1 . “If you could have any three things, what would you want?”
Eleven-year-old Ruby Kate Chitsey loves asking that question, but it’s not a game she plays at recess (课间). She asks it at nursing homes in the Harrison, Arkansas, where she lives. Even more amazing, she then sets out to make the residents’ wishes come true.
Ruby Kate often comes along with her mother, Amanda, who works at nursing home in the summer. “I’ve never found them scary at all, so I’m able to just go up to them and ask if they need anything,” she says.
Last May, Ruby Kate noticed a resident named Pearl staring out a window. She seemed sad. “What are you looking at?” Ruby Kate asked. Pearl said she was watching her dog being led away by his new owner after a visit. Pearl didn’t know when she would see her dog again. Pearl was a Medicaid recipient (医疗补助受益人), who got only$40 a month to spend on personal items. Ruby Kate and Amanda asked around and discovered that many residents are unable to afford even the smallest luxuries. So Ruby Kate decided to do something about it.
She started by asking residents what three things they wanted most. “That’s a lot simpler than going, ‘Hey, what do you want?” she explains. “They can understand you better.” Amanda worried that people would ask for things an 11-year-old wouldn’t be able to provide. Instead, they asked for chocolate bars, McDonald’s fries, and even just a prayer (祷告).
“It broke me as a human,” Amanda says with wet eyes. “We left the nursing home that day and went straight to a store and bought as many items as we could.”
Using their own money, the Chitseys made the wishes of about 100 people come true in three months. Then they started asking for donations. The good people of Harrison responded enthusiastically, and they raised $20,000 in 24 hours and more than $250,000 in five months.
1. Why does Ruby often ask the same question?A.She likes hearing everyone’s stories. | B.She wants to help residents in nursing homes. |
C.She finds it interesting to repeat the question. | D.It makes her famous in the community. |
A.Pearl was in good health. | B.Pearl didn’t have enough money to keep her dog. |
C.Pearl was too old to raise a dog. | D.Pearl sold her dog for small luxuries. |
A.The simplicity and sincerity of the residents’ requests. |
B.The popularity Ruby achieved for her kind behaviors. |
C.The residents’ gratitude for Amanda’s assistance. |
D.The generosity and enthusiasm of the good people of Harrison. |
A.Action speak louder than words. | B.A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
C.Nothing is difficult to a willing heart. | D.Kindness is the language of the heart. |
2 . During a recent long international trip, my youngest daughter got airsick (晕机) again. We were
When we stood in the middle of the terminal (航站楼), not only
While he was
As he walked away, she smiled and said, “He
It’s often the horror stories that make the headlines, but small,
A.doubting | B.selecting | C.making | D.exercising |
A.quarrelling about | B.getting through | C.figuring out | D.breaking out |
A.appreciated | B.ignored | C.approached | D.examined |
A.embarrassed | B.sick | C.hungry | D.thirsty |
A.inspired | B.advised | C.persuaded | D.allowed |
A.Instead | B.Therefore | C.Otherwise | D.Besides |
A.mentioning | B.recommending | C.describing | D.delivering |
A.curious | B.confident | C.confused | D.nervous |
A.refusing | B.promising | C.pretending | D.deciding |
A.particularly | B.unwillingly | C.cheerfully | D.regretfully |
A.thought | B.cared | C.inquired | D.complained |
A.affected | B.ruined | C.saved | D.wasted |
A.hair- raising | B.jaw- dropping | C.eye- opening | D.heart- warming |
A.opposed | B.attracted | C.grateful | D.delighted |
A.fortune | B.difference | C.wonder | D.commitment |
3 . We sometimes think that everything was much better and easier in the past. It’s one of the tricks our minds play on us, especially when we are in low spirits.
Actually, it’s unlikely that things were objectively better in the past. This form of thinking is called rosy retrospection, which is a well- studied cognitive (认知的) mistake. It happens because when we think about the past, we are more likely to focus on positive aspects than negative details.
If you think back to a holiday with your family five years ago, you’re likely to recall the beautiful views rather than the uncomfortable bed. In other words, the annoying details disappear from our memory over time while the positive ones remain.
Rosy retrospection can influence how we make decisions, and it’s one of the reasons why we easily return into problematic relationships. The longer it is since we experienced the negative influence of a relationship, the more likely we are to let the good memories outweigh the bad memories and to perhaps forgive unforgivable behavior. Therefore, it’s always a good idea to review our nostalgic (怀旧的) feelings with a healthy degree of doubt.
But rosy retrospection does serve an important purpose. It keeps us in a positive state of mind in the present and is important to our mental health. In fact, people who tend to remember negative experiences more than positive ones are likely to suffer psychological disease. Research generally suggests that our happiest days are still to come. And even if they're not, it’s still important to believe that they are. Don’t shy away from looking upon the past with a certain degree of nostalgia. But, for the same reason, don't use the past as an excuse to be unhappy in the present.
1. What does the underlined phrase “rosy retrospection” in Paragraph 2 mean?A.Concentrating on impossible things. | B.Thinking objectively about the past. |
C.Having a preference for good memories. | D.Remembering exactly about the details. |
A.Forgiving the unacceptable behavior generously. |
B.Reviewing the nostalgic feelings critically. |
C.Ignoring the nostalgic feelings absolutely. |
D.Getting back to the problematic relationships bravely. |
A.The importance of maintaining a positive mindset. | B.The good excuse for present happiness. |
C.The accuracy of remembering past details. | D.The negative impact of recalling past experience. |
A.Negative. | B.Cautious. | C.Subjective. | D.Objective. |
4 . Most adults view human life as especially precious. For example, a survey of millions of people in 233 countries, most of them in their 20s and 30s, found they largely agreed that self- driving cars should crash into dogs or cats instead of people if they had to choose. However, growing evidence suggests many young children feel differently.
Using a toy railway and Lego figures, Matti Wilks and her colleagues at the University of Edinburgh presented170 children aged 6 to 9 in an urban part of Poland with scenarios (场景) based on a thought experiment called the trolley (有轨电车) problem.
The children had to decide whether to direct a rail car down one of two tracks so that it crashed into a Lego person or a Lego animal — either a dog or chimpanzee. Surprisingly, children were likely to save a dog over a person. About 42 percent of the children wanted to save the dog and make the rail car knock down the person, compared with just 17 percent of adults. About 28 percent of children also prioritized the chimpanzee over the person, compared with 11 percent of adults.
“Children learn from their parents, teachers and others that it’s morally (道德上) important to care for others, but it may be easier for them to learn this as a blanket rule (通用规则),” says Karri Neldner at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany. As a result, they don’t show a strong preference for saving one over the other, she says. “However, as they get older, they might pick up on cultural narratives that tell us it’s really important to care for other people,” says Neldner.
The reason children value dogs so highly is probably due to familiarity, says Wilks. Her studies have found that children who spent more time with dogs were more likely to say they would save a dog over a person.
1. What is the author’s purpose of the first paragraph?A.To present a scientific finding. | B.To introduce the topic of the passage. |
C.To provide background information. | D.To advertise for self- driving cars. |
A.It’s a normal phenomenon that children in the experiment prefer to save a dog. |
B.Children’s moral development is shaped by their love for pets. |
C.The trolley problem is a tool to assess children’s intelligence. |
D.Children may fail to understand the value of human life. |
A.Care for parents and teachers. | B.Learning the blanket rule. |
C.Familiarity with others. | D.Cultural influence. |
A.Children’s Choices: Saving Lives or Animals? | B.Mental Effects of Animals on Children |
C.Moral Dilemma (困境): the Trolley Problem | D.Different Opinions about Self- driving Cars |
1. 活动的目的;
2. 活动过程;
3. 活动反响及意义。
注意:
1. 词数100左右;
2. 可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________