1 . A university lecturer in Linyi, Shandong province, has shone a light on the difficulties of food delivery drivers by taking on the role himself for a month and sharing his trials and sufferings online.
Last December, Xing Bin, a lecturer at the College of Literature at Linyi University, was so eager to know about what life and work must be like for a delivery driver, so he decided to sign up and be one from December to January this year. The gig economy (临时工), for better or worse, has exploded in China in recent years, and though many members of the workforce choose to work in the gig economy because of its flexibility (灵活性), others prefer full-time employment.
During the month, Xing worked more than 10 hours and took 30,000 steps a day. He lost 6 kilograms and earned a total of 7,000 yuan. On average, he earned 10 yuan each hour, and 20 yuan at most. “ I was delivering food from early morning till late at night for around 13 hours a day. When I had classes, I delivered food for two hours early in the morning, and after dinner I continued delivering until one or two in the morning,” Xing said.
“Before, if I got a call from a delivery worker, I might delay answering it. But now I will always answer it immediately because I know they might be riding an electric bike while making the call, which is very dangerous,” said Xing, adding that he now understands the difficulties of delivery workers better and realizes how hard they work to make a living.
“During that month, I tasted the bitterness and the happiness of this job with my heart. I delivered over 2,000 orders, and three of the people who ordered impressed me a lot.” he said.
1. Why did Xing try the job of a delivery driver?| A．Out of curiosity. | B．Owing to its high pay. |
| C．Because of its flexibility. | D．For its low career requirements. |
| A．To introduce Xing’s experiences. | B．To praise delivery workers’ spirits. |
| C．To describe delivery workers’ hardships. | D．To show delivery workers’ achievements. |
| A．Requirements for the job. | B．Memories of Xing’s experiences. |
| C．Xing’s calling for more respect. | D．The online reaction to his posts. |
| A．No pains, no gains. | B．Save for a rainy day. |
| C．Easier said than done. | D．Knowledge starts with practice. |
2 . Grandma stopped her truck at a crossroads and had the window down to enjoy the light wind. Suddenly, a man rushed up to the driver’s side window, trying to rob (抢劫) her truck.
However, the man didn’t know that this woman simply wasn’t your normal kind of grandma. This was Nancy Johnson—who owned a big farm in Texas, drove her own truck and had even shot (射杀) a snake recently.
With one hand in his pocket, the man said, “Get out of the truck. I have a gun and I will shoot you.” To his surprise, Grandma saw it as a joke. “If you really had a gun in your pocket, you would have pulled it out,” she said, looking the man straight in the eye.
She was right. The man didn’t have a gun. So he wildly grabbed (抓住) her through the window and tried to pull her out of the truck. With the door now open, Grandma started kicking the man anywhere her feet could reach. After about 5 minutes’ fighting, the man wanted to release (放开) her and run. But Grandma wouldn’t agree. It was now her turn to grab him. People around rushed to her. Together, they caught the man.
At first, we grandkids were extremely angry with her, “Grandma, don’t you realize you could have gotten yourself killed?” But we all learned an important lesson from her that day—the same lesson that had been there through the years.
She would push us out of the house at 8:00 a.m., telling us to be back at dark. She taught us how to climb into the truck, which seemed frightening yet exciting. She taught us fearlessness.
1. What does the author mean by saying “this woman simply wasn’t your normal kind of grandma” in Paragraph 2?| A．His grandma was famous in Texas. | B．His grandma was clever in his heart. |
| C．His grandma could do many thing by herself. | D．His grandma wasn’t as weak as normal grandmas. |
| A．He tried to hold Grandma’s feet. | B．He asked strangers to stop Grandma. |
| C．He wanted to give up robbing the truck. | D．He tried to drive the truck and run away. |
| A．Living a happy life from a young age. | B．Being fearless to experience more in life. |
| C．Acting cleverly when in danger. | D．Asking for help in danger. |
| A．Our Brave and Strong Grandma | B．An Unfair and Hard Fight |
| C．A Confident Old Lady | D．A Truck Robber |
3 . In 1999, Rebecca Constantino began doing a study at schools across Los Angeles. She had just completed a PhD in Language, Literacy and Learning, and she was analyzing children’s access to books in wealthy and low-income communities.
One day, she saw something that stopped her in her tracks. “I was at a school in a wealthy community, and they were getting rid of almost brand-new books because they didn’t have room in the library, “said Constantino. She put the books in her car and drove them to a school in an underserved community.
Shocked by the difference she saw in public school libraries, Constantino became determined to bridge the gap. “School libraries are not funded well, and sometimes not funded at all,” said Constantino. “If you’re a child in an underserved community, you’re left with boring, outdated, and uninteresting books. “
The word about Constantino’s work was spread, and books began piling up. Today, her nonprofit organization, Access Books, has provided more than 1. 5 million books to public-school and community libraries across California. The group has also redecorated close to 350 libraries in public schools and homeless shelters.
Constantino recruits (招募) volunteers who work alongside the community to create a warm, vibrant (充满生机的) and welcoming library space. Students and their families, as well as school staff and teachers, come together to join in. “We’re working together. It’s not a gift; it’s a partnership. It really builds a sense of community,” said Constantino.
In addition to book donations and refurbishing (再装修) libraries, the group offers author visits with schools and holds an annual writers conference for kids. Constantino said, “If we provide high-interest books and a beautiful library space, they do come and they do read. We found that in the schools that we serve, the number of books borrowed increases significantly after our coming. So we know that kids are really interested in the books that we give. My goal is that kids can always have a friend in a book and they can always turn to a book to find comfort and to learn something.”
1. Why did Constantino do the study in 1999?| A．To prepare for a PhD. |
| B．To reduce the waste of books. |
| C．To donate more books to poor communities. |
| D．To figure out kids’ ways of gaining reading books. |
| A．By obtaining donated books. |
| B．By raising money on the street. |
| C．By founding a profitable organization. |
| D．By getting support from the local government. |
| A．Challenging. | B．Successful. | C．Depressing. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．They can turn to writers on campus. |
| B．They are more willing to read books. |
| C．They donate their own books to school libraries. |
| D．They think the books on the shelf difficult to read. |
4 . James Warren was walking in his Denver neighborhood when something gave him pause. “A woman was waiting for the bus, sitting in the dirt. And I was like,’ Oh man, that’s terrible.’ That’s not dignified at all. We need to be doing better by our fellow city members,” Warren told a reporter. “And so, I thought, ‘I could do something about that, and I could build a bench.’” That moment led him on a mission to help his community.
Warren found some scrap wood (废木料), thanks to construction sites in his neighborhood with piles of discarded wood. And, because his dad builds houses, he grew up around tools-he knew he had the basic skills needed to build a bench.
He built one at the beginning of the year and put it back at that bus stop where he first got the idea. Since then, he’s built eight custom benches and has placed them at bus stops around the area.
Each bench looks different, since he’s using scrap wood for all of them. Each one takes a few hours to build, and Warren hand-delivers them to bus stops without sitting areas. While each bench is unique, Warren makes sure to carve the same message on all of them: “Be Kind.”
“Sometimes it can feel really difficult to make a change in the world around us. But the truth is, anyone can be kind and make a difference in the world. And that difference matters a lot,” he said.
He’s heard from many people in the community — those who use the benches and those who have been inspired by them. “What’s been really cool is seeing other people online building their own benches or even just taking chairs they were going to throw out and putting them by bus stops instead of letting them go to landfill,” Warren said.
Warren said he hopes the benches continue to inspire-and perhaps expand to other cities.
1. What made James Warren build benches?| A．The woman’s seeking help from him. |
| B．His father’s teaching him to build houses. |
| C．Finding other people building benches. |
| D．Seeing a woman sitting on the ground. |
| A．They were of low cost. | B．They had the same shape. |
| C．They spread different information. | D．They have been used in other cities. |
| A．Acts of kindness go a long way. |
| B．Helping others makes us happy. |
| C．We should dream big but do small. |
| D．Having some skills is of importance. |
| A．They voiced their doubt. | B．They showed their support. |
| C．They expressed their concern. | D．They conveyed their curiosity. |
5 . Gently holding a baby hummingbird (蜂鸟) between her hands, Lattouf says, “Hello, cute little guy. Are you very hungry?” It’s the newest patient at Lattouf apartment in Mexico City where she has nursed hundreds of the tiny birds back to health over the past decade. Under Lattouf’s caress (爱抚), the bird relaxes little by little.
This is often how Lattouf’s days have gone since she turned her apartment into a clinic (诊所) for sick, injured or baby hummingbirds. Most of the hummingbirds are in the bedroom where Lattouf sleeps. They stay there until they are strong enough to fly and feed themselves. Then she moves them to a neighboring room to prepare them to finally be freed.
With dozens of the tiny birds buzzing overhead, Lattouf explained that she began caring for them a year after surviving colon (结肠) cancer in 2011. It started with one hummingbird that had an eye injured by another bird. A veterinarian (兽医) friend encouraged her to try to help it. The bird became her close partner, staying on her computer screen while she worked. “It wrote me a new life,” she said of the nine months when the bird lived with her. It helped pull Lattouf out of the sadness and loneliness she had experienced after her husband’s 2009 death followed by her cancer. Later, friends began bringing her more hummingbirds.
Lattouf says she never turns away a bird. “Most come to me as babies. Many come to me broken,” she said. Some have injuries to wings after running into things or falling from nests. Some get sick because of drinking polluted water from hummingbird feeders, which are popular in the city. Now the demand for her services has jumped because someone put a video about her work on the social platform TikTok that has been viewed more than 1.5 million times.
The city is filled with threats to hummingbirds like constant construction projects that replace flower gardens with concrete. But Lattouf remains optimistic. “We do everything possible,” she said.
1. What do we know about Lattouf?| A．She tried to save hummingbirds. | B．She wanted to be a nurse. |
| C．She liked to live in Mexico. | D．She used to be a doctor. |
| A．Her love for hummingbirds. | B．Her needs for a partner. |
| C．Her encounter with an injured one. | D．Her friend’s encouragement. |
| A．She has worked hard. |
| B．She has shared videos about the tiny bird. |
| C．More people get to know her services by TikTok. |
| D．She has accepted every injured hummingbird. |
| A．Brave and realistic. | B．Outgoing and active. |
| C．Generous and optimistic. | D．Humorous and energetic. |
6 . The input Dad has on my career is incomparable. My earliest memories are of Dad sitting in the kitchen playing the guitar, listening to his favourite song by his favourite singer, and encouraging his little girl to poke (戳) keys randomly on the piano. Even watching Top of the Pops, he would get so passionate about music in it. We weren’t a religious family, but there was something spiritual about Dad’s connection with music.
Music also became a source of comfort for me. I failed to do well academically at school and had no friends. Being at school consumed so much of my emotional energy. Instead of going to school to learn stuff, I felt as though I was simply trying to get people to like me. Things were better, but the only time I truly felt happy was when I was at home listening to music with Mum and Dad or writing songs on the piano —and the older I got, the more powerful music felt.
Dad was always my biggest supporter. When I started giving live performances at the local bar, he was the one who drove me there and back. Freeing up that time wasn’t easy for an actor. His job might mean three weeks in the Czech Republic or working with George Lucas on The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones in Hollywood.
Dad has been involved with some amazing stuff, but Daddy Pig is the one that’s had the biggest impact all over the world. When I was flying to Australia for my first tour, I was trying to find something to watch on the little screen and I noticed they had Peppa Pig. If I’m missing home and family, I always put it on. Daddy Pig is a fairly real version of my dad —he loves chocolate cake, he’s funny and usually breaks things when he’s trying to mend them. Mum and Dad were friends with one of the producers of the show and I often wonder if he looked at my dad and thought, “That’s him …that’s Daddy Pig.”
1. What can we learn about the author’s father?| A．He was good at writing songs. |
| B．He was attached to music in his soul. |
| C．He encouraged her to play the guitar. |
| D．He was passionate about watching TV series. |
| A．By picking her up in a tight schedule. |
| B．By doing a demanding job as an actor. |
| C．By watching her musical performances. |
| D．By giving live performances at the local bar. |
| A．It’s her favourite childhood cartoon. |
| B．She saw her father through Daddy Pig. |
| C．She took pride in this world famous cartoon. |
| D．It’s a cartoon about her hometown and motherland. |
| A．Funny and honest. | B．Strict and hardworking. |
| C．Famous and patient. | D．Supportive and influential. |
Fortune Cookie Friends
Jenny frowned (皱眉) as she helped her mother and father set out the cooking supplies in the shiny steel kitchen. Her family had just moved here from San Francisco, having bought a small restaurant, which was set to open in the next few days.
“Moving here was a stupid idea,” Jenny complained mostly to herself.
“What’s that?” her mother asked, opening a box and lifting out several pots.
“Nothing,” Jenny mumbled (咕哝). The girl had been angry about the move, but her parents had made the decision and were now too busy getting ready for the grand opening to listen to her complaints.
The first few days at her new school hadn’t been easy, either. She found it hard to talk to people she didn’t know, and it seemed like the students hadn’t even noticed her. Jenny sighed and got back to washing dishes.
On the day of the grand opening, Jenny’s parents were all smiles, welcoming customers into the restaurant, brightly decorated in gold and red. Even Jenny was happy as she rushed around, seating guests, handing out menus, and pouring tall glasses of water. This was a big day for her family.
At one of the tables sat a family with two daughters who were about Jenny’s age. As she filled their glasses, Jenny realized the twins were in her class. Jenny lowered her head down so her long hair covered her face, and she turned away from the table.
Jenny’s mother found her soon after, in the kitchen loading the dishwasher.
“Honey, what are you doing back here? We need you out front with the customers.”
“Mom, I don’t want to be out there. There are kids from school!”
“So?” her mother asked. “That’s good! Go to take them some fortune cookies and say hello!” she said to Jenny, pointing at the fortune cookies paper which read, “Many friends are found with a single smile.”
1. 根据文本内容从方框中选择恰当的词并用其正确形式填入文本图示中，每词限用一次，有两词为多余选项| take recognize go welcome difficult happy pour nervous sit angry surprise buy |
| Jenny’ s family had moved here and | → | Jenny felt |
| ↓ | ↓ | |
| On the day of the grand opening, Jenny’s parents | → | Even Jenny was |
| ↓ | ↓ | |
| At one of the tables a family | → | As she flled their glasses, Jenny |
| ↓ | ↓ | |
| Jenny | → | Jenny’s mother asked her to |
3. Why did Jenny hide in the kitchen?
4. What would happen when Jenny put cookies before girls?
8 . It was early winter several years ago. I had pulled out my old winter coat for another year’s use. It was still in pretty good shape although it was looking dirty from so many winters’ wear. I didn’t really need a new one but I wanted one and casually mentioned it to my daughter one day. She was such a sweet, loving girl that I should have guessed what would happen next. A few weeks later she gave me a new winter coat as a gift.
I put the old one in my closet and started to wear the new coat every day. Each day, though, when I opened my closet, something troubled me. It seemed a shame that my old but still good coat should just sit there keeping no one warm during the cold winter days. After a few weeks, I took it out and drove to a local charity shop. I knew that there was someone who couldn’t afford a coat but could get my old one.
My new coat is my old coat now. It is getting a little dirty and worn, too. It has black marks on the sleeves. It is in too bad shape to even donate to charity. I wonder if I should buy a new one soon, but I think I will wait for a while. I don’t really need a new one and maybe I can find something else to give to the charity shop instead.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Want is a growing giant whom the coat of Have was never large enough to cover.” Perhaps the best way to deal with our wants then is to give instead. Love, after all, brings us the most joy. And the more of it you give away, the more of it you have.
1. Which word can best describe the author’s daughter?| A．Wealthy. | B．Thoughtful. | C．Easy-going. | D．Humorous. |
| A．It cost too much. | B．It was looking dirty. |
| C．There was not enough room for his new coat. | D．It was not sent to someone in need. |
| A．Telling his daughter. | B．Buying a new one soon. |
| C．Donating it to charity. | D．Sending something else to charity. |
| A．Giving fills our wants. | B．Love is the key to joy. |
| C．The more you give, the more you lose. | D．A coat is large enough to cover our wants. |
9 . My two daughters and I got into the car to spend our weekend in Florida. Autumn, the elder one, offered to drive. I sat next to her, and Amber sat in back. After setting out, the three of us sang to the radio at the top of our voice.
It was a great trip until the rain poured and the rain was too heavy. “I have to pull over.” Autumn said. She tried to enter the far right lane (车道) to find a place to stop, but trucks ran fast, making water onto our car. The car was out of control, then worse — it started to move left and right. Autumn fought to control it but it was too late. We ran into a truck. The girls jumped out of the car. My chest felt much pain.
“Get out, Mom. Come on!” Amber cried. “I can’t.” I said. Autumn took out her cellphone. “There’s been an accident. Send an ambulance (救护车)!” Amber and Autumn pulled me out of the car and helped me lie on my back in the grassy area by the roadside. I had to calm myself and looked up. A man held a large umbrella over me and other kind faces appeared above me. A woman helped to treat a cut over Amber’s eye. Another woman came close to me and said, “No one in the truck was injured. Help was on the way.” The woman mentioned she was a nurse; the other woman who took care of Amber’s cut was an eye specialist. We couldn’t have asked for better care.
In the hospital the pain in my chest began to disappear. Later, the tests at the hospital made sure we had no serious injuries. We’d left all our troubles behind thanks to these kind people, who seemed to be angels (天使) in my eyes.
1. How did the author and her two daughters feel after setting out?| A．They were worried about the weather. | B．They enjoyed themselves greatly. |
| C．They thought it was a long journey. | D．They felt lucky to take the journey. |
| A．To stop by the roadside. | B．To follow the truck closely, |
| C．To get into the fast traffic lane. | D．To move the car left and right. |
| A．The author herself drove the car. | B．It was raining heavily. |
| C．A nurse held a large umbrella to help. | D．The truck driver was badly injured. |
| A．Unexpected heavy rain | B．Leave our troubles behind |
| C．Kind angels saved the day | D．My two kind daughters |
10 . A man was fishing on the bank of a river. A boy came to see him fishing. The man was really good at fishing and he could catch a full basket of fish in a short time. The man saw that the boy was very cute, and he wanted to give him a whole basket of fish. But the boy shook his head. The man was surprised and asked, “Why don’t you want the fish? ”
The boy replied, “I want the fishing rod(竿)in your hands.”
The man asked, “Why do you want the rod? ”
“I will eat up all the fish in the basket soon, but if I have the fishing rod,I can use it to catch a lot of fish by myself.”
Many people will certainly say the boy is very smart...wrong! If he doesn’t know fishing skills. He can’t catch fish without a fishing rod. It’s useless to only have a fishing rod, fishing skills are more important than having a fishing rod.
Many people want to have a “fishing rod” in their life. They are just like the boy, they thought that if they had a fishing rod, they would have fish to eat. Life is full of exciting things, we should try to learn fishing skills instead of having a fishing rod.
1. The man was fishing on the bank of________.| A．a river | B．a lake | C．a pool | D．a sea |
| A．smart | B．silly | C．wrong | D．hardworking |
| A．fish | B．eat fish | C．learn fishing skills | D．have a fishing rod |
