When my daughters reached the third and fourth grades, I sometimes allowed them to walk to and from school alone if the weather permitted. One warm spring day, a little dog followed them home after school. It had short legs and long lovely ears. It was the cutest dog I had ever seen and the girls begged me to keep it.
The dog was about twelve weeks old. It had no collar(项圈) or identifying marks of any sort. I didn’t know what to do. I thought about posting an advertisement but I really didn’t want to. It would break the kids’ hearts if someone should show up. Besides, its owners should have watched it more closely.
By the end of the week the dog was part of our family. It was very intelligent and good with the girls. The following week something told me to check the lost—and—found section in the local paper. One particular advertisement jumped out at me and my heart beat with fear for what I read. Someone was begging for the return of a lost dog in the neighborhood of our grade school. They sounded extremely eager. My hand shook, couldn’t bring myself to pick up the paper.
Instead, I pretended I hadn’t seen the advertisement. I quickly put paper away in the drawer and continued with my dusting. I never said a word about it to the kids or my husband.
By now we had named the dog. It looked like a Molly, so that was what we called it. It followed the girls everywhere they went. When they went outside, it was one step behind them. When they did the housework, it was there to lend a hand.
There was only one problem with this seemingly perfect picture: my conscience(良心)was bothering me. I knew in my heart I had to call that number in the paper and see if our Molly was the dog they were desperately seeking. It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever done.
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。
With mixed feelings, I finally picked up the phone.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I asked the woman to come in and she quickly bent over and hugged Molly tightly.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2 . When I was driving on the highway, a big storm came. The rain began to beat
Hurricane Katrina hit Houston when I was fourteen years old. I was
The next day, my friends
Bzzzz... My cellphone brought me back to the present. To my joy, the storm had
| A．gently | B．lazily | C．heavily | D．merrily |
| A．wash | B．repair | C．check | D．park |
| A．reminded | B．informed | C．warned | D．cleared |
| A．curious | B．frightened | C．sure | D．confident |
| A．And | B．So | C．Or | D．But |
| A．contacting | B．observing | C．interviewing | D．challenging |
| A．wet | B．unique | C．beautiful | D．funny |
| A．nothing | B．everything | C．anything | D．something |
| A．greeted | B．joined | C．called | D．annoyed |
| A．invent | B．select | C．collect | D．produce |
| A．comfort | B．freedom | C．treatment | D．belief |
| A．left | B．entered | C．decorated. | D．filled |
| A．rushed | B．paced | C．cycled | D．looked |
| A．struck | B．passed | C．come | D．approached |
| A．argument | B．impression | C．difference | D．balance |
3 . I remember the day when I first learned to ride a bike. It was a frightening, yet fun experience. My grandfather was the one who taught me and he helped me when I got hurt. The first time I got on a bike, I had no idea what I was doing, and just about everything went wrong. My grandfather told me to just put my feet on the pedals (脚蹬子) and start cycling. He also told me he would hold onto the back of the bike the whole time, yet he didn’t.
As soon as I started trying to balance myself, he let the bike go. I happened to look back just then. I was scared to death that I was going to fall and hurt myself. When I was scared, my mind went blank from cycling, and I just wanted to get off. I forgot how to use the brakes (车闸) and fell right off the bike. My grandfather kept encouraging me to get up and try again, and after about 15 minutes, I finally stopped crying, got up and tried again.
As soon as I started riding again, my pants got caught in the chain, and I fell flat on my face and hit my nose. My grandfather decided to call it a day and try again the next morning. The next morning I woke up brightly and early, and was very eager to try to ride my bike. My nose felt better, so I wasn’t that afraid of falling anymore.
Although I knew there were a range of difficulties on the way to mastering the skills in riding a bike, I believed I could do well with my grandfather’s help. After all, riding a bike was indeed what I wanted to do eagerly.
1. How was the author when he was on the bike first?| A．He thought balancing himself was easy. |
| B．He didn’t know where he would be going. |
| C．He put his feet on the pedals and started cycling. |
| D．He was nervous and didn’t know what to do next. |
| A．Go on to ride a bike. |
| B．Stop practicing bicycling. |
| C．Make the author feel happy. |
| D．Remember what happened this day. |
| A．Grateful. | B．Supportive. | C．Uncaring. | D．Negative. |
| A．The First Time I Got My Own Bike |
| B．The Difficulty I Met with My Grandfather |
| C．The Experience of My First Riding a Bike |
| D．The Happy Moment when I Stayed with My Grandfather |
4 . At libraries, it’s not unusual for books to get returned past their due date. Most of the time, library workers don’t know the
But one librarian in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, happened to get an unexpected
The book looks like it’s in good
“Fifty years ago, a little girl borrowed me from this library,” the letter
According to the letter, the book moved from place to place with the borrower over the years. The sender said she wanted to return the book, but never
The letter writer said, “This became a(an)
Laura Keller, the director of the library, said she used the $20 to
| A．generation | B．reason | C．individual | D．impression |
| A．returned | B．settled | C．disappeared | D．exchanged |
| A．present | B．hint | C．collection | D．packet |
| A．book | B．memory | C．copy | D．image |
| A．introduction | B．invitation | C．explanation | D．recommendation |
| A．shape | B．repair | C．supply | D．content |
| A．additional | B．neat | C．visible | D．rightful |
| A．absence | B．context | C．impact | D．option |
| A．judged | B．observed | C．memorized | D．opened |
| A．parents | B．relatives | C．kids | D．librarians |
| A．debate | B．damage | C．exchange | D．approach |
| A．turned to | B．came across | C．got through | D．showed up |
| A．apology | B．quality | C．intention | D．tradition |
| A．moved | B．struggled | C．scheduled | D．applied |
| A．ask for | B．pay off | C．make up | D．figure out |
5 . Russ Fee was asleep inside his tent last summer in Canada’s Banff National Park when a series of screams shocked him awake. Throwing on his shoes and grabbing a lantern his wife had handed him, he ran out to investigate. Despite the darkness, he could make out a neighboring tent. Backing out was a wolf, dragging something in his teeth—a man.
Moments earlier, Elisa and Matt, were asleep with their two young children when the wolf tore into their tent. “It was like something out of a horror movie,” Elisa recalled. For three minutes, Matt threw his body in front of Elisa and the boys and fought against the wolf. At one point, Matt got the upper hand, but the wolf turned the tables and dragged Matt outside while Elisa was pulling on his legs trying to get him back but in vain.
It was then that Russ Fee entered the picture. He ran at the beast, kicking it in the hip. The wolf dropped Matt and emerged from the tent. Fee felt like he had hit someone that was way out of his weight class.
Before the wolf could turn its anger on Fee, Matt, his arms bloodied, restarted the battle. The men threw at the wolf with rocks, forcing it back. Then the families fled to the shelter of the Fees, minivan and called an ambulance.
“Attacks are so rare that a person here has a greater chance of being killed by a dog, lightning, a bee sting, or a car collision with a deer than being injured by a wolf,” said Matt.
Fee did think about drawing back, if less heroic, during the heat of battle. The moment the wolf locked eyes with him, Fee said, “I immediately regretted kicking it.”
1. What were the two families doing in the park?| A．They were making a horror movie. | B．They were camping in the wild. |
| C．They were studying wolves. | D．They were investigating the park. |
| A．change the situation completely. | B．turn the table in another direction |
| C．tackle a problem wisely | D．compete violently with someone |
| A．Many deer are killed by vehicles. | B．There are many accidents in the park. |
| C．Wolves seldom attack people there. | D．People are often attacked by dogs. |
| A．Courageous and helpful. | B．Responsible and inspiring. |
| C．Indifferent and brave | D．Clever and determined. |
6 . I live in New York city and my neighbours are people I don’t know. My city, neighborhood and block are filled with people who don’t know me, don’t care to know me, and don’t talk to me. I find that it’s pretty hard to love people you don’t even know. And sometimes, we all, myself included, use that as an excuse not to try. I read Brendan’s story recently and was moved.
One day, Brendan, a young man in New York was on the way back to his Brooklyn apartment when a homeless woman called Jackie asked him for money. He said that he had no money. By the end of the week, she asked two more times, and each time he answered “No”. The woman looked sad, so Brendan said, “I am on my way to a job interview. If I get the job, I’ll take you out for lunch.”
Brendan got the job. He took Jackie out for lunch. That was when their friendship began. They built a strong friendship by supporting each other and spending their birthdays, holidays and difficult times together, over a period of eight years. When Brendan’s heater broke, Jackie made a blanket for him. Two days later when he told her that he had lost his job, she left and returned minutes later, bring him food to eat. She continued to do that during the whole winter. Even with so little, she often gave back.
Over these years, Jackie moved from the streets and subway stations into a halfway house, and is now moving into an apartment. To celebrate it, Brendan wanted to do something special for Jackie. He went with her and helped her to pick out everything she would need for her new apartment.
May Brendan’s story encourage us to find a new way to honour, serve and love the people around us.
1. What can we learn about the author from paragraph 1?| A．He often stays indoors. | B．He cares about his neighbours. |
| C．He is good at making friends. | D．He hardly talk to his neighbours |
| A．He was angry with her. | B．He didn’t give her any. |
| C．He offered her some food. | D．He gave her some spare change. |
| A．They developed a new friendship. | B．They helped each other to find work. |
| C．They fell in love with each other. | D．They discovered they were classmates. |
| A．Jackie’s finding work. | B．Jackie’s moving from the streets. |
| C．Jackie’s moving into an apartment. | D．Jackie’s moving into a halfway house. |
7 . “Dad,” I sai one day, “Let’s take a trip. Why don’t you fly out and meet me?”
My father had just retired after 27 years as a manager for IBM. His job filled his day, his thought and his life. While he woke up and took a warm shower, I screamed under a freezing waterfall in Peru. While he tied a tie and put on the same Swiss watch, I rowed a boat across Lake of the Ozarks.
My father saw me drifting aimlessly, nothing to show for my 33 years but a passport full of funny stamps. He wanted me to settle down, but now I want him to find an adventure.
He agreed to travel with me through some national parks. We met four weeks later in Rapid City.
“What is our first stop?” asked my father.
“What time is it?”
“Still don’t have a watch?”
Less than an hour away was Mount Rushmore. As he stared up at the four Presidents carved in rocks, his mouth and eyes opened slowly, like those of a little boy. “Unbelievable,” he said, “how was this done?”
Sculptor Gutzon devoted 14 years to this sculpture and then left the final touches to his son. We stared up and I asked myself, “Would I ever devote my life to anything?”No directions, no goals. I always used to hear those words in my father’s voice. Now I hear them in my own.
The next day we were at Yellowstone National Park, where we had a picnic. “Did you ever travel with your dad?” I asked. “Only once” he said. “I never spoke much to my father. We loved each other-but never said it. Whatever he could give me, he gave.”
The last sentence—it’s probably the same thing I’d say about my father—is what I would want my child to say about me.
In Glacier National Park, my father said, “I have never seen water so blue.” I have, in several places of the world. I can keep traveling, I realize- and maybe a regular job won’t be as dull as I feared.
Weeks after our trip, I called my father. “The photos from the trip are wonderful,” he said. “We have got to take another trip like that sometime.” I told him I had decided to settle down, and I’m wearing a watch.
1. What can we learn about the father from paragraph 2 and 3?| A．He followed the fashion. |
| B．He got bored with his job. |
| C．He was unhappy with the author’s lifestyle. |
| D．He liked the author’s collection of stamps. |
| A．He wants his children to learn from their grandfather. |
| B．He comes to understand what parental love means. |
| C．He learns how to communicate with his father. |
| D．He hopes to give whatever he can to his father. |
| A．The call solved their disagreements. |
| B．The Swiss Watch has drawn them closer. |
| C．They decided to learn photography together. |
| D．They began to change their attitudes to life. |
| A．Love nature, love life. | B．A son lost in adventure. |
| C．A journey with dad. | D．The art of travel. |
8 . When Emanuel received an email from Professor Richard English. Queen’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, encouraging him to apply for a PhD in Politics in Belfast, it was a pinch-me moment Emanual never thought would be possible. After all, just a few short years ago, he was living on the streets, couch-surfing at friends’ houses and weeding gardens to make ends meet. Now, one of the world’s leading political academics was preparing to welcome him to Queen’s University over 4,000 miles away.
Emanuel never knew who his father was and his mom was mentally ill when she gave birth to him, so the hospital took him off her and he was unofficially adopted for the first few years of his life. What followed was a childhood with uncertainty as Emanuel was passed between the adoption system and family members.
Through his high school and community college years, he moved from house to house, living with friends at times and living on the streets at others.
Determined to change all that despite his rocky start in life, Emanuel involved himself in school-doing everything he could to earn extra tuition (学费) money in his spare time. But getting accepted into university was scarcely possible because a person like him couldn’t get a regular student loan.
Fortunately, the government backed him, having created a policy allowing disadvantaged persons to access funding for higher education. He graduated from the University of the West Indies with a 1st Class Honors degree and went on to do his Masters.
Emanuel knows that his story could have been very different.
“I discovered Professor Richard English online and sent him an email honestly, not thinking he would reply and to my surprise, he did. I applied for the highly competitive Commonwealth Shared Scholarship Scheme in order to fund my research at Queen’s. When I was told I was successful, my whole world changed.”
1. What does the underlined word “pinch-me” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Disturbing | B．Unexpected. |
| C．Awkward. | D．Anxious. |
| A．His father was mentally ill. |
| B．He was abandoned by his mother. |
| C．He was once adopted by his relatives. |
| D．He lived with his friends now and then. |
| A．By receiving a regular student loan. |
| B．By earning the tuition all by himself. |
| C．By borrowing the money from friends. |
| D．By getting support from the government. |
| A．Well begun is half done. |
| B．It’s never too old to learn. |
| C．You are the master of your life. |
| D．Lost time is never found again. |
9 . George Turner, 48, owner of Penuel Bicycles in Inglewood, California, talks with respect about his childhood BMX dirt bike. “I was mad keen on cycling.” he says. “I did whatever it took to get on that bike, as long as I was home before dark.” Home meant housework, homework and annoying brothers. But a bike meant escapes.
In 2010, George transformed his childhood love into a livelihood, and opened his bicycle shop, Penuel Bicycles. The shop fulfilled a lifelong dream. Before that, he had worked for years delivering boxes for FedEx while selling bike accessories online.
“Bicycles kept me out of trouble,” George remembers. “They were part of my life.” He figured that was still true for kids when he opened Penuel Bicycles. George expected parents to crowd inside, eager to buy shiny new bikes for their kids. He looked forward to helping boys and girls discover the joy of riding — and stay out of trouble — just as he had.
None of that happened, however.
George found that kids these days lead a different life. Usually, they don’t want a bike for their birthday. And most of them ever don’t know how to ride a bike. Instead of getting out and riding, they prefer spending their time on their phones indoors. As kids don’t ride, it is impossible that parents crowd in his shop to buy new bikes. Nine years after opening his Penuel Bicycles, George feared that he had to close the shop.
Then in 2020, the coronavirus pandemic swept the nation. Surprisingly, the pandemic saved George’s business. During the pandemic, many American people found that cycling was a good way to exercise and also a safe way to get around. The demand for new bikes kept growing and people in George’s neighborhood pulled out their old bikes and wheeled them to Penuel Bicycles to get repaired. Now he is trying his best to meet his customers’ needs and hopes that his customers can really discover the joy of riding.
1. What did the bike mean to George in his childhood?| A．Taking up sports. | B．Getting away from daily routine. |
| C．A precious birthday gift. | D．A convenient vehicle. |
| A．Making a big fortune. | B．Being a member of FedEx. |
| C．Opening his own bicycle shop. | D．Helping people pursue riding pleasure. |
| A．The lifestyle of kids changed. | B．He wasn’t good at management. |
| C．Bikes were not as charming as before. | D．His business was affected by the pandemic. |
| A．Joy of Wheel | B．Passion for Exercise |
| C．Improvement of Bike Business | D．Increasing Demand for New Bikes |
When I was 12 years old, I started my first job of delivering newspapers. I worked for my hometown paper called Times News.
Each afternoon, the newspaper company dumped (丢下) a pile of papers on my driveway. I had to roll them up, fit a band around each one, and pile them into my shoulder bag. Then I would jump on my Schwinn ten-speed bike and ride a couple of blocks to deliver them to neighbors. That was the easy part for my job. However, the hard part was collecting money each month. It was in the early 1980s before online payments, so I had to go door-to-door.
One of my customers was an elderly woman who lived by herself. The first time I met her, she was quite angry. She complained about where I threw her paper each afternoon. She didn’t want it on the driveway and she wanted it on her doorway. I had never had a dissatisfied customer before, so I stood there speechless with my mouth hanging open. As a final insult (侮辱), she waved a finger in my face and refused to pay.
I rode my bike back home discouraged and upset. When I talked to my parents about what happened that night, they gave me advice that sounded incredible. But it helped solve the problem almost immediately.
It’s the wisdom I’ve carried with me for the last forty years. What did they tell me? “Brian, be kind to her, and she may turn out to be your best customer.” To the ears of a 12-year-old, that sounded ridiculous (荒谬的), like I could jump on my bike to the moon. There was absolutely no possibility that this lady could be nice. I was convinced about that.
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。
But to appease (安抚) my parents, I gave it a try.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This time, she greeted me differently.
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