1 . I teach economics at UNLV three times per week. Last Monday, at the beginning of class, I
His question
“Let me give you an example,” I continued, addressing all sixty students in the class. “In addition to teaching here at UNLV, I also teach out at the community college in Henderson, 17 miles down the freeway from where I live. One day a few weeks ago, I drove those 17 miles to Henderson. I
“As soon as I got there, I called AAA (汽车协会) and asked them to arrange for a tow truck to meet me at my car after class. The secretary in the office asked me what has happened. “This is my
“‘But your car breaks down’, she was confused, ‘What do you mean?’”
“‘I live 17 miles from here,’ I replied. ‘My car
“The secretary’s eyes opened wide, and then she smiled, I smiled back and headed for class.” So ended my story.
I scanned the sixty faces in my economics class at UNLV. Somehow, my story had touched them. Or maybe it wasn’t the story at all. In fact, it had all started with a student’s
| A．deliberately | B．cheerfully | C．curiously | D．typically |
| A．reminded | B．assured | C．informed | D．relieved |
| A．arrange | B．evaluate | C．approach | D．improve |
| A．missed | B．followed | C．exited | D．took |
| A．dragged | B．marched | C．struggled | D．wandered |
| A．awkward | B．unexpected | C．glorious | D．lucky |
| A．shouldn’t | B．must | C．couldn’t | D．might |
| A．near | B．off | C．down | D．on |
| A．convenient | B．confusing | C．cautious | D．challenging |
| A．objection | B．implication | C．observation | D．suspicion |
2 . Brenda Thomas’s heart became a shell when her 21-year-old son died in a motorcycle accident in September 2019, only one week into his senior year of college. But she has found something that helps her to deal with her grief.
She keeps “acts of kindness” cards in honor of her son. These folded pieces of paper are tucked in her purse at all times and always stored in the glove compartment of her car. Whenever she does a good deed for a stranger— which is about once a week— she passes along a card with a message written on it: “If you receive this card, then you must be a recipient of a random act of kindness.” At the top of each note is her son’s name, Trevor Paul Thomas.
Trevor was an athlete who played baseball at Allegany College of Maryland and Penn State Fayette. He was a loyal friend and a force for good, with a witty sense of humor and a big smile. According to his mother, one of Trevor’s best qualities was his compassion for others, no matter how well he knew them. He regularly shoveled(铲) snow off the driveways of older neighbors, delivered hot meals to those in need, and befriended classmates who struggled to fit in. It seemed a natural fit to launch a kindness campaign in his memory.
The Thomas family adopted the “acts of kindness” cards to mark what would have been Trevor’s 23 birthday. They hoped that these cards would encourage people to do a good deed as part of Trevor’s legacy. On each card, they included a mantra (箴言) that the family said best describes the way Trevor had lived his life: “Be somebody who makes everybody feel like somebody.”
Recently, while dining with her daughter Whitney in a restaurant, Brenda decided to pay for the meal of a mother and two children. The recipient of Brenda’s spontaneous (发自内心的) gift was Liana Arruda. She was taking her nine-year-old son and his five-year-old sister for dinner. She felt shocked and moved after the waitress handed her the card. She used it as an opportunity to teach her children about compassion and is now brainstorming ways to pass on the goodness. “I’m waiting to find the perfect opportunity,” she said. “I want it to matter, because it mattered to me.”
For the Thomas family, while there is still—and forever will be—a massive void(空虚感) in their lives without Trevor, committing to “living like him” has helped them turn their pain into purpose. “We’ll keep paying it forward in Trevor’s honor because it would make him so proud,” said Brenda.
1. Trevor Paul can be best described as________.| A．ambitious, witty and optimistic |
| B．sympathetic, humorous and warmhearted |
| C．faithful, passionate and competitive |
| D．compassionate, persistent and rigorous |
| A．Do as Romans do. |
| B．Serve others to be popular. |
| C．Influence others with what you do. |
| D．Nothing is impossible to a willing heart. |
| A．Trevor would have graduated from university within one year but for the accident. |
| B．Every time Brenda does a good deed for others, they’ll receive an anonymous card. |
| C．Liana was astonished and touched because her two children gave her the gift spontaneously. |
| D．Liana has found a perfect opportunity to pass on the goodness and teach her children about compassion. |
| A．Your pain can be turned into purpose to push you forward. |
| B．Compassion means standing in others shoes. |
| C．Void can be replaced with satisfaction by “living like him”. |
| D．Committing to “following his way” is a good way to honor somebody. |
3 . So many of us are terrible at being terrible. As our children venture off to school, sports, dances and music lessons, we urge them: Just try something, keep practicing, you’re only a beginner. And yet, faced with our own failure, we become less confident, and quit altogether.
Images of perfection fill our social-media feeds, along with advertisements assuring us we wouldn’t be so
What if we’re
“It’s such a
Ms. Rinaldi, whose experience led to a book about what you can learn from failure, recommends asking yourself: “What is it that you’ve always wanted to do or try but were too
Take myself as another example. I started yoga lessons this summer. When I
| A．distressing | B．imperfect | C．impressive | D．incredible |
| A．fearing | B．confirming | C．hoping | D．indicating |
| A．missing out | B．putting up | C．setting in | D．taking off |
| A．burden | B．nonsense | C．puzzle | D．relief |
| A．disappointment | B．nervousness | C．preference | D．satisfaction |
| A．acknowledge | B．offer | C．refuse | D．seek |
| A．angry at | B．delighted in | C．embarrassed with | D．patient with |
| A．awarding | B．forgiving | C．isolating | D．pushing |
| A．afraid | B．annoyed | C．depressed | D．exhausted |
| A．accept | B．conceal | C．deny | D．examine |
| A．excitement | B．modesty | C．potential | D．pride |
| A．apologized to | B．argued with | C．complained to | D．shouted at |
| A．abusive | B．amazing | C．annoying | D．attentive |
| A．careful | B．hesitant | C．involuntary | D．unsteady |
| A．alert | B．fulfilled | C．improved | D．worse |
4 . When I was growing up in America, I was ashamed of my mother's Chinese English. Because of her English, she was often treated unfairly. People in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not give her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her.
My mother has long realized the limitations of her English as well. When I was fifteen, she used to have me call people on the phone to pretend I was she. I was forced to ask for information or even to shout at people who had been rude to her. One time I had to call her stockbroker (股票经纪人). I said in an adolescent voice that was not very convincing (令人相信的)，“This is Mrs. Tan. "
And my mother was standing beside me, whispering loudly, “Why he don't send me check already two week late. "
And then, in perfect English I said: "I'm getting rather concerned. You agreed to send the check two weeks ago, but it hasn't arrived. "
Then she talked more loudly. "What he want? I come to New York tell him front of his boss. "And so I turned to the stockbroker again, "I can't tolerate (容忍) any more excuse. If I don't receive the check immediately, I am going to have to speak to your manager when I am in New York next week. "
The next week we ended up in New York. While I was sitting there red-faced, my mother, the real, was shouting to his boss in her broken English.
When I was a teenager, my mother’ s broken English embarrassed me. But now, I see it differently. To me, my mother’s English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It is my mother tongue. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, and full of observation and wisdom. It was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed ideas, and made sense of the world.
1. Why was the author's mother poorly served?| A．She was unable to speak good English. | B．She was often misunderstood. |
| C．She was not clearly heard. | D．She was not very polite. |
| A．good at pretending | B．rude to the stockbroker |
| C．ready to help her mother | D．unwilling to phone for her mother |
| A．they forgave the stockbroker · | B．they failed to get the check |
| C．they went to New York immediately | D．they spoke to their boss at once |
| A．It confuses her. | B．It embarrasses her |
| C．It helps her understand the world. | D．It helps her tolerate rude people. |
5 . On the night of September 19, 1961, Betty Hill and her husband Barney were driving home through the White Mountains from Niagara Falls. They were travelling on a nearly deserted two-lane highway when Betty noticed a steady light in the sky that was getting bigger and brighter.
She thought it was a planet or a star. Barney, stimulated at her excitement, said it was probably just a wandering aeroplane. Whatever it was, it appeared to be following them.
They stopped their car for a closer look. What they said happened next, changed their lives. The flying object was noiseless. It appeared to be spinning. It was as big as a jet but shaped like a pancake.
So formed the tale of Betty Hill, a New Hampshire social worker who, with Barney, a postal worker, claimed to be kidnapped by aliens, who were from outer space, on a moonlit night about 60 years ago.
After reluctantly going public with her experience, Hill, who died of cancer at her New Hampshire home, aged 85, became a celebrity on the UFO circuit and was known as the “first lady of UFOs”.
Intriguingly, at the time of the incident, the Hills remembered nothing except that they had spied a strange object in the sky. Later, troubled by nightmares and other stress-related pains, the couple underwent hypnosis(催眠) where the full story came out with the aid of Boston psychiatrist Benjamin Simon, an expert in medical hypnosis.
On their night of contact the Hills arrived home at 5 a.m., unable to account for two lost hours. They were also confused by the odd marks on their telescopes, deep signs on the tops of Barney’s best shoes, Betty’s torn dress and strange circular markings on their car that made the needle of a compass jump wildly.
After seeing them for six months, the psychiatrist concluded the Hills’ lost memory about the hours they lost on that night in 1961 “appeared to involve an amazing experience on the part of both of the Hills”. Whether the experience had been fantasy or reality, Simon could not say, but he said he was convinced they had not been lying. He guessed that it had been a kind of shared dream.
Reports of aliens capturing humans and taking them aboard oddly shaped spacecraft were “comparatively rare” before 1975. After a movie, “The UFO Incident”, about the Hills came out, however, such stories increased.
1. When they saw the strange object in the sky, Barney and Betty Hill ______________.| A．were astonished at its strange flight and noise | B．regarded it as just a wandering car following them |
| C．realized immediately what the danger it might cause | D．showed curiosity in discovering what it really was |
| A．Ridiculously | B．Temporarily | C．Remarkably | D．Mysteriously |
| A．they had lots of secrets in their lives after the strange experience |
| B．their lives were greatly disturbed by the unexpected experience |
| C．they wanted to share their unforgettable experience with the expert |
| D．they hoped to forget completely what had happened to them |
| A．describe an unusual event to the readers | B．convince readers of the existence of UFOs |
| C．record how people were caught by aliens | D．warn people of the dangers the UFOs cause |
Turning Pain into Music
After
The problem first started for Smith when he was a freshman in high school. He suffered a concussion(脑震荡)while playing basketball. The symptoms didn't seem to go away after several months.
Doctors discovered a small fracture(裂缝)in Smith's skull that was causing the pressure and the headaches. The teenager had surgery to repair it, but when he woke up, the problem was much worse. For months, he was in near constant pain. ''It was the first time in my life that I
Doctors eventually diagnosed him with Trigeminal Neuralgia(三叉神经痛), a disorder that causes severe pain in the face. T. N. ,
Facing this awful reality, Smith turned to something he'd known since he was five years old - playing the piano. When he was in too much pain to sleep, he would be in the basement on his keyboard playing all night long.
The keys wouldn’t take the pain away, but the notes would make it more bearable.
While dealing with the immense pain, the then-18-year-old wrote his first album, Loreto. He published all 17 songs on his website, free for all, aiming to offer some comfort to people also
The idea prompted Smith to start song dedications(为他人写歌). He would take request within online groups for people suffering from T. N. or other pain disorders and write
''A lot of people say that when I write them a song and they listen to it, their pain is a lessened ... So, I guess that's
The 20-year-old has so far published over 100 songs on his website. His efforts
7 . Many of China’s ancient architectural treasures smashed to dust before Lin Huiyin and Liang Sicheng began documenting them in the 1930s. The husband and wife team were among the first preservationists to operate in China, and by far the bestknown. Their efforts have since inspired generations of people to speak out for architecture threatened by the rush toward development.
Becoming China’s best architectural historians was no easy accomplishment. The buildings they wanted to save were centuries old located in distant parts of the country.In many cases, they had to journey through dangerous conditions in the Chinese countryside to reach them. Exploring China’s remote areas during the 1930s meant traveling muddy, poorly maintained roads by mule（骡子）or on foot. Inns were often dirty food could be polluted, and there was always risk or violence from rebels, soldiers and robbers.
Their greatest discovery was the Temple of Buddha’s Light, in Wutai County, Shanxi Province. The breathtaking wooden temple was built in 857 A. D., making it the oldest building known in China at the time.
Liang and Lin crawled into the temple’s most forbidding, forgotten areas to determine itsage, including one hideaway inhibited by thousands or bats and millions of bedbugs, covered in dust and littered with dead bats. “In complete darkness andamong the awful smell, hardly breathing, with thick masks covering our nosesand mouths, we measured, drew, and photographed with flashlights for several hours. When at last we came out to take a breath of fresh air, we foundhundreds of bedbugs in our bag. We ourselves had been badly bitten. Yet the importance and unexpectedness of our find made those the happiest hours of myyears hunting for ancient architecture.” Liand wrote of the experience in anaccount included in “Liang and Lin; Partners in Exploring China’s ArchitectualPast.”
1. On their way to the ancient buildings in 1930s,Liang and Lin faced following risks EXCEPT ________.| A．accommodations | B．personal security |
| C．road conditions | D．vehicles |
| A．documenting smashed historical buildings |
| B．rebuilding historically valuablebuildings |
| C．saving the oldest temples in China |
| D．Protecting historical buildings. |
| A．Liang and Lin caught insects with awful smell. |
| B．Liang and Lin were forbidden to breathe inside |
| C．Liang and Lin were pleased at something unhoped for |
| D．Liang and Lin determined its age by studyingbedbug’s hideaway |
| A．Creativeness results in discovery | B．Difficulty produces achievement |
| C．Efforts contribute to happiness | D．Responsibilities make development |
In 1974, I graduated from Skyline High School in Oakland, California, an underachieving student with poor SAT scores. I couldn't afford tuition for college anyway.
For thousands of commuting students like me, Chabot was our Harvard, offering courses in physics, stenography, automechanics, certified public accounting, foreign languages, journalism and so on. Classmates included veterans ( 老 兵 )back from Vietnam, married women returning to school, middle-aged men wanting to improve their employment prospects and paychecks. We could get our general education requirements out of the way at Chabot — credits we could transfer to a university — which made those two years an invaluable head start.
Classes I took at Chabot have rippled (起涟漪)through my professional pond. I produced the HBO mini-series John Adams with an outline format I learned from a pipe-smoking historian, James Coovelis, whose lectures were interesting. Mary Lou Fitzgerald’s “Studies in Shakespeare” taught me how the five-act structures of Richard III, The Tempest, and Othello focused their themes.
In Herb Kennedy’s “Drama in Performance”， I read plays like The Hot L Baltimore and Desire Under the Elms, then saw their productions. I got to see the plays he taught, through student rush tickets at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and the Berkeley Repertory Theatre.
If Chabot’s library still has its collection of vinyl records (黑胶唱片), you will find my name repeatedly on the takeout slip of Jason Robards’s performance of the monologue of Eugene O’Neill.
Chabot College is still in Hayward, though Mr. Coovelis, Ms. Fitzgerald and Mr. Kennedy are no longer there. I drove past the campus a few years ago with one of my kids and summed up my two years there this way: “
| A．I listened to it 20 times at least. |
| B．That place made me what I am today. |
| C．Community colleges have improved a lot these years. |
| D．Those plays filled my head with expanded dreams. |
| E．Of course, I enjoyed the pleasure of eating French fries between classes. |
| F．So I sent my test results to Chabot, a community college in nearby Hayward, California, which accepted everyone and was free. |
Happiness Is an Attitude
The 92-year-old confident and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with her hair fashionably combed and makeup perfectly applied, moved to a
Her husband of 70 years recently passed away,
After many hours of waiting patiently in the hall of the nursing home, she
“I love it,” she started with the enthusiasm of
“Mrs. Jones, you haven’t seen the room….just wait.”
“That has
