My name is Destiny, working at a Psychological Counselling Center. In my teens, there was nothing special about me. My older sister, Antia, is beautiful. My younger brother, Tye, is a genius at the age of 13. He completely skipped the sixth grade. How do I compete with that?
My mom and I were home alone one day. I went into the room where she was watching television and blurted out, “Mom, is there anything special about me?”
She thought about it for a moment and then turned down the volume on the TV. She took a deep breath，took my hand and exhaled (呼气).
“You have the ability to say just the right thing at just the right time.”
“Really! Is that it, words?" I tried to keep my voice steady but I could hear the anger even as I fought to control it.
“It's more than words, Destiny," my mom said. I know my mother meant well but I felt worse than ever. I burst into tears. Why was I even born?
The next day is when my whole life changed. I went to school earlier than before and noticed Darwin sitting across the room which is strange because no one ever notices Darwin. Suddenly, Darwin stood up and threw away all his books, shouting loudly. I could hear screaming and crying but the sounds seemed distant as I focused my full attention on Darwin six feet in front of me. I felt the words swell up in me. “Darwin," I heard myself say with a calm, steady voice. "I have family and friends with so much talent and potential and I have none. There is nothing special about me." From the corner of my eye, I could see other staring at me in silence. I continued talking. “You are so smart. You can answer questions that the teacher hasn't even asked yet. Do you know that everyone in this class is envious of you?” Hearing my words, he calmed down and gave me a big hug.
Then the teacher came. Learning about what happened the teacher smiled, “That was a great job you did, young lady Superman could not have done a better job than you did here today.” I couldn't believe that she compared me to Superman. Well, I work at Psychological Counselling Center now. There is a cork board over my desk filled with thank-you cards and letters from people who say they owe their lives, careers, or their family's to my words. But to me, they are more than words, they are my super power!
1. Why does the author mention her sister and brother?| A．She wants to show family love. | B．She feels really proud of them. |
| C．She envies them their superiority. | D．She considers competing with them. |
| A．She could hardly believe her mother. | B．She understood her mother's white lie. |
| C．She said more words to her mother. | D．She had doubt about her family origin. |
| A．He quarreled with his classmates. | B．He became wild for some reason. |
| C．He failed again in the examination. | D．He lacked great talent and potential. |
| A．She was grateful to her teacher. | B．She owed her career to her customers. |
| C．She understood what her mother had said . | D．She thought she was a lady superman. |
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【推荐1】“Oh boys, don’t throw stones at the poor bird,” said an old grey-headed man.
“Sir,” said a little fellow, “she makes such a loud noise that we can’t suffer from her.”
“Yes, but she uses the voice which nature gave her, and I am afraid the stone will rebound(弹回), and hurt you as long as you live!”
“Rebound! We don’t understand you, sir!”
“Well, come and I will tell you a story.”
“Is it a true story?”
“Yes, every word is true.”
“Fifty years ago, I was a boy like you. I used to throw stones very accurately.”
“One day I went to work for an old couple. They were very kind to everybody and everything. Few had so many birds making their nests under the roofs of their houses. The birds seemed to love the couple. For seven years a bird had come, after the long winter was over, and built her nest in the same place, and raised her young chicks there. She and her mate had just returned when I went there to work, and the couple welcomed them heartily.”
“During the day, I thought I would try my skill upon her. She sat on a pole and looked at me trustfully. I found a nice stone, and I threw it with my utmost skill. It struck the bird on the head and she dropped dead!”
“I said nothing to the old couple about it. But one of their grandchildren told them what I had done. I could never look at them in the face afterwards. Oh, that I should have told them how sorry I was!”
“They have been dead many years, and so has the poor bird; but don’t you see how that stone rebounded, and hit me? How much the memory of it has hurt me! My dear boys, I would pay a great deal today if I could undo what I did!
“For fifty years I have remembered it. I have never spoken of it before, but if what my words will prevent you from throwing a stone that may rebound, I will be happy.”
The boys at once dropped the stones they had in their hands, and the bird had no more trouble from them.
1. Why did the boy throw stones at the bird?| A．Because she was too noisy to the boy. |
| B．Because she had a voice nature gave her. |
| C．Because the stone always rebounded to the boy. |
| D．Because the boy wanted the old man to tell him a story. |
| A．proud | B．uneasy | C．relaxed | D．excited |
| A．make fun of him | B．educate him with a life lesson |
| C．drive him away from birds | D．remind him not to play with stones |
| A．The stone that rebounds. | B．The boy that throws stones. |
| C．The birds that sing well. | D．The old man that tells stories. |
【推荐2】You have probably heard the saying, “When life gives you lemons (柠檬), make lemonade.” Since lemons are considered bitter and lemonade is considered sweet, the saying tells you to make the best out of a bad situation.
Unfortunately, when something bad happens, it’s not uncommon for most people to talk about it to anyone who’ll listen, and complain (抱怨) about life, “Why me?” That’s like getting a bag of lemons, putting them down, and thinking “Lemons taste bad! I’d rather have chocolate!” If you don’t make anything with the lemons, they will go bad. But what if you did something with them? What if you made lemonade? Isn’t it possible to do something similar with a bad situation? Here’s an example: Let’s say you’re about to go to the movies, but you discover you have a flat tire (瘪胎). You consider this a terrible thing. After all, you are really looking forward to spending some time with Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. Now you’re all stressed out, hating the tire, the car, and your life. But what if you called AAA, got your tire fixed or got caught up on things that you’d been meaning to do? What if you did some reading, or had coffee with a friend instead? A bad experience can be turned into something good. Almost anything can work itself out into something better. You can’t change what has happened, right? So make the best of it. I’m not saying it will be easy. The easy thing to do is complain about your bad situation and not consider what it could be turned into.
Next time when some unfortunate things happen stop and think, “How can I turn this around? How can I make it an awesome experience?” You needn’t fear difficulties. As long as you keep on changing it, you will see the benefits at last.
1. Why does the author quote the saying in paragraph 1?| A．To lead in the topic. | B．To raise a question. |
| C．To tell the difference. | D．To introduce the speaker. |
| A．Accept it. | B．Find out the reasons. |
| C．Ask others for help. | D．Complain about it. |
| A．To tell us how to avoid awkward situations. |
| B．To tell us that a flat tire happens from time to time. |
| C．To tell us what we can do when in bad situations. |
| D．To tell us meeting film stars is a very exciting experience. |
| A．Trying hard to solve it. | B．Laughing your way through it. |
| C．Turning it into something good. | D．Thinking more about its benefits. |
【推荐3】Since last March, I have been visiting a pet clinic because of my cat Eddie. The clinic is in northern Massachusetts, about two hours from our home on Cape Cod. I expected it would be terrible depressing but it’s just the opposite. I have been so surprised at what I have learned there.
Now I believe happiness is something to love in any form. If I’ve ever know an angel, it is Keri, Eddie’s technician. Both Eddie and I are under her loving care. She gives Eddie his medicines.She gives me emotional guidance as well.
I can offer tell when it’s someone’s first visit. They’re usually crying. I think the reason why the rest of us don’t cry has nothing to do with hope. I think it has to do with another ingredient of happiness. When we think about our pet’s distant future, even if they’re healthy, w will feel sad. Keri, in her prayerful voice says, “Focus on loving Eddie right now.” “Right now” is the only way people think at he clinic.
Instant connection is what happens in the waiting room. We join together to tenderly life a lame dog. We take turns distracting a cat with sparkly toys so she doesn’t chew her bandage. Nobody asks for help. Everybody offers. We just do it.
When the end of life is very near, owners often believe their pet’s happiness is more important than something like a strict diet. A young fellow whose pet dog suffers from canner says, “He can have anything he wants now.” So I guess an element of happiness is not so much the length of a life but the joy and peace that life contains.
At this place, the focus is not on dying, and it’s not on living. The focus, for pets and for people, is on living happily.
1. What does Keri stress most according to Paragraph 3?| A．Living is happy. |
| B．Time is precious. |
| C．Hope is certain. |
| D．Love is everything. |
| A．They live in harmony. |
| B．They help each other. |
| C．They are full of love. |
| D．They ask for help. |
| A．He wants his pet to gain weight. |
| B．He likes to do whatever he wants. |
| C．An Lovely Angel of a Pet Clinic. |
| D．The Ingredients of Happiness. |
As a child growing up, I have very few memories of the times when we gathered as a family to sit down and eat dinner together. I grew up in a home where both of my parents worked. My mother taught school, and my father worked during the night at a local chemical plant. There was not much time available for us to sit down to eat dinner together due to my parents' conflicting work schedules and the extracurricular activities in which my sister and I participated.
It wasn't until I got married and had two children of my own that I began to realize the importance of eating dinner together. In my family there are elements that take us away from each other, day in and day out, but as a mother I feel it is my responsibility to bring us all back together again at the end of the day. In my house, dinner time is a time of thanks. I give thanks for the food we share, but I am more thankful for the family I share it with. Dinner time is a time for us to share our day, and reflect on our thoughts. It is also a time when we learn about honesty, perseverance, courage, sympathy and friendship. Above all it is a time when my family are able to connect with the ones they love.
As I look at the bread basket which sits on my kitchen table, I am reminded of how the basket's tight weave resembles the tightly woven strands （线）of my family. I believe that through our family dinner, we will not only pass around the meat and potatoes, but we will also hand round virtues that will shape and mold （塑造）us so that we can forever embrace one another just as the basket embraces the bread.
1. Why couldn't the author's family eat dinner together when she was young?(No more than 15 words)2. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to?(No more than 2 words)
3. What does the author think the dinner time actually is for her family?(No more than 10 words)
4. What is the author's purpose in writing the passage?(No more than 15 words)
5. What do you think of eating dinner together with your family? Please give your reason.(No more than 25 words)
【推荐2】The day when Grandma came to live with us was an exciting one for the whole family. Dad went to pick her up at the airport, and when they pulled into the driveway, we were out to greet her. Her excitement, however, was not on the same level as ours.
"What is wrong with Grandma? She does not seem very happy to be here." I asked Mom. "Well, maybe it will take time for her to get used to this change," she said, "We need to be patient with her.” Dad broke in, "Her being here is better than her living all alone in that big old house."
Time went on, and almost every day Grandma was mad or upset about something we did. Everyone noticed how Grandma had changed. Our memories of her were happy ones. She used to be a nice person and made us feel welcome when we stayed with her. Now things were a lot different.
Later, Dad took Grandma to the doctor for a checkup. It turned out that she was in the early stage of Alzheimer's disease. The doctor said she would become more forgetful and annoyed, which did not sound good to us at all.
One day when I walked in her room to see if she needed anything, Grandma had a smile on her face and she called me by name softly. How unbelievable! Grandma was back. I stayed and talked with her for a long time. We talked about when I was little and when she lived in her big old house. When Mom and Dad returned home, I told them what had happened. Mom said that she would sometimes seem OK but other times she would be forgetful and even worse. That time I spent with Grandma was one I would always remember. I knew that somewhere deep inside was the old Grandma that I remembered and loved.
1. What can we learn about the author's family?| A．They were as excited as Grandma. |
| B．They expected Grandma's moving in. |
| C．They went to pick up Grandma together. |
| D．They preferred Grandma to live in the old house. |
| A．Upset. | B．Forgetful. | C．Easygoing. | D．Generous. |
| A．Grandma gradually regained her memory. |
| B．Grandma's recovery shocked Mom and Dad. |
| C．The author was told to take care of Grandma. |
| D．The author cherished the happy time with Grandma. |
【推荐3】Why Should You Stop Yelling(吼叫)at Your Kids
It doesn’t make you look authoritative. It makes you look out of control to your kids.
Households with regular shouting incidents tend to have children with lower self-esteem (自尊心)and higher rates of depression. A 2019 study in The Journal of Child Development demonstrated that yelling produces results similar to physical punishment in children.
Dr. Kazdin promotes a programme called the ABCs,which stands for antecedents(前情),behaviours and consequences. The antecedent is the setup telling a child, specifically, what you want them to do before you want them to do it.
| A．It hurts your kids a little. |
| B．It makes you look weak. |
| C．Let’s take making kids putting away their shoes an example. |
| D．Behaviours are where the behaviour is defined and shaped by the parent. |
| E．Behavioural problems need a long-term joint efforts of parents and teachers. |
| F．Almost everybody still yells at their kids sometimes,even the parents who know it doesn’t work. |
| G．It increases levels of anxiety,stress and depression along with an increase in behavioural problems. |
【推荐1】The day had started out as usual for Mrs. Ito until the late afternoon, when the news of the destructive tsunami (海啸) waves came over the radio.
At last, 12:30 a.m. came as the radio warning had said and nothing happened. She could hear passing people say the tsunami waves must have missed the islands and they laughed as they were returning to their homes. Mrs. Ito went into her living room and looked down the street. It was calm.
Then, a sudden flash-like lighting lit the sky over Hilo Bay and a deafening explosion broke the night’s silence. The first large wave of the tsunami had burst Hilo’s electric power plant. Suddenly, all the lights in Hilo went out.
Next thing Mrs. Ito heard was a trembling sound. Before she knew it, the wave broke into her house. She was knocked to the floor as her house began to spin and finally tore apart. Desperately, Mrs. Ito grasped for anything to stay above water. Suddenly, something heavy fell on her. The floorboards opened up and she became trapped. She used every bit of strength to struggle out of the boards and managed to squeeze free. Then she blacked out.
When she woke up, she found herself being washed back and forth as the water rose. There were no waves, so she figured she had to be floating over flooded land. Not knowing how to swim, she hung on tight to her tiny temporary raft (木排).
At sunrise, she spotted two boats on the horizon (地平线). She saw in the distance a radio station tower light. She remained at peace and kept her head down. She thought that death was just a matter of time away. She thought the people on the boats hadn’t seen her. Then the boats came closer and closer. Mrs. Ito was seen and saved.
1. What’s people’s reaction to the radio warning according to Paragraph 2?| A．Shocked. | B．Anxious. | C．Disappointed. | D．Relaxed. |
| A．It felt like an obedient sheep. |
| B．It struck the islands as expected. |
| C．It had astonishing destructive power. |
| D．It occurred at noon without any warning. |
| A．She got stuck in the flooded land for days. |
| B．She was rescued by people on the boats luckily. |
| C．She lost her dearest family members in the tsunami. |
| D．She was struck by a heavy object and lost memories. |
| A．Mrs. Ito’s story of surviving the tsunami. |
| B．The recovery of the islands after the tsunami. |
| C．The damage caused by a destructive tsunami. |
| D．The effects of the tsunami on local people’s life. |
【推荐2】Jim found himself exhausted during a trip. When he came home, he went to see a doctor. “The reason why I was fatigued (精疲力竭),” Jim says, “was that my kidneys were gone.”
Jim, 69, a former Air Force pilot, immediately started dialysis (透析) three times a week. A person of his age on dialysis usually lives only about four years. Transplants are a long-shot alternative. The National Kidney Foundation estimates that 13 people die every day while waiting for a donor with the right blood and tissue types.
Jim’s wife, nephew and four family friends offered but weren’t a match. Jim was so discouraged that he was even considering not attending a reunion of some Air Force buddies (铁哥们). But his wife encouraged him to reunite with his old friends, among whom was one he hadn’t seen for nearly 50 years: Doug Coffman. The two had met. When they both were learning Vietnamese before they went overseas.
Doug, then 70, felt a strong bond with his band of brothers, even though he hadn’t seen some of them for decades. Their connection went beyond the battlefield in ways most, soldiers never experience.
Doug had received help from his friends when he was in trouble, so he felt like it was a time that he could pay that ahead by donating a kidney to Jim. Fortunately, series of testing revealed not only that Doug’s tissue type matched Jim’s but also that he had the kidneys of a 35-year-old.
The transplant was a success. “It’s pretty miraculous to be able to take an organ out of one person’s body—a living organ—put it in another person’s body, and have it work.” Doug says. “And there’s nothing finer than knowing I’ve helped another person live a better life.”
1. From paragraph 2 we know that kidney transplant is ________.| A．expensive | B．dangerous |
| C．a matter of luck | D．an unwise choice |
| A．About 17. | B．About 19. | C．About 22. | D．About 25. |
| A．Doug is happy to donate a kidney to Jim. |
| B．Jim is having a better life than Doug. |
| C．The kidney transplant was very successful. |
| D．Modern medical science is very advanced. |
| A．To share his good luck. | B．To tell us to pay it forward. |
| C．To introduce a kidney transplant. | D．To encourage us to make friends. |
【推荐3】John Blanchard was studying the crowd making their way through the station. He was looking for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn't, the girl with the rose.
When reading a book in a Florida library a year before, John became interested not in the contents of the book, but in the notes penciled in the margin (空白处). The handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and beautiful mind. He discovered the former owner's name in the front of the book: Miss Hollis Maynell.
He located her address and wrote a letter introducing himself. The next day he was shipped overseas to serve in the army. During the next year, they grew to know each other through the mail and their friendship developed. John requested a photograph, but she refused, saying if he really cared, it wouldn't matter what she looked like. When the day finally came for him to return home, their first meeting was suggested-7:00 pm at the Grand Central Station in New York.
She wrote, "You'll recognize me by the red rose I wear on my coat." So now John was in the station to meet the girl with a rose.
As a pretty and slim girl in green came over, John noticed her blue eyes like flowers in spring. He walked directly towards her, entirely forgetting she was not wearing a rose. As John came closer to her, he saw another woman with a red rose stood nearby. Well past 40, this woman had graying hair done under a worn hat. Seeing the girl in green walk quickly away, John felt as if he were split (劈开) in two. He desired to follow that girl, but longed for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned and supported him.
The woman looked gentle and sensible. John went to her, saying, "I'm Captain John Blanchard. You must be Miss Maynell. I am glad to meet you here. May I take you to dinner?"
She replied with a smile, "I don't know what this is about. But the lady in green who just went by, begged me to wear this rose on my coat. She said if you asked me out to dinner, I'd tell you she is waiting for you in the big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!"
1. John was eager to know the former owner of the book because ________.| A．he was very interested in the contents of the book |
| B．he was impressed by the notes written by the owner |
| C．the book offered him practical and valuable advice |
| D．there was address of the former owner in the book |
| A．He began to serve the army abroad. | B．He was seriously wounded in the war. |
| C．He went on a business tour in Europe. | D．He asked Miss Maynell for a photo. |
| A．She was Miss Maynell’s close companion. |
| B．She was a conductor working in the station. |
| C．She knew nothing about John’s appointment. |
| D．She was paid to carry out a love test on John. |
| A．The Meeting in the Station | B．A Meeting by Accident |
| C．A Soldier and a Girl | D．Love Test |
