Frederick Phiri is the junk-art king of Zambia: at just 22, he started to earn an international reputation for being able to make complex and elegant sculptures from scrap (废弃的) metal found in his community.
Phiri’s father died when he was starting primary school. Then his mother abandoned him and he had to stay with his grandfather. His grandfather paid for his schooling through primary school but when he entered secondary school, he had to get various jobs to pay for his fees. Yet even in school, he was always drawing and making things in class.
After graduating, he did what he could to support himself by making animal sculptures from wires and sold them to tourists. His work was so popular that it caught the eye of Karen Beattie, director of Project Luangwa, a nonprofit organization dedicated to education and economic development in central Africa.
“I introduced him to a local welder (焊工),” Beattie told Newsweek.
In 2017, Phiri worked with welder Moses Mbewe during the rainy season, helping to make a complex set of doors for Project Luangwa. The piece sparked an idea in Beattie’s mind: “I handed him a bunch of scrap metal and said, ‘Make something with this.’And he did. It was wonderful.”
Today, Phiri continues his art, using pieces of junk people bring him-keys, broken bike chains, old metal plugs and whatever scrap metal is lying around. He then turns the junk into abstract animals-elephants, cranes, giraffes, chameleons-and sells them at Project Luangwa headquarters. The community has recognized his talents.
“My dream is to earn enough to study art at the Evelyn Hone College in Lusaka and be able to make a living from it,” Phiri said “and then to make very large sculptures.”
1. What is Phiri known for?| A．Serving his community. | B．Collecting works of art. |
| C．Being the king of Zambia. | D．Turning trash into treasure. |
| A．Uncertain. | B．Confident. | C．Depressed. | D．Satisfied. |
| A．A Successful Path of Art. | B．The Junk-art King of Zambia. |
| C．A Young Man’s Wildest Dream. | D．The Modern Junk Works of Art. |
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【推荐1】Turning soil, pulling weeds, and harvesting cabbage sound like tough work for middle and high school kids. And at first it is, says Abby Jaramillo, who with another teacher started Urban Sprouts a school garden program at four low-income schools. The program aims to help students develop science skills, environmental awareness, and healthy lifestyles.
Jaramillo’s students live in neighborhoods where fresh food and green space are not easy to find and fast food restaurants outnumber grocery stores. “The kids literally come to school with bags of snacks and large bottles of soft drinks,” she says. “They come to us thinking vegetables are awful, dirt is awful, insects are awful.” Though some are initially scared of the insects and turned off by the dirt, most are eager to try something new.
Urban Sprouts’ classes, at two middle schools and two high schools, include hands-on experiments such as soil testing, flower-and-seed dissection, tastings of fresh or dried produce, and work in the garden. Several times a year, students cook the vegetables they grow, and they occasionally make salads for their entire schools.
Program evaluations show that kids eat more vegetables as a result of the classes. “We have students who say they went home and talked to their parents and now they’re eating differently,” Jaramillo says.
She adds that the program’s benefits go beyond nutrition. Some students get so interested in gardening that they bring home seeds to start their own vegetable gardens. Besides, working in the garden seems to have a calming effect on Jaramillo’s special education students, many of whom have emotional control issues. “They get outside,” she says, “and they feel successful.”
1. What do we know about Abby Jaramillo?| A．She used to be a health worker. |
| B．She grew up in a low-income family. |
| C．She is an initiator of Urban Sprouts. |
| D．She owns a fast food restaurant. |
| A．To provide more fresh food and green space. |
| B．To boost more grocery stores than restaurants. |
| C．To replace bags of snacks with soft drinks. |
| D．To shift some kids’ opinion towards insects. |
| A．The kids’ parents distrusted her. |
| B．Some kids disliked garden work. |
| C．Students had little time for her classes. |
| D．There was no space for school gardens. |
| A．Predictable. | B．Unidentifiable. | C．Short-lived. | D．Far-reaching. |
| A．Growing Vegetable Lovers | B．Experiencing Country Life |
| C．Rescuing School Gardens | D．Changing Local Landscape |
【推荐2】Watford and her family have lived in Curtis Bay, Baltimore for generations. Her community has faced environmental injustice. Heavy industries continued to move in her community. As a result, her neighbors have had to live with serious respiratory (呼吸的) problems.
When she knew a plan to build the nation’s largest trash-burning incinerator (焚化炉) less than a mile away from her high school, she realized she had to take action. The incinerator was being sold wrongly as clean, renewable energy equipment but actually it would be a source of brain-damaging chemicals and would release 200 million tons of greenhouse gases per year, both worse than coal burning. Watford felt she had a responsibility to warn her community to work together to shut this plant down.
She co-founded Free Your Voice (FYV), a 10-person student organization devoted to community rights and social justice. Together, they decided to start a campaign to take down Energy Answers, the incinerator’s developer. They went door-to-door talking to neighbors and organizing protests.
When it was discovered that Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) was going to be a customer of Energy Answers, the organization fought with the board and presented their case, urging BCPS to withdraw from the project. BCPS was convinced to cancel their contract, which in turn inspired 22 other customers to do the same. Without any financial gain, Energy Answers had no market to move forward with its plan.
Watford continues to work with Curtis Bay residents toward fair development. They have a vision for the future which includes building a zero-waste movement, a solar farm, and green jobs. She wants the entire human family to join the fight for environmental justice because survival as a species depends on our ability to take action.
1. What caused respiratory problems in Watford’s community?| A．Poor medical care. | B．Terrible environmental conditions. |
| C．Constant bacterial infection. | D．Unbalanced distribution of resources. |
| A．Unfavourable. | B．Doubtful. | C．Unclear. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．BCPS lost financial support. | B．Energy Answers stopped its plan. |
| C．The investors found new market. | D．Many customers revised their contracts. |
| A．A teenage hero against urban pollution |
| B．A teenage hero fighting for an advanced city |
| C．A battle for Baltimore’s sky by a teenage hero |
| D．The social justice challenge for a teenage hero |
【推荐3】Carl Allamby, owner of two auto-repair shops with 11 employees, had become anxious and desirous of something more. At first, he thought it must have to do with growing his business even further. Therefore, the Ohio resident decided to go for his university’s degree in business management.
After taking classes part-time over the next five years, Allamby was told, unexpectedly, he had to take biology to get his degree. It turned out to be best thing that could have happened. The biology class rekindled a childhood dream that he had put away somewhere deep within himself. “After the first day, I remembered this feeling of wanting to be a doctor back,” Allamby says.
Growing up in a poor African American neighborhood, he faced low expectations and numerous barriers to pursuing his dream. His school didn’t offer the advanced science classes that might have led him on a medical path. Even if it had, doing well in school could prove dangerous—students who brought books back home would always be robbed (抢劫). So he set aside thoughts of becoming a doctor in favor of a more realistic career path—fixing cars.
Years later, a different Carl Allamby, with the support of his wife and family, decided to skip business school in favor of the science classes he’d need for a second career as a health-care worker.
And in 2015, Allamby cut ties with his past, selling his two shops and everything that was in them. Then he started at Northeast Ohio Medical University. At the age of 47, as a medical doctor, he took a job in emergency medicine at Cleveland Clinic Akron General.
“I am told that I shouldn’t be a doctor”, he says. “Whether it’s because of my age, my race, my upbringing or my past career, these are all good reasons why I shouldn’t be here. And yet, here I am.”
1. Why does Carl take business management classes?| A．Because he wants to meet more potential employees. |
| B．Because he wants to be respected by his employees. |
| C．Because he wants to improve his company’s business. |
| D．Because he wants to be qualified for a professor’s job. |
| A．Took on. | B．Pulled over. | C．Put out. | D．Brought back. |
| A．The poor path to his school. | B．The dangerous crimes in Africa. |
| C．Lack of the access to some key courses. | D．Lack of the money to buy advanced textbooks. |
| A．Gifted. | B．Determined. | C．Enthusiastic. | D．Powerful. |
【推荐1】Jack London, one of America’s great writers of adventure stories, was born in California in 1876. During his life, London did many jobs. His broad life experiences would become the background for his writing.
London loved to read. As a teenager, he spent many hours educating himself at the Oakland Public Library. He attended college at the University of California at Berkeley in 1896, but he stayed for only six months. He thought Berkeley was “not lively enough” and wanted to do something more exciting.
London wrote stories about working people and the hard times they had making a living. He knew their problems at first hand. He worked as a sailor, factory worker, and gold rusher, to name but a few of his many jobs.
Like many people of the time, London caught the Klondike Gold Rush Fever. In 1897, he headed for Alaska. He didn’t find gold, but he discovered something even more valuable. He discovered that people enjoyed listening to the stories he made up. London entertained (使……快乐) the miners with story after story. Later, using his experiences during the Gold Rush, he created many more colorful stories. London decided to live a full, exciting life. Each day, he pushed himself. Once London made up his mind to be a writer, nothing could stop him. His goal was to write at least one thousand words every day. He refused to stop even when he was sick. In eighteen years, the writer published fifty-one books and hundreds of articles. He was the best-selling and highest-paid author of his day. Many people also considered him to be the best writer.
White Fang and The Call of the Wild are his most famous stories and are about surviving in the Alaskan wilderness.
Readers can enjoy Jack London’s talent for telling wonderful stories each time they open one of his novels.
1. What did Jack London think of his college life?| A．It was not very easy. | B．It was not very busy. |
| C．It was not very interesting. | D．It was not very comfortable. |
| A．When he was a teenager. | B．When he was in Alaska. |
| C．When he went to college. | D．When he worked as a sailor. |
| A．Strong-minded. | B．Big-mouthed. |
| C．Well-educated. | D．Sort-hearted. |
| A．The Klondike Gold Rush Fever | B．The Background of White Fang |
| C．Jack London—A Great Writer | D．Jack London’s Later Life |
【推荐2】Writer Liu fang’s first novel, about the life of a teacher at a rural school in the mountainous province of Guizhou in the 1990s , is greatly similar to her own early years-before she lost her sight and struggled to find a full life in the darkness.
Liu , 44 , was a Chinese language teacher at No 3 Middle School in the Baiyun district of Guiyang until 2006 , when she could no longer see the characters printed in the textbooks .
Diagnosed with incurable eye disease , in 1996 , Liu was told she would gradually lose her eyesight over 10 years.That it took her 20 years to walk into darkness makes her have the ability to tell you the difference between the two worlds .She spent the first 10 years gradually accepting the reality , and the second facing it with smiles.
Fortunately , Liu had many people on her side.Her family and friends helped her overcome the most difficult period of her life. And her own kindness served her well . Liu praised the school’s headmaster , who gave her a new post as a psychological consultant(心理咨询师) for students, and planned for professional training for her new role.
Liu 's office is a comfortable place decorated with hand-drawn student pictures , one where children can thoughtfully talk about their problems . Liu takes her job seriously.She donated 5,000 yuan (＄760) from her income to five poor students.After she became famous , all she wanted to do was help for the “left-behind”children.
Yang Hui , a student who often quarrelled with her parents , said Liu feels like a mother to the student. Yang said She would listen to me patiently , and Liu helped her find the reason she couldn't get along well with her parents .
Liu said , her blindness is an asset . “I guess they trust me because I cannot see them , and they feel I am more concentrated and careful than others while listening to them.”
1. What can we know about Liu fang from the first four paragraphs?| A．She was 44 when she knew she would lose her eyesight. |
| B．She went through the darkness by herself without any support. |
| C．It took her almost ten years to be used to the darkness. |
| D．We can know what her own life is really like from her fist novel. |
| A．Liu fang has become the focus of attention in her school. |
| B．Liu Fang has got through the most difficult time of her life. |
| C．Liu Fang has much experience in getting along with parents. |
| D．Liu Fang has been successful in her job as a psychological consultant |
| A．Advantage | B．Personality |
| C．Ability | D．Creativity |
| A．Liu Fang’s new life as a blind person. | B．Liu Fang’s unbelievable story |
| C．Liu Fang’s social roles. | D．Liu Fang’s hobbies |
【推荐3】You probably know who Marie Curie was, but you may not have heard of Rachel Carson. Of the outstanding ladies listed below, who do you think was the most important woman of the past 100 years?
Jane Addams (1860-1935)
Anyone who has ever been helped by a social worker has Jane Addams to thank. Addams helped the poor and worked for peace. She encouraged a sense of community (社区) by creating shelters and promoting education and services for people in need In 1931, Addams became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Rachel Carson (1907-1964)
If it weren’t for Rachel Carson, the environmental movement might not exist today. Her popular 1962 book Silent Spring raised awareness of the dangers of pollution and the harmful effects of chemicals on humans and on the world’s lakes and oceans.
Sandra Day O’Connor (1930-present)
When Sandra Day O’Connor finished third in her class at Stanford Law School, in 1952, she could not find work at a law firm because she was a woman. She became an Arizona state senator (参议员) and, in 1981, the first woman to join the U. S. Supreme Court. O’Connor gave the deciding vote in many important cases during her 24 years on the top court.
Rosa Parks (1913-2005)
On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rasa Parks would not give up her seat on a bus to a passenger. Her simple act landed Parks in prison. But it also set off the Montgomery bus boycott. It lasted for more than a year, and kicked off the civil-rights movement. “The only tired I was, was tired of giving in,” said Parks.
1. What is Jane Addams noted for in history?| A．Her social work. | B．Her lack of proper training in law. |
| C．Her efforts to win a prize. | D．Her community background. |
| A．Her lack of proper training in law. | B．Her little work experience in court. |
| C．The discrimination against women | D．The poor financial conditions. |
| A．Jane Addams. | B．Rachel Carson. |
| C．Sandra Day O’Connor. | D．Ross Parks. |
| A．They are highly educated. | B．They are truly creative. |
| C．They are pioneers. | D．They are peace-lovers. |
【推荐1】You must have heard the name of Michael Jordan, the God of basketball. When he was young his father always told him that if one has a passion to do something, then nothing Is impossible in this world. He laughed and didn’t believe it. His father decided to do something.
One day, Michael’s father showed him an old dirty T-shirt that was worth $1, and asked him to sell this T-shirt for $2. Michael consented to do it. Michael cleaned that T-shirt, ironed it and made it like a new one. Then he took it to the railway station and sold it for $2.
The next day Michact’s father gave Michael a second T-shirt and said that T-shirt would be sold for $20. Michael took it and thought hard. He cleaned the T-shirt, put a sticker of a Mickey Mouse on it and came to the school where only the children from rich families studied. Finally, one child liked the sticker very much and his father bought the T-shirt for $20.
On the third day, Michael felt tired and wanted to go to the amusement park. Unexpectedly, his father gave Michael another T-shirt and asked him to sell it for $200. Michael refused.
It was a sky-high selling price in his eyes. He even doubted his father said that intentionally. But he had to agree because his father insisted he should try. After thinking, he went to a city where a famous actress Just came. Michael tried to approach that actress and finally got an autograph(亲笔签名) on that T-shirt. He took it to the crowd. When people knew the T-shirt contained that actress, autograph bidding (出价) started and finally a man who paid highest got that T-shirt for $2000. Michael told the whole incident to his father. His father hugged him and said, One day you’ll achieve a great place in your life .You can do any-thing with this spirit.
1. Why did Michael’s father ask him to sell T-shirts?| A．To develop his social skills. |
| B．To train him to learn to do business. |
| C．To make him believe the power of passion. |
| D．To show him the difficulty of earning money. |
| A．Agreed. | B．Hated. | C．Failed. | D．Pretended. |
| A．she was invited to a fan meeting. |
| B．He wanted to have a rest on that day. |
| C．He considered the task hard to finish. |
| D．He thought his father was causing trouble for others. |
| A．He was intelligent and creative. |
| B．He has great respect for his father. |
| C．He has good communication skills. |
| D．He was very interested in making money. |
【推荐2】A PhD student in Michigan defended her paper while wearing a skirt made of rejection letters she received while studying. 29-year-old Caitlin Kirby printed out 17 of her rejection letters — from scholarships, academic journals, and conferences — then folded each one into a fan. She connected them in rows, and by the end she designed the item into a skirt and wore it.
She said that the idea behind her unique clothing item came out of a desire to normalize rejection and take pride in overcoming it. “The whole process of revisiting those old letters and making that skirt sort of reminded me that you have to apply to a lot of things to succeed,” she said. “A natural part of the process is to get rejected along the way.”
Caitlin’s adviser, Julie Libarkin, a professor of earth and environmental science at Michigan State University, also encourages the acceptance of failure in her students. Libarkin believes it’s important for students to get into habit of applying for things, and to get used to the feeling of rejection, so she encourages them to chase after any opportunity that comes their way. If a student doesn’t get the grant or the spot in the academic journal, that’s okay. They’ll still have learned something in the process.
As for Caitlin? Her rejections over the years have led to great things: Since her doctorate, she’s won a scholarship to do further research on urban agriculture in Germany.
Currently, she’s a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. As for what the future holds? “I’m prepared to receive a few more rejection letters along the way,” she joked heartily, “Maybe I’ll make a longer skirt.”
1. What can we learn about Caitlin Kirby’s rejection letters?| A．She received 17 rejections in total. |
| B．29 of her rejections were from journals. |
| C．The rejections were connected into a fan. |
| D．She made some rejection letters into a skirt. |
| A．Creative and considerate. | B．Caring and determined. |
| C．Optimistic and humorous. | D．Generous and intelligent. |
| A．Hard work pays off. |
| B．Education is the entrance to success. |
| C．Self-respect earns more respect. |
| D．One needs to normalize failures. |
| A．A news article. | B．A personal dairy. |
| C．A research review. | D．An advertisement. |
【推荐3】At age 10, McCullough got a glimpse of her dream job. It sparkled in the eyes of the Packard Children’s nurses who cared for her brother Matthew, who had brain cancer. As a child, McCullough spent hours at her brother’s bedside. “I looked up to the nurses. I found their unconditional commitment to my brother’s care remarkable,” McCullough says.
As a young girl, McCullough practiced nursing by caring for her brother, a desire born out of her intense love for him. She would rub his back, bring him drinks, and even help adjust his lines. She was a natural. Her parents said that she was very caring and always put people first from a young age.
When Matthew passed away, McCullough became even more committed to becoming a nurse. She took steps through the years to make her dream come true. In high school, she volunteered at cancer centers and hospitals. “My becoming a nurse is 100% in honor of Matt. I felt the need to channel my grief and turn that tragic moment into something positive,” McCullough says.
Over time, McCullough realized that she didn’t just want to be a nurse. She wanted to be a pediatric oncology (儿科肿瘤) nurse at Packard Children’s. McCullough wanted to give back to the hospital that had done so much for her brother.
Despite feeling like school never came easy, McCullough persisted (坚持) and got into a respected nursing school. She feels like she worked 10 times harder than other nursing students at the university. She traded going out and spending time with friends for the library.
In college, each step brought McCullough closer to her dream. She worked as a nursing assistant at Stanford Health Care for adults with cancer. Then, she transferred to Packard Children’s and worked as a nursing assistant in the Pediatric Transplant Center.
Today, She’s a nurse on the same unit that cared for her brother years ago. She is one of those nurses she admired so much as a child. She finds the time, even on very busy days, to truly be there for patients and families to make them feel loved and welcomed.
1. What makes McCullough want to be a nurse?| A．Her love for her brother. |
| B．The pain of cancer patients. |
| C．Her natural ability of nursing. |
| D．The desire to give back to society. |
| A．She began to work for her dream. |
| B．She volunteered at cancer centers. |
| C．She became a nursing assistant for children. |
| D．She spent much time with friends in the library. |
| A．Changeable and respectable. |
| B．Hardworking and demanding. |
| C．Professional and adventurous. |
| D．Considerate and persistent. |
| A．God helps those who help themselves. |
| B．Where there is a will there is a way. |
| C．Behind bad luck comes good luck. |
| D．He who laughs last laughs best. |
