Last year,Karen Wooldridge and his friend Laura Hogan had an idea: Take unsold flowers which will be thrown away and send them to old people.“We started working on our kitchen island, and we were really proud of sending flowers,“Wooldridge said. Soon, Hogan added,“We developed.”
Now, they send a thousand unsold bunches of flowers a month, with 150 volunteers working five days a week. Their organization,Bluebirds &. Blooms,is named after their childhood youth troupe(剧团)The Bluebirds.Their flowers brighten 30 communities—mostly homes for seniors who are losing their memories.
Vellie Larson has lost some of her memories, but her daughter Karen Schwartz was in the same Bluebirds troupe as Wooldridge and Hogan, and Larson taught them all music.“When they send flowers to her,”Schwartz said,“She’ll describe them to me and give me a flower report every day.”
“The flowers are also a hint that someone cares,”said Shery Hassan, the center’s director.“They’re sad, and just having such a simple thing as a bunch of flowers brightens their days,”Hassan said.“Families will come in, and they’ll say,’Oh who got you flowers?This is beautiful.’And it says’Thinking of you.’The seniors can just say,’Oh,somebody was thinking of me!’”
For Wooldridge,the act of kindness brings back great memories of her father,who had Alzheimer’s(老年痴呆).“I know he would have loved visits from these women，”Wooldridge said. And while some might find it difficult to work so closely with those fighting with memory loss, Hogan said,“It makes us happy. We’re doing something good.”
1. What idea did Wooldridge and Hogan have last year?| A．Making profits by recycling unsold flowers. |
| B．Turning unsold flowers into gifts for seniors. |
| C．Aiding seniors by selling flowers for a living. |
| D．Recovering lost memories by sending flowers. |
| A．It sends flowers on a day-to-day basis. |
| B．It is named after a best children’s drama. |
| C．It has grown into a national organization. |
| D．It mainly serves the old with memory loss. |
| A．Reminder. | B．Commitment. | C．Responsibility. | D．Routine. |
| A．They promote family harmony. |
| B．They make their life worthwhile. |
| C．They cure them of their diseases. |
| D．They create a sense of well-being. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】One day my Ph. D. adviser called me into his office, saying I needn’t bring my notebook. Puzzled, I followed him and sat down. After 15 minutes of listing positive things about my academic capabilities, he looked me in the eye and said, “You are fired from the lab.” I stared back, blinking in disbelief. “Is he joking?” I wondered. “How is this possible?”
The first few days after my dismissal were especially difficult. One day all I could do was sit on a beach, crying as I looked out across the Mediterranean Sea and wondered what I should do. Around that time, I watched Dasvidaniya, a Bollywood movie that’s about a man who is told that he has 3 months to live. He responds by changing his attitude to life and setting out to make the most of his remaining months. Even though it is a common saying, one line from the movie stuck out to me: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” What kind of “lemonade” could I make out of my current situation?
My desire to complete a Ph. D. was never in doubt. After much reflection, I told myself that one failed attempt was not the end of the world, and that I needed to give it another try. With renewed confidence, I emailed prospective advisers and applied to other programs. Fortunately, I landed an offer from a Ph. D. program in Italy. I accepted it and relocated to Europe, happy that my goal of completing a Ph. D. was alive once again.
I’m thankful that I didn’t give up on my dream and that I found another professor willing to take me on. So, if you find yourself in a similar situation and life gives you lemons, ask yourself: “How can I make lemonade?”
1. What is the author’s feeling after hearing his Ph. D. adviser’ s words?| A．Regretful. | B．Amazed. | C．Pleased. | D．Angry. |
| A．Lemonade is often better than lemon. | B．Life is like lemonade made from lemon. |
| C．You should try lemonade made from lemon. | D．Transforming the bad situation is a better choice. |
| A．He watched an encouraging Bollywood movie. |
| B．He could achieve his goal of completing a Ph. D. |
| C．He could earn his living in Europe in the future. |
| D．He found a good professor in the Ph. D. program. |
| A．Why lost my job in a Ph. D. program. | B．The hard time I suffered in Europe. |
| C．How I moved on after my dismissal. | D．A vital movie I met in my dilemma. |
【推荐2】A day at the beach has turned into weeks of pain for an Indiana teenager after she was infected (感染) with a rare disease in Florida.
12-year-old Kylei Brown and her family arrived in Destin earlier this month on vacation. After a day spent playing on a beach, Kylei woke up with an awful pain in her lower leg. Everyone just thought she played too hard and it was nothing serious and continued on with their vacation. But the next day Kylei’s pain was even worse. It was so bad that she couldn’t even walk and she developed a fever.
The family reached out to Kylei’s doctor on the way back to Indiana. The doctor told Kylei’s mother to take Kylei to the hospital, and that’s when the family found out that the infection behind her knee was necrotizing fasciitis, a rare deadly disease. It’s fast moving and l in 3 people who get it die.
“They were taking her into emergency surgery (外科手术) trying to remove the infection from her leg. And doing that, they were trying to save her leg and save her because the infection was moving so rapidly, ” Kylei’s mother said. “If it wasn’t for the quick treatments, I wouldn’t have her.”
Necrotizing fasciitis can be caused by different kinds of bacteria (细菌). The bacteria, often found in water, can enter the body through an open wound. Kylei hurt her leg on a skateboard before the family left for Florida.
“We are working with the Alabama and Indiana departments of health to collect information on this matter and decide if this was caused by a bacteria such as vibrio or any other reportable health condition,”says Emerson George, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Health.
1. How did Kylei’s family first deal with the pain in her lower leg?| A．They sent her to hospital. | B．They thought it didn’t matter. |
| C．They asked her to get some rest. | D．They phoned their family doctor. |
| A．Kylei lost her leg, |
| B．Kylei almost died. |
| C．Kylei’s mother wanted her to be braver. |
| D．Kylei’s doctor didn’t recognize her disease. |
| A．Her wound became infected. |
| B．The water she drank was unclean. |
| C．She was easily infected after a serious illness. |
| D．She was bitten by something when skateboarding. |
| A．They think it is hard to prevent the disease. | B．They pay little attention to the matter. |
| C．They take the problem seriously. | D．They feel sorry for Kylei. |
【推荐3】Bertie knew there was something in the wind. His mother had been sad in recent days, not sick, just strangely sad. The lion had just lain down beside him, his head warm on Bertie’s feet, when Father cleared his throat and began, “You’ll soon be eight, Bertie. A boy needs a proper education. We’ve found the right place for you, a school near Salisbury in England.”
His heart filled with a terrible fear, all Bertie could think of was his white lion. “But the lion,” he cried, “What about the lion?”
“I’m afraid there’s something else I have to tell you,” his father said. Looking across at Bertie’s mother, he took a deep breath. Then he told Bertie he had met a circus owner from France, who was over in Africa looking for lions to buy. He would come to their farm in a few days.
“No! You can’t send him to a circus!” said Bertie. “He’ll be shut up behind bars. I promised him he never would be. And they will come to see him and laugh at him. He’d rather die. Any animal would!” But as he looked across the table at them, he knew their minds were quite made up.
Bertie felt completely betrayed. He waited until he heard his father’s deep breathing next door. With his white lion at his heels, he crept downstairs in his pyjamas, took down his father’s rifle from the rack and stepped out into the night. He ran and ran till his legs could run no more. As the sun came up over the grassland, he climbed to the top of a hill and sat down, his arms round the lion’s neck. The time had come. “Be wild now,” he whispered. “You’ve got to be wild. Don’t ever come home. All my life I’ll think of you, I promise I will.” He buried his head in the lion’s neck. Then, Bertie clambered down off the hill and walked away.
When he looked back, the lion was still sitting there watching him; but then he stood up, yawned, stretched, and sprang down after him. Bertie shouted at him, but he kept coming. He threw sticks. He threw stones. Nothing worked.
There was only one thing left to do. Tears filling his eyes and his mouth, he lifted the rifle to his shoulder and fired over the lion’s head.
1. Bertie’s mother was sad probably because she________.| A．had lied about her good health condition | B．had decided to send Bertie to a new school |
| C．knew selling the lion would upset Bertie | D．knew Bertie would hate to go to England |
| A．some audience | B．other animals | C．Bertie’s friends | D．circus’s owners |
| A．kill the lion out of helplessness | B．protect himself from being chased |
| C．threaten the lion back to the wild | D．show his anger towards his father |
| A．circuses are the last places for animals to live |
| B．animals belonging to the wild should be set free |
| C．parents are sometimes cruel to their children |
| D．people and animals can be faithful to each other |
About three weeks before the trip, I had to regretfully cancel and only then realized the room, while transferable to another person, couldn’t be changed to a later date and wasn’t refundable(可退款的)．For the next two weeks, I tried selling it on Craig’s list with no success. Five days before the “big weekend” I gave up trying to spend any money and decided I’d contact some friends who live in Chicago and offer someone a free “staycation”. After trying a handful of people all of whom already had their own plans, I was determined to have the room not go to waste.
That’s when it suddenly occurred to me that I was looking at the rooms in the wrong way. Instead of viewing them for vacation purposes, surely there must be a way to put them to good use, and that was when the idea that some sort of shelter might be able to use it hit me. I finally found one whose focus is aiding victims of domestic violence. This particular one was willing to listen to my out-of-left-field story and facilitated the transfer of the rooms. The shelter was working with a desperate woman and her young daughter, who were fortunately able to make use of the room.
1. What did the author decide to treat himself to?
| A．A big meal in Chicago. |
| B．A 4-day travel. |
| C．A holiday abroad. |
| D．A get-together with family. |
| A．to act as a promoter |
| B．to experience e-business |
| C．to get a free air ticket |
| D．to save some money |
| A．cancelled within 24 hours |
| B．changed to a later date |
| C．transferred to another person |
| D．refunded half of the money |
| A．Sell it online. |
| B．Let it go to waste. |
| C．Use it to help strangers in need. |
| D．Offer it to one of his friends. |
【推荐2】Marathon is one of the most difficult races in track and field, at a little over 42 kilometers. To be a world-class marathoner, you must run that distance in two and a half hours. But for some, completing a marathon race is a lifelong dream.
Jacqueline’s dream of being a world-class runner began when she was a child in Kenya. She soon realized she had the talent and the willpower to compete. She also knew she would have to train full-time, which meant not being able to work to help support her family. But she was confident that she could bring home prize money.
Jacqueline traveled to China to compete in the Zheng-Kai marathon knowing she had a good shot at winning the race, but more importantly, the $10,000 prize that went with it. She was leading the women’s division when a male runner arrived at the water station. The man had trouble drinking water because a birth defect (缺陷) had left him without hands, and he struggled to drink from a plastic bottle. But any assistance from fans or race officials would result in his disqualification. Jacqueline noticed the man and immediately knew that he needed help. She grabbed a water bottle and helped him get the water his body needed to complete the race.
Runner after runner passed Jacqueline. Her hopes of winning were getting lost in numerous runners ahead of her. With only 4 kilometers left in the race, and certain that the male runner would now finish, Jacqueline picked up her pace and finally finished second.
That day, Jacqueline missed out on first place, but she finished something more important: humanity. She returned home with the smaller prize of second place, but to her family, she brought home something much more valuable to home: the right example.
1. What can we know about Jacqueline from paragraph 2?| A．Her goal was to win a championship. | B．Her family opposed her going for a run. |
| C．She was born with little sports gift. | D．She had to train full-time to achieve her dream. |
| A．No assistance was allowed. | B．He was disabled. |
| C．He had no access to the water station. | D．He competed with other runners for water. |
| A．She won second place at last. | B．She was disqualified for going against rules. |
| C．She was criticised by her family. | D．She fell behind several runners and gave up. |
| A．Cautious. | B．Approving. | C．Indifferent. | D．Disappointed |
【推荐3】In 2005, Calvin Echevarria was on top of his game. He had two jobs, bought a house and was raising a 3-year-old daughter with his wife. But suddenly, it felt like it was all taken away. He could no longer work as a FedEx driver because he developed diabetic retinopathy (视网膜病) and was going blind.
Calvin at first worked on developing independent living skills like walking with a stick. But he wanted to learn more — like skills that would be useful for a job. That’s when he found Lighthouse Works in Orlando, a company that creates jobs for the visually impaired (受损的) and blind.
“Seven out of ten people who are visually impaired are not in the workforce,” said Kyle Johnson, president and CEO of Lighthouse Works. “And we knew some blind people are highly educated. And they’re very capable people, who want to work and contribute. So, we created Lighthouse Works to help them do that.”
Calvin works in the call center, where Lighthouse Works has contracts with several clients, including the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. In his job, Calvin uses a system called JAWS to “hear” the computer he uses. The system reads the computer screen to Calvin in one ear as he listens to a customer call in his other ear.
He said what makes his call center job fun is that the person on the other end of the phone doesn’t even know he’s blind. And he said working in a fully accessible office space, with other visually impaired people who can relate to him, is an added benefit.
“It gives me a purpose. It makes me feel better because I can actually be proud of myself, saying, ‘I provide for my family,’” he said.
1. What can be learned about Echevarria before he got diabetic retinopathy?| A．He was the best worker in his company. |
| B．He was gifted at playing games. |
| C．He had to work hard to support his family. |
| D．He was satisfied with his life. |
| A．To make more profits. | B．To do research on retinopathy. |
| C．To aid the visually impaired. | D．To educate the visually impaired. |
| A．Making him “see” the computer screen. |
| B．Helping him hear the customer better. |
| C．Enabling him to locate customers easily. |
| D．Teaching him how to answer a customer. |
| A．It’s never too old to learn. |
| B．When God closes a door, he opens a window. |
| C．A journey of one thousand miles begins with one step. |
| D．A thousand miles of walking is better than ten years of reading. |
