Many years ago, when I was fresh out of school and working in Denver, I was driving to my parents’ home in Missouri for Christmas. I stopped at a gas station (加油站) about 50 miles from Oklahoma City, where I was planning to stop and visit a friend. While I was standing in line at the cash register (收款台), I said hello to an older couple who were also paying for gas.
I took off , but had gone only a few miles when black smoke poured from the back of my car. I stopped and wondered what I should do. A car pulled up behind me. It was the couple I had spoken to at the gas station. They said they would take me to my friend’s. We chatted on the way into the city, and when I got out of the car, the husband gave me his business card.
I wrote him and his wife a thank-you note for helping me. Soon afterward, I received a Christmas present from them. Their note that came with it said that helping me had made their holidays meaningful.
Years later, I drove to a meeting in a nearby town in the morning. In late afternoon I returned to my car and found that I’d left the lights on all day, and the battery (电池) was dead. Then I noticed that the Friendly Ford dealership — a shop selling cars — was right next door. I walked over and found two salesmen in the showroom.
“Just how friendly is Friendly Ford?” I asked and explained my trouble. They quickly drove a pickup truck to my car and started it. They would accept no payment, so when I got home, I wrote them a note to say thanks. I received a letter back from one of the salesmen. No one had ever taken the time to write him and say thank you, and it meant a lot, he said.
“Thank you” — two powerful words. They’re easy to say and mean so much.
1. The author planned to stop at Oklahoma City ________.| A．to visit a friend |
| B．to see his parents |
| C．to pay at the cash register |
| D．to have more gas for his car |
| A．turned off | B．moved off | C．put up | D．set up |
| A．He had it pulled back to the gas station. |
| B．The couple sent him a business card. |
| C．The couple offered to help him. |
| D．He called his friend for help. |
| A．something went wrong with the lights |
| B．the meeting lasted a whole day |
| C．he forgot to turn off the lights |
| D．he drove too long a distance |
| A．how to write a thank-you letter |
| B．how to deal with car problems |
| C．the kind-heartedness of older people |
| D．the importance of expressing thanks |
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There was a park near my home. But I didn’t go there very often. Many people said there was nothing special. One afternoon I went into the park and found it was really small. I walked quickly because there wasn’t much to see. I walked for some time and found myself standing in front of two paths.
The left one was wide and clean. There were lots of flowers on both sides of the path. Though the flowers weren’t very beautiful, they made me feel good. I decided to take this path. But wait! I looked at the right one. The path didn’t look nice.
Many people told me that there was nothing much to see in the park. Now I’d like to tell them that if they had followed the right way, they would have felt differently. But when I told them about what I had seen in the park, they just smiled at me without saying a word. I knew they didn’t believe me. They couldn’t even remember that path because it was so small.
| A．There is nothing that I want to see. |
| B．It looked like it had not been cleaned for months. |
| C．After a while a strange feeling made me follow the dirty path. |
| D．“ Which way should I go?” I asked myself. I looked at one way, then the other. |
| E．I told them what happened. |
| F．My trip to the park that day made me understand something about life. |
| G．There were trees, flowers and chairs. I thought it was the nicest part of the park. |
【推荐2】Everyone wants to win, and everybody knows it. Take the case of Olympic athletes, who train hard each day for years to reach the top of their sport and hopefully win a gold medal. Since every competitor’s goal is to win, we assume that the silver medalists would be less happy than gold-medal winners, but still happier than those in third place. Common sense says that our levels of happiness should have something to do with our levels of achievement – except that often this isn’t the case.
Researchers found that bronze medalists actually appeared on the whole to be happier than silver medalists. How could that be? The answer, in a word, is gratitude. Silver medallists, who compared themselves to the gold medalists, experienced disappointment at having been close to winning the gold, but falling short. The bronze medalists, on the other hand, were thankful to have won a medal at all, comparing themselves to all those who didn’t even reach the Olympic platform.
If happiness, then, is the aim of life, perhaps our achievement-centered culture is getting it all backwards. We focus on what we want rather than on what we have. We forget to be grateful, and as a result we forget to be happy.
We’re from a culture that teaches us to envy others – another person achievements – and that is always looking forward to what comes next. Yet in a better society, might we not look at what all of our earlier nexts have already earned us?
I encourage any person who struggles with frustration （挫折）in their life to take out a notebook and a pen each evening before bed, and to write down all the things that they have gratitude for. It’s not a cure for dissatisfaction, to be sure, but many people quickly discover that, when they actually stop to think about it, they have things pretty good and happiness comes.
Those bronze medalists, after all, can’t be wrong.
1. What does “this” underlined in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Happiness relies on achievements. | B．Happiness comes from gratitude. |
| C．Silver winners are the happiest. | D．Gold medalists are the happiest. |
| A．Their self-satisfaction. | B．Their dissatisfaction. |
| C．Their Gratitude. | D．Their character. |
| A．Our achievement-centered culture. | B．Our struggles with life frustration. |
| C．The lack of real winnings in our life. | D．The habit of expressing gratefulness. |
| A．The Key of Happiness | B．Medals and Happiness |
| C．Gratitude and Happiness | D．Happiness from Achievements |
【推荐3】The idea of changing the world seems very crazy, but there are a number of small everyday things we can do to make the world better. Community centers, parks, libraries, homeless shelters (避难所), hospitals and schools are all places where students can make a difference through service.
Alisia Orosco, 10, wanted to show her love and care to the sick kids at University Children’s Hospital in Texas, where her brother had been a patient. She earned money by doing part-time jobs and used it to buy different toys for the children in hospital. Now she visits three hospitals every year with bags of toys. "I hope to help as many kids as I can," Alisia says. "It makes me happy to make them smile."
High school students in a town of Washington made a difference in the lives of some needy children by building a playground at a workers’ camp. They got a lot of help from a building supply store which provided free building materials for the project.
Teens in New Jersey decided to offer their help at the local soup kitchen where people with no homes can get free food. But there wasn’t one. They created a one-day soup kitchen and were able to feed 60 needy people and allowed them to take the rest home. Their efforts got more people to understand the great need of the poor in their community. Because of their efforts and success, a permanent soup kitchen was created with the $10,000 National Award they received from Newman’s Own Inc.
High school students in Las Vegas helped 30 homeless adults prepare resumes during a job fair they held at the area’s largest homeless shelter. At least nine of the adults later found jobs.
1. The underlined part "the project" in Paragraph 3 refers to the work of ________.| A．taking part in a camp | B．building a playground |
| C．making a workers’ camp | D．opening a building supply store |
| A．Kind. | B．Brave. |
| C．Proud. | D．Honest. |
| A．Students can make a difference only through community centers. |
| B．Alisia Orosco earned money by doing part-time jobs. |
| C．High school students made a difference by building libraries for the homeless. |
| D．Teens decided to buy some expensive food for the patients. |
【推荐1】Have you ever happened to have a stranger looking at you with eyes full of anger unexpectedly? It was painful and confusing, but sure a great lesson. The first thing that passed through my mind was that it must be a misunderstanding. Such a look was not meant for me, but later I saw the old lady’s face changing every time she saw me, at least seven times, no more doubt that she was very angry with me.
I was confused, shocked, and near anger. My brains were spinning (快速旋转), trying to figure out how’s and why’s but somehow managed not to show it on my face. I went home, slept a night over it and decided that I had to find a way to make peace with this lady.
The very next day I bought some nice chocolates going to see her again and when I caught sight of her, I went straight to her and apologized telling her “I am so very sorry, but if I angered you, I had no such intention; please accept my apologizes”, and handled her the chocolates. Surprised, she told me not to mind her, and apologized too. It was an awkward moment, but we made peace and the grimaces (苦相) are replaced by smiles now.
I am very grateful for this experience. It shows me I still have plenty of work to do with my mind. I learned how it is not easy to take knowledge of, accept and forgive acts that we may feel as unfair, and it taught me of possibilities about fixing a conflict. Best advice to keep for myself.
Do not react, do not be quick to judge, sleep it over, and throw in a little of empathy for self as well as others.
1. What was the matter with the old woman?| A．She was misunderstood by the author. | B．She was wronged by the author. |
| C．She taught the author a lesson. | D．She was mad with the author. |
| A．She tried to ignore it. | B．She managed to keep calm. |
| C．She pretended to be kind to her. | D．She turned away and went home. |
| A．By explaining. | B．By begging. |
| C．By persuading. | D．By apologizing. |
| A．Sad. | B．Disappointing. |
| C．Valuable. | D．Exciting. |
【推荐2】Once in a school, the girls started to leave kissing marks on the mirrors of the restroom Janitor（清洁工）was troubled by this because it was difficult for her to clean that. Janitor left notices on toilet walls asking the girls to stop leaving lipstick（口红）marks on mirrors but it didn't work.
Janitor went to the Headmaster and told him about the problem in the girls' restroom. Then, an announcement was made by the Headmaster for the girls to stop doing that, but the next day a lot more kisses would be planted on the mirror. It had become a bit of a game.
Seeing that the girls would not understand this in an easy way, the Headmaster thought of a creative way to solve this problem. Next day, a few girls representatives（代表）from each class were asked to meet the Headmaster at the restroom. When everyone came, the Headmaster said, "Thank you for coming. You all can see that there are several lipstick kisses on the mirrors in this restroom." Some girls smiled at each other secretly.
Then the Headmaster said, "As you all know, lipsticks are designed to stay on lips for long and that's why lipsticks are not easy to clean from mirrors. I would like you to see this and my hope is that when you see how hard to clean lipstick marks on the mirrors, you will take the responsibility to tell other girls not to do so." After this, Janitor came with a sponge（海绵块）cleaner, she put the sponge cleaner into the toilet bowl（抽水马桶）and then used that tool to clean one of the marks on the mirrors. Janitor smiled. Then, the girls left. feeling shocked and terrible.
1. What troubled Janitor when cleaning the restroom?| A．Girls' leaving notices on mirrors | B．Girls' leaving lipstick marks on mirrors. |
| C．Headmaster's ignoring the trouble she met with. | D．Headmaster's not being satisfied with her work. |
| A．To understand how hard to clean the marks | B．To leave more lipstick marks on the mirrors |
| C．To think of a creative way to solve the problem. | D．To clean the marks on the mirrors by themselves. |
| A．Strict and unkind | B．Friendly and honest |
| C．Creative and responsible. | D．Determined and narrow-minded |
| A．Janitor would be sad and give up her job. | B．Janitor would have more trouble in her work. |
| C．Girls would leave more lipstick marks on the mirrors. | D．There would be no more lipstick marks on the mirrors. |
【推荐3】The desire to sleep late can be almost too much to resist at weekends. This Saturday morning, though, there was something important enough to get me up early. Yawning widely, I got out of bed and put on some old jeans and a T-shirt. After combing the house for work gloves, my dad came up with a pair my mother used for gardening and took them along.
We hopped(跳) in the car and headed into Boston. Guided by my directions, Dad was somehow-able to get us to our destination: a row of two-story houses. They were in the process of being built,mostly by volunteers like us.
After grabbing a huge leather tool belt, I met the people I would be working with. Virginia, James and Wilbur were all more than twice my age but treated me like a peer(同龄人). We got to work nailing the frames of walls. By lunch break I had hit what seemed like every tough spot in the whole house, and pried(撬起) countless bent nails. The rest of the day went by quickly as I gained efficiency with my hammer. Soon it was time to pack up.
As l was leaving, a woman came into the house. She saw the progress we'd made upstairs and started looking around the rooms. Then I realized who the woman was-her family would be living in the house. As she walked through each room, I could see her planning where furniture would go.
Even though I had only been there one short day out of weeks of construction. I felt a great sense of accomplishment. When these houses finished, six families would have nice homes.
Thanks go to Habitat for Humanity for giving me such an opportunity to make a difference in others' lives. Habitat for Humanity is an international organization. Local information can be found by visiting www: habitat. org. You are welcome to join and be part of the change you want to see in your community.
1. What is the important thing the author mentioned in Paragraph l?| A．Sleeping at weekends. |
| B．Building some houses. |
| C．Gardening with his mother. |
| D．Finding his father a pair of work gloves. |
| A．He worked with people'of his age. | B．He was an awkward nailer at first. |
| C．He finished work before lunch break. | D．He learned a lot from his workmates. |
| A．Caring. | B．Brave. | C．Ambitious. | D．Sensitive. |
| A．Call more people to volunteer. |
| B．Stress the importance of labor work. |
| C．Advertise a local nonprofit organization. |
| D．Introduce the benefits of joining Habitat for Humanity. |
【推荐1】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. 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. 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 performed several building projects for the community.
The students from Westerly High School construction class quickly put their hands to work. The bus stop was designed by pupil Mason Heald. The construction class, led by Dan McKenna, teaches its members basic building skills and is part of the high school Career and Technical Education program. More people from the local community helped make the project happen. Dillon Helbig transported the shelter from the high school to the Killams’address with his truck. And another neighbor lent his backhoe (反铲挖机) 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. What once made Tim Killam concerned?| A．Ryder's disability. | B．Transportation. | C．Bad weather. |
| A．A pupil. | B．A teacher. | C．A neighbor. |
| A．Kind-hearted. | B．Easy-going. | C．Hard-working. |
| A．A Cosy Bus Stop | B．An Amazing Shelter | C．A Dream Comes True |
【推荐2】Dr. Tatiana Erukhimova is a physics professor at Texas A&M who aims to show her students, especially the young women, that there are no limits.
Only 25% of physics undergraduate students are female. Perhaps it is because boys grow up playing with machines and making drawings of fast cars and rocket explosions. But girls are just as curious about the way the world works — they just haven’t jumped into the culture of chemical reactions, energy and magnetic force with as much enthusiasm. That is, until they see one of Tatiana’s videos showing the science behind real life’s magic. Tatiana is really one of the few living female examples they could follow.
Her videos get millions of views. She is a ball of energy with a short haircut, a Russian accent and a lively personality that makes physics accessible to the younger audience. Young girls are attracted to Tatiana’s attractive demonstrations the way they flock to pop concerts. This is real. This is science they can participate in. This is an open door to endless possibilities.
“These short clips are the spark that inspires,” Tatiana says with so much excitement that it lights up the room. Everything she does involves students. She believes the magic in learning is when your peers are part of the demonstration, when you are part of the teaching process.
“She wants everything to be a celebration of science,” says one of Tatiana’s former students. And indeed, the classroom is in a party atmosphere, with students cheering when amazed by Newton’s law of motion, demonstrated by a spinning bicycle wheel held upright by the professor. It’s hard to tell who is more delighted, Tatiana or her students. She is an attraction for female students who are graduating college and working in the sciences in higher numbers than ever before.
Dr. Tatiana’s story began in Russia and her parents were both physicists. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Tatiana moved to Texas with her husband, also a physicist. They both teach at Texas A&M, and when Tatiana isn’t in the classroom, she is doing outreach with schoolchildren, amazing them with spinning lights that soon form words, liquid oxygen that shrinks objects and chemical reactions that expand matter to 10 times its size. But most importantly, she is expanding the audience of female physicists.
1. According to the passage, why do girls sometimes hesitate to jump into the culture of physics?| A．Lack of interest in chemical reactions. |
| B．Cultural differences in curiosity. |
| C．Absence of female role models. |
| D．Fear of liquid oxygen demonstrations. |
| A．They were made by a female physician. |
| B．They feature engaging demonstrations. |
| C．They are meant for Tatiana’s homeland. |
| D．They have received millions of likes online. |
| A．Appealing to students with fascinating demonstrations. |
| B．Teaching students some difficult physics concepts. |
| C．Explaining the history of Newton’s law of motion. |
| D．Encouraging girls to attend parties and pop concerts. |
| A．Female Professor Rejecting Gender Barrier |
| B．Russian Physicist and Female Scientists |
| C．Physics Professor Stimulating Girls’ Passion |
| D．The Significance of Online Short Videos |
【推荐3】I’m now at a special university where 46 speech and hearing impaired (受损) students graduate each year. Every morning, I made it a practice of setting the intention (意图) in my heart of “May I be a tool for them to get what they need right now?”.
Today, one girl came and sat down. I started with how we usually do. She can speak but cannot hear and lip-read. I asked one question, and she went on for 10 minutes straight, and in Tamil (泰米尔语). I understood a couple of words here and there, so I understood that she was not saying anything connected with what I asked. I just kept on listening to her without speaking a word. This went on for an hour and a half! Then, after a long pause, I told her to get back on track with another question. And then she shared for another half an hour straight! The whole time I was just looking in her eyes which would go here and there but come back to me. In the end, I just got up and hugged her and she was smiling wider.
Then I invited her to have juice with me. She said yes. What put me in a state of fear was realizing, just a few minutes later, that treating my new friend to some juice was the first celebration of my very first salary! A month ago, I started my first job, and what a blessing to have this important moment in my life be rooted in generosity.
1. What was the writer’s intention according to Paragraph 1?| A．A doubt. | B．A wish. | C．A struggle. | D．A guess. |
| A．required her to speak in English | B．discovered something strange about her |
| C．asked her questions as usual | D．began to teach her to lip-read |
| A．She asked the writer to speak. |
| B．She listened most of the time herself. |
| C．She stared at the writer’s eyes all the time. |
| D．She went on talking for 1.5 hours before a long pause. |
| A．Glad. | B．Regretful. | C．Bitter. | D．Grateful. |
