1 . August or "Auggie" Pullman, a ten-year-old boy living in New York City, was born with a facial deformity(畸形) that has made it difficult for him to make friends. He has been homeschooled up until fifth grade, but his parents have decided that it is time for him to go to real school. They send him to Beecher Prep, neighborhood private school, and take him to meet the headmaster, Mr. Tushman. While August is there, some of the kids take him on a tour of the school; one of them, Jack Will, is nice, but another, Julian, is noticeably rude. Jack is nice to him, and August believes he has found a friend.
August's classmates slowly get used to the way his face looks. He is friendly to others and performs well in class. August becomes friends with Jack, and with a girl named Summer who sits with him at lunch on the first day. However, things get worse on Halloween, August's favorite day of the year, when August overhears Jack say to Julian and some other boys that he would kill himself if he looked like August. He also says he is only nice to August because Mr. Tushman asked him to be. Jack is completely unaware that August himself is sitting nearby. August gets hurt deeply and stops talking to Jack. When Jack finds the truth, he feels guilty(内疚的) about being mean. He really does want to be friends with August. One day, Jack hits Julian for saying mean things about August. After that, Jack and August become friends and start eating lunch together with Summer.
At wilderness camp, August is attacked by a group of seventh graders in order to protect Jack. Public opinion swings in favor of August. In the end,August wins the Henry Ward Beecher medal, a special award for courage and kindness. August is amazed that he survived fifth grade. His. friends and family make him feel like a regular kid. The novel ends with his mother whispering in his ear, calling him a “wonder”.
1. What makes August different from other children?| A．His unusual parents. | B．His abnormal appearance. |
| C．His bad temper. | D．His unfriendly classmates. |
| A．He says something mean about August | B．He follows Mr. Tushman's requirement |
| C．He hits August without reason. | D．Julian doesn't like August at all |
| A．August is 'really a failure at school. |
| B．August is not surprised that he survived fifth grade. |
| C．August drops out of school in the end. |
| D．August wins a medal for his courage and kindness. |
| A．A film review. | B．A new report. |
| C．A book review. | D．An advertisement. |
2 . A Hug from a Teenage Boy
Fifteen years spent in the field of education have provided Nancy Marra with many treasured moments. One of the most endearing happened when she was teaching second grade.
That year, she decided to plan something special for the children: a Mother’s Day tea. After all the preparations were made for it, each child took home an invitation. Nancy was surprised and relieved to see that every mother was planning to attend. She even invited her own mother.
Finally, the day arrived. That afternoon, each child lined up at the classroom door expecting the arrival of his or her mom. As it got closer to starting time, Nancy looked around and her eyes quickly found Jimmy. His mother hadn’t shown up and he was looking upset.
Nancy took her mother by the hand and walked over to Jimmy. “Jimmy,” Nancy said, “I have a bit of a problem here and I was wondering if you could help out. Since I’m going to be really busy today, I was wondering if you could keep my mother company.”
Nancy’s mom and Jimmy sat at a table with two other mother-child pairs. Jimmy served Nancy’s mom her treats, presented her with the gift Nancy had made, and pulled out and pushed in her chair, just as they had practiced the day before. Whenever Nancy looked over, her mom and Jimmy were in deep conversation
Ten years later, Nancy was at a high school to take a senior class on a field trip, and there was Jimmy. On the way back, Nancy had the students complete an evaluation form of their trip. She collected and checked the forms one by one.
When she came to Jimmy’s evaluation page, he had written, “Remember our Mother’s Day tea we had in second grade, Mrs. Marra? I do! Thanks for all you did for me, and thank your mother, too.”
As they began unloading at the school, Jimmy made sure he was the last one to go. Nancy told him she really enjoyed what he had written. He looked rather embarrassed, mumbled (咕哝) his own thanks, and then turned to walk away. As the bus driver began pulling the bus away, Jimmy ran back and knocked on the bus door. He jumped back on board and gave Nancy a big hug. “Thanks again, Mrs. Marra. No one even knew my mom didn’t make it that day!”
She ended her workday with a hug from a teenage boy who had probably stopped hugging teachers years ago.
1. Why was Jimmy paired with Nancy’s mother?| A．Nancy was too busy to spend time with her. |
| B．Jimmy’s mother didn’t come to the event. |
| C．Nancy wanted Jimmy to get to know her. |
| D．Jimmy could get along well with her. |
| A．Near Jimmy’s high school. |
| B．At a Mother’s Day tea. |
| C．In Nancy’s classroom. |
| D．On a field trip. |
| A．Upset. | B．Embarrassed. | C．Grateful. | D．Satisfied. |
| A．No act of kindness is ever wasted. |
| B．A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
| C．A mother’s hug lasts long after she lets go. |
| D．The best teacher must be the best performer. |
3 . Kenyon Scudder once told me a story about his friend, Michael. Michael happened to be on a train sitting next to a young man who seemed worried. Finally the young man told Michael that he was a convict (罪犯) returning home from a distant prison. His behaviour had brought shame (羞耻) on his family, and they had neither visited him nor written. He hoped, however, that this was only because they were too poor to travel and too busy to write.
When he was set free, he had written to tell them he wanted to go home. To make matters easy for them, however, he had asked them to put up a signal for him when the train passed their little farm. If the family had forgiven him, they were to put up a white ribbon (丝带) in the big apple tree near the railway. If they didn’t want him back, they were to do nothing, and he would stay on the train, and go far away.
As the train neared his hometown, his suspense became so great that he was afraid to look out of the window. He asked Michael to watch for the big apple tree. They changed seats. In a minute, Michael put his hand on the young convict’s shoulder. “There it is,” he said, his eyes filled with sudden tears. “It’s all right. The whole tree is white with ribbons.”
1. For which of the following reasons might the young man be worried?| A．He might not be allowed to go home. |
| B．He was afraid his family would not remember him. |
| C．His family hadn’t written to him often. |
| D．His family hadn’t visited him for a long time. |
| A．pleasure | B．forgiveness |
| C．happiness | D．education |
| A．pain | B．interest | C．worry | D．happiness |
| A．The young man was afraid that he was refused by his family. |
| B．The young man’s seat was far from the window. |
| C．The young man was afraid of seeing the white ribbons in the tree. |
| D．The young man was sure that his family would accept him. |
4 . 
UPS (联合包裹) driver Ryan Arens was making his rounds near a pond in Bozeman, Montana, when he heard an unearthly sound. “Like a cry for help,” he told the Dodo. It was December 2019, and about 15 feet from the frozen banks was the source of that cry — a half-submerged brown-and-white wirehaired hound (猎犬), struggling to hold to a thin layer of ice. How she got there no one knows, but an elderly man was already on the scene. He’d entered the pond in a rowboat and was knocked at the ice with a rock to create a path to the dog. It was slow going, and Arens, 44, thought he stood a better chance.
“Animals are my weakness,” he told the Great Falls Tribune, explaining why he stripped (拆开) down to his boxers and socks, even though the temperature was freezing cold, and commandeered the rowboat.
His heart thumping, Arens slid closer to the dog and used the other man’s rock to smash away at the ice. He gave one strong knock and slipped off the boat, crashing into 16 feet of freezing water.
He resurfaced in time to see the dog going under. Using nervous energy to keep warm, he swam about five feet toward her, grabbed hold of her collar, and pulled her to the ice. He then boosted the dog into the boat and slid it back to the shore, where anxious bystanders carried the dog to the home of the rowboat owner, a retired veterinarian. Once in the house himself, Arens jumped into a warm shower with the dog until they both defrosted (解冻). A few more minutes in the pond, the vet told Arens, the dog would have likely suffered cardiac arrest (心脏骤停).
The next day, Arens was back working the same neighborhood when the dog’s owner came over to thank him for saving Sadie. “Would you like to meet her?” he asked.
He opened the door to his pickup (皮卡), and Sadie rushed out. She made a beeline for Arens, leaping on him and bathing him in wet kisses. That special delivery, says Arens, “was the highlight of my UPS career.”
1. The underlined word “unearthly” most probably means ________.| A．terrifying | B．strange | C．interesting | D．pleasant |
| A．He was skating on the ice. |
| B．He was rowing in the pond. |
| C．He was trying to save the dog. |
| D．He was walking on the path. |
| A．Why Arens fell into the water. |
| B．How Arens rescued the dog. |
| C．How dangerous it was in freezing water. |
| D．Who the dog belonged to. |
| A．She jumped on him. |
| B．She kissed him. |
| C．She ran directly to Arens. |
| D．She remained still. |
5 . Kleon Papadimitriou, a Greek student, had been stuck in Scotland, where he studies, with no way to return to Athens while flights were shut down. So he decided to take a bike.
He began researching what it would take to make the trip on two wheels. He once competed in a race in 2019 and was briefly trained for several weeks — but that was about all the biking experience he carried with him.
Initially, he thought the idea was more of a “dream”— an absolutely hard long journey. But soon he began purchasing the equipment he'd need. He purchased a bike, and told the news to his parents and friends.
Papadimiriou travelled anywhere between 35 and 75 miles per day, crossing initially through England and then onto the Netherlands. He biked along the Rhine in Germany for several days, passed through Austria and cycled down along the eastern coast of Italy before he took a boat to the Greek port of Patras.
Throughout his trip, he set up camp in fields and forests. He spent the last few moments of each day writing down his progress, tracking the next day's path and checking in with family and friends.
“It's just now dawning on me how big of an achievement this was.” Papadimitriou says of his 48-day journey. “And I did learn a lot of things about myself, about my limits, my strengths and my weaknesses. I really hope that the trip can inspire at least one more person to go out of their comfort zone and try something new, something big.”
1. What can we infer about Kleon Papadimitriou?| A．He was forced to leave for Scotland on bike. | B．He had a few biking experience before. |
| C．He was a famous cyclist in his hometown. | D．He cycled to the Greek port of Patras. |
| A．Because it seemed challenging to complete the journey. |
| B．Because he had no riding experience at all before. |
| C．Because his parents and friends didn't support his plan. |
| D．Because purchasing the equipment would cost too much. |
| A．2. | B．4. | C．6. | D．8. |
| A．Kleon Papadimitriou hardly communicated with his friends during the trip. |
| B．It took Kleon Papadimitriou 48 days to return to Greece. |
| C．Kleon Papadimitriou learned a lot of things about nature from the trip. |
| D．Many people have been inspired by Kleon Papadimiriou's story. |
6 . "Smile!" I shouted, holding a yellow sign up on a busy street in Seattle. We were three thousand miles away from home on a Random Acts of Kindness and Volunteerism Road Trip. We had two aims. One was to try out our new "Smile!" signs and see how much kindness and joy we could spread in Pike Place Market. The other was to raise $80 by doing street performances, enough for gas to Portland and a small hotel room.
We weren't sure how people would react (回应) to our signs. I nervously raised up our signs and shouted, "Hi, there!" to a young couple. They looked over and felt confused. Then they read our signs and broke into a smile. Before long, some tourists wanted to take a photo with us and some strangers stopped to ask us about our signs.
In fact, we paid so close attention to our "Smile!" project that we forgot the other aim. Before we knew it, the sun was setting, and we had no money for our trip to Portland. We sat down to watch a blind musician play the guitar while thinking about what to do. He was packing up when a passing crowd kicked down his change bowl. He stumbled (绊倒) into the crowd. We rushed to help him, but another man moved more quickly to help him.
Once the musician had his money safely returned, we ran over to meet the strange helper and said, "We just wanted to praise you for your good deed." He smiled, looking at our signs. "Your trip reminds me of something similar I once did when I was young," he said. "Look! I'd like to donate (捐赠)." We told him, "No, thanks! We are fine. We've collected plenty of money." We lied. "Please let me donate. It will make me feel like I'm a part of this adventure," he insisted. And then the stranger opened his wallet and pulled out four $20 bills. The money was exactly what we had intended to raise that day. We were astonished. It seemed as if he had known somehow.
1. What's the main purpose of the road trip?| A．To spread kindness and joy. |
| B．To invite more people to join in the trip. |
| C．To raise money for a trip to Portland. |
| D．To encourage people to take happy photos. |
| A．Disappointed. | B．Worried. | C．Interested. | D．Moved. |
| A．Because he felt pity for the author. |
| B．Because he wanted to join in the project. |
| C．Because he hoped to help the homeless. |
| D．Because he felt sorry for his impoliteness. |
| A．Tired. | B．Satisfied. | C．Frightened. | D．Surprised. |
7 . The other day on a cold night, I left my wife and drove from Harrisburg to Lewisburg, a distance of about 100 miles. It was rather late. Several times I got stuck behind a slow-moving truck on a narrow road with a solid white line on my left, and I became increasingly impatient.
At one point along an open road, I came to a crossing with a traffic light. I was alone on the road by now, but as I drove near the light, it turned red and I made a stop. I looked left, right and behind me. Nothing. Not a car, no suggestion of car lamps, but there I sat, waiting for the light to change, the only human being for at least a mile in any direction.
I started wondering why I refused to run the light. I was not afraid of being caught, because there was clearly no policeman around, and there certainly would have been no danger in going through it.
Much later that night, the question of why I'd stopped for that light came back to me. I think I stopped because it's part of a contract（契约）we all have with each other. It's not only the law, but it's an agreement we have, and we trust each other to honor it： we don't go through red lights.
Trust is our first inclination. Doubting others does not seem to be natural to us. The whole construction of our society depends on mutual（相互的）trust, not distrust. We do what we say we'll do； we show up when we say we'll show up； and we pay when we say we'll pay. We trust each other in these matters, and we're angry or disappointed with the person or organization that breaks the trust we have in them.
I am so proud of myself for stopping for the red light that night.
1. How does the author feel about the truck driver?| A．Pleased. | B．Satisfied. |
| C．Sorry. | D．Annoyed. |
| A．He hates driving at night. |
| B．He desired to cross the red light that night. |
| C．He approves of obeying traffic rules by himself. |
| D．He is easy when suffering the traffic jam. |
| A．Tendency. | B．Faith. |
| C．Adjustment. | D．Guidance. |
| A．Be polite to others. | B．Improve traffic rules. |
| C．Be patient and helpful. | D．Trust each other. |
8 . Jo Du was being helped into her beautiful white wedding dress this week when a tooth on the zipper (拉链) broke. It was Sunday in Guelph, Ontario, and no tailor (裁缝) shop was open.
Jo Du didn't want to marry Earl Lee with pins (别针) in the back of her dress. But no one in the wedding party knew how to make the repair.
The best man knocked on a neighbor's door to ask David Hobson if he might have a pair of scissors they could borrow. Mr. Hobson said, “I've got better than tools. I've got a tailor.”
David Hobson had a family of Syrian refugees (难民) living in his home for a few days: a mother, father, and 3 children.
The father of the Syrian family was Ibrahim Halil Dudu. He was a tailor in Syria for 28 years, and as soon as he saw the dress, Ibrahim Dudu got out his sewing (缝) tools and set to work.
“He really sewed her wedding dress back onto her,” Lindsay Coulter, the wedding photographer, told CTV News. “Everyone was so thankful. They said thank you a million times.”
“Every weekend I take photos of people on the happiest days of their lives, and today one man who has seen some of the worst things our world has to offer came to help,”said Lindsay Coulter, who posted photos and wrote on her Facebook page.
“I was so excited and so happy,” Ibrahim Halil Dudu said through a translator.“I like to help Canadian people from my heart.”
Earl Lee called the tailor's skillful repair, an “unbelievable act of kindness”from a“complete stranger who had only stepped foot in this country days ago.”
1. What was a big problem for Jo Du?| A．It was not easy for her to find some pins. |
| B．Her wedding dress had to be repaired soon. |
| C．She didn't know where to buy a new zipper. |
| D．There was something wrong with her scissors. |
| A．He introduced a tailor to her. |
| B．He lent a pair of scissors to her. |
| C．He helped her find the best man. |
| D．He helped organize her wedding. |
| A．Earl Lee. |
| B．David Hobson. |
| C．Ibrahim Dudu. |
| D．Lindsay Coulter. |
| A．She worked as a translator. |
| B．She felt sorry for the tailor. |
| C．She was a refugee from Syria. |
| D．She was a news reporter. |
Epic Fails: The Wright Brothers: Nose-Diving into History By Erik Slader and Ben Thompson. Ages 6 to 12. The first book in the Epic Fails series deals with one of the most ambitious goals humans have pursued: the quests to fly. Authors Slader and Thompson focus on life-or-death scenes, such as when the Wright brothers crashed their glider over and over on the sandy coast of North Carolina; it took them two more years to get it right. |
Epic Fails: The Race to Space: Countdown to Liftoff By Erik Slader and Ben Thompson. Ages 6 to 12 Today, everyone is familiar with Neil Armstrong’s famous words as he first set foot on the moon, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” He made it look easy, but America’s journey to the moon was anything but simple. Our first attempt was a failure. Still, we didn’t give up. We tried again. And again. And each time we failed, we failed a little bit better. |
Fantastic Failures: True Stories of People Who Changed the World by Falling Down First By Luke Reynolds. Ages 6 to 12. Teacher Luke Reynolds opens each chapter with a quick, impossibly perfect version of one person’s life and then says how that person actually had to face huge challenges to accomplish goals. In this book, Reynolds writes about various common men, women and children. |
Cyrus Field’s Big dream：The Daring Effort to Lay the First Transatlantic Telegraph Cable By Mary Morton Cowan. Ages 6 to 12. In 1853，it took at least a week to relay a message between the United States and Europe because people had to be transported on ships over the Atlantic Ocean. Cyrus Field tried to reduce that transmission（传送）time to just minutes by laying a long undersea cable. In this book，Cowan describes many failures Field suffered before he achieved this major breakthrough. |
1. Who are the four books intended for?
| A．Children. | B．Teenagers. | C．Adults. | D．Old people. |
| A．It was written by a famous actor. | B．It tells stories of ordinary people. |
| C．It is about science fiction stories. | D．It is a picture book by a teacher. |
| A．All roads lead to Rome. | B．Failure is the mother of success. |
| C．An early bird catches worms | D．Actions speak louder than words. |
10 . When I was in my first year of high school, I had a terrible time when every area of my life was a disaster. I felt so hopeless and alone that I thought everything was impossible.
On one such day, I was walking from class across the school to catch the school bus home, with my head down, fighting tears of total hopelessness, when a young man came down the sidewalk toward me. Though I had never seen him before, I did not want him to see that I was in such low spirits, so I turned my head away and hoped to hurry past. I thought he'd walk on by, but he moved until he was directly in front of me, waited until I looked up, and then smiled.
Looking into my eyes, this stranger spoke in a quiet voice："Whatever is wrong will pass. You're going to be OK, just hang on." He then smiled again and walked away.
I can't explain the effect of that man's unexpected kindness and caring! He gave me the one thing that I'd lost completely—hope. I looked for him in our school to thank him, but never saw him again.
That was thirty years ago. And I've never forgotten that moment. Over the years, whenever I see someone who is in trouble, I will always think of that young man and try to give a flash of hope in the dark wherever I can. I carry things for people when they are too heavy for them, sit with naughty babies in the waiting room while their mothers are busy, or talk to tired couples at the checkout line or it could be anything.
If you keep your head up, your heart will show you the place that needs hope.
1. Where did the writer meet with the young man？
| A．In the school. | B．In the school bus. | C．In the classroom. | D．In the library. |
| A．had known the young man for a long time |
| B．made friends with the young man afterwards |
| C．was grateful to that young man very much |
| D．avoided meeting the young man since then |
| A．show his sympathy to those who are badly ill |
| B．give others hope of life when they are in trouble |
| C．realize his promise made to the young man |
| D．get respect from those who were helped by him |
| A．the young man always tried his best to help those who were in trouble |
| B．it was the young man's smile and words that made the author feel hopeful |
| C．the author had never been praised by others before he met with the young man |
| D．the author traveled to a lot of places to look for the young man but failed |
