2 . There’s a little restaurant in a small Alabama town where there’s no cash register and no prices, just a whole lot of soul ... and soul food.

At Drexell & Honeybee’s in downtown Brewton near the Florida border, the menu changes daily, but there’s always a hearty selection of Southern dishes to enjoy: fried chicken and cornbread often show up at lunchtime from Tuesday to Thursday.

What makes this place special? No matter how down on their luck a person is, they never have to worry about having no money for their lunch. Once you’ve finished your dessert — a blueberry cobbler, perhaps? — you just leave whatever you can in a private booth near the restaurant entrance, even if that’s just a handful of coins or a little thank-you note.

The owners, a husband and wife team—Freddie and Lisa Thomas-McMillan—make no profit from their restaurant. Lisa once told GNN, “Whatever needs people have, if we can help them... we will. It’s our chief mission.”

100% of the donations go back into serving people food. “It’s a feeling of great happiness when knowing that their customers leave “with a full stomach, a full heart, and the understanding that you’re loved and worthy of love.” Through the years, she’s run a food bank. She’s opened her home to the needy. She says it may have started in the second grade when she learned a powerful lesson about sharing from a little girl who always had a better sandwich, but shared it happily with Lisa in a daily trade. Of course, the pandemic(流行病) has made running a restaurant a little more tricky in recent months. “But we figured out a way to do to — go orders and keep everyone safe …It is working out very well. We feel proud to be able to do what we do, with CO VID-19 affecting so many people.”

1. Which characteristic does the restaurant in a small Alabama town have?

A．It has no menu or waiters.	B．It has an outstanding cook.
C．It has the best dessert in Alabama.	D．It’s a sweet family-style restaurant.

2. What is the major target of their restaurant according to Lisa?

A．To advertise the restaurant.	B．To feed the needy.
C．To win them fame.	D．To encourage donations.

3. What do they want to get most from their deeds?

A．The money.	B．The reputation.
C．The joy.	D．The recognition.

4. What can we infer about Lisa from the text?

A．She always has a very big heart.	B．She is a victim of COVID-19.
C．She has made a name for her donations.	D．She is an overnight successful person.

3 . Leah Amy, a flight attendant for Virgin Airlines, was on a flight to London when she saw a young man named Jack Littlejohn give up the comfort of his business class seat so 88- year-old Violet Allison could enjoy the benefits of first class travel. Amy described the passenger online as “her favorite passenger EVER!”

Littlejohn had been in New York taking part in a charity event, the World’s Biggest Sleep Out, which aims to shed light on the issues of homelessness. Before the family were due to return to their home in Scotland, their mom announced she’d gotten them all business class tickets. Littlejohn didn’t feel comfortable about the difference between business and economy class, so he went to find a passenger who’d welcome his seat. That’s when he came across Allison.

The flight attendant explained that Allison, a former nurse, had recently undergone knee replacement surgery which had prevented her from visiting her daughter who’s been working in London for a few years. Although the old woman has traveled to see her daughter on a few occasions, she’d never experienced the wonders of first class travel.

When Littlejohn offered Allison his seat, he had no idea that it was a dream for her to travel in the front of the plane. The young man happily sat in Allison’s less luxurious seat next to the economy class toilets.

Allison had a strong desire to share her experience with her daughter, so the kind-hearted flight attendant took some pictures of her new favorite passenger. Although not much is known about Littlejohn, social network users describe him as a “true gentleman”.

1. What did Littlejohn do in New York?

A．He attended a family union.	B．He did something for the homeless.
C．He helped a woman in trouble.	D．He organized a charity event.

2. How did Littlejohn feel when he settled in a business class seat?

A．Excited.

B．Worried.

C．Uncomfortable.

D．Moved.

3. How did Littlejohn deal with his seat?

A．He offered it to an old woman.	B．He exchanged it with his mom.
C．He took the seat as his mom told.	D．He gave it up and took another flight.

4. Why did Leah Amy take the photos?

A．To share the experience with others.	B．To record the most touching moment.
C．To show the old woman’s happiness.	D．To satisfy the old woman’s demand.

4 . How many phone numbers can you remember by heart? It’s probably fewer than you would like. Actually, you are not alone. Out of more than 1,000 Americans who were surveyed, more than half said that they couldn’t recall the phone numbers of their friends and neighbors. In their eyes, there is no point in filling their heads with phone numbers if they are all stored in smart phones that are with them almost all the time.

In fact, most people are suffering from a sort of digital amnesia(健忘). more than 90% of those surveyed agreed that they used the Internet as an online of their brains. Rote memorization(死记硬背) was once an important part of modern education, but we just need a click or slide now. That’s making us worse at remembering things.

Researchers found that when people expected to use the information online, they were less likely to remember actual facts, but more likely to remember how to find them. As a result, we are already becoming ones with our computer tools, growing into interconnected systems that remember less by knowing information than by knowing where the information can be found.

However, some believe it isn’t necessarily a bad thing--maybe it gives them more chances to think through things. We certainly acquire more knowledge now than ever, even if it isn’t all stored in our brains.

Even so, I still believe that there are more risks to this new world of memory beyond losing our ability to recall some information such as who the 15^th President was. That kind of information may always be a click away, but the important things are personal ones, like the way your parents smiled at your wedding. It’s harder to recall or find online. If you’re relying on yourself to keep track of those memories, they will be much more meaningful.

1. Paragraph 1 is mainly used to _______.

A．serve as the background	B．introduce the topic
C．explain new research	D．show some data to readers

2. What’s the main cause of people’s suffering from digital amnesia?

A．Dealing with too many things	B．Seldom thinking about questions
C．Relying on the internet too much	D．The changes of their memories.

3. It can be learned from the passage that _______.

A．over 90% people are suffering from digital amnesia

B．people can gain knowledge more easily than before

C．rote memorization no longer exists in modern life

D．People find it hard to remember how to find information

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards people’s memories now?

A．Worried	B．Optimistic
C．Disappointed	D．Confident

5 . “GOING,GOING, GONE, for $3 to bidder No. 43, the lady in the last row, white hat.” The auctioneer (拍卖师） called out my auction number and location. Delighted at my victory, I took the box and gave it a shake. The contents rattled. Inside were dozens -- maybe even hundreds --of buttons, pins, and other items, all glittering in the sunlight. It reminded me of my mom's button box. As a girl, I'd always enjoyed digging through it, just as my own daughters enjoyed looking through mine.

Then I caught sight of an old woman on a swing, watching the happenings in the yard. I went to chat with her. She told me she was selling almost all her possessions because she was moving to a nursing home in town. Her eyes fell to the button box, and when she looked up, they were glistening with tears. Her fist closed around a delicate pearl button, now yellow with age. She smiled as she told me about the birth of her first child and the special pearl-buttoned outfit that would be worn by five more babies before time wore it thin.

I noticed a large, dark brass   military button and asked her about it. “From my first husband's uniform,” she said. “It's one of the few things I had to remind me of him when he didn't return home alive." As we went through the box together, I pulled a small key from the box, I heard the sharp intake of her breath. It was the key to a music box that played a special love song, she said. She'd lost it years ago. From my hand to hers, I passed the key to her memories.

Hairpins, wooden nickels, and ruby buttons took her further down memory lane. I knew that when I reached my own home, my heart would pull me to my sewing room, where I would rediscover my own lifetime of memories in my own button box.

1. What do we know about the old woman?

A．She was in need of money.

B．She was leaving her house.

C．She was wearing a white hat.

D．She was selling her mum's button box.

2. Which of the following words best describes my talk with the old woman?

A．Discouraging.

B．Amusing.

C．Touching.

D．Shocking.

3. What might be the best title for this passage?

A．A Life in a Button Box

B．Memories of My Life

C．An Old Lady at a Yard Sale

D．My Purchase at an Auction

6 . Located at a depth of 20 feet below the surface, the sand of the ocean floor off the coast of the Florida Keys might be an unlikely spot to host a music festival, but that hasn’t stopped music enthusiasts from diving underwater to rock out.

For the past 35 years, the Underwater Music Festival, an event that pairs music with conservation, has been hosted. Equipped with guitars, drums and other musical instruments, divers go down to the depths and play along to a playlist of water-inspired songs that are piped underwater via speakers. Over the years the event has gone from being a small grassroots effort put together by few locals, with the idea that once people see what’s going on beneath the surface, the more likely they would be to protect it, to a two-day festival that draws dozens of divers, boaters, and musicians to the Keys from around the world.

“Thirty-five years ago a few Keys locals sat down and wanted to figure out a way to bring awareness to our coral reefs （珊瑚礁）that would preserve, rebuild and restore them in any way,” says Dave Turner, executive director of the Lower Keys Chamber of Commerce. “They came up with this idea of playing music underwater and invited people to listen while also enjoying the local sea life.”

“The preservation of the reef is our main purpose,” Turner says. “To avoid any further damage, the festival takes place in a nearby sandy area so that the musicians don’t disturb the coral when they’re performing.”

Although holding a music festival underwater may seem a bit out there, Turner is quick to point out that it is actually achievable. “The music is obviously not as clear as when you’re sitting in room with stereo （立体音响）but you can still hear it and understand the lyrics and music,” he says. “If you were to go underwater you would recognize the song and it would sound the same. It just has little different tone to it. Plus, sound travels faster and farther underwater.”

1. What is special about the festival?

A．It hardly has any live music.

B．It takes place completely underwater.

C．It hardly wins support at grassroots level.

D．It exhibits all kinds of musical instruments.

2. What is the purpose of the festival?

A．To draw attention to coral reef conservation.

B．To raise money for local divers.

C．To improve the locals’ life.

D．To promote local tourism.

3. What does Turner intend to show in the last paragraph?

A．Attending the festival is an important experience.

B．Holding the festival makes some sense.

C．The future of the festival is uncertain.

D．It is challenging to hold the festival.

4. In which section of a newspaper may this text appear?

A．Environment.

B．Health.

C．Education.

D．Science.

7 . Like most couples, my husband and I dreamed of becoming homeowners. Sure, apartment living comes with its own set of advantages—less housework, shared comfort, less to clean up and care for, and usually cheaper rent. As a result, we decided to downgrade from our neat five-bedroom, 2,700-square-foot house on the water to a three-bedroom, 1,369-square-foot apartment, with two kids.

Once we arrived in our new apartment, we were surprised to find that things flowed relatively smoothly. There was so much less to keep up with—fewer floors to mop, fewer windows to clean, fewer walls to wipe, etc. Now I think of our home as our little playhouse, since it's much smaller and everything is closer together. That also makes it so much easier for me to keep up with as a mom. I collect laundry all on one floor comparing with having to climb stairs to the house's second floor!

In our new home, we use lots of shoe organizers inside of every closet door for more than just shoes—baby items, office items, and medicines. We also have a functional room that serves as an office and gym. Since both my husband and I work from home, we require at least one room to share as an office with fitness equipment fitted into a corner.

While many people choose to downsize for financial reasons, that actually wasn't a factor in our decision. We wanted to be in a lively area with like-minded young families. That was our first priority. Though we may still buy another house in this area at some point down the line, for now, we're thrilled with the concept of renting an apartment. Let me put it this way: We’re not really the “handy” types, so being able to call maintenance(维修)for any repairs is worth every rent coin!

1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?

A．Our old house was upgraded.	B．Living in a house has advantages.
C．Our new apartment was downsized.	D．Smaller size means more housework.

2. How do the couple feel about the new apartment?

A．Confused.

B．Amazed.

C．Tired.

D．Challenged.

3. Why do the couple make changes to their new home?

A．To build up their body.	B．To create a home office.
C．To enlarge all the rooms.	D．To make full use of space.

4. What is the couple’s first concern when moving?

A．Transportation.	B．Neighbourhood.
C．Repair work.	D．Money.

8 . A shocking 53.6 million tons of electronic waste were discarded（丢弃）last year, a new UN-backed report has revealed. The report shows that e-waste is up 21%from five years ago. This isn't surprising, considering how many more people are adopting new technology and updating devices regularly to have the latest versions, but the report also shows that national collection and recycling strategies are nowhere close to matching consumption rates.

E-waste contains materials including copper（铜）, iron, gold and silver, which the report gives a conservative value of $ 57 billion. But most are thrown away or burned rather than being collected for recycling. Precious metals in waste are estimated to be worth $ 14 billion, but only $4 billion-worth is recovered at the moment.

While the number of countries with national e-waste policies has grown from 61 to 78 since 2014, there is little encouragement to obey and a mere 17% of collected items are recycled. If recycling does occur, it's often under dangerous conditions, such as burning circuit boards to recover copper, which "releases highly poisonous metals" and harms the health of workers.

The report found that Asia has the highest amounts of waste overall, producing 24.9 million metric tons (MMT), followed by Europe at 12 MMT, Africa at 2.9 MMT, and Oceania at 0.7 MMT.

But whose responsibility is it? Are governments in charge of setting up collection and recycling points, or should companies be responsible for recycling the goods they produce? It goes both ways. Companies do need to be held accountable by government regulations and have incentives to design products that are easily repaired. At the same time, governments need to make it easy for citizens to access collection points and deal with their broken electronics in a convenient way. Otherwise, they may turn to the easiest option-the landfill.

1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?

A．What e-waste refers to.

B．Where e-waste is collected.

C．Why e-waste is increasing rapidly.

D．How many kinds e-waste includes.

2. What do the statistics in paragraph 2 show?

A．The functions of policies.

B．The great damage to environment.

C．The change of consumption rates.

D．The urgency of recovering e-waste.

3. What is the problem with recycling e-waste at present?

A．It does harm to the workers' health.

B．It lacks national policy support.

C．It hardly makes profits.

D．It takes too much time.

4. How should the problem be solved according to the passage?

A．New technology should be used to update old devices.

B．Governments and companies should take responsibilities.

C．Non-poisonous metals had better be used in e-device.

D．Citizens must play a key role in recycling e-waste.

9 . In the summer of 1967, Walker was about to enter the sixth grade after having recently moved to the new town. Her mother signed Walker up for Girl Scouts（童子军)to help her get used to the place. She was paired with a girl named Laurie Luna in a four-person tent. At the camp, Walker and Lima's lives were tightly tied. As a Girl Scout, you have someone to rely on, to know where you're going, to talk over things with, and to develop a friendship. It was a wonderful time for these girls to look back on.

After boating with Luna one afternoon, lightning hit a tree outside the girls' tent. "It happens in the mountains in summertime. Then a storm blew in and sent us all to our tents," Walker remembers. "Lightning struck and its path led through me. I was lying on the floor seriously burned and unconscious(昏迷的)."As bad luck would have it. Walker had been standing on her bed at the time. Instantly, two-thirds of Walker's body was burned.

The other three girls in the tent screamed and ran away, but Luna quickly realized her friend was not among them. She thought Walker must be missing and went back to look for her — only to find Walker on the floor of the tent. Seeing Walker, she sped to the counselors, brought help and, in doing so, saved Walker. The counselor raced to give Walker first aid treatment, who then was rushed to the hospital by a nurse.

"The timing of getting artificial respiration(人工呼吸)and being taken to the hospital allowed me to recover with few health problems and to continue on with my life——to be a teacher, a wife, a mother, and a part of the world,"   Walker says.

1. What can we say about Walker from the first paragraph?

A．She was a newcomer to the town.	B．She and Luna became classmates.
C．Her mother disliked staying with her.	D．She was the fourth girl in Girl Scouts.

2. What happened to Walker one afternoon?

A．She got lost in the mountain.	B．She was hit by a big lightning.
C．She was late for the boating.	D．She was ill because of the storm.

3. How was Walker saved at last?

A．By relying on her strong will.

B．By calling someone for help.

C．By using her skills learned at school.

D．By receiving instant treatment in time.

4. What can be inferred from the text?

A．Walker had a few health problems after the treatment.

B．All girls in Walker's tent did something helpful for her.

C．Walker might be grateful for what Luna had done for her.

D．Luna sent Walker to the hospital with a nurse at once.

10 . There are many oceans and lakes in the United States where you can gain unexpected experiences. Here are some of most stunning ones found throughout the United States.

Ocracoke Beach, North Carolina

Ocracoke Island has 16 miles of undeveloped sandy shoreline. It is a barrier island of the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and it is a part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Ocracoke is fairly remote and can only be reached by public ferry, private boat or private plane. The beach is perfect for swimming, fishing, surfing, sunbathing, fishing and even camping. Certain portions of the beautiful sandy beach can be enjoyed by off-road vehicles.

Sand Beach, Maine

Located on Mt. Desert Island, Sand Beach offers visitors to Maine an amazing beach destination. Visitors to Acadia National Park have the opportunity to enjoy all of the beauty and excitement of this park. This beach is wonderfully sandy and is even a safe place to enjoy swimming. Bordered on both sides by rocky headlands, visitors can also appreciate the tide pools as well as some unique wildlife living in the headlines.

Poipu Beach, Kauai, Hawaii

Widely considered to be one of the most beautiful beaches in the United States if not the world, Poipu Beach is located on the south shore of Kauai and is part of Poipu Beach Park. The beach is composed of a string of golden sandy crescent shaped beaches. Visitors to Poipu can have hours of fun snorkeling, boogie- boarding, swimming, and surfing. The best surfing spots are located slightly offshore, the reef establishes wavebreaks which make good surfing for surfers of all experience levels.

South Ocean Beach, Mary land

Located on the fascinating Assateague Island, South Ocean Beach is a beautiful Atlantic coast beach. This shoreline is drivable, giving visitors the opportunities to enjoy all the miles of the beach and all of the activities of the beach, South Ocean Beach even offers some fantastic surfing conditions in the region as well.

1. What can visitors do when they’re in Sand Beach, Maine?

A．Enjoy rare species.	B．Go camping.
C．Take a walk.	D．Watch a game.

2. What kind of transportation is favored when you visit South Ocean Beach, Maryland?

A．On foot.	B．Hiring a ferry.
C．By car.	D．Riding a bike.

3. Who will be enthusiastic about the text?

A．Bird watchers.	B．Beach lovers.
C．Fashion designers.	D．Landscape architects.