1 . I got into the teaching profession purely by choice. I was then in 9th grade when my mathematics teacher asked me to take a class for a few students to whom the subject seemed difficult. And believe me, I enjoyed the entire teaching session. I never knew teaching would be so interesting. I loved my freshmen and was delighted to teach my so-called students who came up with lots of good questions.
After my post-graduation, I worked as a software developer with a public sector(部门) in Bangalore for a few years. But I realized that no job could provide me with the satisfaction that I experienced while teaching and training. I always wanted to connect with a wider group of people. In fact, I felt it was a timely realization for me to choose the teaching profession. I applied to a few colleges, and finally I was chosen as a lecturer, and I had to lecture graduate and post-graduate students in a college.
On the first day, I was nervous thinking that I had to teach the senior classes. But now I can say that giving lectures was one of the best experiences of my life. I was a Computer Science and Information Technology lecturer, but I tried to help my students with subjects that were not within my domain(范围). It was a new feeling to me every morning before I went to the classes. I used to feel energized and excited thinking that the class would be lit up with bright faces to greet me, “Good morning, Madam.”
To me each day was a new beginning, with new feelings, new experiences and new queries(疑问). I loved to explore their young minds and read their inquisitive faces when a particular topic seemed tough. It was extremely challenging to motivate them to participate, think critically, question and also respect others’ points of view. Though few things never seemed easy, it was extremely exciting to assure them that they really can. That is the reason I love to teach.
1. From the first paragraph we know that____.| A．the author's math teacher was often absent |
| B．the author became a real teacher in 9th grade |
| C．the author joined the teaching profession because she had to |
| D．a great many questions were put forward by the author's “students” |
| A．interested | B．dissatisfied |
| C．nervous | D．proud |
| A．She liked the students most who often challenged her to read. |
| B．She was too nervous to speak a word in her first class. |
| C．New feelings, experiences and queries made her days new. |
| D．She was unwilling to solve her students' questions beyond her domain. |
| A．Why I Love to Teach | B．What My Life Is Like |
| C．How I Was Chosen as a Lecturer | D．My First Lesson as a Teacher |
2 . Prateek Sharma was born into a family of farmers. After 10 years of being a chief manager of Kotak Mahindra Bank, he did a good job and earned a good pay. But Prateek couldn’t continue the corporation life with ease, as his heart was always in farming. So he worked as a banker on weekdays and on weekends travelled 100 km to get to his 5-acre in Dhaba Khurd.
By the end of 2015, Prateek had set up a house on his farm to grow offseason vegetables. Prateek thought he’d quit his job once he was able to earn enough from farming, but this wasn’t an easy decision to make. This was because costs to grow these vegetables were very high, along with the fact that farmers weren’t a part of the value chain and thus couldn’t decide the price of their own vegetables.
Fortunately, Prateek met Vinay Yadav, another educated farmer. They then decided to start their own value chain and sell their vegetables and grains, while skipping the middlemen. The variety of vegetables they grew wasn’t enough, so they decided to form a group of farmers.
Once the plan was ready, the group was registered by the name of Farmer Producer Organization (FPO). However, the trial failed in the first year as most of the farmers were grain growers and had limited knowledge of growing vegetables. However, the largest reason was the switch to organic from chemical.
Luckily, once the soil was used to organic methods, the next round of crops were successful and the FPO had a good amount of produce. So at the end of 2017, Prateek finally quit his job and devoted all his time to farming. Now he’s successful and recently his team has started two farmer resource centers at Dhaba Khurd and Nathrula Canj.
1. Why did Prateek have trouble continuing his life as a banker?| A．He felt it so boring to be a banker. |
| B．He almost never satisfied his boss. |
| C．He found farming easier to do well. |
| D．He was enthusiastic about farming. |
| A．The prices of organic products were low. |
| B．The income from farming wasn’t much. |
| C．He had no money to put into farming. |
| D．He found farming produce hard to sell. |
| A．Building their own marketing system. |
| B．Raising the prices of their products. |
| C．Switching from chemical to organic. |
| D．Adding the kinds of vegetables grown. |
| A．Their no experience in growing vegetables. |
| B．Their poor management on the employees. |
| C．The soil’s not adapting to organic farming. |
| D．The wrong ways of doing organic farming. |
3 . My First Marathon（马拉松）
A month before my first marathon, one of my ankles was injured and this meant not running for two weeks, leaving me only two weeks to train. Yet, I was determined to go ahead.
I remember back to my 7th year in school. In my first P.E. class, the teacher required us to run laps and then hit a softball. I didn’t do either well. He later informed me that I was ＂not athletic＂.
The idea that I was ＂not athletic＂ stuck with me for years. When I started running in my 30s, I realized running was a battle against myself, not about competition or whether or not I was athletic. It was all about the battle against my own body and mind. A test of wills!
The night before my marathon, I dreamt that I couldn’t even find the finish line. I woke up sweating and nervous, but ready to prove something to myself.
Shortly after crossing the start line, my shoe laces(鞋带) became untied. So I stopped to readjust. Not the start I wanted!
At mile 3, I passed a sign: ＂GO FOR IT, RUNNERS!＂
By mile 17, I became out of breath and the once injured ankle hurt badly. Despite the pain, I stayed the course walking a bit and then running again.
By mile 21, I was starving!
As I approached mile 23, I could see my wife waving a sign. She is my biggest fan. She never minded the alarm clock sounding at 4 a.m. or questioned my expenses on running.
I was one of the final runners to finish. But I finished! And I got a medal. In fact, I got the same medal as the one that the guy who came in first place had.
Determined to be myself, move forward, free of shame and worldly labels(世俗标签), I can now call myself a ＂marathon winner＂.
1. A month before the marathon, the author ____________.| A．was well trained | B．felt scared |
| C．made up his mind to run | D．lost hope |
| A．To acknowledge the support of his teacher. |
| B．To amuse the readers with a funny story. |
| C．To show he was not talented in sports. |
| D．To share a precious memory. |
| A．He made it. | B．He quit halfway. |
| C．He got the first prize. | D．He walked to the end. |
| A．A man owes his success to his family support. |
| B．A winner is one with a great effort of will. |
| C．Failure is the mother of success. |
| D．One is never too old to learn. |
4 . US student Vanessa Tahay stands out from the other teenagers in her school. Her skin is dark, her accent is thick, and if you ask her, she will tell you these are the things she is proudest of. Tahay is a poet, and at 18 she was considered among the best in Los Angeles.
When she is on the stage, audiences often go silent. They also laugh, shout and cry. But this doesn’t come easily for someone who comes from a village that sits at the base of a huge mountain range in Central America. When she first appeared at school, she was teased by others for being short and different. She never spoke, so they called her “mouse”.
“How do I defend myself?” Tahay thought. “I don’t know how.”
“Keep going,” her mother would tell her. “At some point, you’ll learn.”
She spent hours after school and on weekends watching the same DVDs: English without Barriers.
Tahay’s elder brother, Elmer, persuaded her to go to the after-school poetry club. In the last six years, her English teacher Laurie Kurnick has turned Cleveland Charter High School’s poetry program into one of the most respected in the city. Her team draws from the likes of D.H. Laurence, Pat Mora and Kendrick Lamar to create poems about their own lives. The poems focus on many things —some funny, some painful.
The first time Tahay read the group’s poems, chills went up her spine (脊柱). “I wish I could write like that,” she thought. “I want to say something.”
She wrote her first poem about her first year in America. She called it Invisible. The day her turn came to recite in front of the team, she broke down crying. She cried for 15 minutes. “I had so much held in,” Tahay said. “I couldn’t even finish it.”
But she kept at it despite her less-than-perfect grammar, spelling and diction (措辞). Still, she wouldn’t tell her friends about her poetry because she worried they would make fun of her.
But with time, her poems changed her. “They gave me pride,” Tahay said. “They told me that I’m worth something.”
“She had this innocence,” Kurnick said. “This willingness to be genuine and show you things you don’t ever see.”
1. What did Tahay’s mother suggest she do when she was teased by others?| A．Fight with them bravely. |
| B．Report them to her teachers. |
| C．Ignore them and keep going. |
| D．Try hard to make friends with them. |
| A．Their admiration for the great poets. |
| B．Their appreciation of natural beauty. |
| C．Their expectations of a better future. |
| D．Funny and painful stories about their lives. |
| A．She was cold. | B．She was excited. |
| C．She was nervous. | D．She was frightened. |
| A．She felt more confident about herself. |
| B．She won many national poetry competitions. |
| C．She became the first student poet in the city. |
| D．She improved her grammar and spelling greatly. |
5 . There were smiling children all the way. Clearly they knew at what time the train passed their homes and they made it their business to stand along the railway, wave to complete strangers and cheer them up as they rushed towards Penang. Often whole families stood outside their homes and waved and smiled as if those on the trains were their favorite relatives. This is the simple village people of Malaysia. I was moved.
I had always traveled to Malaysia by plane or car, so this was the first time I was on a train. I did not particularly relish the long train journey and had brought along a dozen magazines to read and reread. I looked about the train. There was not one familiar face. I sighed and sat down to read my Economics.
It was not long before the train was across the Causeway and in Malaysia. Johore Baru was just another city like Singapore, so I was tired of looking at the crowds of people as they hurried past. As we went beyond the city, I watched the straight rows of rubber trees and miles and miles of green. Then the first village came into sight. Immediately I came alive; I decided to wave back.
From then on my journey became interesting. I threw my magazines into the waste basket and decided to join in Malaysian life. Then everything came alive. The mountains seemed to speak to me. Even the trees were smiling. I stared at everything as if I was looking at it for the first time.
The day passed fast and I even forgot to have my lunch until I felt hungry. I looked at my watch and was surprised that it was 3:00 pm. Soon the train pulled up at Butterworth. I looked at the people all around me. They all looked beautiful. When my uncle arrived with a smile, I threw my arms around him to give him a warm hug (拥抱). I had never done this before. He seemed surprised and then his weather-beaten face warmed up with a huge smile. We walked arm in arm to his car.
I looked forward to the return journey.
1. The author expected the train trip to be _____.| A．adventurous | B．pleasant |
| C．exciting | D．boring |
| A．The friendly country people. | B．The mountains along the way. |
| C．The crowds of people in the streets. | D．The simple lunch served on the train. |
| A．choose | B．enjoy |
| C．prepare for | D．carry on |
| A．Comfort in traveling by train. | B．Pleasure of living in the country. |
| C．Reading gives people delight. | D．Smiles brighten people up. |
6 . Minutes after the last movie ended yesterday at the Plaza Theater, employees were busy sweeping up popcorns and gathering coke cups. It was a scene that had been repeated many times in the theater’s 75-year history. This time, however, the cleanup was a little different. As one group of workers carried out the rubbish, another group began removing seats and other theater equipment in preparation for the building’s end.
The film classic The Last Picture Show was the last movie shown in the old theater. Though the movie is 30 years old, most of the 250 seats were filled with teary-eyed audience wanting to say good-bye to the old building. Theater owner Ed Bradford said he chose the movie because it seemed proper. The movie is set in a small town where the only movie theater is preparing to close down.
Bradford said that large modern theaters in the city made it impossible for the Plaza to compete. He added that the theater’s location (位置) was also a reason. “This used to be the center of town,” he said. “Now the area is mostly office buildings and warehouses.”
Last week some city officials suggested the city might be interested in turning the old theater into a museum and public meeting place. However, these plans were given up because of financial problems. Bradford sold the building and land to a local development firm, which plans to build a shopping complex on the land where the theater is located.
The theater audience said good-bye as Bradford locked the doors for the last time. After 75 years the Plaza Theater has shown its last movie. The theater will be missed.
1. In what way was yesterday’s cleanup at the Plaza special?| A．It made room for new equipment. |
| B．It signaled the closedown of the theater. |
| C．It was done with the help of the audience. |
| D．It marked the 75th anniversary of the theater. |
| A．It was an all-time classic. |
| B．It was about the history of the town. |
| C．The audience requested it. |
| D．The theater owner found it suitable. |
| A．It will be repaired. |
| B．It will be turned into a museum. |
| C．It will be knocked down. |
| D．It will be sold to the city government. |
| A．They are disappointed with Bradford. |
| B．They are sad to say goodbye to the old theater. |
| C．They are supportive of the city officials. |
| D．They are keen to have a shopping center. |
Her name is Reese Witherspoon. Since Reese Witherspoon was six years old, she had admired and respected Dolly Patton, who was a famous country singer. For three years she had gone all out to act, dance and sing, fancying that she could be another dolly Patton.
However, at the end of the camp her coaches told her to forget about singing. They suggested she think about another career. She took their words to heart. After all. why shouldn’t she believe the professionals?
But back at home in Nashville, her mother-a funny, happy, optimistic woman-wouldn’t let her feel depressed. Her father, a physician, encouraged her to achieve in school. So she worked hard at everything and was accepted at Stanford University.
And at 19, she got a part in a low-budget movie called Freeway, which prepared for her role in the movie Pleasantville. But her big break came with Legally Blonde.
“If you can’t sing and you aren’t charming, play to your strengths. If you’re going to make it in this business, better focus on what you’re good at,” she told the interviewer later.
And then came the offer that took her back to her Nashville-playing the wife of a country star Johnny Cash, a singing role. All of a sudden the old fears learned on that summer stage were back. She was so nervous on the stage. But she didn’t give up on the movie or herself. She spent 6 months taking singing lessons again. She learned to play the Autoharp. And the hard work built up her confidence.
Last March, Reese Witherspoon walked up on another stage, the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, and accepted the Oscar as Best Actress for her heartbreaking, heartwarming singing role as June Carter Cash in Walk the Line.
1. Why was Reese Witherspoon sad at the end of the camp?
| A．She was described foolish |
| B．She was told to give up singing |
| C．She failed to be famous |
| D．She had to go back home |
| A．They agreed with her coaches |
| B．They only focused on her study |
| C．They ignored her frustration |
| D．They encouraged her |
| A．By regaining her confidence through hard work |
| B．By practicing autoharp for over 6 months |
| C．By making herself leggy and attractive |
| D．By forgetting that summer stage |
| A．A successful actress | B．Reese Witherspoon |
| C．Never give up | D．Fortune is important |
I recently cared for a patient near the end of his life. Medically speaking, his situation was hopeless, which made me feel helpless and defeated.
His mother came in to see him. I had prepared myself to support her, imagining she would crumble (崩溃) into a pile of tears.
“Our God is faithful,” she said, with a smile on her face and the sunshine of hope in her eyes.
“Cancer is faithful,” I muttered (嘀咕) in my mind.
“We still believe he can heal him,” she continued, as if she had heard what I was thinking. I provided updates on his body. In a laundry list of updates, perhaps two things were positive. She thanked me for the information, repeating back the minor positive notes I had given. I became kind of angry. And I wanted to sak, “Do you really not understand the gravity (严重性) of this illness?”
And then, yet again, as if she had heard me, she replied with this: A positive attitude gives us power over our circumstances, rather than allowing our circumstances to have power over us. I was shocked. Here I was, judging her positive attitude as a fault. I completely disregarded the choice to believe in something more powerful than me, more healing than the doctors on our team. It wasn’t blind faith. It was strength and devotion.
When I came out of the room, tears welling in my eyes, I sat at my computer and looked down at a small plate of candies she must have left for me on her way into the room. A hand written note was laid above them: Kate, your devotion is so appreciated, So, it is your devotion that I am appreciating today. Because of you, I am begging again to believe in miracles.
1. The author is probably a ________.
| A．nurse | B．patient | C．teacher | D．mother |
| A．would recover soon |
| B．had got much better |
| C．was going to die of cancer |
| D．might make a miraculous recovery |
| A．Because of her optimism. |
| B．Because of her impoliteness. |
| C．Because she couldn’t stop crying. |
| D．Because she was always complaining. |
| A．more patient | B．more positive |
| C．more aggressive | D．more sympathetic |
9 . My father was Chief engineer of a merchant ship, which was sunk in Word War II. The book Night of the U-boats told the story.
Memories
In September, 1940, my mother, sister and I went to Swansea, where my father’s ship was getting ready to sail. We brought him a family photograph to be kept with him at all times and keep him sale.
Then I remember my mother lying lace down, sobbing. She had heard from a friend that the ship had been sunk by a torpedo.
I can remember the arrival of the telegram, which in those days always brought had new. My grandmother opened it. It read, “Safe, Love Ted.”
My most vivid memory Is being woken and brought down to sit o my father’s knee, his arm in a bandage.
He was judged unfit to return to sea and took a shore job in Glasgow for the rest of the war. For as long as I can remember, he had a weak heart. Mother said it was caused by the torpedoes. He said it was because of the cigarettes. Whichever, he died suddenly in his early 50s.
Ten years later I read Night of the U-bouts and was able to complete the story.
Torpedo
One torpedo struck the ship. Father was in the engine room, where the third engineer was killed. He shut down the engines to slow the ship making it easier for it to be abandoned.
By the time he got on deck he was alone. Every lifeboat was gone except one which had stuck fast. When he tried to cut it free it swung against the ship, injuring his hand and arm. He had no choice but to jump — still with the photograph in his pocket.
Three days later, he and other survivors were safe in Glasgow. All 23 with him signed the back of the photograph.
In my room is the book and the photograph. Often, glass in hand, I have wondered how I would have dealt with an explosion, a sinking ship, a jump into a vast ocean rind a wait for rescue? Lest we forget, I have some more whisky and toast the heroes of the war.
1. We can infer that the mother and children went to Swansea ________.| A．to meet a friend | B．to see the father off |
| C．to take a family photo | D．to enjoy the sailing of the ship |
| A．he was still alive. | B．His knee was broken. |
| C．His ship had been sunk. | D．He had arrived in Glasgow. |
| A．weak heart | B．taking a shore job |
| C．failure to return to sea | D．injury caused by a torpedo |
| A．He lost his arm. | B．He repaired the engines. |
| C．He managed to take a lifeboat. | D．He was the last to leave the ship. |
| A．A group of forgotten heroes | B．A book describing a terrifying battle. |
| C．A ship engineer’s wartime experience. | D．A merchant’s memories of a sea rescue. |
Tonight, my piano concert was the most important thing in my family. My grandparents were coming by plane to hear me play. Even my busy Aunt Dianne who is on TV every night reading the news, was coming.
But one thing was for sure. I would never win an award for my piano playing. And that’s just because the more I practiced, the more nervous I got. So there I was, on stage, in my beautiful dress, and I sat down at the piano. But when I started to play, I hit a wrong note. I told myself to start over. But then I hit the wrong note again. It was as if I hadn’t practiced at all.
Finally the disaster was over. I ran off the stage. I couldn’t understand why people were applauding. But they were. My mom and my dad had flowers for me, and we were all supposed to go out for a nice dinner, but I couldn’t. I just wanted to go home and cry and never go anywhere again. After we went back home, Aunt Dianne just came in and sat down on the side of my bed.
“It was my first night on the air,” she said. “I had never been on television before, and I made a mistake. I mispronounced my name and the name of the news show. And you know what? No one even noticed but me. Just like tonight, no one noticed—just you”. Aunt Dianne was right. I think we are harder on ourselves than anyone else is. Maybe I will leave my room. And maybe, I’ll play the piano again.
1. The underlined part “the disaster” in paragraph 3 refers to ________．| A．the loud cheer of the audience |
| B．the laughs from the audience |
| C．the author’s piano performance |
| D．the author’s long dress |
| A．music played a big role in the author’s life |
| B．the author enjoyed staying with her family |
| C．piano practice made the author feel confident |
| D．the author got support from her family |
| A．Don’t be too hard on yourself. |
| B．Things seldom go as well as people expect. |
| C．No one will care what others have done. |
| D．Never think much of a matter. |
| A．My piano lesson |
| B．My family and I |
| C．My aunt Dianne |
| D．A piano concert disaster |
