To personal trainer Sammy Callari, 13-year-old Parker Seward is more than a client. He’s his “little brother”. Over the past year, the pair have bonded. They play basketball together, share meals and dance to hip-hop like no one’s watching.
The trainer was asked to work with the 13-year-old boy, who has Down syndrome, because his coworker who dealt with the boy was out of town last spring. Callari had never worked with someone with a disability before. He was anxious the first day he met Parker. But Parker’s big smile and cheery introduction immediately put him at ease. He reminded Callari of himself when he was a teenager. Like Parker, Callari has also faced his fair share of challenges over the years.
As a high schooler, Callari described himself as being the weak kid. When it came to sports, he was always overlooked. His dream of playing baseball in college quickly faded away. When he went to college, Callari turned to a new sport. His younger brother trained him to become a boxer. Callari participated in five matches. Out of four of those fights he was the underdog, and he won three times. “I know how it feels,” Callari said. “Society tells you that you can’t do this, you can’t do that.” When it comes to Parker, Callari refuses to accept the word “can’t”.
The friends meet twice a week to train. They bike, box, run and work on their core with push-ups. Parker has a short attention span, so it’s Callari’s job to keep him focused. “If Parker can do it, if he’s having fun, even with his frustration, then people will ask, “Why can’t I do that?” Callari said. “That’s the whole task right now.”
Callari recalls Parker’s mom once thanking him for taking a “chance” on her son. Callari told her he never viewed it that way. Parker may be the student, but Callari says he’s also the one who’s learning.
1. Why was Callari asked to train Parker?| A．They shared the same interests. | B．Parker’s parents had faith in Callari. |
| C．Callari took place of his absent colleague. | D．Callari was an expert in Down syndrome. |
| A．He was good at sports. | B．He was out of condition. |
| C．He was looked down upon by everyone. | D．He was influenced deeply by his brother. |
| A．Grateful. | B．Sympathetic. | C．Cautious. | D．Critical. |
| A．An inspiring story of a disabled boy. |
| B．high schooler suffering lots of failure. |
| C．The friendship between a disabled boy and his personal trainer. |
| D．Ways of developing friendship with the boy with Down syndrome. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Making Peace with Your Parents
As a teen, you’re going through big changes physically and mentally. Your interests are increasing.
For example, try to find a time to talk when your parents are not angry, tired, distracted or hungry. A good time to talk is when you’re all relaxed. Timing is everything. If the conversation begins to turn into an argument, you’d better calmly and coolly ask to stop the conversation for now.
What do you do if you are trying your best, but your relationship with your parents continues to be rocky?
| A．You may consider seeking outside help. |
| B．And then you’ll be able to accept what your parents say. |
| C．You can pick it up again when everyone’s more relaxed. |
| D．Faced with the challenge, children don’t know what to do. |
| E．And your desire to take control of your own life is growing. |
| F．It also gives them a chance to clear things up if you’re not on the same page. |
| G．You are more likely to get along with your parents and have more independence if your parents believe in you. |
【推荐2】Life affects friendships. As we grow, marry, fight in wars, move across the country or change jobs, old friendships fall away and new ones form. As long as we live, the things around us change, and as long as things change, friendships are affected.
When we were children, we had best friends. No matter what happened we were still friends. We live our lives, however, and do what life calls for us to do, and as we get older, memories fade, faces blur, and even friends’ names from childhood are forgotten.
Do you have a question about friendship? Do you wonder what to do with a friend who is no longer friendly? Perhaps you will see that you can’t control others. If someone wants to be your friend, it is their choice. All you can do is treat them well and do the best for them when you are with them. Then you wish them well when they leave.
You can talk to old timers (老前辈) and they will tell you that life is full of joy and sorrow, and that what bothers you today will one day become a memory and the pain will be gone. Seniors might tell you that you will learn more as you get older. They will tell you that friendships come and friendships go. Sometimes when they go, it will hurt, but you will be okay with it. It’s the way life works, after all.
1. What does the text tell us about friendship?| A．It affects our life deeply. | B．It may change with time. |
| C．It is easy to build a friendship. | D．It is wrong to forget a friend. |
| A．Taking good care of friends. | B．Stopping old friends from leaving. |
| C．Learning to accept new friends. | D．Making good choices about friends. |
| A．They regard friendship as a treasure. | B．They believe friends hurt each other. |
| C．They have a positive attitude to life. | D．They stress the importance of memory. |
【推荐3】Today the word friendship has been used so often that it has lost its meaning. Some jokingly or seriously say that friends are made to be used. It makes me sad.
True friendship doesn’t mean that when you need your friend’s help, you will invite him to dinner, and that when you have to get out of trouble, you will get your friends in great trouble.
In fact, true friendship is communication and understanding of the hearts.
True friendship is like water. Compared with good wine, water is tasteless, but is of great help when we are thirsty. True friends don’t need to be with each other every day, but are connected in heart every minute.
True friendship is like medicine. Though it doesn’t taste good, it cures your illness. True friends give you some suggestions even if they know you would not take. They criticize(批评)when others have a good word for you, not because of envy(嫉妒)but worrying that you may lose your cool head.
True friendship has nothing to do with fame, power, or money. True friends would often watch you silently far away when you are influential, but come to you whenever you need their help. You are not their stepping-stone(进身之阶) to success, but are their crutch(拐杖)to live through difficulties.
True friends make you complete. Many people go along with you through your life—your parents, your husband or wife, and your children, who take care of you and make your life happy. However, you still need someone who understands your thoughts and souls. Without them, you are likely to be unhealthy in spirit.
True friends stay in your heart, rather than at your side; they know you more than yourself, and try to better you.
1. The writer feels sad because some people ________.| A．don’t have friends | B．don’t understand friendship |
| C．make wrong friends | D．criticize their friends. |
| A．it has no taste | B．it is important to our life |
| C．it is easy to get | D．it stays with us every day. |
| A．powerful | B．busy | C．helpful | D．quiet |
【推荐1】During the Second World War, Dr. William Walsh served on a U.S. Navy ship in the South Pacific. While serving there, Walsh observed the poor health conditions in which the people of the South Pacific lived.
After the war ended in 1945, Walsh founded an organization called Project Hope. Its goal was to bring health education and care to people in poor countries around the world. In 1958, Walsh convinced U.S. President Eisenhower to allow Project Hope to rent a U.S. Navy hospital ship for just one dollar a year. Many companies and ordinary people donated money to Project Hope. The organization used the funds to turn the navy ship into a civilian hospital ship called the SS Hope.
During the next 14 years, the SS Hope traveled to every region of the world. Wherever it went, it provided health care for needy people and helped poor countries establish their own health care systems. In 1974, the SS Hope was retired from service, and Project Hope began to provide health care on land instead.
The story of the SS Hope inspired Don and Deyon Stephens to buy a passenger ship in 1978 and transform it into another hospital ship. Since then, their organization, called Mercy Ships, has sent ships equipped with medical supplies and hospital beds around the world. Doctors volunteer to travel on these vessels or ships and perform free surgeries on people who need them. They can correct people’s vision, straighten bent limbs, remove facial tumors (肿块) and more. Mercy Ships also provides medical equipment for local health clinics and builds medical facilities. In addition, it teaches local people how to farm their land more effectively and more sustainably.
1. What happened to the SS Hope in 1974?| A．It sank unexpectedly. |
| B．It was fully repaired. |
| C．It launched new services. |
| D．It ceased operations. |
| A．An entertainer in America. |
| B．Two American accountants. |
| C．An America’s top politician. |
| D．Smart American investors. |
| A．They put physicians and nurses at risk. |
| B．They’re done at no charge to patients. |
| C．They mainly benefit wealthy individuals. |
| D．They’ve resulted in serious infections. |
| A．Make a good living from tourism. |
| B．Grow crops with greater success. |
| C．Manufacture popular electronics. |
| D．Establish education institutions. |
I was tall and she was small. My thick black hair had been recently cut short into an untidy style. Her natural blonde hair flowed to her waist and looked great. I was 12 and one of the oldest in the class while she was 11 and the youngest. I was awkward and shy. She wasn’t. I couldn’t stand her, considering her my enemy. But she liked me and wanted to be friends.
One day, she invited me over and I said yes—I was too shocked to answer any other way. My family had moved six times in six years, and I had never managed to develop any friendships. But this girl who wore the latest fashions wanted me to go home with her after school.
She lived in a fun part of town that had two pizza places, an all-right bookstore, a movie theater and a park. As we walked from the school bus stop through her neighborhood, I tried to guess which house might be hers. Was it the white one with the perfect lawn or the three –story house with a front porch? I got very surprised when she led me into an old apartment building. She lived on the fourth floor in a two-room place with her mother, her stepfather, her two brothers and her sister.
When we got into the room she shared with her sister, she took out a big case of Barbies, which was my next surprise. I had never played with them. We sat on the floor, laughing as we made up crazy stories about the Barbies. We found out that we both wanted to be writers when we were older and both had wild imaginations. We had a great day that afternoon .
Lisa was loved by the whole neighborhood. The bookstore owners lent her fashion magazines; the movie theater gave her free tickets…. Soon I was included in her magic world. We slept over at each other’s houses and spent every free moment together.
Lisa, my first real friend since childhood, helped me get through the rough years of early adolescence and taught me an amazing and very surprising thing about making friends: your worst enemy can turn out to be your best friend.
1. The writer and Lisa were similar in the way that .
| A．they were both new students |
| B．they had the same hair styles |
| C．they were both tall |
| D．they were of the same age |
| A．to go to the movie |
| B．to go to walk in a park |
| C．to go to her home |
| D．to go to a pizza place |
| A．friendly and lovely | B．rich and happy |
| C．quiet and lonely | D．awkward and shy |
| A．How to make up stories. | B．How to deal with enemies. |
| C．How to live a better life. | D．How to make friends. |
【推荐3】The air is thin and we have to rest several times on the short trip from camp. On the plain (平原), we can just see many wild animals. This is why we're here to observe Tibetan antelopes.
Tibetan antelopes live on the plains of Tibet,Xinjiang and Qinghai.Watch them move slowly across the green grass. I'm attracted by the lovely animals.I'm also reminded of the danger they are in. They are being killed for their valuable fur.
My guide Zhaxi works at the Changtang National Nature Reserve. The reserve is a place for the animals and plants of northwestern Tibet. To Zhaxi, protesting the wildlife is a way of life."We're not tying to save the animals.” he says,"Actually, we're trying to save ourselves."
Between the 1980s and 1990s, the population of the Tibetan antelope dropped by over 50 percent. People were shooting antelopes to make profits. Their living places were becoming smaller as new roads and railways were built.
In order to save the animals, the Chinese government placed them under national protection. Zhaxi and other volunteers watched over the antelopes day and night to keep them safe from attacks. Bridges and gates were added to let the antelopes move easily and keep them safe from cars and trains.
The measures were effective. The antelope population has recovered and in June 2015.the Tibetan antelope was removed from the list of animals in danger. The government, however,does not intend to stop the protection programs, since the threats (威胁) to the Tibetan antelope have not yet disappeared.
Much is being done to protect wildlife but if we really want to save the planet, we must change our way of life. We can stop being a threat to wildlife and to our planet only when we learn to exist in peace with nature.
1. The author went to Tibet in order to .| A．breathe fresh air in Tibet | B．enjoy the scene in Tibet |
| C．learn the history of Tibet | D．observe Tibetan antelopes |
| A．In Tibet. | B．In Xinjiang |
| C．In Qinghai. | D．In Sichuan |
| A．Tibetan antelopes were well protected. |
| B．Tibetan antelopes population dropped |
| C．Tibetan antelopes lived in peace with people |
| D．Tibetan antelopes destroyed new roads and railways, |
| A．Useless | B．basic | C．successful | D．simple |
| A．To kill the Tibetan antelope. | B．To study the Tibetan antelope. |
| C．To watch the Tibetan antelope. | D．To protect the Tibetan antelope. |
【推荐1】When four young children were found after 40 days in the Colombian Amazon forest, the rescuers noticed that the oldest, 13-year-old Lesly Mucutuy, had some seeds hidden between her teeth.
The seeds were from a native Amazon palm tree known as “milpesos” in Colombia. Its fruits are rich in fat and Amazon tribes use them to make a vegetable oil. “She was keeping them so that the warmth of her mouth would open up the seeds and she could feed the pulp (果肉) to her younger sisters and brothers,” said Eliecer Muñoz, one of the four guards who made the very first contact with the children. “That’s how they stayed alive.”
Survival experts have been trying to answer this question: How did the four children—the youngest just a baby—survive in the heart of the Amazon rainforest for so long? The stretch of the jungle they were found in is one of the most remote and difficult to reach in Colombia, where wild animals and poisonous insects are plentiful, rains can pour for over 15 hours a day and visibility is sometimes limited to 10 meters due to the thick vegetation. In more than a month without adults, they appear to have survived on wild fruits and three pounds of cassava flour, a high-protein traditional food of the Amazon diet, which they got from the wreckage (残骸) of the plane. When found, the children had bottles they used to collect water, either from streams or from the rain.
While their survival remains a marvel, it was no doubt facilitated by traditional knowledge of the forest they acquired from a remarkably young age. Lesly, in particular, is praised for not only staying alive herself, but also making sure her younger sisters and brothers would survive following the loss of their mother in the plane crash.
Nelly Kuiru, an activist, believes that her courage goes far beyond botanical skills: “Ancestral, traditional knowledge is more than that Lesly learnt to pick fruits, but there’s something much deeper there, a spiritual connection with the forest surrounding us.”
1. Eliecer Muñoz viewed Lesly’s keeping seeds in her mouth as____________.| A．a survival skill | B．a rescue technique |
| C．an eating habit | D．a unique culture |
| A．The exact cause of the plane crash. |
| B．The detailed search and rescue operations. |
| C．The food the children depended on to stay alive. |
| D．The difficulty of surviving in the Amazon rainforest. |
| A．Talented and experienced. | B．Intelligent and responsible. |
| C．Honest and knowledgeable. | D．Creative and open-minded. |
| A．Botanical skills are more important than courage. |
| B．Lesly learned to find food in the forest from her ancestors. |
| C．Lesly is connected with her living environment spiritually. |
| D．Picking fruits is the basic knowledge to survive in the forest. |
【推荐2】It was June a few years ago right around the summer solstice, the longest day of the year.
A few weeks earlier, the first fireflies (萤火虫) had appeared blinking (眨眼) their lights on and off in the woods around my house. What a joy it was seeing them again. Their little flickers (闪烁) of light made me smile with delight.
As the daylight was starting to fade. I saw out my window some of the neighborhood children attempting to catch the slow moving lightening insects. One of the girls went inside and came back with a clear glass bottle. After chasing a few without success, she finally caught a firefly inside it. All the other children gathered around to watch it flickering its light on and off inside the bottle. Soon darkness started to fall and the girl’s mom walked over to them and told them it was time to set the firefly free. One of the girls protested, but the mom explained that the firefly would die if left in the bottle. Then she said something that still stays in my heart to this day, “It is time to let this little guy go so it can share its light with the rest of the world!”
I think we may share our light with the rest of the world, We may give our love to others. We may keep shining. I remember when I was a child we all used to sing the song, “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine!” But as adults we find it hard to do so. We stay at the darkness too much and hide our light in fear. Don’t hide your light. Don’t keep it in a bottle. Share your flickers, no matter how small they may be. Let the love inside you out. Let the light within you drive the darkness away.
1. Why did the author feel happy according to paragraph 1?| A．He could find it became warmer and everything came to life. |
| B．He could see fireflies came back and blinked their lights. |
| C．He could walk outside in the light of fireflies. |
| D．He could have the longest day of the year. |
| A．Keep it in the container. | B．Let it free in no time. |
| C．Feed it with leaves. | D．Kill it with water. |
| A．Kind. | B．Calm. | C．Demanding. | D．Casual. |
| A．To show us his innocent years. |
| B．To warn us not to hurt insects. |
| C．To tell his childhood in summer. |
| D．To express his thought of sharing love. |
【推荐3】During the years that passed from I was born until my siblings (兄弟姐妹) and myself moved away from home, my mother didn’t have a job. If she had been asked to fill out a questionnaire about her personal data, she would have left the question ‘Employment’ empty. She believed that her job was to be our mother- full time. That was the way she had chosen it to be.
There is an old yellowed photograph of my mother and father, taken in 1942, when they were on their honeymoon. They are sitting at a table in a restaurant. In the photo my mother looks very beautiful, I think. She was 23 years old then.
When I look at the photo, I see a woman who would have had an unlimited number of opportunities in life. She is more than just pretty; it is clear to see that she is both intelligent and vivid. I know that if she had put her mind to getting a career, the whole world would have been at her feet. The story of her youth confirms this. She got a brilliant exam in one of the finest schools in the country. In fact, she is the most intelligent person I know.
Yet she has always considered herself as house wife and mother. Everyone in the town admired her for the great effort she put into charity work, but if someone asked her what she did for a living or who she was, she answered that she was Robert Greene’s wife, and Robert’s, Deborah’s and Timothy’s mother.
Today there are probably many women who will see what she did as a waste of my mother’s good abilities. Why should an intelligent and determined woman be content with making soup and sandwiches?
We all go through our adult life with the conception that we have never been anything but fully developed grown-ups. But any of us have been small children once, who hurried home from school completely assured that someone was waiting for us at home. It meant something then and it means something today. And I am eternally (永恒地) grateful that the woman in the yellowed photograph was waiting for me.
1. Why did Mom leave the question “Employment” empty?| A．Because she couldn’t write. | B．Because she was a full time mother. |
| C．Because she couldn’t find a job. | D．Because she was angry at this question. |
| A．Diligent and stubborn. | B．Beautiful and strict. |
| C．Intelligent and selfless. | D．Ambitious and clever |
| A．The author has two siblings. |
| B．The author thinks highly of Mom’s devotion. |
| C．Being a full time mother is a waste of ability. |
| D．An intelligent woman shouldn’t be content with cooking. |
| A．An Old Yellowed Photograph |
| B．The Memories of My Family |
| C．The Importance of Siblings’ love |
| D．The Standard of Being a Good Mother |
