For many people, bookstores are wonderful places. That’s because the books on the shelves can take you away to magical lands, help you learn a foreign language, or cook a delicious meal. But when your community is too small to house a brick bookstore, you have to come up with another idea. A mobile bookstore was the result. That is the case for Rita Collins, 70, who dreamed of opening a used bookstore after retiring from teaching.
A business planning class from the American Booksellers Association convinced Collins to give up her idea of opening a bookstore in the small town where she lives. Her town, Eureka, Montana, only has a population of 1,517. Collins asked her instructors about a traveling bookstore on wheels and they doubted her idea. But she insisted on it.
Collins was inspired by Dylans Mobile Bookstore, a traveling bookstore in Wales run by Jeff Towns. She contacted Jeff for advice but she was largely on her own when it came to building her bookstore. First, she had to find a vehicle large enough to stand in. Then she had to have it refitted with shelves that would hold the books at a 15-degree angle so that they would stay in place while traveling. Collins named her bookstore St. Rita’s Traveling Bookstore, which has been on the road since 2015.
At first, she drove through Montana and then she made her first cross-country trip in 2016. After she retired in 2017, it became a full-time job. Collins and her bookstore have visited 30 states, stopping at festivals and events along the way. Collins loves meeting people and making connections. While she loves what she does, Collins doesn’t think she can keep doing it. In several years, she hopes to pass her traveling bookstore onto another book lover who shares the same interest and will keep it on the road.
1. According to the passage, what’s the basic requirement for opening a bookstore?| A．There must be a community with a popularity of 1517. |
| B．The American Booksellers Association should support the store. |
| C．A bookstore must store enough books. |
| D．The bookstore must offer delicious meals. |
| A．With a large vehicle. | B．At a 15-degree angle. | C．On the wheels. | D．On the road. |
| A．Nobody supported Collins at first. | B．Jeff helped Collins a lot in building her bookstore. |
| C．Collins made the bookshelves by herself. | D．Collins would devote all her life to her bookstore. |
| A．How to make her bookstore popular. | B．How to raise more money to support her store. |
| C．How to choose more suitable books. | D．How to choose a man who can inherit her bookshop. |
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【推荐1】Anyone who has never been to China Braille Library will draw to mind various images of the place.They would wonder how the library works all the way.In fact, the library offers readers a pleasant space with several broad reading rooms on the third floor,and has 18,269 kinds of books, including 3,523 kinds of braille books, 809 kinds of braille journals, 419 kinds of books written in both braille and visible language, and 142 kinds of children’s ordinary books.
The library is open to the 17 million visually impaired people in China. This library has an arrangement with China Post, under which it has manufactured a special kind of mailing bag with cards where the address of the library is printed on one side.The borrowers can make phone calls, or send WeChat messages or emails to the librarian, listing the books they are seeking. The librarian then fishes out these books, puts them into the mailing bag, fills in the address of the borrower on the other side of the card and waits for a postman to pick up the bag.Whenever the borrower finishes reading, he or she needs to put the books back into the bag, turn the address card around and put it into a postbox for the books to return to the library.
In the age of multimedia, books have taken various forms. That applies to the world of the visually impaired, too.CBL offers its readers a smart listening device that looks like an old-fashioned cellphone. Guided by a recorded voice, a user has to just press a few buttons to gain access to 20 terabytes of audiobooks stored on the CBL website.The smart listening device is part of a Digital Reading Project for the Blind launched by China Disabled Persons’ Federation in 2017.
As part of the program, the government purchased 200,000 such devices and distributed them to the over 400 Braille libraries and barrier-free reading rooms nationwide for lending to the visually impaired. Now, 80 percent of them are still in use, which means more than 160,000 visually impaired people are benefiting from it.
1. What work does the China Braille Library aim at doing?
| A．Helping the blind people with their education. |
| B．Increasing the collections of its books. |
| C．Building a super library. |
| D．Changing the service style of Chinese library. |
| A．Coming to the library | B．Going to school |
| C．Staying at home | D．Being in the post office |
| A．tests out | B．tries out | C．pulls out | D．squeezes out |
| A．The government has more supporting programs |
| B．Eighty percent of the blind people can come to the library. |
| C．Average libraries have received 200,000 books. |
| D．Most of the government’ efforts have come into effect. |
【推荐2】You may be old enough to remember Evelyn Wood’s name for speed reading and speed learning. Inspired, her former business partner, Wechsler, shares four of the techniques successful speed readers use.
Hold Your Material at a 30-Degree Angle
Hold your book, or whatever you’re reading, at a 30-degree angle to your eyes.
Move Your Head Left to Right as You Read
Moving your head slightly back and forth while you read helps stabilize images on your retina.
Read with a Pointer
Wechsler advocates using a pen, or pointer of some kind, even your finger, to underline each sentence as you read. Your vision will allow you to move through a sentence six times faster than reading each word.
Exercise Your Eyes for 60 Seconds Before Reading
| A．Now you can learn with these four easy tips. |
| B．Relax the muscles on either side of your arms. |
| C．Never read material lying flat on a table or desk. |
| D．Your eyes become smooth and comfortable in 10 minutes. |
| E．Wechsler suggests you “warm up” your eyes before you start reading. |
| F．It also helps you stop reading individual words and read phrases instead. |
| G．The pointer helps you create a pace and focuses your attention on the page. |
【推荐3】I never knew anyone who’d grown up in Jackson without being afraid of Mrs. Calloway our librarian. She ran Jackson’s Carnegie Library absolutely by herself. SILENCE in big black letters was on signs hung everywhere. If she thought you were dressed improperly, she sent you straight back home to change your clothes. I was willing；I would do anything to read.
My mother was not afraid of Mrs. Calloway. She wished me to have my own library card to check out books for myself, She took me in to introduce me. “Eudora is nine years old and has my permission to read any book she wants from the shelves, children or adults,” Mother said.
Mrs. Calloway made her own rules about books. You could not take back a book to the library on the same day you`d taken it out；it made no difference to her that you’d read every word in it and needed another to start. You could take out two books at a time and two only. So two by two, I read library books as fast as I could go, rushing them home in the basket of my bicycle. From the minute I reached our house, I started to read. I knew this was extreme happiness, knew it at the time.
My mother shared this feeling of mine. Now, I think of her as reading so much of the time while doing something else. I remember her reading a magazine while taking the part of the Wolf in a game of "Little Red Riding Hood" with my brother's two daughters. She'd just look up at the right time, long enough to answer– in character –"The better to eat you with, my dear," and go back to her place in the magazine article.
1. Which of the following best described Mrs. Calloway?| A．diet. | B．Strict. | C．Humorous. | D．Considerate. |
| A．Desire to read. | B．Love for Mrs. Calloway. |
| C．Interest in games. | D．Fear of the library rules. |
| A．guidebook. | B．an autobiography. | C．a news report. | D．book review. |
【推荐1】Many experts say that Billy Wilder changed the history of American movies. He is often called the best movie maker Hollywood has ever had, known for making movies that offered sharp social comment.
Between the 1930s and the 1980s, Billy Wilder made almost fifty movies. During that time he received more than twenty nominations from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He won six of the Oscar awards. His movies have been seen by people around the world, like “Sunset Boulevard”, “Some Like It Hot”, “The Lost Weekend”, “The Apartment”, and “The Seven Year Itch”.
Samuel Wilder was born in 1906 in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. His mother had enjoyed spending several years in the United States when she was young. So she called him Billy because she thought it sounded American. Billy Wilder started law school in Vienna, Austria. Then he decided not to become a lawyer. Instead, he began reporting for a Vienna newspaper. By the 1920s, he was writing movies in Germany.
However, the Nazis had risen to power in the nation. Wilder was Jewish, and he recognized that he had no future in Nazi Germany. In 1933, he went to Paris. There he directed a movie for the first time. It was called “The Bad Seed”. Then he received word that producers in the United States had accepted one of his scripts. Billy Wilder left Europe for America.
Billy Wilder had only eleven dollars when he arrived to settle in the United States in 1934. He decided to live in the center of American movie making, Hollywood, California. Then he formed a writing team with Charles Brackett. The two writers created many successful films together. Wilder always praised this man as a friend and teacher whose humor and expert direction greatly influenced his work.
In his love stories, Billy Wilder did not follow the Hollywood tradition of sweet boy-meets-girl situations. He had an unusual way of showing relations between men and women. Wilder died in March, 2002. A current Hollywood producer said: “Billy Wilder made movies that people will never forget.”
1. Billy Wilder is known for ________.| A．making almost fifty wonderful movies |
| B．making movies offering insightful comments |
| C．wining ten of the Oscar awards |
| D．changing the way people see movies |
| A．Samuel | B．Empire |
| C．Wilder | D．Billy |
| A．in 1933, he directed a movie called “The Apartment” for the first time |
| B．when he arrived in America in 1934, he became famous |
| C．Charles Brackett impressed and helped Billy Wilder a lot |
| D．Billy Wilder loved the Hollywood tradition of boy-meets-girl situations |
| A．achievement | B．education |
| C．life experience | D．theory |
【推荐2】Roger Federer, a world-famous sports star, quit(放弃)the 2020 Olympic Games to deal with his knee problem. It was a hard decision because no one wanted to be a quitter. But finding the courage to let go can be good for you.
Nothing is fun all the time. Sticking at something difficult teaches us important skills like perseverance(毅力). However, learning to let go when things aren’t right is important too. Maybe your heart isn’t in playing the piano any more, or you only play football because your friends do and you want to try a different sport instead. Making the decision to walk away can free up time and energy to spend on something you really enjoy. In fact, studies show that letting go of goals you can’t reach, or don’t really want, can build up your confidence and help you lead a happier and healthier life.
But how can you know it’s time to stop and move on? Eric Bean is an expert in sports psychology(心理学) who helps athletes and teams understand their feelings. He says, “Quitting is never a matter of black and white.” He suggests thinking carefully about why you aren’t enjoying something any more. Is it because you’ve argued with a teammate or can’t get on with a new art teacher? Talk about this with a trusted adult or friend. That can help you decide whether you should stay and stick, or quit and move on.
Quitting doesn’t have to mean totally giving up, though. For example, playing an instrument might be more fun if you take away the pressure of exams. If you do decide to give up an activity, Bean suggests picking up another where you can still enjoy things like teamwork, creativity, and exercise.
1. What does the author want to convey by mentioning Roger Federer in Paragraph 1?| A．We should never give up. | B．We should get away from trouble. |
| C．It’s all night to stop and quit. | D．It’s difficult to win Olympic medals. |
| A．learn about perseverance | B．have enough money to spend |
| C．live a busier and fuller life | D．feel more confident in ourselves |
| A．it’s not good to stick at things we don’t like |
| B．we should think twice before making decisions |
| C．we don’t have to take exams to show our true abilities |
| D．it’s wiser to pick up a new hobby than to keep the old one |
| A．Knowing When to Stop | B．Working Hard in Move on |
| C．Learning How to Grow up | D．Starting Early to Make Changes |
【推荐3】When Gitanjali Rao shared how she likes “finding solutions to real problems”, it was hard to imagine this dynamic 11-year-old girl could settle a problem that has escaped scientists for years.
In just three months, Rao came up with a device that can replace the costly and lengthy tests nowadays used to reliably determine lead (铅) levels in our fresh water. Inspired by a case of water pollution from 2014 to 2015, Rao designed a new testing system that resulted in her being named America’s Top Young Scientist for 2017.
Rao had been following the water problem for about two years. She was amazed by the number of people affected by lead pollution in water and wanted to do something to change this. Rao spent months trying to convince local high schools and colleges to give her lab time to continue her experiment. At home, Rao worked on her project in the “science room” she asked her parents to create for her. Rao has created a device that uses three parts: a cartridge, a Bluetooth reader and an app. To put it simply, the cartridge contain carbon nanotubes (纳米管) that react to lead. This reaction is then registered by the Bluetooth reader, which sends a signal to a mobile app that can tell you immediately if your water is safe to drink.
Rao appropriately named the device Tethys after the Greek goddess of fresh water, and is hoping to make a little improvement to get the device on the market. While we may not be aware of any lead pollution present in our aging pipelines, lead poisoning can cause delays in physical and mental development. With Rao believing that the “purpose of science is to make a difference’’, her incredible invention could make a difference to millions of people in the United States.
1. What do we know about Rao’s device?| A．It’s cheap and quick. | B．It’s cheap and inaccurate. |
| C．It’s expensive and reliable. | D．It’s portable and time-consuming. |
| A．Sending immediate signals. | B．Recording the reaction results. |
| C．Detecting the presence of lead. | D．Showing the water quality results. |
| A．It will lead Rao to make a fortune. |
| B．It will help millions of Americans drink safe water. |
| C．It will promote the development of science in America. |
| D．It will soon settle the lead-polluted problem thoroughly. |
【推荐1】A man once had a dream about the Black Forest in Germany. In his dream he was walking in the forest when two men ran out and tried to throw him to the ground. He ran off as fast as he could, but they followed him. He reached a place where he saw two roads in front of him,one to the right, and the other to the left. Which road should he take? He heard the two men behind him,getting nearer, and at the same time, he heard a voice in his ear. It told him to go to the right and he did so. He ran on and soon came to a small hotel. He was received there kindly and given a room, and he was saved from the men. That was the dream.
Twenty years later he was really in the Black Forest and as happened in the dream long ago, two men ran out and tried to throw him down. He ran off, and came to a place with two roads, like in the dream. He took the road to the right without thinking. He soon reached a small hotel, was taken in and so was safe. His dream of twenty years before has saved his life.
1. The Black Forest is ________.| A．a place in Europe | B．not a real place |
| C．a dangerous place | D．a pace visited twice by the man |
| A．two dogs | B．two tigers | C．two men | D．the women |
| A．a voice | B．the dream 20 years before |
| C．guard of the forest | D．guests of the hotel |
| A．the man knew something about the Black Forest before he went there |
| B．the man had a good memory but bad luck |
| C．People should believe dreams because they always can save their lives |
| D．People should not believe dreams |
【推荐2】Build-A-Bear Workshop is a popular store in the United States. Customers can make their own stuffed (填充的) animals there. I went there to create two new friends for my sister’s birthday.
First we went to the Choose Me station. There were many limp (柔软的), furry friends. They were waiting to be stuffed. Among them were traditional teddy bears, puppies, kittens and cartoon characters! I chose a cream-colored teddy bear for myself and a rainbow kitty for my sister.
Next stop was the Love Me station. We could choose personalities for our toys. I chose bravery and smartness. Then, at the Hear Me station, I chose the Happy Birthday song for my sister’s kitty.
At the Stuff Me station, our new friends were stuffed by a huge machine. Then, a red heart was placed on their chests. I believe it’s a brave and smart heart!
The Dress Me station was my favorite part. You can dress your new friends with clothes, shoes and other accessories. I got a shirt, skirt and sneakers for both stuffed animals.
Finally, we arrived at the Take Me Home station. Each new furry friend was placed in its own carrying case. What an amazing shopping experience!
1. Why did the writer go to the Build-A-Bear Workshop?| A．To take care of animals. | B．To do a part-time job. |
| C．To buy a birthday gift. | D．To celebrate her birthday. |
| A．A teddy bear. | B．A little dog. |
| C．A rainbow kitty. | D．A cream colored pig. |
| A．She chose a personality for her bear. |
| B．She chose a song for the kitty. |
| C．She chose clothes for the kitty. |
| D．She put a red heart on the bear’s chest. |
| A．appearances | B．characters |
| C．attitudes | D．opinions |
| A．The writer stuffed the animals by hand. |
| B．The writer liked the Love Me station best. |
| C．The writer didn’t take her bear home. |
| D．The writer enjoyed herself at the shop. |
【推荐3】It was mid-afternoon. I looked outside my dorm window, and saw the lifeless gray sky, the snow and the trackless sidewalks. There was no one in the snow but a squirrel. The brown-gray North American squirrel,a look of terror in his shining eyes, braved the cold to throw himself over snow. In his mouth was a large acorn(橡实)—I was surprised it fit in his mouth.
I moved closer to my window, outside of which is a medium-sized tree, lacking its warm-weather leaves. The squirrel ran up rapidly, higher and higher in the tree, and his small body held onto his dear acorn.
Up he went, to the tip of one of the highest branches. I held my breath—I wondered if that slender branch could support him. I wondered if his winter food store was in this tree—squirrels are known to hide their nuts, mushrooms, and vegetation high up in trees. Outside, the squirrel firmly grasped that branch, jaw clamping(夹紧)on his acorn.
Then came the wind blowing violently, shaking the tree, the branch and the squirrel. He hung on for dear life, and both arms wrapped around the branch in the wind. I held my breath: If he fell from a height like this, then.... Seeing this little squirrel, I had my heart in my mouth. As the wind became stronger, the squirrel’s precious acorn fell to the ground. The squirrel followed its downward progress only by sight—if he let go the branch, he would fall downwards as well. I was so nervous that I didn’t take my gaze off the squirrel for one minute. Surprisingly, he then climbed down the tree and was now half-buried in the snow, searching desperately for his acorn. Finally, he made it.
The brave animal is able to survive in nature all because of its desperate efforts.The same goes for us humans. We all work hard to survive, and this is the law of nature. So effort is not something special, but a matter for all living things to do to survive.
1. What did the author discover outside the window?| A．A squirrel was freezing nearly to death. |
| B．A squirrel was choked by a large acorn. |
| C．A squirrel was picking acorns from a tree. |
| D．A squirrel was climbing to the top of a tree. |
| A．Dead. | B．Straight. | C．Slim. | D．Thick. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Unfriendly. | C．Uncaring. | D．Curious. |
| A．Stop struggling, life is stopped. |
| B．Facts speak louder than words. |
| C．Failure is the mother of success. |
| D．Teaching others teaches yourself. |
