【推荐2】Destinee Whitaker was in fourth grade when she learned that millions of people around the world lack clean water.

“It was a problem that confused me for a long time,” said Whitaker, from the United States city of Philadelphia. “Water is a necessity.”

When she got to Carver High School of Engineering and Science, Whitaker carefully researched the problem and felt that she must do something about it.

Early in her senior year, Whitaker approached fellow members of the school’s National Honor Society with a proposal: They should raise money to buy water purification (净化) systems for people in need. Whitaker, the National Honor Society president, knew the systems would have to be easy to carry and able to operate without electricity. So she checked with a microbiologist (微生物学家)to make sure the system she had her eye on would fit the bill.

Once her classmates agreed to back the proposal, Whitaker took it upon herself to raise money. She organized a game where students bought tickets to guess how many pieces of candy a jar contained.

In the end, they raised $800—a large amount for a school where 70 percent of the students’ families are not well-off.

Whitaker soon found that raising money was the easier part of the project. Finding an organization that could deliver the water purification systems was a bigger puzzle. She approached some organizations about their possible connections but no one could help.

Then Whitaker connected with Joseph Sackor, who runs the Liberia Medical Mission—an organization that provides medical care to Liberians who lack health services. Sackor accepted the school’s money and agreed to deliver the systems to people who needed them.

Whitaker dreams of someday launching (发起) her own nonprofit organization to bring clean water to more people in need.

“Some students in Liberia can’t even go to school because their parents cannot afford to buy them bottled water,” Sackor said. “This money is huge.”

1. What problem did Whitaker want to solve?

A．Global poverty.

B．Lack of clean drinking water.

C．Lack of education.

D．Low public awareness of healthy lifestyles.

2. The underlined phrase “fit the bill” in Paragraph 4 probably means “_______”.

A．meet their needs	B．be cheap enough
C．be difficult to operate	D．need improvement

3. What did Whitaker think the most difficult part of her project was?

A．Making a proposal for the project.

B．Calling on her classmates to support it.

C．Raising money to buy the equipment.

D．Finding an organization to deliver the equipment.

4. What does Whitaker want to do in the future?

A．Live and work in Liberia.

B．Study medicine to help those in need.

C．Set up a charity organization to help more people.

D．Provide bottled water to Liberian students.

【推荐3】I’ll never forget that lunchtime.

In my third grade, I had been picked to be the princess in the school play, and for weeks my mother tried hard to help me practice my lines (台词). But no matter how easily I said them at home, as soon as I stepped on the stage, every word disappeared from my head.

Finally, my teacher took me aside. She explained that she had written a narrator (旁白员) part to the play, and asked me to change roles. I didn’t tell my mother what had happened when I went home for lunch that day. But she noticed my unease, and instead of suggesting we practice my lines, she asked if I wanted to walk in the garden.

It was a lovely spring day and the rose vine (藤) was turning green. We could see yellow dandelions (蒲公英) popping through the grass in bunches. I watched my mother casually bend down by one of the clumps (花丛). “I think I’m going to dig up all these weeds (杂草),” she said. “From now on, we’ll only have roses in this garden.”

“But I like dandelions,” I protested (抗议). “All flowers are beautiful — even dandelions.”

My mother looked at me seriously. “Yes, every flower gives pleasure in its own way, doesn’t it?” she asked thoughtfully. “And that is true of people too,” she added. “Not everyone can be a princess, but there is no shame in that.”

Relieved that she had guessed my pain, I started to cry as I told her what had happened.

“But you will be a beautiful narrator,” she said, reminding me of how much I loved to read stories aloud to her. “The narrator’s part is as important as the part of the princess.”

Over the next few weeks, with her constant encouragement, I learned to take pride in the role.

Lunchtimes were spent reading over my lines and talking about what I would wear.

1. What happened when the author and her mother were practicing the lines?

A．The author felt much too nervous.

B．Her mother got very impatient with her.

C．The author couldn’t remember the lines.

D．Her mother made great efforts to help her.

2. How did the teacher deal with the author’s problem of being nervous on stage?

A．She persuaded the author to give up.

B．She asked the author to change her part.

C．She changed the lines of the author’s role.

D．She gave the author another two days for preparation.

3. Why did the author protest when her mother tried to dig up all the weeds in the garden?

A．Because it was harmful to the environment.

B．Because the roses would be ruined completely.

C．Because the dandelions the author loved would be dug up.

D．Because the author wanted to practice the lines at that time.

4. What can we learn from the last two paragraphs?

A．The author liked the new part she got.

B．The author gave up the role in the end.

C．The author cared more about what to wear in the play.

D．The author only practiced the lines during lunchtimes.