Alice stood here helpless before this angry man. There was a lot more she would like to have said,
A team sport is an activity that
6 . Although growing up in a poor family in post-war 1950s, Gloria Stewart remembers her poor but kindhearted parents always had an extra setting at their table, especially at Christmas.
The warmth of her mum and dad’s welcome for poor guests at the coldest time of the year inspired the 69-year-old grandmother to spread her own seasonal joy. “Mum and dad hadn’t even got a penny,” recalls Gloria. “But it didn’t matter. They’d never turn down any homeless one who knocked on the door.”
“When I became a mum, I tried to make the festive season as special as possible. However, I once met an old lady who was spending Christmas alone in bed. It broke my heart.”
In December 2007, Gloria hosted the first Home Alone lunch after advertising to the public and receiving donations. It took a special person with a big heart and an even bigger table to invite 87 lonely old people for Christmas. Her Home Alone event has lasted up to now.
Every Christmas, Gloria wears her most sparkly dress to serve the traditional roast to every table of her smiling, grateful guests, making time to speak to as many of them as possible. After her first lunch, Gloria was nicknamed Mrs. Christmas. And now she has written a book about her extraordinary life helping bring joy to the elderly who would normally spend Christmas alone.
She wrote in her book, “When I was a child, I had few friends and I was laughed at for being so poor. So I was determined no one else should bear the loneliness and hardship I had suffered.” Having battled cancer three times, Gloria became even more determined to make sure Christmas was not clouded by sadness.
Now the Home Alone event has grown to serving turkey lunch to over 500 happy guests. The kind lady received an award from Sheffield City Council for her efforts and was praised by former Prime Minister David Cameron.
But for Gloria, the real prize comes as she watches the smiles light up the faces of her lunch guests. She says, “There really is no greater reward. Just for a few hours they escape their loneliness and are surrounded by love.”
1. The first two paragraphs intend to tell us ________.| A．why Gloria had a suffering childhood |
| B．how Gloria’s parents celebrated Christmas |
| C．what memories Gloria had about her parents |
| D．that Gloria was inspired by her parents’ kind act |
| A．Her desire for success. | B．Her parents’ will. |
| C．Her tough life experiences. | D．Her friends’ encouragement. |
| A．A Home Alone Event | B．A Big-hearted Grandmother |
| C．A Special Memory of Christmas | D．A Shared Christmas Dinner |
7 . We rely on our memory not only for sharing stories with friends or learning from our past experiences, but we also use it for crucial things like creating a sense of personal identity. Yet evidence shows that our memory isn’t as consistent as we’d like to believe.
There are countless reasons why tiny mistakes might happen each time we recall past events, ranging from what we believe is true or wish were true, to what someone else told us about the past event, or what we want that person to think.
And whenever these mistakes happen, they can have long-term effects on how we’ll recall that memory in the future.
Take storytelling for example. When we describe our memories to other people, we might ask ourselves whether it’s vital to get the facts straight, or whether we only want to make the listener laugh. And we might change the story’s details depending on the listener’s attitudes. It isn’t only the message that changes, but sometimes it’s also the memory itself. This is known as the “audience-tuning effect”, showing us how our memories can change automatically over time, as a product of how, when, and why we access them.
In fact, sometimes simply the act of rehearsing(复述) a memory can be exactly what makes it susceptible(易受影响的)to change. This is known as “retrieval-enhanced suggestibility”. In a typical study of this effect, participants watched a short film, then took a memory test a few days later. But during the days between watching the film and taking the final test, two other things happened. First, half of the participants took a practice memory test. Second, all of the participants were given a description of the film to read, which contained some false details. Participants who took a practice memory test shortly before reading the false information were more likely to reproduce this false information in the final memory test.
Why might this be? One theory is that rehearsing our memories of past events can temporarily make those memories malleable. In other words, retrieving(找回)a memory might be a bit like taking ice-cream out of the freezer and leaving it in direct sunlight for a while. By the time our memory goes back into the freezer, it might have naturally become a little misshapen, especially if someone has influenced it purposely in the meantime.
These findings lead us to wonder how much our most treasured memories have changed since the very first time we remembered them. Remembering is an act of storytelling, after all. And our memories are only ever as reliable as the most recent story we told ourselves.
1. According to the “audience-tuning effect”, our memories can ________.| A．change our personal identity | B．correct mistakes on their own |
| C．determine our attitudes to others | D．be affected by how we handle them |
| A．Practice can make imperfect. | B．Storytelling brings back memories. |
| C．Rehearsing contributes to better memories. | D．Memory abilities vary from person to person. |
| A．Acceptable. | B．Valuable. | C．Changeable. | D．Controllable. |
| A．dazzled | B．wandered | C．encountered |
9 . We need people like you, who understand the power of science, to fund the research that will change lives in the future.
By donating to the Medical Research Foundation (MRF), you’ll be funding the research that future generations will depend on. MRF is an independent charity, focused solely on funding quality medical research. With close links to the Medical Research Council (MRC), we’re able to choose the most impactful studies and adapt quickly to meet any emerging health crisis, thanks to the support of people like you.
Your gift can support some of the brightest scientific minds. Many of these scientists are at the beginning of their careers, when funding is hardest to secure. Your support at this critical time can provide the springboard that a scientist needs to drive their research and career forward, ensuring they can continue to make life-changing discoveries.
MRF has supported researchers tackling pressing challenges like the Bird Flu, as well as vital areas of research that are often overlooked by other funders, ensuring we fill the gaps in our medical knowledge and protect the future of human health.
As someone interested in science, you will understand that while no one can predict what we will face next, we can be certain that it is only through ambitious, high-quality medical research that we will meet whatever new challenges come our way. By leaving a donation, you can have a lasting impact on science and on the future of human health.
| A．Provide service for the MRC. | B．Predict emerging health crisis. |
| C．Fund quality medical research. | D．Donate to people interested in science. |
| A．fill the gaps in medical knowledge |
| B．tackle the future pressing challenges |
| C．choose the most impactful medical studies |
| D．support some of the brightest scientific minds |
| A．To raise medical research funds. |
| B．To introduce the impact by donation. |
| C．To analyse the health crisis in the future. |
| D．To employ people devoted to medical research. |
| A．definite | B．primitive | C．substantial | D．reasonable |
