I stood outside my front door catching my breath. After a lazy Christmas holiday, I had to recover from climbing stairs with carry-on bags and a suitcase. I looked up and blinked. Red tape crossed the door. I didn’t understand Hungarian, but the one English word said enough: “POLICE”.
Google Translate told me I would be arrested if I entered, so I didn’t. Finally, I called my rental agent. He went to the police station for more details.
My agent returned with authorization to enter. Not only were my files undisturbed, but so were the TV and printer. The burglars had taken a few items from the top drawer as well as a small amount of foreign currency in the bottom drawer. Somehow they hadn’t found the jewelry box in the third drawer.
I was in shock. My agent’s words were fuzzy, something about fixing the locks tomorrow and making a list for the police.
Then one day, I remembered that I’d left another jewelry box in the flat. My heart sank as I thought of another locket that had been in that box, a gold engraved one with a picture of my late honey Grandma inside. When I realized the box was missing, the whole experience seemed to crash down on me. I cried.
At the end of January, I received a registered letter from the police. The burglar hadn’t been found, and the case was closed. I slept with my purse by my bed. I hid my laptop when I showered. And then another challenge rose. I was unexpectedly laid off.
Then one July night, I reached into my third drawer, pulled out my jean shorts, and heard a small thud. I looked down and blinked: It was the tiny jewelry box I thought had been stolen six months earlier.
Inside was the locket with honey Grandma smiling at me, being there for me, telling me not to give up. I started to cry.
1. What did the red tape across the writer’s door mean?| A．There was a burglary here. |
| B．The rent had to be paid quickly. |
| C．The house couldn’t be entered freely. |
| D．The rental agent advertised for the house. |
| A．To fix the locks the next day. |
| B．To report the burglary to the police. |
| C．To have an iron security gate fixed. |
| D．To pay for missing things for the writer. |
| A．Puzzled→ Anxious→ Relaxed. |
| B．Shocked→ Sorrowful→ Nervous. |
| C．Shocked→ Desperate→ Hopeful. |
| D．Puzzled→ Relieved→ Confident. |
| A．Her suitcase had been stolen. |
| B．She felt insecure after the burglary. |
| C．She came to Hungary for Christmas. |
| D．She wasn’t taken seriously by the police. |
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【推荐1】Fikiri Kiponda’s path from accountant to marine (海洋的) conservationist was sparked by a chance encounter. After securing his dream job, Kiponda decided he wanted more. He wasn’t quite sure what he was looking for until he ran across some turtle hatchlings.
He didn’t know it was turtle. Fortunately enough he got the right person to ask and he got motivated. That person was Nkindi, a staff member at the Watamu Conservation project who later invited him to volunteer on the project. He later left his accounting job and fully devoted himself into the world of sea turtles. Now, he runs and spends his time nursing critically endangered sea turtles back to health.
Sea turtles have been around for nearly 110 million years and are now considered highly endangered. Their preservation rests on activities of conservationists such as Kiponda as these turtles face numerous threats and signs of their extinction in the next 50 years.
Local fishermen traditionally catch them to supplement their own low catch rates and sell them for their oil. As changes are made to accommodate more hotels for tourists, there is less available beach land for turtle nesting.
Kiponda’s passion has now spread to his community, changing their attitude towards sea life preservation with his “by-catch release programme.”
Through this program, fishermen are now paid for returning turtles accidentally caught in their fishing nets. The healthy ones are tagged and released into the marine park while he takes care of sick and injured turtles back to health.
Before the launch of pioneering spirit like this, turtles caught by fishermen were used for their meat and their oil extracted (提炼) for its medicinal properties.
“Releasing the turtle back into the ocean is a very good feeling, like, you feel like you’ve done something concrete and I guess everybody would love to do that...so I guess it’s unique work.”
1. What was Fikiri Kiponda’s dream job according to the text?| A．An accountant. |
| B．A marine conservationist. |
| C．A guide to the Watamu Conservation Project. |
| D．An advocate for turtles. |
| A．The rising sea level. | B．Being caught by tourists. |
| C．Overdevelopment in the tourism. | D．The reduction in their nesting place. |
| A．Energetic but conservative. | B．Enthusiastic and caring. |
| C．Arbitrary but considerate. | D．Ambitious and knowledgeable. |
| A．The man saving endangered sea turtles. |
| B．An unique job of protecting sea turtles. |
| C．A pioneer project protecting sea animals. |
| D．The current situation faced by sea turtles. |
【推荐2】In Los Angeles, UPS driver Hector Vesco noticed that while he did his normal route, there was one kid who looked sad.
Once Hector understood why the boy looked upset, he jumped into action. A father of two himself, he knew that he would have to check in with the parents. Using a blank UPS slip, Hector wrote out a note reading, “Hi, this is Hector, your UPS driver. I’ve seen your son plenty of times on the balcony and he seemed very sad that he didn’t get any package. When he asked me if I had any package for him, I told him, ‘Don’t worry. Maybe next time.’ So, anyway, I’ve bought something and put it in box. Just wanted to know his name.” Hector also shared his number so that the parents could contact him directly.
After getting all the information he needed from the mother BrookeWalbuck, Hector showed up the next day and surprised the boy, Langston, with the delivery.
Of course, the gesture of delivering the parcel was nice enough, but it turned out what was inside made it even better! When Langston opened up the box, he found a collection of toy cars and a bunch of candy. It didn’t get much better than that for a little boy.
After the delivery was made, Brooke sent a follow-up text to thank Hector again. In his reply, Hector stated that he had two daughters himself. He kept a bunch of toy cars he had collected over the years. When he met Langston, he knew it was the perfect opportunity to put them to good use.
In his message back to Brooke, he also intentioned that Langston helped him remember how many kids, along with his, had to live through the COVID-19 pandemic (疫情). “Our kids are our world and the future,” he said. “I just want to show some love.”
Before the pandemic, you probably didn’t think too much about the people who delivered your packages. But in times of pandemic, delivery drivers like Hector have some of the most important jobs!
1. What do we know about Hector Vesco?| A．He worked for a delivery company. |
| B．He collected toy cars for boys. |
| C．He was familiar with the Walbucks. |
| D．He informed Langston of his own number. |
| A．The box. | B．The gift. |
| C．The parcel. | D．The gesture. |
| A．Langston was cheered up in the pandemic. |
| B．Brooke was grateful to Hector’s kids. |
| C．Brooke was regretful for ignoring her son. |
| D．Langston was disappointed with the used toys. |
| A．The pandemic affects the globe. | B．Children love toy cars and candies. |
| C．Ordinary people can be extraordinary. | D．Old products can serve new purposes. |
【推荐3】Fooling their parents about school was so simple; Robert and Anthony Duran made it a habit.
The twins played hooky from their high school—spending their days playing basketball and listening to music—for two entire years, skipping their freshman and sophomore years. But their truancy (旷课) was discovered when the boys’ father called their high school earlier this month to request the report cards that his sons had repeatedly “forgotten”. “Believe me, I was very upset with them—with myself mostly,” Armando Duran told a local newspaper after school officials alerted him to his sons’ absenteeism.
District policy considers students who are absent more than 50 days to be dropouts. So how to help teenagers facing the problem? Here is the solution. They can enroll in an accelerated career academy to make up their missed credits and plan to graduate a year behind their classmates. Imagine learning maths by calculating how much bears eat each day or by studying the habits of birds in an aviary (鸟舍).
About 100 students will have such opportunities when the school district—in collaboration with the local park service—opens a middle school at the zoo in the city’s 430-acre park. A school building near a park entrance will be used as a central meeting place, but the park grounds are intended to be the real classroom, school officials said. Students can wear zoo uniforms and perform certain tasks during the day, such as feeding the animals.
“The idea is to use the park campus as the school, where kids are likely to get more interested in learning and tend to develop their comprehensive and practical skills beyond textbooks.” said Arthur, the person in charge of the 23,000-student school district. Mr. Zarrella, a teacher in the community, said he is expecting science classes in the park’s greenhouses and history lessons in the park’s museum. “It’s a beautiful place,” he said. “I’ve always felt it has the potential for being an exciting place for kids to learn.”
1. What do the underlined words “played hooky” in paragraph 2mean?| A．Fooled parents. | B．Skipped classes. |
| C．Listened to music. | D．Played hide and seek. |
| A．By cleaning up the local park. | B．By calculating the number of bears. |
| C．By earning credit s after graduation. | D．By accomplishing some tasks at the zoo. |
| A．No school building can be seen there. | B．Students attended class mainly indoors. |
| C．Half of the local students have access to it. | D．It runs jointly by the school and the local park. |
| A．No Absenteeism, Full Credits. | B．Park Campus beyond the Classroom. |
| C．Zoo Learning, Disciplined Kids. | D．Science Class in the Zoo |
【推荐1】Three years ago, Brian Palmer was a homeless man struggling to overcome drug addiction. All he owned was a bag containing some clothes, a blanket, and a pillow. He sought assistance at a recovery center at the heart of Skid Row. One activity that helped him through the tough time was singing. As a kid, he dreamed of becoming a professional singer; he was a member of the church choir and appeared in musicals at school. In 2015, he encountered the Urban Voices Project. This led him to Street Symphony, a group of professional musicians, which works with homeless, mentally ill, and incarcerated (监禁的) populations.
In February, Palmer began taking voice lessons from Scott Graff, a member of Street Symphony. Graff said, “I gave Brian some tips on singing technique, and he taught me life lessons. I got the better end of the deal. ”
A few days after Thanksgiving, Palmer sang “The People That Walked in Darkness” in a musical workshop. Five string players accompanied him; a few dozen members of the workshop were in attendance. Before performing, Palmer shared with the audience some thoughts about the music. “When I came here three years ago, I didn’t know where my life was going to take me,” he said. “I just knew that I needed to change, and that I needed help. When I was walking through my life in addiction, and the darkness and the hell I had created for myself, it was like the phoenix (凤凰) coming out of the darkness and seeing the light. ”
Palmer then sang the song. After his performance, Graff commented, “Palmer performed well for one who has been studying singing technique for less than a year. More importantly, he made the text sound as though it had been taken from his own life. ”
“That was really empowering,” Palmer told the audience afterward. He explained what had been going through his mind as he sang. “An act of love,” he said, looking out at familiar faces in front of him. “One act of love, I know for sure, is listening.”
1. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 2 indicate?| A．Graff spoke highly of Brian’s talent for music. |
| B．Graff was grateful to Brian for the life lessons. |
| C．Graff took pride in teaching Brian voice lessons. |
| D．Graff thought his deal with Brian not worthwhile. |
| A．He cooperated quite well with string players. |
| B．He acquired proper techniques to sing the song. |
| C．He gained support from members of the workshop. |
| D．He well conveyed what the text of the song meant. |
| A．Urban Voices Project | B．Brian Palmer: A Professional Singer |
| C．The Chains of Love | D．The People That Walked in Darkness |
【推荐2】Jamil Jan Kochai, the author of 99 Nights in Logar, searched for more than a decade for Susan Lung — the second-grade teacher who had changed his life over 20 years earlier. On Saturday night, the two were finally reunited at one of his book-reading events.
The writer was born in a refugee camp for Afghans in Peshawar, Pakistan, and his family moved to California when he was just a year old. At home, they spoke mostly Pashto and some Farsi, so by the time he reached first grade, he was at a total loss because he could hardly speak English. Then came Mrs. Lung, who quickly realized that Kochai was deeply struggling at Alyce Norman Elementary School.
The two got to work, meeting for one-on-one lessons nearly every day after school. At the end of the school year, Kochai won reading-comprehension competitions.
Lung and Kochai lost touch when Kochai’s father got a job in another city and the boy moved on, with a new love of reading and writing. When he grew older, Kochai’s parents encouraged him to find his former teacher to thank her. But despite his efforts, he failed to track her down.
“I didn’t know her first name. She was always just Mrs. Lung to me, so when I called places to ask about her, they couldn’t find any records of her,” Kochai said.
Then, while promoting his first novel, he wrote an essay for Literary Hub magazine touching on the transformative impact that Lung had on his life. Lung’s doctor happened to read it, and told the now-retired educator about that.
Lung’s husband saw a Facebook post about Kochai’s reading event on Saturday in Davis, California and suggested he drive his wife there.
“I had no idea they were going to be there,” Kochai said. “It was just like a sweet dream. Mrs. Lung was sitting in the front row. She was just the same Mrs. Lung. Just as sweet, kind and warm as ever.”
Kochai and Lung hugged, and Kochai finally got the chance to express to her how much he still thought of her and how much she meant to him.
1. How did Mrs. Lung help Kochai?| A．By dropping by his house regularly. | B．By asking him to read more in class. |
| C．By spending extra time tutoring him. | D．By saving him out of a refugee camp. |
| A．There were few records about her. | B．His parents provided little support. |
| C．He was too young to remember her. | D．He had limited information about her. |
| A．Surprised and delighted. | B．Discouraged and frustrated. |
| C．Uneasy and curious. | D．Alarmed and awe-inspiring. |
| A．A Distinguished Guest Showed Up at a Reading Event |
| B．A Writer Was Finally Reunited With His Former Teacher |
| C．A Famous Teacher Saved a Poor Student’s Whole Life |
| D．A Book Changed a Celebrity and a Retired Teacher |
阅读短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
After a terrible electrical accident, which caused him to become both blind and deaf, the whole world became completely dark and quiet for Robert Edwards for almost ten years. The loss of sight and hearing threw him into such sorrow that he tried a few times to put an end to his life. His family, especially his wife, did their best to tend and comfort him and finally he regained the will to live.
One hot summer afternoon, he was taking a walk with a stick near his house when a thunderstorm started all at once. He stood under a large tree to avoid getting wet, but he was struck by the lightning. Witnesses thought he was dead but he woke up some 20 minutes later lying face down in muddy water at the base of the tree. He was trembling badly, but when he opened his eyes, he could hardly believe what he saw: a plough and a wall. When Mrs. Edwards came running up to him, shouting to their neighbors to call for help, he could see her and hear her voice for the first time in nearly ten years.
The news of Robert regaining his sight and hearing quickly spread, and many doctors came to examine him. Most of them said that he regained his sight and hearing from the shock he got from the lightning. However, none of them could give a convincing answer as to why this should have happened. The only reasonable explanation given by one doctor was that, since Robert lost his sight and hearing as a result of a sudden shock, perhaps, the only way for him to regain them was by another sudden shock.
1. The reason for Robert’s attempts to kill himself was that .
| A．a terrible traffic accident happened to him |
| B．he had to live in a dark and silent world |
| C．he was struck by the lightning once more |
| D．nobody in the world cared about him |
| A．Sheltering from the rain under a tree. |
| B．Driving a car. |
| C．Taking a walk with a stick. |
| D．Lying on the ground. |
| A．there was no accurate explanation for Robert's recovery |
| B．many doctors came because Robert was badly injured |
| C．Robert’s wife sent for doctors immediately after the shock |
| D．a sudden Injury In the head led to Robert’s recovery |
| A．A Terrible Electrical Accident |
| B．Robert Edwards and His Wife |
| C．What a Sudden Shock |
| D．An Unforgettable Experience |
