1 . Light and bright, cheap and cheerful: IKEA's 400-plus outlets （专营店）in 49 countries all run on the same central principle. Customers do as much of the work as possible, in the belief they are having fun and saving money. You drive to a distant warehouse built on cheap out-of-town land. Inside, you enter a maze （迷宫）---no shortcuts allowed—where every twist reveals new furniture.
Compared with the prices of other outlets, IKEA's are much lower. You load up your trolley （手 推车）with impulse buys—a clock, storage boxes, tools and more chairs than you will ever use. You drag cardboard boxes, cupboards and tables into your car and reward yourself for your economy and good taste. Then you drive home and put your prizes together. You are satisfied with the bargains. IKEA is satisfied with your money.
The company's name was a do-it-yourself job, too. IKEA stands for Ingvar Kamprad, from Elmtaryd―his family's farm—in Agunnaryd. That village is in the Smaland region of southern Sweden. Mr Kamprad founded IKEA aged 17. Well before that, he spotted a principle which would make him one of the richest men in the world that customers like buying goods at wholesale prices （批发价）.First he bought matches in large quantities and sold them by the box. Aged ten, he sold pens in the similar way.
Setbacks inspired him. Facing a price war against his low-cost mail-order furniture business, he defeated competitors by opening a showroom. Dealers tried to crush Mr Kamprad and banned him from their trade fairs. He slipped in, hiding in a friend's car. When they tried to threaten his suppliers, he relied on his own workers, and secretly sold his production to communist Poland. Decades later, east Europeans freed from the planned economy drove hundreds of miles to newly opened outlets in Moscow and Warsaw.
His self-discipline was world-famous. As a child, he removed the "off' button from his alarm clock to stop himself oversleeping. He rarely took a first-class seat. The wine didn't get you there any earlier, he sniffed; having lots of money was no reason to waste it. He bought his clothes in second-hand markets, and for years drove an elderly Volvo until he had to sell it on safety grounds. He had his hair cut in poor countries to save money. Visitors admired the views, but were surprised that his house was so shabby. He worked well into his eighties.
His diligence and simple way of life set a good example to his 194,000 "co-workers". But he was not mean. The point of cutting costs was to make goods affordable, not to compromise quality. He urged his staff to reflect constantly on ways of saving money, time and space. An improved design that allows easier piling means shipping less air—and more profit.
Culture was more important than strategy. He disliked ''exaggerated （夸张的）planning", along with financial markets and banks. Better to make mistakes and learn from them. And use time wisely: "You can do so much in ten minutes. But ten minutes once gone are gone for good." This did not apply to customers. The longer they stayed, the better.
Mr Kamprad's impact on modern life can be compared with that of Henry Ford and the mass-produced motor car. Furniture used to be expensive, dark and heavy. For many people, decorating a home could cost many months' salary. IKEA made furniture not just affordable and functional, but fun. The mission was civilizational, he felt, changing how people lived and thought.
His approach drew some fire. The company values struck some as unpleasant. At IKEA's Corporate Culture Centre, lots of pictures of Mr Kamprad with his mottos can be seen everywhere. What's worse, some parts of the supply chain seemed to have serious problems to overcome.
1. What can we learn about IKEA in Paragraph 1?| A．IKEA prefers rural areas for its location. |
| B．IKEA has 400 outlets throughout the world. |
| C．IKEA likes to store new furniture in a maze. |
| D．IKEA provides a lot of work for its customers. |
| A．IKEA tricks you into spending more money |
| B．you may buy bargains with impulse in IKEA |
| C．both you and IKEA are pleased with the deal |
| D．both you and IKEA are happy with the bargain |
| A．He never overslept due to his alarm clock being set. |
| B．He was against drinking but for sniffing at the wine. |
| C．He sold the old Volvo with the purpose of saving money. |
| D．He didn't give up the quality of furniture for more profit. |
| A．The pictures and mottos of Mr. Kamprad. |
| B．The setbacks Mr. Kamprad experienced. |
| C．Mr. Kamprad's principles of management. |
| D．Mr. Kamprad's self-discipline and diligence. |
2 . Still in shock! I moved around the house purposelessly trying to decide what to put into the suitcases(行李箱). Earlier that evening, I’d received a call telling me that my brother was killed in a car crash. “Come as soon as you can.” cried my mother.
I wanted to hurry to her at once. But my husband, Larry, and I were packing to move from New York to Seattle. Our house was in total mess. Supper dishes sat on the kitchen table. Toys lay everywhere. I purposelessly picked things up and put them down. Mother’s crying went through my head again and again.
Larry called some friends to tell them what had happened. Someone asked to speak to me. “If there’s anything I can do, let me know.” But I didn’t know what to ask for.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang. It was Emerson. He and his wife Donna lived in the block nearby.
“I’ve come to clean your shoes,” he said.
I asked him to repeat.
“Donna had to stay with the baby,” he said, “but we want to help you. I remember when my father died, it took me hours to clean our shoes for the funeral(葬礼). Give me all your shoes.”
I gathered all our dirty shoes to the kitchen. Emerson got to work right away. Watching him devoting himself to one task helped me pull my own thoughts into order. I told myself to wash clothes first. Then, Larry and I bathed the children and put them to bed. One job after another.
When we returned to clear the dishes, Emerson had left. All our shoes stood in a line against the wall, clean, shining. I couldn't help crying. Early next morning, we left for the airport with all the jobs done.
Now whenever I hear of a friend who's lost a loved one, I no longer call with the polite offer, “If there’s anything I can do …” Instead I try to think of one specific task that suits that man's need, like taking the dog to the boarding kennel, or house-sitting during the funeral. If the person asks, “How did you know I needed that one?” I reply, “Because a man once cleaned my shoes.”
1. The writer didn’t know what to put into the suitcases because _____.| A．she couldn’t do it on her own |
| B．she was too sad to do anything |
| C．she wanted to take everything to Seattle |
| D．she was not good at housework |
The writer’s brother was killed in a car crash→_____ →The writer washed the clothes. →They left for the airport. Which of the events should go in the empty box above?
| A．Emerson came to clean the shoes. |
| B．The couple bathed the children. |
| C．They cleared the supper dishes. |
| D．The writer found the shoes cleaned. |
| A．Call her friend to ask what she can do. |
| B．Look after her friend’s young children. |
| C．Take her friend's dog to the boarding kennel. |
| D．Offer her friend house-sitting during the funeral. |
| A．One person's loss is another's gain. |
| B．An act of kindness is often rewarded. |
| C．A near neighbour is better than a brother far off. |
| D．Do something specific to help those in need. |
3 . When Liberia was my home, they called it sweet. Sweet was the word I remembered the most during the war. When I was five, my father, two sisters and I fled from Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia, and headed north on foot among panicked masses of criers - a journey that ended in a village where we hid from flying bullets (子弹). Every dawn, my sisters and I joined my father and covered the pages of his small journal with words. My favorite word to write was “sweet,” one that had the power to numb the reality of our 6-month abandonment by peace and civilization.
Eventually, we were considered the lucky ones: part of the wave of refugees who left Liberia in 1990 to settle in America. My mother studied at Columbia University at the time, and we made our new home in her dormitory while awaiting her graduation. My father who left early in the mornings looked for work or news of a possible return to Liberia, only to return home with nothing to give us but new words to write in notebooks. He quickly found that the education he received in Liberia was not good enough for an engineering job in the United States. So he took whatever job he could find to make sure we always had food on the table - and books.
In 2011, I founded a children’s book publishing company: One Moore Book. It provides children’s literature for the children of countries with low literacy (识字) rates and underrepresented cultures by publishing culturally relevant books that have something meaningful to say to them. My hope is to give children the peace I was given through the words of my father, by allowing them to see themselves in literature. I also think it is important to provide books about foreign countries to children in the United States, to increase the overall awareness of the world outside them.
I will never be able to give my father back the twenty years he spent working to educate us, or the home and life in Liberia he lost. I repay his sacrifice (牺牲) by honoring the education he fought for and offering my art to the world, with stories that make the histories of my people come alive, and with words to live by.
1. What was the author’s family’s life like in Liberia?| A．Sweet and peaceful. |
| B．Frightening but positive. |
| C．Comfortable but boring. |
| D．Adventurous and exciting. |
| A．He was crazy about reading. |
| B．He regretted moving to America. |
| C．He worked hard to raise his family. |
| D．He tried to receive a higher education. |
| A．To meet poor children’s growing demands. |
| B．To provide multicultural books for children. |
| C．To support her father’s books about Liberia. |
| D．To help immigrants understand American culture. |
| A．Her pity for her father’s suffering. |
| B．Her thanks to her father’s devotion. |
| C．Her pride in working for her people. |
| D．Her disappointment over the life in Liberia. |
4 . As a first responder, you never know what type of situation you might walk into, or who you’ll meet along the way. That’s definitely been the case for Jeffrey Lanenberg, a 51-year-old paramedic(急救医务人员) since 1984.
Ten years into the job, Lanenberg received a call that reported that a man in his early 30s had fallen down in the Mall of America. When Lanenberg and his partner arrived at the scene, they found the young male face down on the ground. He had gone unconscious, making weak attempts to breathe. His wife stood beside him holding their small son in horror. They quickly rushed to defibrillate(除颤) and calm the man to keep him under control. After Lanenberg dropped the patient off at the neighboring hospital, he thought about the man and his family for a long time.
Lanenberg thought he had experienced everything under the sun until one random visit to Office Max three years ago, where he met a man repeatedly walk back and forth while staring at him. As it turned out, the man was the patient he had saved 20 years earlier.
＂You gave me 20 years more than I ever thought I’d have,＂ the man said. He thanked Lanenberg repeatedly and told him he had someone he wanted him to meet. He stepped around the corner and reappeared with a 20-something-year-old man. Lanenberg instantly knew that it was the son he had seen standing by his mother all those years ago.
＂That day changed my life,＂ Lanenberg said. ＂Before that, everything was about work…When I talk to my beginner-training class, I tell them you never know the impact you can have on someone’s life.＂
1. What did Lanenberg do with the young man?| A．He gave the man the first aid. | B．He cured the man at the scene. |
| C．He only sent the man to hospital. | D．He took care of the man’s wife and son. |
| A．It was unbelievable. | B．It was a common routine. |
| C．It was a matter of course. | D．It was a dangerous situation. |
| A．Lanenberg helped bring up his little son. |
| B．Lanenberg donated to support his family. |
| C．Lanenberg gave him the present happy life. |
| D．Lanenberg taught his son to be a new doctor. |
| A．He changed his attitude to his job. |
| B．He was rewarded with much money. |
| C．He got a promotion to be a team leader. |
| D．He took up teaching work to train newcomers. |
5 . Being a superhero to others
Ewan Drum has always liked superheroes. He likes how they help people. At age seven, he told his parents, “I want to dress up like a superhero and help the homeless. ”
When someone donated jugs(大罐) of water, Ewan and his family drove their car to get even more. They took the water to Flint, Michigan, a city that had unsafe drinking water. Another time, a businessman donated six turkeys(火鸡) for Thanksgiving.
Ewan has a motto: Everyone can be a superhero to someone. At an event called the Hero Round Table, Ewan told the audience,“It’ s not hard to help people.You can keep some socks and food in your car to help people in need. You can help a neighbor with doing the garden.
It' s been several years since Super Ewan started his task. Every month, he still visits the same park to hand out clothes, food, and supplies to people who are hungry or homeless ---his Super Friends.
“No matter what, ”Ewan says, “I will always keep helping people.”
| A．News spread about Ewan’ s act of kindness. |
| B．This superhero says he’ ll never take off his cape. |
| C．Ewan says he wants more adults to act like superheroes. |
| D．Every little thing helps and can make someone feel happy. |
| E．A few months later, Ewan ’s family planned a day of giving. |
| F．Several days later, his parents drove to Flint and helped him raise a lot of money. |
| G．With his parents’ help, Ewan asked for more turkeys through the Internet, plus side dishes. |
6 . When I was a boy there were no smartphones, and our television only got one channel clearly.Still, I was never bored.The fields, hills, and woodlands around my home were the perfect playground.I can remember once hiking to a nearby lake.At the backside of it I was amazed to find an old dirt road that I had never seen before.It was full of muddy tracks and deep woods bordered it on both sides, but exploring it still seemed like a fine adventure.
I walked on and on for hours.I was sure my guardian angel was whispering in my ear “Turn around and head back home”， but I was stubborn, so I walked on.There was still neither a car nor a house in sight.I noticed that the sun was starting to go down and I grew scared.I didn’t want to end up trapped on this road, and I was worried that it would be dark before I could make my way back to the lake again.
I continued to walk on with something growing inside of me.My heart was pounding and my legs were aching.I was almost in tears when I turned one last curve and saw something in the distance.It was a house that I recognized.I jumped up and down and laughed out loud.It was still over a mile away but my legs felt like feathers and I hurried back to my house in no time.I walked in with a big smile on my face just in time for dinner.
I remembered this recently when I saw a sign that said “All roads lead home”．It is true.In life, all roads, no matter how they twist and turn, can lead us home again.What is important, though, is how we travel them.Are we going to go forth in fear or are we going to go forth in faith? Are we going to make this life a terrible trip or are we going to make this life a joyful journey? The choice is ours.
1. Why did the author hardly feel bored when he was young?| A．Because he could have fun in nature. |
| B．Because he could watch TV all day. |
| C．Because he had many friends. |
| D．Because he used to explore the old dirt road. |
| A．He thought he would be scolded by his parents. |
| B．He felt contradictory in mind. |
| C．He thought he would be trapped in the woods. |
| D．He was unconscious. |
| A．Doubt. | B．Hope. |
| C．Courage. | D．Fear. |
| A．Always make choices on our own. |
| B．All roads lead home. |
| C．It’s our attitude that matters in our life. |
| D．Every effort is worthwhile. |
