Emily Bhatnagar has always loved reading. Growing up, she was really shy, so she always turned to books. They sort of became her best friends when she didn’t have one.
In 2019, when Bhatnagar was in her second year of high school, her dad was diagnosed with cancer. The news was difficult for the family. Books became an even bigger comfort, and she started thinking about families in similar situations. When her father recovered, she came up with a plan to help others. “The idea came from just deep gratitude that the doctors were able to save her father,” she says. “But also a hint of sadness that there were kids who were fighting the same battle.”
Bhatnagar started a book drive in her hometown, Gaithersburg, Maryland. The goal was to collect books and give them to kids being treated for cancer in local hospitals. Her father was not surprised by this plan. “She was always interested in books, and she always wanted to do things for the neighborhood,” he says. Since the start of the book drive, which she calls For Love & Buttercup, Bhatnagar has collected more than 10,000 books.
Bhatnagar had no idea how much attention her work would get. She started by posting on social media, asking people in her area to donate. “I was expecting maybe two or three responses from neighbors,” she says. “But it ended up blowing up,” especially when news stations began reporting it. The public response has been super great.
Bhatnagar continues to run the book drive and hopes to one day expand the project to reach more kids. The memory of the first time she visited children who’d received her books sticks with her. “It was the best day of my life,” she says. “I realized I wanted to do this type of work forever.”
1. What can we learn about Bhatnagar from paragraph 2?| A．She loves her father dearly. | B．She cares for sick children. |
| C．She got into a habit of reading. | D．She fought hard against cancer. |
| A．To collect over 10,000 books. | B．To stimulate children’s interest in books. |
| C．To help raise money for the poor. | D．To donate books to kids with cancer. |
| A．It’s unexpected. | B．It’s confusing. |
| C．It’s unsatisfactory. | D．It’s immediate. |
| A．Serious and humorous. | B．Caring and ambitious. |
| C．Brave and strong-willed. | D．Generous and warm-hearted. |
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【推荐1】There are many cities in China. Guilin is my favorite city because of its beauty, its waterways, its cafes, and most of all because I met my wife there. It is her hometown and we will both retire(退休)there in a few years.
Not only is Guilin a wonderful city, but there are many interesting places to visit within a short drive from there.
The Ling Canal, one of the wonders, is the oldest canal in the world. It was built about 2,200 years ago and connects two major river systems, the Yangtze and the Pearl River.
The Longsheng Rice Terraces is another man-made wonder. It was built around 650 years ago. I have some photos of both of these places in my China Daily Homepage Albums.
The Gudong Waterfall Park is another famous place that is worth visiting. The hike to the top of all these waterfalls isn’t very difficult and if you want, you can take ride to the bottom on personal rail car. You can control the speed or stop the car with a brake. If you want, you can also climb up some of the waterfalls with the help of chains(链条). It is very convenient for the climbers.
I have only been in Guilin during the winter and spring, but my wife tells me it gets pretty hot in the summer time. That’s OK because I grew up in the Midwest of the US where it gets very hot and wet during the summer months.
In Guilin, almost everything is within walking distance. If you need to go further, the buses come by every 5 minutes on the busy streets. There are plenty of taxis, too, and most trips are only 6yuan. Guilin is a perfect place to have a retired life.
1. The writer likes Guilin best mainly because ________.| A．it has many waterways | B．he met his wife there |
| C．he likes its beauty | D．he will have a retired life there |
| A．The Ling Canal. | B．The Gudong Waterfall Park. |
| C．The Longsheng Rice Terraces. | D．Both A and C. |
| A．车灯 | B．喇叭 | C．刹车 | D．油门 |
| A．A travel magazine. | B．A book review. |
| C．A school report. | D．An exercise book. |
One night I felt so powerless that I got down on my knees and pleaded for help. “
Please God, I can’t do anything more for my son. I’m at the end of my rope. I’m giving the whole thing up to you.” I was at work when I got a phone call. A man introduced himself as the headmaster. “I want to talk to you about Karl’s absences.” Before he could say another word, I choked up and all my disappointment and sadness over Karl came pouring out into the ears of this stranger. “I love my son but I just don’t know what to do. I’ve tried everything to get Karl to go back to school and nothing has worked. It’s out of my hands.” For a moment there was silence on the other end of the line. The headmaster seriously said, “Thank you for your time”, and hung up.
Karl’s next report card showed a marked improvement in his grades. Finally, he even made the honor roll. In his fourth year, I attended a parent-teacher meeting with Karl. I noticed that his teachers were astonished at the way he had turned himself around. On our way home, he said, “Mum, remember that call from the headmaster last year?” I nodded. “That was me. I thought I’d play a joke but when I heard what you said, it really hit me how much I was hurting you. That’s when I knew I had to make you proud.”
1. By saying “Karl became withdrawn”, the author means that the boy changed entirely and ________.
| A．preferred to stay alone at home | B．lost interest in his studies |
| C．refused to talk to others | D．began to dislike his mother |
| A．the speaker was too moved to say anything to the mother |
| B．the speaker waited for the mother to finish speaking |
| C．the speaker didn’t want the mother to recognize his voice |
| D．the speaker was unable to interrupt the mother |
| A．he was even on the list to be praised at the parent-teacher meeting |
| B．he was even on the list of students who made progress in grades |
| C．he was even on the list of students who had turned themselves around |
| D．he was even on the list of the best students at school |
| A．Children in single-parent families often have mental problems. |
| B．Mother’s love plays an important role in teenagers’ life. |
| C．Being understood by parents is very important to teenagers. |
| D．School education doesn’t work without full support from parents. |
【推荐3】It was about five in the morning in Ontario, Canada, when Donna Strickland’s phone rang. The Nobel Prize committee was on the line in Stockholm, calling to tell her she had won the prize in physics.
“I wondered if it was a joke, ” Strickland said in an interview with a Nobel official after the call. She had been asleep when the call arrived. “Something was wrong because it came so early in the morning. But then I knew it was the right day, and it would have been a cruel joke.”
Strickland, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo, shares the honor with two other scientists for their work in the 1980s in transforming lasers(激光) into tiny tools that today have countless application. The prize money $1.4 million will be shared among the three. Half the prize went to Strickland and her cooperator Gerard Mourou, a professor at the Ecole Poly technique in France. The other half was awarded to Arthur Ashkin, a retired physicist who worked at the famous Bell Labs in the United States.
Strickland’s win is historic in more than one way. It’s been over 55 years since a woman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1993, Marie Curie became the first-ever woman to win a Noble Prize in Physics. For the next 60 years, no women physicists were awarded. Maria Goeppert Mayer became the second woman physicist to win the Noble Prize in Physics in 1963.
Strickland herself was surprised to learn she was the third woman to receive the honor in physics. “Is that all, really? I thought there might have been more, ” she said at a press conference Tuesday. “We need to celebrate women physicists because we’re out there. Hopefully, in time, it will start to move forward at a faster rate.”
1. What was Donna’s first reaction after she received the call?| A．She was too excited to say a word. |
| B．She was doubtful about it. |
| C．She was annoyed at being waken up. |
| D．She felt all efforts paid off. |
| A．About $700,000. | B．About $2.8 million. |
| C．About $350,000. | D．About $1.4 million. |
| A．Strickland’s achievements in physics. |
| B．The history of the Nobel Prize in Physics. |
| C．Strickland’s struggle to win the Nobel Prize. |
| D．Three women winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics in history. |
【推荐1】17-year-old Mariella has dual (双) citizenship between the U.S. and the U.K.
At the start of COVID-19, she happened to be in New York, and couldn’t leave due to travel restrictions.Getting up at dawn to go to online school back in England meant she had abundant time for her own use in the afternoons, then she began learning American Sign Language (ASL).The teen thought seeing an ASL interpreter in action might help her learnfaster，but when she looked up movies and TV shows on streaming platforms, she discovered they didn’t use ASL interpreters.Mariella decided then and there to change that fact!
Seeking help from ASL teachers and the deaf community, she created Sign Up, an app that uses a simple Google Chrome extension.It adds an ASL interpreter to the corner of movies so people who are deaf can watch both at the same time.
The teen decided to focus her efforts first on the Disney + platform because that’s what she believes children watch the most. “My sister and I were its crazy movie watchers when we were younger, and I couldn’t imagine that not being a part of our childhood,” Mariella said.
With over 1,000 users in less than two weeks, the response has been nothing short of that. “I didn’t think it would take off so much,” Mariella said. “I thought maybe a couple dozen people would use it, but I’ve had 20, 000 hits on my website and just so many shares and likes. It’s just blown up in ways I didn’t think it would.”
To cover her development and hiring costs, she has started a GoFundMe campaign, which has raised nearly $1 ,000 of its $10,000 goal. Mariella plans to expand the app to include as many of the international sign languages as possible. “My hope is that we’ ll have a lot more movies interpreted-it’ll be on every platform,” she said.
1. What made Mariella learn ASL?| A．Her dual citizenship. | B．Her travel restrictions. |
| C．Her enough free time. | D．Her need to study online. |
| A．She was once a huge Disney fan. | B．She suffered hearing loss as a kid. |
| C．She’s earned much from SignUp. | D．She’s living in a deaf community. |
| A．Unreal. | B．Unexpected. |
| C．Unreasonable. | D．Unsatisfactory. |
| A．Cautious. | B．Demanding. | C．Honest. | D．Ambitious. |
Adilah was 10 years old when she started reading newspaper stories. One story was about sharks. They had plastic in their stomachs. Adilah knew she needed to do something. First, she joined a group. It organized clean-up activities in Dubai, her home city. “The group helps me understand what a person can do and how I can really make a difference.” she says.
Then Adilah created Kids for a Better World. Its goal is to fight climate change. It has brought together nearly 10, 000 youths. They come from all over the world. Kids for a Better World is for people aged 8 to 16. It teaches them about what they can do to deal with climate change. They can grow food or plant trees. They can collect recyclables. “This is the information which can help change our future.” Adilah says.
Dubai is a desert big city. Growing up there has made Adilah understand the need for action. Her city faces the risks of rising temperatures and less water supply. She believes young people can bring attention to these environmental challenges.
Adilah is all about small actions. But she has big plans. She’d like to go to college in California. While she’s there, she’ll continue being an activist. She will also be running Kids for a Better World. She hopes to encourage others to fight for a greener planet.
1. Where is Adilah’s home city?2. What risks does Adilah’s city face?
3. Please underline the false part in the following statement and explain why.
➢Adilah created Kids for a Better World, whose goal is to teach youths how to grow food or plant trees.
4. Among Adilah’s qualities, which one(s) do you think will be important for us? Why? (In about 40 words)
【推荐3】Fifteen years later, we returned to Batista with our ten-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son. Again, Gordy performed California Here I Come. Again, the meal was wonderful.
We were enjoying ourselves, in no hurry to leave, but after a while the kids grew impatient as we waited for the check. Ten minutes became thirty, and now the adults were also impatient.
“Where’s the check?” I complained.
“Where’s our waiter?” my wife echoed.
“Where’s the bathroom?” the kids needed to know.
Eventually, I caught the attention of a different waiter. I asked if he could get our check. He disappeared. We left without paying.
Before you get the wrong idea, let me explain. Our waiter turned up and told us that the two gentlemen at a table across the room had paid for our dinner but requested he not let us know until after they had gone. They saw a happy, young family, the waiter explained, and simply wanted to do something nice without us having to thank them.
Those two men gave us far more than an expensive meal free. They gave the four of us a warm memory that we talk about to this day. More importantly, those two gentlemen gave us a life lesson in random acts of kindness and giving. Coffee and a sandwich for a homeless person; texting a donation to an earthquake relief fund; a new backpack, books or shoes for a disadvantaged child — almost always my daughter and son recall that long-ago Batista's dinner as part of their motivation to give. My wife and I have felt similarly. While the Hole in the Wall dinner bill has been “paid forward” in full many times over in many ways, I have always felt the act itself has not been paid, a proper and worthy “thank you” not given.
1. How did the author feel as they waited for the check?| A．Annoyed. | B．Depressed. | C．Delighted. | D．Amazed. |
| A．They wanted to be appreciated. |
| B．They wanted to do something nice. |
| C．They wanted the family to enjoy a big dinner. |
| D．They wanted the family to give them more happiness. |
| A．He didn’t help enough persons. | B．He didn’t donate the money. |
| C．He didn’t express gratitude in person. | D．He found the bill too expensive to be paid. |
| A．What goes around comes around. |
| B．God helps those who help themselves. |
| C．Random acts of kindness make a difference. |
| D．Rose given, and the lasting fragrance remains. |
