Tom’s teacher Dwyer liked helping others and he had done that for many years. Tom wanted to follow his example, but he found it was too tiring. One day, Tom went to see Dwyer. They sat quietly in Dwyer’s old house, cutting wood with their knives in front of the fireplace. Tom finally spoke up.
“I don't know how you do it,” he said.
“Do what?” asked Dwyer.
“I don’t know how you stay motivated (积极的) to help people after so many years. I feel like giving up and I’ve hardly started.”
Dwyer smiled and replied, “Can you blow out that candle for me?” Tom did as he was asked.
“Now can you blow out this fire?” Dwyer asked.
“Don’t be silly,” Tom replied. “Of course I can’t.”
Dwyer put down his knife and his piece of wood and looked in the eye of Tom. He said , “When your motivation is as small as the candle’s flame (火焰), it’s easy to be extinguished, but when it is a fire you see before you, nothing can blow it out.”
After hearing that, Tom decided to try harder.
My challenge to you is to find a big reason for doing what you want to do. Then you won’t give up when you meet with difficulties and when you feel tired. If you don’t have a big reason to press on, it’s easy for you to give up.
So let me ask you, is your motivation like a candle or a fire? And what are you going to do to keep it from dying down?
1. When Tom tried to help others, he ________ .| A．felt greatly motivated | B．found it hard to keep on |
| C．found he was very happy | D．wanted to visit his teacher |
| A．He didn’t need the fire. | B．He had little wood in the house. |
| C．He wanted to play a trick on him | D．He wanted to teach him a lesson. |
| A．recognized | B．controlled | C．put out | D．given up |
| A．help others | B．learn from others |
| C．face difficulties bravely | D．stay strongly motivated |
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【推荐1】I was sitting in my grandpa’s oak chair having coffee when a text message from a former colleague woke me from my daydreams.
“Do you want to pick up your rocking chair?”
For 17 years, I taught grade one and two, and my dreams as a teacher were tied to that rocking chair. It was a magical idea to have it in my class. Every day after breaks, the class would gather around and listen to the story I was reading. When the kids are close, they find the courage to share their stories, dreams and fears. The chair was part of my job, part of me.
Unfortunately, I became unwell and couldn’t keep teaching. I experienced severe depression and anxiety and was forced to leave the job. With my life as a teacher over, I needed a new path. And I didn’t have to look far.
My husband and I adopted one of my former students in 2017. The complexity of parenting a child who came to us at 9 years old changed our lives in unexpected ways. It called on the part of me that learns to be a good mother. We spent countless hours snuggling up (依偎) with books – healing, bonding and solidifying our family. This gave me a new purpose.
I joined a support group of local moms. For about a year, I met with them weekly for walks or coffee. We came together to share. Then I started giving and receiving help. I gave driving practice to a single mom with her learner’s license and received emotional support in return. I also took her son on hikes around the city. Another woman encouraged me to buy a stand-up board and gave me lessons on surfing.
My family, my books, finding a new purpose and belonging in a community – these are fulfilling the sense of self I used to prize as a teacher. I learned my identity doesn’t need to change. I’m still honoring those core values whether or not I’m working as a teacher.
And what about that rocking chair? I looked back at the text message. My answer was no, I do not need the chair. I’ll let it go to a new teacher.
1. What can we know about the author’s rocking chair?| A．It was her students’ favorite spot in class. |
| B．It symbolized her dreams in teaching. |
| C．She didn’t take it seriously at first. |
| D．She let her students sit on it and tell stories. |
| A．Why the author decided to adopt a child. |
| B．How the author found a new purpose. |
| C．How parenting a kid bothered the author. |
| D．What the author’s family got from reading. |
| A．She gave lessons to children. |
| B．She helped people with depression. |
| C．She learned about driving and sports. |
| D．She offered and received support. |
| A．More confident. | B．Excited about her new life. |
| C．As satisfied as before. | D．Eager to go back to teaching. |
【推荐2】After years of observing human nature, I have decided that two qualities make the difference between men of great achievement and men of average performance: curiosity and discontent. I have never known an outstanding man who lacked either. And I have never known an average man who had both. The two belong together.
Together, these deep human urges (驱策力) count for much more than ambition. Galileo was not merely ambitious when he dropped objects of varying weights from the Leaning Tower at Pisa and timed their fall to the ground. Like Galileo, all the great names in history were curious and asked in discontent, “Why? Why? Why?”
Fortunately curiosity and discontent don’t have to be learned. We are born with them and need only recapture them.
“The great man,” said Mencius (孟子), “is he who does not lose his child’s heart.” Yet most of us do lose it. We stop asking questions. We stop challenging custom. We just follow the crowd. And the crowd desires restful average. It encourages us to occupy our own little comer, to avoid foolish leaps into the dark, to be satisfied.
Most of us meet new people, and new ideas, with hesitation. But once having met and liked them, we think how terrible it would have been, had we missed the chance. We will probably have to force ourselves to waken our curiosity and discontent and keep them awake.
How should you start? Modestly, so as not to become discouraged. I think of one friend who couldn’t arrange flowers to satisfy herself. She was curious about how the experts did it. Now she is one of the experts, writing books on flower arrangement.
One way to begin is to answer your own excuses. You haven’t any special ability? Most people don’t. There are only a few geniuses. You haven’t any time? That’s good, because it’s always the people with no time who get things done. Harriet Stowe, mother of six, wrote parts of Uncle Tom’s Cabin while cooking. You’re too old? Remember that Thomas Costain was 57 when he published his first novel, and that Grandma Moses showed her first pictures when she was 78.
However you start, remember there is no better time to start than right now, for you’ll never be more alive than you are at this moment.
1. In writing Paragraph 1, the author aims to ________.| A．propose a definition | B．make a comparison |
| C．reach a conclusion | D．present an argument |
| A．lead a simple and satisfying life |
| B．be curious about the unknown |
| C．follow the custom all the time |
| D．try to avoid making mistakes |
| A．Lack of talent and time is no reason for taking no action. |
| B．Experience and special abilities are the keys to success. |
| C．The genius can get things done easily and creatively. |
| D．Satisfying yourself can help you become an expert. |
| A．Young Minds Never Feel Contented |
| B．Trial and Error Leads lo Success |
| C．The Keys to Achievement |
| D．Well Begun Is Half Done |
【推荐3】In the animal kingdom, weakness can bring about aggression in other animal. This sometimes happens with humans also. But I have found that my weakness brings out the kindness in people. I see it every day when people hold doors for me, pour cream into my coffee, or help me to put on my coat. And I have discovered that it makes them happy.
From my wheelchair experience, I see the best in people, but sometimes I feel sad because those who appear independent miss the kindness I see daily. They don’t get to see this soft side of others often. We try every way possible to avoid showing our weakness, which includes a lot of pretending. But only when we stop pretending we’re brave or strong do we allow people to show the kindness that’s in them.
Last month, when I was driving home on a busy highway, I began to feel unwell and drove more slowly than usual. People behind me began to get impatient and angry, with some speeding up alongside me, horning or even shouting at me. At the moment I decided to do something I had never done in twenty four years of driving. I put on the car flashlights and drove on at a really low speed.
No more angry shouts and no more horns!
When I put on my flashlights, I was saying to other drivers, “I have a problem here. I am weak and doing the best I can.” And everyone understood. Several times, I saw drivers who wanted to pass. They couldn’t get around me because of the stream of passing traffic. But instead of getting impatient and angry, they waited, knowing the driver in front of them was in some way weak.
Sometimes situations call for us to act strong and brave even when we don’t feel that way. But those are few and far between. More often, it would be better if we don’t pretend we feel strong when we feel weak or pretend that we are brave when we are scared.
1. The author has discovered that people will feel happy when ____________.| A．they offer their help | B．they receive others’ help |
| C．they feel others’ kindness | D．they show their weakness |
| A．handle problems by ourselves | B．accept help from others |
| C．admit our weakness | D．show our bravery |
| A．A Wheelchair Experience. | B．Weakness and Kindness. |
| C．Weakness and Strength. | D．A Driving Experience. |
【推荐1】Spilling coffee is never fun, but for German designer Stefan Kuhnigk is turned out to be a blessing in disguise(因祸得福）. He turned that first coffee stain into a small monster and has been creating Coffee Monsters ever since.
Stefan recalls looking at the stain his cup of dark espresso(a type of coffee of Italian origin) left on a piece of paper and it looking back at him as if saying “Draw me,draw me, draw meee!”So he did just that, and created his very first Coffee Monster. The next day, he thought back to this little accident that he had challenged him to get creative, and decided he could reproduce the coffee spill every day as an exercise in creativity.
When Stefan started using a spoon to spill coffee on piece of paper every day, his designer colleagues looked at him like he was crazy, but they didn’t know about the artworks that lay hidden in those random coffee stains.
Stefan Kuhnigk has created almost 600 lovable Coffee Monsters, as well as a charming backstory for each one of them. They may be monsters, but they’re the cute kind you’s expect to find in a children’s book. They tend to have a smile on their faces, because they have a very important role ----to make people happy.
To create Coffee Monsters, Stefan spills some coffee on a piece of paper, lets it dry for 4 to 6 hours, then uses a pencil to draw around the random shapes.
“My favourite moment up until now has been ,when someone wrote me, that the monsters make her happy every day, ”Stefan Kuhnigk wrote on Bored Panda, “This is so cheerful and because of messages like that I do it again and again. It never gets old for me, because a spill is never the same. ”
Stefan shared his Coffee Monsters on his social media pages, and also published a Coffee Monster book featuring his best creations.
1. At first , Stefan’s colleagues thought his coffee spill action was ___________.| A．strange | B．impressive |
| C．fancy | D．lucky |
| A．frighten children | B．make people pleased |
| C．inspire people to quit coffee | D．teach children important lessons |
| A．People’s appreciation | B．the huge profit they bring |
| C．his dissatisfaction with his creations | D．other designer’s challenges |
| A．He published several adult’s book. |
| B．He’s a careless people |
| C．He draws for 4 to 8 hours a day. |
| D．He is full of imagination. |
【推荐2】Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is famous for having developed Facebook, the most widely used social networking website. He was born on May 14, 1984. His father is a dentist, while his mother works as doctor. The boy grew up in Dobbs Ferry, and he is one of the four children in his family.
He attended the Ardsley High School, New York. Then he transferred (转学) to Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, in his junior year. He showed flair for mathematics, physics, English classical literature and foreign languages, and earned several prizes in science and classical studies. He was also captain of a fencing (击剑)) team at his school.
His father taught him Atari BASIC Programming in the 1990s. He was later taught by David Newman, a software developer. The talented boy was in high school when he attended Mercy College, to study course in software programming. During this time, he created the software called ZuckNet to build up communication network between the computers in his father’s office and those at home.
While still a student at Harvard University, he launched his website Facebook, along with college mates Chris Hughes, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, and Dustin Moskovitz. Though he was firstly accused by some senior students, of having stolen their idea, his site’s popularity was not affected. Faccbook saw a steady rise in the number of active users per month. The website started out as a networking platform only for Harvard University, and then was opened for other colleges. Soon, it became available to general public, and gained widespread popularity for its user-friendly interface (界面).
In 2007, Mark became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire. His website has made him so popular that the film The Social Network, starring Jesse Eisenberg, was made based on a book, The Accidental Billionaires, which documented Mark’s life.
1. What can we know about Mark’s family from the text?| A．His parents did a lot for Facebook. |
| B．His parents love children very much. |
| C．His parents’ jobs are related to medical science. |
| D．His parents like using social networking website. |
| A．Talent. | B．Dislike. |
| C．Surprise. | D．Courage. |
| A．Making Mark enter Mercy College easily. |
| B．Helping David Newman teach him programming. |
| C．Helping him learn Atari BASIC Programming better. |
| D．Connecting computers in his father’s office and at home. |
| A．Turning to college mates. | B．Attracting many active user. |
| C．Copying other students’ idea | D．Affecting other site’s popularity. |
【推荐3】Winslow Homer was a famous American painter. Since Art History class in college, I had always admired his works and I was lucky to see a large exhibition of his works when I was in my early 30’s. It was at this event that I bought a print of his painting, “Snap the Whip”. I had it framed and until I retired from teaching it always hung in my classroom.
I thought it truly captured(捕捉)the freedom and fun of childhood. In the painting, a group of young boys are playing a game arm in arm on grass ground in front of a farm house. They are jumping and laughing wildly with great joy. One of the boys is falling down to the ground. They are not even wearing shoes!
During my last year of teaching, there was a young woman in her first year of teaching right next door to me and we got to be good friends. She had been an art student before switching to education. Her eyes were drawn immediately to this print when she entered my room. So on my last day of teaching, after the students had left, I took the painting off the wall and walked next door and gave it to her.
She was really surprised, but very pleased to have it. I was pleased that she liked it and all the students she would have would treasure(珍爱)it as much as I had. We found the perfect place for it on one of her walls and hung it together. Thank you for bringing back this wonderful memory for me.
1. How did the author treat his painting bought at the exhibition?| A．He put it up in his classroom first |
| B．He put it on his table |
| C．He sold it immediately |
| D．He regarded it as a useless thing |
| A．Homeless children | B．The nature of children |
| C．Hard-working farmers | D．The pleasure of working |
| A．She was his student | B．She was very fond of it |
| C．She needed it in her teaching | D．She would pass it to his students |
| A．Doubtful | B．Painful |
| C．Grateful | D．Tired |
【推荐1】One Sunday, Nicholas, a teenager, went skiing at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine. In the early afternoon, when he was planning to go home, a fierce snowstorm swept the area. Unable to see far, he accidentally turned off the path. Before he knew it, Nicholas was lost, all alone! He didn’t have food, water or a phone. He was getting colder by the minute.
Nicholas had no idea where he was. He tried not to panic. He thought about all the survival shows he had watched on TV. It was time to put the tips he had learned to use.
He decided to stop skiing. There would be a better chance of someone finding him if he stayed put. The first thing he did was to seek shelter from the freezing wind and snow. If he didn’t, his body temperature would get very low, which could quickly kill him. Using his skis, Nicholas built a snow cave. He gathered a huge mass of snow and dug a hole in the middle. Then he piled branches on top of himself, like a blanket, to stay as warm as he could.
By that evening, Nicholas was really hungry. He ate snow and drank water from a nearby stream so that his body wouldn’t lose too much water. Not knowing how much longer he could last, Nicholas huddled (蜷缩) in his cave and slept.
The next day, Nicholas went out to look for help, but he couldn’t find anyone. He had to follow his tracks and return to the snow cave. On Tuesday, Nicholas went out again to seek help. He had walked for about a mile when a volunteer searcher found him. Having been stuck in the snow for two days, Nicholas was saved.
Had it not been for TV, Nicholas might not have survived this snowstorm. He had often watched Bear Grylls’ survival show Man vs.Wild. That’s where he learned the tips that saved his life. When Bear heard about Nicholas’ amazing deeds, he was super impressed that Nicholas had made it since he knew better than anyone how hard Nicholas had to work to stay alive.
1. What caused Nicholas to get lost on the mountain?| A．Having no guides to help him. |
| B．Forgetting the way back. |
| C．The terrible weather. |
| D．His poor eyesight. |
| A．He built a snow cave. |
| B．He found a shelter. |
| C．He kept on skiing. |
| D．He made a fire. |
| A．It was Nicholas’ favorite TV program. |
| B．It taught Nicholas useful knowledge. |
| C．Nicholas shared his story on the show. |
| D．Bear Grylls asked Nicholas to make a TV interview. |
| A．Brave and cool-headed. |
| B．Responsible and curious. |
| C．Lucky and smart. |
| D．Confident and outgoing. |
【推荐2】When I was in middle school, I was on a family vacation in Washington DC. I found there was a homeless man down the street.
On our final day in the city, when my parents went for an evening walk, I went out of our hotel room and ran down the street to the homeless man.
He looked at me, surely not expecting anything from a middle school girl. I asked him what he wanted to have for dinner. He replied “Bread and water”. I ran into the store and bought a big bag of bread and a bottle of water. I ran back with a smile on my face and handed the bag and the bottle to him. His smile has been in my mind ever since.
I came back to the hotel room and when my parents returned, my dad told me he had a story for me. He asked if I remembered the homeless man down the street from our hotel and I shyly nodded. He then told me a story. As they were returning from their walk, they saw the homeless man was sharing a bag full of food with other homeless people around. They were all smiling and laughing as they ate.
I smiled at my dad but I have never told him to this day the other half of the story. Till today, I still haven't forgotten that man's smile but I wish I had the courage to do this more often. One small kind action can begin a ripple effect (连锁反应) of kindness. So please, share a smile and do something kind for the people in need.
1. Why did the author go to Washington DC?| A．To visit her parents. | B．To go on a vacation. |
| C．To do some shopping. | D．To meet with friends. |
| A．were having a walk | B．were staying in the hotel |
| C．had gone back home | D．were in a food store |
| A．homeless men usually live a happy life | B．the author's father was proud of her |
| C．the author kept a secret to her parents | D．the author was paid back by the homeless man |
| A．help those in need | B．seek for their dreams |
| C．value what they have | D．face difficulties bravely |
【推荐3】Mr Johnson worked in a hospital. Three years ago, when he was sixty-eight, he retired (退休). But a lot of people come to ask him to look them over. He’s very busy in the daytime and he wants to have a good rest at night.
Half a year ago a young man moved in the room upstairs. At first he was quiet.The old man was satisfied with (对……满意) him. But now he has several friends.They often came to see him in the evening.They talked loudly, sang and danced. Mr Johnson was unhappy, but he didn’t say anything.
It was the young man’s birthday yesterday. All his friends came at seven in the evening. They drank too much and made a lot of noise. The old man couldn’t fall asleep the whole night. This morning, as soon as he got up, he went upstairs and began to knock at the door. The young man opened for him and asked him to come in.
“Did you hear me beat the ceiling (天花板) last night, young man?” asked Johnson.
“It doesn’t matter, sir,” said the young man, “I don’t mind it. It was very noisy in my room, too.”
1. Mr Johnson is a ________.| A．teacher | B．policeman | C．doctor | D．gatekeeper |
| A．he’s kind to them | B．he’s very polite |
| C．they don’t pay him for it | D．his medical skill is good |
| A．angry | B．happy | C．sad | D．strange |
| A．赢 | B．敲 | C．搅拌 | D．难倒 |
| A．The young man thought Mr Johnson came to say sorry to him. |
| B．Mr Johnson wanted to drink with the young man. |
| C．Mr Johnson hoped the young man to move in another house. |
| D．The young man was afraid to meet Mr Johnson. |
