Glenn Cunningham, “the Kansas Ironman”, was an American middle-distance runner, and was considered the greatest American miler of all time.
Glenn was born in Kansas on August 4, 1909. At 7, Glenn was badly burned in an accidental fire in their schoolhouse. The little boy did survive after a long battle, though doctors told his mother that he was sure to die. Unfortunately from his waist down, he had no motor ability. But with his iron persistence and determination, he did develop the ability to stand up, then to walk and then to run.
By the time he was 12, he had beaten all the local high school runners. His legs remained deeply scarred, however. Throughout his life, he would have to spend time doing long warm-up exercises in order to maintain circulation. In addition, his injuries meant that he could never run smoothly or efficiently.
When in university, he ran for the university track team and won his first big race, the 1932 NCAA 1500 meters. That summer, he was selected for the U.S. Olympic track team and came in fourth in the 1500 meter race in the Olympic Games. In 1933, he won the AAU 800 meters with a time of 1:51.8. Overall, he ran 20 races during that summer. That year, the first year he was called “Ironman”.
Although Glenn might have used his name as a star athlete to make a great deal of money, he was more interested in helping others. He and his wife opened the Glenn Cunningham Youth Ranch and raised over 10,000 foster children over three decades.
Throughout his life, Glenn won many awards including the Sullivan Memorial Trophy. He was also elected to the National Track and Field Hall of Fame. As an example of the power of positive thinking and faith in one’s self, Glenn continues to be an inspiration for many.
1. What helped Glenn regain the ability to walk?| A．His strong will. | B．His mother’s support. |
| C．His great desire to win races. | D．Medical treatment from doctors. |
| A．How Glenn beat other high school runners. | B．What effects the accident had on Glenn. |
| C．Why warm-up exercises were necessary. | D．Why Glenn could recover from the injuries. |
| A．He competed in many races in a single year. | B．He won the championship in the Olympics. |
| C．He got the strongest body in the track team. | D．He wore a pair of iron sports shoes in games. |
| A．Caring and determined. | B．Warm-hearted and energetic. |
| C．Hard-working and ambitious. | D．Well-educated and optimistic. |
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【推荐1】Elizabeth Blackwell was born in England in 1821, and moved to New York City when she was ten years old. One day she decided that she wanted to become a doctor. That was nearly impossible for a woman in the middle of the nineteenth century. After writing many letters asking for admission to medical schools, she was finally accepted by a doctor in Philadelphia. She was so determined that she taught school and gave music lessons to get money for the cost of schooling.
In 1849, after graduation from medical school, she decided to further her education in Paris. She wanted to be a surgeon, but a serious eye problem forced her to give up the idea.
Upon returning to the United States, she found it difficult to start her own practice because she was a woman. By 1857 Elizabeth and her sister, also a doctor, along with another woman doctor, managed to open a new hospital, the first for women and children. Besides being the first woman physician and founding her own hospital , she also set up the first medical school for women.
1. What main obstacle almost destroyed Elizabeth’s chances for becoming for a doctor?| A．She couldn’t set up her hospital. | B．She wrote too many letters. |
| C．She couldn’t graduate from medical school. | D．She was a woman. |
| A．She couldn’t get admitted to medical school. |
| B．A serious eye problem stopped her. |
| C．She decided to further her education in Paris. |
| D．It was difficult for her to start a practice in the United States. |
| A．Nineteen years | B．Ten years | C．Eight years | D．Thirty-six years |
| A．the United States | B．Paris | C．England | D．New York City |
| A．became the first woman physician |
| B．set up the first medical school for women |
| C．and several other women founded the first hospital for women and children |
| D．was the first woman doctor |
【推荐2】100-year-old Alfred Larson has been through a lot in his lifetime, but one thing that keeps him going is bluebirds.
When Alfred retired in 1978, he wanted to find a hobby or something to do that would keep him busy and provide him with a sense of purpose. When he read a National Geographic article about crafting wooden nest boxes for bluebirds to help improve their populations, he decided to give it a try. Alfred explained that he started building nest boxes on his ranch (大牧场) using left-over pieces of wood.
More than four decades later, Alfred is still going strong and promoting bluebird conservation efforts. Alfred is now monitoring nearly 350 nest boxes on six different trails (小路) in Southwest Idaho. He said, “I settled on a simple design that was easy to build and easy to monitor. I kept adding more boxes on these trails, and these birds responded.” Alfred’s boxes give bluebirds a lot of help in survival. “Without his work, we can’t see so many bluebirds now,” said Pearman, the author of Mountain Bluebird Trail Monitoring Guide.
To celebrate his achievements, filmmaker Matthew Podolsky worked with Alfred for weeks to create a 30-minute documentary—Bluebird Man. The film explores how everything led him to the work he does today and his efforts in bluebird protection. “I remember the first trip I took to the bluebird trail with Alfred, and I was very surprised by the speed with which he moved from box to box,” said Podolsky. “He was hiking across difficult and uneven terrain (地形). I often struggled to keep up with him. Sometimes we’d check more than 100 boxes and be driving home in the dark.”
The impact he’s had on the populations of bluebirds in North America will continue.
1. How did Alfred help save bluebirds?| A．By feeding them personally. |
| B．By preventing illegal hunting. |
| C．By making wooden nests for them. |
| D．By writing articles about them. |
| A．The number of bluebirds in Southwest Idaho decreases. |
| B．Alfred makes a big difference to bluebird conservation. |
| C．Climate change is threatening the survival of bluebirds now. |
| D．Alfred’s efforts have greatly inspired others to protect bluebirds. |
| A．How the natural habitat of bluebirds disappeared. |
| B．How bluebirds have survived in the past four decades. |
| C．What influence humans have on bluebirds. |
| D．What Alfred does every day to protect bluebirds. |
One day I saw a boy wrapped in a towel on the side of the pool.He was no bigger than I was,so I thought him
I was frightened and felt ashamed.How could I tell his position when he was wrapped in a bath towel and so small?I decided to apologize immediately.“I am sorry,”I said,“I mistook you for a Grade Four boy.You are so small.”He didn’t seem pleased at all,so I added in a most brilliant word.“
1. The writer thought Amery “a fair game” because the boy______.
| A．looked like an animal |
| B．was fond of games |
| C．was of similar size |
| D．was good at sports |
| A．he was laughed at by other boys |
| B．Amery turned out to be in the same grade |
| C．he pushed Amery hard and hurt him |
| D．he played a joke on an outstanding athlete |
| A．tried to please Amery |
| B．challenged Amery |
| C．threatened Amery |
| D．admired his father |
| A．The writer could run faster than Amery. |
| B．The writer liked playing jokes on boy of all sizes. |
| C．Amery was a student in Grade Four. |
| D．Amery forgave the writer for his rude behavior. |
We all know that in our lives, we never stop learning. In fact, there are those individuals who continue at an advanced age to learn new concepts, new information, and new skills. Grandfather Domenico, an elderly man who lives in Bari in southern Italy, decided to go back to middle school to get his eighth-grade diploma at the age of 83.
In grandfather Domenico’s times, going to school was a completely different matter! Poverty was very common. Four students had to share one school desk, and education ended as soon as it was possible to find a job and go to work.
It was the birth of his grandchildren that changed everything! In the evenings, Domenico often found himself reading and telling simple stories to his grandchildren, and right at that time, he began thinking about an idea that he had always had in the back of his mind. He wondered: “What if I decided to study and get my middle school diploma?”
So, for a whole year, Domenico studied Italian, French, mathematics, science, technology... in short, all the subjects he needed to learn in middle school.
His class was a very unusual middle school class. It was made up of immigrants eager to get their diplomas to find jobs, retired parents who in their mature age wanted to continue to reach personal aims, and young workers who wanted to get a better position or a promotion. In short, everyone there had a particular story that was sometimes painful but they were all eager to start a new path through education, study, and knowledge.
And so instead of spending the evening playing cards or watching TV, Domenico prepared seriously for his exam, and his teachers were amazed at his great progress. In fact, his grandchildren also noticed his progress, seeing the cease with which their grandfather spoke to them about topics that once were unknown to him!
1. What can we learn about Domenico’s educational background? (no more than 10 words)2. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2. mean? (no more than 5 words)
3. What was special about Domenico’s class? (no more than 15 words)
4. What did Domenico’s grandchildren find about him? (no more than 15 words)
5. How do you feel after reading Domenico’s story? Please explain. (no more than 20 words)
【推荐2】Since the age of three, Chelsie Hill had dreamed of becoming a dancer. That ambition nearly ended one night in 2010. Hill, then a 17-year-old high school senior in California, was in a car accident that left her paralyzed (残疾的) from the waist down. For most people, that would have ruined any hope of a dancing career. For Hill, it was the beginning. Far from being an obstacle, her wheelchair encouraged her. “I wanted to prove to my community—and to myself—that I was still ‘normal.’”
Normal for her meant dancing, so Hill did it in her wheelchair. “Half of my body was taken away from me, and I have to move it with my hands. It definitely took a lot of learning and patience.” After graduation, Hill wanted to expand her dance network to include women like her. She met people online who had suffered various spinal cord (脊柱) injuries but shared her determination, and she invited them to dance with her. “It was such an amazing experience.”
Hoping to reach more people in a larger city, Hill moved to Los Angeles in 2018 and formed a team of dancers with disabilities she calls the Rollettes. “I want to show that dance is dance, whether you’re walking or you’re rolling.”
Dancing on wheels, the Rollettes discovered, can be just as fast-paced, graceful as dancing on foot. Edna Serrano says that being part of the Rollettes team has given her the courage. “I didn’t know I could do so many things that these girls have taught me,” she says. “They’re my teachers. I have more confidence.”
1. Which of the following words can best describe Hill?| A．confident and honest | B．determined and active |
| C．courageous and polite | D．learned and experienced |
| A．It was founded in Hill’s hometown. |
| B．Every dance lover can join in it. |
| C．It helped many disabled people like Hill. |
| D．It has some dance teachers giving lessons. |
| A．Always prepare for a rainy day. |
| B．Misfortunes never come alone. |
| C．Health is not valued till sickness comes. |
| D．Where there is a will, there is a way. |
【推荐3】A 23-year-old woman has achieved an unbelievable thing that many of us dream of—visiting every country on Earth.
Lexie Alford was born into a family of travel agents, which gave her the opportunity to tour places such as Cambodia, Dubai and Egypt during her childhood, according to Forbes magazine. She began saving up at age 12 to fund her goal of visiting all countries. By her 18th birthday, she had travelled to 72 nations. In October 2016 she realized she could see the remaining nations on her list in time to set official record. Many people follow her travels on social media platform Instagram and she decided to chase the world record partly to inspire others. “Honestly, in the beginning, I simply wanted to push the limits of what I thought I could do with my life and see as much of the world as possible in the process,” she told Forbes. “It wasn’t until things started getting really challenging that I realized I was inspiring people around me, especially young women.”
“I also loved visiting Northern Pakistan, the natural beauty of the mountains and kindness of the locals was astonishing,” Lexie Alford said. “The most pleasant surprise about travelling to all these misunderstood areas of the world was that the countries for which I had least expectations endd up being the most amazing.”
“My advice for young people is to believe that you can do anything you set your mind to do. If you want to travel, you have to prioritize (优先处理) it over other aspects of your life.”
1. Ms. Alford was able to tour lots of places when she was a child, because ________.| A．social media platform supported her |
| B．she had the courage to accept challenges |
| C．her family background gives her an advantage |
| D．some travel agents helped her |
| A．Traveling to the misunderstood places. |
| B．The natural beauty of the mountains. |
| C．The kindness of the local people. |
| D．The unexpected wonderful experiences in some countries. |
| A．Rome was not built in a day. |
| B．Where there is a will, there is a way. |
| C．Where there is life, there is hope. |
| D．Don’t put off till tomorrow what can be done today. |
