As a child, there was nothing I liked better than Sunday afternoons at my grandfather’s farm in western Pennsylvania. Surrounded by miles of stone walls, the house and field provided endless hours of fun for a city kid like me.
Since my first visit to the farm, I had wanted more than anything to be allowed to climb the stone walls surrounding the houses. My parents would never agree because the walls were so old that some stones were loose and falling. However, my idea to climb across those walls grew so strong that finally I had all my courage to enter the living room, where the adults had gathered after Sunday dinner.
“I want to climb the stone walls.” I said. “Heavens, no! You’ll hurt yourself !” The response was just as I’d expected. But before I left the room, I was stopped by my grandfather’s loud voice. “Now hold on just a minute.” I heard him say. “Let the boy climb the stone walls. He has to learn to do things for himself.”
“Go,” he said to me, “and come and see me when you get back.” For the next two and a half hours I climbed those old walls — and had the time of my life. Later I met with my grandfather to tell him about my adventures. I’ll never forget what he said. “Fred,” he said, smiling, “you made this day a special day just by being yourself. Always remember, there’s only one person in this whole world like you, and I like you exactly as you are.”
Many years have passed since then, and today I host the television program Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, seen by millions of children throughout America. There have been changes over the years, but one thing remains the same: my message to children at the end of almost every visit. “There’s only one person in this whole world like you,” the kids will hear me say, “ and people can like you exactly as you are.”
1. Why did the writer enjoy his visits to the farm ?| A．There were old stone houses. | B．He could experience new fun there. |
| C．He missed his grandfather a lot. | D．He was allowed to climb the walls. |
| A．He didn’t know the possible danger of the stone walls. |
| B．He didn’t expect his parents’ disagreement on wall climbing. |
| C．He became a TV program host with his grandfather’s help. |
| D．He was backed up by his grandfather to follow his heart. |
| A．Adventurous. | B．Open-minded. |
| C．Kind-hearted. | D．Dependable. |
| A．Unforgettable Childhood | B．Do Whatever You Like |
| C．Just Be Yourself | D．Like grandfather, like grandson |
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【推荐1】Imagination and fantasy can play an important role in achieving the things we fear. Children know this very well. Fred Epstein, in his book If I Get to Five, tells a story he heard from one of his friends about Tom, a four-year-old boy with a cancer in his back bone. He came through several operations and a lot of pain by mastering his imagination.
Tom loved to pretend, and he particularly loved to play superheroes. Dr. Epstein explained that it was actually a brilliant way for his young mind to handle the terrifying and painful life he led.
The day before his third trip to the operating room, Tom was terribly afraid. “Maybe I could go as Superman,” he whispered to his mom. Hearing this, the mother hesitated for a while. She has avoided buying the expensive costume(戏装), but finally she agreed.
The next day Tom appeared as the powerful Superman, showing off through the hospital halls and coolly waving his hand to the people greeting him along the way. And Tom, with the strength of his fantasy, successfully made it through the operation.
The power of imagination need not be reserved for children only. We all have the power to use our fantasies to attempt things we never thought possible, to go through those things that seem impossible, and to achieve what we never believed we could. Just as Dr. Epstein puts it, “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
It doesn’t mean that you should dress as a superhero for your next job interview. But, next time you are tested in a way that seems impossible, imagine what it would take to overcome it. Become the person you need to become to win over your challenge and do it in your mind first. So, let your imagination run wild, and dare to dream.
1. What do we know about Tom?| A．He was a dishonest boy. | B．He was seriously ill. |
| C．He was crazy about magic. | D．He was Dr. Epstein’s patient. |
| A．pretended to be painful | B．appeared in poor spirits |
| C．acted like a superhero | D．argued with his mother |
| A．to go through some difficult tests |
| B．to wear expensive clothes for job interviews |
| C．to wake up from your wild dreams |
| D．to become a powerful person in your mind |
| A．To tell us an interesting story. |
| B．To help us make right decisions. |
| C．To advise us to care about children. |
| D．To encourage us to use our imagination. |
【推荐2】A student was one day taking a walk with his teacher. As they went along, they saw a pair of old shoes lying in the path. They were a poor farmer’s, who was working in the nearby field.
The student turned to the teacher, saying: “we will hide his shoes, and hide ourselves behind those trees, and wait to see what he will do.”
“My young friend,” answered the teacher, “we should never make fun of the poor. Why not put a coin in each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch?” The student did so and they both hid themselves behind the trees. The poor man soon finished his work, and came across the field to the path where he had left his coat and shoes.
After putting on his coat, he put his foot into one of his shoes, and felt something hard. Then he bent (弯腰) down to feel what it was, and found the coin. Surprised, he looked at the coin, turned it around and looked at it again. He then looked around, but no person was seen. He put the money into his pocket, and continued to put on the other shoe. His surprise was doubled on finding the other coin.
He couldn’t control his feelings and fell to his knees, looked up to the sky and expressed his thanks. Then he spoke of his wife, sick and helpless, and his children without bread. He said the help would save them from dying.
The student stood there deeply moved, and his eyes filled with tears. “Now,” said the teacher, “are you not much happier than if you had hidden the shoes?”
1. When the student saw the shoes, he wanted to _____.| A．steal them | B．find their owner |
| C．play a joke on the owner | D．give the owner some money |
| A．quiet and honest | B．kind and friendly |
| C．patient and clever | D．strict and careful |
| A．was very excited and grateful |
| B．was worried and looked up at the sky |
| C．was surprised and decided to find the owner |
| D．spoke of his difficulties and asked for more help |
| A．It is never too late to learn. | B．All good things come to an end. |
| C．Where there is a will, there is a way. | D．True happiness comes from helping others. |
【推荐3】Lots of people may wonder why so many children feel anxious and depressed, despite good family situations, a wealth of educational resources and the care of their parents and teachers. The other day when I met with my interviewees for their stories and discussed the problem with them, the same question occurred to me.
I understand that hardworking parents want their children to perform well in all aspects, including their life and study and have a bright and promising future, but it seems that most of the time parents cannot give their children proper guidance based on actual situations. Many kids are their family’s only child, so they lack interaction with their siblings. As a result, when they don’t know how to get along with their classmates at school, they tend to become overwhelmed.
The symptoms of childhood depression are rarely obvious, meaning parents often fail to notice them early, which results in low diagnosis rates. Usually, by the time the seriousness of the problem has been realized, the child has entered a more serious state. Worse still, many parents have no idea on how to treat their child’s mental problems. They seem more inclined (有……倾向) to believe that the child is undergoing a phase of adolescent rebellion (叛逆) rather than a mental health issue.
After this interview, my understanding is that depression itself is not the thing that hurts those with such problems. Instead, the damaging thing is the perception of the problem. Society’s limited understanding of the condition may actually hinder (阻碍，妨碍) the patients’ recovery. One interviewee said that letting people know that there is a mentally ill person in your family often results in ridicule (嘲笑) and misunderstanding rather than friendly empathy (共鸣，同情), especially in smaller communities.
In spite of fierce competition in all walks of life, I still think that giving children a healthy and happy growth environment will play a more important role in producing a bright future than examination results.
1. The underlined word in paragraph 2 may be replaced by ________.| A．parents. | B．family members. | C．brothers and sisters. | D．friends. |
| A．Ridicule from their friends. | B．The fierce competition at work. |
| C．Their parents’ high expectations. | D．Misunderstanding from society. |
| A．give children a healthy growth environment |
| B．pay too much attention to examination results |
| C．identify children’s psychological disorders early |
| D．bear more than one child |
| A．Children should live up to their parents’ expectations. |
| B．Study hard to adapt to the fierce competition. |
| C．A healthy growth environment should overweigh schoolwork. |
| D．Spend more time accompanying your children. |
【推荐1】In a cafe in south London, two construction workers are talking cheerfully. They sometimes break into loud laughter. They are discussing something, and their conversation looks fun and interesting. But I don’t speak their language. Out of curiosity, I interrupt them.
With friendly smiles, they both change easily to English, explaining that they are South Africans and were speaking Xhosa. In Johannesburg, where they are from, most people speak at least five languages, says one of them, Theo Morris. “My mother’s language is Sotho. My father’s is Zulu. I learned Xhosa and Ndebele from my friends and neighbors, and English and Afrikaans from school. I can speak well all of the languages mentioned above. I went to Germany before I came here, so I also speak a little German,” he adds.
“Is it easy to learn so many languages?” “Yes, it’s normal,” he laughs. He’s right. Around the world, more than half of the people speak at least two languages. Many countries have more than one official language — South Africa has 11. People, young or old, are increasingly expected to speak, read and write in at least one of a handful of “super” languages, such as English, Chinese, Hindi, Spanish and Arabic.
Multilingualism (多语言) has many social psychological and lifestyle advantages. Moreover, many health benefits from speaking more than one language have been found, including faster stroke (中风) recovery.
Could it be that the human brain evolves (进化；演变) to be multilingual — that those who speak only one language are not realizing their full potential (潜能)? And in a world that is losing languages faster than ever — one every two weeks, half our languages will disappear hopelessly by the end of the century. What would happen if the rich diversity (多样性) of languages disappeared and most of us ended up speaking only one? That’s a serious problem we are facing.
1. Why does the author interrupt the two workers?| A．To join them in the conversation. |
| B．To stop them from laughing loudly. |
| C．To find out what language they’re speaking. |
| D．To learn the language that is spoken by them. |
| A．He speaks all of his languages well. | B．He can speak seven languages. |
| C．He is from a single-language family. | D．He is confident of learning super languages. |
| A．It is physically and mentally beneficial. | B．It is culture-specific. |
| C．It is a challenging task. | D．It is preferred by the young. |
| A．Objective. | B．Optimistic. | C．Concerned. | D．Doubtful. |
【推荐2】What will you do when you feel like a failure? Feeling like a failure is part of the human experiences. Treat yourself with kindness and understand that failure does not define you, but it is a stepping stone on your journey. When you’re ready, take action and challenge yourself.
As some friends were deeply lost in the world of yoga and mindfulness, I’ve personally struggled with the feeling of failure, not on the yoga mat, but on the road to my entrepreneurship(创业). It all began several years ago when I threw myself into the business, driven by my passion and a dream.
In the early days, optimism flowed freely, but financial struggles and sleepless nights soon followed. I questioned my decision and felt like the biggest failure. However, every difficulty became a stepping stone towards growth. I learned more from my failures than from my successes, adapting and growing stronger with each obstacle. I reached out to instructors, friends and family, sought advice and slowly saw a ray of hope. One defining moment came when I gained my first long-term coaching partnership. It was a breakthrough, and my hard work paid off. Over the years, I faced many more failures, but I refused to let them define me.
Today, looking back at my journey, I realize that moments of feeling like a failure were essential to my success. They taught me humility, perseverance and the value of hard work. They shaped me into a successful entrepreneur I am today—someone who doesn’t fear failure but embraces it as a necessary part of the path to success. As we approach the end of the year of graduation, remember that success is not about avoiding failure, but about how we rise after we fall. Let’s support each other on this journey called life. Stay positive, stay inspired and stay true to ourselves.
1. What is the function of paragraph 1?| A．To give the definition of failure. |
| B．To list some examples of failure. |
| C．To introduce the topic of the story. |
| D．To stress the importance of experience. |
| A．Internal motivation. | B．Advice from a coach. |
| C．Family financial crisis. | D．Encouragement from friends. |
| A．To teach is to learn. |
| B．A word spoken is past recalling. |
| C．Constant dropping wears away a stone. |
| D．Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched. |
| A．Inspire us with his lessons. |
| B．Persuade us to major in business. |
| C．Recall the key moments of his entrepreneurship. |
| D．Advocate avoiding obstacles on the way to success. |
【推荐3】As a dropout myself, I often feel it is my duty to defend my fellow non-scholars. Common wisdom would have you believe we are the “bad kids", the future criminals, the worst sort of people. But not all dropouts are likely to deal drugs,steal goods from a shop, or shoot pool all day.
My own favorite place to go when skipping school was always the public library. My early retirement meant that at last I had the time to read everything I wanted to. I found reading Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow a lot more interesting than reading about Sir Isaac Newton and the falling apple.
Best of all was the time I finally had to myself. I felt liberated. I had been in school nearly my whole life. I wanted to find out for myself who I was,and until I did,everything else felt like a waste of time.
However, after nearly three years, a series of strange thoughts began to make me anxious and unsure. Images of myself at the age of 35 began to haunt(缠扰）me in my sleep. And a voice in my head began asking over and over,"Who is paying the hot water bills? Who buys the microwave pizza?"The answer, of course, was my poor old parents. Sure,I was having an enjoyable time doing plenty of nothing, discovering myself and all, but that's unfair to them. What parents long to see their child drop out of school,with no plans for the future? Could they be expected to support me forever? Certainly not. I immediately moved out of the house and out of town, in search of a future for myself.
And it is here, in my new home of San Francisco, that I have decided to do what was once unthinkable: go back to school. I plan to take adult education classes and then apply for City College. On the one hand, I can hardly believe I'm doing it: a return to desks, chalkboards, and clocks that tell you when to stop thinking about one thing and start thinking about another. But at City College, I'll be able to take film production, semiotics, and sociology—just because I want to know about them.
So next time you see a dropout, be sympathetic. And please don't push him to do something he doesn't want to do. It never works. He'll come around when he's ready.
1. It is commonly believed that dropouts are_____.| A．bad kids from birth |
| B．interested in studying drugs |
| C．very likely to commit crimes |
| D．responsible for defending non-scholars |
| A．Living in comfort with his parents. |
| B．Reading in the public library. |
| C．Escaping the pressure from school. |
| D．Having time for self-discovery. |
| A．To fight for his own future. |
| B．To apply for City College. |
| C．To break away from his parents. |
| D．To live up to his parents' expectations. |
| A．Push them to the limit. |
| B．Open their hearts to them. |
| C．Try to be understanding. |
| D．Encourage them to be friendly. |
Jennifer, my friend Randy's mother, is already over 70, poor eyesight and weak legs. But due to her character, she chose to live alone in the suburbs. No matter how busily Randy works, he would go there to visit her once or twice every week.
That day as soon as he parked his car, Randy smelt the delicious smell of meat coming from her mother's house. His mother said, “Your birthday is coming next week, so I'm preparing pork trotters (猪蹄) for you!” Seeing the steaming delicious trotters, he couldn’t help complaining, “I don't like these things at all, so fatty.”
On his way back, he called me, saying that he felt sorry. In fact, he longed to thank his mother and eat up that bowl of trotters. But he felt sorry that it took her too much time and energy. If he didn’t stop her strictly, he was afraid the same thing would continue. He would rather not eat trotters any more than have his mother overwork. I understand how he felt exactly. Each of us has done like that. Because of feeling sorry for others' sacrifice, we purposely harden our heart against accepting others' favor and even criticize them severely in order to frighten their goodness away and make them never do that again.
This method may work, but it will hurt each other's feelings. It's not wrong logically, but we always neglect another sound deep in our heart: because we're afraid we can't repay them, we're unwilling to shoulder others' goodness. So we reduce its value and refuse it severely. But to destroy others' goodness is also to deny you.
1. Randy refuse to eat the pork trotters his mother cooked because ____.
| A．he disliked them at all |
| B．they were really very fatty. |
| C．they weren’t his favorite taste |
| D．he didn’t want her to overwork. |
| A．express his apology to his mother |
| B．complain about his mother |
| C．apologize for his rudeness |
| D．ask for a bowl of trotters. |
| A．they can be frightened away |
| B．they won't continue doing that |
| C．we needn’t repay them later |
| D．we won't feel sorry for their sacrifice |
| A．refuse others' favor immediately |
| B．deal with others' favor wisely |
| C．repay others' goodness actively |
| D．shoulder others' goodness completely. |
【推荐2】James Warren was walking in his Denver neighborhood when something gave him pause. “A woman was waiting for the bus, sitting in the dirt. And I was like,’ Oh man, that’s terrible.’ That’s not dignified at all. We need to be doing better by our fellow city members,” Warren told a reporter. “And so, I thought, ‘I could do something about that, and I could build a bench.’” That moment led him on a mission to help his community.
Warren found some scrap wood (废木料), thanks to construction sites in his neighborhood with piles of discarded wood. And, because his dad builds houses, he grew up around tools-he knew he had the basic skills needed to build a bench.
He built one at the beginning of the year and put it back at that bus stop where he first got the idea. Since then, he’s built eight custom benches and has placed them at bus stops around the area.
Each bench looks different, since he’s using scrap wood for all of them. Each one takes a few hours to build, and Warren hand-delivers them to bus stops without sitting areas. While each bench is unique, Warren makes sure to carve the same message on all of them: “Be Kind.”
“Sometimes it can feel really difficult to make a change in the world around us. But the truth is, anyone can be kind and make a difference in the world. And that difference matters a lot,” he said.
He’s heard from many people in the community — those who use the benches and those who have been inspired by them. “What’s been really cool is seeing other people online building their own benches or even just taking chairs they were going to throw out and putting them by bus stops instead of letting them go to landfill,” Warren said.
Warren said he hopes the benches continue to inspire-and perhaps expand to other cities.
1. What made James Warren build benches?| A．The woman’s seeking help from him. |
| B．His father’s teaching him to build houses. |
| C．Finding other people building benches. |
| D．Seeing a woman sitting on the ground. |
| A．They were of low cost. | B．They had the same shape. |
| C．They spread different information. | D．They have been used in other cities. |
| A．Acts of kindness go a long way. |
| B．Helping others makes us happy. |
| C．We should dream big but do small. |
| D．Having some skills is of importance. |
| A．They voiced their doubt. | B．They showed their support. |
| C．They expressed their concern. | D．They conveyed their curiosity. |
【推荐3】Waiting for the bus every morning and going to school has never been better for Ryder Killam, a 5-year-old boy in a wheelchair from Westerly, Rhode Island who was born with disability (残疾) .He no longer has to wait for the school bus in the open air thanks to Westerly High School students.
The goal of the boy’s father, Tim Killam, was to keep his little kid protected from the bad weather while waiting for the bus every morning, and getting some kind of shelter (避雨处) was actually his idea. He asked for an unused bus shelter on Facebook. After not being able to find a suitable one, he decided to contact the high school which had already finished several building projects.
The students from Westerly High School construction (建造) class, among whom is one of Ryder’s brothers, quickly put their hands to work. The bus stop was designed by pupil Mason Heald, who was in regular contact with the Killams for feedback.
The construction class, led by Dan McKenna, teaches its members building skills and is part of the high school’s Career and Technical Education programme.
“This was a design to final products and delivery (传送;递送) .It’s the best we could have asked for. It’s really what these programmes should be about,” said Michael Hobin, Westerly High School’s principal (校长) .
More people from the local community chipped in to help make the project happen. One of McKenna’s former students transported(运输)the shelter from the high school to the Killams’ address with his truck. And another neighbour helped to properly position the shelter by the bus stop.
Not only did Ryder’s daily life improve, but the students also learnt an unforgettable life lesson. They saw that with their skills and knowledge they can make a real difference in someone else’s life.
1. Why did Tim Killam turn to a high school for help?| A．Few people helped him. | B．The school was close to him. |
| C．He couldn’t find a right shelter. | D．His son put forward the suggestion. |
| A．Ryder Killam. | B．Tim Killam. | C．Dan McKenna. | D．Mason Heald. |
| A．Joined in. | B．Got hungry. | C．Kept an eye on. | D．Fought over. |
| A．Amazed. | B．Appreciative. | C．Unclear. | D．Doubtful. |
