1 . I have an amazing connection with marathons. I didn’t realize until I started running in my 30s that running was a battle against myself, not about competition or whether or not I was athletic. It was all about the battle against my own body and mind. A test of will!
I remember back to my 7th year in school. In my first P. E. class, the teacher required us to run laps and then hit a softball. I didn’t do either well. He later informed me that I was not athletic. Though he didn’t mean it, that stuck with me for years.
A month before my first marathon, one of my ankles was injured and this meant not running for two weeks，leaving me only two weeks to train. Yet, I was determined to go ahead. The night before my marathon, I dreamt that I couldn’t even find the finish line. I woke up sweating and nervous, but ready to prove something to myself.
Shortly after crossing the start line, my shoe ties became undone. So I stopped to readjust. Not the start I wanted !
At mile 3, I passed a sign: “GO FOR IT, RUNNERS!”
By mile 17, I became out of breath and the once injured ankle hurt badly. Despite the pain, I stayed the course walking a bit and then running again.
By mile 21, I was starving!
As I approached mile 23, I could see my wife waving a sign. She is my biggest fan. She never minded the alarm clock sounding at 4 am or questioned my expenses on running.
I was one of the final runners to finish. But I finished! And I got a medal. In fact, I got the same medal as the one that the guy who came in first place had.
Determined to be myself, move forward, free of shame and worldly labels, I can now call myself a marathon winner.
1. What does the underlined “that” in Para. 2 refer to?| A．His teacher’s request. | B．His failed sports. |
| C．His no-talent in sports. | D．The awkward memory. |
| A．He made it eventually. | B．He has lost confidence. |
| C．He gave up halfway. | D．He was too nervous to finish. |
| A．Doubted. | B．Supported. | C．Indifferent. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．One is never too old to learn. | B．Failure is the mother of success. |
| C．A winner is one with a great effort of will. | D．A man owes his success to his family support. |
2 . Forced by the COVID﹣19 outbreak， Pooja Chandrashekar spoke to mobile health﹣clinic （卫生所） workers across the city about their needs during the pandemic（大流行病）． The first﹣year Harvard Medical School student discovered that most information about the widespread virus was only available in English and a small number of other languages， leaving those who do not speak those languages in the dark．
"This makes it very difficult for immigrants（外来移民） and non﹣English﹣speaking communities to seek care for COVID﹣19，" Chandrashekar said． "We know from past epidemics like the swine flu（猪流感） that the lack of accessible information in one's native language places these populations at a higher risk of infection．"
She decided to take action， creating the COVID﹣19 Health Literacy Project． Chandrashekar brought together a group of students from more than 30 universities to create fact sheets in languages not commonly represented in the American health care system． She tweeted about her effort on March 14 and included an interest form in a following tweet that collected more than 500 responses． From there， she formed a still﹣growing team of over 175 medical students． Together， the students created seven fact sheets， in 35 languages．
"Our goal is to make sure we're producing accurate， evidence﹣based information，" Chandrashekar said． "When you're putting information out to the public and health care organizations are distributing it to their patients， you really want to make sure the information you're providing is correct．"
Going forward， Chandrashekar plans to keep building the network of partners and expanding the languages offered to serve the greatest number of people．
1. What does "their needs" in paragraph 1 probably mean？| A．The information about the the COVID﹣19． |
| B．The care for people in the dark． |
| C．The medical students coming from other countries． |
| D．The accessible information about the COVID﹣19 in more languages． |
| A．More than 30 universities． |
| B．Followers of Chandrashekar's tweet． |
| C．Students in medical teams． |
| D．Health care providers all over the world． |
| A．Providing correct and evidence﹣based information． |
| B．Offering accessible information in different languages to the people in need． |
| C．Working with health care providers around the world． |
| D．Displaying and distributing fact sheets to patients in their care． |
| A．Entertainment． |
| B．Lifestyle． |
| C．Community． |
| D．Advertisements． |
3 . In 2015, Chennai was destroyed by one of the worst floods in over a century, leaving thousands without food, water and supplies. During the flood, many heroes arose, one of whom was Santosh, a young man who owned a take-out restaurant in Chennai.
When the first flood hit in November, he got a call from a company called Naga Rava. The company asked him to prepare 5,000 packets of food and give them to the flood victims. He, with his partners, took the order, cooked for 14 hours and delivered(递送) them. But that night, as they sat together discussing the event of the day, they actually felt ashamed(羞愧). “Here was a man not even from Chennai and he was going out of his way to help the affected people. We, while living here, had not really done anything ourselves for our own people,” said Santosh later.
He then began the groundwork for a collection to help cook more dishes. Little did he know that the November flood was just the beginning, and the real show was about to begin. The December flood affected them all. His own house got flooded and his family was trapped on the second floor. They lost phone connection and electricity. In spite of this, Santosh went back out into the flood, creating a kitchen and preparing food all by himself for the victims.
He did not sleep for four days, taking a one-hour break every day as he kept on cooking. As word got out about this man’s effort, others stepped out to join him. From children to the elderly, strangers came to help him in cooking, packing and transporting food. Up to 300 volunteers worked together to make it all happen. By the time the fourth day finally came to an end, Santosh and his team had prepared 170,000 food boxes and delivered them to people in need.
1. What inspired Santosh to help the affected people?| A．A call for help. | B．His cooking skills. |
| C．An act of kindness of a stranger. | D．The encouragement from his partners. |
| A．The help and support. | B．The severer flood. |
| C．Santosh’s family suffering. | D．Santosh’s cooking more food. |
| A．Energetic and helpful. | B．Determined and clever. |
| C．Selfless and caring. | D．Kind and wise. |
| A．Many Hands Make Light Work |
| B．Kindness Is Its Own Reward |
| C．Major Floods Brought Challenges To People |
| D．A Man Cooked 170,000 Meals For The Affected |
4 . 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 nanotechnology(纳米技术) make it likely that humans will live in the future beyond what was possible in the past. “There is a great effort 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 disease, 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”,Michael Zey means_________.| A．they have got some ideas about living forever |
| B．they believe that there is no limit of living |
| C．they are able to make people live past the present life span |
| D．they are sure to find the truth about long living |
| A．the human body is designed to last past about 120 years |
| B．it is possible for humans to live longer in the future |
| C．it is still doubtful how long humans can live |
| D．people can live from 120 to 180 |
| A．a great effort |
| B．the conservative estimate |
| C．the idea of living from 200 to 300 years |
| D．the idea of living beyond the present life span |
| A．No Limit for Human Life |
| B．Living Longer or not |
| C．Science,Technology and Long Living |
| D．Healthy Lifestyle and Long Living |
5 . The world’s elderly population is increasing. The number of older people ---those age 60 years or older ---is expected to double by 2050 and is growing faster than all younger age groups across the globe. That comes with an increasing need for caregivers which can provide 24-hour care, not only at hospitals or nursing homes, but also at private homes.
Already, caregiving robots are programmed to ask questions a nurse would ask and can keep an eye on patients for falls. These robotic assistants are expected to become increasingly marketable and reach 450,000 by 2045 because of the expected caregiver shortage in the USA.
“Unluckily, the hard structure of present caregiving robots prevents them from a safe human-robot interaction(互动), limiting their assistance to only social interaction and not physical interaction,” said Ramses Martinez, an assistant professor in Purdue’s College of Engineering . “After all, would you leave babies or old people in the hands of a robot?”
Recent advances in material science have enabled the production of soft robots with deformable (可变形的) bodies or the ability to reshape when touched , but today the complex design prevents the use of this technology at home .
However, Martinez and other researchers have developed a new design method which shows promise in enabling the production of soft robots using a 3D printer.
“The soft machines move like humans. Their ability to change their body structure and movement to adapt ( 适应 ) to a wide variety of environments will improve caregiving greatly,” says Martinez .
The researchers are looking for partners to test and bring their technology to market.
1. What does the underlined word “That” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．The younger age group |
| B．The group of older people |
| C．The population across the globe |
| D．The growth of the elderly population |
| A．They can’t provide safe physical interaction |
| B．They can’t communicate with patients |
| C．They can’t watch patients for falls |
| D．They can’t provide 24-hour care. |
| A．It requires a special kind of 3D printer. |
| B．It makes the production of soft robots simpler. |
| C．It has been put onto the market. |
| D．It is hard for users to master. |
| A．The robot industry in the future |
| B．Effects of population ageing |
| C．Robots for the elderly created with 3D printers |
| D．The development of caregiving robots |
6 . We can achieve knowledge either actively or passively（被动地）. We achieve it actively by direct experience, by testing and proving an idea, or by reasoning．
We achieve knowledge passively by being told by someone else．Most of the learning that takes place in the classroom and the kind that happens when we watch TV or read newspapers or magazines is passive. Conditioned as we are to passive learning, it’s not surprising that we depend on it in our everyday communication with friends and co-workers．
Unfortunately, passive learning has a serious problem．It makes us tend to accept what we are told even when it is little more than hearsay and rumor（谣言）．
Did you ever play the game Rumor? It begins when one person writes down a message but doesn’t show it to anyone．Then the person whispers it, word for word, to another person．That person, in turn, whispers it to still another, and so on, through all the people playing the game．The last person writes down the message word for word as he or she hears it．Then the two written statements are compared．Typically, the original message has changed．
That’s what happens in daily life．The simple fact that people repeat a story in their own words changes the story．Then, too, most people listen imperfectly．And many enjoy adding their own creative touch to a story, trying to improve on it, stamping（打上标记）it with their own personal style．Yet those who hear it think they know．
This process is also found among scholars and authors: A statement of opinion by one writer may be restated as a fact by another, who may in turn be quoted by yet another; and this process may continue, unless it occurs to someone to question the facts on which the original writer based his opinion or to challenge the interpretation he placed upon those facts．
1. According to the passage, passive learning may occur in _______．| A．doing a medical experiment | B．solving a math problem |
| C．visiting an exhibition | D．doing scientific reasoning |
| A．active learning | B．knowledge |
| C．communication | D．passive learning |
| A．a message may be changed when being passed on |
| B．a message should be delivered in different ways |
| C．people may have problems with their sense of hearing |
| D．people tend not to believe in what they know as rumor |
| A．Active learning is less important． |
| B．Passive learning may not be reliable． |
| C．Active learning occurs more frequently． |
| D．Passive learning is not found among scholars． |
