1 . I was surprised to find the congestion (拥塞) outside Layla’s primary school was unusually absent—I’d driven right into a parking space, and I was on time, for once. The school bell rang, and in a moment a stream of children made their way through the gate. But something was different—the kids were piling into vehicles in threes and fours.
Before I could enquire my daughter Layla, Mr Trent, the deputy head, approached. “Mrs Pavis, did you not read our letter?” Letter? What letter? I had a history of not looking out for them, and not reading them in most cases. “The letter? Of course. It must have just slipped my mind—I’ve been away with work.”
Now I was digging around in Layla’s messy schoolbag at home. Eventually, I found several letters, all addressing the same topic—parking outside the school gates. Apparently with some parents parking illegally, the police were about to get involved. “Why didn’t you give me these letters?” I demanded. Layla shrugged. “I forgot.” I was about to launch into a severe lecture when it occurred to me that I had always forgotten—I had forgotten to give Layla her money for cookery that morning and forgotten to hang out the kids’ washed clothes.
I contained myself and figured out that they wanted the parents to car-pool (拼车). I spent the next half hour ringing round Layla’s friends’ parents, enquiring if they would like to car-pool with us. Unfortunately, they were all sorted. It was my own fault—I should have read those letters ages ago. “Er... I overheard others talking about it,” Layla said, “They said they didn’t know who would car-pool with us, because we’re always late.” I flushed instantly. We were a disorganised family, and I was the one to blame.
I resolved to change. With responsibility for my kids, I find I am never, ever late. It’s good for Layla and for her older brothers, and it’s good for me, because now I never leave the house unprepared. I’ve even started checking the kids’ schoolbags for notes from school.
1. What did the author notice when the school was over?| A．It was hard to find a parking space. | B．Children were picked up in groups. |
| C．Her daughter was absent from class. | D．She arrived much earlier than others. |
| A．The reflection of her daily routine. | B．The realization of her carelessness. |
| C．The knowledge of her kid’s character. | D．The awareness of her kid’s depression. |
| A．Because they contacted them late. | B．Because they failed to keep the house tidy. |
| C．Because they couldn’t be on time. | D．Because they ignored the school’s request. |
| A．Action creates motivation. | B．Mother’s love never changes. |
| C．It’s never too late to mend. | D．Patience is the key to success. |
2 . I grew up in a low-income household where music became my refuge (避难所) from my teenage anxiety. Despite knowing deep within my heart that music was my
I
One year later, Perfect Love, my first full-length CD, was officially
My life feels
| A．nature | B．passion | C．concern | D．weakness |
| A．begin | B．break | C．restart | D．continue |
| A．temporary | B．political | C．internal | D．financial |
| A．absorbed | B．trapped | C．interested | D．experienced |
| A．Definitely | B．Suddenly | C．Fortunately | D．Undoubtedly |
| A．moving | B．puzzling | C．exciting | D．embarrassing |
| A．pursuing | B．keeping | C．arousing | D．killing |
| A．looked up | B．reached out | C．stood up | D．hung on |
| A．detailing | B．purifying | C．predicting | D．justifying |
| A．sell | B．collect | C．record | D．donate |
| A．defence | B．criticism | C．sympathy | D．confidence |
| A．released | B．delivered | C．rejected | D．sponsored |
| A．attractive | B．available | C．special | D．suitable |
| A．pitiful | B．balanced | C．complete | D．demanding |
| A．believe | B．imagine | C．recall | D．explain |
3 . Because my stories keep my heart pounding at night with the possibility of it all, when I can’t get words on paper, I want to scream. All my energy pools at the bottom of my heart, where it continues to yell at me all day long, “Write! Write! Write!” I have to quiet the voice like a hidden pet, shushing (发嘘声) it over and over until I get the chance to leave, laptop in hand, stories pouring out of my mind.
What poor, unfortunate lives we artists live! We’re tortured by our words, whether they’re circling around in our minds at 3 am or written on paper, looking sad and regretful that we’ve put them there. Our words laugh at us before and after they leave our bodies.
I messaged a writing mentor (导师) when I found myself running in circles. With only a small window of time to myself each afternoon, I found it hard to write. If only I had more time, I could finish my book. If only people would leave me alone, I could become an accomplished writer. It was everyone else’s fault.
Small — my mentor told me to start small but keep going. “Do what you can, when you can. Let that be enough during the busy seasons.” In her eyes, she was once me. She was once crazy with tasks that kept her hands pushing, pulling, grabbing and moving endlessly. She recognized herself in the way I talked with starry eyes about my dreamy writing goals and plans. Essays, articles and short stories flowered in my rich mind.
In a few wise words, she gave me the freedom to write in small periods of time she called “the cracks of the day”. She argued that I should run after publishing with the same desire as ever. But in her patient voice, I heard a gentle reminder of stopping running so hard and instead slowing to a sustainable pace.
So I write. I submit. I live, and I dream.
1. What can we infer about the author from the first paragraph?| A．She has a strong desire to write. | B．She has serious heart problems. |
| C．She is forced to write constantly. | D．She is unable to focus on writing. |
| A．Threatened. | B．Troubled. | C．Inspired. | D．Impressed. |
| A．She suffered from a serious lack of time. |
| B．Her writing was far from satisfying. |
| C．She had no idea what to write. |
| D．She has no one to rely on. |
| A．All roads lead to Rome. | B．Strike while the iron is hot. |
| C．No pains, no gains. | D．Constant drops wear away a stone. |
Located in Muskegon Heights, Michigan, Edgewood Elementary School has set up a crisis response system that goes smoothly there. It has direct connection with agencies such as hospitals, the police station. Many teachers there have given their personal phone numbers to students and families in case they need extra help as well. There's no doubt that the primary school is famous for its quickness in emergency response.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Julia Smith began what was only her second year as a first grade teacher in a virtual classroom at the school. One September afternoon a few weeks into the school, she received a call from Mary White, who was having technical difficulties with her granddaughter's tools for online learning.
Julia immediately knew something was wrong with Mary. The two women had spoken numerous times before, but Julia had never heard the grandmother sound quite like this. Her words were in such disorder that Julia could barely understand her, though she was able to make out that Mary had fallen four times that day. "Was she going to have a stroke（中风）?" Julia wondered.
Julia called her principal, Charlie Green, telling him her concern. From Julia, Green knew that Mary's two grandchildren, aged four and six, were probably home alone with her---the kids' parents were killed in a traffic accident several years ago and now she was their primary guardian. Green assured her that he would call and check on Mary himself. Yet Julia still felt worried, so she grabbed the handbag, rushing out.
Just like Julia, Green could barely understand Mary, but he was able to make out the word "Kids". It called up his memories of his own father, who had suffered a stroke. Green still vividly remembered the symptoms---sudden headaches, confusion, different vision, difficulty speaking and unexpected falls---that his father had experienced. "Mary must be having a stroke," Green thought to himself.
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。
He realized it was an emergency.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When Green and the other two teachers reached the family's home less than ten minutes later, seeing what was happening, they sighed in relief.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5 . One evening in July, I noticed my wedding ring---which I had worn for over half a century was missing. I was very
My memory
The daydream passed. My daughter called.
"Mom, you should shop for a new ring." She was
At the shop, we found five jewelry cases to
I wanted to know how my ring had ended up there, so the police had to get
Weeks have gone. I'm
| A．amused | B．abandoned | C．shocked | D．thrilled |
| A．way | B．luck | C．doubt | D．comment |
| A．traveled | B．dropped | C．suspended | D．wondered |
| A．made | B．postponed | C．kept | D．lost |
| A．affair | B．incident | C．event | D．accident |
| A．committed | B．dedicated | C．annoyed | D．determined |
| A．look through | B．look out | C．look over | D．look up |
| A．attention | B．dignity | C．patience | D．intelligence |
| A．all | B．none | C．neither | D．any |
| A．slipped | B．skipped | C．stretched | D．shrank |
| A．suits | B．matches | C．fits | D．charms |
| A．disturbed | B．involved | C．devoted | D．buried |
| A．still | B．even | C．yet | D．rather |
| A．since | B．when | C．after | D．before |
| A．as | B．with | C．among | D．like |
6 . Few parts have reached the same heights in television as James Gandolfini's Tony Soprano. The Sopranos was appointment TV series, and 13 years after the series ended. The Many Saints of Newark, a promising film, will be shown to the audiences this fall, with Michael Gandolfini succeeding his father as a young Tony.
"My dad didn't want me to see Tony Soprano---the violence, the angry, the mean. Of course I was on set and would visit him when he was free, but I had never watched the show... I never knew Tony Soprano. I only knew my dad."
Michael spent summers with his dad on the Jersey Shore. "Because he was beloved down there. I would get jobs I was unqualified for at only eight years old, like working at a body shop." When Michael was 14, his father died of a heart attack while on vacation in Rome.
A football injury sent Michael to try out for high school plays. "I'd gone to acting to get myself through after my dad passed away. Honestly, I didn't like it at first, but it brought something out." Two managers took a chance and sent him to his first-ever acting. They called the next day: "You're the right one!" He played Joey Dwyer and calls it "an incredible time of failing and learning and getting my sea legs."
"It was really hard to watch my dad," he says. "I recorded four hours of his long speeches with Melfi and walked around New York with them constantly, constantly, constantly playing in my ear."
Three months later, he got the offer. In Cherry, Michael plays the hometown friend of Holland's bank robber with PTSD（创伤后应激障碍）. "Not playing the Italian New York kid, having them believe in me and allow me to play such a complicated, beautiful role was such a gift." Looking back, he says, "My dad constantly told me, if I'd ask a question about acting, 'I'm not your acting coach. I'm your dad,' which I really appreciate now."
1. What do Michael's words underlined in Paragraph 2 indicate?| A．He wasn't exposed to negative scenes. |
| B．He didn't have the chance to visit James. |
| C．He wasn't willing to watch the show on set. |
| D．He happened to have missed Tony Soprano. |
| A．Practice makes perfect. | B．The early bird catches the worm. |
| C．Love me, love my dog. | D．You can't judge a book by its cover. |
| A．His initial dream. | B．His gift and diligence. |
| C．His father's coaching. | D．Two managers' pressure. |
| A．Creative, tolerant and lonely. |
| B．Loving, grateful and talented. |
| C．Beloved, modest and arbitrary. |
| D．Simple, proud and miserable. |
7 . When her five daughters were young,Helene An always told them that there was strength in unity(团结).To show this,she held up one chopstick,representing one person.Then she easily broke it into two pieces.Next,she tied several chopsticks together,representing a family.She showed the girls it was hard to break the tied chopsticks.This lesson about family unity stayed with the daughters as they grew up.
Helene An and her family own a large restaurant business in California.However,when Helene and her husband Danny left their home in Vietnam in 1975,they didn’t have much money.They moved their family to San Francisco.There they joined Danny’s mother,Diana,who owned a small Italian sandwich shop.Soon afterwards,Helene and Diana changed the sandwich shop into a small Vietnamese restaurant.The five daughters helped in the restaurant when they were young.However,Helene did not want her daughters to always work in the family business because she thought it was too hard.
Eventually the girls all graduated from college and went away to work for themselves,but one by one,the daughters returned to work in the family business.They opened new restaurants in San Francisco and Los Angeles.Even though family members sometimes disagreed with each other,they worked together to make the business successful.Daughter Elizabeth explains,“Our mother taught us that to succeed we must have unity,and to have unity we must have peace.Without the strength of the family,there is no business.”
Their expanding business became a large corporation in 1996,with three generations of Ans working together.Now the Ans’ corporation makes more than $20 million each year.Although they began with a small restaurant,they had big dreams,and they worked together.Now they are a big success.
1. Helene tied several chopsticks together to show______.| A．the strength of family unity |
| B．the difficulty of growing up |
| C．the advantage of chopsticks |
| D．the best way of giving a lesson |
| A．started a business in 1975 |
| B．left Vietnam without much money |
| C．bought a restaurant in San Francisco |
| D．opened a sandwich shop in Los Angeles |
8 . Curtis Whitson knew the water fall was coming. He'd rafted down the Arroyo Seco, a river in central California, before. He figured he would hop out of his raft into the shallow water, rappel (绕绳下降) down the rocks on either side of the falls, and continue on his way, as he had on a previous trip.
But this year was different. Heavy snow and spring rains had turned the usually manageable falls into something fierce. And this year, instead of his friends, Whitson’s companions were his wife, Krystal Ramirez, and his 13-year-old son, Hunter. As the three of them approached the falls late in the afternoon of the third day of their camping trip, Whitson could tell from the increasing roar of water in the narrow canyon (峡谷) that they were in serious trouble. There was no way they’d be able to rappel down the rocks as planned.
As he considered what to do, Whitson hit on a bit of luck — he heard voices coming from the other side of the falls. He yelled, but the sound of the rushing water drowned him out.
We have to get these people a message, Whitson thought.
He grabbed a stick and pulled out his pocketknife to carve “Help” in it. Then he tied a rope to it so the people would know it wasn’t just any stick. He tried throwing it over the falls, but it floated away in the wrong direction.
Then he spotted his green Nalgene water bottle. Whitson grabbed it and carved “Help!” on it. Ramirez also reminded him that he had a pen and paper, which she’d brought to play games with, in his backpack.
Whitson knew it was a long shot. But he scrawled (草草地写) “We are stuck here at the waterfall. Get help please!” and pushed the note into the bottle.
This time, his throw over the waterfall was perfect.
“All right, that’s all we can do,” Whitson told Hunter.
It took 30 minutes to navigate back upstream to the beach where they’d had lunch. They made a fire and laid out a tarp (油布). As the evening wore on, they placed a headlamp with a flashing light on a ledge (岩石突出部). By about 10:30 p.m.，they decided they probably weren’t going to get rescued that night, so they pulled out their sleeping bags. Before turning in， Ramirez added more wood to the fire to keep the mountain lions away.
Then, just after midnight, they heard a helicopter hovering above them. Whitson turned to his son and started shaking him.
“They’re here!” he said.
Whitson ran over to the headlamp and started flashing it at the helicopter. He, Ramirez, and Hunter were waving and hollering when they heard the magic words: “This is Search and Rescue. You have been found.”
The helicopter circled as the pilot looked for a good place to land. Finding none, the crew announced to the campers over the PA system that they would not be rescued until morning and told them to conserve their firewood.
The next morning, the helicopter returned and it was a moment of pure happiness as the three chatted with the officers who had rescued them. Together, they marveled (惊叹) at the unlikelihood of it all.
When the officers dropped them back at the Arroyo Seco Campground, the family learned more about the long shot events that had saved them: Two men had seen the water bottle in the water. When they picked it up, they noticed the writing on it — “Help!”. Then they realized there was a note inside. After they read it, they hightailed it to the campground, turned the bottle in, and took off without leaving their names.
A few days after news of the rescue broke, one of the hikers contacted Whitson. That’s when he learned the rest of the story. There were actually two little girls hiking with the men that day. It was the girls who first spotted the bottle and swam to get it. Whitson is planning on having a big barbecue to meet the hikers — and thank them.
“I imagine it’s going to be one of the greatest moments of my life.” he says.
1. How was Whitson’s this-year trip different from his previous trip?| A．It involved more people. |
| B．It presented more threats. |
| C．It included more activities. |
| D．It progressed more steadily. |
| A．Throwing a stick tied with a rope. |
| B．Yelling to the people across the fall. |
| C．Using an SOS bottle to send messages. |
| D．Bringing a pen and paper to play games. |
| A．It was a wild attempt. |
| B．It was a great danger. |
| C．It was a fantastic idea. |
| D．It was a real inspiration. |
| A．To enable his family to fall fast asleep. |
| B．To frighten the mountain animals away. |
| C．To increase the chance of being rescued. |
| D．To keep warm at night in the deep mountain. |
| A．They were running out of oil. |
| B．They conserved little firewood. |
| C．They found no place to land safe. |
| D．They were caught in a snowstorm. |
| A．Two little girls. |
| B．Two men hikers. |
| C．A helicopter pilot. |
| D．The officers on duty. |
9 . About six years ago I started having panic attacks (恐慌症). I began my journey to
Frustratingly, about a year after that, I started to develop
I loved to sing when I was young. My childhood had been
I have now been a
Now, I am feeling a lot better. When I am
| A．ignore | B．solve | C．interpret | D．stress |
| A．Casually | B．Ridiculously | C．Controversially | D．Thankfully |
| A．passion | B．depression | C．adaptation | D．relation |
| A．tutors | B．conditions | C．values | D．tools |
| A．doubting | B．hesitating | C．struggling | D．improving |
| A．though | B．until | C．since | D．after |
| A．charged | B．burdened | C．mixed | D．filled |
| A．neglected | B．maintained | C．sharpened | D．exploited |
| A．open | B．absent | C．creative | D．narrow |
| A．painting | B．acting | C．reading | D．singing |
| A．turn | B．pressure | C．courage | D．privilege |
| A．set off | B．get through | C．shrink from | D．figure out |
| A．win | B．failure | C．pain | D．barrier |
| A．sponsor | B．director | C．trainer | D．member |
| A．suspects | B．reminds | C．cures | D．warns |
| A．education | B．competition | C．career | D．existence |
| A．holiday | B．school | C．adult | D．adolescent |
| A．absorbed | B．thrilled | C．ambitious | D．anxious |
| A．last | B．help | C．exist | D．fade |
| A．relieved | B．shared | C．felt | D．cause |
But Hans, the butterman, sat without a smile. He sold pounds of butter from a table beside him. Many people said that his butter wasn’t the right weight. They said that his rolls of butter didn’t weigh as much as a pound.
Once the weighmaster came walking down the road. He was looking for people who did not sell the full weight. Someone told him, “Watch Hans, the butterman.”
Hans had good eyes. He saw the weighmaster and quickly put the piece of gold into the first roll of butter, between the butter and its cover.
A captain was standing beside Hans’s table, and he had seen Hans put the piece of gold into the roll. He stood at Hans’s side when the weighmaster came up to him.
“Good morning,” said the weighmaster.
“Good morning,” said Hans. “I think that you are looking for farmers who trick the people of our town.”
“I’m,” said the weighmaster. “Someone told me that your rolls of butter don’t weigh a full pound.”
“Oh yes, they do. Here, Weighmaster. Here is a roll of butter. Weigh it yourself,” said Hans.
Hans took the first roll of butter and gave it to the weighmaster.
The weighmaster took his scales and put the butter onto it. The roll weighed more than a pound.
“I’ve made a mistake,” said the weighmaster. “You are an honest man. There is enough butter in this roll.”
Then the captain stood in front of Hans’s table. “You are an honest man, so I want to buy some of your butter,” he said. Before Hans could speak, the captain picked up the roll of butter with the piece of gold in it. “I’ll take this one.”
Hans’s heart began beating more quickly. “No, not that one. I’ve sold that one to a friend of mine. Take another one.”
“No, I want this one,” said the captain.
“I won’t sell it to you. I told you that I’ve sold it to a friend,” said Hans.
“Don’t make me angry. The weighmaster weighed this roll. Give your friend another one.”
“But I want to give him this one,” said Hans, who was now very uncomfortable.
“I ask you, good Weighmaster,” said the captain angrily, “don’t I have the right to choose the piece of butter that I want? I will pay good money for it.”
“Of course you have the right, Captain,” said the weighmaster. “What are you afraid of, Hans? Aren’t all the rolls of butter alike? Perhaps I have to weigh all of them.”
What could Hans say? What could he do? He had to smile and sell the butter to the captain. The captain gave Hans three cents for the butter.
The captain and the weighmaster walked away together.
“You punished the thief,” said the weighmaster.
“No, he punished himself,” said the captain, smile.
1. When Hans saw the weighmaster, he ________ .
| A．stood up at once | B．said hello to the weighmaster |
| C．put a piece of gold into a roll of butter quickly | D．gave the weighmaster a piece |
| A．thought Hans was an honest man |
| B．wanted to weigh all the other rolls of butter |
| C．wanted to buy a roll of butter from Hans |
| D．thought Hans was foolish |
| A．because he knew Hans was an honest man |
| B．because he wanted to punish Hans |
| C．to get the piece of gold in the butter |
| D．because the butter weighed more than a pound |
| A．he had sold it to someone else |
| B．he didn’t like the captain |
| C．he didn’t want to lose the piece of gold in it |
| D．it weighed more than a pound |
