When Marguerite Richards made a TikTok introducing her father’s decade-old thriller novel, she was hoping to arouse a little interest. A few dozen new readers, maybe. As the first few positive comments started rolling in, she was pleased to have done something nice for a dad who definitely deserved it.
She had no idea that, within a matter of days, millions of people would see her video, and her father’s book would rocket to the top of Amazon’s Best Seller list.
Lloyd Devereux Richards first published Stone Maidens in 2012. It’s a thriller about an FBI agent following a killer in Indiana and, by his daughter’s account, it’s quite attractive. However, the original release failed to drum up excitement.
It’s a different world now, and Richards, the daughter, decided to try her luck. “I saw how much time and effort and passion my dad put into his book. I know what a lovely storyteller he is,” she told CNN. “He never stopped writing, and he always stayed positive.”
Whether it was the interesting thriller, or the efforts of a proud daughter, the story of Lloyd Devereux Richards and Stone Maidens struck a chord.
Marguerite Richards posted the first TikTok about Stone Maidens about two weeks ago. It has since received 48 million views and numerous positive responses. Richards then posted more videos of her father, the author of the hour, delighting in his unexpected success.
This particular incident falls under a social media type best described as “Young people giving their elders love and recognition on a platform the latter doesn’t understand.” It’s a fruitful one, full of parents just like Lloyd Devereux Richards who wake up one morning to find their talents, hobbies or unusual habits have been broadcast to the world—and won them a great number of admirers. The experience has breathed new life into a labor of love. It’s also driven home some lessons about inspiration and determination.
1. What did Marguerite Richards do according to the text?| A．She helped her father to publish his novel. |
| B．She introduced her father on social media. |
| C．She wrote an interesting novel about her father. |
| D．She made a video to promote her father’s novel. |
| A．It was an instant success. |
| B．It wasn’t interesting indeed. |
| C．It didn’t attract much attention at first. |
| D．It was written more than fifteen years ago. |
| A．Satisfied people’s needs. | B．Aroused people’s interest. |
| C．Made people feel confused. | D．Made people feel disappointed |
| A．Great barriers. | B．Novel experiences. |
| C．Comfortable zones. | D．Unexpected surprises. |
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【推荐1】There’re always some stories in life that can hardly be forgotten and will restore our hope for holidays every time we recollect (回忆起).
Johnny and I, along with our two young sons, Barry and Doyle, lived in a village in southern Alabama in 1979. We had bought the boys a bicycle for the New Year, and had hidden it in the garage, where Johnny would assemble (组装) it on New Year’s Eve after the kids fell asleep. But that day, Johnny had to go to Brookley Air Force Base in Mobile, an hour away, to repair a jet. I had my hands busy with baking, preparing for holiday dinner and caring for two energetic boys.
Just as I was making the chocolate cake, a neighbor knocked on the door. Beatrice was the only person on our road with a telephone. The base had called to say that a heavy tool had come apart suddenly, hitting Johnny’s arm and breaking the bone. My brother Oto took me to the base hospital while my mother stayed with the children.
We got there to find Johnny with a cast on his arm, anxious to get home regardless of the doctor’s orders. It was New Year’s Eve, Johnny argued, and he had the bike to assemble for his boys. The doctor said he’d consider dismissing him the next morning if Johnny could find someone to drive him home. On New Year’s morning, Johnny called the base and was told everyone was off duty; there was no one to drive him home. Then he tried the motor pool. They said orders would have to come from someone higher up, so Johnny kept making calls. At last, a big blue car with the Air Force sign rolled up.
I was putting dinner on the table when hearing the car. We were thrilled to see Johnny assisted by a uniformed Air Force officer. With Otto’s help, Johnny assembled the boys’ gift, and they all had a good time that afternoon. Our hearts were full of gratitude to the people who had gone the extra mile to bring us together.
1. What had Johnny planned to do on New Year’s Eve?| A．Repair a jet. | B．Prepare a surprise gift. |
| C．Buy his sons a bike. | D．Assemble a bike with his sons. |
| A．To relay a message. | B．To lend out her telephone. |
| C．To make a phone call. | D．To take the author to the hospital. |
| A．Hardworking. | B．Stubborn. | C．Supportive. | D．Affectionate. |
| A．An Unexpected New Year Dinner | B．A Hard-Won New Year Present |
| C．A Treasured New Year Memory | D．A Life-Changing New Year Experience |
【推荐2】There was no one quite like my father in our town. When any other man had an extra dollar, he bought a drink; when Father had an extra dollar, he bought a book. Other people had pictures on their walls; we had books, 3000 of them, lining every vertical surface of our little four-room house.
Father was the most persistent scholar I ever knew. He earned seven degrees, attended 11 different colleges and universities, and in 1951, when he was 82, sent us a cheerful little note from England to say that he had just enrolled for a graduate course in Elizabethan literature at Oxford.
I was the immediate beneficiary of Father's unbelievable hunger to learn. Every spring, he would take me hiking through the mountains to study mineral formations. On clear winter nights, he would set up a telescope and wake me to view the stars. After I grew up, wherever I traveled around this earth, the stars remained my friends.
Plain, distinct speech was a particular concern of my father and he was constantly drilling me in the art of elocution （演讲技巧）.Before I was three, he was reading aloud to me from the Bible, Shakespeare and Mark Twain. Thereafter, read aloud to him so he could work on my diction. By the time I was in the fifth grade, I could recite from a whole range of classical literature and poetry.
Of course, there had been times as a young man, when I got tired of study and devoted my time to playing. Then Father would admonish me succinctly by quoting a saying from Shakespeare, "If all the year were playing holidays, to sport would be as tedious （乏味的）as to work."
Obviously, his efforts were not entirely in vain, for my voice has enabled me to earn a fair livelihood. But that fact doesn't begin to define the enormous debt I owe my father.
1. What contributed to my father's being a successful scholar?| A．His gift for academic studies. |
| B．The academic environment in our town. |
| C．The wealth of his family. |
| D．His lifelong passion for knowledge. |
| A．Criticize me briefly. | B．Comfort me patiently. |
| C．Praise me gently. | D．Challenge me bravely. |
| A．Stubborn and lazy. | B．Kind and generous. |
| C．Consistent and strict. | D．Understanding and moody. |
| A．A Successful Scholar | B．Enormous Debt |
| C．Secrets of My livelihood | D．Father and Son |
【推荐3】It’s been 10 years since Yasuo Takamatsu lost his wife Yuko when a tsunami(海啸)hit the town of Onagawa, but he continues to search for her every weekend.
On the day when Yuko disappeared, in 2011, Yasuo Takamatsu received the last text message from her. It read “Are you OK? I’m coming home.”
Since then, he has been looking for her and won’t stop until he finds her. “I’m sure she is on the way home. She has never gone back on her words,” Yasuo insists.
In the beginning, he searched for Yuko on land, starting at the bank where she was last seen，then along the beaches of Onagawa，in nearby forests and mountains.
Two years after her disappearance, Yasuo registered at a local diving school to take diving lessons, so he could start searching for her in the sea. He has been going on weekly dives for the past seven and a half years, racking up almost 500 underwater searches.
Yasuo Takamatsu has been aided in his underwater searches by Masayoshi Takahashi, the diving instructor who taught him to dive. He has been keeping track of Yasuo’s searches, recording what areas he has combed, where the dead bodies might gather on the seabed, etc.
Apart from his own weekly dives, the 64-year-old also joins local authorities in underwater searches for the 2,500 people who remain lost following the 2011 tsunami. In his searches， Takamatsu has found all sorts of things belonging to the missing persons，but nothing helps him find his wife. He refuses to give up, though.
1. What kept Yasuo searching for his wife for 10 years?| A．The belief that she is still alive. | B．Anew text from his wife. |
| C．Takahashi’s selfless assistance. | D．The latest survivors he found. |
| A．Winning. | B．Forgetting. | C．Totalling. | D．Including. |
| A．To map out the dead bodies. | B．To measure the training effect. |
| C．To test the diving equipment. | D．To avoid searching the same areas. |
| A．Ambitious and confident. | B．Selfless and hardworking. |
| C．Humorous and considerate. | D．Determined and warm-hearted. |
【推荐1】The world has lost one of its brightest stars. British physicist Stephen Hawking dies on March 14， 2018， at the age of 76.
Hawking is probably the worlds most famous scientist after Albert Einstein. He is an expert on black holes and the Big Bang Theory. He has devoted his whole life to digging into the beginning (and the end) of the universe. His 1988 book A Brief History of Time， which contains his understanding of the universe， is one of the biggest-selling science books of all time.
“My goal is simple，” Hawking once said. “It is to completely understand the universe， why it is as it is and why it is there at all.”
Hawkings achievements are even greater if you think about his disability. When he was 21， Hawking caught a bad illness that slowly stopped him from moving or talking. For a period of time， he had no way to communicate except by blinking (眨眼). Later he sat on a wheelchair with a computer by his side. To communicate， he moved two fingers to control the computers mouse. He selected his words from the screen， which were then spoken by a voice synthesizer (語音合成器).
“I have had the disease for most of my life，” Hawking once said. “Yet it has not stopped me from being successful at my work.”
Though Hawking was a disabled man， he made great achievements. He received many awards and prizes for his work during his lifetime. This included winning the Albert Einstein Award， which stands for the highest achievement in theoretical physics.
Despite the fact that hes no longer with us， his legacy will surely live on. As Sajid Javid， a UK government minister， put it， “A brief history on Earth; an eternity in the stars.”
1. What is the black holes and the Big Bang Theory about?| A．The physics. | B．The stars. | C．The universe. | D．The time. |
| A．The universe. | B．The earth. | C．The goal. | D．The black hole. |
| A．Hawking received many awards and prizes except the Albert Einstein Award. |
| B．The illness kept him from moving and talking. |
| C．He communicated with others by speaking. |
| D．The illness stopped him from being successful. |
| A．The history of the earth is too short. |
| B．The stars in the universe are eternal. |
| C．His book A Brief History of Time is too short. |
| D．His spirit and achievements will live on forever. |
【推荐2】A year ago, my wife and I sold one of our cars and replaced it with an e-bike. I knew that passenger vehicles are responsible for much of our greenhouse-gas emissions. I also knew that electric cars were an imperfect fix. Though they’re responsible for less carbon pollution than gas cars, their supply chain is carbon intensive. But an e-bike’s comparatively tiny battery means less electricity, fewer emissions and fewer resources. E-bikes are clearly better for the planet than cars of any kind.
But I also viewed getting rid of my car as a sacrifice. I live in Colorado; e-biking would mean freezing in winter and sweating in summer. It was the right thing to do, I thought, but it was not going to be fun.
I was very wrong. The first thing I noticed was the savings. Between car payments, insurance, maintenance (保养), and gas, a car-centered lifestyle is expensive. I predict that we’ll save about $50,000 over the next five years by selling our car.
The actual experience of riding to work each day over the past year has been equally surprising. In winter, I wear gloves, warm socks, a thick cap, and a ski jacket when I ride, and I am almost never too cold. In summer, I didn’t break a sweat. I just used the throttle (油门), sat back, and enjoyed my ride.
I arrived to work a little more lighthearted for having spent the morning in fresh air rather than traffic. I jumped on my bike after a stressful day at work and rode home down a street edged with changing fall leaves. I felt more connected to the physical environment around me than I had when I’d traveled the same route surrounded by metal and glass.
1. Why did the author change a car for an e-bike?| A．He wanted to do something good for environment. |
| B．He thought that e-bikes would replace gas vehicles. |
| C．He couldn’t afford the expensive transportation costs. |
| D．He believed e-bike’s supply chain was environment-friendly. |
| A．The traffic safety. | B．The traffic comfort. |
| C．The traffic economy. | D．The traffic convenience. |
| A．Tolerant. | B．Unexpected. | C．Conservative. | D．Compromising. |
| A．Changes Brought by an E-bike | B．My Green Life for the Last Year |
| C．The Replacement for Gas Vehicles | D．Comparation Between Cars and E-bikes |
【推荐3】What is the most recognizable object in the world? Could it be a football or a big computer? No, the answer is a Coca-Cola bottle. Hundreds of millions of people can recognize a Coke bottle by its shape. Unlike any other famous commercial logo, the famous Coca-Cola logo has not changed in 100 years!
In 1886, John Pemberton, a druggist in Atlanta, Georgia, invented a new type of syrup (糖浆), using coca leaves, sugar and cola nuts, plus a few other secret ingredients. Pemberton sold it as a medicine; and with coca (the source of cocaine), it must have made people feel good! Nevertheless, Pemberton's medicine was not very successful, so he sold his secret formula (配方) to another druggist, Asa Candler, Candler was interested, because he had another idea; he thought that Pemberton's "medicine" would be much better if it was mixed with soda. Candler was thus the man who really invented the drink Coca-Cola. At first he sold it in his drugstore; then he began selling the syrup to other drugstores, where it was used with their soda fountains. Candler also advertised his new drink, and soon people were going to drugstores just to get a drink of Coca-Cola. Before long. other people became interested in the product, including a couple of businessmen who wanted to sell it in bottles. Candler sold them a license to bottle the drink, and very quickly the men became millionaires. Then in 1916 the famous bottle, with its very distinctive shape, was designed.
During the First World War (1914-1918), American soldiers in Europe began asking for Coca-Cola, so the Coca-Cola company began to export it to Europe. It was so popular with soldiers that they then had to start bottling the drink in Europe. Today. Coca-Cola is made all over the world, including Russia and China; it is the world's most popular drink.
As for the famous formula, it is probably the world's most valuable secret! The exact ingredients for making Coca-Cola are only known to a handful of people. And as for the coca that was in the original drink, it was removed in 1903, for it was a dangerous drug. Today's Coca-Cola contains caffeine, not cocaine!
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．The key ingredient of Coca-Cola. |
| B．The distinctive shape of Coca-Cola bottle. |
| C．The ever-changing logo of Coca-Cola. |
| D．The development of Coca-Cola. |
| A．John Pemberton. | B．Asa Candler. |
| C．An American soldier. | D．A couple of businessmen. |
| A．The formula of Coca-Cola is still a well-kept secret. |
| B．The ingredients for making Coca-Cola is of great value. |
| C．Coca wasn't removed from the drink until the First World War. |
| D．Caffeine has the same effect on patients as cocaine. |
| A．A biology textbook. | B．A life magazine. |
| C．A research paper. | D．A travel brochure. |
【推荐1】It’s a windy day in Laguna San Ignacio, and the waves seem to come from all directions. My children and I are riding on a 18-foot boat — small enough that we can reach down into the water if a gray whale swims up alongside. And then we see what we’ve come for: a heart-shaped shower of water and a dark mass rushing below it. As instructed, we splash (溅泼) the water to signal the huge whale, which turns out a mother with her baby. The baby soon swims beneath our boat, appears to blow mist in my face, then lies onto its side like a 2-ton puppy. Leaning down, I touched its skin gently. It feels electric. Also, a bit like petting a hard-boiled egg.
San Ignacio is one of very few places where a person can pet a whale. The whales come each year to give birth and to mate. If you’re lucky, you can shake hands with a leatheryfin (鳍) or even plant a kiss on a cold, salty cheek. I usually worry about such interactions, because wild creatures can become deeply stressed by human contact. But boat numbers are strictly limited. And any whale that approaches a boat does so on its own terms. Like that baby whale, we see him a few times, and he seems to like being petted and splashed.”
So we are two species, connecting through touch, but also through eye contact. Whalers used to call gray whales “devil fish” because these attractive creatures turn violent when threatened. That makes it feel even more of a blessing when, on our third day there, a large mama whale approaches the boat. I’m splashing when I feel her nose press up into my hand. Though she’s wiser and apparently more alert than her child, she still decides to trust us.
1. Which of the following statements is true?| A．The writer was on a whale-touching trip. |
| B．The writer’s boat went down with a huge wave. |
| C．The baby whale splashed water all over the writer. |
| D．The mother whale’s skin felt as hard as a boiled egg. |
| A．is mad with too many visitors. |
| B．is ready for hands-on attention. |
| C．is restricted in swimming routes. |
| D．is enclosed in their safety zones. |
| A．strange appearance | B．inborn violence |
| C．fierceness in danger | D．surprisingly enormous size |
| A．To popularize the knowledge of whales. |
| B．To share an experience of the sea voyage. |
| C．To show admiration for whales’ motherhood. |
| D．To advocate harmony between man and nature. |
【推荐2】Mark Twain, the famous American writer, liked to play jokes on others. But once a joke was played on him.
One day Mark Twain was asked to give a talk in a small town. At lunch he met a young man he knew who told him that he had an uncle who never laughed or smiled.
The young man told Mark Twain that nobody and nothing could possibly make his uncle smile or laugh.
“You bring your uncle to my talk tonight,” said Mark Twain. “I’m sure I can make him laugh.”
That evening the young man and his uncle sat in the first row. Mark Twain spoke directly at the old man. He told some rather interesting stories, which made everyone in the hall laugh. But the old man never even smiled. Mark Twain told the most interesting stories he knew. But the old man’s face was still a blank. At last Mark Twain stopped. He felt tired and discouraged.
Some days later, Mark Twain told a friend of his about what had happened. “Oh,” said his friend, “I know that old man. He has been deaf for years.”
1. Which of the following statement is NOT true?| A．Mark Twain could make everyone in the hall laugh except the old man. |
| B．Mark Twain liked to play jokes on others |
| C．Mark Twain was an English writer. |
| D．Once a young man played a joke on Mark Twain. |
| A．his uncle liked to listen to Mark Twain’s talk |
| B．his uncle could not possibly be made to laugh or smile |
| C．his uncle never laughed at people |
| D．his uncle liked laughed |
| A．to bring his uncle to lunch | B．to ask his uncle to talk there that night |
| C．he could make his uncle laugh | D．to sit in the first row with his uncle |
| A．the old man | B．the young man |
| C．Mark Twain himself | D．a friend of Mark Twain’s |
When my father was celebrating a milestone birthday, I pulled together a surprise gift that he would never forget.
On his 60th birthday, I had a fun idea: What if I could get the memories people had of him, put each one into an envelope—60 in total—and have him open them, one by one, on his birthday? So, I wrote an e-mail to family and friends, explaining my idea.
I sent the e-mail and waited. And then the replies started coming in and I was very, very astonished. There were so many memories, and they were all so lovely. They came from the 50s, 60s, 70s, from every decade between now and the day my dad was born. They came from my mother, my siblings, my grandma, my dad’s friends from high school, his sister, my dad’s first boss, a colleague at his first job, from people who hadn’t seen my dad in 40 years, from people I myself hadn’t even informed. They typed them and handwrote them. They mailed them and e-mailed them.
The night before Dad’s birthday, my sister and I stayed up late, putting the mails into envelopes.
The next morning, after breakfast and presents and cake, we gave the pile of envelopes to him. “Just one more thing for you,” we said.
It took him a long time to open them and read. Each one was a brief ticket to another time, a leap backward over years and decades. There was a lot of laughter and a few tears on his face.
I was kind of sad when the project of the memories about my father was over because it was great fun to collect these memories.
1. When did the author give her father a surprise gift? (no more than 5 words)2. Why did the author and her sister stay up late the night before their father’s birthday? (no more than 10 words)
3. How did the author’s father most probably feel when he read the mails? (no more than 2 words)
4. What was the surprise gift? (no more than 6 words)
