2 . It was one of those moments every new parent dreads (恐惧). My baby son was screaming as if I’d just dipped him in a bucket (桶) of battery acid. It felt as if he’d been screaming like that for years, though he was only two months old. Even worse, this was happening in public— I was sitting with my howling baby in the food court of a Los Angeles mall, despairing (绝望) as other diners silently judged me while watching us over plates of food.

Until, that is, one woman— a complete stranger— did something and taught me a lesson about kindness that lingers to this day. She walked over to me and put her hand on my shoulder. “This won’t last forever,” she said. “I know it doesn’t seem like it right now, but things will get better. He’ll stop crying. You’ll get some sleep.”

It was such a small thing, a tiny kindness, really, but it made all the difference. It was 2001 and I was living in a foreign city with a newborn, without friends or family, and I was terribly lonely. This woman had seen me, if only for a moment, and taken the time to make a human connection. It was just a minute out of her day, but it has stayed with me for nearly two decades.

We all want to be better in the world and more giving to others. But we can easily get hung up on the sheer (完全的) importance of that challenge— making time to regularly volunteer or finding money to donate to a cause. Doing good doesn’t have to be an important task, though; it can be incremental (递增的). It can be as quick as a smile, a word, a phone call, an email. It can be the note you send to a friend who is feeling blue or the baby carriage you help carry down the subway stairs for a parent on their own, even though you’re late for work.

I’m reminded of a line from Brian Goldman’s bestseller, The Power of Kindness: “The opposite meaning of empathy is apathy (冷漠).” That is, the opposite of doing good isn’t doing harm; it’s doing nothing. Every tiny act of generosity— every door held open, every coffee bought for a stranger— builds a bridge to another person. It says, “I see you.” Today, when we spend most of our time looking at our phones, and not at people’s faces, that’s invaluable.

So, while I’m not particularly good at regularly volunteering or running marathons to raise money for charity, I’m committed to small gestures. I try to send a note of praise every day to someone whose work I admire. I’ve become phone friends with a lonely 87-year-old woman who contacted me about something I wrote, and who lives in a city far from her own children and grandchildren. On airplanes, I find the new parents with panicked eyes and offer to hold their babies. I remember what it felt like when the screaming baby was mine. I remember when a tiny kindness felt monumental, enough to change the world.

1. Why did the author mention her baby son’s crying in Paragraph 1?

A．To create a disappointing atmosphere.	B．To prove her opinion.
C．To show her helplessness.	D．To introduce the topic.

2. What holds people back from being more giving to others?

A．Always trying to do important deeds.	B．Being short of time.
C．Being lacking in money.	D．Keeping looking at their phones.

3. A line from Brian Goldman’s The Power of Kindness is used in Paragraph 5 to show that ________.

A．doing harm to others is better than doing nothing

B．people are supposed to pay more attention to others’ faces

C．every small gesture counts in connecting people

D．spending most of our time looking at our phones is invaluable

4. What can be the most suitable title for the passage?

A．The Kind Strangers	B．The Small Mercies
C．The Power of Words	D．The Power of Kindness

3 . Imagine having the ________ (机会) to sing together with hundreds of other people while you are at home alone. (根据汉语提示单词拼写）

4 . Robin was 12 years old when his mother sent him to me for his first piano lesson. I preferred that students begin at an earlier _______ . I explained it to Robin that he was too old, but he said it had always been his mother's _______ to hear him play the piano. So I took him as a student.

_______ Robin tried very hard, he didn't seem to have the basic sense of music. However, he _______ and at the end of each lesson he never forgot to say, “My mom's going to hear me play someday. "   But it seemed impossible, and I was _______ by his slow progress. One day, he _______ me that his mother was sick and he couldn't come to my class any longer. I was glad that he stopped coming, since he was really a bad advertisement for my teaching!

Several months later when I was preparing my students for a music show, Robin came to my home and said he had to _______ the show. I don't know what led me to _______ him to do that. Maybe it was the _______ in his eyes or maybe it was something inside of me saying that it would be all right. I was even more ________ when Robin announced that he had chosen one of the most difficult pieces of Mozart. I was not prepared for what happened next.

However, on the show his fingers danced ________ on the keys. He played so well that everyone ________excitedly when he was leaving the stage. In excitement, I ________ up to stage to congratulate him.

“How could you do it?” I could not help asking him a few days later.

“Well, I kept practising at home. My mom had cancer and just passed away the day I went to your ________ to ask for your permission to take part in the show. It was the first time she could hear me play on the stage. 1 wanted to make it ________ . ”

1.

A．level

B．convenience

C．age

D．moment

2.

A．task

B．plan

C．dream

D．hobby

3.

A．Unless

B．Because

C．Until

D．Although

4.

A．acted

B．continued

C．commanded

D．proved

5.

A．encouraged

B．disappointed

C．touched

D．guided

6.

A．told

B．showed

C．convinced

D．promised

7.

A．look forward to

B．sign up for

C．focus on

D．learn from

8.

A．warn

B．persuade

C．allow

D．force

9.

A．determination

B．happiness

C．reflections

D．anger

10.

A．excited

B．satisfied

C．relieved

D．surprised

11.

A．gracefully

B．awkwardly

C．slowly

D．quickly

12.

A．shook

B．clapped

C．danced

D．laughed

13.

A．followed

B．drove

C．woke

D．ran

14.

A．house

B．office

C．class

D．stage

15.

A．special

B．important

C．similar

D．popular

5 . The grand sight of Mount Huangshan is beyond __________(描述) (根据汉语提示单词拼写)

6 . The Torch Festival (火把节) is a traditional festival which is celebrated among some ethnic groups in southwestern China, such as the Yi, Bai, Hani, Lisu, and Lahu, etc. It usually falls on the 24th or 25th of June, with three days of celebrations. The festival came from worship (崇拜) of fire by ancestors (祖先). For some ethnic groups, it’s a tradition in the festival for elders to share farming experience with young people and educate them about taking care of crops.

During the festival, big torches are made to stand in all villages, with small torches placed in front of the door of each house. When night falls, the torches are lit and the villages are bright. At the same time, people walk around the fields and houses, holding small torches and placing the torches in the field corners. Inside the villages, young people are singing and dancing around the big torches that keep burning throughout the night. Other activities like horse races are also held during the festival.

In a horse race of the Yi people in Yunnan, torches are used to form hurdles for riders to get through. The Hani people in Yunnan traditionally tie fruits to torches with strings. When the strings are broken after the torches are lit, people struggle for the fruits for good luck.

For the Lisu people in Sichuan, the festival is an occasion for holding torch parades. Big torches are carried by teams of people, which is like a fire dragon. If different teams meet, it’s a tradition to exchange the big torches with one another.

1. What can we know about the Torch Festival from the first paragraph?

A．It has nothing to do with farming.

B．Its celebrations usually last two days.

C．It is a traditional festival of all China.

D．It is a festival to show worship of fire.

2. What does the underlined word “them” in paragraph 1 refer to?

A．ancestors.	B．young people.
C．elders.	D．ethnic groups.

3. What is the main idea of the second paragraph?

A．Why the festival is enjoyed.	B．Where the festival is celebrated.
C．How the festival is celebrated.	D．What torches are used for the festival.

4. Which is a way that Lisu people in Sichuan celebrate the festival according to the text?

A．Holding torch parades.	B．Tying fruits to torches with strings.
C．Struggling for fruits for good luck.	D．Using torches as hurdles for a horse race.

7 . When I was a boy, our extended, immigrant family would sometimes gather at my aunt’s tiny house over the summer. Relatives from all over the country would come in to visit. The adults would crowd together in the living room to talk and catch up on each other' s lives. And the kids would be sent out into the front yard to play when dinner was slowly cooked for all of us.

Those were the days before video games, smart phones, and motorized toys, so we often ended up playing an old game. I remember one of those moments especially. As I was the youngest and smallest of all the kids there, I got caught first and couldn't catch anyone else. My brothers and cousins were all too fast for me, and I grew more and more frustrated. I finally fell my face first into the dirt. I got up with tears forming in my eyes. Then I saw one of my female cousins Susan standing there. She started to run but was going much slower than before. I easily caught up and seized her. Then she turned to me, smiled, and said, "I'm it! You'd better run!" I ran off laughing with glee while she turned and started to chase others.

Now I see how her act of kindness that day saved me from sadness and returned me to joy. It didn't matter that we hardly ever saw each other. I know we are family and she loves me.

In her wonderful book: Box of Butterflies, Roma Downey writes, "We are all one, we all belong to each other, and we are one big. beautiful family." Perhaps it is time that we all started to treat each other that way. Perhaps it is time that we shared our love, our kindness, our laughter, and our joy with everyone without fear. Perhaps it is time to finally and forever bring this world together in one big family reunion.

1. When the adults were chatting, the kids would__________.

A．play video games	B．sit in the front yard
C．learn to cook dinner	D．play traditional games

2. The author was able to catch Susan because________.

A．the others ran too fast	B．the author was good at running
C．Susan gave her a chance	D．Susan wanted to chase others

3. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．The author is grateful for hat Susan did to her.

B．The author cant meet Susan any more.

C．The author urges others to love their family.

D．The author believes the world will become a big family

4. What could be the best title of the passage?

A．A memory of my childhood.	B．Sharing of goodness unites us.
C．Kindness brightens our life.	D．A good deed is invaluable.