It was about eleven o’clock at night, and a large woman was walking alone, when a boy ran up behind her and tried to grab her purse. But the boy’s weight and the weight of the purse caused him to lose his balance, so he fell on his back on the sidewalk.
The large woman simply turned around, picked the boy up by his shirt front, and shook him until his teeth rattled. Firmly gripped and sweat rolling down on his face, the boy whispered. “I’m very sorry, lady, I’m sorry.” But the woman just dragged him up the street. When she got to her door, she dragged the boy inside and turned on the light.
“You go to that sink and wash your face,” said the woman, “Let the water run until it gets warm,” she said. “Here’s a clean towel. I would lake you nowhere. We’ll eat,” said the woman.
“I wanted a pair of shoes,” said the boy. “Well, you didn’t have to grab my purse to get some new shoes,” said the woman. “You could have asked me.” “Madam?” The water dripping from his face, the boy looked at her.
“I was young once and I wanted things I could not get.” She said. Silence. “Now you sit down while I fix us something to eat.”
She heated some beans and ham, made the cocoa, and set the table. The woman did not ask the boy anything. Instead, as they ate, she told him about her job in a hotel. Then she cut him a half of her ten-cent cake. “Eat some more, son,” she said.
When they finished eating, she got up and said, “Now, here, take this ten dollars and buy yourself new shoes. And next time, behave yourself, son, from now on.”
She led him down the hall to the front door and opened it. “Goodnight! Behave yourself, boy!” she said. The boy wanted to say something else other than “Thank you, Madam” to her, but he couldn’t. In fact, he barely managed to say “Thank you” before he shut the door. And he never saw her again.
1. How did the boy feel when he was caught by the woman?2. Where did the woman take the boy?
3. Why did the boy try to grab the woman’s purse?
4. What else might the boy say to the woman besides “thank you” at the end of the story?
5. What was the woman like?
There was once a lonely fisherman by the name of Troung Chi. Every evening, as he sailed, he played his flute (笛子) and all who heard his music agreed it was the most beautiful sound they had ever heard. But his face was ugly, and the girls in his village kept away from him. And so he lived alone.
At that time there lived a young lady who was both rich and beautiful. She spent her days sitting in her room, safe, but alone. Every evening she sat at her window and waited for the fisherman to slip past as the sweet notes of his flute thrilled her heart. She swore that she would marry him one day. So she begged her father to permit the boy into the house so that she could look him in the eyes. However, he shook his head and said that a fisherman was too poor.
She lay in her new room and sobbed (啜泣). She sobbed and sobbed until she became so ill that her father feared for her life. At last he compromised. The father sent for the fisherman and asked him to sit beside his daughter’s bed and play his flute. If his music proved to be strong enough medicine to cure her, he would be rewarded with a bag of gold.
Troung Chi sat by the bed and played. His sweet notes reached her inner soul, and the warmth of his love came over her body and revived (唤醒) her. At last she opened her eyes and looked up at him — the fisherman of her dreams.
But oh, he was ugly! How frightful! This was not at all as she had imagined. “Take him away!” she screamed. “I don’t want to look at his ugly face!”
The boy was driven out of the room. The secretary offered him a bag of gold, but he refused it. His heart was broken. He went to his boat, and as he sailed away, he threw his flute into the water. He was never seen again.
After Troung Chi had been gone for some days, the young girl regretted her behaviour. She never married. For the rest of her life she remembered the boatman’s tender love and his beautiful music.
1. Why did no woman want to be the boatman’s wife?2. How did the young girl know of the fisherman?
3. What was the woman’s reaction after she saw the fisherman’s face?
4. Why did the fisherman throw his flute away and never come back?
“Mom, look at this LEGO Star Wars set,” my eight-year-old son Nathan said. “Can I get it for my birthday?” I looked at the LEGO set in question.
“Nathan, this isn’t just a regular LEGO set. It’s an Advent calendar(降临历).” Seeing his questioning look, I explained, “An Advent calendar counts down the days until Christmas. Starting on December 1st, you open one box each day, and each box contains one small LEGO toy.”
“I want this really badly, Mom. Can I get it for my birthday?”
“Yes, but here’s the problem with that. It’s August right now, and your birthday is in September. If we bought this for your birthday, you couldn’t start opening the toys until December 1st. That would be a long time for you before playing with a new toy. Are you sure you want it?” He thought for a minute and said, “Yes, Mom, I really want that Advent calendar.” So we bought the calendar.
On Nathan’s birthday in mid-September, he received many presents, including the Advent calendar. He seemed as surprised and pleased with it as he did with other gifts that were actually a surprise. And then he started to open it.
“Remember that’s an Advent calendar. So we can’t open it yet.” His shoulders slumped(垂下来). “Oh, yeah, that’s right,” he said unwillingly.
We put the box in his closet. I hoped he’d forget about it, but that was wishful thinking.
“How many more days should I wait until I can start opening the toys in the calendar?” he asked the day after his birthday. I gave him a pocket calendar, and we counted how many days there were until December 1st.
After waiting for so long, it was December 1st finally. Nathan’s hands were practically shaking as he opened that first box. “I’m so glad I waited, Mom,” he told me.
People say that Christmas starts earlier and earlier every year. I know these complaints are about the over-commercialization of the holiday, and I see their point. But this year, Christmas came to our house very early, and it was so much fun.
1. What is an Advent calendar used to do? (no more than 10 words)2. Why was the author unwilling to buy the Advent calendar for Nathan at first? (no more than 12 words)
3. How can we understand the underlined sentence in Paragraph 7? (no more than 8 words)
4. Why do people say Christmas starts earlier and earlier? (no more than 10 words)
5. What do you think of Nathan’s birthday present? Why? (no more than 20 words)
It was a dark and stormy night. The ferocious wind shook the windows wildly, as though someone outside were beating on the glass. It was also New Year’s Eve. We were having our annual party and had a house full of people just starting to celebrate.
Suddenly, we heard loud explosions. Looking outside and up into the hills, we saw sparks(火花) flying from electrical transformers(变压器). One area after another went dark up in those hills. Then there was the loudest explosion of them all and our house went dark too. I tried to find every candle we had and lit them. The candles made everything look lovely. But we had problems. We had fifteen people standing around and we still had to cook dinner. How would we do that without electricity?
The barbecue! Why not cook on the barbecue? We men went outside, some holding flashlights and others cooking. We did a wonderful job. The women stayed inside and got the salads ready. Everything was delicious. There were still a few hours to go before the beginning of the new year, so we all sat around the dining room table and sang up until a few minutes before midnight. We couldn’t watch the ball drop in Times Square on television but that wouldn’t stop us from celebrating. I stood on a chair and, with the help of someone’s watch to tell us the time, we all counted down and I dropped a tennis ball! We all screamed Happy New Year. We didn’t need electricity for that!
Nowadays, we still get together with the same group to celebrate the New Year and we still talk about that special night. I don’t think we have ever laughed so much as we did on that New Year’s Eve.
1. What does the underlined word mean in Paragraph 1? (1 word)2. What made dinner preparation difficult according to Paragraph 2? (no more than 6 words)
3. How did the people celebrate on New Year’s Eve according to the passage? (no more than 10 words)
4. How does the author feel about that particular New Year’s Eve? (no more than 8 words)
5. What do you think is the most necessary quality when dealing with an unexpected difficult situation? Please explain why. (no more than 25words)
Lillian Hanson, a college junior, expects to graduate in about two years. Mrs. Hanson, a rather unusual student, plans to go on to take more courses after she gets her degree. What makes Mrs. Hanson different from most of her classmates?
What sets Lillian Hanson apart from the college crowd is her age-73 years. She has been going to college, a few courses at a time, for 27 years.
When Mrs. Hanson graduated from high school, she went to her local bank and asked for a loan for college tuition and fees. The banker gave her no encouragement. He didn’t think that a country girl should be borrowing money to go to college. He thought she should be home doing work in the house or around the farm. So Mrs. Hanson went home and raised a family of nine children instead of going to college. She still lives with her husband on the farm that has been in the family for five generations.
Mrs. Hanson never forgot her dream of getting a higher education. When her children were grown up, she tried again.
She finds the hardest part of going back to school at her age to be sitting in class for long periods of time. Because she is not able to move as quickly and easily as she used to be, Mrs. Hanson often gets up and walks around between classes to keep from getting rigid. At the beginning of a course in using the computer, the other students all stood up to give Mrs. Hanson big applause when she introduced herself and explained why she was there and what her goals were.
1. What makes Lillian Hanson different from most of her classmates? (不多于2个单词)2. Why did the banker refuse to provide a loan for Lillian Hanson? (不多于16个单词)
3. What is Mrs. Hanson’s dream? (不多于4个单词)
4. What does she find the hardest part of going back to school? (不多于8个单词)
Take Time
It was Tuesday morning and Jake’s mother was driving him to school. As usual, they were driving down busy Fortieth Street. Jake’s mother was driving as fast as the speed limit and traffic allowed. Jake sat in the back seat, daydreaming as he looked out the window. They were passing a city park, and it flew past him quickly. “That park is blocking (阻挡) our way,” Jake’s mother said unhappily. “If I could drive right through it, we’d be at school in no time, but I have to drive all the way around it.”
The next day, as usual, Jake’s mother was driving him to school. Jake was looking out the window. Suddenly, he saw something shoot up from out of the trees. Just as quickly, it disappeared. At least, he thought he saw something, but they had speeded by so quickly that he was uncertain.
The following day, once again Jake and his mother were on their way to school. This time, Jake paid special attention as they passed the park. Tree after tree rushed by, when — there! There it was again! Jake wanted to find out what it was in the park, but his mother said he had a lot to do in the school and she was too busy to walk in the park. Jake begged his mother and she finally agreed to go and see it on the weekend!
On Saturday morning, Jake and his mother finally walked into the park and down a wooded path. Approaching (接近) the middle of the park, they discovered a large and lovely water fountain(喷泉). Every so often, it would shoot a burst of water high into the air. “Mom, this is what I saw shooting up out of the park on our way to school!” Jake said excitedly.
Jake’s mother smiled happily. “What an enjoyable walk! Let’s come here more often,” she suggested. “In fact, we don’t always have to drive to school. Let’s walk to school when the weather is nice, and we can walk through this park on our way.”
“Sure!” Jake happily agreed.
1. What did Jake’s mother think of the park on Tuesday morning?2. Why did Jake’s mother refuse to go to the park at first?
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
The trees in the park attracted Jake on his way to school and he asked his mother to walk in the park.
4. Do you think you should slow down in your life sometimes? Please share your opinions and explain. (In about 40 words)
When I was a little girl, I spent memorable holidays with my grandmother, who lived in a small village. She was a farmer with a stooped (弯曲的) back that made it seem like she was always leaning forward to examine something. Early in the morning, she would tie a cloth around her waist and set out to the farm. I would skip breathlessly alongside, trying to keep up. On our way, she would greet everyone we passed.
There was the standard greeting, “Did you wake up on the right foot this morning?” Then, the more personalized greetings. To Patriarch Kosi who sat under the mango tree, she would ask, “Are the grandchildren in good health?” To the Bean Stew Seller who was preparing to serve breakfast, she would inquire, “Are your boys well?”
Sometimes, the greetings were spoken soothingly (安慰地). When we walked past the widow, Dada Mawusi, many months after her husband’s death, Grandmother would say directly, “How is your grieving?” She didn’t like to beat around the bush. The greeting made more sense to her to acknowledge the woman’s suffering, and in doing so, empathize (理解) with her.
The people that Grandmother greeted would respond similarly. “I see you have your granddaughter with you today. How is her father?” or “I see you have woken up before the cock’s crow today. May it be a fruitful day at the farm.” As a young girl, I thought these greetings were unnecessarily time-consuming. What I now realize is that the greetings increased a sense of belonging. My grandmother taught me that there is always time to greet someone before getting down to business. You can always take a few extra seconds to say a greeting to a person. We enrich our society when we acknowledge the unique presence of one another.
1. Where did the writer spend holidays when she was young? (no more than 6 words)2. What made the writer feel breathless? (no more than 8 words)
3. How do you understand the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3? (no more than 10 words)
4. What did the writer think about greetings when she was young? (no more than 10 words)
5. Why do you think greeting neighbors is important? Give your reasons, (no more than 20 words)
Over the past three years, I've had one major goal in my personal life: To stop being so angry. I grew up in an angry home. Yelling and phone throwing were my parents’ basic means of communication. I brought these to my marriage.“Why are you always yelling?”my husband would say. Then three years ago, an earthquake hit our home: We had a baby girl. I wanted her to grow up in a peaceful environment.
Then, six months ago, I was talking with Lisa Feldman Barrett, a psychologist at Northeastern University. She gave me this suggestion: “You could increase your emotional granularity(情绪粒度）.”Over the past 30 years, she has found evidence that anger isn't one emotion but rather a whole family of emotions. And learning to identify different members of the family is a powerful tool for regulating your anger. So in many ways, anger is like wine. There are these major varieties but each drink has its own unique combination of aromas(香气）and flavors.
“If you learn to detect all the various flavors of anger and label(给……加标签) them, you can start to handle your anger better,”says psychologist Maria Gendron at Yale University. “Analyze what's causing your different types of anger, give them specific names and start using the terms with family and coworkers.”
I started paying attention to what typically triggers my anger. And I found three major types, which I named. Illogical(不合逻辑的）anger: This emotion happens when somebody at work makes a decision that seems completely illogical. Once I labeled this anger, I quickly realized that trying to convince an illogical person of logic is a waste of time. Hurry-up anger: This is the anger I feel when someone else is not doing something fast enough. Yes, I'm talking about the driver of the gray Prius at the stoplight this morning. Once I labeled it, I realized my anger doesn't help things become any better. Disonophous anger: The dog was barking and the child was screaming. I made up disonophous anger from the Latin for “two sounds.”
Now when my husband says “I have disonophous anger, Emma ...”, we know exactly what to do: Feed the dog and pick up the baby. And I know he's not angry at me. He just wants some peace and quiet.
1. What inspired the author’s goal? (no more than10 words)2. Why does the author compare anger to wine?(no more than 10 words)
3. What does the underlined word probably mean in Paragraph 4?(1 word)
4. When might the author feel disonophous anger?(no more than 15 words)
5. How do you control your anger? Please explain.(no more than 20 words)
It was late on a Saturday afternoon. A young boy and his father were sitting quietly, watching the snow fall.
“Son, you see every snowflake is different, but when they are all together, they are so beautiful.” Dad, smiling, turned to his son, “Just like people. God makes every one of us different.”
Then came a question. “If people are like snowflakes, unique and special, how could they get along?”
Dad sat there for a moment, thinking. “Choice,” he said. “One of the greatest gifts God has given us is the gift of choice. Different as we all are, we have one thing in common. We can choose what we do, how we dress, where we live, and how we treat each other.”
“But some people don’t get along. So their choice is a bad thing?” the boy asked.
“Oh, no. Only when they choose the wrong things.”
“How do we know what’s right and what’s wrong?”
Without a word, Dad began to work with the snow. First he made several snowballs. And then he placed three of them on top of each other.
“It’s a snowman!” the boy shouted with excitement. “Those that made the snowman did the right thing.”
“Yes, these three came together and joined in an effort to build up mankind,” Dad said.
Then he held his boy tightly and said, “I pray to God that your world will learn to work and live together.”
The boy leaned back in the comfort and protection of his father’s arms, and said, “I will make the right choice. I will learn to build the best snowman ever.”
1. What was the weather like in the story?2. What do people have in common according to Dad?
3. How did Dad show the right choice with the snowballs?
4. What does “the right choice” in the underlined sentence mean?
5. What do you think of the father in the text?
In March 2019, when Sara Cook first got a letter in the mail telling her that someone had paid off a large amount of her medical debt, she simply couldn't believe it. Cautiously, she called the number listed on the letter. What she learned was that this was not a scam. It was 100 percent real.
A remarkable nonprofit called RIP Medical Debt had indeed paid $5,000 toward her bills. The organization didn't take care of all the debt she'd accumulated from several back surgeries, but the former nurse was still moved by the gesture. “I felt really loved and blessed,” she says, “knowing that complete strangers just did that out of the goodness of their hearts.
Craig Antico and Jerry Ashton do have good hearts. They're also former collection agents who have seen how heavy health-related debt has destroyed lives. “I never thought about all the hardship of the people who couldn't pay. Now I'm trying to find the people who need help.” said Antico. They got their money from individuals and charities that support RIP's mission.
RIP researches potential receivers based on three criteria. First, they look for people who make no more than two and a half times the amount established as the federal poverty level. Then they screen for those whose debt is equal to 5 percent or more of the gross income (总收入). Third, they look to see whether a person can pay off debts.
For the people who do qualify, RIP's help is life-changing. “After their letter, I realized that my life really wasn't so hard,” says Cook, “I may never be able to work as a nurse again but I can sit at the school library and help kids read or serve up food in the soup kitchen. When people do something out of the kindness of their hearts, sometimes they may wonder: Does it really make a difference? I want people to know that this has a positive impact.”
1. What does the underlined word in Para.1 most probably mean? (1 word)2. What was Sara Cook's reaction to RIP Medical Debt? (no more than 2 words)
3. How did RIP Medical Debt get funds? (no more than 10 words)
4. What's the main idea of the 4th paragraph? (no more than 8 words)
5. What's your example of doing "kindness"? Please share. (no more than 20 words)
