Kieron Graham always knew he had an older brother named Vincent. Though Kieron spent years thinking about him, he could never track him down.
That changed in December 2017, when Kieron’s adoptive parents gave him an Ancestry DNA test as a Christmas gift. Kieron, now 21, sent his saliva (唾液) sample in for analysis. When his results came back, he was stunned to find he had a lot of DNA matches for relatives who had also taken the test. Most were distant connections, but one match was so strong that it was labeled “close family.” His name was Vincent Ghant. Kieron looked for him on Facebook and soon made a possible connection.
“This is going to sound so wild...but I think you’re my brother,” Kieron wrote on Facebook’s Messenger app. “I was given up for adoption in 1997 and it says on my paperwork that my mother has a son with your name and your birth date. Her name is Shawn.”
“This is crazy,” said Vincent.
The craziness was just beginning. As they talked, the brothers realized they lived about 20 minutes from each other. More surprisingly, they attended the same university and majored and minored in the same subjects : political science and legal studies.
Vincent was nine when Kieron was born and remembers caring for his baby brother. But times were tough, and Shawn, who worked 15-plus hours a day as a nurse, decided that placing Kieron for adoption would give him the best chance to succeed.
“She was very emotional about that time, to the point where it was hard for her to put into words anything about what happened,” Vincent says.
Now the brothers had the chance to make up for lost time. They decided to meet at a local tea shop that week.
One of Vincent’s concerns was that Kieron might resent his birth family for placing him for adoption. He was relieved Kieron didn’t, and that he’d grown up in a loving family.
Since that first meeting, the brothers have bonded even more. They play football together and celebrated Christmas with their families. “We’ll keep growing our relationship until it’s time to leave this planet,” says Vincent. That shouldn’t be hard. As Kieron says, “We’ve got years and years to catch up on.”
1. What contributes most to the brothers’ reunion?| A．A conversation on Facebook. |
| B．An Ancestry DNA test. |
| C．Kieron’s constant tracking on Vincent. |
| D．The adoptive parents’ selfless love. |
| A．He used to be one of Vincent’s classmates. |
| B．He was separated from Vincent when he was born. |
| C．He was placed for adoption for the sake of his future. |
| D．He decided to return to his birth family. |
| A．Hateful. | B．Indifferent. | C．Affectionate. | D．Understanding. |
| A．The Power of Ancestry DNA Test |
| B．The Discovering of a Lost Brother |
| C．The Adoption by a Loving Family |
| D．The Bond Between Kieron Graham and His Brother |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】How is it that siblings (兄弟姐妹) can turn out so differently? One answer is that in fact each sibling grows up in a different family. The firstborn is, for a while, an only child, and therefore has a completely different experience of the parents than those born later. The next child is, for a while, the youngest, until the situation is changed by a new arrival. The mother and father themselves are changing and growing up too. One sibling might live in a stable and close family in the first few years; another might be raised in a family crisis, with a disappointed mother or an angry father.
Sibling competition was identified as an important shaping force as early as in 1918. But more recently, researchers have found many ways in which brothers and sisters are a lasting force in each other’s lives. Dr. Annette Henderson says firstborn children pick up vocabulary more quickly than their siblings. The reason for this might be that the later children aren’t getting the same one-on-one time with parents. But that doesn’t mean that the younger children have problems with language development. Later-borns don’t enjoy that much talking time with parents, but instead they harvest lessons from bigger brothers and sisters, learning entire phrases and getting an understanding of social concepts such as the difference between “I” and “me”.
A Cambridge University study of 140 children found that siblings created a rich world of play that helped them grow socially. Love-hate relationships were common among the children. Even those siblings who fought the most had just as much positive communication as the other sibling pairs.
One way children seek more attention from parents is by making themselves different from their siblings, particularly if they are close in age. Researchers have found that the first two children in a family are typically more different from each other than the second and third. Girls with brothers show their differences to a maximum degree by being more feminine than girls with sisters. A 2003 research paper studied adolescents from 185 families over two years, finding that those who changed to make themselves different from their siblings were successful in increasing the amount of warmth they gained form their parents. (375words)
1. The underlined part “in a different family” (in Para.1) means ________.| A．in a different family environment | B．in a different family tradition |
| C．in different family crises | D．in different families |
| A．get their parents’ individual guidance | B．learn a lot from their elder siblings |
| C．experience a lot of difficulties | D．pick up words more quickly |
| A．Siblings hated fighting and loved playing. | B．Siblings in some families fought frequently. |
| C．Sibling fights led to bad sibling relationships. | D．Siblings learned to get on together from fights. |
【推荐2】Conflict (冲突) between teenagers and parents happens for a lot of reasons. Sometimes conflict happens between teenagers and parents just because conflict happens between human beings anyway. Humans have different needs, different feelings, different opinions about what they want, and the relationship with people can be really difficult. However, teenagers can cause further conflict because of the hormonal (生理的) changes that are happening and the stage of life that they're in.
Teenagers and parents have different understanding about rules and at times they find it difficult to look into the future. So parents and teenagers will often experience conflict about many things, do chores, homework, whether teenagers speak respectfully or not and about what they're allowed to do.
Before we think about rule boundaries (界线) for teenagers, we need to make sure that we have a really good relationship base. There's no point saying “From now on, you have to listen to me”: if you don't have a positive relationship with your teenager. We need to go back and make sure there is some degree of shared respect, and some degree of positive communication and enjoyment being together. you do that first, it means that rule boundaries are a lot easier to set up.
Often we're dealing with conflict on the fly. This is not the right time to be dealing with it. We really want parents and teenagers to sit down and think about the kinds of things that may happen in the house before the problems come. The more detailed your rule boundaries are for teenagers, the more likely it is that they are going to follow them. So this means we don't have rule boundaries like “Have the bathroom cleaned”. It needs to be “The floors mopped, nothing on the countertop and the mirrors cleaned by ten o'clock every Saturday”: Rule boundaries need to be written down, and set out ahead of time so the teenager knows exactly what's expected.
1. What's important to set up a rule boundary easily for teenagers?| A．Being strict from the start. | B．Developing a good relationship with them first. |
| C．Saying"No" to their requirements. | D．Avoiding close talks with them. |
| A．Doing some housework. | B．Having a good reading habit. |
| C．Cleaning the bathroom. | D．Finishing your homework by five. |
| A．In a hurry. | B．On the plane. | C．By oneself. | D．Another day. |
| A．Growing Pains | B．Teenage Problems |
| C．Parent-Child Conflict and Solutions | D．Knowing the Conflict |
【推荐3】Recently, my husband and three kids were playing in the Mediterranean, swimming and floating in the picture-perfect sea. It was extremely beautiful in Majorca, Spain. The way the sun danced across the water and how the blue horizon was dotted with storybook sailboats were such beautiful scenes. I almost couldn’t believe my eyes.
My husband and I always dreamed about taking our kids on a trip around the world. It was something we always wanted to do “one day”. It was one of the things we talked at length about, when we imagined our life with the children we hoped we would have.
Fourteen years later, we had three boys who were growing up faster by the day. It was time to make good on those plans.
We spent dozens of hours discussing, researching and planning. We had to learn how to “road school” our kids and arrange time off from work. We renewed our passports, and then packed our bags. We showed our kids the world. It was about experiencing the dozens of flights and trains and taxis together. We showed them how wonderful, how diverse, and how amazing the world is. We wanted them to learn all that we had learned ourselves, through our own travels as young adults.
But there was something more than that: What we really wanted is to slow down time. We wanted the days to last a bit longer, and the weeks to take their time. The years with our children are going too fast. We wanted to put the brakes on (阻止) our busy lives for a year, and just be with our kids. We wanted a break from the daily morning routine of making lunches, eating breakfast and rushing out of the door in time for school. We needed a family time-out.
It was a wonderful two-month trip in Europe, full of incredible moments. And when we look back at our lives, I know we’ll be glad we did it. I know we’ll be happy that this is a chapter of the story of our family.
1. What was the author’s attitude toward the trip when planning it?| A．Worried. | B．Calm. | C．Stressed. | D．Eager. |
| A．Change. | B．Realize. | C．Improve. | D．Cancel. |
| A．To teach her children to value life. |
| B．To allow her children to see the world. |
| C．To enjoy a family breakaway from their life routine. |
| D．To enable her children to learn something out of class. |
| A．Tired. | B．Satisfied. | C．Inspired. | D．Disappointed. |
【推荐1】Thomas Lanier Williams was born on March 26, 1911 in the Mississippi town of Columbus In half a century. He created some of the most remarkable characters in his more than 70 plays, including Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Sweet Bird of Youth and The Night of the I guano.
“He changed the history of American drama with his first two plays because they were so different.” says Kenneth Holditch, editor of The Collected Plays of Tennessee Williams. “He broke free of what had been going on in the 1920s and the 1930s and gave us a wonderful understanding of human nature and human tragedy(悲剧)…”
Holditch is referring to The Glass Menagerie and Summer and Smoke. The first play won the New York Drama Critics` Circle Award for best play of 1945. It tells the story of the shy, physically disabled girl, Laura.
Williams sympathy for the underdogs grew out of his own experience. His father drank heavily and argued bitterly with his mother. When the young boy began writing poetry, he laughed at hum. In a 1973 interview, Williams told filmmaker Harry Rasky that only hıs sister Rose became his closest friend.
“My sister and I were unusually close as children.” Williams recalled. “My sister and I grew so used to being company for each other that we tended to rely on each other’s companionship rather than seeking friends outside the household.”
By the time he changed his name to Tennessee and moved to New Orleans in 1939, his sister Rose became mentally ill. Tennessee was not at home when this happened, and he always felt somehow responsible for that. So he kept writing about her. The image of Rose turned up in every single play he wrote. For example, Laura in Menagerie was modeled on Rose. At the end of the pla, he wrote:”…everything reminded me of her. Perhaps it was a families’ music perhaps only a little piece of glass…”
Tennessee Williams died alone in a New York hotel room in 1983 and was buried alongsıde his sister Rose.
1. Which play won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award?| A．The Class Menagerie. | B．Sweet Bird of Youth. |
| C．Cat on a Hot Tın Roof. | D．Summer and Smoke. |
| A．A nice example. | B．A bad influence. |
| C．An outspoken editor. | D．A very supportive father. |
| A．Rose was an inspiration for her brother’s plays. |
| B．Tennessee Williams kept writing letters to his sister. |
| C．Rose was a talented girl and helped her brother a lot. |
| D．Tennessee Williams was responsible for Rose’s illness. |
| A．comedy | B．tragedy | C．fantasy | D．biography |
【推荐2】I first began to wonder what was doing on a college campus when my parents drove off, leaving me alone in a parking lot, wanting nothing more than to find my way safely to my dorm room. The fact was that no matter how mature I liked to consider myself, I was feeling just a bit first-gradish. Adding to my distress was the impression that everyone on campus was watching me. My plan was to keep my ears open and my mouth shut and hope no one would notice I was a freshman.
With that thought in mind, I raised my head, squared my shoulders, and set out in the direction of my dorm, glancing at the campus map in my hand. And then I spent the afternoon seeking out each of my classrooms so that I could make perfectly timed entrance before each lecture without having to ask silly questions about its whereabouts.
The next morning, I found my first class and marched in. I chose a seat in the first row and to the side. I was in the front, but out of the professor's direct line of vision. Then I opened my anthology（选集）of American literature and looked at the date at the top of a page. "Welcome to Biology 101," the professor began. Cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck. I got out my schedule and checked the room number. I was in the right room. Just the wrong building!
So now what? Get up and leave in the middle of the lecture? Wouldn't the professor be angry? Wouldn't they all stare at me? Forget it, I settled into my chair.
1. What does the underlined word "that thought" in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．missing her parents | B．working hard in college |
| C．showing maturity | D．being first-gradish |
| A．She would do the same as the other students in the room. |
| B．She would leave the room in the middle of the lecture. |
| C．She would ask the professor for a leave. |
| D．She would explain the mistake to the professor. |
| A．My college | B．A Mistake | C．Fresh Start | D．A Freshman |
【推荐3】When my mother died, I was cooking. One weekend, my husband suggested we cook together. I’d spoken to my mother earlier that day on the phone. I’d told her about our life. She yawned and we said goodbye to one another. I didn’t know then what I would know 16 hours later. I hadn’t even asked how she was doing.
My mother died. My mother was my best friend. After she died, I felt so lonely. The only person I wanted to talk to about my grief was my mother. The only person who could help me was the one who was missing, however much love and support people gave me.
My mother gave me many things, but an education in cookery was not one of them. She liked eating more than cooking. But she had learned to cook when she was a teenager and she had some brilliant recipes. I know everyone says this, but my mother made the best roast beef dinners in the world. And, above all, fish pie! Almost every week, she would buy a prepared fish pie. Then she would bring it home and make her own white sauce.
My mother never got around to teaching me how to make a white sauce-and I never got around to asking her. Now that she was gone, I would have to teach myself. So this became my focus. For the first weeks, I survived on instant foods. But one night, a fish pie mix caught my eye at the store. When I got home, I set myself in front of our electric stove. Armed with a recipe, I tried to teach myself to make a white sauce. Halfway through the recipe, I couldn’t believe it-I’d made a white sauce! Then I remembered: I had always hated fish pie. Admiring my sauce, I wondered why I was so committed to making a dish I had hated for 25 years. Why was it suddenly so important to me?
I spooned the sauce over the fish. Then I ate the pie. It was delicious. More importantly, something strange had happened. The act of making a meal had calmed me. It helped me find peace.
1. How did the author feel when she learned about her mother’s death?| A．Indifferent. |
| B．Peaceful. |
| C．Panic. |
| D．Sad. |
| A．She expressed her wish to be a person like her mother. |
| B．Her mother was good at cooking and meant a lot to her. |
| C．She complained that her mother didn’t teach her to cook. |
| D．She shared what was special about the white sauce with readers. |
| A．Learning to cook. |
| B．Living a lonely life |
| C．Surviving on instant foods. |
| D．Looking back on the old days. |
| A．She rarely called her mother on the phone. |
| B．She didn’t get along well with her husband. |
| C．She felt calm when she made the white sauce. |
| D．She regretted not visiting her mother that day. |
【推荐1】Franco Bergamino is like a surprise “hidden recipe” among young people in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality, where the 62-year-old Italian chef runs a dessert house called Mimosa.
The dessert house serves wine jelly with green pepper cheese, jasmine mousse and peach-Oolong cake—fusion (融合) desserts that combine Italian specialties with local Chinese ingredients.
Bergamino used to run two dessert houses in his hometown of Turin, both having a history of 90 years. In 2016, he settled in Chongqing and set up a dessert workshop. “I especially like Chongqing, where the food and culture are completely different from my hometown. Life here is like ‘the other side of the coin’,” he said.
With the help of his local English-speaking friends, he overcame the language barrier and even learned some Chongqing dialects (方言). More importantly, he has got used to the Chinese table culture of “sharing food together”.
Bergamino said, back in Turin, frequent customers to his shop would buy the same desserts and they would be disappointed if they were sold out. The situation in Chongqing, however, is very different. Customers expect different desserts each month, and they would be disappointed if the dessert menu stayed the same, he said.
From 2016 to 2022, Bergamino felt a huge change in the taste of Chinese customers. “In the past, Chinese guests always said that my desserts were too sweet. Now more and more people have accepted the authentic Italian tastes. Mimosa’s consumers are mainly between 25 and 35 a group that is more willing to try overseas tastes partly due to China’s continued opening to the outside world,” he said.
“I hope I can live to 95 and still work,” he said, so that he can, besides bringing authentic Italian desserts to more customers having a sweet tooth, let more people feel the fusion of Chinese and Italian cultures in his desserts.
1. How does Bergamino like his life in Chongqing?| A．It’s aimless. | B．It’s hard to adapt to. |
| C．It’s stressful. | D．It’s completely new. |
| A．It has a secret recipe. | B．It has a history of 90 years. |
| C．It’s more popular with young people. | D．It’s a window of western table culture. |
| A．Challenging but promising | B．Booming but uncreative |
| C．Old-fashioned but profitable | D．Well-managed but unpopular |
| A．To add more Italian elements. | B．To promote cultural combination. |
| C．To set up more dessert houses. | D．To expand the age group of consumers. |
She shared with us this special story about a land turtle and a sea turtle,which we then used to help them better comprehend.
Once upon a time, a land turtle (Mommy) met a sea turtle (Daddy) close to a beautiful shore.Soon they fell deeply in love and decided to get married. For a time, they continued to live at the water’s edge so that Mommy could sit on the sand and keep dry and warm, while Daddy sat in the shallow water to keep cool. A few years later two baby turtles arrived (you both!). They were very special indeed and looked a little like each of their parents.
But as the years went by,Daddy sea turtle started spending more and more time in the ocean as he traveled deeper and deeper to look for pearls.Mommy land turtle also started wandering up into the sands to hunt for food in the woods. Little by little, Daddy and Mommy turtle started to drift further and further apart. Finally one day, Mommy and Daddy turtle decided they didn’t want to live together anymore. The little turtles continued to spend time with each of their parents.They made lots of friends with all the fish, dolphins and whales in the ocean and also many friends with the rabbits,deer,and foxes in the woods. In fact they grew up to be a new kind of turtle that could live both in the ocean and on the land.
Over the years, this tale of the land and sea turtle has helped my children cope with and accept the fact that my marriage to their father was over. They know that we once loved each other very much and they were born out of true love.
1. The underlined “They” in the second paragraph refers to .
| A．the two baby turtles | B．the land turtle and the sea turtle |
| C．the author and her ex-husband | D．the author’s children |
| A．relieved | B．unsafe | C．pleased | D．annoyed |
| A．make sense | B．become disconnected | C．break down | D．get excited |
| A．Culture | B．Career | C．Parenting | D．Education |
【推荐3】Ranjan and Summer were good friends. They went to the same school and were in the same class.
Ranjan was not strong. He could not play football or other games with boys of his age. All that he did was to watch Summer and other boys play. He usually went with them to the playground. When they ran off to play, he would sit under a tree and read storybooks. Books became his best friends. The reading made him successful in all the exams. He always stood first in the class.
Summer was tall and strong. He spent most of his time running, swimming or riding bicycles. He was an extremely good player in every game. He was a member of the school’s football team and cricket team. The PE teacher thought he would make it big in the game when he grew up.
One day, the two friends went for a walk. Ranjan got tired soon. “I have no strength. What is the use of all this knowledge if I am not healthy? I would give away all my knowledge if I could be half as healthy and strong as you,” said Ranjan.
Summer was surprised and replied, “So you are not happy with yourself too? I always wished I could have done as well as you did in the studies. I even thought I could have given away my sporting skills for better grades in those exams.” The two friends looked at each other and cried out at the same time. “The grass looks greener on the other side of the hill.”
1. What did Ranjan usually do when he went to the playground with Summer?| A．He studied for the exams. |
| B．He played with his friend. |
| C．He read his favorite books. |
| D．He took care of the clothes. |
| A．Summer was very tall. |
| B．Summer was very strong. |
| C．Summer was good at doing sports. |
| D．Summer spent a lot of time playing sports. |
| A．Ranjan was proud of his knowledge. |
| B．Summer was unhappy with his studies. |
| C．Summer could do as well as Ranjan did in the studies. |
| D．Ranjan and Summer decided to learn from each other. |
| A．Practice makes perfect. |
| B．Nobody knows his own advantages. |
| C．Grass usually appears greener in faraway places. |
| D．We always want something better and feel unhappy. |
