love being generous. It also came from breaking up his expectations of what would happen, to allow for that tiny moment of amazement.
1. How did the beggar feel when the writer said “No”?| A．Worried. | B．Surprised. | C．Disappointed. | D．Grateful. |
| A．wasn’t used to being refused | B．hesitated before reaction |
| C．accepted my offer immediately | D．understood me without difficulty |
| A．the beggar didn’t expect so much money | B．he was attracted by the beggar’s face |
| C．he found the beggar was blind | D．the beggar wished him a good day |
| A．He’s always generous to people in need. | B．He enjoys making fun of poor people. |
| C．He lacks sympathy for the poor. | D．He can find happiness from little things. |
