My grandmother knitted Christmas stockings for each of her five children in the 1960s. Then, she made them for us, her grandchildren, too. When our grandmother died unexpectedly in 2017, it felt like the end of a tradition of handmade personalized Christmas stockings and my cousins’ chances of joining us with stockings on the fireplace were gone.
Grandma was an amazing woman, but she was hard to feel really close to when I was a child. She smiled softly when the grandkids came noisily through the door to disturb her shy, quiet peace. And instead of covering us with kisses like other grandmothers, she always had something ready for us. It took me a while to understand that the things she made meant the same as “I love you” or “I missed you”. It wasn’t that she was cold — not at all. Sometimes people as brilliant as Grandma have a hard time relating to others.
While we grew up, she was our personal Google. When I was in college, she asked if I studied the Romantic poets or how familiar I was with Aristotle. I tried my best to keep up, but there was a lot I never knew about my grandmother until she passed away. I knew and loved that every room and hallway in her house had a bookcase, and these were filled with books on every subject in several languages.
This year, I began to learn to make the Christmas stocking. At first, I considered it as a nice way to keep apart of Christmas I always loved as a child, but now I feel closer to my grandma than ever. And although my stockings will be the gifts for my cousins this year, now I understand the love and thoughts of Grandma that goes into the seemingly never-ending rows of knitting.
1. What does the author think the stockings made by Grandma were?| A．Ordinary Christmas presents. | B．Personalized warm clothing. |
| C．The bonds between family members. | D．A reminder of hard times. |
| A．By buying them gifts. | B．By giving them kisses. |
| C．By offering books to them. | D．By making things for them. |
| A．Determined. | B．Difficult. |
| C．Responsible. | D．Knowledgeable. |
| A．To keep an old part of Christmas. | B．To save money on Christmas presents. |
| C．To honor the memory of Grandma better. | D．To pass Grandma’s knitting skills |
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【推荐1】Every family is a foundation of society. It is where one learns fundamental values and beliefs. It is the first place one goes when they need love and support.
Nurture (培养) healthy communication. The key to any strong relationship is communication.
Facing life’s challenges together. No family is perfect, and every family will face challenges at some point in their lives. The key is to address those challenges together as a team. There will be times when family members will disagree on how to face a challenge.
Building a solid foundation for your family takes time, effort, and patience. But it is well worth it when you see the lasting bonds.
| A．Encourage quality time together. |
| B．That is especially true for families. |
| C．Families grow and change over time. |
| D．Show your children how important family is. |
| E．Plus, it is also the foundation for personal success in life. |
| F．Your children will cherish the memories of these moments when they get older. |
| G．It is essential to respect each other's opinions and find a solution that works for everyone. |
【推荐2】At times my mom has been uncomfortable seeing these qualities in me. For example，when I was 12，I went to Puerto Rico all by myself to stay with my grandmother for the summer. My mom was extremely nervous about it. She kept telling me how things were different in Puerto Rico（波多黎各），to always put on sunscreen（防晒霜），not to wander away from my grandmother，and other warnings. She helped me pack and did not leave the airport until she saw my plane take off.
But despite（尽管）her worries，she let me go on my own. As I moved into my teens，she continued to give me space to grow and learn，even when it might have been difficult for her. When I reached my senior year，I decided to move away for college. Once again I found that I differed from my peers（同龄人)：While many of them wanted to stay close to home，I couldn’t wait to be out in the world on my own. While my mom may not have been happy at the thought of my going away，she was supportive and excited for me.
One big thing I realized during my senior year，as my mom granted（允许） me more freedom，was that she actually believes in me and trusts me. That means a lot. Most of my life，and especially when I was little，the main person I tried to impress in my schoolwork or other things was my mother. I knew she expected nothing but the best from me. Sometimes it was hard to live up to her standards: getting a single B on my report card would make me feel bad because I knew she wanted me to have all A’s.
I know that her high standards have helped me stay focused on what’s important, like education，and made me who I am. I am thankful for her support and involvement in my life. Most of all I respect her. She is the strongest woman I know and that’s why I have turned out so strong and independent.
1. When the author decided to go to Puerto Rico, his mother________.| A．didn’t allow him to do so |
| B．wanted to go with him |
| C．worried about his safety |
| D．asked his grandmother for advice |
| A．He wanted to be different from his peers. |
| B．He planned to keep away from his mother. |
| C．He intended to make his mother unhappy. |
| D．He wanted to be independent |
| A．had a high expectation of him |
| B．cared little about his learning |
| C．used to expect nothing from him |
| D．was too strict with him |
| A．His mother’s deep love for him |
| B．The importance of his mother’s trust and support |
| C．His long way to become independent |
| D．His good relationship with his mother |
【推荐3】“Dad,” I say one day, “let’s take a trip. Why don’t you fly out and meet me?”
My father had just retired after 27 years as a manager for IBM. His job filled his day, his thought, and his life. While he woke up and took a warm shower, I screamed under a freezing waterfall in Peru. While he tied a tie and put on the same Swiss watch, I rowed a boat across Lake of the Ozarks.
My father sees me drifting aimlessly, nothing to show for my 33 years but a passport full of funny stamps. He wants me to settle down, but now I want him to find an adventure. He agrees to travel with me through the national parks. We meet four weeks later in Rapid City. “What is our first stop?” asks my father. “What time is it?” “Still don’t have a watch?” Less than an hour away is Mount Rushmore. As he stares up at the four Presidents carved in granite (花岗岩), his mouth and eyes open slowly, like those of a little boy. “Unbelievable.” he says, “How was this done?” A film in the information center shows sculptor Gutzon Borglum devoted 14 years to the sculpture and then left the final touches to his son. We stare up and I ask myself, “Would I ever devote my life to anything?” “No directions, no goals” I always used to hear those words in my father’s voice. Now I hear them in my own.
The next day we’re at Yellowstone National Park, where we have a picnic. “Did you ever travel with your dad?” I ask. “Only once,” he says, “I never spoke much with my father. We loved each other — but never said it. Whatever he could give me, he gave.” The last sentence — it’s probably the same thing I’d say about my father. And what I’d want my child to say about me.
In Glacier National Park, my father says, “I’ve never seen water so blue.” I have, in several places of the world. I can keep travelling. I realize — and maybe a regular job won’t be as dull as I feared. Weeks after our trip, I call my father. “The photos from the trip are wonderful.” he says. “We have got to take another trip like that sometime.” I tell him I’ve decided to settle down, and I’m wearing a watch.
1. We can learn from Paragraph 2 and Paragraph 3 that the father ________.| A．liked the author’s collection of stamps |
| B．was unhappy with the author’s lifestyle |
| C．got bored with his job |
| D．followed the fashion |
| A．He should pursue a specific aim in life. |
| B．He should learn sculpture in the future. |
| C．His father is as innocent as a little boy. |
| D．His father is interested in sculpture. |
| A．They begin to change their attitudes to life. |
| B．They decide to learn photography together. |
| C．The Swiss watch has drawn them close. |
| D．The call solves their disagreements. |
【推荐1】Students at Huonville High School in Australia are riding bikes out of desire to fight climate change, carrying out a dizzyingly-thorough transformation of their school building into an energy efficient inspiration.
It’s paying off big time, as they’ve helped save $44, 000 in utility bills since they started their energy-saving project, but it’s also inspiring young people in the community. Recently the school won the Zayed Future Energy Prize of $133 ,000, some of which was used to turn a building into the Zayed Future Energy Hub, a clubhouse where 13 volunteers learn and teach about how renewable energy can be applied to our everyday lives.
Among all the efficiency adjustments, they set up solar panels on the roof, and replaced the old windows with double and triple glazed ones. They added improved insulation (隔热) and energy efficient curtains. They even have stationary bikes that create electricity to cook doughnuts.
The classroom was cold in the mornings, but the students wanted zero carbon emissions through their heating. So they went out and got a pellet stove, and then if that wasn’t enough, they went out and built a pellet mill (颗粒机) to make their fuel from waste sawdust.
Powering one small building on a high school campus or cooking doughnuts in renewable fat fryers is nice, but will do little on their own to slow global climate change. However, the Hub is much more about the big picture. Nel Smit, the volunteer teacher—head of the Hub, knows their biggest contribution is exciting the minds of the next generation.
“This little school in the Huon Valley is actually doing amazing things,” Smit said. “It’s raised awareness of renewable energy, energy efficiency, and opportunities in the community for engaging them around that sort of technology.”
1. What’s special about Huonville High School?| A．It attaches importance to riding bikes. | B．It promotes the idea of energy saving. |
| C．It encourages students to be creative. | D．It is powered entirely by solar energy. |
| A．It is a club center for volunteers. | B．It is the place to produce energy. |
| C．It is built at the cost of $133,000. | D．It is used to hold learning activities. |
| A．To save electricity bill. | B．To keep low carbon emissions. |
| C．To get rid of waste sawdust. | D．To test the pellet stove. |
| A．Saving a lot of energy. | B．Creating more great minds. |
| C．Educating the next generation. | D．Slowing global climate change. |
【推荐2】On a recent afternoon, some 60 years after they graduated from grammar school, Kathleen Rys, 72, and her sister Lorraine O’Kelly, 70, sat down and had a meal with a classmate, Bruce Smit, 71 for the first time.
In the 1950s, Lorraine and Kathleen Rys’ family moved from Chicago to Monee. As new kids at Monee Elementary School, they soon found themselves on the outs with other students.
“I would be with the other guys and see Kathleen walking down the hallway, her head down, holding her books, walking slowly. And all of us guys would be flat against the wall until she passed. Then we’d burst into laughter. How rude is that? It’s just crazy.” said Smit, a doctor whose wife, Tammy, organized the meeting.
The women said none of the teachers cared about it. “We just kept it to ourselves.” Lorraine said.
Over the years, Tammy Smit said, “Bruce would just start to cry at times. He’d wonder what happened to the sisters, if they landed OK.” One day a few weeks ago, Tammy took to the internet and found Mary O’Kelly, Lorraine’s daughter, and offered to set up a meeting. The idea of revisiting the pain was not well- received by Kathleen, who had never married, let alone gone on a date. It took some convincing, but Lorraine finally got Kathleen to agree to meet with Bruce.
Bruce broke into tears. “I’m so ashamed, so embarrassed,” he said. “But I’m so happy you’re still here and that I can finally apologize.” He said he hopes his apology will encourage others to seek forgiveness for the pain they make on others. Lorraine said, “This is a beautiful thing. It’s just wonderful that a person from 60 years ago can ask for forgiveness. It’s like a miracle to us. It’s a healing to us.”
1. What can we learn from the first three paragraphs?| A．Kathleen made her classmates afraid of her at school. |
| B．Kathleen was once hurt by her classmates at school. |
| C．Bruce Smit asked his wife to organize the meeting. |
| D．Bruce Smit spoke ill of Kathleen. |
| A．The guys’ meeting. | B．Kathleen’s slow pace. |
| C．The guys’ apology. | D．Kathleen’s suffering. |
| A．Angry. | B．Excited. | C．Anxious. | D．Unwilling. |
| A．Bruce was embarrassed for his apology. | B．The other guys apologized to the two sisters. |
| C．Bruce and the two sisters felt a sense of relief. | D．Lorraine thought the apology came a little late. |
【推荐3】Spending roughly a decade preparing for her 2023 book Alive: Like Light and Salt, writer Liao Zhi has taken a creative journey with her memories of surviving the disastrous Wenchuan earthquake. The then 23-year-old dance teacher was rescued from a collapsed building, but suffered the loss of her legs and her child.
Selected from Liao’s diary entries, the six-chapter book touches upon topics like “finding one’s true self” and “relationships”, revealing how the writer dealt with pain to set career goals and find the courage to become a parent once again.
The writer said her desire for life seemed to have been strengthened by the near-death experience and that may be why she took only less than a year to get back on track again. Swimming, running marathon and taking part in charity dance performances were only a part of Liao’s daily agenda that helped her see the light again.
Alive: Like Light and Salt is not all about dealing with difficulties. Liao has devoted several chapters to topics like “becoming a communication expert in close relationships” and sharing her thoughts on love.
Liao met Charles Wang, a prosthesis(假肢) engineer, when she was getting her new artificial legs. Although she was hesitant about getting remarried, Wang assured her that she was the one, even telling his parents that “I’ll never again meet such a good girl.”
“Her life-loving nature, her health y mind-set toward her disability and also her willingness to speak up for people with the same experiences as herself, such things let me see a different side of life. I’ve been deeply touched by her,” said Liao’s mother-in-law.
Liao set up the Home of Chenxing, a rehabilitation(康复) studio in Chongqing for disabled people in 2019, and has now helped over 100 people walk again with artificial limbs(肢). She’s also a leader of a charity group called “Seeing and Change”. “Society needs to be educated to see this particular group of people. We represent a part of society’s value,” Liao noted.
1. What do we know about the book Alive: Like Light and Salt?| A．It’s mainly intended for earthquake survivors. | B．It’s inspired by her husband encouragement. |
| C．It’s focused on ways to handle difficulties. | D．It’s based on the author’s life experiences. |
| A．It helped her see the hope of life. | B．It pushed her to start a studio. |
| C．It urged her to write many books. | D．It enabled her to walk again. |
| A．To introduce Liao’s achievements. | B．To confirm Liao’s good qualities. |
| C．To think highly of Liao’s marriage. | D．To ask people to experience life. |
| A．Charity should be made international. |
| B．The disabled create more social values. |
| C．Liao is devoted to helping the physically disabled. |
| D．Society owes an apology to the particular group. |
