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 . A famous magazine, Amusement Today, does a survey among park lovers every year both in the US and overseas, based on which, “Top 5 List of the Best Amusement Parks in the World” has come out as follows:
Disneyland, California
Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California, the US. More than 515 million guests have traveled to this American landmark from around the world since the park first opened to guests on July 17, 1955. The park consists of many world-famous sections, such as Main Street, Adventure land, New Orleans Square, and so on.
Magic Kingdom, Disney World, Florida
Magic Kingdom is a theme park within the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, near Orlando opened on October 1, 1971. It is the most famous theme park in Florida. The park’s design and attractions don’t make much difference from Disneyland Park in Anaheim.
EPCOT, Disney World, Florida
EPCOT is the second theme park built at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida. The park opened on October 1, 1982, and was named EPCOT Center from 1982 to 1993. It was the largest Disney theme park in the world until 1998, when Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened.
DisneyMGM Studios, Florida
MGM’s streets are the home for some great moviethemed attractions with a history of less than 30 years. With the addition of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and the Rock and Roller Coaster, the park is now home to Disney World’s most thrilling rides.
Universal Studios, Florida
Go behind the scenes, beyond the screen and jump right into the action of your favorite movies at Universal Studios, the number one movie and TV theme park in the world.
1. Which of the following theme parks have similar attractions?| A．Disneyland & Magic Kingdom. |
| B．Disneyland & Universal Studios. |
| C．EPCOT & DisneyMGM Studios. |
| D．Magic Kingdom & Universal Studios. |
| A．Magic Kingdom, Disney World, Florida. |
| B．DisneyMGM Studios, Florida. |
| C．EPCOT, Disney World, Florida. |
| D．Disneyland, California. |
| A．To attract tourists to these theme parks. |
| B．To increase the sales of Amusement Today. |
| C．To introduce world’s best amusement parks. |
| D．To compare attractions in different theme parks. |
3 . After I made it to the city center, I started to feel it might be easy for a foreigner to deal with the great size of Beijing. With growing confidence, I decided to take the subway to the hotel, not realizing that the network didn’t go that far. Impressed with the cleanliness of the station, I bought a ticket and boarded the first subway that came along.
After a few minutes I asked in English a young man seated next to me where I should get off closest to the Friendship Hotel. Wearing a smart business suit and tie, he would surely speak English, wouldn’t he? Unfortunately, he couldn’t understand me but seemed very friendly. I showed him the room card with all the information of the Friendship Hotel in Chinese characters. He looked at it, and then his eyes moved quickly to the carriage (车厢) subway map. Next, he raised three fingers of his right hand.
In Australia, raising fingers at someone is not usually nice, but this man wasn’t smiling. At the next station he showed me two fingers. Now in Australia, that’s really rude, but I got the message. When we stopped at the third station, he didn’t just point to the door, but got up, took me out of the train, and led me to the top of the stairs, and out onto the street. Then he stopped a taxi and told the driver where to take me.
All this came from a man who couldn’t speak my language, and I couldn’t speak his. I was now speechless, especially when he refused my offer of money. I felt a little embarrassed having even thought he would accept a tip.
This experience made it clear I had to learn some Chinese quickly or my adventures might start turning into misadventures.
1. Why does the author decided to take the subway?| A．Because he believed in his ability to deal with the trip |
| B．Because the network covered most of the stops |
| C．Because he lived near the city center |
| D．Because he had a good impression of its cleanliness |
| A．still remained puzzled | B．understood the author well |
| C．answered the author directly | D．pointed at the subway map |
| A．helpful. | B．impolite. | C．warm-hearted. | D．responsible. |
| A．To prove the importance of being careful |
| B．To introduce a young man who didn’t know English |
| C．To complain some cultural misunderstanding |
| D．To describe one of his adventurous experiences |
4 . When you step into a new environment, you must have a strong wish to fit in. Fitting in means making more friends, having more influence on others and getting more chances to live a happier life.
Be confident. Confidence attracts most people. Everyone is special and there is only one person like you in this world. Spend some time thinking about your strong points.
Be kind to everyone. Kindness is the bridge to your own happiness. When people notice your kindness, they will return it one day. Always give more than you receive, and think more of others than of yourself.
Do smile to everyone every day. It makes both you and others feel happy.
If you follow what is mentioned above, you will be accepted by people around you. As a result, you will fit in very well and enjoy your new life.
| A．Be active in group activities. |
| B．A pleasant smile costs the least and does the most. |
| C．Here is some advice that can help you. |
| D．If so, you will be able to build up confidence step by step. |
| E．A person who cares for others is popular everywhere. |
| F．However, everybody needs friends. |
| G．Even so, it often leaves one to wonder if we fit in well. |
5 . What a day! I started my new school this morning and had the best time. I made lots of new friends and really liked my teachers. I was nervous the night before, but I had no reason to be. Everyone was so friendly and polite. They made me feel at ease. It was like I’d been at the school for a hundred years!
The day started very early at 7:00 am. I had my breakfast downstairs with my mom. She could tell that I was very nervous. Mom kept asking me what was wrong. She told me I had nothing to worry about and that everyone was going to love me. If they didn’t love me, mom said to have a good talk with them. I couldn’t stop laughing.
My mom dropped me off at the school gate about five minutes before the bell rang. A little blonde girl got dropped off at the same time and started waving (招手) at me. She ran over and told me her name was Abigail. She was very nice and we became close straight away. We spent all morning together and began to talk to another girl called Stacey. The three of us sat together in class all day and we even made our way home together! It went so quickly. Our teacher told us that tomorrow we would really start learning and developing new skills.
I cannot wait until tomorrow and feel as though I am really going to enjoy my time at my new school. I only hope that my new friends feel the same way, too.
1. How did the author feel the night before her new school?| A．Tired. | B．Excited. | C．Happy. | D．Worried. |
| A．Clear. | B．Funny. | C．Reasonable. | D．Excellent. |
| A．She met many nice people. | B．She had a hurried breakfast. |
| C．She learned some new skills. | D．She arrived at school very early. |
| A．She disliked Stacey. | B．She was shy and quiet. |
| C．She got on well with the author. | D．She was an old friend of the author. |
6 . How to Be Creative
Most of us think that creativity is a quality (品质) belonging only to artists, writers, or dancers, rather than ourselves.
Get out of your comfort zone
We eagerly accept the familiar and fear the unknown. Break out of your usual patterns and welcome creativity into your life. As said earlier, the human brain was designed to recognize patterns.
Try different things
If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got. We are creatures of habits and routines, and creativity hates routines (常规). If you usually drive to work, take the subway for a few days.
Having a great idea is not enough, you must work to make it a reality. Have you ever seen a new product and realized that you thought of the same thing long ago? Yet someone else is making money with “your” idea.
| A．Take action |
| B．Seek several options |
| C．Think from the other person’s point of view. |
| D．If you normally eat in the office, have lunch under a tree. |
| E．We continue to create patterns for almost everything we do. |
| F．The truth is that we are all born with the ability to be creative. |
| G．We all have great ideas sometimes, but only a few people turn their ideas into realities. |
7 . Like most people, I was not sure about using virtual reality (VR) (虚拟现实) for travel. However, driven by the chance to experience places and things I could never visit without time, money, and travel, I visited the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) to check out their spacewalk VR Transporter. The visit turned out to be the most unforgettable experience that I’d ever had. After an hour or so, I took off the VR headset (眼罩), feeling as if I had actually been staying in space for months.
As we move through the post-COVID era (后疫情时代), international travel and large events have both been slow to return, so Ceek, an APP for virtual events and experiences, has been developed to allow users to travel through time and space with great joy. Mary Spio, Ceek CEO, explains that the combination of sights and sounds is important. “So our users can listen and see everything at the same time.”
The promise of VR is that it helps us rethink what travel even means. “Traveling can be crossing cultures, crossing memories, and can be done in your mind,” says David Askaryan, CEO of the Museum of Future Experiences. He says MOFE’s VR technology create “an experience where the world around you just completely changes for 70 minutes.”
In the post-COVID era, with our vacation days or travel money running short, virtual reality may be the next best way to visit the destinations that have been lighting up our social timeline, or are on our list. As for me, I’m already planning my next VR trip: an underwater VR experience.
1. Why did the writer visit MSI?| A．To study space science. | B．To buy VR headsets. |
| C．To try VR travel. | D．To learn spacewalk skills. |
| A．Travel through space and time with great joy in reality. |
| B．Listen and see everything in the world. |
| C．Experience a wonderful virtual trip. |
| D．Discover the sights and sounds during the post-COVID era. |
| A．It focuses on one culture. | B．It provides a new experience. |
| C．It helps build up memories. | D．It changes the world around us. |
| A．It will become popular. | B．It will happen underwater. |
| C．It will be more expensive. | D．It will take days to finish. |
8 . You are a freshman in college. You want to have fun, but you want people to take you seriously. You need to earn good grades, especially if you are on scholarship. You need to make sure you are preparing for the world after college, too. It sounds I like a lot of responsibility and work.
Meet new people
Volunteer
Volunteering is sometimes required as part of your curriculum in college, and you’ll meet plenty of new people in this way.
Find a passion
Part of becoming a successful college student is accepting that things won’t always work out the way you want them to. You’ll make some mistakes, even some big ones. Don’t see these as evidence that you are “a failure”. View them as opportunities for growth.
| A．Accept that failure is okay. |
| B．Attend clubs and socials, especially the ones for freshmen. |
| C．Have you always wanted to act? |
| D．You may not have any idea what you want to do for a career, and as a freshman, that’s okay. |
| E．Fortunately, with a little planning and know-how, you can make your college career a success. |
| F．Sure, a poetry class may not seem like it will help you with your major, but it encourage s creativity and expression. |
| G．Also, volunteering looks great on a resume. |
9 . One night, as I was driving down the road, I found something was sitting in the middle of the road. A few seconds later, I realized I was looking at a large turtle (海龟). Afraid of it being crashed by cars, so I pulled over, ran across the road and dragged the turtle to safety. But I’d made one big mistake.
I had heard that the best way to pick up a turtle without hurting it was picking it by the tail in order not to get bitten. So I’d made that big mistake. While the turtle turned out OK generally, I was determined to figure out how to move a turtle properly. I needed to find someone who dealt with turtles. I found the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre. I talked to Dr. Sue, its Executive and Medical Director.
Dr. Sue told me that the organization dealt with a number of aspects of turtle conservation, including rescue, settlement, birth programs, research, and education. Sue explained that southern Ontario is home to a vast majority of turtles in Canada, but is also one of the vastest road networks of the country.
“Ninety percent of injured turtles brought in are caused by cars. These turtles spend a lot of time on land. And they do travel many kilometers on land for a variety of reasons, to find a nesting spot, or to hang out for the summer or winter. Turtles know where they want to go. So, just keep them going in the direction they want to go and you may have saved a turtle’s life,” Dr. Sue said.
Once an injured turtle arrives at the center, there are medical facilities (设备) ready to go, including an X-ray machine. That’s when the team gets to work with healing injuries, and help their patient.
1. Why did the author stop the car?| A．To help the turtle. | B．To see the thing clearly. |
| C．To prevent a car accident. | D．To find something good. |
| A．It got hurt by people before. | B．It was injured a little bit. |
| C．It was run over by a car. | D．It lost its direction. |
| A．Leaving the turtles alone. |
| B．Making Ontario home to turtles. |
| C．Changing the road conditions. |
| D．Helping turtles find nesting spots. |
| A．The director. | B．The driver. |
| C．The author. | D．The turtle. |
10 . The kitchen and bedroom are the most unsafe places. Common accidents in these rooms include falls, fires, poisoning, cuts, hot water burns and electric shocks. How to make sure your kitchen and bedroom are safe. The following are some tips.
THE KITCHEN
*Turn off all appliances after use.
*Make sure the floor is not slippery.
*Keep matches out of the reach of children,
*Turn pan handles away from the front of the stove.
*Always cut away from your body when you use a knife.
*Follow instructions for all electrical appliances carefully.
*Always use a ladder to reach high cupboards; never stand on a chair.
*Store all cleaning materials and poisonous materials in a locked cupboard.
THE BEDROOM
*Never smoke in bed.
*Keep a lamp near the bed.
*Turn off electric blankets when not in use.
*Have a telephone near the bed, especially if ill.
1. What accidents may NOT happen in the kitchen and bedroom?| A．Falls. | B．Fires. | C．Burns. | D．Drown. |
| A．Use a ladder. | B．Jump up. |
| C．Stan d on others’ shoulders. | D．Stan d on a chair. |
| A．Smoke in the bed. | B．Tum on electric blankets when not in use. |
| C．Keep a lamp near the bed. | D．Don’t have a telephone near the bed. |
| A．The safety tips in the park. | B．The safety tips in the bathroom, |
| C．The safety tips in the classroom. | D．The safety tips in the kitchen and bedroom. |
