Lately, my 90-year-old mother has been sleepier and sleepier. This is very strange and worrying. At the same time, my 92-year-old father has been suffering his own health problems. It is a terrible thing to see my father struggle to get my mother to talk, say something, when she doesn’t have the energy.
The other day, I recalled how my mother used to visit a woman named Mrs. Demopolis, a Greek immigrant, who made the best baklava(果仁蜜饼) in the world! She gave lessons on baking it to my mother. Also, my mother often baked baklava at home. As I spoke of this over the phone, my silent mother perked up and said how much she’d like to have one again.
Now, they live in Florida and I live in Wales, UK, so I can’t go and bring her some baklava or even make some in her kitchen. But what I did suggest was that my father could buy some baklava at a Greek restaurant and I could do the same, and wouldn’t it be fun to eat our baklava at exactly the same time and so, be together sharing the moment and the pleasure? My parents loved the idea and we decided to do it.
Two days later we both had our baklava and shared the experience. It meant a lot to my parents, and to me, to do this. My mother said she wanted to do this again, maybe with another food or even baklava again! Why not? And as she only keeps losing weight instead of gaining, it is good for her to find foods that appeal to her appetite . It is becoming harder to find ways to communicate over the phone, but this is at least a very good way to do so.
1. Why does the author feel worried?| A．Her mother can’t walk by herself. | B．Her mother is becoming less active. |
| C．Her father has to get her mother to talk. | D．Her mother refuses to talk with her father. |
| A．Calmed down. | B．Turned around. |
| C．Held one’s breath. | D．Came to life. |
| A．They should enjoy the same food at the same time. |
| B．The author should buy some baklava for her mother. |
| C．Her mother should make some baklava in her kitchen. |
| D．Her family should get together to look after her mother. |
| A．She hopes to live with her daughter. | B．She is looking for her favorite food. |
| C．She likes communicating in this way. | D．She thinks baklava is the most delicious. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】One August afternoon, Richard Allen dropped off his last passenger, Mrs. Carey. Lifting two grocery bags, he followed her across the yard and stood on the step of her house. Glancing up, he saw a large wasp(黄蜂) nest under the roof. Allen had heard that wasps can become more likely to sting in summer. He mentioned this to Mrs. Carey, who had opened the door.
“Oh, they don’t bother me,” she said lightly. “I go in and out all the time.”
Anxiously, Allen looked at the nest again—to see the wasps flying straight at him. “Hurry!” he shouted to Mrs. Carey. “Get in!”
She stepped quickly inside. Allen ran for his mini-bus. Too late; they were upon him. Just as he jumped aboard, half a dozen red spots showed on his arm, and he felt more on his back and shoulders.
As he was driving down the road, Allen felt as if something was burning at the back of his neck, and the “fire” was spreading forward toward his face. And immediate anxiety took hold of him. Allen knew that stings could cause some persons to die. But he had been stung the previous summer and the after-effects soon passed. However, what he didn’t know was that the first sting had turned his body into a time bomb waiting for the next to set off an explosion.
Miles from the nearest medical assistance, Allen began to feel his tongue thick and heavy and his heartbeat louder. Most frightening, he felt his breathing more and more difficult. He reached for the radio mike(话筒), trying to call the mini-bus center, but his words were hardly understandable. Signals were also poor that far out. He knew a rescue team was on 24-hour duty at the Amherst Fire Department’s north station. So his best chance was to make a run for it.
Rushing down the mountain, Allen tried not to panic, focusing his mind on each sharp turn. He was almost through the last of them when he felt sure he was going into shock(休克). Just then he reached for the radio mike again.
“Call fire station,” he shouted, concentrating to form the words. “Emergency. Bee sting. Emergency. There in ten minutes.”
“Five-ten,” the center replied.
Hold on, Allen thought. Keep your eyes open. Breathe. Keep awake.
At last, he reached the station. Two firemen ran out. Allen felt their hands grasp him before he hit the ground. “You made it”, he thought.
1. It is mentioned in the passage that wasps are more likely to attack when _______.| A．the hottest season comes around | B．strangers are approaching |
| C．the air is filled with food smell | D．there are huge noises |
| A．he was in a state of shock | B．his radio equipment was poor |
| C．he was unable to speak clearly | D．no one was on duty |
| A．Allen, A Helpless Driver | B．A Race Against Death |
| C．Wasps, Bloody Killers | D．War Against Wasps |
【推荐2】A young man was going to join the army and had to take a medical examination. The doctor was sitting at a desk when he went in. He said to the man. “Take your coat and shirt off, and sit on the chair.” The young man did so. The doctor looked at him for a moment without getting up from his chair and then said, “ All right. Put on your clothes again.”
“ But you haven’t examined me at all!” the young man said in surprise.
“There is no need to do so,” the doctor said with a smile. “When I told you to take your coat and shirt off, you heard me all right, so there is nothing wrong with your ears. You saw the chair, so your eyes are good. You could take your clothes off and sit on the chair, so you must be in good health. And you understand what I told you to do and did it without a mistake, so you must be clever enough for the army.”
1. The young man went to the doctor because __________.| A．he wanted to take part in the examination |
| B．he did not feel well |
| C．he did not want to join the army |
| D．he wanted to have a medical check—up |
| A．examine him |
| B．see whether his eyes were wrong with him |
| C．see what was wrong with him |
| D．test his listening ability |
| A．looked at him with a smile |
| B．did not know how to examine him |
| C．asked him several questions |
| D．did not think it necessary to examine him |
| A．the young man would not be a good soldier |
| B．the young man must not join the army |
| C．The Young man would not do something wrong in the army |
| D．the young man could join the army |
| A．understood what the doctor meant |
| B．did not do as he was told to do |
| C．realized why the doctor told him to do something |
| D．did not understand what the doctor mean |
【推荐3】One night Peter received a call from his social worker asking, “Can you take in an 11-year-old boy just for the weekend?” It was just a few days after he had said goodbye to two brothers he was fostering (代养), so he told the social worker that his heart was deeply saddened by the loss of the two boys that had just been reunited with their birth parents. Peter thought he didn’t have enough energy left to care for another child at the moment. But the worker convinced him.
The social worker arrived at his home with the boy at 3:00 a.m. after driving two hours from another county. There is a huge shortage of foster families in Oklahoma so when a child enters the foster care system, social workers are often forced to place the children outside of the county of origin, often removing the child from the only place he or she has ever known. Additionally, older children are much more difficult to place.
Peter decided to ask why Anthony, the boy, was in foster care. Then he knew that the boy had been abandoned (抛弃) by his mother when he was 2. He was then placed with a family. But almost ten years later, the same family abandoned him at the hospital. Peter was shocked，“It’s like my life!”
The two have been together ever since. And on the 12th of November, Anthony finally got to share Peter's last name officially. However, Peter didn’t stop fostering kids. “It’s hard to be a single foster dad but it’s worth every minute of it. We are about to have another child next month and we are excited.”
1. What can we infer about Peter from the first paragraph?| A．He is rich. | B．He is kind. |
| C．He is busy. | D．He is indifferent. |
| A．In the morning. | B．At noon. |
| C．In the afternoon. | D．At night. |
| A．He did not like the boy. | B．He worked at the hospital. |
| C．He wanted to have a family. | D．He also had an unlucky childhood. |
| A．Adopt another child. | B．Find Anthony's birth parents. |
| C．Help more children go to school. | D．Take Anthony to visit the social worker. |
【推荐1】One day, a farmer was walking along a road with his son Thomas. The father said, “Look! There’s a horseshoe. Pick it up and put it in your bag.” Thomas said, “It isn’t worth the trouble.” His father said nothing but he picked it up himself. When they got to a nearby town, they had a rest. There the farmer sold the horseshoe and with the few pennies he bought some cherries.
The father and the son continued their way. The sun was well up in the sky, and there wasn’t a house or even a tree where they could have a rest. Thomas felt too thirsty to walk on. At this time, his father dropped a cherry on the ground and Thomas picked it up quickly and ate it. After a while, his father dropped another cherry and once again, his son lost on time in picking it up and putting it in his mouth.
And so they went on. The old farmer dropped the cherries and the son picked them up. When Thomas had eaten up all the cherries, his father said to him, “My dear son, if you had bent down early to pick up that horseshoe, it would not have been necessary for you to bend so many times for the cherries. Always remember the lesson that he who does not worry about the little things will find that he cannot do the great things.”
1. Who picked up the horseshoe at last?| A．The son | B．The father |
| C．Both the father and the son | D．Neither the father nor the son |
| A．some bread | B．some water | C．some cherries | D．some pennies |
| A．beat the son | B．said nothing | C．felt very happy | D．became very angry |
| A．cherries are so delicious that most of us like to eat them |
| B．a horseshoe is so expensive that it can bring us a lot of money |
| C．if we want to eat cherries, we must pick up a horseshoe |
| D．if we don’t worry about the little things, we cannot do the great things |
【推荐2】A nightmare plot turned into a miracle-like rescue in Colorado on Sunday. Three children aged 4 to 11 years old were playing on the icy pond at The Addison at Cherry Creek apartments. Suddenly they fell in and were sinking in the freezing water. Dusti Talavera, who lives at the apartment complex, was looking out her window when she saw the kids fall in. Talavera, 23, said she did not hesitate to put on her shoes and rush to the pond, which is 15 feet deep.
“Before I realized it, I was on the pond pulling the two kids out, and that was when I fell in the pond for the third kid,” Talavera said during a press conference on Monday. Two of the kids were saved and Talavera began to pull a 6-year-old up to the surface, but was struggling. That was when a 16-year-old male, identified as the cousin of the 6-year-old, jumped in to help.
As deputies (警官) rushed to the scene, they heard that people were out of the pond, but one was not breathing. Deputy David Rodriguez immediately began chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, CBS Denver reports. Two other deputies, Blaine Moulton and Justin Dillard, also assisted. She was rushed to Children’s Hospital and was breathing and had a pulse.
“Seeing her breathe was a massive relief,” said Dillard. The girl has been transferred to Denver Health, and as of Monday was in serious condition, but expected to survive, according to CBS Denver.
1. What can we learn from paragraph 1?| A．The accident happened on a summer Sunday. |
| B．Without thinking Talavera offered the kids help. |
| C．The kids were playing with Talavera on the pond. |
| D．Talavera lives far from where the accident happened. |
| A．A deputy. | B．A teenager. | C．A doctor. | D．A reporter. |
| A．Brave and helpful. | B．Cautious and patient. |
| C．Far-sighted and generous. | D．Warm-hearted and modest. |
| A．A timely rescue. | B．A serious drowning. |
| C．Some lucky children. | D．Some honorable rescuers. |
【推荐3】I’m a commercial diver for Global Divers in Louisiana. I perform underwater repairs on offshore drilling equipment.
My office lies at the bottom of the sea. I wear a suit to the office. It’s a wet suit.
This time of year the water is quite cool. So what we do to keep warm is this: We have a diesel-powered industrial water heater. This equipment sucks the water out of the sea, heating it to a delightful temperature. It then pumps it down to the diver through a garden tube, which is tied to the air tube.
I’ve used it several times with no complaints. What I do when I get to the bottom and start working is take the tube and stuff it down the back of my wet suit. This floods my whole suit with warm water. It’s fantastic because it’s like working in a bathtub.
Last week, I had a bad day at the office. When I started working, everything was going well until all of a sudden, my bottom started to itch（痒）. So, of course, I scratched it. This, of course, only made things worse. Within a few seconds，my bottom started to feel a burning sensation. I pulled the tube out from my back, thinking that maybe the water was too hot, but the damage was done.
In severe pain, I realized what had happened. The hot water machine had sucked up a jellyfish（水母）and pumped it directly into my suit. When I had scratched what I thought was an itch, I was actually touching the jellyfish, and its poisonous tentacles（触角）stung me on the crack of my bottom.
I immediately informed the dive supervisor of my problem over the communicator. His instructions were unclear due to the fact that he and five other divers were all laughing loudly. 35 minutes later, I arrived at the surface. I was wearing nothing but my helmet. And my bottom was swollen.
1. What did the author think of the water heater before the incident?| A．It was useless. | B．It was dangerous. |
| C．It was satisfying. | D．It needed to be improved. |
| A．A jellyfish. | B．A bathtub. |
| C．The hot water. | D．The wet suit. |
| A．Excited. | B．Delighted. | C．Calm. | D．Embarrassed. |
| A．My Daily Work | B．A Bad Day at Work |
| C．The Hardships of My Job | D．An Office under Water |
