1 . Working for a big company in London on a salary (薪水)of over £100,000, you might expect Grayden Reece-Smith to have a luxurious (奢侈)lifestyle, going on expensive holidays or driving a sports car around south London, where he lives. In fact, the 28-year-old lives a very different existence from his colleagues. He gives away everything he earns over £42,000–a figure that he thought he could comfortably live on.
Over the past five years, Reece-Smith has handed over more than £250,000 to organizations such as International Care Ministries, which helps poor families in the Philippines, and the Against Malaria Foundation. He is part of a growing number of young professionals described as “effective altruists”. Effective altruists typically donate regularly to a charity which they think will have a great impact (影响). Some change careers to make more money, which can then be given away.
Reece-Smith considered working in the charity sector after graduating from university, but thought that he could make a bigger difference by donating a large part of his salary. He had volunteered as a teacher at a school in Tanzania, but then realized that earning and giving would be more effective. “The cost of my flights there could have paid the salaries of two teachers for an entire year,” he says. Instead, he could “stay at home, living a nice life and still make a huge difference in the world”.
He is not mean with money-last year he went to Cuba on holiday, and spent several thousand pounds on a new sofa. But his lifestyle isn’t as luxurious as some of the people he works with. “I usually don’t buy supermarket-branded food products, but I don’t own a car. Other people on my salary might have a bigger house. Some of my colleagues have four-bedroom houses, but we only bought what we needed-a two-bedroom flat.£42,000 is more than enough to live on and still save,” he says.
1. How much money does Grayden spend on donation every year?| A．Less than £42,000. | B．Over £100.000. |
| C．£50,000. | D．Any income over £42,000. |
| A．Donate to impactful charities. | B．Make more money to enjoy lives. |
| C．Create a good public image. | D．Enter a teaching profession. |
| A．To access his inner life. | B．To create a stronger effect. |
| C．To give away all of his salary. | D．To be a teacher at a school. |
| A．He leads an expensive lifestyle. | B．He buys food produced by supermarkets. |
| C．He lives in a four-bedroom house. | D．He balances his life and donation. |
2 . Last year I attended the annual autumn saffron (藏红花) harvest festival on a trip in Italy, known as the sagra. Giovannina Sarra and her family
Saffron , taken from the stigmas (柱头) of the saffron flower, is a(n)
Now sitting at a mouth-watering plate of Risotto alla Milanese, a dish cooked with saffron, I
| A．interviewed | B．accompanied | C．hosted | D．recognized |
| A．fell behind | B．fanned out | C．sat around | D．hung around |
| A．profitable | B．tropical | C．unavailable | D．unaffordable |
| A．technology | B．patent | C．investment | D．import |
| A．harvested | B．stored | C．watered | D．monitored |
| A．noon | B．sunrise | C．dusk | D．midnight |
| A．bloom | B．tend | C．grow | D．sell |
| A．frozen | B．sticky | C．tiny | D．wet |
| A．object | B．issue | C．adventure | D．process |
| A．rough | B．careless | C．patient | D．sweaty |
| A．boiled | B．dried | C．fried | D．warmed |
| A．recall | B．remind | C．cherish | D．record |
| A．doubt | B．evidence | C．reason | D．chance |
| A．wonders | B．platforms | C．traditions | D．relations |
| A．Fortunately | B．Immediately | C．Gradually | D．Hopefully |
3 . I was halfway across Indiana headed home to Kentucky when my car broke down. My phone was
I sat alongside my car for several hours trying to
Right then and there, this total
| A．busy | B．loud | C．dead | D．secure |
| A．mechanic | B．policeman | C．manager | D．guide |
| A．washing | B．parking | C．purchasing | D．maintaining |
| A．feel | B．beat | C．absorb | D．produce |
| A．promised | B．refused | C．stopped | D．volunteered |
| A．solved | B．noticed | C．escaped | D．explained |
| A．surprise | B．regret | C．amusement | D．disappointment |
| A．called up | B．pulled out | C．put down | D．threw away |
| A．liar | B．beginner | C．stranger | D．loser |
| A．free | B．ready | C．uncertain | D．unable |
| A．pronounced | B．agreed | C．discovered | D．doubted |
| A．Tiredness | B．Kindness | C．Loneliness | D．Carefulness |
| A．Folding | B．Drying | C．Soiling | D．Mending |
| A．saved | B．called | C．judged | D．banned |
| A．friend | B．daughter | C．coworker | D．customer |
It was time for the annual Potato-Salad Contest in Russet Park. After trying for the third time, Alexis shook her head sadly. There was no way she would win the Golden Potato again because Grandpa wasn’t here this year.
Memories of how Grandpa taught her to make potato rose in her mind. She sighed and missed Grandpa so much.
Alexis cut the potatoes and mixed the boiled potatoes, some sauces and a little salt and peppers in a bowl. But it didn’t taste right. Alexis tried a bite of the salad mixture, wondering what was missing. Seeing her frown, Mom suggested, “What about something spicy? Your Grandpa loved spicy things.”
“You’re right! Maybe he put a jalapeno pepper in it,” Alexis said, cutting up a bright green jalapeno and adding it to the bowl.
It was closer, but it still didn’t taste right. Alexis was drooping her head, disappointed. “Should we look in a cookbook?”
“Grandpa was never one to follow a recipe,” Dad entered the kitchen and said.
It was true. People loved Grandpa’s potato salad because it was one of a kind. Alexis remembered posing with Grandpa for a photo while they were making the salad.
Photo! That gave her an idea. Alexis hurried to the bookcase and found an old photo album. She immediately flipped it open, expecting to find clues in the photos there. Lots of photos showed Grandpa and Grandma cooking together. Dad laughed, “He and Grandma loved to tease each other but he always called her Honey.”
“Do you think he put honey in the potato salad?” Mum asked.
“It is worth a try,” said Alexis. She stirred some honey into the bowl.
But it still wasn’t quite right. Alexis’ heart sank, on the verge of giving up. Dad kept flipping the album. At the end of the album was the picture of Grandpa and Alexis making the salad together.
注意：1. 续写词数应为 150 左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
It looked like Grandpa was crying in the photo.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________With hesitation, the family tasted the potato salad with onions in it.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5 . One day, Fainsilber Katz, who is 60 years old, went to visit her favorite
When she reached a part of the beach entrance, she found there was a large step down. Unsure whether she could take the step
The man took some of the things that Fansilber Katz was
The man’s act of
| A．farm | B．beach | C．bookstore | D．museum |
| A．headed for | B．cleaned up | C．showed off | D．looked up |
| A．doubted | B．learned | C．discovered | D．needed |
| A．difficult | B．easy | C．strange | D．interesting |
| A．seriously | B．tiredly | C．safely | D．heavily |
| A．warning | B．begging | C．explaining | D．wondering |
| A．For example | B．In short | C．At the moment | D．In addition |
| A．time | B．help | C．praise | D．water |
| A．answered | B．required | C．ordered | D．recorded |
| A．buying | B．carrying | C．throwing | D．choosing |
| A．bag | B．coat | C．hand | D．gift |
| A．stage | B．chair | C．hill | D．step |
| A．natural | B．thankful | C．sad | D．afraid |
| A．kindness | B．shyness | C．impatience | D．confidence |
| A．simply | B．angrily | C．alone | D．willingly |
Catherine was a mother of three and after her husband died three years ago, she had to step out and earn money to make ends meet.
In the beginning, she worked as a sales clerk at a store. But as her children grew older, she knew she must find a new job which could pay a higher salary (薪水). One day, Catherine was walking home after her shift (轮班) at the store when she spotted a construction site. Realizing that the money she would make by working there was more than her current salary, she thought she might be able to work there. She then approached the manager. After learning about her circumstances, the manager hired her on the spot. Then she left her job at the store and worked full-time at the construction site.
However, Catherine kept her new job a secret from her children. She thought they would feel embarrassed after learning their mother worked at a construction site. Every morning, Catherine would wake up and make breakfast for her children before dropping them at school. Then, she would go to the construction site and work until her shift ended. She would pick up heavy bricks on her shoulder to transport them from one part of the site to the other. One weekend, Catherine’s son, Peter, told her about an upcoming contest in school that required mothers to participate. In the competition, students would wear blindfolds (眼罩) and have to recognize their mothers without looking at them. “That sounds like such a cool event, Peter!” Catherine said. “I won’t go there with you, Mom,” Peter replied. When asked why, Peter said that he would have to touch Catherine’s hands to recognize her. “Everyone would look at them, but your hands are so ugly. They’re so hard and rough,” he added. Catherine felt terrible after hearing her son’s excuse for not participating in the competition, but couldn’t say anything in her defense. She had to stay quiet and keep working at the construction site to make ends meet.
Paragraph 1: A few weeks later, when Peter was returning home earlier one day, something unexpected caught his attention.
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Paragraph 2: Later that night, Peter decided to apologize to his mother.
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It was a chilly autumn evening. Sarah, a tired businesswoman, left her workplace and drove home. When she turned a corner, she spotted a puppy in the middle of the road. The dog was muddy and trembling. His eyes held a glimmer of both hope and despair. Sarah couldn’t ignore the poor puppy. Approaching him cautiously, she coaxed (哄) him and brought him home.
Over the next few days, Sarah tried her best to look for the dog’s owner, but in vain. It seemed that the dog had been abandoned, with no collar or tags to identify its owner.
She determined to take care of the dog, which she named Max. She kept him in the backyard, feeding him, providing water and watching him chase his tail in the yard. The puppy trusted in her slowly with Sarah’s gentle care and patience. Sarah had a happy feeling she never had before.
As days passed, Sarah became more comfortable with Max’s presence. When she was working, Max would sit calmly by her side. When she woke up in the morning, Max would sit near her bed with a playful bark, demanding his daily walk. The early morning air was cool, and the rising sun cast a warm glow on them. Sarah realized that Max had been a great comfort to her.
As days turned into weeks, Sarah grew more attached to Max. She found herself looking forward to coming home every day, excited to see her furry friend waiting at the door. Then, she would lovingly prepare Max delicious meals. His eyes, once filled with sadness, now sparkled with gratitude. He would eagerly follow her around the house wherever she went. Max became more than just a pet; he became a loyal friend and a source of happiness for Sarah, who had discovered a newfound balance between her career and personal life. They became inseparable.
One evening, as Sarah and Max were out for their regular evening walk, something unexpected happened. A social media post attracted her attention. A lady named Emma was anxiously looking for her missing dog, Buddy.
注意：
1．续写的词数应为150左右;
2．请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Her heart sank as she saw the photo of a dog.
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Sarah arranged the bittersweet reunion.
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About a month ago, my husband and I found kindness in an unlikely place: standing in line at a Subway sandwich shop to pick up a quick dinner.
It was extremely busy on this particular night, and I noticed a dad behind us with his little girl, who looked to be around four. The man seemed as tired as my husband, but the little girl was cheerful and excited as she waited for her sandwich and cookie.
I watched as the man behind us got closer to the front of the line. He started to look worried. Right before we checked out, I heard the man say to the woman who had made his sandwiches that he was sorry to just leave his out because he didn’t have enough money to pay for them all. He looked very embarrassed. His little girl continued jumping around excitedly.
I quietly asked the cashier to add the man’s whole order to ours. I paid the $ 87.73, and we got out of there before the man behind us knew what had happened.
Like many others since COVID-19 hit, our family of five was living on one income. I was holding our debit card (借记卡) and knew that we only had $ 90.16 in our account. That was all we would have until payday three days later. But still, it felt great to be able to help that family, even though we would be out of money for a few days.
What happened next was amazing. My husband went back to that Subway the next week to pick up five sandwiches that I thought would cost $ 44.58. There was $ 47 in our account.
But it turned out that the dinner cost more than we had on the card. My husband told them to put his sandwich back because he couldn’t afford it. Then he paid for the four sandwiches and headed to our car.
注意：
1.续写词数应为150个左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
As he opened the door, one of the female workers ran to him.
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The two men nodded at one another and went on their way.
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My father was the kind of person who could never pass by someone who needed help. He was a firm believer in the mantra (箴言)： What goes around comes around. He believed that someday he might need help, and someone would return the favor. But I didn’t quite buy it.
One weekend, my father and I took a trip to Flaming Gorge Reservoir (水库). We loved to fish at Flaming Gorge. We owned a cabin boat that was about fifteen feet in length. We put our boat in at Sheep Creek Marina (游艇停泊港). Our goal was to go as far north as possible, spend the weekend in our boat, and fish until we had our limit.
Heading toward the Wyoming side of the reservoir, we traveled some distance before we began to fish. Frankly, the fishing wasn’t very good, but we loved being out on the boat together in such a beautiful place.
Suddenly, we saw a man on the far shore waving at us. Immediately, my father fired up the motor and went toward the other side of the reservoir, where the man was still waving at us. When we arrived, I was amazed to see a beautiful big yacht (游艇) pulled onto the shore.
The man introduced himself as Mat and then thanked us warmly for coming to his assistance. His battery was dead, and he wondered if we could help him. We did, and soon his big motor roared back to life. Mat and his family were very grateful. We lost an hour of fishing. Being an impatient teenager, I was a bit annoyed at the one-hour loss, but we were soon back out on the reservoir.
The next day the fishing didn’t improve. As a matter of fact, it was terrible, so we decided to call it quits and go back to the marina. We were about two miles from the marina when we found ourselves fighting a strong headwind that slowed our progress. The waves were kicking up, and suddenly our engine decided to quit.
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
We tried to get it running, but it simply wouldn’t start.
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On our way home, I saw an old lady waving at our car by the roadside.
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My dad and I had been looking forward to the Stale cross-country race of my senior year of high school, which would be the climax (顶点) of my existence.
I was the fastest runner on my team, and I was supposed to make it into the top fifteen. We had been working towards this race for three years. It was everything to me, and it was everything to my dad. He was a runner and was wild with joy by my success in running. He made it to every race, even flying home early from business trips to see me run. I always listened for his voice, which rang above the crowd-telling me to relax my arms, calling out my time. He pushed me. He cheered for me. He believed in me. We spent countless hours on the sandy canals of Arizona. Breathing in the dust of the desert, the blossoms of the orange trees, and the terrible smell of the dairy farm, we made our way across the city. We pounded miles and miles into our running shoes, marking with every step the path to greatness. It was a journey that was just ours. A dream passed on from one generation to the next.
Then the big day came. It was hotter than normal - too hot. My throat felt like a field of cotton, cracked with the summer heat, as I waited for the gun to fire. I gazed out at the crowd; dozens of familiar faces from church and school flickered across my view. They had come for me. They were counting on me. I saw my dad set his watch, worry and excitement etched across his face. With the sound of a gunshot, the race began.
For the first two and half miles, I felt great. I had never before been so ready for something. The weeks leading up to the race were filled with hard practices and a strict diet. The scorching sun beat upon my back, blinding me with its brilliance. Nothing was going to stop me, though.
注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
However, without warning, my strength was running out.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I whispered, “I’m so sorry I disappointed you, Dad.”
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