The day I met Hani Irmawati, she stood alone in the parking lot of the International school, a shy seventeen-year-old in worn clothing. Despite the school’s policy against Indonesian students, she approached me, begging to improve her English. When I inquired about her motivation, expecting a local job search, she quietly expressed her dream of attending an American university.
Moved by her determination, I volunteered to help her after school. Each day, Hani woke at dawn, studying on the bus to her public high school, then joining me in the afternoon, exhausted but eager to learn. Despite her struggles with college-level English, her perseverance amazed me.
Hani’s family lived modestly, her parents working as a custodian and a maid. Their income couldn’t support her American university aspirations, dampening my initial optimism.
In December 1998, a scholarship opportunity arose, but upon reviewing the requirements, I despaired. Hani lacked the extracurricular experience and standardized test scores typical of applicants. Despite my discouragement, she remained resolute, asking me to submit her application. Unable to refuse, I completed the application, highlighting her courage and perseverance. I warned her of slim acceptance odds, but she remained steadfast.
In the following weeks, Hani intensified her English studies, and I arranged for her to take the Test of English Fluency. The computerized test posed a significant challenge for her. Just before departing for the test, she received a letter from the scholarship association. I began reading the letter with her, only to discover she’d been accepted.
Overjoyed, I celebrated while Hani stood quietly, perhaps bewildered by my shock. In that moment, I realized what Hani had known all along: success requires not just intelligence, but also the drive to persevere and the courage to believe in oneself.
1. What motivated Hani to improve her English?| A．Pressure from family members. | B．Curiosity about foreign languages. |
| C．Job prospects in the local community. | D．Ambition of entering an American university. |
| A．Hani’s parents were unsupportive of her dream. |
| B．Hani was uninterested in extracurricular activities. |
| C．Hani’s application form was not submitted on time. |
| D．Hani was not academically qualified for the scholarship. |
| A．Surprised and proud. | B．Relieved but envious. |
| C．Touched and honored. | D．Shocked but concerned. |
| A．From Shyness to Success | B．A Scholar’s Journey |
| C．The Power of Perseverance | D．Hani’s Unrealistic Dream |
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【推荐1】A woman who lost one leg to cancer broke a world record by completing 102 marathon-length runs in 102 days. A marathon is a race that goes 42 kilometres.
Jacky Hunt-Broersma, who lives in Arizona, set her goal in mid-January in 2022. And every day since then, she has been running the distance of a marathon.
Most of the time, she runs on roads and trails near her home in Gilbert, Arizona. Sometimes she completes her runs on a running machine called a treadmill. Hunt-Broersma averages just over five hours to complete the runs.
She kept successfully completing marathon-length runs every day, reaching her goal by April 28. She would then hold the world record for completing 102 back-to-back marathon runs.
The current world record of 101 marathons was set April 10 by British runner Kate Jayden. The 35-year-old Jayden does not have a disability.
Hunt-Broersma, a native of South Africa, lost the bottom half of her left leg to a rare form of cancer in 2001. Until five years ago, she was not very active. But then she looked into running and decided to give it a try. The sport ended up being quite costly. But Hunt-Broersma says her investment has been well worth it.
However, she faced both physical and mental difficulties during her record-breaking attempt. On one recent day, she felt near collapse at 24 kilometres and began to cry. In that moment, she felt like her planned goal might not happen at all.
One of her recent runs was the world-famous Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts. She finished that race, held April 18, with a time of 5 hours, 5 minutes.
Hunt-Broersma’s main support team is her husband and their two young children. She is documenting her progress online and has also gained a large social media following.
Hunt-Broersma is hoping to inspire a single thought in others, regardless of their own physical limitations. She often tells people, “You’re stronger than you think—and you’re capable of so much more.”
1. How did Hunt-Broersma complete the continuous marathon record mostly?| A．By training in the park. | B．With the help of special equipment. |
| C．Through hard running on ordinary roads. | D．By participating in the official Marathon. |
| A．By April 10. | B．On April 18. |
| C．By April 28. | D．At the beginning of May. |
| A．She wanted to have more fans. |
| B．She wanted to prove herself. |
| C．She loved this sport since childhood. |
| D．This sport didn’t require a lot of investment. |
| A．Promise is debt. |
| B．A close mouth catches no flies. |
| C．One false move may lose the game. |
| D．Holding on to the last can overcome difficulties. |
【推荐2】Last July, Mr. Johnson's 12-year-old car died on California's Santa Ana Freeway. It was an hour before the sun went down, and he was 25 miles from home. He couldn't reach anyone to pick him up, so he decided to take a bus. Not knowing the routes(路线), he thought he'd just head east.
A bus pulled up, and he asked the driver how far she was going, “Four more lights,” she said. There was another bus he could take from there. “This clearly was going to be a long night,” Mr. Johnson said to himself.
She dropped Mr. Johnson off at the end of her route and told him which bus to look for. After waiting 45 minutes, he began to think about riding a taxi home although it would be very expensive. Then a bus pulled up. There was no lighted number above its windshield(挡风玻璃). It was out of service. But the door opened, and he was surprised to find that it was the same driver.
“I just can't leave you here,” she said. “This isn't the nicest place. I'll give you a ride home.”
“You'll drive me home in the bus?” he asked, perplexed [pəˈplekst](困惑的).
“No, I'll take you in my car,”she said.
“It's a long way,” he protested.
“Come on,” she said. “I have nothing else to do.”
As they drove from the station in her car, the driver began telling him a story. A few days earlier, her brother had run out of gas. A good Samaritan [səˈmærɪtən] picked him up, took him to a service station and then back to his car. “I'm just passing the favor along,”she said.
When Mr. Johnson gave her money as a thank-you, she wouldn't hear of it. “That wouldn't make it a favor,” she said. “Just do something nice for somebody. Pass it along.”
1. Why did Mr. Johnson say that he would have a long night? Because ________.| A．he didn't know the routes |
| B．no driver would give him a ride |
| C．he perhaps would have to take a taxi |
| D．he wondered how long he had to wait for the next bus |
| A．a little dark | B．neither quiet nor nice |
| C．a little unsafe | D．neither clean nor beautiful |
| A．she did as her brother had told her |
| B．she happened to go in the same direction(方向) |
| C．she wanted to get more money from him |
| D．she wanted to do something good for other people |
| A．We should only help the person who helped us. |
| B．If someone helped us, we should remember him. |
| C．We should help other people as the bus driver did. |
| D．We should give some money to the person after his help. |
【推荐3】What he believes was Philadelphia’s first 5K Earth Day Trash Walk came to Terrill Haigler in a moment of morning inspiration.
One day, Haigler, better known as “Ya Fav Trashman” on social media, thought about how he could combine trash pickup, helping the homeless, and a bit of fitness. Coinciding with Earth Day weekend, the event hopefully would bring volunteers from across the city to walk through Kensington, a Philly neighborhood suffering from drug and homelessness issues, and clean up while bathed in the sun.
The idea turned into reality on Saturday morning, when 200 volunteers picked up 8 tons of trash, collected 503 bags of litter, and distributed 200 hot meals to those experiencing homelessness in Kensington, all while laughing and smiling along the 3.2-mile route.
Volunteers, wearing running sneakers and carrying trash pickers and bags, walked, jogged, and skipped through the streets while cleaning up. As part of the event, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society had pledged (承诺) to plant a tree in a black or brown community over the next five years for every bag of trash collected. Haigler was “ecstatic (狂喜的)” to be able to tell the society that more than 500 trees would be planted.
Saturday’s walk is the latest in Haigler’s constant push to raise awareness of what sanitation workers (环卫工人) do to try to keep Philly streets clean and to help his city in creative ways.
Haigler first came to fame during the pandemic, when garbage began to pile up as sanitation workers called out sick due to COVID-19. On his account, he posted videos and host live sessions to teach residents about his job and all its difficulties.
Soon, Haigler turned from spreading awareness to community activism, holding a food drive for frontline workers during the pandemic and raising $32,000 to purchase protective equipment for his team. In 2021, Haigler stepped down from his job and now runs a nonprofit to bridge the gap between the community and the city’s sanitation team.
1. What inspired Terrill Haigler to organize the Philadelphia 5K Earth Day Trash Walk?| A．A wish to celebrate the Earth Day. |
| B．A plan to provide hot meals to the homeless. |
| C．A desire to encourage more people to go jogging. |
| D．A need to clean the city while helping the homeless. |
| A．They distribute hot meals to the homeless. |
| B．They provided volunteers with running sneakers. |
| C．They promised to help green the local communities. |
| D．They offered trash pickers and bags to the volunteers. |
| A．To teach people about environmental issues. |
| B．To promote physical exercise in the community. |
| C．To tackle the issues of drug addiction and homelessness. |
| D．To promote understanding between citizens and sanitation workers. |
| A．A team player. | B．A Mr. Initiative. | C．An early bird. | D．A green hand. |
【推荐1】During my time at the estate agency, we saw sales figures fall and the management team were starting to become annoyed. Our sales and office manager was dealing with a team of around seven senior estate agency sales people that were seemingly down on their luck.
Only one of them was still making sales and he seemed to have a charm and golden touch that surpasses luck or market forces. Things became very bad and every day we complained about the sales leads we were given. They were from people that had already been surveyed so many times that they were tired and regretted making an enquiry.
After a while, things became so bad that the senior management team sent down an executive from another office. This was a man that was doing very well and didn't complain about poor leads or bad market conditions. He told us that the company had purchased a new batch of untapped leads that could be made into sales, but he told us we were not getting them.
The senior executive they sent told us that we had to make a sale over the next week or we were all fired. They were looking to replace the staff because the ones on the team at the moment were lame ducks. They also started a scoring system. The person that earned the most during the week got a brand-new car; the second most got a new set of steak knives. If you failed to make a sale you were fired.
After a lot of phone calls, I finally got an appointment with a couple that had been approached a few times. I was told that they just like to talk to sales agents, but I was not going to let that stop me. I went around their house and talked to them until past two in the morning. At this point, I was holding out a pen and waiting for them to sign. After around twenty minutes of silence, they took the pen and signed, therefore agreeing to purchase six units within an apartment complex.
Finally I made my own luck, although not motivated in an appropriate and fair manner.
1. Why did some customers regret making an enquiry?| A．Because the senior sales people were always complaining. |
| B．Because too many customers made sales people exhausted. |
| C．Because the customers received so many tiring surveys. |
| D．Because the customers did not get what they wanted. |
| A．A new untapped sales lead was provided instantly. |
| B．All the staff in the company stopped complaining. |
| C．He fired some sales men to show his determination. |
| D．He took several severe measures to promote selling. |
| A．Incompetent employees. | B．Weak ducks. |
| C．Complaining workers. | D．Disabled people. |
| A．He who can't talk big can't succeed. | B．A man's success is through his feet. |
| C．Success and rest do sleep together. | D．Success has many friends. |
【推荐2】In 2007, Jamie Whitmore was considered one of the most successful athletes in America. She was a six-time USA champion for XTERRA racing, a two-time European tour champion, and held a world title.
Everything changed during a triathlon that seemed like so many others she had conquered. As a professional athlete, Jamie Whitmore was used to suffering, but she never imagined the pain in her leg could be a deadly cancer.
After a friend recommended she go to the University of California, San Francisco, Whitmore took his advice and was quickly admitted. What doctors found during surgery shocked them all: Whitmore had spindle cell sarcoma, a soft tissue tumor that can start in the bone, and the tumor was wrapped around her sciatic nerve and touching several vital organs. They couldn’t cut it out for fear of bursting the tumor.
When she heard the diagnosis for the first time, Whitmore said time stood still. “I couldn’t breathe. They were talking about treatment and I just started crying and saying ‘I don’t want to die. ’” Finally, the doctors enlisted the help of several specialists to remove the tumor. Whitmore developed sepsis(败血症) from the surgery and endured a grueling two-month recovery. When she began to feel sick again, Whitmore was certain her cancer was back. Instead, doctors gave her unexpected news: She was pregnant—with twins. “That was a whole other freak-out,” Whitmore recalls.
Jamie Whitmore isn’t used to slowing down. She has never met a challenge she couldn’t overcome, whether it was an XTERRA mountain bike race—or cancer. Today, Whitmore is a mother of two sons and cancer-free. She’s competing again, and has won a gold medal in the Paralympics, nine world titles, and has set two world records. She travels as a motivational speaker when she’s not spending time with her sons. Whitmore has some words of advice for others with limitations: “Never let anyone tell you what you can and cannot do. Some doctors told me I would never ride anything more than a stationary bike. And yet I rode my mountain bike 104 miles climbing from 9, 000 feet to 14, 000 feet. People with two good legs have fallen short of that task!You just can’t give up. ”
1. When learning about her cancer, what did Jamie feel?| A．Sad and scared. | B．Ashamed and regretful. |
| C．Annoyed and frightened. | D．Astonished and inspired. |
| A．Because Jamie was against the plan. |
| B．Because Jamie was pregnant with twins. |
| C．Because it was developing too quickly. |
| D．Because it was near several important organs. |
| A．something demanding | B．something rewarding |
| C．something unusual | D．something meaningful |
| A．To build up her character. |
| B．To inspire those with limitations. |
| C．To spend more time with her children. |
| D．To earn more money in her spare time. |
Though Alfred Nobel had a lot of money from weapons, he hated war. He hoped that there would be no war in the world. He was one of the richest in Europe. When he died in 1896, he left behind him a lot of money and his famous will. According to his will, most of his money was placed in a fund(基金). He wanted the interest(利润) from the fund to be used as prizes every year. We know them as the Nobel Prizes. The Nobel Prizes are international. Alfred Nobel wanted the winners to be chosen for their work, not the country they came from.
Alfred Nobel had given his whole life to his studies and work and to the benefits of mankind. He made money all by his own efforts, but he left the world share his wealth. His inventions and wealth stay with the world for ever.
1. Alfred Nobel did the following EXCEPT ______________
| A．choosing the winners of Nobel Prize |
| B．making and selling weapons |
| C．setting up the Nobel Prize |
| D．making and selling explosives |
| A．he made enough money |
| B．he hated war |
| C．he wanted to get more interest from the fund |
| D．he liked to live in a peaceful world |
| A．all Nobel’s money in the fund |
| B．all Nobel’s money in his company |
| C．all the interest from the fund |
| D．some of the interest in the fund |
| A．interesting | B．unselfish | C．kind-hearted | D．richest |
| A．Nobel set up his company to sell clothes. |
| B．Most of Nobel’s money was used for the world wars. |
| C．Nobel Prizes are only for some people from some special countries. |
| D．Nobel worked hard in his life and saved lots of money for the world to share. |
【推荐1】36-year-old Victoria Murden McClure is a real adventurer. She has been on many mountaineering expeditions. She was also the youngest person in a team that skied 1,200 kilometers across Antarctica to the South Pole in 1989, and became one of only two women ever to travel to the Pole by land.
The journey across the Atlantic was her third attempt. The first time she failed because of illness, and during her second attempt, in 1998, she nearly died. She had rowed nearly 5, 000 kilometers when her boat was hit by Hurricane Danielle. McClure was suddenly in the middle of 80 mph wind, and surrounded by waves that were 20 meters high.
Her little boat turned over five times. McClure was sure that she was going to die —she took the video recorder that she had brought with her and recorded a goodbye message to her family and friends. The hurricane continued into night, and The Pearl turned over five more times.
McClure was determined not to send a signal asking to be rescued-she didn’t want other people to risk their lives. But after the eleventh capsizing of her boat, she finally sent it and a large ship came and found her. However, they couldn’t get her boat out of the rough sea—it was found months later near the coast of Portugal.
Victoria Murden McClure had concussion and a dislocated shoulder when she got home. Many people might have given up after an experience like this, but one year later, McClure was back in her repaired boat and tried again. This time she was successful, and although she again met a hurricane on the journey, which stopped her from breaking the record for the fastest transatlantic rowing crossing, she only overturned once!
1. According to the first paragraph, we can know that in 1989 __________.| A．only two women landed on the South Pole |
| B．more than two people traveled to the South Pole |
| C．the journey to the Pole was McClure’s first attempt |
| D．McClure was the only woman in the expedition team |
| A．she was ill | B．she came across a strong wind |
| C．she lost her way | D．none came to her rescue |
| A．Hurricane Danielle | B．the rescue ship |
| C．McClure’s boat | D．the expedition team |
| A．McClure didn’t send any signal for rescue on the second journey across the Atlantic. |
| B．People didn’t find her boat any more after the second journey across the Atlantic. |
| C．McClure was badly physically hurt on the second journey across the Atlantic. |
| D．McClure said goodbye to the transatlantic rowing crossing after the second journey across the Atlantic. |
【推荐2】Former National Football League player and children’s author Tim Green has added another book to his list of accomplishments: Unstoppable. The book tells the story of a 12 year-old boy named Harrison, who survives life in a cruel lobster-home（寄养家庭）before he finally finds a loving family. Then he settles in and realizes his natural football ability but he loses his leg due to a deadly bone cancer. Unstoppable follows Harrison’s difficult life journey.
Tim Green said he decided to write a novel about a kid facing cancer after watching how his wife fought to survive her own illness. “Her mental and physical toughness were more heroic to me than anything I’d ever seen in the national sports leagues,” Green told TFK.
Green said, he knew he needed to write about a person who struggled through a serious illness. But because the target age for his books is the teen, he needed to tell the story through the eyes of someone of that age. He needed a perfect real story on which to base his book.
When friends introduced Green to Jeffrey Keith, Green knew he had found the right person to help him “capture（捕捉）the heroism that it takes to fight cancer”, Cancer- survivor Jeffrey Keith lost his leg at the age of twelve, but went on to be the goalkeeper and was also the first amputee（被截肢者）to run 3,300 miles across the country.
TFK asked Keith what it felt like to read Unstoppable for the first time. “Tim captured what it felt like for me to go through this experience and battle back, “Keith said.” Tim’s look sends a message to all the kids across the country that are facing challenges and that have nothing to do with cancer; you are all unstoppable, as long as you believe it.”
1. What does paragraph I mainly intend to say about Harrisons life？| A．It is poor but colorful. | B．It is full of challenges. |
| C．It is filled with chances. | D．It is peaceful but boring. |
| A．He was impressed by Harrison’s encouraging life. |
| B．He intended to make Jeffrey Keith’s story well known. |
| C．He was inspired by his wife’s struggle with her illness. |
| D．He wished to encourage adults to light against illness bravely. |
| A．It is based on his life experiences. |
| B．It is written by him and Tim Green. |
| C．He offered great advice to its author. |
| D．He has introduced it to many people. |
| A．Worried. | B．Cautious. |
| C．Uncertain. | D．Favorable. |
【推荐3】Perseverance: The Key to Success
Perseverance is a vital quality to possess in order to achieve success in any aspect of life.
One perspective on perseverance is that it is the ability to maintain focus and determination in the face of frustrations.
Another perspective on perseverance is that it involves having a growth mindset. This means that individuals who possess perseverance are open to new challenges and are not afraid to fail.
In conclusion, perseverance is an essential quality to possess in order to achieve the goals we set for ourselves. It involves the ability to persist in the face of adversity, maintain focus and determination, have a growth mindset, and possess the discipline necessary to put inconsistent hard work overtime.
| A．With perseverance, anything is possible. |
| B．Write down your goals to keep them in front of you at all times. |
| C．It is the quality that drives us to keep going even when it is tough. |
| D．They view failure as an opportunity to learn rather than a reason to give up. |
| E．One way to build perseverance is to have a vision of what you want to achieve. |
| F．Furthermore, perseverance is not just about having the motivation to keep going. |
| G．In other words, perseverance is about not giving up even when things don’t go well. |
