1 . In 1990, Hal Donaldson was 23 years old, fresh out of college and found himself in Calcutta, India, where he was asked to interview Mother Teresa.
Donaldson says about the great woman famed for feeding the hungry, “She wasn’t wearing shoes and her ankles were swollen. She sat down with me and was very polite.” After the interview, Mother Teresa asked him, “What are you doing to help the poor?” Donaldson admitted that he was young and wasn’t focused on helping others. With a smile on her face, Mother Teresa said, “Everyone can do something.”
Those words deeply struck Donaldson and forced him to face hard truths about himself.
Hal Donaldson grew up in the San Francisco Bay area. When he was 12 years old, his parents were hit by a drunk driver; his father died, and his mother was seriously injured. To make ends meet, they went on welfare. Donaldson says, “I had holes in my shoes and clothes. When you’re teased at school for that, you just want to escape.”
He managed to do just that. Donaldson got into college and turned his focus to making money for himself. He says, “I was just trying to find my way out of insignificance.” However, it’s easy to overlook others along the way. I was the guy that would see a homeless person and cross the street, so I didn’t have to confront (面对) him. My focus was on climbing to the top instead of helping those trying to climb with me.
Donaldson returned home from India with a different thought. He traveled to eight cities in America and stayed on the streets and listened to stories of the homeless. “My heart broke,” he says. “I knew I could no longer just live for myself.”
Inspired by Mother Teresa’s words and the stories he’d heard across America, Donaldson loaded a pick up truck with $300 worth of groceries and handed them out to anyone who needed help. In 1994, Donaldson created the nonprofit organization, Convoy for Hope, which works with communities across America and around the world. Their work focuses on feeding children, women’s empowerment, helping farmers and disaster services.
1. What did 23-year-old Hal Donaldson do in India?| A．He interviewed Mother Teresa. |
| B．He fed the hungry with Mother Teresa. |
| C．He attended an job-interview for a college. |
| D．He did something to help the poor. |
| A．He was born with disability. | B．He led a hard life as a child. |
| C．He was well treated at school. | D．He survived as an orphan. |
| A．Self-centered | B．Sympathetic | C．Popular | D．Generous |
| A．He preferred traveling to volunteering. |
| B．He suddenly fell in love with journalism. |
| C．He turned his focus to living for himself. |
| D．He gradually devoted himself to helping others. |
2 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。
Catherine was the coolest kid in her class. Whenever she went, she was in the spotlight, with a bunch of kids following her and doing everything she did.
Her deskmate, Landy, however, was not in the cool kids’ group. Being the tallest kid in her class, she was teased by her classmates, who were always chanting “Landy, Landy, long as spaghetti (意大利面 )”. Every time Landy heard those silly chants, she could feel her face burst into flames. God knew how she wished the ground to crack and swallow her!
Catherine didn’t really like it when the kids chanted “Landy, Landy, long as spaghetti”. But she never told them to stop either, and nor did she ever talk to her. She liked being popular.
One weekend, Catherine went over to her grandfather for Thanksgiving. Her grandfather lives on a farm at the opposite end of town, where he keeps chickens. While helping to feed the chickens, Catherine noticed a peculiar one. Curling in the corner, it looked smaller than the others and was almost half-bare!
“What’s the matter with it?” She asked her grandfather, with a puzzled frown on her face. Her grandfather told her how chickens could act. “They have a pecking (啄) order,” he explained, wrinkles of concern spreading around his forehead. “If one chicken is different, the others will push it away and keep pecking it. Sometimes they peck it so much that it dies.”
“Oh, what a poor little thing!” Catherine let out a sigh as she scooped the frightened chicken up in her arms, whose heart was beating fast in the bony little body. Suddenly, she thought of Landy, the girl being “pecked” by her classmates. “I’m going to take it home and take good care of it,” she said with a determined look.
Back in school, Catherine told the cool kids about the chicken. “It’s looking healthy,” she said proudly. “It’s fatter and its feathers are growing. Even the cat likes it. She carries it around the garden, and...” Everyone was entertained by Catherine’s story of her lovely chicken, laughter lingering around the classroom.
注意：1.续写词数应为 150 左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1. Then Catherine spotted Landy sitting by herself in a corner.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2. But Catherine walked directly toward Landy, regardless of what they said.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3 . When I tried out for the football team during the summer before 9th grade, I never imagined how important this sport would become in my life. Football is a
In the first year, I played on the defensive line. This was an amazing
In September, during my junior year, my name was mentioned in the local newspaper as the key defensive lineman on the team. After playing a fantastic season, I was given the
In this sense, the world of football has taught me an important life lesson:
| A．tough | B．popular | C．typical | D．dynamic |
| A．set | B．control | C．test | D．require |
| A．mistakes | B．adventures | C．accidents | D．injuries |
| A．performance | B．position | C．moment | D．advantage |
| A．with | B．over | C．through | D．into |
| A．valuable | B．lost | C．extra | D．regular |
| A．pride | B．choice | C．name | D．honor |
| A．Unfortunately | B．Similarly | C．Happily | D．Gradually |
| A．practices | B．tryouts | C．seasons | D．operations |
| A．But | B．Or | C．So | D．And |
| A．examined | B．changed | C．provided | D．completed |
| A．shoulder | B．hand | C．leg | D．foot |
| A．explore | B．avoid | C．love | D．support |
| A．Knowledge | B．Belief | C．Experience | D．Opinion |
| A．enjoyable | B．possible | C．sensible | D．responsible |
4 . From the dawn of civilization, paper records have been a method of keeping track of important and necessary documentation. A common experience throughout the world’s record keeping has been the necessity to ensure that all documents are kept together, and none are lost.
During this time, however, the paperclip (回形针) was not a widely distributed device. Therefore, the Gem Manufacturing Company of England developed a machine to manufacture and standardize the paperclip design.
Today the paperclip is a famous invention used throughout offices, schoolrooms, and business throughout the world.
| A．The next paper invention was that of the straight pin. |
| B．Before the paper clip, people had to be creative to keep paper together. |
| C．The humble item only came into popular usage around the mid-19th century. |
| D．This manufacturing development allowed for the expansion of the modern paperclip worldwide. |
| E．Later, inspired by the straight pin, Norwegian Vaaler J. came up with the idea of the first paperclip. |
| F．Therefore, from the early 13th century people had created various methods to ensure documents were kept together. |
| G．Being a wonder of simplicity and function, the paperclip remains a standard office supply throughout the world. |
5 . At 81 years old, Jeanne Daprano is still pushing her body to the limit. She’s still running competitive races, breaking world records and taking on new challenges.“The thing I’m learning about aging is that it’s inevitable,” Daprano said.“I’m not going to escape it. There are two ways to go:You can either press on or give up.”
Daprano grew up in Iowa. Then, she moved to California. As a primary school teacher, she began running in order to keep up with her student.“I was known as a running teacher,” she said.“I had my students do fitness before we studied in the morning and then throughout the day.”Then she began running competitively with 5K and 10K road races before moving to the track. She is now the world record holder in the women’s 75-year-old age group 400 meters and 800 meters. “When I get to the final fi nish line, I want this body to be worn out. I’m not doing this to live to be 100. I’m doing this to be the best I can be today.”
After moving to Atlanta about a decade ago, Daprano met fitness trainer David Buer. Ever since, she’s been coming to his gym, where he tailors workouts for Daprano’s specifc needs.“When she came to me, she was pushing 70 years old,”Buer said.“I’ve worked with other individuals of Jeanne’s age, but she came to me with different goals. She had a unique drive and passion—not just a passion for fitness or athletics but for life in general.”
Last February, Daprano took on a new challenge: her first indoor rowing competition. In classic fashion, she broke the world record in the 80-to-84 age group, rowing 2,000 meters in 9:23:7. For those hoping to either start getting in shape or stay in shape for a long time, she offers this advice: Listen to your body. What are you passionate about? How are you going to keep physically fit and mentally fit? Start where you are. Don’t look ahead or compare yourself to somebody else.
1. What does the underlined word“inevitable” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Invisible. | B．Abnormal. | C．Impossible. | D．Unavoidable. |
| A．working at a primary school | B．taking fitness training classes |
| C．volunteering in a 5K road race | D．moving to Atlanta |
| A．She was a qualified teacher. | B．She was an unusual woman. |
| C．She was too old to run a race. | D．She was hard to get along with. |
| A．Run right now. | B．Live and learn. |
| C．Follow your heart. | D．Be a good listener. |
One day, my brother and I were in our apartment. My parents had both gone for a party and had left me in charge of everything. I was doing my homework while my younger brother was watching TV. All of a sudden, the doorbell rang. Dingdong! Dingdong! My younger brother had rushed to the door before I decided to answer the door. We both thought that our parents had come home. As a result, he unlocked the door and opened it.
Outside of the house stood a man who wore a black raincoat and black rubber boots. He looked no different from other people and said that he was a salesman and asked politely if our mother or father was at home so he could talk with them.
Without thinking, my brother said，“No.” He asked if we would like to buy some comic books (漫画书), which he was selling. I quickly explained to him that we were not supposed to buy anything without our parents’ permission. However, it seemed that he was not willing to follow my advice and he had an intention to enter our house.
Then, I realized something terrible would happen. As I was about to close the door, he forced his way into our house. He forced me to tie up my brother’s hands with the rope which he took out from his pocket. I tied up his hands but tied it in a special way so my brother could untie (解开) it himself as we often did. The man then tied my hands up and locked both of us in the kitchen.
Soon, he went upstairs to search the bedroom for something valuable. I managed to teach my brother to untie the rope on his hands. He then untied it for me. I rushed to the telephone to call the police, but the line was dead.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右。
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答
3. 参考词汇：forget to do sth. lock window manage to do sth. (设法做某事) go out of (出去) police station (警察局) as soon as possible (尽快地) be caught (被抓) robber (盗贼) tell pretend to do sth (假装做某事) praise (赞扬) bravery (勇敢) back home (回家) thankful (感恩) get hurt (受伤) learn a lesson (吸取教训) safety and responsibility
The doors were all locked from the outside and what’s more, I did not have the keys.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Just at the same time our parents come back home.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The 2023 Pulitzer Prize (普利策奖)
The Pulitzer Prizes for books are awarded
“Memoirs and autobiographies are flourishing,” said Marjorie Miller, Administrator of the Prizes. “
The new Pulitzer Prize category will be for a distinguished and factual memoir or autobiography by an American author.
First awarded in 1917, Biography is one of the
This year, the criteria for entry in all categories remain the same: To be eligible,
8 . Have you ever had the urge to open a book and stick your nose straight into the pages? The smell of old books can refresh any book lovers. We don’t know why, but it is just pleasant to us.
Describing the smell can be a challenge. And mere adjectives will likely be of little use to future generations of historians trying to document, understand or reproduce the scent of slowly decaying books. Now, that task may have just gotten easier thanks to the Historic Book Odor Wheel.
In one experiment, researchers asked visitors at the historic library to characterize the scents they smelled. All the visitors selected words like “woody”, “smoky” and “earthy” from the list, and described the smell’s intensity and perceived pleasantness. In another experiment, the study authors presented visitors to the Birmingham Museum with eight smells — one of which was an unlabeled historic book scent and seven were non-bookish, such as coffee, chocolate, fish market and dirty clothes. The researchers then had those museum goers describe the historic book smell.
The top two responses? Chocolate and coffee. “You tend to use familiar associations to describe smells when they are unlabeled,” study author Cecilia Bembibre says.
The team even analyzed the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (挥发性有机化合物) in the book and the library. Using the data from the chemical analysis and visitors’ smell descriptions, the researchers created the Historic Book Odor Wheel to document the “historic library smell”. Main categories, such as “sweet/spicy”, fill the inner circle of the wheel; descriptors, such as “chocolate/cream”, fill the middle; and the chemical compounds likely to be the smelly source, like furfural, fill the outer circle. The researchers want the book odor wheel to be a tool that “untrained noses” can use to identify smells and the compounds causing them, which could address conservators’ concerns about material composition and historic paper conservation. And hopefully, smells of the past can be reproduced in the lab someday and museums and historians can use it to reconstruct a past we can no longer smell.
1. What is mainly talked about in the first paragraph?| A．An strange reading habit. | B．Fascination for smells of books. |
| C．Addiction to reading books. | D．A dislike for smelling books. |
| A．By referring to familiar items. | B．By using adjectives to label them. |
| C．By analysing chemical compounds. | D．By connecting them with food smells. |
| A．To record historic library smells. | B．To identify smells and compounds. |
| C．To remove the conservators’ worries. | D．To put different scents into different libraries. |
| A．Creating a whole new scent. | B．Improving the people’s sense of smell. |
| C．Restoring smells of historic documents. | D．Extracting components of “old book smell”. |
1. What does the man think about buying foreign brands?
| A．Nothing can beat an iPhone. |
| B．It’s better to support local companies. |
| C．Foreign companies make better products. |
| A．Lenovo. | B．Samsung. | C．Apple. |
| A．Phone salesman. | B．Software engineer. | C．University professor. |
10 . In Japan, you are what your blood type is. A person’s blood type is popularly believed to decide his/her character and personality. Type-A people are generally considered sensitive perfectionists and good team players, but over-anxious. Type Os are curious and generous but stubborn. Type ABs are artistic but mysterious and unpredictable, and type Bs are cheerful but eccentric, individualistic, and selfish. Though lacking scientific evidence, this belief is widely seen in books, magazines, and television shows. Last year, four of Japan’s top 10 best-sellers were about how blood type determines personality, through which readers seemed to be able to discover the definition of their blood type or have their self-image confirmed.
The blood-type belief has been used in unusual ways. The women softball team that won gold for Japan at the Beijing Olympics is reported to have used blood-type theories to customize training for each player. Some kindergartens have adopted teaching methods along blood group lines, and even major companies reportedly make decisions about assignments based on an employee’s blood type. In 1990, Mitsubishi Electronics was reported to have announced the formation of a team composed entirely of AB workers, thanks to “their ability to make plans”.
The belief even affects politics. One former prime minister considered it important enough to reveal in his official profile that he was a type A, while his opposition rival was type B. In 2011, a minister, Ryu Matsumoto, was forced to resign after only a week in office, when a bad-tempered encounter with local officials was televised. In his resignation speech, he blamed his failings on the fact that he was blood type B.
The blood-type craze, considered simply harmless fun by some Japanese, may reveal itself as prejudice and discrimination. In fact, this seems so common that the Japanese now have a term for it: bura-hara, meaning blood-type harassment (骚扰). There are reports of discrimination leading to children being bullied, ending of happy relationships, and loss of job opportunities due to blood type.
1. What’s the main idea of paragraph 1?| A．The books about blood type are popular in Japan. |
| B．The Japanese attach great importance to blood type. |
| C．The Japanese confirm their personality totally through blood type. |
| D．The Japanese think blood type bestsellers are important to their self-image. |
| A．Type O. | B．Type A. | C．Type B. | D．Type AB. |
| A．Because he revealed his rival’s blood type. |
| B．Because he was seen behaving rudely on TV. |
| C．Because he was discriminated against by others. |
| D．Because he blamed his failings on local officials. |
| A．Negative. | B．Defensive. | C．Objective. | D．Encouraging. |
