The wheelchair-bound young man, a patient of mine, was pushed to the lectern at the high school to deliver his commencement address. His face still partially paralyzed, he spoke in a soft voice. But Mark Orsini delivered a powerful speech and received a thunderous applause from his fellow students, who had wondered if he’d live to graduate.
The 18-year-old had developed Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can cause paralysis. Soon he was almost completely paralyzed.
His parents insisted that he was a fighter. He’d get through this and go on to attend Dartmouth. But meanwhile, immobile and on a ventilator (呼吸器), how was he going to ask questions or be involved in his care?
The solution was remarkable: The Orsinis would sit at Mark’s side and recite the alphabet. When they got to a letter Mark needed to spell a word, he’d nod “yes”. They’d write it down, then start over and wait for him to nod again. They never lost patience and Mark was involved with every decision. Standard treatment hadn’t helped, so I proposed a risky procedure to filter (过滤) his blood. After treatment he showed improvement and soon he could move his toes, his legs and then his arms.
Mark has graduated from Dartmouth. I saw him in my office some time ago, and he was feeling great. But there was a lot left unsaid. I wanted to say I was in awe of him, and that his parents were some of the most amazing people I’d ever met, sitting by his bed for hours, patiently listening to their child speak letter by letter. I wanted to tell him of my shame when my children tried to talk to me and I brushed them off because I didn’t have time to listen. I wanted to say I’d never forget him or his parents. But words failed me.
1. The underlined word “commencement” in Paragraph 1 means ________.| A．graduation | B．promise | C．birthday | D．acceptance |
| A．They did everything for Mark. | B．They assisted Mark in learning. |
| C．They lost patience sometimes. | D．They made decisions for him. |
| A．He felt proud of it. | B．He felt confident of it. |
| C．He felt guilty of it. | D．He felt doubtful about it. |
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【推荐1】One day a heavy storm hit a village. Nothing was destroyed, but a rock fell from a nearby mountain. The rock rolled down from the mountain and stopped in the middle of the main road in the village. It was very big and shaped more or less like a ball. The village decided to move it since it was blocking (阻塞) the street. Several of the strongest men in the village came to try to lift it out of the road. No matter how hard they tried though, they couldn’t move it.
All of this time a young boy was watching the men trying to move the rock. “Excuse me,” he said, “but I think I could move the rock.”
“You?” They shouted. “What are you talking about? All of us have just tried, and even together we can’t move it a bit.” They all laughed at the boy.
The next morning some villagers came into the street. To their great surprise, the rock was gone! More people ran out to see for themselves. It was true the rock wasn’t in the road any more.
The little boy stood in the street, smiling. “ I told you I could move it,” he said. “ I did it last night.” Then he walked over to where the rock had been and uncovered some dirt with a shovel (铁锹). “ You see,” he said, “ I dug a deep hole next to the rock, and the rock rolled down into the hole of itself. Then I covered it with dirt.”
1. The village decided to move the rock because ________.| A．it was big and heavy. | B．it was completely useless. |
| C．it was more or less badly shaped. | D．it was in the middle of the road. |
| A．didn’t understand him. | B．got angry with him. |
| C．were pleased with him. | D．didn’t believe him. |
| A．find a way to move the rock. | B．work faster and better. |
| C．give the villagers a surprise. | D．dig a hole for himself. |
| A．pulling it out of the road. | B．breaking it with a shovel. |
| C．burying it in a hole. | D．lifting it out of the road. |
【推荐2】Armenian musician Astrid Poghosyan, a 29-year-old violinist, takes great pride in the Chinese name she picked for herself, Ma Xingxing. Last summer, she were busy making preparations for a series of in-person and online music events and cultural exchange programs. Poghosyan said she always put all her energies into the projects which she took part in, whether they were offline or online events, as she believed that every little effort would help her realize her music-related dreams.
“I believe music knows no borders, and cultural exchanges through music are especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic (流行病),” she said. Having studied and worked in China for 13 years, Poghosyan has now become a real China hand, skilled at the country’s language and culture. Such a multicultural background has certainly helped her stand out in her present job. For Poghosyan, the life she now leads is a far cry from when she first came to China in 2009 to learn to play the violin at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. At that time, Poghosyan could not speak a word of Chinese. “And my high-school-level English wasn’t of much help at that time,” she said. “So I decided to learn Chinese to solve the communication problem.”
She has a strong desire for Chinese movies, traditional festivals and history stories, all of which helped her through the difficult language-learning process. As she gradually buried herself in the Chinese language and culture, she also started to make Chinese friends and explore the energetic city life of Shanghai.
“Since I first came to Shanghai, I have always been impressed by the kindness of the people here,” she said. “Even when I couldn’t speak Chinese, in the first days, everyone I met gave me a big smile. Their smiles have made me feel the warmth of the city.”
1. What do we know about Astrid Poghosyan?| A．She is proud of her talent in music. |
| B．She came to China when she was 16. |
| C．She spoke Chinese well when young. |
| D．She usually has music lessons online. |
| A．Every country has its unique music and culture. |
| B．The COVID-19 pandemic prevented music spreading. |
| C．Poghosyan’s high-school-level English helped her a lot. |
| D．Poghosyan’s present life is quite different from that in the past. |
| A．Her exploration of the city. |
| B．Her love for Chinese culture. |
| C．Her wonderful social skills. |
| D．Her teacher’s encouragement. |
| A．Energetic. | B．Outgoing. |
| C．Humorous. | D．Friendly. |
【推荐3】William is a scientist. He makes robots to help people with some housework. Arnold is William’s helper, who cleans William’s laboratory. Arnold only works in the afternoon, from 1:00 to 4: 30. William used to teach Arnold how to control a robot, but Arnold never listened.
The day before Mother’s Day, William drove to the town with his friend to buy a present for his mother. “When I come back,” he said to Arnold. “I want to see the laboratory clean. Goodbye and work hard!”
Arnold cleaned the windows, tidied the tables, and swept the floor. “Now I will ask a robot toWash thefloorforme,” Arnold thought. Then he went to arobot, pressed a button (按钮) and said, “Robot, wash the floor.”The robot got a bucket of water. Arnold was happy to see that. But Suddenly the robot poured (倾倒) the water all over the for. Then it began to move around in the water.
“Stop,” shouted Arnold, but the robot didn’t stop. Arnold pressed another button, but the robot moved even faster. Soon the laboratory was in a mess. Arnold was quite nervous。
Just then, the door opened. It was William. Looking at the water on the floor, he couldn’t believe his eyes. He ran to the robot and pressed some buttons. It stopped.
“I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you carefully before,” Arnold said.
“Better late than never,” William said. “Let me teach you how to control a robot now.”
1. What is William according to the text?| A．A scientist | B．A cleaner |
| C．A helper | D．A teacher |
| A．Tidy the tables | B．Wash the floor |
| C．Sweep the yard | D．Clean the windows |
| A．The door | B．The car |
| C．The water | D．The robot |
【推荐1】In 1999, 36-year-old Tori Murden McClure became the first woman to row solo (单独地) across the Atlantic Ocean, from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean. The journey of just over 5,300 kilometers took the American 81 days. Her boat, The American Pearl, was only 7 meters long.
McClure is a real adventurer. She has been on many mountaineering expeditions, including climbs in Alaska, Kenya and Antarctica. She was also the youngest person in a team that skied 1, 200 kilometers across Antarctica to the South Pole in 1989, and became one of only two women ever to travel to the Pole by land.
The journey across the Atlantic was her third attempt. The first time she failed because of illness, and during her second attempt, in 1998, she nearly died. She had rowed nearly 5,000 kilometers when her boat was hit by Hurricane Danielle. McClure was suddenly in the middle of 80 kph wind, and surrounded by waves that were 20 meters high. Her little boat turned over five times. McClure was sure that she was going to die—she took the video recorder that she had brought with her and recorded a farewell message to her family and friends. The hurricane continued into night, and The American Pearl turned over five more times. McClure was determined not to send a signal asking to be rescued—she didn’t want other people to risk their lives, too. But after the eleventh turning over of her boat, she finally sent it and a large ship came and found her. However, they couldn’t get her boat out of the rough sea-it was found months later near the coast of Portugal.
Tori McClure had concussion (脑震荡) and a dislocated shoulder when she got home. Many people might have given up after an experience such as this, but one year later, McClure was back in her repaired boat and trying again. This time she was successful-and although she again met a hurricane on the journey, which stopped her from breaking the record for the fastest transatlantic (横渡大西洋的) rowing crossing, she only overturned once!
1. What can we learn about Tori McClure’s 1998 journey?| A．It was her third attempt. |
| B．She finished it successfully. |
| C．It was a near-death experience. |
| D．She got seriously ill during the journey. |
| A．She stopped to repair her boat. |
| B．There was a problem with her shoulder. |
| C．Her boat turned over many times. |
| D．She ran into a hurricane during the journey. |
| A．Friendly and brave. |
| B．Adventurous and strong-willed. |
| C．Humorous and tough. |
| D．Honest and ambitious. |
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. |
[2] So, when Ashley was sixteen, she launched her own website, called Goosehead. She had no idea how big a success it would be, but three years later, the site was the most successful teen site in the USA! It was getting 100,000 hits every day, and Ashley had about 30 employees.
[3] After a few years, the website closed down. Then Ashley, who lives in Los Angeles, was asked to write a book called The Goosehead Guide to Life. The book is about how to design a website and start a business. It begins with a section called “All About Ashley,” where Ashley tells readers what it is like to be the boss of a company when you are only sixteen. “I was so happy. But it was crazy in a lot of ways. I got very stressed. I mean, I was only sixteen — I didn’t even have a car! If you were sixteen and you had your own company, you’d be stressed, too!”
[4] In an interview Ashley gave advice to teenagers who wanted to start their own business, “Just be strong and have your dreams and work hard at them. And don’t listen when _______, because I heard ‘no’ a lot. Just keep going until you hear ‘yes’!”
1. For what purpose did Ashley create GooseHead? (no more than 10 words)
_______________________________________________________________________________
2. What is the main idea of Paragraph 2? (no more than 6 words)
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3. According to paragraph 3, what did Ashley do after GooseHead closed down? (no more than 10 words)
_______________________________________________________________________________
4. How did Ashley feel as a young boss of a company? (no more than 5 words)
_______________________________________________________________________________
5. Fill in the blank in Paragraph 4 with proper words.
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