1 . Computer programmer David Jones earns $35,000 a year designing new computer games, yet he cannot find a bank ready to let him have a credit card. Instead he has been told to wait another two years until he is 18. The 16-year-old works for a small firm in Liverpool where the problem of most young people of his age is finding a job. David’s firm releases two new games for the fast growing computer market each month.
But David’s biggest headache is what to do with his money. Even though he earns a lot, he cannot drive a car, take out a mortgage, or get credit cards. David got his job with the Liverpool-based company four months ago, a year after leaving school with six O-levels and working for a time in a computer shop. “I got the job because the people who run the firm knew I had already written some programs” he said. David spends some of his money on records and clothes and gives his mother 50 pounds a week. But most of his spare time is spent working.
“Unfortunately, computing was not part of our studies at school”, he said. “But I had been studying it in books and magazines for four years in my spare time. I knew what I wanted to do and never considered staying on at school. Most people in this business are fairly young, anyway” David added, “I would like to earn a million and I suppose early retirement is a possibility. You never know when the market might disappear.”
1. In what way is David different from people of his age?A.He often goes out with friends. | B.He graduated with six O-levels. |
C.He lives with his mother. | D.He has a handsome income. |
A.He will soon lose his job. | B.He is too young to get a credit card. |
C.He has no time to learn driving. | D.He has very little spare time. |
A.He was good at playing computer games. |
B.He had done well in all her exams. |
C.He had learnt to use computers at school. |
D.He had written some computer programs. |
A.He lost interest in school studies. | B.He received lots of job offers. |
C.He wanted to earn his own living. | D.He was eager to help his mother. |
2 . Tia Wimbush and Susan Ellis have been co-workers for a decade, and while they didn’t know each other well, they had a lot in common, both working in information technology at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and both dealing with the same medical stress at home: their spouses each needed a kidney transplant, and while Wimbush could have given her husband one of hers, she wasn’t an ideal match. Ellis, meanwhile, was no match at all for her husband.
One day, in the fall of 2020, the women saw each other in the office restroom and started chatting, lamenting that patients can wait five or more years for their name to come up on the national kidney cadaver donor waiting list. Both women worried their husbands didn’t have that kind of time.
Wimbush asked Ellis what her husband’s blood type was. He’s type O, Ellis replied.
Wimbush then said that her husband was type AB.
The women paused for a moment and looked at each other.
“I told Susan, ‘Wait a second-what are the odds that we’re both going through this with our husbands at the same time and we could also be in a position to help them?’” Wimbush says. “That’s when we both knew: We had to get tested.”
So they did. Antibody tests revealed that each woman was an excellent match for the other’s spouse. And in March 2021, seven months after that chance conversation, Tia Wimbush donated one of her kidneys to Lance Ellis, and Susan Ellis donated one of hers to Rodney Wimbush.
Christina Klein, a nephrologist and medical director of Piedmont Atlanta Hospital’s kidney transplant program, says it is extremely rare for two people to propose their own paired organ exchange and actually be a match for each other. “I’ve personally never seen this happen,” Dr. Klein says. “When we put pairs into large databases for national paired exchange programs, some pairs wait months or even years for a compatible match.”
The couples first met a few days before the surgeries when they came to the hospital for a final round of testing. Before that, they had chatted on FaceTime a bit. The surgeries lasted about three to four hours each and were a success, with no complications.
“It’s really just a story about simple kindness,” Susan Ellis says. “For us, it started with two people just being good humans. Now we’d like to tell people they can do the same.”
Rodney Wimbush says he will be forever grateful that his wife decided to bring up a conversation about blood types in the office restroom. “Susan and Lance are going to come with us to North Carolina for our son’s first college football game,” his wife adds. “I guess you could say we’ve skipped the friendship. We’re family now.”
1. Tia Wimbush and Susan Ellis shared all the following EXCEPT that __________.A.they worked in IT department | B.their spouses were in need of a kidney transplant |
C.their spouses’ blood types were type O | D.they were good-hearted and unselfish |
A.emphasizing the importance | B.expressing the disappointment |
C.admitting the incapability | D.accepting the fact |
A.it was a planned conversation that contributed to the kidney donation of Tia and Susan |
B.Dr. Klein was amazed that two acquaintances should donate their organs to each other’s spouse |
C.the couples didn’t chat until they went to the hospital for a final round of testing |
D.Susan and Lance invited Rodney and Tia to watch their son’s football match in college |
A.We are a match. | B.Friends develop into relatives. |
C.Patient waiting pays off. | D.Rare surgeries a great success. |
3 . Some say everyday miracles are predestined (注定的) -- All that’s necessary is readiness, the right circumstance for the appointed meeting. And it can happen anywhere.
In 1999, 11-year-old Kevin Stephan was a bat boy for his younger brother’s Little League team in Lancaster, New York. It was an early evening in late July. Kevin was standing on the grass away from the plate, where another youngster was warming up for the next game. Swinging his bat back and forth, and giving it all the power an elementary school kid could give, the boy brought the bat back hard and hit Kevin in the chest. His heart stopped.
When Kevin fell to the ground, the mother of one of the players rushed out of the stands to his aid. Penny Brown hadn’t planned to be there that day, but at the last minute, she changed her shift (轮班) at the hospital, and she was given the night off. Penny bent over the senseless boy, his face already starting to turn blue, and giving CPR, breathing into his mouth and giving chest compressions (按压). And he came to life.
After his recovery, he became a volunteer junior firefighter, learning some of the emergency first-aid techniques that had saved his life. He studied hard in school and was saving money for college by working as a dishwasher in a local restaurant in his spare time.
Kevin, now 17, was working in the kitchen when he heard people screaming, customers in confusion, employees rushing toward a table. He hurried into the main room and saw a woman there, her face turning blue, her hands at her throat. She was choking (哽住).
Quickly Kevin stepped behind her, wrapped his arms around her and clasped his hands. Then, using skills he’d first learned in Scouts, the food that was trapped in the woman’s throat was freed. The color began to return to her face.
“The food was stuck. I couldn’t breathe,” she said. She thought she was dying. “I was very frightened.”
Who was the woman?
Penny Brown.
1. Kevin Stephan fell to the ground and fainted probably because ________.A.he was too excited when watching the game |
B.he suffered heart attack all of a sudden |
C.he stood close to the boy who was swinging his bat |
D.he swung the bat too hard to keep his balance |
A.He worked part-time in a local restaurant to save money for college |
B.He was hit on the face by a boy and almost lost his life |
C.He was a volunteer junior firefighter, teaching the players first-aid skills |
D.He saved Penny Brown though he didn’t really know how to deal with food choke |
A.She was there to give her son directions |
B.She came to watch her son’s game and cheered him |
C.She was a little worried about his son’s safety |
D.She volunteered to give medical services |
A.working part-time is a good way to save money for college. |
B.when Penny Brown knew it was Kevin who had saved her, she would probably feel sad. |
C.if Kevin didn’t learn the first-aid techniques, the miracle wouldn’t have happened. |
D.Kevin’s parents would not be worried about his safety any longer. |
4 . Peterson Moturi journeyed to Nairobi, Kenya in 2014 to find a better life for himself. Initially, he would sell drinking water and groundnuts, as well as working as a car wash attendant before becoming a watchman for night duties. Since his goal was to join law school, he saved Kes 50, 000, which he used to pay for his admission to law school.
He applied for admission to the Kenya School of Law (KSL) in 2016 and was successful, but the biggest headache facing him was that he didn’t have enough money to pay his fees. Fortunately, he got some financial assistance from Mr. PLO Lumumba, who was then the school director and offered him a scholarship.
However, Moturi was then faced with the challenging task of working at night and attending class during the day. Unfortunately, when he sat for his final exams, he got a Pass, which could not allow him to move to the next stage, attaining a law degree. That meant he had to score at least a credit and find money to pay for his diploma courses. He decided to approach his employer, Radar Security, for help. He honestly told his boss that he failed and wondered if he could sponsor him for the diploma once again. To his surprise, his boss agreed, and in no time, he was back in class.
“Now I am a joyful man. I am graduating with a credit score. I can now go ahead, pursue a law degree and become an advocate,” he said at the graduation ceremony. Though dressed in the usual graduation regalia (礼服), Moturi somehow appeared different from his colleagues due to the security guard uiform he wore underneath. The 28-year-old man desires to help the less fortunate in society have access to justice.
1. What bothered Moturi most after he gained admission to the KSL?A.Losing his day job. | B.Lacking school fees. |
C.Feeding his family. | D.Failing in his final exams. |
A.To enable his boss to sponsor him. |
B.To succeed in obtaining the scholarship. |
C.To graduate from the KSL ahead of time. |
D.To qualify for admission for a law degree. |
A.By selling daily articles. | B.By offering car washing service. |
C.By serving as a night watchman. | D.By asking his family for financial help. |
A.Determined. | B.Modest. | C.Imaginative. | D.Generous. |
5 . As the sun set he remembered, to give himself more confidence, the time in the tavern at Casablanca when he had played the hand game with the great negro from Cienfuegos who was the strongest man on the docks. They had gone one day and one night with their elbows on a chalk line on the table and their forearms straight up and their hands gripped tight. Each one was trying to force the other’s hand down onto the table. There was much betting and people went in and out of the room under the kerosene lights and he had looked at the arm and hand of the negro and at the negro’s face. They changed the referees every four hours after the first eight so that the referees could sleep. Blood came out from under the fingernails of both his and the negro’s hands and they looked each other in the eye and at their hands and forearms and the bettors went in and out of the room and sat on high chairs against the wall and watched. The walls were painted bright blue and were of wood and the lamps threw their shadows against them. The negro’s shadow was huge and it moved on the wall as the breeze moved the lamps.
The odds would change back and forth all night and they fed the negro rum and lighted cigarettes for him. Then the negro, after the rum, would try for a tremendous effort and once he had the old man, who was not an old man then but was Santiago El Campeon, nearly three inches off balance. But the old man had raised his hand up to dead even again. He was sure then that he had the negro, who was a fine man and a great athlete, beaten. And at daylight when the bettors were asking that it be called a draw and the referee was shaking his head, he had unleashed his effort and forced the hand of the negro down and down until it rested on the wood. The match had started on a Sunday morning and ended on a Monday morning.
Many of the bettors had asked for a draw because they had to go to work on the docks loading sacks of sugar or at the Havana Coal Company.
Otherwise everyone would have wanted it to go to a finish. But he had finished it anyway and before anyone had to go to work.
For a long time after that everyone had called him The Champion and there had been a return match in the spring. But not much money was bet and he had won it quite easily since he had broken the confidence of the negro from Cienfuegos in the first match. After that he had a few matches and then no more. He decided that he could beat anyone if he wanted to badly enough and he decided that it was bad for his right hand for fishing. He had tried a few practice matches with his left hand. But his left hand had always been a traitor and would not do what he called on it to do and he did not trust it.
Quoted from The Old Man and the Sea
1. Since the old man is the main character, in the hand game, why does Hemingway put more efforts in describing his opponent the negro?A.Because Hemingway himself is an anti-racist who wants to support the colored race. |
B.By doing so, he indirectly shows how strong and determined the old man is to readers. |
C.He shifts readers’ attention to a new character to neutralize the nervous atmosphere. |
D.There is no need to describe the old man because he is well-known to all readers. |
A.spare | B.restrict | C.reduce | D.loose |
A.Many bettors were afraid of losing their money so they wanted to call the game a draw. |
B.The old man had owed his victory over the negro more to his will than to his strength. |
C.The referee had been convinced by the bettors that the game be considered a draw |
D.Regular hand games should be a good practice to enhance the old man’s fishing skills |
A.The old man defeated the negro more than once in the matches with his will power |
B.Many workers working on the docks had showed no respect towards the old man. |
C.The old man had to self-feed himself a lot so as to stay competitive in the game. |
D.The negro was not as strong and athletic as the old man had expected him to be. |
He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy had been with him. But after forty days without a fish the boy’s parents had told him that the old man was now definitely and finally salao,
It made the boy sad to see the old man come in each day with his skiff empty and he always went down to help him carry either the coiled lines or the gaff and harpoon and the sail that was furled around the mast. The sail
The old man was thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck. The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks. The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep-creased scars from
Everything about him was old
“Santiago,” the boy said to him as they climbed the bank from where the skiff was hauled up. “I could go with you again. We’ve made some money.”
The old man had taught the boy
“No,” the old man said. “You’re with a lucky boat. Stay with them.”
“But remember how you went eighty-seven days without fish and then we caught big
“I remember,” the old man said. “I know you did not leave me because you doubted.”
“It was papa made me leave. I am a boy and I
“I know,” the old man said. “It is quite normal.”
“He hasn’t much faith.”
“No,” the old man said. “
“Yes,” the boy said. “Can I offer you a beer on the Terrace and then we’ll take the stuff home.”
“Why not?” the old man said. “Between fishermen.”
When the wind was in the east a smell came across the harbour from the shark factory; but today there was only the faint edge of the odour because the wind had backed into the north and then dropped off and it was pleasant and sunny on the Terrace.
“Santiago,” the boy said.
“Yes,” the old man said. He
“Can I go out to get sardines for you for tomorrow?”
“No. Go and play baseball. I can still row and Rogelio will throw the net.”
“I would like to go. If I cannot fish with you, I would like to serve in some way.”
“You bought me a beer,” the old man said. “You are already a man.”
“How old was I when you first took me in a boat?”
“Five and you nearly were killed when I brought the fish in too green and he nearly
7 . All Miss White had been told about the new boy was that he’d spent most of his life in some kind of orphanage, and that the gray-haired “aunt and uncle” with whom he now lived were really foster parents (养父母), paid by the Welfare Department of the City of New York. A less devoted teacher might have pressed for more details, but Miss White was content with the rough outline. It was enough to fill her with a sense of mission that shone from her eyes, from the first morning he joined the fourth grade.
He arrived early and sat in the back row, his backbone very straight, his ankles crossed precisely under the desk and his hands folded on the center of its top, and while the other children were filling in, he received a long, expressionless stare from each of them.
“We have a new classmate this morning,” Miss White said, “His name is Vincent Sabella, and he comes from New York City. I know we’ll all do our best to make him feel at home.”
This time they all swung around to stare at once, which caused him to duck his head slightly and shift his weight from one side to the other. Ordinarily, the fact of someone’s coming from New York might have held a certain status, for to most of the children the city was a frightening, adult place that swallowed up their fathers every day. But anyone could see at a glance that Vincent Sabella had nothing to do with it. Even if you could ignore his twisted black hair and gray skin, his clothes would have given him away: ridiculously new pants, ridiculously old sports shoes and a yellow sweatshirt, much too small, with the faded remains of a Mickey Mouse design stamped on its chest.
The girls decided that he wasn’t very nice and turned away, but the boys remained in their inspection, looking him up and down with faint smiles. This was the kind of kid they were accustomed to thinking of as “tough,” the kind whose stare has made all of them uncomfortable at one time or another in unfamiliar neighborhoods; here was a unique chance for revenge.
1. What can you learn about Miss White and Vincent from the first two paragraphs?A.Since nobody had ever seen Vincent’s parents, he now lived all by himself. |
B.Miss White knew Vincent so well that she’d like to focus every bit of attention on him. |
C.Vincent sat in the back row so as to arouse attention caused by his late arrival. |
D.Miss White made an attempt to do her part to make Vincent feel welcome. |
A.To state a certain distinction between Vincent and people’s imagination. |
B.To demonstrate children’s desire to go to see their fathers. |
C.To illustrate Vincent’s distant origin. |
D.To emphasize Vincent’s low social status from his shabby clothes. |
A.Nervous and uneasy. | B.Devoted but shy. |
C.Silent and genuine. | D.Sensitive but unfortunate. |
A.They used to consider people like Vincent to be very tough. |
B.They were either unconcerned or unfriendly toward him. |
C.They barely noticed the new boy sitting in the back of the classroom. |
D.They were very curious about the newcomer in a kind and considerate manner. |
The King and the Royal Trees
A. handsome B. helplessly C. asleep D. observed E. remove F. freezingly G. damage H. content I. awe J. pick K. provided |
The King had a frightful dream. He dreamt that while riding his horse through the Royal Forest, the south wind called: “Mind the falling tees! Mind the falling trees!”
Though the trees were beautiful and waved gently in the wind, the King was in
The next morning the King ordered his people to cut down all the trees in the kingdom. “We do not want the trees to fall down and hurt our children,” he reasoned. “We will
The people liked the King’s idea, for now they had their
Once all of the trees were cut down, the King felt
Soon after the trees were gone, a dry south wind began to blow. It blew day after day. The vegetable crops began to wither and die. People huddled(蜷缩)
The King was worried. He called for his horse and rode through the fields to inspect the
Lost in clouds of dust and drifting sand, fatigue overcame the King. Nodding
9 . On a cold winter evening, I was walking home, tired and hungry, when suddenly came screams (呼喊声) from behind some trees.
“Should I go to help her?” I thought. I was worried about my own
I am not a
“It’s OK,” I said
A.Frightened | B.Excited | C.Interested | D.Disappointed |
A.killed | B.attacked | C.robbed | D.caught |
A.money | B.future | C.safety | D.family |
A.move | B.walk | C.go | D.rush |
A.sounds | B.noises | C.cries | D.cheers |
A.pay no attention | B.look forward | C.make a decision | D.make a complaint |
A.because | B.although | C.as | D.but |
A.kind | B.powerful | C.brave | D.mean |
A.agreed | B.planned | C.determined | D.promised |
A.took | B.dropped | C.got | D.pulled |
A.Walking | B.Drinking | C.Fighting | D.Breathing |
A.daylight | B.afternoon | C.midnight | D.darkness |
A.see | B.feel | C.guess | D.find |
A.loudly | B.angrily | C.softly | D.happily |
A.cousin | B.son | C.daughter | D.grandson |
10 . I fell in love with the minister’s son the winter I turned fourteen. He was not Chinese. When I found out that my parents had invited the minister’s family over for Christmas Eve dinner, I cried. What would Robert think of our shabby Chinese Christmas? What would he think of our noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper American manners? What terrible disappointment would he feel upon seeing not a roasted turkey and sweet potatoes but Chinese food?
On Christmas Eve I saw that my mother had outdone herself in creating a strange menu. She was pulling back lines out of the backs of fleshy prawns. The kitchen was littered with piles of raw food: a fish with bulging eyes begging not to be thrown into a pan of hot oil, a bowl of soaking dried fungus back to life, a plate of squids whose backs were crisscrossed with knife markings so they resembled bicycle tires.
And then they arrived — the minister’s family and all my relatives. Robert said hello, and I pretended he was not worthy of existence. Dinner threw me deeper into despair. My relatives licked the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table, dipping them into the dozen or so plates of food. Robert and his family waited patiently for plates to be passed to them. My relatives whispered with pleasure when my mother brought out the whole steamed fish. Robert made faces. Then my father poked his chopsticks just below the fish eye and pulled out the soft meat. “Amy, your favourite,” he said, offering me the tender fish cheek. I wanted to disappear. I remained silent for the rest of the night.
After everyone had gone, my mother said to me, “You want to be the same as American girls on the outside. But inside you must always be Chinese. You must be proud you are different. Your only shame is to have shame.”
1. The writer felt ________ upon knowing that the minister’s family had been invited over for Christmas Eve dinner.A.excited | B.worried | C.disappointed | D.confused |
A.paint a vivid picture of how busy her mother was |
B.explain the reason why her mother created such a menu |
C.support the claim that the Christmas menu was strange |
D.introduce the typical Chinese dishes served on Christmas Eve |
A.She suffered greatly during the dinner. | B.She hated eating the fish cheek below the eye. |
C.She regretted not talking more with Robert. | D.She was picky about the Christmas menu. |
A.To inform her of the cultural gap between the east and the west. |
B.To share her understanding of the word “shame”. |
C.To encourage her to become integrated into the local community. |
D.To urge her to be proud of her Chinese roots. |