【推荐1】An American cancer survivor has become the first person to swim across the English Channel four times on end.

Sarah Thomas, 37, completed the great achievement on Tuesday after over 54 hours of swimming. Her record-breaking achievement came just a year after she completed treatment for breast cancer(乳腺癌).

In a video on Facebook, a small group of people could be seen cheering on the swimmer from Colorado as she made her final arrival to beach at Dover. Supporters congratulated Mrs. Thomas on her non-stop swim, handing her chocolate and other gifts. In the video, Mrs. Thomas admitted to feeling “a little sick” but said she had been encouraged to keep going by her husband and her team.

Before the start of her challenge, Mrs. Thomas wrote that she was “fearful” and admitted she was “going to need some luck”.

In a Facebook post made on Saturday, she dedicated(奉献) the swim “to all the survivors out there”, adding, “This is for those of us who have wondered hopelessly about what comes next, and have overcome the pain bravely.”

After her swim, Mrs. Thomas said, “I’m really tired and I’m losing my voice from all the salt water.” Asked what the worst part of her challenge was, she said, “Probably dealing with the salt water over two days. It really hurts your throat, your mouth and your tongue.” She praised her support team for helping her stay strong, adding that she was very prepared for the weather, currents(k it) and cold water. “I feel just mostly stunned right now. I just can’t believe that we did it.”

1. What’s the attitude of Mrs. Thomas’s husband to her swimming challenge?

A．He refuses to support her.

B．He never cares about it at all.

C．He is angry about her decision.

D．He encourages her to keep trying.

2. What was the biggest challenge for Mrs. Thomas?

A．The weather.	B．The currents.
C．The salt water.	D．The cold water.

3. What does the underlined word “stunned” in the last paragraph probably mean?

A．Frightened.	B．Surprised.
C．Upset.	D．Powerful.

4. What’s the best title for the text?

A．A Successful Swimmer

B．A Woman Beat Breast Cancer

C．A Record-breaking Achievement

D．A Cancer Survivor Made a New Record

【推荐2】The Swedish Academy announced on Thursday, 7 October that the Nobel Prize in Literature 2021 is awarded to Abdulrazak Gurnah. The 73-year-old author of 10 novels including well-renowned works such as Paradise and Desertion, received 10 million Swedish crowns.

After getting the award, Gurnah not only said he was grateful to the academy but added, “It’s just great — it’s just a big prize, and such a huge list of wonderful writers — I am still taking it in… I really had to wait until I heard it announced before I could believe it.”

Born in 1948, Gurnah mainly grew up on the island of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean. Gurnah was forced to leave his family and his country in December 1963 just because he belonged to the victimized (受害的) ethnic group, Then he arrived in England as a refugee (难民) at the end of the 1960s.Until his recent retirement, he has been the Professor of English Literature at the University of Kent in Canterbury and he mainly focused on writers including Wole Soyinka and Salman Rushdie. In total he has published 10 novels along with short stories. The Royal Academy has noted that the theme of the refugee’s suffering runs throughout Gurnah’s work.

While Swahili was his first language, English became his tool for literature. His first novel was Memory of Departure in 1987 and it is about the failed uprising in the African continent. His second work Pilgrims Way was published in 1988 in which the newest Nobel winner explored the various reality of life in exile. His third novel was Dottie in 1990 which is a portrait of a black woman with immigrant background. His other works include Paradise in 1994; Admiring Silence in 1996. Gravel Heart in 2017. His latest novel is Afterlives which was published in 2020 and it takes up where Paradise ends. “I just want to write as trustfully as I can, without trying to say something noble,” he said.

1. How did Gurnah feel when he received the Nobel Prize in Literature 2021?

A．Surprised.

B．Confident.

C．Worried.

D．Excited.

2. What is Gurnah’s work mainly about?

A．The refugee’s miserable life.	B．The uprising life in England.
C．The rough road to writing.	D．The friendship with other writers.

3. Which novel is connected with Paradise most?

A．Admiring Silence.

B．Dottie.

C．Afterlives.

D．Gravel Heart.

4. What’s the passage mainly about?

A．Gurnah’s writing career and his famous novels.

B．Gurnah’s tough life experience as a refugee.

C．Gurnah’s contribution to the literature world.

D．Gurnah’s winning the Nobel Prize in Literature.

【推荐3】WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) ---- About 140 pilot whales that stranded(使...搁浅) themselves on a remote stretch of New Zealand beach have died, but conservation workers and volunteers are hoping the remaining 60 or so will survive after they managed to get them refloated, an official said Saturday.

The geography of Farewell Spit on the South Island seems to work against whales, which regularly become stranded there. The stranding of 198 whales on Friday was one of the largest in recent years and inspired 80 workers and volunteers to help out.

By late Saturday, 140 of the whales had died, said Department of Conservation area manager Andrew Lamason.

He said the workers and volunteers worked throughout the day to keep the surviving whales watered and covered before refloating them during Saturday night’s high tide.

“We’ve had a really good crew of volunteers, and people have been wanting to come from all over the country,”Lamason said.

He said the surviving whales had moved to deeper water. But he cautioned that although hopes for their survival were high, whales had been refloated in the past only to return and get stranded again.

Lamason said the scale(规模) of the stranding has been tough on the helpers, both physically and mentally.

“It’s very sad, they’re very intelligent animals,” he said. “The common view is that it’s part of nature.”

The focus will now turn to the dead whales, and the enormous task of dealing with the remains, Lamason said, adding that in the past helpers have typically buried them in the sand, but that he’s not sure what the approach will be this time.

He said the department had been experimenting with moving the the dead whales into the water, which has the advantage of providing food for other sea creatures.

1. What is the exact number of whales stranded last Friday?

A．140.

B．60.

C．80.

D．198.

2. Why did the volunteers have to wait until Saturday before they could refloat the whales?

A．Because they were very busy on Friday.

B．Because they had to wait for the sea water to rise.

C．Because the whales were too intelligent.

D．Because the whales were buried deep in the sand.

3. Which of the following words can be used to describe Lamason’s attitude towards the result of refloating the whales?

A．Doubtful.	B．Optimistic.
C．Positive.	D．Careless.

4. What did Lamason say about the feelings of the workers and volunteers?

A．They were very happy to see so many whales.

B．They thought refloating the whales was not a hard job.

C．They were physically tired and emotionally hurt.

D．They believed that this is very natural.

5. How will the volunteers deal with the dead whales this time according to Lamason?

A．They will bury them in the sand.

B．They will throw them into the ocean.

C．They do not have any exact idea yet.

D．They will feed them to other sea creatures.

【推荐1】Beth Booker of Florida, turned to Twitter for help last week after seeing the images of her 78-year-old grandmother’s home in Fort Myers Beach, Florida being in water. In the days before Hurricane Ian struck her grandmother’s community, Booker urged her grandmother to leave, but she refused.

Her grandmother wanted to stay where she had been living for more than two decades. She felt safe to stay there because the hurricane was heading north for another city and the house had survived quite a few major hurricanes in history. In addition, the home contained priceless family memories and heirlooms (传家宝), among which were photos of Booker’s dad, who passed away when Booker was only five years old.

Once the storm struck, Booker received updates from her grandmother, who shared photos and videos showing flood started to fill the home. In their last phone call, Booker told her grandmother to climb on the roof if the floodwaters continued to climb. As the situation got worse, Booker was unable to communicate with her grandmother any longer. She decided to turn to Twitter for help with everything from searching for her grandmother to contacting local emergency officials.

The Fort Myers area was left devastated Wednesday after Hurricane Ian. On Thursday, as rescue crews came over to search for survivors, Booker’s husband and friend began their own search for her grandmother by boat. Just a few hours later, at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Booker tweeted the news that her husband and friend found her grandmother sitting on her own sofa, where she was able to remain safe during the storm.

Booker, who refused to be interviewed, said in a statement that they felt grateful for the support they had received and that they were calling for the world to make a contribution to the recovery and relief efforts for their community.

1. Why did Booker’s grandmother refuse to leave her home?

A．Because she had many friends there.

B．Because she wasn’t afraid of the hurricane.

C．Because she didn’t want to live with Booker.

D．Because she valued the memories and heirlooms there.

2. What does the underlined word “devastated” mean in paragraph 4?

A．Reserved.

B．Rebuilt.

C．Destroyed.

D．Attacked.

3. Which of the following words could best describe Booker?

A．Friendly.

B．Responsible.

C．Hard-working.

D．Humorous.

4. What can be inferred from the text?

A．Natural disasters struck the Earth frequently.

B．Booker had a good relationship with her father.

C．Hurricane Ian caused more loss than expected.

D．Social media play a very important role in people’s life.

【推荐2】Whenever I heard strangers singing out loud, whether it was in the supermarket or on the street, I used to think how annoying it was. That was until a few months ago.

Recently, my daughter Zoe started her second year of middle school with a new sense of awareness, asking me to fix the “little girl” pattern on her wheelchair seat. Not wanting her to stand out at school, I spent hours filling in pale yellow stars with a black marker, eager to erase whatever childish signs I could. Shortly after, Zoe got really sick and had to miss 20 days of school.

This meant our days were filled with rushing between hospital appointments and meetings with the school, as we tried to make sure she didn’t fall behind on her schoolwork. I felt pulled back to a time when she was little and her sickness was a huge part of her life. Back then, it seemed like Zoe lived in hospitals, as she spent so much time in them.

No matter how sick she got, however, she always had a positive attitude. But this was different: Zoe was no longer singing like she normally did.

Zoe usually sings all the time, whether she’s playing, riding in the car, or just doing her homework. There was no need for a radio in our house; Zoe provided the music for us. Consumed (被折磨) with my motherly worries, it was more concerning to me than her sickness.

One day, however, I heard her beautiful voice as I was cooking dinner. I stopped what I was doing and just smiled. “Pure delight,” I thought to myself Her voice slowly grew stronger, and soon, both the car and the house were filled with her music once more.

How had I not noticed her singing had completely stopped, weeks and weeks ago? Now, thankfully, she’s back in school, smiling and singing, and I’m thankful for each and every song she sings.

These days, whenever I hear a stranger singing a song to themselves, I don’t get mad. Instead, I smile, as I know that by singing out loud, they’re simply sharing their happiness with the world.

1. How did the author use to feel when she heard strangers singing?

A．Bothered.

B．Excited.

C．Surprised.

D．Confused.

2. Which of the following best describes Zoe?

A．Considerate and helpful.

B．Competitive and hardworking.

C．Optimistic and strong-willed.

D．Self-aware and modest.

3. What does “it” in Paragraph 5 refer to?

A．Zoe’s love for music.

B．Zoe’s falling behind at school.

C．Zoe’s silence during her sickness.

D．Zoe’s slow recovery from her illness.

4. What does singing mean to people, according to the author?

A．A way to get rid of stress.

B．A way to express love to others.

C．A way to communicate with others.

D．A way to share happiness.