Better to Be Different
Heroic deeds come in all shapes and sizes. Some of them require bravery in the face of danger, others result from a simple act of kindness.
Natalie Fernando was taking her 5-year-old autistic (患孤独症的) son Rudy for a seaside walk when the little boy suddenly broke down.
“My son loves to walk, but he hates to turn around and walk back. We usually try to walk in a circle to avoid this, but on his favourite walk with the boats we have no choice but to turn back. This will often lead to a breakdown, which I can normally handle, but today was too much for him and me,” Fernando explained on her blog.
The walking area at Southend-on-Sea is a very popular walking place in Essex, England. Knowing she and Rudy were drawing attention and that her son’s breakdown might go on for an hour, Fernando was apologetic, but she soon found herself exposed to unfavorable looks and comments of passersby.
That’s when a total stranger named Ian stopped to ask if she was okay. When Fernando explained what was going on, as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do, Ian lay down on the ground close to Rudy and engaged him in conversation.
The calming action quickly turned the situation around. After Rudy recovered, Ian walked Rudy and his mom back to their car.
“I wish there were more of this man around and I am beyond thankful,” Fernando said. “I will not forget his kindness.”
In addition to her gratitude, Fernando hopes Ian’s unselfish behavior might inspire others to look deeper before making social judgments themselves.
“It’s said a lot at the moment, ‘In a world where you can be anything, be kind.’” she wrote. “Words are easy, but these actions are not always so easy. This man is living the words and I couldn’t be more grateful.”
“We’re all walking our own path and directing the journey the best we can. Sometimes it takes a moment of kindness from a complete stranger to completely change your day.”
1. What was Fernando’s reaction when Rudy broke down?| A．She turned back. | B．She felt very sorry. |
| C．She gave him a hug. | D．She explained to passersby. |
| A．A stranger helped Rudy calm down. |
| B．A passerby sat down to talk with Rudy. |
| C．Ian drove Rudy and mom home safely. |
| D．Rudy’s sudden behavior lasted for one hour. |
| A．Brave | B．Generous | C．Humorous | D．Caring |
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【推荐1】A new pastor(牧师) named John reopened a church that had been abandoned in a suburb. He found it broken, and in need of a lot of repair work. His goal was to have everything done in time for his first service on Christmas Eve.
He worked hard. However, when John went to the church on Dec. 21, his heart sank: a large area of plaster (石膏) had fallen off the front wall due to a terrible storm the night before. John headed home, and on the way he stopped at a market selling items for charity.
One of the items was an exquisite( 精致的)handmade tablecloth. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church. It started to snow. An old woman had missed her bus, and he invited her to wait in the warm church for the next one. As John put up the tablecloth the woman asked him to check the corner for the initials(手写字母). They were her initials: she had made this tablecloth 35 years before. Then the war broke out, and forced her to part with her husband.
John wanted to give her the tablecloth. but she asked him to keep it for the church. John insisted on driving her home which he thought was the least he could do.
What a wonderful service he had on Christmas Eve! John noticed one old man staring at the tablecloth on the front wall. The man said it was similar to one that his wife had made many years before.
John brought the old man to the house where he had taken the woman three days earlier. He helped him climb the three flights of stairs to her apartment, and saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever have imagined.
1. According to Paragraph one, we learn that John decided to_______.| A．help people affected by a terrible storm |
| B．buy goods for charity in the neighborhood |
| C．repair the abandoned church before his first service |
| D．do some work for the local people |
| A．The woman’s husband had to leave her because of a war |
| B．Johns service on Christmas Eve was disappointing |
| C．Everyone was surprised by the beauty of the tablecloth. |
| D．John drove the old man home because he was lost. |
| A．he loved its colors | B．he had seen it in a church |
| C．It was like one his wife had made | D．it looked strange hanging on a wall |
| A．A kind pastor who had difficulty repairing an ancient church |
| B．A new pastor who gave his first service with a couples help |
| C．A tablecloth made 35 years ago being discovered by a pastor |
| D．An old couple being reunited on Christmas Eve through a tablecloth |
【推荐2】My legs don’t do much because I have a serious disease. They just sit there and look pretty. When people look at me, they only see the chair — my wheelchair. I’ve been in one since I was 3 years old. And it doesn’t matter if I graduate at the top of my class and go to law school. To some people, I’ll always be the girl in the chair.
But I don’t think of myself as the kid who can’t walk. Most of my friends don’t even notice the chair anymore. I’m just the girl they’ve been friends with. My friends are good at lifting me in and out of my small car when we go to the movies. We even took the car to the dance. One of the boys helped me out of the car and all the girls helped me to fix my dress. Even in the crowded school elevator (电梯), there’s always someone around to carry me.
There are a lot of things I can’t do for myself, such as lifting my arms, dressing myself, and feeding myself. Even so, I do very well at school and I always tell myself that I’m just like any other kid in my school.
The truth is that my parents raised me to be proud of my disability (残疾). There are plenty of things I wish I could do differently. I wanted to be a doctor. But that’s not going to work out. So I’ll be a lawyer instead. I also wanted to dance and play soccer. My parents taught me that I’m like this for a reason — to educate people and show them that this disease affects my bones — not my brain. My friend Erica once said to me, “Kennedy, you’re not disabled. You just can’t walk.”
1. What does the underlined word “They” in the first paragraph refer to?| A．The author’s legs. | B．The author’s chairs. |
| C．The author’s friends. | D．The author’s diseases. |
| A．is the dancing queen of her school | B．is afraid of taking the school elevator |
| C．often gets lots of help from her friends | D．can’t be understood by her schoolmates |
| A．A doctor. | B．A lawyer. | C．A dancer. | D．An actor. |
| A．Strange and unhappy. | B．Honest and polite. |
| C．Brave and strong. | D．Lazy and useless. |
| A．work hard | B．smile at life |
| C．have dreams | D．thank our parents |
【推荐3】When I was 11, my grandmother visited from England, bringing me a bicycle. As the owner of the first English bicycle my peers（同龄人） had ever seen, I was almost a famous person.
It was light and responsive (反应灵敏的) — riding it felt like flying. I rode it everywhere all over the hilly suburb where we lived. I rode past the big stone houses with their huge yards and trees. I rode alone and with gangs of friends through the seasons—spicy autumn dusks, lingering(徘徊的) spring afternoons, hot summer mornings, even deep into the chill of winter before snow and ice stopped me.
That beloved bike went with me to college, carrying me to the library and to classes. Beyond transport, it was often a support. Pushing it along as I walked the college paths made me feel less conspicuous, less self-conscious. Somehow, conversation flowed more easily on either side of a bike.
For years after college, I didn't have a bicycle that was specifically mine. Teaching in a New England prep school, I simply rode whatever bikes its graduates had left behind. I rode around the little town on bikes that slipped in and out of gear, which brakes that grabbed or simply failed.
But finally, I bought a bicycle called a comfort bike. Still, I was bit fearful. I was out of the habit and a lot older. I put on my helmet—I'd never worn a helmet before. Then I got on the bike to ride down to the boardwalk.
After a cautious, slightly shaky start, I felt exactly as I had that long-ago day: free. Soon I was riding along, watching the waves break, hearing the gulls cry. It seemed that everyone I passed smiled and waved or called out, "Great day for a bike ride". And I knew they all remembered their first bike and how it had set them free. I wanted to call back to them,"it still can."
1. What is the main idea of the second paragraph ?| A．What pleasure the writer got from riding. |
| B．How addicted the writer was to riding a bike. |
| C．Where the writer rode his bike to visit |
| D．How long the writer covered a year by bike. |
| A．Careful. | B．Nervous. |
| C．Obvious. | D．Popular. |
| A．felt a little clumsy | B．worried about falling down |
| C．experienced the pleasure at once | D．was too fearful to ride on |
| A．Help people recall their good days. | B．Bring people a sense of freedom. |
| C．Encourage people to travel by bike. | D．Make people have a great day. |
【推荐1】In 2020, Oliver Wallace’s parents entered him in a national speech contest. The contest was held by Think Kindness. It’s an organization that aims to inspire acts of kindness in schools and communities. Oliver wrote a speech and recorded a video for the contest. In his speech, Oliver focused on the idea that kindness is easy. “It can be free and it can make someone's day a whole lot better,” he said.
After winning the contest, Oliver put his speech into action. He created the Race to Kindness, a series of events spreading kindness around the world. For his efforts, the fifth-grader was awarded one of America’s top 2021 youth volunteers.
One of his events is called the Race to 500 Toys. Being in the hospital is difficult for kids. So Oliver started the toy drive for children in a hospital near his home. “I knew that I could help,” said Oliver, “and that made me want to.” With his prize money from the contest and the support from community, Oliver was able to donate 619 toys to the local children's hospital.
Now Oliver is busy with his new project, the Race to 100,000 Meals. “I was seeing so many people that didn't have access to food,” he said. “Or they were waiting in long lines to get small meals.” So far, the event has collected more than 100,000 meals for families in Texas.
Organizing a donation drive is one way to practice kindness. But small, well-thought-out acts are just as important. “It can start off with a positive thought or being kind to someone,” said Oliver. His speech offered suggestions. They included leaving a nice note for a neighbor or asking your parents how you can help them at home.
“If you treat someone with a little kindness,” Oliver said, “it can make you feel better knowing that someone else feels better.”
1. Why did Oliver start the Race to Kindness?| A．To advocate kind actions | B．To participate in a contest. |
| C．To serve voluntary organizations. | D．To raise money for Think Kindness. |
| A．made videos for the contest | B．donated meals for poor families |
| C．awarded prizes to young volunteers | D．bought toys for the children in hospital |
| A．Practice makes perfect. | B．Think twice before acting. |
| C．Failure is the mother of success. | D．One small act can make a difference. |
【推荐2】Saving a drowning woman is all in a day’s work for two boys who had already collected their swimming and lifesaving merit badges (奖章).
A June heavy storm hit Columbia in Missouri with little warning, causing floodwaters from rivers to burst their banks and overflow zones to turn into ponds.
When 15-year-old Dominic Viet and 16-year-old Joseph Diener passed a basketball court that had turned into a pool, they heard the frantic shouting of a young woman desperately trying to keep her head above water under the force of a current (水流). The boys had seen the woman swimming with a friend there before, but it was now obvious that she was drowning.
“The first thing that came into my mind was to get into the water,” Dominic recalled. “We didn’t have time to think. Her head was barely above the water and we could see her sinking more down every second. We didn’t think about the risks. We had to get her out.”
Heroes will do as heroes do, and pulling her up onto their shoulders, Dominic and Joseph got her ashore, where emergency services arriving at someone else’s call performed first aid and rushed her to the hospital.
The fire department honored the two boys with a “Citizen Life Safety Award”. Assistant Fire Chief Jerry Jenkins described the boys’ act as heroic and courageous. He added, “Floodwaters are no conditions to be swimming in. There can be waste water runoff, loose chemicals, downed power lines charging the current with electricity, or pieces of wood, metal, or brick, etc.”
1. What does the underlined word “frantic” in paragraph 3 probably mean?| A．Angry. | B．Low. | C．Terrified. | D．Patient. |
| A．They worried about the risks. | B．They performed first aid at once. |
| C．They called emergency services. | D．They jumped into the water to save her. |
| A．Helpful and brave. | B．Humorous and polite. |
| C．Generous and modest. | D．Ambitious and gifted. |
| A．We must be careful with floodwaters. | B．Children should learn how to swim. |
| C．Swimming in floodwaters is attractive. | D．Performing first aid is a must for children. |
【推荐3】Catalin Baciu from Romania wanted to make money in Germany. So, he and his wife, Oltita went to Bucharest, the capital city of Romania to get legal papers to move to Germany. However, when they arrived, they were surprised by what they saw. “Hundreds of street children were living in a busy and dirty city of two and a half million people. Many of them were using drugs. They all seemed lost. Most of them were under ten years old. Oltita had tears in her eyes,” Catalin said.
Many of these streets children were orphans (孤儿). They had grown up in the government orphanages, but had run away. They thought any place would be better than the orphanages. But the streets were cold and hard. The winters were freezing. The children had to sleep in warm sewers (下水道) under the ground. Many of the children even became involved with crime and violence (暴力).
The Baciu’s did not like the sight of so many pitiful children in Bucharest. They wanted to leave immediately and go to Germany. However, that night, Catalin and Oltita stayed with a friend in Buchares. “The friend we were staying with was working with street children. I was deeply touched by what he and his fellows were trying to do…they were sacrificing (牺牲) their jobs and lives to save street children,” Catalin said.
After that visit, the Baciu’s completely changed their life plan. Instead of moving to Germany, they began working with street children in Bucharest. They started by opening a home called House of Hope, which provided a warm and loving place for children who needed to get away from the streets. Many hospitals and business workers called House of Hope when they found troubled kids. Everyone knew the House of Hope would help.
1. Oltita had tears in her eyes because ________.| A．she felt pity for the street children |
| B．she almost lost her Way in Bucharest |
| C．she didn’t get legal papers |
| D．she would leave Romania |
| A．liked to run around |
| B．lived a very busy life |
| C．didn’t receive good care |
| D．were under ten years old |
| A．Kind-hearted. | B．Short-sighted. |
| C．Hard-working. | D．Self-confident. |
| A．at the risk of losing their home |
| B．under the influence of their friend |
| C．in support of the local hospital |
| D．with the help of the Germany government |
