1 . An 89-year-old man, Manfred Steiner, has reached a goal he spent 20 years working toward and nearly a lifetime thinking about: earning his Ph. D. And now he is a physicist
Steiner values this degree because it is what he always wanted and because he overcame health problems that could have affected his studies. “But I made it, and this was the most satisfactory point in my life, to finish it,” he said.
When he was young, Steiner wanted to become a physicist after reading about Albert Einstein. But his mother and uncle persuaded him that studying medicine would be a better choice. He earned his medical degree in 1955 and moved to the US soon after.
Steiner studied hematology（血液学）at Tufts University and biochemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He became a full professor and led the hematology department at Browns’ medical school from 1985 to 1994. Steiner helped establish a research program in hematology at the University of North Carolina. He directed that program until he retired from medicine in 2000.
Steiner found medical research pleasing, but it was not quite the same as his interest in physics. “It was something like a wish that was never fulfilled, that always stuck in the back of my head,” he said. At age 70, he started taking undergraduate classes.
Physics professor Brad Marston was surprised when Steiner entered his quantum mechanics class. But he became Steiner’s adviser for his dissertation（学位论文）after realizing how serious Steiner was about the subject and how hard he worked. “He has written many papers in medical science, more papers than I’ve written in physics,” Marston said. “One thing that’s really true about Manfred is that he perseveres.”
After the university published a story about Steiner on its website, people across the US contacted him to ask for advice on how to go after their dreams later in life. His advice is: Do what you love to do.
1. Why did Steiner value his degree in physics?| A．Because it solved his health problems. | B．Because it was his long-pursued dream. |
| C．Because it met his mother’s expectation. | D．Because it was inspired by Albert Einstein. |
| A．Steiner’s contributions to teaching. | B．Steiner’s researches after retirement. |
| C．Steiner’s achievements in hematology. | D．Steiner’s performances at Tufts University. |
| A．His taking undergraduate classes at 70. | B．His writing more papers in physics. |
| C．His sticking to becoming a physicist. | D．His being a role model for Americans. |
| A．Active and open-minded. | B．Enthusiastic and easy-going. |
| C．Intelligent and warm-hearted. | D．Perseverant and hard-working. |
2 . Table tennis may not seem a reasonable option for someone with no arms — but Ibrahim Hamadtou doesn't believe in limits. The 48-year-old Egyptian Paralympian breaks the barrier by holding the paddle (球拍) in his mouth and using his right foot to serve the ball.
Hamadtou, who lost his arms in a train accident at the age of ten, was drawn to table tennis after being challenged by a friend. "I was once watching a match between two of my friends," Hamadtou explains. "They disagreed on a point, When I counted the point in favor of one of them, the other player told me, 'Mind your own business as you will never be able to play.' It was that statement that fired me up to decide to play table tennis."
It took Hamadtou three years to master the sport. He says the biggest challenge was figuring out the best way to control his body. "I was trying first to use the bat under the arm, and I also tried using other things, which weren't working so well. Finally, I tried using my mouth. It took me nearly a year of practice to get used to holding the paddle with my mouth and making the serve. With practice and playing regularly, this skill was improved."
The Egyptian's incredible talent came to light in 2014 when he was awarded the best Arab Athlete of the year. He won a silver medal at the 2016 African Championships, qualified for his first Paralympics in 2016 at 43, and then again for the 2020 Tokyo Games at 48.
The inspiring athlete says, "The disability is not in arms or legs but to give up in whatever you would like to do."
1. What made Hamadtou take up table tennis?| A．His passion for table-tennis. | B．His ambition to prove himself. |
| C．His willingness to inspire others. | D．His suffering in a train accident. |
| A．Serving the ball with his mouth. | B．Holding the paddle under his arm. |
| C．Practicing strengthening his muscles. | D．Playing the game with the right body parts. |
| A．He was recognized as a gifted player at 41. |
| B．He was awarded the best athlete in Africa. |
| C．He won a medal in the 2020 Tokyo Games. |
| D．He realized his dream of winning a gold medal. |
| A．Well begun is half done. | B．Love breaks down barriers. |
| C．Success gives people delight. | D．Nothing is impossible to a willing heart. |
3 . One day, Amanda was diagnosed (诊断) with cancer of an early stage. During this time, she was admitted to a college. She planned to save money to meet the college expense and then seek medical treatment for the cancer.
Her father, Clint and her friends didn’t want her to put off her treatment due to the expense. They took matters into their own hands and started a GoFundMe campaign. A longtime friend of the family was cofounder of a group named Praynksters, known for random acts of kindness. The friend decided to use their own group to help the family. The group came up with the creative idea to spread the word and invite families, friends, and strangers who wanted to help to take part in a donation activity. The event induced the enormous assistance from the local community.
Clint and Amanda were moved as the crowd passed by and the donations poured in. The event brought the family over $13, 000 in donations to go towards her medical treatments. The generous act of kindness gave the family a comforting, and optimistic feeling during a time when all hope seemed lost. Clint said that Amanda struggled with the idea of asking for help. She felt guilty and undeserving compared to others who are also struggling. She is still humbled by it all.
After several months of treatment, life for the family has started getting back to their normal routine. Once Amanda got her strength back, she returned to school and completed her bachelor's degree. The family is now inspired to volunteer in their local neighborhood and contribute to crowdfunding (众筹) efforts. They are grateful for the opportunity to give back and help others as many have helped them.
1. Why did Amanda postpone her treatment of cancer?| A．She didn't care about her disease. |
| B．She had to take care of her family. |
| C．She was in a bad economic situation. |
| D．She couldn’t find an effective treatment. |
| A．Brought about. | B．Made up. |
| C．Gave away. | D．Set about. |
| A．Shameful but caring. |
| B．Kind-hearted and grateful. |
| C．Curious and warm-hearted. |
| D．Hard- working and humorous. |
| A．It's quite easy to cure Amanda’s cancer. |
| B．Praynksters is a nonprofit organization funded by Clint. |
| C．Volunteering is very popular in Amanda's community. |
| D．A GoFundMe campaign is actually a crowdfunding activity. |
4 . From the heartland to urban parks, school kids were released onto the baseball diamond. There was a time when baseball was the only summer game. But with competition from soccer and lacrosse, the clap of leather gloves is not as omnipresent as it used to be. Still, America’s game is a place for young boys to prove themselves.
Some boys were born athletic but Tim seemed to be growing in the opposite way: thin shoulders and no meat on his bones. But he loved baseball. And game after game, strikeout after strikeout piled up in the stat sheet. The desire was there, but the body doesn’t respond to dreams and wishes. The strikes continued.
Tim practiced his swing every day. His teammates encouraged him. His coach worked with him. Even opposing teams wished for a hit, just one hit for a boy who seemed to deserve it more than any other kid in the world.
What teammates and even the coach never saw was a gray van that pulled up each game in the parking lot adjacent to left field. Inside was Tim’s father, too weak from cancer to get out of the van. It’s a tough to watch your kid strike out, even tougher when you don’t have the strength to pitch to him.
At the end of the season, Tim stood at the plate as determined as ever. On the first pitch, the bat fell from his shoulder in a downward swing and somehow made contact. The ball dribbled down the third-base line, and Tim galloped to first. He stood on the bag wearing a smile as big as the outfield. He didn’t have the chance to advance, and when the pitcher retired the final out, Tim ran straight into left field, climbed the fence and dove into the front seat of a gray van, into the arms of a frail father whose wish for his son had finally materialized.
Sometimes it is more than a game.
1. What does the underlined word “omnipresent” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Outstanding. | B．Exciting. | C．Replaceable. | D．Common. |
| A．Tim's efforts won others’ respect |
| B．everyone believed Tim deserved a strikeout |
| C．Tim's coach was very satisfied with his performance |
| D．Tim's teammates often complained about his performance |
| A．Nobody supported Tim playing baseball. |
| B．Tim and his father love each other deeply. |
| C．Tim won the game through constant efforts. |
| D．Tim played baseball only to satisfy his own vanity. |
| A．Easier said than done. | B．One good turn deserves another. |
| C．Where there is a will, there is a way. | D．One false step makes a great difference. |
5 . A little boy almost thought of himself as the most unfortunate child in the world because poliomyelitis (小儿麻痹症) made his leg lame and his teeth uneven. He seldom played with his classmates; and when the teacher asked him to answer questions, he always lowered his head without a word.
One spring, the boy’s father asked for some saplings (树苗) from the neighbor. He told his children to plant a sapling each person. The father said, “Whose seedling grows best, I will buy him or her a favorite gift.” The boy also wanted to get his father’s gift. But seeing his brothers and sisters carrying water to water the trees happily, anyhow, he hit upon an idea: he hoped the tree he planted would die soon. So watering it once or twice, he never attended to it.
A few days later, when the little boy went to see his tree again, he was surprised to find it not only didn’t wilt, but also grew some fresh leaves, and compared with the trees of his brother and sister, his appeared greener and more vital. His father kept his promise, bought the little boy his favorite gift and said to him: from the tree he planted, he would become an outstanding botanist when he grew up.
Since then, the little boy slowly became optimistic. One day, the little boy lay on the bed but couldn't sleep. Looking at the bright moonlight outside the window, he suddenly recalled what the biology teacher once said, plants generally grow at night. Why not go to see the tree? When he came to the courtyard on tiptoe, he found his father was splashing something under his tree with a ladle (勺子). He returned to his room, tears running down his face.
Decades passed. The little boy didn’t become a botanist, but he was elected President of the United States. His name was Franklin Roosevelt.
1. Why didn’t the boy answer the teacher’s question?| A．He couldn’t concentrate on the class. |
| B．All the students looked down on him. |
| C．He lacked confidence because of his illness. |
| D．He was an unfortunate boy with learning disability. |
| A．The neighbor required him to do it. |
| B．He expected them to be botanists. |
| C．He wanted to encourage the disabled boy. |
| D．The children asked for their favorite gifts. |
| A．Become weak. | B．Become strong. |
| C．Become beautiful. | D．Become green. |
| A．An Unfortunate Boy |
| B．Nutrition of Growth |
| C．A Loving Father |
| D．The Unselfish Love |
6 . For over one hundred and fifty years, Americans of all social classes have worn blue jeans.
Levi Strauss was born in Germany in 1829.
Strauss did not want to be a person who searched an area for minerals.Instead, he knew he could make a good living by selling supplies to the miners.At first, he planned to sell sewing supplies and cloth.
In 1873, Strauss received a letter from a Jewish tailor named Jacob Davis who had invented a process of connecting pockets with copper rivets (铆钉).This made the pants last a long time.Because Davis did not have the money to patent his idea, he offered to share it with Strauss if Strauss would agree to pay for the patent.
By the time Strauss died in 1902, he had made a great contribution to American fashion.
| A．Nobody knew what kind of material was suitable. |
| B．As a young boy, he moved with his family to the United States. |
| C．However, he did not get much business for those products. |
| D．He did and Levi jeans have been made with metal rivets ever since. |
| E．He also made a great contribution to America's clothing industry. |
| F．As the business grew, Strauss got much money from it. |
| G．Since they were invented by Levi Strauss, they have become a symbol of American consumer culture. |
7 . Every man wants his son to be somewhat of a clone, not in features but in footsteps. As he grows you also age, and your ambitions become more unachievable. You begin to realize that your boy, in your footsteps, could probably accomplish what you hoped for. But footsteps can be muddied and they can go off in different directions.
My son Jody has hated school since day one in kindergarten. Science projects waited until the last moment. Book reports weren’t written until the final threat.
I’ve been a newspaperman all my adult life. My daughter is a university graduate working towards her master’s degree in English. But Jody? When he entered the tenth grade he became a “vo-tech” student (技校学生). They’re called “motorheads” by the rest of the student body.
When a secretary in my office first called him “motorhead”, I was shocked. “Hey, he’s a good kid, ” I wanted to say. “And smart, really.”
I learned later that motorheads are, indeed, different. They usually have dirty hands and wear dirty work clothes. And they don’t often make school honor rolls (光荣榜).
But being the parent of a motorhead is itself an experience in education. We who labor in clean shirts in offices don’t have the abilities that motorheads have. I began to learn this when I had my car crashed. The cost to repair it was estimated at $800. “Hey, I can fix it,” said Jody. I doubted it, but let him go ahead, for I had nothing to lose.
My son, with other motorheads, fixed the car. They got parts from a junkyard, and ability from vo-tech classes. The cost was $25 instead of $800.
Since that first repair job, a broken air-conditioner, a non-functioning washer and a non-toasting toaster have been fixed. Neighbours and co-workers trust their car repairs to him.
These kids are happiest when doing repairs. They joke and laugh and are living in their own relaxed world. And their minds are bright despite their dirty hands and clothes.
I have learned a lot from my motorhead: publishers need printers, engineers need mechanics, and architects need builders. Most important, I have learned that fathers don’t need clones in footsteps or anywhere else.
My son may never make the school honor roll. But he made mine.
1. What used to be the author’s hope for his son?| A．To avoid becoming his clone. | B．To resemble him in appearance. |
| C．To develop in a different direction. | D．To reach the author’s unachieved goals. |
| A．His daughter does better in school. |
| B．His daughter has got a master’s degree. |
| C．His son tried hard to finish homework. |
| D．His son couldn’t write his book reports. |
| A．his son had the ability to fix it | B．it would save him much time |
| C．it wouldn’t cause him any more loss | D．other motorheads would come to help |
| A．It is unwise to expect your child to follow your path. |
| B．It is important for one to make the honor roll. |
| C．Architects play a more important role than builders. |
| D．Motorheads have greater ability than office workers. |
8 . Najib is an Afghan who grew up in Iran. He led a tough life. When he found his children would be in the same situation, his family initially returned to Afghanistan. But with the country filled with conflicts, they decided to leave for Indonesia.
“When we first came here, we were in a bad situation. Its language, culture and even weather were different. We had moved away from friends and family,” says Najib. “I was in a tough position but I acted strong because there were no other choices.”
Refugees (难民) cannot work in Indonesia and there are limited choices for refugee children to attend local schools. Determined to avoid such a fate, a group of refugees in Puncak took action and scraped together (东拼西凑) their resources to set up a school—the Refugee Learning Center (RLC).
“Our only goal and task is to provide basic education, and prepare the refugee children for their future,” says Abdullah Sarwari. “We’re also trying to provide a normal life as much as possible for them.”
The RLC has also started offering Bahasa Indonesia classes to the refugee community. “Between the refugee and the local community, I feel like there’s a language barrier which stops the refugee from having an honest and open interaction with Indonesians,” says Abdullah.
“If you try your best, to learn the language of a particular place or country, it really helps make things easier,” says Najib. He is among those who signed up for classes, although he admits progress has been slow. But life has improved in some ways for him and his family.
Najib says, “The centre is an opportunity for refugee to show that they are not a burden. If they have the opportunity, they can accomplish big and great things like this.”
1. Why did Najib decide to leave for Indonesia?| A．To escape the conflict in Afghanistan. |
| B．To experience Indonesian culture. |
| C．To help refugees in Indonesia. |
| D．To get equal rights to vote. |
| A．To help them learn English. |
| B．To make them stay away from bad luck. |
| C．To provide them with chances to live in Indonesia. |
| D．To make them have access to receiving basic education. |
| A．He is the leader of refugees. |
| B．He founded the RLC himself. |
| C．He studies Indonesian in the RLC. |
| D．He lives a wealthy life in Indonesia. |
| A．The Goal of Founding a School |
| B．A School for Refugees by Refugees |
| C．A Reason for Leaving for Indonesia |
| D．The Benefit of Learning a New Language |
9 . The news that all teachers were expected to attend camp with their students left me feeling unsettled. For the first time in more than 20 years, I would need to spend three days in the early autumn bush with 120 14-year-olds.
I love spending time with teenagers. But I teach Grade 12 English and am 51 years old. There is a difference between a literary seminar on King Lear, no matter how lively it may be, and late-night party in a campground. Besides, my idea of “outdoors” is biking on the Ottawa bike paths or sitting in the backyard with a cup of tea and a good book.
Eventually, we turn down a long dirt track that dives deep into a forest. I read the schedule and note the impressive minute-by-minute detail for the next 72 hours. I’ve never faced such a structured(高度组织化的) time since, well, when I went to camp in Grade 9. I think of home.
The next morning, I arise early. It is 7 a.m. Time for the polar bear dip. Everyone asks if I am going to swim. I respond with lame excuses and then wander, like a Grade 8 boy at the edges of a middle-school dance. Kids charge in, great plumes(股流) of water rising up around them as they shout with joy. My colleagues link arms, count down and run into the water bravely. Toweling off, the swimmers discuss the water temperature. The regret that I knew I would feel starts to kill me. I will now forever be the guy who did not take part in the polar bear dip. I walk slowly up to the dining hall and decide that from that moment on I will commit fully to camp life. My unwillingness to do anything is replaced with a burning desire to do everything.
At 7 a.m. the next morning, I am the first person on the beach in my bathing suit. I dive into the water. I scream about how good it feels. Toweling off afterward, I talk to anyone within earshot about the temperature of the water.
Later that day, the camp winds down. Something has happened in this camp. To the students, for sure, but also to me. When the last camper leaves, I give the camp director a big hug.
1. How did the author feel before the camp?| A．Angry. | B．Disappointed. |
| C．Anxious. | D．Excited. |
| A．To stress its liveliness. | B．To explain its topic. |
| C．To introduce his preference. | D．To show its similarity to camping. |
| A．He is fed up with making excuses. |
| B．He hates to be regret-stricken. |
| C．He desires to show off his swimming skills. |
| D．He is encouraged to do so by his colleagues. |
| A．He has used up his energy. |
| B．He misses home very much. |
| C．He turns into a camp director. |
| D．He has become a camp lover. |
10 . One afternoon, while staying with friends at their house there, my husband and I decided to go for a walk along the traffic-free country road in the area. We met a beautiful Golden Retriever. He seemed exceptionally friendly so we stopped to play with him, throwing a stick which he retrieved（取回）several times happily. When we continued our walk, he followed us. I couldn't deny that we were enjoying his company.
After about twenty minutes, we found ourselves walking along a dirt road in an unfamiliar area. One house, almost hidden by tall trees, seemed somehow strange. I wanted to get as far away from that place as possible.
Just then, the door to the house opened and five dogs rushed out, barking as they ran toward us. I felt terrified and couldn't move. All of a sudden, our new friend appeared between the dogs and us. He faced them-all five of them-barking and baring his teeth. I was amazed to see the attacking dogs stop in their tracks ten feet away from him. Our protector held them there while we escaped.
At a safe distance, we looked back and saw the five dogs heading back toward their house. But the Golden Retriever was nowhere in sight. I felt an ache in my heart; I missed our friend already.
With a feeling of emptiness, we made our way back to the house, hoping the whole way that we would see him again. But it was not to be.
When I told our friend about the encounter, her eyes flew wide open as she exclaimed, "It was an angel!"
To this day I have no doubt, A four-legged angel protected us.
1. While meeting the house hidden by tall trees, the author may feel| A．curious | B．frightened | C．peaceful | D．exited |
| A．Loyal. | B．Brave. | C．Cruel. | D．Lovely. |
| A．A Romantic Walk | B．A Beautiful Encounter |
| C．A Four-Legged Angel | D．A Terrible Experience |
