1 . “Meet me in the conference room with the contracts and a cup of coffee,” my boss barked at me. “Ten minutes.”
I didn’t respond. I stood still as if my shoes had been glued to the floor. I had no intention of taking a cup of anything to anyone, supervisor or not.
I had seen with my own eyes what such behavior did to a woman. It happened to Mrs. Wilson next door. Old Mr. Wilson wouldn’t put in his own false teeth without his wife’s assistance, let alone make himself lunch. It was a miserable union. I vowed by age eight that I would never live like her. I adopted the motto: Don’t help those who won’t help themselves.
I rushed to the file room and pulled my phone. I explained to my father what had happened and asked his advice on what to do, only to be asked back. He must have forgotten the unwritten rule between us about not answering a question with a question. Fortunately, I came up with an idea that would have the best of both worlds.
I took up the files and headed for the coffee pot. I took two cups and made two cups of coffee. Then I walked into the boss’ office with a cup of coffee in each hand. I handed my boss a cup of coffee and drank at the same time as him.
“Let’s take a break,” partway through the meeting, my boss stood, saying, “I need more coffee.” I picked up my empty cup. “I do, too,” I said, and handed it to him across the table. “Thanks,” I added, looking at him expectantly. The boss was staggered for a moment, and then took the cup from me.
When I finally left my boss’ office, I hid in the bathroom and called my dad. My father’s laughter on the phone made me feel even prouder.
1. Why does the author mention the Wilsons?| A．To explain her unwillingness to serve the coffee. |
| B．To picture what she will be like when she ages. |
| C．To stress her opposition to inequality in society. |
| D．To show how the couple grew old together. |
| A．She intended to play a trick on her mean boss. |
| B．She planned to have the boss serve her later. |
| C．She meant to share instead of serving. |
| D．She wanted to save the trouble of doing it again. |
| A．Moved. | B．Scared. | C．Excited. | D．Shocked. |
| A．She figured out how to show respect for her superior. |
| B．She took a wise approach to stand up for herself. |
| C．She found it practical to seek solutions from her father. |
| D．She considered it significant to fight against men bravely. |
2 . Kyra Peralte thought keeping a diary during the pandemic might help her sort out her complicated feeling. In April 2020, the mother of two in Montclair, New Jersey, started writing frankly about the challenges of balancing work, marriage and motherhood during a global crisis.
Peralte wanted to know how other women were doing. “I wanted an interaction that felt human,” so she invited women from near and far to fill the remaining lined pages of her black-and-white marbled composition notebook with their own pandemic tales. She named the project The Traveling Diary. She came up with a system: Each person gets to keep the diary for three days and fills as many pages as she wishes. Then she is responsible for mailing it to the next person, whose address Peralte provides.
So far, more than 2,000 women from 30 countries have participated, some as far away as South Africa and Australia. More than 50 of these notebooks are currently in circulation, and about 20 completed ones are back in Peralte’s possession.
It felt meaningful to pass on something so personal. It felt like these were women that they had known even though they didn’t know them at all. Some did get to meet the women whose stories they read, through a virtual get-together that Peralte organized. Peralte often hosts Zoom events so the women get the chance to get to know one another more, share stories and connect more closely. Some of the women have even become close friends.
Peralte feels a strong bond with the people who filled its pages, none of whom she would have otherwise known. Her spontaneous (自发的) idea has had a profound effect on her and the other women who were part of it. “The Traveling Diary,” she says, “is making sisters out of strangers.”
1. Why did Peralte start The Traveling Diary?| A．To help sort out her feeling. | B．To finish her pages of notebook. |
| C．To have an interaction with other women. | D．To write a book covering pandemic tales. |
| A．It has become popular across the world. |
| B．Each woman keeps the diary at least three days. |
| C．Each person fills pages based on Peralte’s wishes. |
| D．It requires Peralte to post the diary to the next person. |
| A．They are totally strangers before. | B．They often hold parties themselves. |
| C．They have met each other in real life. | D．They have been known to Peralte before. |
| A．Generous and tolerant. | B．Creative and helpful. |
| C．Romantic and imaginative. | D．Demanding and adventurous. |
3 . I still remember my friends giving me the advice: Try something new. I was stressed and, of course, also on my phone too much. I was writing about food for work, so cooking didn’t really count as a hobby anymore, nor did reading, nor socializing, especially since all of my friends worked in my industry. I needed something in my life that existed apart from all that.
“Maybe something you can do with your hands.” The suggestion felt like an escape exit: Maybe a hobby could free me from my work. Cooking had once been the thing I did to relax when I got home from work, the thing I was curious about, and the thing that made my brain away from its standard complaints. The kitchen had once been a release, but now it was part of my professional life. It needed a replacement. A few months later, I dutifully signed up for a ceramics (制陶艺术) class at a studio near my apartment.
At the studio, I started as a lazy learner, but after a few months I became addicted, signing up for more classes when my term ended. I had a place to go in my free time and something to be curious about, and my goals were unrelated to outer forces: a boss, a job, a market, a reader. Unlike with writing, my progress was quantifiable (可量化的): Now I can make a vase this tall. Now I have made a pot. Now my handles are beautiful. Now I have made two things that more or less look like a pair.
Finally finding a hobby that was just for my own enjoyment was a release. I enjoy having something to do that didn’t involve a screen and therefore felt far from the style of work to which I was most accustomed — hands covered in clay cannot swipe (滑屏) very well. Making time for this also means carving out time, for creation and inspiration, and also for the rest that is required for me to reflect on my life. It is something more than a new hobby. This is the peace that everyone needs in our life.
1. What does the underlined sentence in the first paragraph mean?| A．Cooking meant a lot to her. |
| B．Cooking was her cup of tea. |
| C．Cooking wasn’t a hobby that mattered. |
| D．Cooking wasn’t really a hobby for her. |
| A．The author is too lazy to learn ceramics. | B．The author enjoys the hands-on classes. |
| C．The author is tired of ceramics classes. | D．The author spends much time writing. |
| A．Calm. | B．Confident. |
| C．Excited. | D．Energetic. |
| A．To introduce an interesting hobby. | B．To share a story about a new hobby. |
| C．To show the benefits of having a hobby. | D．To help readers choose a new hobby. |
4 . It never occurred to me when I was little that gardens were anything less than glamorous places. Granddad’s garden was on the bank of a river and sloped gently down towards the water. You couldn’t reach the river but you could hear the sound of the water and the birds that sang in the trees above. I imagined that all gardens were like this—
At home, his son, my father, could be quiet and withdrawn. I wouldn’t want to make him sound humorless. He wasn’t. Silly things would amuse him. He had phrases that he liked to use, “It’s immaterial to me” being one of them. “I don’t mind” would have done just as well but he liked the word “immaterial.” I realize that, deep down, he was probably disappointed that he hadn’t made more of his life. He left school without qualifications and became apprenticed to a plumber. Plumbing was not something he was passionate about. It was just what he did. He was never particularly ambitious, though there was a moment when he and Mum thought of emigrating to Canada, but it came to nothing. Where he came into his own was around the house. He had an “eye for the job.” Be it bookshelves or a cupboard—what he could achieve was astonishing.
Of the three options, moors, woods or river—the river was the one that usually got my vote. On a stretch of the river I was allowed to disappear with my imagination into another world, an ideal world defined by myself. With a fishing net over my shoulder I could set off in sandals that were last year’s model, with the fronts cut out to accommodate toes that were now right to the end. I’d walk along the river bank looking for a suitable spot where I could take off the painful sandals and leave them with my picnic while I ventured out, tentatively, peering through the water for any fish that I could scoop up with the net and take home.
I wanted to leave school as soon as possible but that seemed an unlikely prospect until one day my father announced, “They’ve got a vacancy for an apprentice gardener in the Parks Department. I thought you might be interested.” In one brief moment Dad had gone against his better judgment. He might still have preferred it if I became a carpenter. But I like to feel that somewhere inside him was a feeling that things might just turn out for the best. Maybe I’m deceiving myself, but I prefer to believe that in his heart, although he hated gardening himself, he’d watched me doing it for long enough and noticed my unfailing passion for all things that grew and flowered and fruited.
1. Which of the following can be put in the blank in the first paragraph?| A．anything but prosperous. | B．a place of escape, peace and solitude. |
| C．anything but dynamic. | D．a place of luxury, chaos and fantasy. |
| A．He was regretful that his father had been discriminated for being stubborn. |
| B．He was irritated that his father used vague words to express himself. |
| C．He was sympathetic to the reasons why his father behaved as he did. |
| D．He was self-contradictory that his father formed a cold bond with him. |
| A．I rejected to be sophisticated as my father but actually lacked courage to remove conventional labels. |
| B．I was a gifted and endowed fisherman with incredible sympathy and empathy for the fish I had caught . |
| C．The father dropped out of school reluctantly and imposed his dream to be a carpenter on his son. |
| D．My carefree childhood experiences embodied my nature of pursuing for the kind of freedom I wanted. |
| A．Living without a motive is equal to sailing without a compass. |
| B．Despite other’s mockeries,fragrant flowers are on the up way. |
| C．Passion, if not deserted, equips you with chances to be paid off eventually. |
| D．Reflection and interaction serve as tentative treatments for bridging the gap. |
5 . A letter written by Charles Darwin in 1875 has been returned to the Smithsonian Institution Archives(档案馆) by the FBI after being stolen twice.
“We realized in the mid-1970s that it was missing,” says Effie Kapsalis, head of the Archives. “It was noted as missing and likely taken by an intern (实习生), from what the FBI is telling us. Word got out that it was missing when someone asked to see the letter for research purposes,” and the intern put the letter back. “The intern likely took the letter again once nobody was watching it.”
Decades passed. Finally, the FBI received a clue that the stolen letter was located very close to Washington, D.C. Their art crime team got back the letter but were unable to accuse the suspect because the time of limitations had ended. The FBI worked closely with the Archives to determine that the letter was both genuine and exactly belonged to Smithsonian.
The letter was written by Darwin to thank an American geologist, Dr. Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, for sending him copies of his research into the geology of the area that would become Yellowstone National Park.
The letter is in fairly good condition, in spite of being out of the care of trained museum staff for so long. “It was luckily in good shape,” says Kapsalis, “and we just have to do some minor things in order to be able to unfold it. It has some glue on it that has colored it slightly, but nothing that will prevent us from using it. One of our goals is to get items of high research value or interest to the public online.”
It would be difficult to steal things like the letter. “Archiving practices have changed greatly since the 1970s,” says Kapsalis, “and we keep our high value objects in a safe that I can’t even reach.”
1. What happened to Darwin’s letter in the 1970s?| A．It was got back by the FBI. | B．It was stolen more than once. |
| C．It was bought by the archives. | D．It was put in the archives for research purpose. |
| A．They proved its real identity. | B．They kept it in a safe. |
| C．They helped repair the letter. | D．They accused the suspect but failed. |
| A．Display it in the Archives. |
| B．Turn it into an item of interest. |
| C．Carry out a major repair. |
| D．Make it available on line. |
| A．People grow more interested in art objects |
| B．Strict safety measures are taken in Archives. |
| C．The value of museum objects has been increased. |
| D．The letter helped Ferdinand do research into geology. |
6 . Many of China’s ancient architectural treasures smashed to dust before Lin Huiyin and Liang Sicheng began documenting them in the 1930s. The husband and wife team were among the first preservationists to operate in China, and by far the best known. Their efforts have since inspired generations of people to speak out for architecture threatened by the rush toward development.
Becoming China’s best architectural historians was no easy accomplishment. The buildings they wanted to save were centuries old located in distant parts of the country. In many cases, they had to journey through dangerous conditions in the Chinese countryside to reach them. Exploring China’s remote areas during the 1930s meant traveling muddy, poorly maintained roads by mule (骡子) or on foot. Inns were often dirty, food could be polluted, and there was always risk or violence from rebels, soldiers and robbers.
Their greatest discovery was the Temple of Buddha’s Light, in Wutai County, Shanxi Province. The breathtaking wooden temple was built in 857 A. D. , making it the oldest building known in China at the time.
Liang and Lin crawled into the temple’s most forbidding, forgotten areas to determine its age, including one hideaway inhibited by thousands of bats and millions of bedbugs, covered in dust and littered with dead bats. “In complete darkness and among the awful smell, hardly breathing, with thick masks covering our noses and mouths, we measured, drew, and photographed with flashlights for several hours. When at last we came out to take a breath of fresh air, we found hundreds of bedbugs in our bag. We ourselves had been badly bitten. Yet the importance and unexpectedness of our find made those the happiest hours of my years hunting for ancient architecture.” Liand wrote of the experience in an account included in “Liang and Lin; Partners in Exploring China’s Architectual Past.”
1. On their way to the ancient buildings, what kind of difficulties and risks do Liang and Lin face?| A．Poor accommodations and personal security. |
| B．Poor accommodations and smelly areas. |
| C．Broken vehicles and violence from robbers. |
| D．Broken vehicles and muddy roads. |
| A．documenting smashed historical buildings |
| B．rebuilding historically valuable buildings |
| C．saving the oldest temples in China |
| D．protecting historical buildings. |
| A．Creativeness results in discovery |
| B．Difficulty produces achievement |
| C．Efforts contribute to happiness |
| D．Responsibilities contribute to development |
7 . The other day a big, ugly, black bat found its way to the bathroom of my house and hung upside down, over the toilet bowl. As “the man of the house”, I was asked to rid the house of the awful creature. I grabbed a pillow and held the broom. I quickly opened the bathroom door and threw the pillow at the bat. It didn’t move. Then that old feeling started to come over me. It was the same feeling I experienced when I was sent down the stairs in the middle of the night to see what made a noise. The feeling can be summed up in one word—trapped.
All men, I think, sometimes have had that feeling of being trapped in some male role. It may be something as simple as having to carve the chicken before it is served, or having to pretend that you know something about car engines when the car won’t start. However，women nowadays seem to have the freedom to be themselves. They can repair cars or be firefighters. Yet men appear to be more afraid to do something different. It's as if being a man is not what you are, but what you do and the way you do it.
As I came towards the fierce and frightening bat, I wondered what would happen if I had simply told my wife that I won’t do it—that she could get it out，or else call someone in the morning. But I couldn’t do that! I am the man! I slowly opened the window and closed the toilet bowl cover. I then, carefully, lifted the broom over my head and swept the bat out the window. Just like that, it was gone.
My wife was so pleased and in the morning, my son thought I was a hero. They asked me how I had got rid of the bat. I started to tell them——but then stopped. A man doesn’t talk of such things.
1. Why does the author mention the old feeling in Paragraph 1?| A．To recall the old days. | B．To show his fear of darkness. |
| C．To predict his fight with the bat. | D．To highlight the situation of being trapped. |
| A．Men are forced to bear household burdens. |
| B．Men have to live up to social expectations. |
| C．Women are free to choose their jobs. |
| D．Women are equal to men in workplaces. |
| A．believes silence is gold | B．feels proud of himself |
| C．will do what he has to do | D．will be what he wants to be |
8 . I was walking around in a Big Bazar store doing some shopping, when I saw a cashier（收银员） talking to a boy of 5 or 6 years old. The cashier said, “I’m sorry, but you don’t have enough money to buy this doll.” Then the little boy turned to me and asked, “Uncle, are you sure I don’t have enough money?”
I counted his cash and replied, “You know that you don’t have enough money to buy the doll, my dear.” The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand. I asked him whom he wished to give this doll to. “It’s the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much. I wanted to gift her for her birthday. I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there.” His eyes were so sad while he was saying this.
“My sister has gone to be with God. Daddy said that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I think that she may take the doll with her to give it to my sister.” My heart nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at me and said, “I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall.” Then he showed me a very nice photo of him, where he was laughing. He then told me, “I want mommy to take my picture with her so my sister won’t forget me. I love mommy and I wish she didn’t have to leave me, but daddy said that she has to go to be with my little sister.
Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly. I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy, “I suppose we check again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll.” He said, “OK, I hope I do have enough.” I added some of my money to his without him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money.
The little boy said, “Thank you, God, for giving me enough money!” Then he looked at me and added, “I asked last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so that mommy could give it to my sister. He heard me! I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn’t dare to ask God for too much. But he gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose. My mommy loves white roses.”
1. What difficulty did the little boy run into in the store?| A．He forgot to take any money. | B．He couldn’t afford the doll. |
| C．He failed to find a doll for his sister | D．He couldn’t find his parents. |
| A．It was what he himself loved most. | B．It was the best gift for his mother. |
| C．It was a gift intended for his sister. | D．His sister would forget him without it. |
| A．She would have to leave the boy for a while. |
| B．She didn’t want the boy to buy her a white rose. |
| C．She would be really excited to meet her daughter. |
| D．She must be in a dangerous situation in hospital. |
| A．The boy himself was really fond of the doll. |
| B．The boy’s sister would be upset without the doll. |
| C．They boy thought he couldn’t have the gift for his sister. |
| D．The boy was sad that his mother would leave him. |
| A．He was deeply moved by the boy’s love for his family. |
| B．He was wealthy enough to help those who are in need. |
| C．He wanted to help the little boy out in place of God. |
| D．He believed his help would make the boy’s sister happy. |
9 . “Your mind is a garden; your thoughts are the seeds. The harvest can either be flowers or weeds,” William Wordsworth wrote. In the above quote, William suggests that the process of gardening mirrors human life. Depending on what we “plant” in our lives, we bloom (生长茂盛) or don’t. Before you start to work in your garden, it’s necessary to have a vision for it. Thinking of what you want to grow in your garden and how to lay it out is a good first step in making your vision a fruitful reality. In life, you should consider what you want to create and what you want to achieve, because your mind-garden is like the white paper and the possibilities are endless.
Regardless of what you choose to plant, poor soil isn’t suitable for growth. This is why gardeners take the time and energy to upgrade the soil before planting. So, creating the right soil is important to the realization of your goals and dreams. Fortunately, there are countless ways to make your personal bedrock better. Getting an education is one of the most effective ways, which can help you enrich your life’s soil.
You don’t have to be an enthusiastic gardener to understand the meaning of “You reap(收获) what you sow.” When a gardener wants tomatoes, they just need to plant tomato seeds. It’s a very clear act that produces an expected result. Each of us has the power to decide which “life seeds” to plant. For example, if you plant ill seeds, it's likely that you’ll experience pain in return. Contrarily, if you plant seeds of kindness and understanding, your life will bloom with happiness and love.
A gardener’s truly arduous work begins after the seeds are in the ground because a garden requires a lot of care and attention. Regular watering and weeding are required for a healthy garden. So, to ensure your dreams take root, you should be devoted, aware, and present. After countless hours and energy spent, the crops have grown well and are finally ready to be harvested.
1. What is important before gardeners break ground in their gardens?| A．Receiving some training in planting. |
| B．Drawing up a good plan for their gardens. |
| C．Having the courage to accept the worst outcome. |
| D．Doing research on the common local garden plants. |
| A．Improving the condition of the soil. | B．Growing your most favorable plants. |
| C．Taking care of the plants in your garden. | D．Selecting proper goals in gardening work. |
| A．Your quality of life depends on your positive action. |
| B．Your experience can help you understand plants better. |
| C．Your choice of soil is an important part in your gardening. |
| D．Your knowledge of planting will make you a successful gardener. |
| A．Beneficial | B．Creative | C．Boring. | D．Tough |
10 . Cecilia Chiang, the chef and restaurant owner, was greatly known for introducing regional Chinese dishes to the United States. She helped change the way Americans think about Chinese cooking.
Chiang was born into a wealthy Shanghai family with two full-time chefs—one from the north and one from the south. In 1949 her family settled in Tokyo, opening a restaurant called the Forbidden City. But it was a 1960 trip in San Francisco that set Chiang on her dramatic journey to cooking fame. She was both shocked and amused by the food most Americans considered to be Chinese. “They think chop suey(杂烩) is the only thing we have in China,” she said with a laugh. “ What a shame.”
So Chiang was determined to open a high-end Chinese restaurant that served authentic Chinese food. “Everybody said, ‘You cannot make it. You cannot speak English. You don’t know anything.’” she recalled. In 1961 then, Chiang opened the Mandarin.
The restaurant wasn’t immediately successful. About a year after opening, the Mandarin received a mention from the San Francisco Chronicle (旧金山纪事报). The effect of the powerful writer’s positive comment was immediate. Tourists, dignitaries and celebrities(达官显贵)—from Mae West to John Lennon—flooded into the Mandarin for then -unfamiliar food like tea smoked duck twice cooked pork.
Though the Mandarin was closed years later, Cecilia Chiang’s DNA can be found all over American Chinese food. Her son founded the chain P.F. Chang’s and the son of one of her chefs founded Panda Express.
In early 2017, Chiang shared how she lived to be so old: “I always think about the better side, the good side of everything. I never think about, Oh, I’m going to fail. Oh, I cannot do this. Oh, I feel sorry for myself.” Instead, Chiang wrote books, starred in a PBS documentary series and won the most famous award in American cooking when she was 93 years old.
1. Cecilia Chiang opened the Mandarin in order to ________.| A．remember her 1960 trip in San Francisco |
| B．Serve real Chinese food to the Americans |
| C．Show her shock and amusement towards food |
| D．Continue her family tradition of running restaurants |
| A．It is in the charge of Chiang’s son now. |
| B．It wasn’t successful until two years later. |
| C．It turned out pretty popular among Americans. |
| D．It changed the way Americans think about China. |
| A．Talented and active. |
| B．Ambitious and selfless. |
| C．Optimistic and creative. |
| D．Positive and determined. |
