A 23-year-old man can do weightlifting in many ways as hard as any other gym-goer, but he only has one leg. Nathan Seawood doesn’t let his disability keep him from the weight room. Instead, he’s learning to bear a different load.
“This isn’t just a physical battle in the gym,” Seawood said. “It’s a mental battle for myself.” Refusing to be weighed down by his disability, Seawood draws strength from his mind, as he fights to make it through each step. “That takes a lot out of me. I push my body so hard that I’m tired,” said Seawood, who once thought he might have to give up the weights forever.
Seawood ended up in a hospital bed with one leg after falling off a boat in Long Lake near Traverse City in June, 2019. His left leg got caught in the propeller and had to be cut.
“I didn’t want people to see me,” Seawood said. “I couldn’t accept what had happened to me because it’s a lifestyle change. And that was hard. I was down bad.”
Seawood said a therapist helped lift his spirits. “I wanted to be able to walk and that was difficult because I’m using muscles that never really get noticed as much,” Seawood said. Now he’s using those muscles to train hard at Grand Rapids City Gym, inspiring those around him to keep pushing.
“He faces difficulties most of us don’t have to,” Jeff Phillips, who owns the gym, said. “I mean, he’s in here and he only has one leg, but he’s doing a lot of the same lifts everybody with two legs are doing. It’s surely encouraging to see him doing that.”
Despite life’s best attempt to knock him down, Seawood is still standing, and while he may exercise differently from others, he’s thankful to still be moving. “I might have a disability, but I’m not disabled,” Seawood said.
1. What plays the key role in Seawood’s weightlifting?| A．His right leg. | B．The others’ encouragement. |
| C．His strong will. | D．His family. |
| A．An accident. | B．An early birth. | C．A serious disease. | D．A medical mistake. |
| A．Confident and honest. | B．Smart and hardworking. |
| C．Calm and modest. | D．Determined and positive. |
| A．To tell Seawood’s sad story. | B．To draw attention to weightlifting. |
| C．To speak highly of Seawood. | D．To show sympathy for Seawood. |
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【推荐1】As a college student in Boston, I formed the habit of buying used books. I enjoy the hunt, the good price and the unrecognized treasures. I find old textbooks, ex-bestsellers, and books on subjects I’ve never heard of and now must learn all about. I don’t search for rare books, first editions, or leather-bound editions but books that are worth reading.
Rereading, for me, is a pleasure during retirement. The theater and the concert hall become less appealing to me, along with crowds. Staying alone and reading books have become extremely important to me. Literature needs the flesh of experience to have its full effect. Different books offer me insights and ways of expressing that stuck in my mind as grains of sand in an oyster now shine like pearls. My taste in books improves with age.
While packing for a move, which occurs at intervals of five to seven years, I clear my shelves and pick my books. I abandon a few, later regret my decisions, and look for them again. Several years ago, I got rid of books related to my job-architecture. Some were design guides, reference books, product catalogs, and things that went out of date. Some were historical or centered on a period or an architect. These had given me many hours of pleasure. Will I ever open their covers again? Certainly. I held on to the red bulk of Sir Banister Fletcher’s A History of Architecture and books on Paris, Rome, and Boston.
I gave away drafting equipment and instruments. I threw out rolls and rolls of paper, and old drawings of projects completed long ago, some of which had even been damaged. This time, I stay put in a cottage that suits my status and I’ve moved on in spirit. No doubt I will acquire more used books and throw away more books as passions grow and fade, like feathers changing with the seasons.
1. What does the author consider most important when choosing used books？| A．Their appealing covers. | B．Their reasonable prices. |
| C．Their excellent content. | D．Their collection value. |
| A．He has a small circle of friends. | B．His attitude towards work changes. |
| C．His communication skills improve. | D．He has a deeper understanding of life and books. |
| A．To show some books are worth reading repeatedly. |
| B．To recommend Sir Banister Fletcher’s books. |
| C．To suggest we avoid making poor decisions. |
| D．To explain his love for architecture. |
| A．He will stop throwing away used books. |
| B．He likes updating his collection of used books. |
| C．He is bad at using advanced drafting equipment. |
| D．He enjoys leading an active life in the countryside. |
【推荐2】A young father was visiting an old neighbour. They were standing in the old man's garden, and talking about children. The young man said, "How strict should parents be with their children?"
The old man pointed to a string(细绳索) between a big strong tree and a thin young one.
"Please untie that string," he said. The young man untied it, and the young tree bent over to one side.
"Now tie it again, please, " said the old man. "But first pull the string tight so that the young tree is straight again."
The young man did so. Then the old man said, "There, it is the same with children. You must be strict with them, tie the string tight again. But when you find that they are ready to stand alone, you can take the string away."
1. The story is about _____.| A．how to take care of young trees | B．how strict parents should be with their children |
| C．how the young father should get on with his old neighbour | D．how to help children to study |
| A．in order to throw it away | B．so that both of the trees would grow straight |
| C．in order to see if the young tree grew taller | D．to see if the young tree can stand straight |
| A．When the old man left. | B．When the young man untied it next time. |
| C．When the young tree grew strong enough. | D．When the young tree grew older. |
| A．that he should be strict with his children if they could not stand alone |
| B．that he should always be strict with his children |
| C．that he should be hard on his children |
| D．that he should put a string to his children |
【推荐3】I couldn't believe it.
I just couldn't believe it. “How could they do this to me？” I screamed to myself as I walked along the icy New York streets to my apartment just a few blocks away. Just a few minutes ago, I was happily working at my job. Meat was on the grill （烤架） and bread was being toasted.
I knew it was a little fishy when Mark called me into his office for a “chat” . Something just didn't seem right.
“This is so hard for me to say,” he said, “but we will not need your service any more. Please take off your apron （围裙）. Here is your final paycheck. ”
Just then, the winter wind whipped （鞭打） onto my face and big snowflakes started to fall on my heavy winter coat. I didn't even know how, but warm tears started to drip out of the corners of my eyes. My hands were too cold to even wipe my face.
Out of nowhere, an old man walked up to me. He had black mustache and his eyes were surprisingly blue.
“Hello, young man,” he said to me, “lift your spirits. ”
“I can't. I just can't. I was just fired from my favorite job. ”
“I know. I know,” he said, interrupting me, “I want you to always remember that it is always the darkest before dawn. You will get another job. Don't worry. ”
I didn't know what to do. I looked down at my shoes to think about the situation. Maybe this man was right. Maybe dawn was not so far away.
I decided to thank the man for supporting me, but when I looked up, he was gone.
A week later I got a well paid job as the executive chef for a five -star restaurant. The man was right.
1. What couldn't the author believe？| A．The streets of New York were very dangerous to walk on. |
| B．He had just been fired for no reason. |
| C．His colleagues had just made fun of him. |
| D．What he had cooked turned out very bad. |
| A．Strange. | B．Amazing. |
| C．Fresh. | D．Difficult. |
| A．To show that he was wearing very little. |
| B．To explain that the weather was not good. |
| C．To show that he was in a very bad mood. |
| D．To explain that he hadn't enough money for supper. |
| A．There is always hope in the dark. |
| B．Don't believe what you see. |
| C．A kind heart will always be paid back. |
| D．Someone will give you a hand in the end. |
【推荐1】Deisha walked up and down as she waited backstage. This would be her most important piano performance yet. At ten years old, she was the youngest performer at the concert. She had practiced playing her song more than 30 times that week. When she closed her eyes at night, the music played over and over again in her head.
Now that the day had arrived, Deisha was not sure she was ready. She smoothed her hair and picked a piece of lint (绒毛) from the new dress that her mother had bought for her. She noticed that her hands were shaking. How could she play the notes of the song if her hands were shaking? She tried to concentrate on steadying (稳住) them, but they only shook more.
Deisha's piano teacher, Ms Neal, walked up to speak to her. “I have something for you,” she said, putting a smooth black stone into Deisha's hand. “It's a special stone. There's no other one like it in the world. You've practiced so much; you don't need anything else.”
The stage lights reflected off the rock. “Thank you,” Deisha said.
When Deisha's name was called, she rubbed (搓) the stone, stepped onto the stage, and played better than ever. After her performance, she noticed that Ms Neal had a whole bag of black stones. “Why did you say this one was so special?” she asked. Her teacher answered, “Because, like your talent, it belongs only to you.”
1. Why did Deisha hear the piano music in her head at night?| A．She listened to the song every day. |
| B．She wanted to remember the song forever. |
| C．She had practiced many times. |
| D．She liked this piece of music very much. |
| A．Energetic. | B．Nervous. | C．Confident. | D．Concentrated. |
| A．She was a curious girl. |
| B．She was well prepared. |
| C．She needed confidence. |
| D．She trusted people easily. |
| A．Hard work can make up for lack of talent. |
| B．Performing in front of people is hard. |
| C．Rubbing a stone can bring good luck. |
| D．People are talented in their own way. |
【推荐2】In 1997, a group of twenty British women made history. Working in five teams with four women in each team, they walked to the North Pole. Apart from one experienced female guide, the other women were all ordinary people who had never done anything like this in their lives before. They managed to survive in an environment which had defeated several very experienced men during the same time period.
The women set off as soon as they were ready. Once on the ice, each woman had to ski along while dragging a sledge weighing over 50 kilos. The Arctic ice is pushed up into huge piles two or three meters high, and the sledges had to be pulled up one side and carefully let down the other so that they didn’t become damaged. The temperature was always below the freezing point and sometimes strong winds made walking while pulling so much weight almost impossible.
In such conditions, the women were making good progress if they covered fourteen or fifteen kilometers a day. But there was another problem. Part of the journey was across a frozen sea with moving water underneath the ice and at some points the team would drift back more than five kilometers during the night. That meant hey had to spend part of the next day covering the same ground again. Furthermore, each day it took three hours from waking up to setting off and another three hours every evening to set up the camp and prepare the evening meal.
So, how did they manage to succeed? They realized that they were part of a team. If any one of them didn’t pull her sledge or get her job done, she would endanger the success of the whole expedition. Any form of selfishness could result in the efforts of everyone else being completely wasted, so personal feelings had to be put on one side. At the end of their journey, the women agreed that it was mental effort far more than physical fitness that got them to the North Pole.
1. What was so extraordinary about the expedition?| A．There was no one to lead it. |
| B．The women did not have any men with them. |
| C．It was a new experience for most of the women. |
| D．The women had not met one another before. |
| A．damaging the sledges | B．being left behind |
| C．falling over on the ice | D．getting too cold at night |
| A．they got too tired | B．the ice was moving |
| C．they kept getting lost | D．the temperature were too low |
| A．Weather conditions. | B．Protective clothing. |
| C．Preparing food. | D．Feelings and relationships. |
| A．Nothing is impossible to a willing mind. |
| B．Women are mentally stronger than men. |
| C．Severe conditions encourage people to succeed. |
| D．Motivation and teamwork achieve goals. |
Epic Fails: The Wright Brothers: Nose-Diving into History By Erik Slader and Ben Thompson. Ages 6 to 12. The first book in the Epic Fails series deals with one of the most ambitious goals humans have pursued: the quests to fly. Authors Slader and Thompson focus on life-or-death scenes, such as when the Wright brothers crashed their glider over and over on the sandy coast of North Carolina; it took them two more years to get it right. |
Epic Fails: The Race to Space: Countdown to Liftoff By Erik Slader and Ben Thompson. Ages 6 to 12 Today, everyone is familiar with Neil Armstrong’s famous words as he first set foot on the moon, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” He made it look easy, but America’s journey to the moon was anything but simple. Our first attempt was a failure. Still, we didn’t give up. We tried again. And again. And each time we failed, we failed a little bit better. |
Fantastic Failures: True Stories of People Who Changed the World by Falling Down First By Luke Reynolds. Ages 6 to 12. Teacher Luke Reynolds opens each chapter with a quick, impossibly perfect version of one person’s life and then says how that person actually had to face huge challenges to accomplish goals. In this book, Reynolds writes about various common men, women and children. |
Cyrus Field’s Big dream：The Daring Effort to Lay the First Transatlantic Telegraph Cable By Mary Morton Cowan. Ages 6 to 12. In 1853，it took at least a week to relay a message between the United States and Europe because people had to be transported on ships over the Atlantic Ocean. Cyrus Field tried to reduce that transmission（传送）time to just minutes by laying a long undersea cable. In this book，Cowan describes many failures Field suffered before he achieved this major breakthrough. |
1. Who are the four books intended for?
| A．Children. | B．Teenagers. | C．Adults. | D．Old people. |
| A．It was written by a famous actor. | B．It tells stories of ordinary people. |
| C．It is about science fiction stories. | D．It is a picture book by a teacher. |
| A．All roads lead to Rome. | B．Failure is the mother of success. |
| C．An early bird catches worms | D．Actions speak louder than words. |
