Thousands of encouraging roadside signs have been planted around the world, and it’s all thanks to one woman who felt helpless in the face of mental illness.
Amy Wolff was first encouraged to start planting the encouraging signs after she had a heartbreaking discussion with a friend in May 2017. “We were hanging out with friends when one of them mentioned the growing number of people trying to kill themselves in our community,” says Wolff. “I wasn’t a doctor. I didn’t know of anyone suffering from thoughts of self-harm. What could I do?”
Then Wolff got the idea to start planting encouraging signs in people’s yards. For the following two weeks, she and her kids started knocking on people’s doors across their town of Newburg, Oregon and asking if they could put up signs with messages like “Don’t Give Up” and “Your Mistakes Don’t Define You”.
Wolff then started receiving messages from other people in the community wanting to buy the signs. Within a few days, Wolff had sold over 150 of the yard signs. That night, Wolff’s husband created a website to sell the signs.
“Within a year, we had news media in Dallas, Boston, Massachusetts, and Portland cover our movement,” she added. By the fall of 2018, Wolff set up the Don’t Give Up organization for her signs. Since she planted her first sign two years ago, she has shipped the organizations messages of encouragement to all 50 US states and 26 countries in 6 languages.
With May being Mental Health Awareness Month, the messages that Wolff has received from sign owners are meaningful. One message from Frank reads: “I just had a woman knock on my door. She began to cry and thank me for the signs in my yard. Her son had tried to kill himself and these signs were in the yard the day they came home from the hospital.”
1. What led to Amy Wolff taking action to help people with mental illness?| A．Her friends suggestions. |
| B．The things done by “Don’t Give Up”. |
| C．Her own experience of fighting against mental illness. |
| D．The increasing self-killing events in her community. |
| A．To sell the signs to other people in the community well. |
| B．To help the people trying to kill themselves in Wolff’s community. |
| C．To offer the helpless people with mental illness courage and confidence in life . |
| D．To make a website to sell the signs meaningful. |
| A．Honest and hard-working. |
| B．Creative and warm-hearted. |
| C．Humorous and easy-going. |
| D．Cheerful and strong-minded. |
| A．To save oneself is to save others. |
| B．Many hands make light work. |
| C．Make selfless devotion and seek no rewards. |
| D．It pays to try new things. |
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【推荐1】On September 18, 2020, people gathered on the steps of the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, singing songs like Amazing Grace. Some placed twinkling candles on the steps. Others left flowers and messages. They were there to mourn (哀悼) the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away at the age of 87.
Ginsburg was the second-ever female justice on the US Supreme Court, the most powerful court in the United States. She served in that position from 1993 until her death. During her long career, Justice Ginsburg fought for women’s equality and human rights for everyone.
Because she was a woman, she had many barriers placed in her path by people who, at the time, felt that women should not have the same rights as men. When she attended Harvard Law School in 1956, she was only one of nine women in her class. The rest of the class — 541 students —were men. It wasn’t that other women weren’t smart or talented enough to get in, but because there was a tendency against women attending schools like Harvard Law, so many were turned away while similarly qualified men were accepted. Ginsburg also laced discrimination because she was Jewish.
Ginsburg knew that men and women are equal. As a lawyer and later as a judge, she devoted her life to fighting for that principle.
One of her most famous rulings as a Supreme Court justice involved the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), which, in 1996, only allowed males to attend. Ginsburg wrote a ruling that persuaded the other justices that not allowing women into the institute was against the 14th Amendment (修正案), which explains that all people in US have equal rights. Today, about 10% of the students at VMI are female.
Ginsburg was so inspirational that people wrote books, movies and songs about her. Children went out for Halloween dressed as her, wearing the black justice robes and white collars and other neck pieces she often wore.
1. What trouble did Ginsburg have in attending Harvard Law School?| A．Competition with qualified men. |
| B．Discrimination against females. |
| C．Worry about her future career. |
| D．Lack of talent. |
| A．Influential and strong-willed. |
| B．Qualified und creative. |
| C．Generous and devoted. |
| D．Talented and sociable. |
| A．The US Supreme: Court never had female justices before: Ginsburg. |
| B．The percentage of females at VMI is higher than that of males. |
| C．Ginsburg was the only Jewish female in the university. |
| D．People honored Ginsburg in various ways. |
| A．Pursuit of Equality |
| B．Fighting Prejudice Beyond All Price |
| C．An American Hero Fighting for Gender Equality |
| D．An Inspirational Justice Fighting Against Her Fate |
【推荐2】I remember doing the household chores to help my mother when I was nine. I hated changing the vacuum cleaner (真空吸尘器) bag and picking up things the machine did not suck up. Twenty years later, in 1978, with this lifelong dislike of the way the machine worked, I decided to make a bagless one.
Easier said than done, of course. I didn’t realize that I would spend the next five years perfecting my design, a process that resulted in 5,127 different prototypes (样机). By the time I made my 15th prototype, my third child was born. By 2,627, my wife and I were really counting our pennies. By 3,727, my wife was giving art lessons for some extra cash, and we were getting further and further into debt. These were tough times, but each failure brought me closer to solving the problem.
In the early 1980s, I started trying to get licensing agreements for my technology. The reality was very different, however. The major vacuum makers had built a business model based on the profits from bags and filters (滤网). No one would license my idea, not because it was a bad one, but because it was bad for business. But soon after, the companies that I had talked with started making machines like mine. I had to fight legal battles on both sides of the Atlantic to protect the patents on my vacuum cleaner.
I was still in financial difficulties until 1993, when my bank manager personally persuaded Lloyds Bank to lend me $1 million. Then I was able to go into production. Within two years, the Dyson vacuum cleaner became a best-seller in Britain.
Today, I still embrace risk and the potential for failure as part of the process. Nothing beats the excitement of invention,
1. What drove the author to make a bagless vacuum cleaner?| A．His willingness to help mom. |
| B．His curiosity about machines. |
| C．His trouble in doing family chores. |
| D．His discontent with existing cleaners. |
| A．The help from the author’s wife. |
| B．The financial problems of the family. |
| C．The tough process of the new invention. |
| D．The procedures of making a bagless cleaner. |
| A．They thought they might suffer loss. |
| B．They considered it not good enough. |
| C．They faced legal problems themselves. |
| D．They had begun making such machines. |
| A．Think twice before acting. |
| B．Failure is the mother of success. |
| C．Actions speak louder than words. |
| D．A good beginning makes a good ending. |
【推荐3】My parents ran the Pagonis restaurant, a small eatery in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, and my first real job, when I was six years old, was shining diners’ shoes. My duties increased as I grew older. By the age of ten I was clearing tables and working as the janitor(清洁工). Dad beamed when he told me that I was the best “mop guy” he’d ever had.
Working in the restaurant was a source of great pride because I was pitching in for the good of the whole family. But my father made it clear. I had to meet certain standards to be part of the team. I had to be responsible, hard-working and polite to the customers.
Except for the shoeshine job, I was never paid for any work I did at the restaurant. One day I made the mistake of telling Dad I thought he ‘should give me $10 a week. He said, “Okay, then how about you paying me for the three meals a day you eat here? And for the times you bring in your buddies for free sodas?” He figured I owed him about $40 a week. This taught me that when you negotiate, you’d better know the other side’s arguments as well as your own.
I remember coming home to Charleroi after being away in the Army about two years. I had just been promoted to captain and was full of pride as I walked into my parents’ restaurant. The first thing Dad said was, “It’s the janitor’s day off. How about you cleaning up tonight?”“I can’t believe this!” I thought. “I’m an officer in the United States Army!” But it didn’t matter. As far as Dad was concerned, I was just another member of the team. I reached for the mop.
Working for Dad had taught me that loyalty to a team comes first. It doesn’t matter whether that team is involved in a family restaurant or in the Army.
1. How was the author’s work at the restaurant?| A．It was unpaid. |
| B．It was beyond his power. |
| C．It was negotiable. |
| D．It was thought highly of by his father. |
| A．Doing my bit. |
| B．Swallowing my pride. |
| C．Making a sacrifice. |
| D．Earning a living. |
| A．He got annoyed at his father’s words. |
| B．He hadn’t expected to be treated as before. |
| C．His father didn’t realize he was an honored captain. |
| D．His father fully understood his son’s pride as an officer. |
| A．Responsibility and generosity. |
| B．Politeness and kindness. |
| C．Diligence and faithfulness. |
| D．Devotion and ambition. |
【推荐1】It was only a dollar. Dylan noticed it on the floor as he sat at the back of his English class at John F.Kennedy High School, in March. He picked it up and brought it to his English teacher — Katie Mattison.
Mattison was a little surprised he’d turned the dollar in, knowing a lot of people would have just kept it. She suggested that Belscher tape it to the whiteboard at the front of the classroom, where she always puts lost things. Maybe the dollar was lunch money or bus fare for the student who dropped it.
Hunter Rose, then a senior, spotted the dollar on the whiteboard. After class, he asked Mattison why it was there. She was still waiting for the original owner to claim it, so she replied, “I don’t know.” Rose took the tape from Mattison’s desk and taped a second dollar to the board.
The sight of the two dollar bills, side by side, triggered something in Mattison’s students.They started asking about the purpose of the money, to which Mattison always gave the same answer: She didn’t know. At that point, it was absolutely true.
More students, curious, taped up single dollar bills. The effort snowballed. Even with no specific purpose, many students wanted to be part of whatever this was. The students, among themselves, decided Mattison had some unspoken goal. They figured bigger donations could only help them get there faster. The amount continued to grow over several weeks, until it reached $175.76. As for the original dollar, the person who lost it never came looking.
That left Mattison to decide upon the best resolution. She kept thinking about her brother-in-law, Jack Hains, a guy she describes as a wonderful human being who had died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a rare and devastating neurological disease. She asked the teens whether they minded if she donated the dollars to the ALS Therapy Development Institute.
Their answer was to tape enough money to the whiteboard over the next few days to push the amount to $321.06. Mattison, choking back tears as she recalls the moment, says she carefully peeled the cash off the board and made the donation just before the beginning of May, which is National ALS Awareness Month.
1. The first dollar bill belongs to ________.| A．Dylan |
| B．Mattison |
| C．Hunter Rose |
| D．someone unknown |
| A．Dylan didn’t keep the bill for himself |
| B．Hunter found another bill in the class |
| C．nobody was curious about the bill |
| D．nobody came to claim the bill |
| A．they were moved by Dylan and Hunter |
| B．their teacher called on them to do so |
| C．they wanted to help with Mattison’s secret plan |
| D．they wanted to help the poor guy who lost the bill |
| A．Her students’ efforts. |
| B．Her students’ honesty. |
| C．National ALS Awareness Month. |
| D．Her brother-in-law who died of ALS. |
A
In one of the old buildings near our school,one could see an old man sitting by a large window on the first floor,His name was James.During the three years at school,I had hardly ever found him missing from his usual position.
He was a high-ranking government official and lived happily with his wife .Once there was a bus accident,in which a number of passengers were seriously injured and taken to the hospital for treatment.James was responsible for the rescue operation.It was a big hospital,but James was shocked to notice how ill-equipped it was.There was no enough life-saving drugs and life-supporting equipment.The injured and their companions had to struggle there .James attempted to help .However,though he emptied his pockets,many of them died that day.
That was a turning point in his life.He made a decision to devote his life to helping others,particularly the poor and needy patients and their companions.He began to spend much of his income on these people.Since this required much time and energy,he found it difficult to fulfill his official duties and therefore chose to retire,which,in turn,reduced his income considerably.
His wife was deeply worried.Most of the time,James was out and paid least attention to home affairs.Meanwhile,as he was spending a lot helping others,she had struggle even to meet the household expenses.Though she was not against his helping the poor,she urged him not to ignore his own home and life,but it had no effect on him.She decided to leave him ,never to return.Though he continued his work, this was a great blow and did serious harm to his health and enthusiasm and he was soon forced to stay indoors.That was when he took his position by the window,spending his time looking outside.
A few weeks after my graduation,I returned to school,only to find the building gone.I heard that they were torn down.Everyone left except James.He refused to go and the next morning,he was found at his usual place by the window,dead.
1. What changed James view toward life?
| A．The difficulties in his career. |
| B．The deaths in the bus accident. |
| C．The bad conditions in the hospital. |
| D．The responsibilities in the hospital. |
| A．she was strongly against his deeds. |
| B．James paid little attention to his work |
| C．her work to support their daily-life was too tiring. |
| D．James failed to keep a balance between charity and home |
| A．his decision to retire |
| B．the departure of his wife |
| C．the argument with his wife |
| D．his devotion to helping others |
【推荐3】26－year－old Ste Burke was on his way home when three men came up to him asking if he wanted to buy a bike. They were trying to sell the ￡1, 350 bike for ￡100. Not only that, Burke realized that there must be something wrong because there was still a lock on the bike. Then Burke immediately bought it for ￡80.
After he bought the bike, Burke posted a photo of it to social media (社交媒体) in hopes of finding the first owner. “Has anyone lost his/her bike? I just bought this bike for ￡80 and it’s got a bike lock on it. It is clear that it’s from the Crosby area. I know it’s a ￡1, 350 bike and I’d be heartbroken if it was mine,” wrote Burke.
Within hours, Burke received a phone call from a woman who knew the bike’s owner. A man whose house had been burgled (入室偷窃) earlier that very same week lost his bike. Since the man had saved up more than ￡1, 350 of his own money to buy the bike, he was very thankful for its return. The man tried to pay Burke the ￡80, but Burke refused, “I didn’t feel right accepting money from a man who had just had his house broken into.”
Burke has since been showered with social media praise for his honesty, although he says over and over that he did not return the bike for media attention. An owner of a bicycle store offered to give Burke a bike for free as a reward (奖赏) for his honesty.
1. What did Burke think of the bike when the three men tried to sell it?| A．He guessed it must be stolen. |
| B．He felt he had seen it somewhere. |
| C．He thought it was a bike with poor quality. |
| D．He thought it could be bought at a lower price. |
| A．By following the three men. |
| B．By searching bicycle stores. |
| C．By asking for public help. |
| D．By asking his neighbors. |
| A．He could get a bike for free. |
| B．He felt pity for his suffering. |
| C．He thought it was not big money. |
| D．He didn’t want to draw public attention. |
| A．Calm. | B．Brave. |
| C．Clever. | D．Kind－hearted. |
