1 . When Kevin Durant gave his tearful MVP speech in 2014, the NBA star made sure to thank one person who had been there with him from the very beginning: his mother. His heartfelt words about the sacrifices she made for Durant and his brother led to a lifetime movie about her journey as a single parent, The Real MVP: The Wanda Durant Story.
Today, the NBA superstar’s mom travels the country as a motivational speaker and philanthropist (慈善家). On Monday, she spoke at Thomson Reuters’ in New York about her personal struggles to achieve financial stability and shared the financial advice she gave her son when he entered the league with CNBC.
“I wanted him to realize he has worked hard,” she says, “And it is OK for him to enjoy himself because of his hard work. But it is also imperative that he prepares for his future.” While she advised him to enjoy the rewards of his labor, she also wanted to make sure that her son knew the importance of financial planning.
She told the audience that when she found herself a single parent to two children at 21, she couldn’t follow the financial principles. Rather than planning for the future, she focused only on how her money could make ends meet for that moment.
Recently, Durant has teamed up with Laurene Powell Jobs for a new philanthropic program called College Track which is aimed at helping disadvantaged kids attend college. As part of the program, Durant has committed to donating $10 million to his hometown’s public school system.
Durant’s mom says that in addition to his financial decisions, she is proud of his philanthropic work and his desire to help the community. “I thought giving back was always very important, and so we talked about that and he had seen that from us as a family and it’s one of the things that I taught him,” she says.
1. What is The Real MVP: The Wanda Durant Story mainly about?| A．Durant’s career path. |
| B．Durant’s hard childhood. |
| C．Durant’s mother’s devotion to the family. |
| D．Durant’s mother’s struggling to be independent. |
| A．Enjoyable. | B．Important. |
| C．Unusual. | D．Hopeful. |
| A．Enjoying now and planning for the future. |
| B．Sharing rewards and creating a charity program. |
| C．Spending less money and saving for the emergencies. |
| D．Donating money to the charity and helping more schools. |
| A．His kind heart. | B．His poor hometown. |
| C．His mother’s teaching. | D．His difficult life experiences. |
2 . The setting was a packed gymnasium just before the start of a game against another school. There were five girls who were members of the Danville High School basketball team-all of them starters. They were not in uniform to play that night and would not be on the team for the rest of this season. They were there to admit their breaking of team rules. They were there to support their coach’s decision to take them off the team. They were there to let the town know there was a problem in their little community that needed to be addressed. And they did it with sincere regret rather than defensiveness.
While the school had been out for the New Year’s holiday, the five girls had gone to the party with several of their friends. There was alcohol there. And they all drank some.
Coach Rainville has a zero tolerance rule on drugs and alcohol for her members though it was a hard decision to make. When classes resumed and accounts of holiday parties were shared, rumors about the five girls began closing in on them. The coach said she couldn’t back down on her rules. And the players-two junior students and senior students-agreed. That night in the gym was part of their public support of the coach’s decision.
“We hope you will understand that we are not bad kids. What we did was definitely not worth it. We hope this event will make everyone realize that there is a big drug and alcohol problem in our community,” one of the senior students said, “And if you work with us to try to solve this problem, you will help us feel that we have not been thrown off our basketball team for nothing.” The five left the floor to deafening applause.
The team may not win another game this year. But they’ve learnt something about personal responsibility, the effect of one’s action on others, and honesty that will serve them well throughout life.
1. It can be inferred from the passage that five girls who were kicked off the team were_.| A．very good players on the team |
| B．addicted to alcohol and drugs |
| C．three junior students and two senior students |
| D．scolded by their parents for drinking alcohol |
| A．They didn’t fight for Danville High School any more. |
| B．They all gave speeches to apologize in the local press. |
| C．They admitted their mistake in public in the gymnasium. |
| D．They would never drink any alcohol throughout their life. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Strict. |
| C．Stubborn. | D．Cruel. |
| A．Growing up with pain | B．A bad mistake |
| C．Team rules are everything | D．Basketball girls in high school |
When the six very best students from different cities in Guangdong province all together chose universities in Hong Kong; when the very best students of Beijing picked up HK University while giving up the nearby Peking or Tsinghua University; when the highest enrollment (录取) rate of Hong Kong Science and Industry University reached 48:1, it’s the high time to ask where the real education heaven for students in China is.
Years ago, the answer certainly would be “Peking or Tsinghua University”. But now no one could give the exact reaction without hesitation. The only sure thing is that HK universities have gradually showed an unusual attraction to a great many mainland students.
It’s no doubt to call this HK craze (狂热), which is even out of the expectation of those HK universities themselves.
How can HK universities shake the steady foundations of Peking and Tsinghua and attract so many mainland students?
First, Hong Kong universities offer large-amount scholarship, especially for the top students who can receive the sum scholarship as much as 400,000 HK dollars. Since higher education has become a kind of heavy burden of many families, it’s easy to understand why the reaction to the generous offering of HK universities is great.
Second, most HK universities receive professors and students from all over the world and carry out bilingual (双语) education. This kind of excellent language atmosphere is another attraction for mainland students.
Furthermore, university students in Hong Kong have a better chance to study abroad as exchange students.
Can mainland top universities like Peking or Tsinghua University calm as before when facing the unexpected competition from HK? Will they take relevant measures to win back the top students who once help them set the worldwide reputation? Time will explain it.
The fierce competition brought by HK universities can be a good thing for an entire improvement of education in China. After the awakening and action taking of mainland universities, they can perform better together with HK universities.
At least, it reminded the mainland universities the tuition fees (学费) are among students’ top concern when they are choosing universities. It’s time to move.
1. What is the passage mainly talking about?| A．Some thought brought by the enrollment of HK universities. |
| B．Higher education in Hong Kong. |
| C．The competition between HK University and Peking University. |
| D．The fall of mainland universities. |
| A．many students now would love to study abroad to get a better experience |
| B．they concern only about the tuition fees when choosing universities |
| C．HK universities offer higher scholarship, better environment and more opportunities for their further study |
| D．Peking university has lost its worldwide reputation |
| A．didn’t mean to enroll top students from mainland |
| B．didn’t expect their enrollment of mainland students would be so popular |
| C．have strict enrollment rules and only 1 out of 48 students can get the chance to study there |
| D．are proud of their teaching staff and facilities |
| A．Mainland universities should take measures as soon as possible to attract students. |
| B．The opportunities come for top students to study abroad. |
| C．Mainland universities should make full preparations to challenge HK universities. |
| D．Top students should be offered further education free of charge. |
There are many things that a parent can do. One thing that people have done is to spank (打屁股) the child. When a parent spanks a child, they will use their hand or a hard object to strike them on their bottom. This is meant to show the child that they have done something wrong.
One parent remembers being spanked when he was a child. His parents used a wooden spoon. When he spanked his own children with his hand, he saw that he put a red mark on his child’s leg. He never did that again.
One problem with spanking is that it teaches the child to hit someone when they do not like what the other person is doing. Another problem with spanking is that the parent is usually angry and can hit the child too hard. Sometimes parents will use spanking for everything and not try other ways to get the child to do the right thing.
Many parents are not sure what to do instead of spanking. Some people think that their religion（宗教）tells them that spanking is okay. Some think that the law lets them do it. The courts say that parents have the right to teach their children how to behave.
Other things should be tried before a parent decides to spank a child. Telling the child exactly what is wanted from them can be one thing. Giving a child more than one choice is another thing that can be tried. Getting down to the child’s level and taking a more child-friendly approach can help as well.
1. According to the passage, when children do something wrong, one thing that parents usually do to punish them is to ________.
| A．strike them on the bottom | B．try to help them do the right thing |
| C．teach them what to do | D．take them to court |
| A．It teaches the child to hit others when they offend him or her. |
| B．The parent may get angry and hit the child too hard. |
| C．Sometimes parents may use spanking for everything. |
| D．It makes parents try other ways to make the child do right. |
| A．favorable (赞同的) | B．indifferent (不关心) | C．interested | D．unfavorable |
| A．Good children always do the right thing. |
| B．Parents should try their best to avoid spanking their children. |
| C．Parents have no choice but to spank their children when they do something wrong. |
| D．Children can have more than one choice to avoid being spanked. |
