After being evacuated (疏散) from her Florida home following Hurricane Michael. Amber Gee was attempting to get an idea of the destruction left behind when she discovered a sign of trouble. As reported by ABC News, Gee was using NOAA’s interactive aerial map (交互式航拍地图) to check the damage done to her and her family’s homes when she spotted the word “H-E-L-P” spelled out in the yard.
The NOAA website allows those impacted in the hurricane to get a look at specific streets or homes by zooming in on (用变焦距镜头拉近) aerial imagery of the affected area. According to ABC News, Gee was looking at one of these photos when she noticed a cry for help spelled out in wood in the front yard of her grandmother’s Bay County home.
Though her grandmother had evacuated, several other family members, including Gee’s uncle and his wife, had stayed behind. After spotting the message, Gee alerted (向……报警) Bay County Emergency Services, who went to the house and rescued those who were trapped in the residence.
“Apparently, they had to cut through a lot of downed trees to get there,” Gee told ABC News. Her uncle, Ernest, had reportedly used wood from one of those trees to spell out the message.
After the rescue, Bay County Emergency Services posted the incident on their Facebook page, writing, “This is an incredible story of how people are working together in this situation. Someone from another county was using the mapping app to check property in rural Bay County and noticed the word ‘help’ spelled out in the grass in wood. That person immediately contacted us and sent the picture and we dispatched emergency workers.”
Meanwhile, Gee says she is thankful that she was able to use the mapping tool to get her family to safety. “The hurricane has turned everything upside down everywhere. Some were more fortunate than others. I’m just happy that everybody is safe and sound and, hopefully, soon we will all get through this together and recover from this storm,” she said.
1. What did Gee use the mapping app to do? (no more than 12 words)2. Who can look at the NOAA website’s aerial photos of the affected area? (no more than 5 words)
3. Who spelled out “Help” to cry for help? (no more than 5 words)
4. What does the underlined word “dispatched” in Para. 5 probably mean? (one word)
5. What lesson can you learn from this story? Please explain. (no more than 25 words)
Reading broadens our horizons and gives us wisdom. Reading can also be a bridge bonding family members.
Rose is my daughter. I read stories to her every night when she was a little girl. So I had her captivated by books when she was at an early age. For example, almost every night she would go to bed early, waiting for my reading. When Rose was about eight, we changed our routine. We took turns selecting our books and reading out loud.
There was no regular pattern in the books selected. I remember that we began with Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, enjoying the company of those rough sailors and stumbling (结结巴巴地读) over the eighteenth-century seamen’s dialect. But we loved the book, and learned a lot about pirates daily life, adventures, tricks, greed and so on. We later went through many books, like the chick lit series.
In due course Rose grew up and left for McGill University in Montreal. She was educated in French and was enthusiastic about speaking the language. Her first visit home was at Christmas.
There was a gift from her, an audiobook with six cassettes. It was Sophie Kinsella’s Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, read by Rose. Her reading was interrupted occasionally by a giggle, and her voice made me remember how happily Rose and I read together in our bedroom every night when she was a kid.
As I write this, Rose is a third-year medical student at Dalhousie University. Now she is interested in medicine while I am interested in history. However, we manage to combine our different personal interests. We recommend selected reading materials to each other. We are currently loving The Crimson Portraitby Jody Shields, a well written novel about the development of plastic surgery during World War I. Our first written collaboration an article on Canadian medical history, will be published this year.
1. What does the underlined word “captivated” in Paragraph 2 probably mean? (Only 1 word)2. What did the author and her daughter learn from Treasure Island? (no more than 10 words)
3. What did Rose’s reading Shopaholic Takes Manhattan make the author remember? (no more than 10 words)
4. How were the author’s interest and Rose’s interest combined? (no more than 10 words)
5. What do you think of the author’s way of bringing up her daughter? (no more than 20 words)
Many teenagers spend their lives studying, playing video games and hanging out with friends - but not Henry Patterson, a teenage entrepreneur.
The 15-year-old boy from Bedfordshire, a county in the East of England; started his business journey at the age of 9 when he launched his children's brand, Not Before Tea.
The lifestyle brand for young people is based on a storybook called The Adventures of Sherb and Pip, which is about a mouse and an owl who run a sweets shop. Patterson began by selling sweets, but he soon brought all the characters in the book to life—through products such as bags and soft toys. Today, the products are sold internationally, and Patterson has just secured investment to grow the brand further. At 12, his business had earned him 65,000 pounds(566,221 yuan).
In fact, Patterson's early school years were difficult, which he often described as "fire and ice". He didn't conform to (与……一致) what his peers were like because he saw the world differently and was rarely invited to parties or play dates. He also had a stammer (口吃), which made him feel even lonelier.
But these things didn't hold him back. To cheer himself up, Patterson gradually immersed himself in designing different animals and writing interesting stories about them. His characters started to become popular. To battle his slammer, he tried to articulate himself and even developed a love for public speaking, which eventually enabled him to speak on important stages, such as at the National Retail Business Awards for Teenagers.
Storytelling has been a key element in Patterson's online business journey. Now at 15, Patterson wrote a business book called Young and Mighty, which describes his search for success and happiness and also covers some of the big issues that young people face: self-esteem, finding your voice, education and creativity.
He has also set up an online academy with the same name. It is for children aged 10 to 14,who are starting to think about their future and what motivates them. He believes that passion is what drives people to achieve extraordinary things. "If you don't have a passion for what you do or love what you do, then you won't succeed," he said.
1. What is the lifestyle brand for young people based on? (no more than 15 words)2. What happened to Patterson during his early school years? (no more than 10 words)
3. What does the underlined word “articulate" mean in English?(no more than 10 words)
4. How do you understand the underlined sentence in the last paragraph?(no more than 10 words)
5. How do you find Patterson? What inspiration do you get from him? (no more than 25 words)
4 . Rehn Staton recently found out he was accepted to Harvard Law School—as well as to law schools at Columbia, UPenn, USC and Pepperdine. For Staton, the sky's the limit,
Staton, 24, was raised by a single father who worked hard to
Staton was a high school
Instead of pursuing higher
His
Law School — and he'll
| A．since | B．but | C．and | D．for |
| A．remembering | B．following | C．making | D．forgetting |
| A．count on | B．feed on | C．provide for | D．provide with |
| A．easy | B．tough | C．smooth | D．sharp |
| A．persuaded | B．claimed | C．managed | D．suggested |
| A．help | B．money | C．respect | D．advice |
| A．coach | B．student | C．athlete | D．teacher |
| A．preferences | B．changes | C．advantages | D．options |
| A．professional | B．personal | C．hopeful | D．active |
| A．education | B．career | C．position | D．mark |
| A．wanted | B．needed | C．promised | D．imagined |
| A．though | B．because | C．while | D．that |
| A．present | B．happen | C．prepare | D．ignore |
| A．in | B．for | C．by | D．on |
| A．something | B．nothing | C．someone | D．nobody |
| A．top | B．middle | C．center | D．bottom |
| A．classmates | B．coworkers | C．tutors | D．professors |
| A．practice | B．obey | C．violate | D．issue |
| A．started | B．denied | C．admitted | D．reserved |
| A．forever | B．never | C．always | D．sometimes |
