1 . For years, I played around with writing. I wrote when I felt like it. Then one day, a friend asked me what my dream was. When I said it was to be a writer, he said these words that changed my life, “You don’t have to want to be a writer. You are a writer; you just need to write.” So I started calling myself a writer. Everywhere I went, I introduced myself as “Jeff Goins, Writer,” and even put it in email signatures and on my Facebook page. And you know what? I started acting like it. Eventually, I even began to believe it. It turns out that sometimes you do have to fake it before you make it.
The lesson here is simple: If you wait for someone to give you permission to start following your dream, you’ll be waiting for a long time. You have to begin before you think you’re ready.
After I decided to pursue my dream, I still had to find the time to do it. Working a full-time job and having a wife and other things to do, I didn’t have enough free time. I had to find time to write. For me, that meant getting up early. Like, 5:00 a.m. early. Every morning, I would wake up, get my coffee, and write for two hours. At first, this was difficult; I had to force myself out of bed and downstairs before the sun rose. But eventually, it became a habit. I did it without even thinking about it. And soon, what started as a discipline became a daily joy.
By doing this, I learned the excuse I had given myself — “I don’t have enough time” — wasn’t true. I did have enough time; it was just hiding in “inconvenient” places.
These days, most people I meet are talking about their dreams. However, they’re doing it all wrong. They think they need to take a huge leap out into the unknown when, in fact, the opposite is true. So if you have a dream, just take action. And don’t say you don’t have time for it.
1. What does the author’s friend suggest he do?| A．Start to cheat himself. | B．Dream of becoming a writer. |
| C．Consider himself as a real writer. | D．Take a writing lesson to be a writer. |
| A．By working part-time. | B．By doing few other things. |
| C．By reducing his sleeping time. | D．By making good use of his free time. |
| A．We should prepare for our dreams. | B．We should take small steps over time. |
| C．We should make time for our dreams. | D．We should take immediate action. |
| A．To help us know better about him. | B．To tell us how to become a successful writer. |
| C．To explain why many people like dreaming. | D．To tell us how to make our dreams come true. |
2 . My brother Joe had a passion for driving cars. Fords in particular. He was especially fond of speed. It was enough to make my mother fear that he was crazy. But she had that fear about everyone, even herself.
When Joe was just a little boy, he would often say to me, “Sister, when I am old enough to get my license and drive my own car, I will fly so fast that angels will run scared.” With a big grin, he would imagine the scene. I could have told him it would never happen. No matter how old he got, he would never get a license, never drive a car. But I didn’t tell him that.
Joe was born blind. He couldn’t see his own face in a mirror. But he could dream like anyone. I didn’t want to be the one to dim Joe’s dreams. Life would do that for him, soon enough. Until then, didn’t he deserve his happiness?
Joe had trouble not just with his eyes, but with his legs. He was born premature suffered from disabilities and could not walk until he was 5. That’s when he got his first “car”, a red Radio Flyer tricycle that he called his “49 Ford”. He couldn’t pedal it, so he would push it everywhere, sometimes even falling over.
Growing up is a tug of war between disappointment and surprise, between dreams and reality. By the time Joe was 12, I think he knew he would never get a license. As with the other hard facts of life, he seemed to accept it without question or bitterness, as if it were nothing more than a card drawn at random.
One hot summer day when he was 16, Joe went tapping out the driveway with his stick, finding his way to my stepfather’s 49 Ford. He ran his hand along the car, felt the heat of the metal, opened the door and climbed in.
He looked good.
Under the seat, he discovered a six-pack of Budweiser (百威啤酒). And he drank all six cans. He felt inside the car, found the keys, shouted, “Hooweece!” and fired it up.
I have heard various versions of this story. They all boil down to this: the Ford’s engine roared. My mother fainted. My stepfather rushed outside.
And my brother, after a moment of pure joy, threw up all over the car. Fortunately, for everyone, the Ford didn’t move an inch. But to this day, Joe still swears that when he found those keys and fired that old engine up, he heard the angels starting to flee.
1. What did the author do after finding out about Joe’s dream?| A．She made fun of him. |
| B．She told him to face reality. |
| C．She let him dream his dream. |
| D．She encouraged him to ride a tricycle. |
| A．Joe thought all this was fate. |
| B．Joe preferred to playing cards. |
| C．Joe accepted it with more questions or bitterness. |
| D．Joe do it on purpose as if he would draw this card. |
| A．He is not living in reality. |
| B．His family members are like angels to him. |
| C．He realizes he fell asleep inside the car. |
| D．He believes he realized his dream of driving fast. |
| A．Positive. | B．Generous | C．Emotional | D．Humorous. |
3 . Most people choose to take it easy after they retire, but Wang Guilan, an old lady from Liaoning Province, is definitely not one of them. She only started running at the age of 50, as a way to keep in shape, but soon realized it was her passion. She ran her first marathon in 2004 and hasn’t stopped since. From 2005 to 2017 she completed the annual Beijing Marathon thirteen times, and this year she set a new record, becoming the oldest person to ever complete the 168-kilometer marathon.
So, how does a 70-year-old stay in good-enough shape to complete a marathon while many people cannot? As a matter of fact, Wang runs at least 20 kilometers every day from Monday to Saturday, and on Sunday she runs some more alongside the members of her long-distance running club. She prefers running on mountain roads in her hometown, but in winter, when the weather doesn’t allow it, she runs on ordinary roads.
Wang is also a fan of mountaineering, and participated in the International Mount Taishan Climbing Festival, where she managed to rank 27th out of thousands of participants. She once participated in an extreme challenge, where she had to run 208 track laps while staying awake for 48 hours.
Remarkably, Wang has suffered almost no injuries to her knees or ankles over the years, which she attributes to her difficult childhood — that hardened both her body and spirit. The only serious problem is the cataracts (白内障) affecting eyes, which is why she completed some of the marathons with the help of a headlamp.
Wang is a firm believer that age is just a number, and plans to continue running marathons and enjoying the sunset of her life as long as her health allows.
1. Why did Wang Guilan get down to running initially?| A．Because she wanted to keep fit. | B．Because she had a passion for it. |
| C．Because she decided to set a record. | D．Because she desired for a life full of challenge. |
| A．Adventurous and intelligent. | B．Ambitious and generous. |
| C．Enthusiastic and determined. | D．Diligent and modest. |
| A．commits | B．contributes | C．leads | D．owes |
| A．She enjoys admiring the sunset while running. |
| B．Her plan to continue running will never be given up. |
| C．She believes her age matters a lot if keeping running. |
| D．Nothing but her physical condition can affect her running. |
4 . I was swinging on the front gate, trying to decide whether to play with Verna, when I saw a tramp come up the road.
―Hello, little girl, he said. ―Is your mama at home?
I nodded and swung the gate open to let him in the yard. He looked like all the tramps who came to our house. His dirty hair hung below a shapeless hat, and his threadbare shirt and trousers had been rained on and slept in. He smelled like a bonfire.
He dragged himself to the door. When my mother appeared, he asked, ―Lady, could you spare a bite to eat?
―I think so. Please sit on the step.
He dropped onto the narrow wooden platform that served as the front porch of our two-room frame house. In minutes my mother handed him a big sandwich and a tin cup of milk. ―Thank you, lady, he said.
I watched the tramp wolf down the sandwich and drain the cup. Then he told me ―They said your mama would feed me.
Verna had said the tramps told one another who would feed them. ―They never come to my house, she had announced proudly.
So why does Mama feed them? I wondered. A widow, she worked as a waitress in the mornings and sewed at night to earn money. Why should she give anything to men who didn’t work at all?
I marched inside: ―Verna’s mother says those men are too lazy to work. Why do we feed them?
My mother smiled. ―We don’t know why those men don’t work, she said. ―But they were babies once. And their mothers loved them, like I love you. She put her hands on my shoulders and drew me close to her apron, which smelled of flour and freshly baked bread.
―I feed them for their mothers, because if you were ever hungry and had nothing to eat, I would want their mothers to feed you.
1. Why did the tramp come to the author’s house?| A．Because he was invited. | B．Because he was advised. |
| C．Because he came across the author. | D．Because he knew the author. |
| A．He was pretty old. | B．He was rather energetic. |
| C．He was very hungry. | D．He was shabby but neat. |
| A．She was kind to tramps. | B．She didn’t like tramps. |
| C．She knew nothing about tramps. | D．She persuaded the tramp to visit the author. |
| A．Mean and ambitious. | B．Talkative and cooperative. |
| C．Courageous and considerate. | D．Kind and generous. |
5 . For 83 years, Betty Grebenschikoff believed her best friend from Germany was dead. But just a few weeks ago, there she was, standing in a hotel room.
At the age of nine, they shared a tearful hug in a Berlin schoolyard when their families were forced to leave the country because of World War II. They both thought that would be their final hug. But after more than eight decades apart, the two women, who are now 92 years old, embraced once again.
The survivors of the war had searched for each other for years, collecting and seeking information from anyone who might know something. They had no luck, mainly because both women changed their names later in life.
It was not until an indexer (检索程序) from a nonprofit organization founded by Steven Spielberg, which preserves information of these survivors, noticed similarities in their information that the two women are linked together. For the first time, Grebenschikoff who lives in Shanghai now, got to know what happened to her long-lost childhood best friend: Wahrenberg and her family went to Santiago, Chile, where she still lives today.
With the help of the organization, the two women and their families reconnected on the Internet. Talking in their native German, they promised to meet in person, and one year later, they finally did.
As Grebenschikoff went to meet Wahrenberg at her hotel room, they hugged for the first time in 83 years. “It was as if we had seen each other yesterday,” Grebenschikoff said. “It was comfortable.” Wahrenberg had the same feeling, “It was very special that two people, after 83 years, still love one another.” The women spent four days together. They went shopping, shared meals and, mostly, talked for hours — making up for the lost time. “We’re not the girls we used to be when we were 9, that’s for sure, but we kept giggling like we were little kids.” Grebenschikoff said. “It was such a joy for both of us.”
1. When did Grebenschikoff and Wahrenberg part?| A．In 1937. | B．In 1939. | C．In 1941. | D．In 1943. |
| A．A nonprofit organization. | B．A hotel in Shanghai. |
| C．An information office. | D．A pay-for-use indexer. |
| A．They both tried hard to find each other. |
| B．They both thought the other had died. |
| C．They don’t remember their former names. |
| D．They met in person immediately they got in touch. |
| A．They were upset about the lost time. |
| B．They were eager for their shared meals. |
| C．They were delighted with their reunion. |
| D．They were embarrassed about the four days. |
6 . Lenin Gutierrez was working his usual shift Starbucks when he noticed a customer, Amber Lynn Gilles, wasn’t wearing a face mask. San Diego County requires all residents to wear face masks in public places, including restaurants. According to the county, “Everyone should help protect others by following health orders.”
So when Gutierrez noticed Gilles wasn’t wearing a mask, he decided to follow the county’s guidelines. But it didn’t work out too well for him at first.
Gutierrez said he couldn’t serve her. This angered the woman, who has been referred to as “Karen” on social media. She cursed him before he had the chance to explain the county’s regulations. Then, she posted a picture of Gutierrez wearing a mask on Facebook, complaining that she wasn’t served when she walked into the coffee shop without wearing a mask.
Gilles probably thought she was going to attract attention with positive remarks about her, but it was just the opposite. Social media users supported Gutierrez, who was following the county’s order.
Within days after Gilles made her Facebook post, Matt Cowan created a GoFundMe page for Gutierrez. He described, “Raising money for Lenin for his honorable effort standing his ground when faced with a Karen in the wild.” Every donation made would be considered a “personal gift” to the barista (咖啡服务员).
Cowan didn’t think that many people would donate money, but he was quickly proven wrong. He added, “Everybody is rallying around (集体声援) somebody for doing what they’re supposed to do and trying to protect everyone else.”
Cowan plans to give the money to Gutierrez, who can then decide how he wants to use the donation. Gutierrez posted a video on his personal Facebook page, thanking everyone who donated money. With the donation, he can pursue his dream of becoming a dancer.
1. Which of the following best describe Amber Lynn Gilles?| A．Mean. | B．Determined. | C．Selfish. | D．Responsible. |
| A．To show his kindness. | B．To attract people’s attention. |
| C．To help him realize his dream. | D．To praise Lenin Gutierrez for his behavior. |
| A．Critical. | B．Supportive. |
| C．Negative. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．No rules, no justice. |
| B．Many hands make light work. |
| C．Helping others is helping ourselves. |
| D．Fortune knocks once at least at every man’s door. |
7 . There were once two brothers who lived on the 80th level. On coming home one day, they realized that the lift wasn’t working and that the only choice was the stairway.
By the time they reached the 20th floor, they were breathing quickly and tired, so they decided to abandon their bags and come back for them the next day. When they struggled to the 40th floor, the younger brother started to complain and both of them began to quarrel all the way to the 60th floor. They then realized that they had only 20 more floors to climb, and decided to stop quarreling and continued climbing in peace. They silently climbed on and arrived home at last. Both of them stood calmly in front of the door. After a short rest, they suddenly realized that the key was in their bags which were left on the 20th floor.
This story is a reflection of our lives. Many of us live under the high expectations of our parents, teachers, and friends. We seldom get to the things we really like and love and we are under so much pressure and stress that by the age of 20, we get tired and decide to lighten the load.
Being free of the pressure and stress, we work enthusiastically and have high hopes. But by the time we’re 40 years old, we start to lose our dreams. We begin to feel unsatisfied and start to complain and criticize. Reaching 60, we realize that we have little left for complaining any more and we began to walk the final stage in peace and calmness. We think that there is nothing left to disappoint us, only to realize that we could not rest in peace because we still have unrealized dream—a dream we gave up 60 years ago.
1. What happened to the two brothers that day?| A．They were trapped in the lift. | B．They lost their bags in the lift. |
| C．They locked their key in the room. | D．They had to climb the stairs home. |
| A．Upset. | B．Inspired. | C．Pleased. | D．Anxious. |
| A．the expectations of people around us |
| B．the heavy burden of our social responsibility |
| C．our great desire for success |
| D．our anxieties about getting older |
| A．Make careful plans, avoid getting into trouble. |
| B．Follow your dreams, and never live with regrets. |
| C．Calm down and live a peaceful life. |
| D．Be free of stress and pressure, enjoy life. |
8 . A British family was on holiday in a rented motor home in the USA. Traveling through California, they visited the Magic Mountain-Amusement Park. In the mid-afternoon, halfway through what was turning out to be a most enjoyable day at the park, the family came upon a particularly steep ride. In the line, the ride attendants(服务员) strongly warned everyone about the risks of losing hats, glasses, coins and keys, etc., and these warnings were repeated by large signs around the ride. During the ride, their keys’ fate was just as the warnings repeated.
However, the fact was that there were no spare keys. One park attendant drove the family back to the motor home, suggesting the least damaging ways to break into it. Fortunately, a window had been left slightly open, enabling the middle son to be put in and to open the doors from the inside. What was even more fortunate was that the attendant made the engine fire without the key.
The next day the father called a local locksmith(锁匠) to see what could be done. “I might be able to make new keys from the locks if you bring the vehicle to me.” said the locksmith. So the family drove to the locksmith, whose business was in a small shopping centre in the countryside. The locksmith looked at the motor home, and said he would try. In fact, the job took the locksmith most of the day and he put away all his present work. The family hung around the locksmith’s, visited the shops again, and generally spent a day at the little shopping centre.
In the late afternoon the locksmith said that he had nearly done. When the father entered the locksmith’s shop, the locksmith was smiling. He put two new shining keys on the counter. Although the day was not included in their plan, the family really appreciated all the help and kindness they received from the people.
1. What happened to the family in the amusement park?| A．One of the kids fell from the ride. | B．They were hit by a warning sign. |
| C．Their rented vehicle broke down. | D．They encountered the loss of keys. |
| A．He started the vehicle. | B．He found a spare key. |
| C．He opened the car door. | D．He contacted a locksmith. |
| A．It was difficult to make the new keys. | B．The locksmith had a large workplace. |
| C．The family was refused by the locksmith. | D．The family had a happy day in the city. |
| A．Respectful. | B．Humorous. | C．Hard-working. | D．Warm-hearted. |
9 . Earlier this year, a physician emailed me to thank me for an essay I wrote. I couldn’t believe he could find the essay—after all, 18 years had passed since it was published. But he had found the piece—my first narrative (叙事体的) medicine article about my experience parenting a son with a complex medical disorder—in a drawer he was cleaning out as he prepared to retire. He had tracked me down to share how important such articles were to him during his years caring for patients. I was touched and reminded of how important these pieces were to my own professional and personal journey.
At the time, major medical journals were beginning to publish narrative pieces. I submitted my first article, hopeful that it might make a difference for others—and confirm some productivity during this time. But I was also nervous about the potential exposure. I was surprised and thrilled when it was accepted for publication, and readers’ sympathy, constructive responses alleviated my concerns about sharing my family’s story.
Over the following years. I somehow made it to a researcher. Our youngest daughter was born; our son was diagnosed (诊断) with Schwartz-Jampel syndrome (综合症); and I took 5 months away from my study to help him get the support services he needed. Through it all, the narrative articles continued to flow. Writing about our expended family of health care providers and the need for family mental health services was highly smooth, and reading st rangers’ responses was equally effective.
In the year after returning to my career. I wrote my first funded proposals, to study the impact of traumatic (创伤性) health care events on providers, patients, and families, and to examine why patients do or don’t seek help for depression. I probably would not have taken these directions with my research if the topics had not been such a vital part of my life. But I realized that there didn’t need to be a division between my personal pain and the enthusiasms that fueled my research. Instead. I could imagine and create a life that satisfied my needs for my research, my family, and myself.
1. What was the author’s first narrative medicine article about?| A．The reasons for patients refusing to seek help for depression. |
| B．The influence of traumatic health care events on families. |
| C．The appreciation from a doctor approaching his retirement. |
| D．The story of caring for a son with a rare disorder. |
| A．Caused. | B．Reduced. | C．Described. | D．Strengthened. |
| A．She has a habit of writing. | B．She only has a son. |
| C．She suffers from the depression. | D．She stays away from her family. |
| A．Wasting time is robbing oneself. |
| B．God helps those who help themselves. |
| C．Being on sea, sail; being on land, settle. |
| D．All things in their being are good for something. |
10 . The seeds of what we are meant to do may have been sown in our childhood. I grew up in Chennai, India in a home surrounded by books. I recall my mother telling me that when I was read to as a child, I knew exactly where one sentence ended and the next one began!
One book that had a significant impact on me as a child was called “31 Brothers and Sisters” that related the story of an African girl who goes on an elephant hunt, a traditionally male sport. What struck me was this girl was challenging traditional standards of behavior in a society that was not happy with women expressing independence — and the fact that this girl had black hair like me and was also dark-skinned.
I also had the opportunity to attend an unusual school that encouraged creative thinking. Here, I was encouraged by a few teachers who noticed my writing skills. However, English was actually my least favorite subject because we had to write on canned topics and there was no room for creativity.
I have written three books so far. My first book, “Climbing the Stairs” was inspired by my mother's experiences growing up as a teenager during the Second World War. The book deals with the struggles of a teenage girl at a time when women were treated as second-class citizens in society. My second book, “Island's End” is based on my own experiences as an oceanographer and working in the remote Andaman Islands, off the coast of India. “The Bridge Home” is a story of friendship among four street kids and loosely based on three kids I knew growing up. Each of the three books is inspired by my own experiences, what I have read and people around me.
My message to young writers is not to rush into writing or get too concerned with material rewards. In today's world, there's often too much of an emphasis on awards and honors, which no writer can control. Those are largely a matter of luck. Write for yourself and just enjoy the process.
1. What impressed the author in “31 Brothers and Sisters”?| A．The African girl's respect for her cousins. | B．The African girl's fight for independence. |
| C．The African girl's commitment to hunting. | D．The African girl's concern about her appearance. |
| A．Imaginary. | B．Fixed. | C．Typical. | D．Financial. |
| A．The plots of her books. | B．The settings of her books. |
| C．The characters in her books. | D．The inspiration for her books. |
| A．An autobiography. | B．A fiction. | C．A book review. | D．A leaflet. |
