1 . Preschool girl lifts old man’s spirits

When Tara Wood brought her daughter to a grocery store to buy the four-year-old some birthday cupcakes, she had no idea that would be a life-changing _______.

As Tara pushed her daughter Norah around the store last month, she _______ an old man who was by himself. The old man looked cold, until Norah shouted to him, “Hi! It’s my birthday today!” The man stopped and his demeanor (举止、态度) changed from distant and serious to warm and _______. “How old are you today?” the man asked. After some time talking together, Norah asked her mom to take a _______ of her with her new friend “Mr. Dan”, Dan Peterson, 82 and then went their separate ways. That could have been the _______ of the story. But it was actually the beginning of a(n) _______ relationship.

Tara _______ the picture of her daughter and Mr. Dan on Facebook. Someone who _______ him reached out to her with Mr. Dan’s contact information. It turned out that Mr. Dan’s wife died in March and he had been _______ from depression and anxiety ever since. The person on Facebook told Tara that it was the first time they had seen Mr. Dan ________ since the death of his wife. Knowing that, Tara contacted Mr. Dan, and ever since Norah and the 82-year-old have developed a ________ unlike any other. “She has shown me a depth of love, a depth that I didn’t know existed,” Mr. Dan told the reporter.

Mr. Dan told Tara that before meeting Norah, he hadn’t had one night of uninterrupted ________ Anxiety kept him up at all hours and ________ him restless. After meeting Norah, he said he now sleeps soundly. For Mr. Dan’s 82nd birthday on October 20, the mother and the daughter brought balloons and presents—and, of course, cupcakes. Mr. Dan will also spend a day around Thanksgiving with Norah and her family. “If you don’t take the time to ________ people, you will never know how you can ________ impact a life,” Tara Wood said.

1.

A．question

B．idea

C．experience

D．promise

2.

A．passed

B．stopped

C．welcomed

D．shocked

3.

A．calm

B．unpleasant

C．rude

D．friendly

4.

A．look

B．picture

C．seat

D．message

5.

A．end

B．clue

C．scene

D．truth

6.

A．poor

B．special

C．ordinary

D．strange

7.

A．took

B．drew

C．sold

D．posted

8.

A．followed

B．confused

C．recognized

D．cured

9.

A．escaping

B．benefiting

C．suffering

D．learning

10.

A．talk

B．smile

C．walk

D．eat

11.

A．plan

B．skill

C．knowledge

D．friendship

12.

A．sleep

B．chat

C．meal

D．view

13.

A．found

B．made

C．watched

D．regarded

14.

A．notice

B．award

C．rescue

D．attract

15.

A．legally

B．suitably

C．responsibly

D．positively

2 . Jayce Crowder began noticing when he was in kindergarten that he looked different from his classmates. They had two hands. He had one.

It started when one boy teased him, said his mother, Cortney Lewis. He'd return to their home in Des Moines, Iowa with questions:Why am I different? Why me? Why? How could she provide answers to her son's questions when she had never found those answers herself?

A few weeks later, Lewis came home and turned on the TV. There was a news story about an eighth grader from Washington, Iowa. Trashaun Willis, then 14, had become an Internet sensation after posting videos of his slam dunks, and, like Jayce, most of his left arm was missing. Lewis called Jayce in. He was amazed, watching dunk after dunk.

At the time, it seemed that watching Trashaun would simply be an inspiring moment for Jayce. But little did Lewis know that a family friend had already reached out to The Des Moines Register, asking the newspaper to help set up a meeting with Trashaun to build up Jayce's confidence. The day was not spent on self-pity. They rode bikes around the schools hall ways, took photos, played hide-and-seek, and shot baskets.

At one point, Trashaun did get serious with Jayce. He talked about their left arms. He told Jayce he was perfect the way life made him. He asked Jayce not to let anyone drag him down and not let words shake his confidence. "It reassured me," said Lewis. "I know in my heart that everything's going to be OK. Trashaun has grown up to be a wonderful kid. And I know Jayce is too. As a parent, that's all you want to know：Everything's going to be OK. "

Since that meeting, Lewis has seen a pronounced difference in her son. He recently started wrestling and loved it. Lewis pointed to Trashaun's influence. Meeting him, she said, made Jayce understand that there were others like him.

As for Trashaun, his relationship with Jayce made him look forward to helping more kids, perhaps as a youth coach in NubAbility, a non-profit organization dedicated to coaching kids with limb differences.

1. What was Lewis' reaction to her son’s questions?

A．She was in shock.	B．She felt lost.
C．She felt embarrassed,	D．She was in pain.

2. How did the two boys reach out to each other?

A．Jayce called a newspaper.

B．A family friend helped a lot.

C．Lewis made efforts to do that.

D．Trashaun met Jayce by chance.

3. What do we know about Trashaun?

A．He had been a role model for Jayce.

B．He was a hit on the Internet for his kindness.

C．He was a volunteer for children with disabilities.

D．His good performance in basketball made Jayce down.

4. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A．Jayce and Trashaun set up a non-profit organization.

B．Jayce and Trashaun became best friends.

C．What Trashaun did to Jayce made him a young coach.

D．Trashaun tended to devote more to kids with disabilities.

3 . Every week, two converted blue buses packed with children’s books carefully drive along the streets of Kabul, avoiding areas where deadly explosions are common. These travelling libraries stop off at schools in different parts of the city, delivering a wealth of reading material directly to youngsters who have limited access to books.

“A lot of schools in our city don’t have access to something as basic as a library,” says Freshta Karim, a 27-year-old Oxford University graduate who was inspired to start Charmaghz, a non-profit organization, in her home city having grown up without many books herself. “We were trying to understand what we could do to promote critical thinking in our country.”

While for many people a bus or train journey presents a rare opportunity to get stuck into a book, in some cities public transport is being used as means of getting books to communities that need them most. Afghanistan, for example, has one of the world’s lowest literacy rates, with only three in 10 adults able to read, according to UNESCO. The majority of public schools in Kabul do not have libraries and the city’s libraries do not offer many children’s books. For Karim, buses were a cost-effective, efficient way to get books to children.

Charmarghz rents them from a state-owned bus company. “We go to nearby schools,” she says. “We try to stop inside communities rather than on the main streets where explosions often happen.”

The organization is funded by donations from local business and communities, and also rents a third bus that acts as a mobile cinema. Over 600 children visit the buses each day to read, socialise and play games. “They are often very excited,” she says. “Our biggest challenge is that so many children want to come inside the bus, but we can’t have all of them in one day.”

1. Why does Freshta Karim set up the organization?

A．To raise money for the poor.	B．To recycle abandoned buses.
C．To build libraries for the local schools.	D．To offer the children more reading opportunities.

2. What is special about Charmarghz?

A．It’s funded by UNESCO.	B．It’s a state-owned organization.
C．It buys buses from a company.	D．It aims to inspire critical thinking.

3. What is the most pressing problem for Charmarghz?

A．Deadly explosions.	B．Poor public transport system.
C．Shortage of travelling libraries.	D．Lack of support from the government.

4. Which of the following best describes Freshta Karim?

A．Caring and courageous.	B．Humorous and ambitious.
C．Demanding and enthusiastic.	D．Honest and hardworking.

4 . A very dangerous situation happened in California last week. More than 12 wildfires broke out in the state. Most of them began on October 8, in Northern California. They grew rapidly. The fires were made bigger by winds of up to 50 miles per hour and dry air in the area.

At least 20 people have been killed, the state government said. About 200 have been injured. At least 3,500 homes and businesses have been destroyed. About 50,000 people have been required to escape. Many left in a hurry, without time to take their personal things. “All the good stuff(东西)—I’m never going to see it again,” Jeff Okrepkie said. He escaped from his Santa Rosa home. It was destroyed soon after he left.

The fires burned through parts of eight counties(郡，县). These include Sonoma and Napa. The areas are important to California’s economy(经济). They are home to many of the state’s vineyards(葡萄园) and wineries(酿酒厂). In 2016, California’s wineries made more than $57 billion.

October is when wildfires usually produce the most ruins in California. But it is unusual for so many fires to start at once. Up to now, the government has not given a cause for any of the fires, many of which were still burning.

1. Why did the fires grow quickly?

A．Most of the fires began in October.	B．12 fires happened at the same time.
C．The state government didn’t do anything.	D．High-speed wind and dry air.

2. How many people have to leave their homes?

A．50,000.

B．200.

C．3,500.

D．20.

3. What is the biggest loss for California’ s economy?

A．Homes have been destroyed.	B．Wineries have been burned.
C．People have to leave their homes.	D．Many people have been injured.

4. What is the cause of the fires?

A．The high-speed wind and dry air.	B．Many fires started at once.
C．October produces the most ruins.	D．The cause is not explained.

5 . A daughter complained to her father about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know whether she was going to make it and want to _______. She was tired of fighting and_______. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one _______.

Her father, a cook, took her to the _______. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. In one he placed carrots, in the second _______, and in the last ground coffee beans. He let them sit and boil, without saying a word.

The daughter sucked (吸吮) her teeth and _______ waited, wondering what he was doing. In twenty minutes, he pulled the carrots and eggs out and _______ them in two different bowls, and the coffee in a mug. He brought her closer and asked her to _______ the carrots. She did and noted they were _______. Then he asked her to take an egg and break it. After ________ off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. ________, he asked her to sip the coffee. She ________, as she tasted its rich aroma (芳香).

“What does it mean, Father?” she curiously asked.

He explained that each of them had faced the ________ adversity (逆境), boiling water, but each ________ differently. The carrot went in strong and hard but after being subjected to the boiling water, it became soft and ________. The egg had been fragile. Its ________ outer shell had protected its liquid inside. But after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were ________, however, after they were in the boiling water, they had ________ the water .

“Which are you?” he asked his daughter.

Life will necessarily meet adversity, if so, do not be ________ . Always remember: The real success can be ________ only after the hard struggle.

1.

A．give up

B．go on

C．clean up

D．work on

2.

A．devoting

B．relaxing

C．struggling

D．arguing

3.

A．invented

B．appeared

C．answered

D．understood

4.

A．kitchen

B．bedroom

C．supermarket

D．bookstore

5.

A．milk

B．apples

C．cabbages

D．eggs

6.

A．happily

B．carefully

C．impatiently

D．early

7.

A．handed

B．placed

C．found

D．threw

8.

A．enjoy

B．taste

C．smell

D．feel

9.

A．hard

B．strong

C．soft

D．sweet

10.

A．getting

B．taking

C．giving

D．keeping

11.

A．However

B．Therefore

C．Finally

D．Instead

12.

A．smiled

B．boiled

C．sobbed

D．cried

13.

A．bad

B．same

C．serious

D．different

14.

A．reacted

B．created

C．worked

D．played

15.

A．smelly

B．bad

C．weak

D．tasty

16.

A．slim

B．fat

C．thick

D．thin

17.

A．pleasant

B．delicious

C．unique

D．usual

18.

A．changed

B．awaited

C．mixed

D．colored

19.

A．excited

B．discouraged

C．surprised

D．disappointed

20.

A．arrived

B．finished

C．missed

D．achieved

6 . Ever since Zion Williamson was 5 years old, he wanted to be a basketball star. But to get there, he needed a lot of encouragement and coaching along the way, and there was no one that better than his mother, Sharonda Sampson. She coached Zion in every youth basketball league he ever played. Sampson was a collegiate track star and later became a middle school health and physical education teacher.

He has got up at 5:30 a.m. to head to the outdoor court and play basketball since he was 9 years old. Zion's hard work began to pay off when he entered high school, where he became a YouTube hit for his high-flying dunks （灌篮）and powerful moves. But Sampson wanted her son to not only work hard at being great but study how the legends of the game went about their skills.

“When I started playing, my mom said there were three players she wanted me to watch — Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan,” Williamson said. “Even though I wasn't alive when he （Jordan） was doing those things, it just attracted me. Everything he did was just incredible.”

The national spotlight shined on Zion during his one year of collegiate basketball at Duke University, where he was coached by five-time national champion Mike Krzyzewski. The most storied rivalry in the collegiate game is between Duke and North Carolina, where Jordan won a national championship back in the 1980s.

Shortly after his freshman season, Zion declared for the NBA Draft. Sampson was by her son's side when he was chosen by the Pelicans as the top player. “I wouldn't be here without my mom” said Zion with tears streaming down his face after his selection.

Zion was brilliant in the first 19 games of his regular-season NBA career, averaging over 23 points and six rebounds per game, before the coronavirus （冠状病毒）crisis forced the league to shut down. The 19-year-old Zion says he's been staying fit and will be ready to go when the league resumes.

1. What do we know about Zion from the first two paragraphs?

A．He was trained mainly by his mother.

B．He dreamed of being a basketball star at 9.

C．He was famous for his mother at YouTube.

D．He coached his mother in basketball leagues.

2. Why did Zion's mother ask him to watch three players?

A．She wanted to make Zion beat them one day.

B．She expected Zion to learn much from them.

C．She required Zion to join their basketball teams.

D．She wished Zion to like the same players as she.

3. What did Zion mean by “I wouldn't be here without my mom”?

A．He would join the NBA with his mom

B．He would stand beside his mother firmly.

C．His success related to what his mom did.

D．He followed her wherever his mother went.

4. What is the writer's purpose in writing the text?

A．To encourage people to learn from Zion.

B．To explain why Zion likes playing basketball.

C．To prove Zion has a gift for playing basketball.

D．To introduce an NBA basketball player.

7 . Do you want to live another 100 years or more？Some experts say that scientific advances will one day enable humans to last tens of years beyond what is now seen as the natural limit of the human life span.

“I think we are knocking at the door of immortality(永生),”said Michael Zey，a Montclair State University business professor and author of two books on the future. “I think by 2075 we will see it and that's a conservative estimate（保守的估计）.”

At the conference in San Francisco，Donald Louria,a professor at New Jersey Medical School in Newark said advances in using genes as well as nano technology（纳米技术）make it likely that humans will live in the future beyond what has been possible in the past. “There is a great push so that people can live from 120 to 180 years,” he said. “Some have suggested that there is no limit and that people could live to 200 or 300 or 500 years.”

However, many scientists who specialize in aging are doubtful about it and say the human body is just not designed to last past about 120 years. Even with healthier lifestyles and less diseases, they say failure of the brain and organs will finally lead all humans to death.

Scientists also differ on what kind of life the super aged might live." It remains to be seen if you pass 120, you know; could you be healthy enough to have good quality of life？" said Leonard Poon，director of the University of Georgia Gerontology Centre." At present people who could get to that point are not in good health at all."

1. By saying “we are knocking at the door of immortality”, what does Michael Zey mean?

A．they believe that there is no limit of living

B．they are sure to find the truth about long living

C．they have got some ideas about living forever

D．they are able to make people live past the present life span

2. What is Donald Louria's attitude towards long living ?

A．people can live from 120 to 180 years

B．it is still doubtful how long humans can live

C．the human body is designed to last past about 120 years

D．it is possible for humans to live longer in the future

3. What does the underlined word "it" in Paragraph 4 refers to?

A．a great push	B．the idea of living from 200 to 300 years
C．the idea of living beyond the present life span	D．the conservative estimate

4. What would be the best title for this text？

A．Living Longer or Not	B．Science，Technology and Long Living
C．Healthy Lifestyle and Long Living	D．No Limit for Human Life

8 . For many parents, raising a teenager is like fighting a long war, but years go by without any clear winner. Like a border conflict between neighboring countries, the parent-teen war is about boundaries: Where is the line between what I control and what you do?

Both sides want peace, but neither feels it has any power to stop the conflict. In part, this is because neither is willing to admit any responsibility for starting it. From the parents’ point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents’ complete unreasonableness. And of course, the teens see it in exactly the same way, except oppositely. Both feel trapped.

In this article, I’ll describe three no-win situations that commonly arise between teens and parents and then suggest some ways out of the trap. The first no-win situation is quarrels over unimportant things. Examples include the color of the teen’s hair, the cleanliness of the bedroom, the preferred style of clothing, the child’s failure to eat a good breakfast before school, or his tendency to sleep until noon on the weekends. Second, blaming. The goal of a blaming battle is to make the other admit that his bad attitude is the reason why everything goes wrong. Third, needing to be right. It doesn’t matter what the topic is—politics, the laws of physics, or the proper way to break an egg—the point of these arguments is to prove that you are right and the other person is wrong, for both wish to be considered an authority—someone who actually knows something—and therefore to command respect. Unfortunately, as long as parents and teens continue to assume that they know more than the other, they’ll continue to fight these battles forever and never make any real progress.

1. Why does the author compare the parent-teen war to a border conflict?

A．Both are about where to draw the line.

B．Both can continue for generations.

C．Neither has any clear winner.

D．Neither can be put to an end.

2. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．The teens tend to have a full understanding of their parents.

B．The teens agree with their parents on the cause of the conflict.

C．The teens cause their parents of misleading them.

D．The teens blame their parents for starting the conflict.

3. Parents and teens want to be right because they want to ______.

A．give orders to the other

B．know more than the other

C．gain respect from the other

D．get the other to behave properly

4. What will the author most probably discuss in the paragraph that follows?

A．Solutions for the parent-teen problems.

B．Examples of the parent-teen war.

C．Causes for the parent-teen conflicts.

D．Future of the parent-teen relationship.

9 . My name is Lwazi Nzimande. I started my schooling at Thukeyana Primary Farm School in Underberg, KwaZulu­Natal.

I had a favourite teacher in primary school. Her name was Miss Dube. She taught me natural science and human social sciences in grade six and seven, and had a way of pushing learners to be able to think for themselves. She made sure that each and every learner took part in every lesson. She used pictures, diagrams (图表) and other things to make learning easier and more unforgettable, moving at a pace that was suitable for all students. As a teacher, she showed patience, respect, open-mindedness, and reliability (可靠性). Now you see why she was my favourite teacher in primary school, don't you?

In my opinion, patience, respect, open-mindedness, and reliability are some of the things that all teachers should have and show. A patient teacher is one who understands that some learners need more explanation than others to understand something in class. He or she should always be willing to help learners. An open-minded teacher will go beyond what is found in the textbook. A teacher who is respected will find it easy to control a class. Respect is earned through what a teacher says to learners or how he or she deals with them in general.

Miss Dube often told us not to bad­mouth or make fun of others. She also did so. She never bad­mouthed other teachers in front of us. Also, Miss Dube never made fun of her learners. She thought making fun of learners in front of others would hurt them and damage their confidence.

Miss Dube was also very honest. From my point of view, that's also what a good teacher should be like. If she didn't have an answer to a question, she would let her learners know. This set a good example to the learners.

1. Why was Miss Dube the author's favourite teacher?

A．Because of her rich knowledge.

B．Because of her good appearance.

C．Because of her teaching style and character.

D．Because of her lifestyle and attitude to students.

2. What does the author think an open-minded teacher should do?

A．Pay close attention to every student's improvement.

B．Tell about something outside the textbook.

C．Avoid believing everything in the textbook.

D．Show great respect for her students.

3. What can we learn about Miss Dube from Paragraph 4?

A．She liked praising her students.	B．She was very confident in class.
C．She got along well with other teachers.	D．She set a good example to her students.

4. What does the underlined word “This” in the last paragraph mean?

A．Being a very patient teacher.	B．Answering students' questions.
C．Being honest in front of students.	D．Teaching students very difficult things.

10 . Shakespeare, more perhaps than any other writer, made full use of the greatest resources of the English language. Most of us use about five thousand words in our normal employment of English; Shakespeare in his works used about twenty­five thousand! There is probably no better way for a foreigner to appreciate the richness and variety of the English language than by studying the various ways in which Shakespeare used it. Such a study is well worth the effort, even though some aspects of English usage and the meaning of many words have changed since Shakespeare’s day.

However, it is surprising that we should know comparatively little about the life of the greatest English author. We know that Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-on-Avon, and that he died there in 1616. He almost certainly attended the Grammar School in the town, but of this we cannot be sure. We know he was married there in 1582 to Anne Hathaway and that he had three children. We know that he spent much of his life in London writing his masterpieces. But this is almost all that we do know.

However, what is important about Shakespeare’s life is not its details but the products, the plays and the poems. For many years scholars have been trying to add a few facts about Shakespeare’s life to the small number we already possess and for an equally long time critics have been theorizing about the plays. Sometimes, indeed, it seems that the poetry of Shakespeare will disappear under the great mass of comment that has been written upon it.

Fortunately, this is not likely to happen. Shakespeare’s people have long delighted not just the English but lovers of literature everywhere, and will continue to do so after the scholars and critics and all their works have been forgotten.

1. What’s Para.1 mainly about?

A．The great varieties in writing styles.

B．The great length of Shakespeare’s works.

C．The richness of the content in Shakespeare’s works.

D．The rich English language used by Shakespeare in his works.

2. According to the passage, which of the following remains uncertain about Shakespeare?

A．His date of birth.	B．His marriage.
C．His life in the Grammar School.	D．His date of death.

3. What does the last sentence in Para.3 mean?

A．People can’t see the poetry of Shakespeare any more.

B．The comment is printed on the poetry of Shakespeare.

C．People don’t think the poetry of Shakespeare good any more.

D．Some people pay more attention to the comment than to Shakespeare’s poetry.

4. The underlined phrase “Shakespeare’s people” in Para.4 refers to ________.

A．the characters in Shakespeare’s works	B．the people whose native language is English
C．the people living in Shakespeare’s day	D．the readers of Shakespeare’s works