【推荐1】Hot dogs, peanuts, an orderly green field: Sal Miyake loves everything about her first baseball game– a love shared by author Scott Simon as a kid at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois.

Sal is the main character in Simon’s first kids novel, Sunnyside Plaza. To create her world, Simon made use of his job at a halfway house when he was 19 years old. He cared for adults with mental disabilities. Working the evening shift, he made sure they brushed their teeth and took their medicine before bedtime.

“All my life I’ve wanted to write about that experience,” said Simon, a journalist who hosts Weekend Edition Saturday for a radio station. He said the job changed his life.

Like Simon’s long-ago clients, Sal lives in a home for adults with mental challenges. It’s called Sunnyside Plaza. Sal is kind and hard-working, and she helps the cook in the kitchen every day. She is also very observant. Sal may not be able to read, but she notices details that others often miss. When some of her Sunnyside friends begin to die, Sal tries to figure out why. Because of her disability, people don’t always take her seriously, but others help, sometimes in surprising ways.

At the halfway house, “I enjoyed getting to know people who at first sight seemed a world away from me,” said Simon. “Then I realized how much we had in common. We talked and joked. I liked spending time with them.” One of Simon’s favorite memories: taking 12 of the residents to a Chicago Cubs baseball game, where their amazement mirrors Sal’s in the book.

Simon based Sal on several people he knew, and he did additional research to make sure her voice and viewpoint are believable. “I wanted to get all this right,” said Simon. “The books you read when you’re young really stay with you.” For him, this meant the classics his mother guided him to, including his favorites Black Beauty by Anna Sewell and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

1. What do we know about Sal Miyake from the text?

A．She resembles Simon in personality.

B．She is an imaginary person in a fiction.

C．She loves playing baseball with Simon.

D．She works in Sunnyside Plaza as Simon did.

2. What does Simon think of his job at the halfway house?

A．A means of earning his living.

B．A chance to make foreign friends.

C．A platform to improve his baseball skills.

D．An experience influencing his life greatly.

3. What can be learned about the novel Sunnyside Plaza?

A．It reflects Simon’s working experience.

B．Its main character was based on Simon.

C．It was written in memory of Simon’s mother.

D．It has encouraged thousands of disabled men.

4. Which can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Classics Reading Makes a Great Writer

B．Working Experiences Change Your View

C．Life-changing Job Inspires First Kids Novel

D．Helping the Disabled Brings You Happiness

【推荐1】There once was a master who went to India. In those times, we didn’t have the communications or airplanes or many kinds of transportation that we do now. So the master went to India on foot. He had never been to India before; perhaps he came from Persia. And when he got there, he saw a lot of fruit. In India they have plenty of fruit to sell, but much of it is expensive because they can’t grow much due to the water situation. So he saw one basket, a big basket of some very red, long fruit. And it was the cheapest in the shop, not expensive at all.

So he went up and asked, “How much per kilo?” And the shopkeeper said, “Two rupees (卢比).” Two rupees in India is nothing; it’s like dirt. So he bought a whole kilogram of the fruit and started eating it. But after he ate some of it: Oh, my God! His eyes watered, his mouth watered and burned, his eyes were burning, his head was burning and his face became red. As he coughed and choked and gasped for breath, he jumped up and down, saying, “Ah! Ah! Ah!” But he still continued to eat the fruit! Some people who were looking at him shook their heads and said, “You’re crazy, man. Those are chilies (辣椒)! You can’t eat so many; they’re not good for you! People use them as a condiment (作料), but only a little bit to put into food for taste. You can’t just eat them by the handful like that; they’re not fruit!” So the stupid master said, “No, I can’t stop! I paid money for them, and now I’ll eat them. It’s my money!”

And you think that master was stupid, right? Similarly, we sometimes do a lot of things like that. We invest money, time or effort in a relationship, business or job. And even though it’s been a long time, bitter experience tells us it won’t work, and we know there’s no more hope that things will change in the future — this we definitely know by intuition (直觉) — we still continue just because we’ve invested money, time, effort and love into it. Just like the man who ate the chilies and suffered so much but couldn’t stop because he didn’t want to waste the money he’d paid.

1. Why did the master buy a lot of chilies?

A．He loved the taste of chilies very much.

B．He spent a lot of money on chilies.

C．The price of chilies is very low.

D．The quality of Indian chilies is very good.

2. What can we infer about the master according to the passage?

A．He is very wise in spending his money.

B．He came from Persia with someone else.

C．He walked to India for the first time.

D．He is a very rich and honest man.

3. What is the purpose of the passage?

A．To share us a funny story about a silly master.

B．To tell us when to give up in life.

C．To offer some information about India.

D．To remind us how to spend money wisely.

【推荐2】Cindy, my dog, was six years old when my son Tony was born. And she was immediately very protective over him. We lived near a busy road. As my son was too young, we were super vigilant for fear that he should go out of the front door.

Cindy knew that our son wasn’t allowed to go through the front door without us, so whenever Tony touched the front door handle, she would push him back. One morning, around 4 am, our son somehow managed to “escape” through his bedroom window, and Cindy had to follow.

At 5 am, the police woke us knocking on the door. They said, “Your son was nearly killed but the dog saved him.” They then repeated what the truck driver had said.

He told them that he was driving along in the dark and in the distance he could see something “light coloured” moving on the road. As he got closer, he could see a dog at the side of the road barking at it. At the last moment, he realized that it was a child and was about to change the direction. The dog was still barking, glancing (扫视) between the truck and the child. While the driver was braking (刹车), the dog ran out into the road, jumped at the child’s back and threw him out of the path of the truck. At the same time, the truck hit the dog and she was killed.

The driver said that he’d never believe what he saw unless it was with his own eyes. He thought that the dog definitely knew the danger, which was why she was barking so anxiously. He said “that dog just saved that kid’s life and it knew what it was doing.”

That was 39 years ago and I still miss Cindy every day.

1. Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the underlined word “vigilant”?

A．Careful.

B．Desperate.

C．Upset.

D．Confident.

2. What did the driver first see on the road?

A．An on-duty policeman.	B．A frightened dog.
C．A moving light.	D．A small child.

3. What is the best title for the text?

A．A Terrible Accident	B．A Dangerous Escape
C．A Barking Hero	D．A Careless Driver

【推荐3】When I was seven, my family and I were coming back from a T-ball game. In our driveway, we spotted two adult geese and a small gosling. The adults were frightened by our return and flew away, but their baby was still too young to fly and couldn’t follow.

Hours passed and night fell. The tiny little thing was wandering around our yard, unaware of what could happen, and it was clear that the gosling needed protection, warmth and food to make it to the morning. At that point, we had to bring him into our backyard.

We all pretty much slept with one eye open for several days. Each morning, we would try to rush the goose over to his parents, who kept coming back to our yard. He wouldn’t go to them, though, and they wouldn’t come close enough to claim him. The young goose had clearly decided we were his new family, and my twin sister Joanna called the little guy Peeper.

Almost a year passed and we settled into a routine filled with feathery hugs and company. One evening my uncle came over, and my dad threw Peeper up into the air to show he could fly around the house, but this time, Peeper just flew off. Everyone was very sad. Twenty years passed, and Peeper became a fond memory for my family.

In 2019, an aging adult goose made his way back to my home. At first, I assumed it was just another Canada goose. After two weeks of the goose coming back repeatedly, it became clear to me that this wasn’t a random goose. He did all of the same things Peeper used to, like trying to come in through the front door and sleeping in our enclosed pool area. Besides, this goose responded to the name Peeper. Much to my amazement, my old best friend had returned, 20 years later.

1. Why did the author bring the little goose home that night?

A．It couldn’t find its parents.

B．It was too fragile to survive.

C．It wanted to stay in the yard.

D．It enjoyed the author’s company.

2. What does the underlined word “claim” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Get.

B．Forgive.

C．Challenge.

D．Annoy.

3. What can we infer about the author from the text?

A．She named the goose Peeper.

B．She set Peeper free on purpose.

C．She had a deep feeling to Peeper.

D．She trained the goose to fly daily.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?

A．A Feathered Family Member

B．The Return of a Long Lost Friend

C．The Reunion of a Goose Family

D．An Adventurous Journey Home