We had promised to do it for years. We would pack a car with cold chicken and drive south like we used to. But we never had a proper time to do it, somehow. My aunt Edna’s heart was failing. Aunt Juanita had to care for my uncle at home, and my mother, Margaret, did not leave home unless blown away from it by tornadoes. So I was surprised a few years ago when my 72-year-old mother told me to pick up all of them for the trip.
I found the three sisters in the yard, with suitcases in their hands. Edna packed some food including two gallons of potato salad for the two-day trip from Jacksonville, Alabama.
As I drove, they talked of childhood, dirt roads where the dark closed in like a cover on a box, and a daddy who chased the bad things away as soon as he walked in. When we arrived in Montgomery, they had ridden a horse named Bob, cooked a dead chicken named Mrs. Rearden, and fished beside a little man named Jessie Clines. As we drove across Mobile Bay they were remembering their mama and a groundhog that lived under the floorboards.
I wanted them to see the sunset from the Fairhope pier, and as we rolled down the bluff, I heard them go quiet. But the sunset was just a light to see. They were looking at the roses, which were flowering in a circle the size of a baseball field. There were more than 2,000 of them. My mother, who never even liked roses much, said, “Oh, my God.” Juanita looked as if she were about to cry. “So beautiful,” she said again and again. She stayed in the rose garden for a long time, till the sun disappeared totally. She saw the Fairhope roses six times on this trip. The last time, because she was tired , we sat in the car.
A year later, I spoke at Edna’s funeral. For the first time, I knew what I wanted to say in my mind, but the words crashed together inside my head and I lost the fine things I really wanted to say. Her daughters just hugged me, one by one, and thanked me for the roses.
1. Where did their trip start?| A．Mobile Bay. | B．Fairhope pier. | C．Montgomery. | D．Jacksonville. |
| A．They looked back on the past. | B．They fished with Jessie Clines. |
| C．They rode a horse on a dirt road. | D．They talked of childhood with their mama. |
| A．Walking on the dirt roads. | B．Enjoying the roses. |
| C．Visiting a baseball field. | D．Seeing the sunset. |
| A．She liked roses most. | B．She was once a soldier. |
| C．She died a year after the trip. | D．She had to care for her husband. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】My husband and I had tried for many years to have children, but it just never happened. So we applied to be foster parents(养父母). We decided we should start with an older child for a number of reasons. Since we both worked, child care might be a problem. Our dog Corby might be a bit too energetic for a young child.
This wasn't what we had discussed a few weeks before.
The day was set for Kaleb to arrive. We went outside to greet our little guest. But before we could even reach the child, I heard a noise from behind me.
Corby reached Kaleb before either of us could grab her. She hounded up to the boy and immediately began licking his face with joy.
Kaleb came to stay those few months.
| A．Privately, I was full of doubts. |
| B．There were so many difficulties, |
| C．Eight and a half years later, he is still with us. |
| D．Turning, I saw Corby heading straight for the little boy. |
| E．In our hurry, we must not have closed the door completely. |
| F．And honestly,we were a little nervous about taking on a baby. |
| G．In response, this little boy threw his arms around the dog’s neck and turned toward us. |
【推荐2】On a number of drives throughout my childhood, my mother would suddenly pull over the car to examine a flower by the side of the road or rescue a beetle from tragedy while I, in my late teens and early twenties, sat impatiently in the car.
Though Mother’s Day follows the Earth Day, for me, they have always been related to each other. My mum has been “green” since she became concerned about the environment. Part of this habit was born of thrift(节俭). Like her mother and her grandmother before her, mum saves glass jars, empty cheese containers and reuses her plastic bags.
Mum creates a kind of harmonious relationship with wildlife in her yard. She knows to pick the apples on her trees a little early to avoid the bears and that if she leaves the bird feeders out at night, it is likely that they will be knocked down by a family of raccoons(浣熊). Spiders that make their way into the house and are caught in juice glasses will be set loose in the garden.
I try to teach my children that looking out for the environment starts with being aware of the environment. On busy streets, we look for dandelions(蒲公英)to fly in the wind; we say hello to neighborhood cats and pick up plastic cups and paper bags. This teaching comes easily, I realize, because I was taught so well by example. Mum didn’t need to lecture; she didn’t need to beat a drum to change the world. She simply slowed down enough to enjoy living in it and with that joy came mercy and an instinct for protection.
I am slowing down and it isn’t because of the weight of my nearly forty years on the planet. It is out of my concern for the planet itself. I’ve begun to save glass jars and reuse packing envelops. I pause in my daily tasks to watch the squirrels race each other in the trees above my house.
Last summer, in the company of my son and daughter, I planted tomatoes in my yard. With the heat of August around me, I ate the first while sitting on my low wall with dirt on my hands. Warm from the sun, it burst on my tongue with a sweetness. I immediately wanted to share with my mum.
1. Why does the author say the Earth Day is connected with Mother’s Day?| A．Because Mother’s Day always falls shortly after the Earth Day. |
| B．To stress that all the women in her family are environmentalists. |
| C．To stress how much her mother cares about the environment. |
| D．Because her mother shows her concern to nature on Mother’s Day. |
| A．Rescuing a beetle from a certain tragedy. |
| B．Saving glass jars, empty cheese containers. |
| C．Setting a caught spider free in the garden. |
| D．Picking dandelions on busy streets. |
| A．the author realizes that she should teach her children by example as well |
| B．the author’s mother knows how to get rid of the wildlife in her yard |
| C．the author believes that only by learning to slow down can we enjoy life |
| D．the author’s mother used to lecture her to protect the environment |
| A．Tomatoes make the author think of her mother. |
| B．The author likes eating tomatoes planted by herself. |
| C．Planting tomatoes is a way of protecting environment. |
| D．The author really appreciates her mother’s teaching. |
【推荐3】If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my years of being a kid, it’s that you have ZERO control over your own life.
Ever since school ended, I haven’t had anything I’ve needed to do or anywhere I’ve needed to be. As long as the air-conditioning (空调) was working and the TV remote had batteries in it, I was ready for a relaxing summer holiday.
But then, all of a sudden, this happened—“Pack your bags. We’re going on a road trip!” Mom said excitedly.
This isn’t the first time Mom has sprung a trip on us without any warning. Last year on the first day of summer, she said we were going to visit Aunt Loretta at the nursing home.
It wasn’t exactly my idea of a fun way to kick off the summer. One time when we visited Aunt Loretta, her roommate grasped me and wouldn’t let me go until someone gave her a chocolate cookie!
Mom kept talking about going to the nursing home for a whole day, which made me worry a lot. But at breakfast the next morning, she told us where we were really going—Disney World.
I was very happy, because I was really worried about spending the whole week at the nursing home. So was Dad.
But when my little brother, Danny, heard about the change he became very angry. Mom had talked up the Aunt Loretta trip so much that Danny was actually excited about going there.
We ended up putting off our trip to Disney so we could visit Aunt Loretta.
I tried to talk Mom into letting us do something normal, like going to a water park for the day, but she didn’t want to hear it. She said that spending a lot of time together in the car would be a “bonding” experience for the whole family.
1. What did the writer prefer to do during his summer holidays?| A．Watch TV comfortably at home. | B．Travel with his family. |
| C．Visit Aunt Loretta. | D．Look after his little brother. |
| A．loved his aunt very much | B．got pretty excited about the road trip |
| C．felt helpless with his mother’s surprise trips | D．blamed Danny for not going to Disney World |
| A．The writer. | B．Mom. | C．Dad. | D．Aunt Loretta. |
【推荐1】China’s “Little People’s Kingdom” is a theme park, where little people dance and sing in fairytale costumes, drawing both curious groups and criticism. The theme park, near Kunming City in Yunnan Province, employs 108 dwarfs from across the country, who gather on an artificial hillside twice a day to dance and sing for tourists. And all pretend to live in a tiny hilltop village.
The guests can watch shows like comedies, group dances and acrobatics (杂技). The show’s centrepiece, a funny performance of Swan Lake, sees performers dressed in special pink costumes and pretending to be little swans. “The first time I performed it (Swan Lake) I felt a bit embarrassed. I had never worn a skirt like that before. But later, once I got used to it, I found I could do it very well,” said Chen Ruan, from Hunan Province who joined the park when it opened.
For many of the employees, the park offers a rare opportunity to find work. As unlikely as it seems for men and women doing daily funny performances of Swan Lake, they think that it feels good to live in dormitories that look like caves while living with people with similar experiences. In addition, the life facilities in the park are made according to their special needs. Besides, performers in the park earn 2,000 yuan a month, around twice the salary of a high school graduate.
The founder of the park, Chen Ming, made his fortune by producing electronics and investing, but said he had always wanted to help the disadvantaged groups in the community. People, like human right activists (积极分子) for the disabled, think that such a park only encourages the discrimination against little people. The only requirement for participants to be employed at the theme park is to be shorter than 51 inches and be able to take care of themselves in daily life. The youngest employee is 18, and the oldest is 48.
1. According to Chen Ming, he founded the park to ________.| A．do good for society |
| B．invest money and increase his fortune |
| C．create a ballet show of Swan Lake |
| D．let people know more about the dwarfs |
| A．worried | B．boring |
| C．upset | D．satisfied |
a.Having the ability to look after themselves.
b.No taller than 51 inches.
c.Aged between 18 and 48.
d.Being a high school graduate.
| A．a and b | B．a and c |
| C．b and d | D．c and d |
| A．The employees perform for tourists in nature. |
| B．The employees perform twice a day. |
| C．The 108 employees come from all over the world. |
| D．The park lies in the city of Kunming. |
【推荐2】Classic Dutch Experiences Online
Take a journey to the Netherlands through online tours, streaming videos and interactive imagery. Soar over the windmills, coast along the canals, explore the colorful tulip fields and enjoy other classic experiences from your comfortable couch.
See the windmills
Not even a virtual journey to the Netherlands is complete without visiting the windmills. Visit the classic Dutch landscape with 360-degree interactive images. There’s no better way to start your day than watching a misty sunrise over traditional wooden windmills along the river.
Cruise the canals
There is a network of more than 165 canals, covering some 100 kilometers, that spirals outwards from Amsterdam’s city center. A cruise along these particularly picturesque waterways passes by some of the city’s most popular attractions, including 1,500 historic buildings. Watch this video that puts you front and center on a glass-enclosed boat as it coasts through Amsterdam, passing by beautiful bridges, houseboats, the NEMO Science Museum. It is a calming and relaxing way to get a taste of the amazing cities.
Get lost among the tulips
See Keukenhof in bloom with the flower park’s immersive 360-degree videos of Technicolor tulips. Dutch gardeners have been planting tulips for more than 400 years and today you can see 26 different varieties blossoming. Check out the interviews with expert gardeners for fun facts about the flowers or click on the “visit the park” videos to have the beautiful fields all to yourself.
Take in a Dutch concert
You can watch — and even dance along to — performances from across the Netherlands on your computer, phone or tablet. Every weekday, for example, the Rotterdam concert hall puts on a lunchtime performance, covering everything from classical piano to world masterpiece, by famous musicians.
1. People can enjoy the city’s most popular attractions by________.| A．seeing the windmills | B．cruising the canals |
| C．getting lost among the tulips | D．taking in a Dutch concert |
| A．watch a misty sunrise | B．see the beautiful tulips |
| C．interview expert gardeners | D．dance along to performances |
| A．A travel website. | B．A science magazine. |
| C．A news report. | D．A technology textbook. |
【推荐3】Most city parks are places where you can escape from big, ugly structures of metal and stone. The Manhattan High Line is different. Raised 25 feet above the ground, this large metal structure once supported a rail line. The line opened in 1934 to bring trains directly into factories. It was hardly used after the 1960s, and much of it was torn down. However, one part remained in a region of Manhattan called Chelsea. Chelsea was becoming high-class as restaurants, art galleries and apartments were built, but the ugly railway structure remained as a dead weight. Everyone knew that at some time, it would have to be removed.
But the High Line was not destroyed. In fact, now the old rail line serves as one of the most peaceful places in the city. It holds an elevated park, with beautiful gardens and great views of the city. The idea to turn the rail line into a park came from Joshua David and Robert Hammond. In 1999, they attended a meeting to decide how to deal with the High Line. David and Hammond were the only people at the meeting interested in saving the historical structure. Later on, when they asked railway officials to take them up to look at the High Line, they saw a mile and a hall of wild flower growing in the middle of the city, and they realized that the High Line had potential to become a park. There was growing interest in improving city centers, and so the project quickly developed and money for construction was easily collected.
The first part of the High Line opened in 2009 and immediately became popular with tourists and locals alike. Each part of the park has a different atmosphere. Some areas are like balconies (阳台) with wonderful city views. Where the rail line goes between buildings, trees are thickly planted. Other sections have wide lawns (草坪) and walkways with wild flowers. Only the final section remains the way it has been for the last fifty years.
1. What is the text mainly about?| A．Closing a train line. | B．An unlikely place for a park. |
| C．Protection of cultural relics. | D．Improving city transport. |
| A．Something with historical interest. |
| B．Something with potential to be better. |
| C．Something useless which slows progress. |
| D．Something which is a danger to people. |
| A．They wanted to reopen the train line. |
| B．They thought it had historical value. |
| C．They were interested in improving the city. |
| D．They thought it would become a good park. |
| A．Only part of the line remains. |
| B．The railway companies still use the line. |
| C．It began to become popular in the 1960. |
| D．It was designed by David and Hammond. |
【推荐1】Ricky lived in a house which had everything you could ever want. Though he didn’t help much around the house, Ricky was pleased when his parents bought home the latest model of robot. As soon as it arrived, it went off cooking, cleaning, and gathering up old clothes from Ricky’s bedroom floor, which Ricky didn’t like having to walk on. On that first day, when Ricky went to sleep, he left his bedroom in a truly bad state（状态）. When he woke up the next morning, everything was perfectly clean and tidy.
In fact, it was actually “too” clean; now Ricky couldn’t find his favorite T-shirt and his favorite toy. However much he searched, the two items did not reappear, and the same was starting to happen with other things. Ricky cast a suspicious (怀疑的) eye on the robot. He began following it around the house. Finally he caught it red-handed, picking up one of Ricky’s toys to hide it.
He went off, running to his parents, to tell them that the robot was broken and badly programmed. Ricky asked them to have it changed. But his parents told him absolutely not. They needed the robot very much.
One day, the robot heard the boy’s complaints. The robot returned with one of the boy’s toys and some clothes for him. “Here, sir. I did not know it was bothering you,” said the robot, “The objects were left on the floor. I therefore figured that you did not like them. I am programmed to collect all that is not wanted, and at night I send it to places where other humans can use it.”
Ricky started feeling ashamed. He had spent all his life treating things as if they were useless. Yet it was true that many other people would be delighted to treat those things with all the care in the world. Since then, Ricky had put real care into how he treated his things. And often, he would buy things, and take them along with his good friend, the robot, to help out those other people who needed them.
1. The story tries to tell us________.| A．to use a robot at home |
| B．to treat others politely |
| C．to look after our own things |
| D．to give away things to the charity |
| A．help do housework |
| B．teach Ricky a lesson |
| C．wash Ricky’s clothes |
| D．get rid of the useless things |
| A．He never cared for others. |
| B．He got up late every morning. |
| C．He never listened to his parents. |
| D．He always threw his things about. |
| A．it wanted to help Ricky make a change |
| B．it figured that they were useless things |
| C．it wanted to make fun of him |
| D．it hoped to help the poor |
| A．Ricky was too lazy |
| B．there was something wrong with the robot |
| C．the robot shouldn’t have hidden Ricky’s things |
| D．the robot was helpful to them |
【推荐2】Can you imagine just completing a life-saving training course and then having to test out your skills the very next day - on your best friend? 16-year-old Torri’ell Norwood was behind the wheel of her car when another driver hit her car. The crash made the car containing Norwood and her three passengers go across someone’s front lawn (草坪) and hit a tree.
The impact jammed Norwood’s side door shut, so she climbed out of the front window. Two of her friends also managed to get out of the car unharmed, but the accident caused her friend A’ zarria Simmons to hit her head on the backseat window. “When I turned around, I didn’t see A’ zarria running with us,” said Norwood. “So, I had to run back to the car as fast as I could. She was just sitting there unresponsive.”
And that’s when the training Norwood had just learned kicked in. “A lot of people started to gather around to see what was happening. I started shouting, ‘Back up. She needs space.’” After pulling Simmons from the car, Norwood checked her vital signs. Unable to detect a pulse (脉搏), she immediately began employing the CPR (心肺复苏) techniques she’d so recently learned on Simmons. Doctors arrived shortly and transported Simmons to the nearest hospital.
Norwood, a junior at St. Petersburg’s Lakewood High School, participates in the school’s Athletic Lifestyle Management Academy (ALMA). “We do vital signs and they learn how to take blood pressure and check pulse rates. We have just about 100 students in our academy,” said Erika Miller, Norwood’s teacher.
Miller noted that most of her former students never have the opportunity to use their CPR training until they become nurses or emergency medical technicians. “Not while they are still a student of mine and definitely not within 24 hours,” she said, adding: “It is what every teacher dreams of, you know, that somebody listens, pays attention, and learns something.”
1. What caused the accident?| A．Three passengers. | B．Another car’s crash. |
| C．Norwood’s side door. | D．Someone’s front lawn. |
| A．She cried out for help. | B．She was badly injured. |
| C．She was too scared to move. | D．She climbed out of the front window. |
| A．It inspires students’ sense of adventure. |
| B．It hires medical technicians as teachers. |
| C．It teaches students wilderness survival skills. |
| D．It prepares students for careers in health science. |
| A．Worried and angry. | B．Surprised and proud. |
| C．Confused and anxious. | D．Relieved and grateful. |
“We didn’t stay at bed and breakfast houses,” they said, “because we found that most families were on holiday.” I thought this was strange. Finally I understood what had happened. My friends spoke little English, and they thought “VACANCIES” meant “holidays”, because the Spanish word for “holidays” is said “vacaciones”. So they did not go to house where the sign outside said “VACANCIES”, which in English means there are free rooms. Then my friends went to houses where the sign said “NO VACANCIES”, because they thought this meant people who owned the house were not away on holiday. But they found that these houses were all full. As a result, they stayed at hotels.
We laughed about this and about mistakes my friends made in reading other signs. In Spanish, the word “DIVERSION” means “fun”. In English, it means that workmen are repairing the road, and that you must take a different road. When my friends saw the word “DIVERSION” on a road sign, they thought they were going to have fun. Instead, the road ended in a large hole.
English people have problems too when they learn foreign languages. Once in Paris when someone offered me some more coffee, I said “Thank you” in French, I meant that I would like some more, however to my surprise the coffee pot was taken away! Later I found out that “Thank you” in French means “No, Thank you”.
1. The author’s Spanish friends wanted advice about _______.
| A．some funny English stories |
| B．finding places to stay in England |
| C．driving their car on English roads |
| D．going to England by car |
| A．it would be convenient for them to have dinners and live |
| B．it would be much cheaper than staying in hotels |
| C．they would be able to practice their English in the house |
| D．there would be no problem about finding accommodation there |
| A．no free rooms | B．free rooms |
| C．not away on holiday | D．they don’t live |
| A．take the road and you will be excited |
| B．have a lot of fun and enjoy yourself |
| C．find that the road is blocked by crowds of people |
| D．have to take a different road |
