Two weeks ago, I took a trip to my friend’s house in Serawai in Indonesia. My trip was full of unforgettable moments --- great people, delicious food, new cultures. However, what left a deep impression on me was meeting up with my friend’s dad, Fx. Ngawan. He is now working as an education supervisor (教育主管) in Sintang Regency.
At our first meeting, he looked like an ordinary man with dark skin. As he mentioned that he used to be an English teacher, we discovered we were a match! I am an English teacher myself. More importantly, he is a language lover. During the talk, he often changed from one language to another such as Indonesian, English and Javanese. He is now fluent in at least 15 languages and most of them are local languages.
He has to go all the way from Serawai sub-district (分区) to Sintang Regency by motorcycle, riding about 170 km to work. The trip can take six hours if the day is bright and sunny. However, it is not uncommon for him to spend three to seven days for the journey if the rainy season comes.
Therefore, he has to stop at some villages if he can’t continue the trip and meet up with people speaking so many different languages along the way. So, whenever he stops in a particular (特别的，独有的) village, he leans a different language. For him, learning languages helps him to connect with people.
In our talk, he said learning languages is important. He hopes that the younger generation in Indonesia starts realizing that language can open the door to so many opportunities. Local languages are on the edge of disappearance (消失，不见) because more people are leaving them behind. When people stop speaking the language, the knowledge and culture from that language will also disappear.
1. What was the author’s trip to his friend’s house like?| A．Hopeful. | B．Moving. | C．Creative. | D．Wonderful. |
| A．Being interested in different cultures. | B．Being fluent in several languages. |
| C．Being a language lover. | D．Being an English teacher. |
| A．He learns different cultures. | B．He learns some languages. |
| C．He makes many friends. | D．He does much exercise. |
| A．The importance of languages. | B．The different local languages. |
| C．The cultures language carries. | D．The young’s attitude to languages. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】When you feel thankful for things you've received or something that's happened, that's gratitude. Gratitude is how you relate to others, when you see yourself in connection with things larger than yourself.
Last year, I felt compelled（强迫的）to bake cookies for complete strangers to say 'thank you'. However, what occurred later changed my view about it. One day, I'd had to call 999 because I found my partner unconscious on the floor. Within minutes, a police car and an ambulance arrived, filled with first responders who took my partner away to the nearest hospital, where he received the critical care he needed.
A week later, still impressed by the kindness of strangers, I wrote thank-you notes to those helpful first responders and baked for them. It was a small gesture with a big impact…When I dropped off still-warm cookies at the police and fire stations, they thanked me for delivering gifts. Thanking me? All I'd done was bake; they'd saved a life.
I drove away feeling light and happy, partly because I'd done a good deed, but mostly because I was amazed that there are great people who do life-saving work and expect nothing in return.
Later, I realized that my natural high might have been more than it seemed. Sharing thoughts of gratitude and performing acts of kindness can boost your mood. Gratitude really does have an impact on happiness, which increases life satisfaction. I am the one who indeed benefits from expressing thanks. Then why not thank others?
1. What changed the author's view last year?| A．The stranger's gifts. | B．The doctors' critical care. |
| C．My partner's thank-you notes | D．The police's thanks for my cookies |
| A．Proud. | B．Doubtful. | C．Unexpected | D．Relieved. |
| A．The writer was extremely excited. | B．The writer couldn't control herself. |
| C．The writer looked taller than before | D．The writer thought highly of the nature. |
| A．You reap what you sow. | B．Roses given, fragrance in hand |
| C．God helps those who help themselves | D．With a grateful heart, life will be better. |
【推荐2】The new mayor of Hillsdale, Michigan, is a man of the people, ready to listen to their problems, but only until 6 p.m. Then he has to do his homework. Michael Sessions, 18, beat former mayor Douglas Ingles, 51, by just two votes and became the new mayor of Hillsdale. He is America's youngest mayor.
As Sessions was too young to enter the election in the spring of 2005, he registered to vote on Sept, 22, one day after his 18-year-old birthday. The day after that he started his write-in campaign, which means he should persuade voters to remember his name and write it by hand on the voting ballots（选票）.
To help get his name known, Sessions earned＄700 by selling apples over the summer. He spent the money on posters and put them on the Hillsdale's lawns.
Sessions' month-long campaign included going door to door, explaining his ideas of the town's future in the kitchens of his neighbors. "They'd look at me, and say‘How old are you again? How much experience do you have?' And I say ‘I'm still in high school', " he said. Sessions promised Hillsdale's voters he would renew local economy. “I was hopeful the whole time, ” he explained. One day he spent so long out on the streets knocking on the doors that he ended up in a hospital emergency room.
Sessions said that his schoolwork will not get in the way of his job as a mayor. “From 7:50 a.m. to 2:30p.m., I'11 be a student. From 3 to 6, I'11 be the mayor of Hillsdale," he said.
“He did a very brave thing that couldn't have been easy for him to do, "said Jack Vettel, a councilman in Hillsdale, a city of 8,200 about 75 miles southwest of Detroit. "He does care about this town. He's been here all his life.”
Sessions will receive＄3, 600 a year during this four-year term, and will work out of his bedroom since the town does not provide the mayor with an office.
1. What is TRUE of Sessions' election campaign according to the text?| A．Sessions launched his election campaign on Sept, 22. |
| B．Sessions worked so hard that he once tried to persuade people in a hospital. |
| C．Sessions won the election campaign by a very close outcome (结果). |
| D．Sessions felt disappointed when asked about his age and experience. |
| A．put up posters | B．renew the economy |
| C．sell apples | D．talk to neighbors in kitchens |
| A．American mayors usually work from 3 p. m. to 6 p. m. |
| B．In America, young people are encouraged to get involved in politics. |
| C．All teenagers are allowed to enter political elections. |
| D．American mayors receive a salary of 3, 600 a year during their 4-year term. |
| A．Schoolboy becomes American's youngest mayor. |
| B．How to become a teenage mayor. |
| C．Hard work is the ticket to success. |
| D．Never too young to shake the world. |
【推荐3】Several years ago, I needed to deliver some furniture from our department to my daughter’s house in London. I should have paid a man to do it for me. However, foolishly confident in my driving ability, I decided to hire a van and drive it myself. It was a Ford Transit 280, long and wide; you couldn’t see out of the back. You never really knew how close you were to anything else on the road.
Reversing(倒车) in my home yard, I crashed into a small shed, causing permanent damage. At least I owned the shed.
Loading up the furniture I set off. By now it was rush hour. My nerves broke down, as I drove the huge van through the heavy traffic, across oncoming vehicles, at last to Charl Street.
There, I eventually found a space to park the van. After reversing into it, I noticed there were three people at a café waving to me. I got out, trembling violently. “You’ve shifted the car parked behind you three feet and it belonged to a disabled person.” they said. I examined the car. There were white scratches along its front. It bore a disabled sign. So, now I was a bad driver and a bad man. Under the gaze of the three, I left an apologetic note with my phone number on the damaged car’s windscreen.
I unloaded the furniture, sweat trickling down my face. With the aim of escaping the monster, I drove the van back to its base on the Highway Road. On arrival, the hire man told me I must fill it up with petrol before returning it. “Just charge me,” I cried, still shaking with fear. He gazed at me with understanding. No doubt he’d witnessed others in this state before. “Is that OK if I drive you to a petrol station, you fill up, and I drive her back?” he asked.
Had it not been for my gratefulness, I would have been ashamed when he danced the great van through the traffic so casually.
1. The writer felt regretful that he had _____.| A．transported the furniture himself | B．asked his son to do the delivery |
| C．rented a small van for his goods | D．hired someone to drive for him |
| A．the writer saw a disabled man who had some trouble in parking his car |
| B．the writer ran into his friends whom he hadn’t seen for a long time |
| C．the writer hit another vehicle owned by a disabled man |
| D．three men waved to the writer and asked him for help |
| A．the bad experience | B．the vehicle he drove |
| C．the guy at the base | D．the heavy furniture |
【推荐1】During the 1930s, the Great War broke out. A 25-year-old American soldier probably never thought that his life would change forever when he volunteered to go to France.
One night while the American unit was returning to the base after a bloody fight, Suleyman stumbled (绊倒) into the ground and noticed a bit of movement from the bush. Being stuck between two choices either its enemy or an animal, Suleyman found a five-year-old girl from the bushes shivering (颤抖) with cold and utmost fear. Due to the atrocity of the war, the girl was abandoned by her family and the whole village was killed.
During the war, it was impossible to find the child’s family so Suleyman took this little French girl under his wings and gave her an American name Flora which means like the flower. Soon, Flora became the apple of the eye of everyone living in the army camp.
For one and a half years, Flora and Suleyman became inseparable; however, every fairy tale comes to an end. When the war ended, Suleyman was sent back to the USA, while Flora was put in an orphanage (孤儿院), the Normandy School, which was founded by the American government for orphaned French children to have an education.
For years, Suleyman always thought about Flora. When the French National Olympic Team was playing in the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 1984, Suleyman gazed through the audience on TV, hoping to catch a glimpse of Flora, but he never could.
At the age of 85, Suleyman attended the 60th anniversary reception of the Great War where Suleyman shared his story with American and French officials. After hearing his story, a French journalist started to investigate the story, and all government files were read in detail. The moment the journalist helped dial the number, in tears, Flora said Suleyman was her hero, and everything came flooding back to her.
1. What can we know from the sentence “Flora became the apple of the eye of everyone living in the army camp” ?| A．Flora was just an apple in the eyes of the soldiers in the army camp. |
| B．Flora was liked very much by every soldier living in the army camp. |
| C．Flora liked to eat apples in the eyes of the soldiers in the army camp. |
| D．Flora was treated badly by the soldiers living in the army camp. |
| A．Because Flora might be in the French team. |
| B．Because Suleyman was greatly interested in sports. |
| C．Because Flora might be watching the event. |
| D．Because Suleyman wanted to travel to Los Angeles. |
| A．Flora and Suleyman became attached to each other. |
| B．Flora was sent to an orphanage called Normandy. |
| C．Suleyman found some animals in the bush. |
| D．Suleyman would never see Flora again. |
| A．A Tough Flower in the War | B．The Influence of the War |
| C．The Lost and Found Love | D．The Apple of the Father’s Eye |
【推荐2】My younger daughter, Lauren, has a new car and she has managed to keep it spotlessly clean since she bought it in July.
Lauren’s old car was messy. It was essentially a large garbage dump on wheels. I must admit that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree because until I got my present car, all of my many automobiles had been messy too.
The worst thing about her car was that it took on water every time it rained. No one could ever find the source of the leak (漏洞), which created a pool on the floor of the front passenger side.
Four years ago, I got a new car. I turned over a new leaf and, for the first time since I got my driver’s license, cleaned up my act. I gave my old car, which contained old leaves, to my wife, who in turn gave her car to Lauren. It’s the one Lauren was driving – and filling with so much stuff that there was barely enough room in the back seat for her little dog, Maggie – until she got her new car.
A few weeks ago, Lauren decided to go car shopping. She went to a Volkswagen dealership because she had her eye on a Jetta. She had her other eye on my wallet.
Anyway, she saw a 2005 model, which was shown to her by an automotive associate named Anthony. He spent a lot of time with Lauren each of the three or four times she visited the dealership, let me test-drive the car when I went to see it, and didn’t put any pressure on any of us. In short, Anthony gave used car salesmen a good name.
But he was no match for Lauren when it came to negotiating the price, which he lowered to what she said she could afford and not a penny more.
So now, at 25, which is half the age I was when I cleaned up my act, Lauren has done the same. Her car has been clean for almost three months. Even the dog is impressed.
The downside is that my wife’s car is messy. And she wants a new one, too.
1. Which of the following best explains the saying “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” underlined in paragraph 2?| A．An apple fell somewhere near from the tree, making Lauren’s car dirty. |
| B．Until 50, the author treated his cars the way Lauren treated her old car. |
| C．The author didn’t know why Lauren’s car was always so messy. |
| D．It’s common for many people not to keep their cars tidy and clean. |
| A．Problems would be created by the leak in the car on rainy days. |
| B．There was something wrong with the front passenger side. |
| C．It was given to her by the author when he was 50 years old. |
| D．It was always over-packed and had no room for her little dog. |
| A．Lauren bought her new car with her own money. |
| B．Anthony was a good automotive associate who sells new cars. |
| C．Anthony didn’t put any pressure on Lauren when she visited the dealership. |
| D．In the end, Lauren picked up her new car for a good price. |
| A．The author’s daughter resembled him in all aspects of life. |
| B．The author taught his daughter how to keep her car clean. |
| C．The author’s family’s attitudes toward their old and new cars. |
| D．How the author’s family hungered for new cars. |
【推荐3】I was doing some Christmas shopping in a toy store and decided to look at Barbie dolls for my nieces. A nicely dressed little girl was excitedly looking through the Barbie dolls as well. As she was looking, a little boy came to the Pokemon toys. He was dressed neatly, but his clothes were obviously old. He was with his father as well, and kept picking up the Pokemon video toys. Each time he picked one up and looked at his father, his father shook his head and said, "No."
The little girl had chosen her Barbie. However, she stopped and was watching them. Rather dejectedly, the boy had to give up the Pokemon toys and choose something else. The little girl put her Barbie back on the shelf, and ran over to the Pokemon toys. She excitedly picked up one and raced towards the checkout. I picked up my purchases and got in line behind them. Then, much to the little girl's delight, the little boy and his father got in line behind me. After the toy was paid for and bagged, the little girl handed it back to the cashier and whispered something in her ear. The cashier smiled and put the package under the counter.
I paid for my purchases and was rearranging things when the little boy came up to the cashier. The cashier checked his purchases and said, "Congratulations, you are my hundredth customer today, and you win a prize!" With that, 'she handed the little boy the Pokemon toys, and he could only stare in surprise. It was exactly what he had wanted!
The little girl and her father had been standing at the doorway during all of this. Then they walked out. As I walked back to my car, I heard the father ask his daughter why she had done that. I'll never forget what she said to him. "Daddy, didn't Grandparents want me to buy something that would make me happy?" He said, "Of course they did honey." To which the little girl replied, “Well, I just did!"
I feel very shocked to have witnessed the true spirit of Christmas in that toy store, in the form of a little girl who understands more about the meaning of this festival than most adults I know.
1. The underlined word "dejectedly" in Paragraph 2 probably means| A．delightedly | B．excitedly | C．disappointedly | D．unexpectedly |
| A．His father bought him the Pokemon toys happily |
| B．The little girl bought the Poknemon toys for him |
| C．The cashier felt sympathy and gave him the Poknemon toys |
| D．He was the 100 customer and won the Poknemon toys |
| A．Making the little boy happy made her happy | B．Her Grandparents wanted her to be happy |
| C．The Poknemon toys made her happy | D．Her Grandparents hoped that she could help others. |
| A．The story happened in a shop just after Christmas |
| B．The little girl preferred the Poknemon toys to Barbie |
| C．The boy actually had enough money to buy the Pokemon toys |
| D．The author was deeply moved by the behavior of the little girl |
