1 . I’ve loved my mother’s desk since I was just tall enough to see above the top of it as mother sat doing letters. Seeing what Mother was doing, I thought that the act of writing must be the most wonderful thing in the world.
My mother was a kind person, who always showed her love on me in action. However, as a little girl, I only wanted heart-to-heart talks between mother and daughter. But such talks never happened. I was sad about it and often rude to her, eager to start a new life somewhere else.
When I had my own family, I came to understand mother’s love. So I wrote to mother and asked if she’d forgiven my rudeness. Then, I posted the letter and waited for her answer, but it never came. I felt disappointed and slowly didn’t care too much about it.
Years later, during mother’s final illness, she left some things for my sister and brother. “But the desk,” she said in a weak voice, “is specially for Elizabeth.” When I cleaned the desk-her present for me, I found a one — page letter inside, folded many times. It was the letter that I wrote years ago.
Then, tears came down, “Oh, dear mom, you’ve chosen the silent act to show you did forgive me and always be proud of my writing. Thank you for your silent love. I love you forever!”
1. According to the author, the most wonderful thing in the world must be the act of__________.| A．reading | B．cooking |
| C．writing | D．dancing |
| A．Arm-in-arm walks with her mother. | B．Face-to-face talks with her mother. |
| C．Hand-in-hand walks with her mother. | D．Heart-to-heart talks with her mother. |
| A．Elizabeth. | B．Elizabeth’s son. |
| C．Elizabeth’s sister. | D．Elizabeth’s brother. |
| A．In words. | B．In action. |
| C．By music. | D．By painting. |
2 . In my memory, my dad always encouraged me to be my best self, explore the world, and believe in those who cared and loved me, which helped to make me who I am today. Besides, I’ve grown up with a pretty good model that my father always was.
One year, my father nearly lost his life. He was twenty-seven years old then. For several months, he’d been suffering from stomach pains. My dad was a former track star, so he knew how to handle pain. Convinced it was nothing serious, he just made a face until it was over whenever it flared up. My mom and dad were visiting his parents in Englewood, New Jersey when extreme pain struck my dad again. However, that time, the pain didn’t fade away although my father tried to take control of it. Meanwhile, my dad developed a high fever. My grandparents rushed him to a nearby hospital. The doctors in the emergency room were confused about his condition. My dad’s symptoms seemed consistent with appendicitis (阑尾炎), but the pain wasn’t localized to the lower part of his stomach, where the appendix (阑尾) is located. While they were debating what to do, a 33-year-old surgeon named Dr. Ibrahim, spoke up, “It must be an appendix.” Dr. Ibrahim guessed it was a rare condition and insisted that my dad should receive an operation immediately, although others were against his decision.
Dr. Ibrahim turned out to be very correct. My dad was wheeled into surgery and his appendix was removed just before it could burst and cause a deadly infection. At last, he got rid of danger.
What if my father hadn’t been in Englewood that day? What if young Dr. Ibrahim hadn’t considered? He was in the right place at the right time, and it saved his life. Now I am a father of two children. Like my father I will never forget Dr. Ibrahim.
1. What can we know about the author’s father?| A．He was in poor health in his younger days. |
| B．He seldom helped the author overcome troubles. |
| C．He set a good example to the author. |
| D．He liked to learn from others to improve himself. |
| A．To show off his father’s achievements. |
| B．To prove his father’s strong will power. |
| C．To emphasize the importance of taking exercise. |
| D．To explain why his father always suffered pains. |
| A．broke out suddenly. | B．slid quietly. |
| C．stayed for a while | D．disappeared gradually. |
| A．It was boring but beneficial. | B．It was terrible and disappointing. |
| C．It was interesting and unforgettable. | D．It was dangerous but fortunate. |
3 . In 1969, watching the landing of Apollo 11 on the Moon on TV from his parents’ farm in Canada, Chris Hadfield was amazed and excited. On that day, at only nine years old, Chris made the most important decision of his life: He was going to be an astronaut.
There wasn’t even a training program in Canada to become an astronaut; but Chris was determined. He spent a great deal of time studying and fixing engines. After school he joined the Canadian army where he learned to fly many different types of planes. Chris did a lot of research for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the United States and had special training. Finally, in 1995 he rode his first rocket into space.
Chris became the first Canadian astronaut to walk in spare, and went on a number of space missions throughout his career. The most memorable was his five-month stay on the International Space Station (ISS) as commander, between December 2012 and May 2013.He posted on social media thousands of photos of Earth and videos of himself explaining how things work in zero gravity. His followers could watch him sleeping, brushing his teeth, washing his hands, or preparing “space” snacks in zero gravity, which turned him into a social media phenomenon.
Today, Chris travels the world giving talks about his work. He once said, “Decide in your heart of hearts what really excites and challenges you, and start moving your life in that direction. Every decision you make, from what you eat to what you do with your time tonight, turns you into who you are tomorrow. Look at who you want to be, and start sculpting yourself into that person. You may not get exactly where you thought you’d be, but you will be doing things that suit you in a profession you believe in. Don’t let life randomly kick you into the adult you don’t want to become.”
1. What led Chris to make up his mind to be an astronaut?| A．The life on his parents’ farm. | B．His ability to fly various planes. |
| C．Apollo 11’s landing on the Moon. | D．His passion for studying engines. |
| A．The space tasks he conducted in his life. |
| B．The pictures and videos he posted online. |
| C．His inspiring talks about his work around the world. |
| D．His great contributions to Canada’s space industry. |
| A．Courage is what it takes to overcome difficulties. |
| B．Opportunities go hand in hand with challenges. |
| C．From small beginnings come treat endings. |
| D．The key to success lies in the firm aim. |
| A．Strong-willed and hardworking. | B．Honest and outgoing. |
| C．Optimistic and responsible. | D．Smart and knowledgeable. |
4 . For a teenager whose chances of survival were slim when he was born, just making it to the starting line at the Olympics is a miraculous achievement in itself.
William Flaherty was born in Cincinnati. When he was 3, he was diagnosed with HLH. It is an often-fatal disease where the immune system attacks the body’s organs. There were days when they didn’t know if he would live through. The 17-year-old Flaherty has had more than 30 operations in his life, including a bone-marrow transplant from his older brother Charles in 2008.
At five, William skied for the first time. It helped a lot with low bone density and got him back in good shape. One year later, William moved to Puerto Rico and fell in love with the island. Puerto Rico doesn’t have snow and balancing the island and skiing life was tough. During the first few years a lot of it was pushed by his father and older brother Charles—himself a former Olympic skier. Motivated by his older brother, William wanted to give it a try himself. When he brought up to represent Puerto Rico in Alpine skiing, his friends laughed. However, he didn’t let it hold him back.
As a teenager, Flaherty had to balance his training with medical appointments and going to school. Even a cold could lay him up for two weeks, so William took extra pre-cautions over the last two years. While training, he wore an N95 mask the whole time and couldn’t ride the lift with anyone. After training, he came home directly, hid in his bedroom and stayed away from people. He managed to maintain straight A’s despite having to study on chairlifts and do final exams sometimes only days before racing. He had his English final three days before he left for Beijing.
“All my medical problems have definitely helped with my motivation. Skiing is really helpful because it forces me to focus on one thing. I really want to prove to all the other transplant survivors that you can do whatever you want in life. Move on with your life and achieve whatever you want,” he said.
1. Why did William Flaherty start skiing at the age of five?| A．To entertain himself. | B．To participate in the Olympics. |
| C．To improve his health. | D．To follow in his father’s footsteps. |
| A．His studies gave way to his training for skiing. |
| B．Puerto Rico could offer him better training conditions. |
| C．He was inspired by his older brother Charles in skiing. |
| D．He started to learn skiing when he moved to Puerto Rico. |
| A．Brave and kind. | B．Creative and generous. |
| C．Modest and shy. | D．Optimistic and hardworking. |
| A．Skiing Life of a Teenager. | B．Preparing Well for the Olympics. |
| C．Surviving from Severe Illness. | D．Defeating Disease to Deliver Hope. |
5 . Walking down a path through some woods in Georgia, I saw a small pool of water ahead on the path. I changed my direction to go around it on the part of the path that wasn’t covered by water or mud. As I reached the pool, I was suddenly attacked! Yet I did nothing for the attack. It was so unpredictable and from somewhere totally unexpected. I was surprised as well as unhurt though I had been struck four or five times. I backed up a foot and my attacker stopped attacking me. Had I been hurt, I wouldn’t have found it amusing. And I was laughing. After all, I was being attacked by a butterfly!
Having stopped, laughing, I took a step forward. My attacker rushed me again. He charged towards me at full speed, attempting to hurt me but in vain. For a second time, I took a step backwards while my attacker paused. I wasn’t sure what to do. After all, it’s just not everyday that one is attacked by a butterfly. I stepped back to look the situation over. My attacker moved back to land on the ground. That’s when I discovered why my attacker was charging at me only moments earlier. He had a mate and she was dying.
Sitting close beside her, he opened and closed his wings as if to fan her. I could only admire the love and courage of that butterfly in his concern for his mate. He had taken it up on himself to attack me for his mate’s sake, even though she was clearly dying and I was so large. He did so just to give her those extra few precious moments of life. His courage in attacking something thousands of times larger and heavier than himself just for his mate’s safety seemed admirable. I couldn’t do anything other than reward him by walking on the more difficult side of the pool. He had truly earned those moments to be with her, undisturbed.
Since then, I’ve always tried to remember the courage of that butterfly whenever I see huge barriers facing me.
1. Why did the writer change his direction while walking down a path?| A．To reach the pool. | B．To avoid getting his shoes dirty. |
| C．To escape a sudden attack. | D．To get close to a butterfly. |
| A．Not to get hurt. | B．Not knowing what to do. |
| C．Being attacked by a butterfly. | D．Stepping on a butterfly. |
| A．Horrible. | B．Amusing. | C．Aggressive. | D．Courageous. |
| A．what he should do when faced with trouble |
| B．people should show sympathy to the weak |
| C．how he should perform to protect his male |
| D．whether people should protect butterflies |
6 . Once there was a man traveling in a faraway village. As he was passing the elephants, he stopped at once. He found that these huge elephants were being held by only a small rope tied to their front legs. No chains, no cages. It was clear that the elephants could, at any time, break away from their ropes but for some reason, they did not.
He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and didn’t try to get away. “Well,” the trainer said, “when they were very young and much smaller, we used the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it was enough to hold them. As they grow up, they still believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can hold them, so they never try to break free.”
How could it be? These animals could at any time break free from their ropes. But because they were always stuck right where they were, they believed they couldn’t.
Just like the elephants, how many of us go through life believing that we cannot do something, just because we failed in it once before?
| A．a small rope | B．a big chain | C．a long line | D．a piece of cloth |
| A．excited | B．surprised | C．angry | D．nervous |
| A．they liked their living places | B．they were too old to do it |
| C．they thought they could not | D．they got on well with the trainer |
| A．Failure is part of learning | B．We should be different from others |
| C．Helping animals is helping ourselves | D．Traveling always makes people relaxed |
| A．A Pleasant Trip | B．A Bad Trainer |
| C．Elephant Training | D．The Elephant Rope |
7 . Do you know the following expressions?
Homeric laughter
The “Homer” in this expression is the Greek poet who wrote The Iliad and the Odyssey. People laugh differently. Some laugh silently, while others tend to laugh loudly. “Homeric laughter” refers to laughter of the latter (后者) kind. It is at times uncontrollable, and the entire body shakes during the process. This kind of laughter is called Homeric laughter because this is how the gods laughed in Homer’s classics.
Faustian bargain
According to most stories, Faust was a German scholar who was rather unhappy with his life. The devil(魔鬼), Mephistopheles, promises him that in exchange for his soul, he will give Faust unlimited power and knowledge. Faust agrees and experiences all kinds of pleasures, but, in the end, his soul is condemned to the hell (下地狱). A “Faustian bargain” therefore is a deal that finally results in one’s ruin. It means a bargain made for temporary gain without taking future consequences into consideration.
A three-ring circus (马戏团)
When you refer to a situation as being a three-ring circus, you are saying that it is a situation of complete confusion. There are so many activities taking place all together that they leave you confused or annoyed. The expression comes from the world of entertainment — the circus. The area where the artists perform their acts is called the “ring”. In the past, some of the circuses were so grand that they had three acts taking place simultaneously in three different “rings”. The audience had to decide which “ring” they wanted to focus on.
In the swim (of things)
When someone is in the swim of things, the individual is actively participating in the things happening around him, as in “I’ve been ill, but soon I’ll be back in the swim of things.” In the world of fishing, fishermen use the word “swim” to refer to the section of the lake/river where fish can be found in plenty. So, if you are a fisherman and wish to catch a lot of fish, where would you be? You would be “in the swim”!
1. According to the text, Homeric laughter ________.| A．was the way Homer laughed |
| B．means nervous, silent laughter |
| C．is a way to show disagreement |
| D．comes from a Greek poet’s works |
| A．he might come to a bad end |
| B．he would be considered clever |
| C．his life would become satisfying |
| D．he would gain power and knowledge |
| A．It means having a lot of things to do. |
| B．It has nothing to do with swimming. |
| C．Originally it was used to refer to “going fishing”. |
| D．Patients use it to express their desire for health. |
8 . Our room was on the second floor but you could still hear the roar of the ocean and see the stars at night. I used to take long walks along the water. The food in town was wonderful and the people were very friendly. The area was very quiet and peaceful, and fairly deserted.
The last evening of our vacation, however, we all heard strange footsteps following closely behind us as we were walking up to our room in the holiday centre. We turned around and noticed a fairly young man moving very rapidly across the beach and getting closer to us. He was tall and wore a baseball cap. We didn't have any cell phones on us. I never saw Dad as worried as he was then and knew that something was terribly wrong. The sense of fear started to overwhelm Mom and me. We had had such a good time in town. Now, the night was rapidly turning into a dangerous situation．
We could hear the man's footsteps getting closer. Dad's face was almost pale．The so﹣called intruder（侵入者）had moved nearer and nearer when all of a sudden, the nearby vending（自动贩卖）machine started going crazy and spitting out cans of soda! The noise actually scared the intruder and he ran out of sight. My parents were shaking, but we all turned around to see who had put money into the vending machine downstairs, and actually saved us, but no one was around at all. Not a soul.
It's one vacation I will never forget.
1. Where did the author spend her vacation?| A．Near a lake. | B．In a village. |
| C．At the seaside. | D．In a mountain. |
| A．They saw a stranger walking up to their room. |
| B．Their cell phones were missing. |
| C．They were robbed by a tall man. |
| D．They were followed by a stranger. |
| A．Control | B．impress |
| C．excite | D．move |
| A．Their quick action. |
| B．The noise from the vending machine. |
| C．Other people's kind help. |
| D．The young man's warning. |
9 . After a serious earthquake happened, a father left his wife safely at home and rushed to his sons school, only to find that the building where his son studied had collapsed and looked like a pancake.
He was shocked. He didn’t know what he should do for a while, then he remembered the words he had said to his son, “No matter what happens, I’ll always be there for you!” And tears began to fill his eyes. He started digging through the ruins.
As he was digging, other helpless parents and the firemen arrived and tried to pull him off the ruins, saying, “It’s too late! They’re all dead! There’s nothing you can do!” To them he replied with one line, “Are you going to help me now?” And then he kept on digging.
No one helped, however. He went on alone because he needed to know for himself, “Is my boy alive or is he dead?” He dug for eight hours…12 hours.….24 hours.….36 hours.. then in the 39th hour, he pulled back a rock and heard his son’s words. He shouted his son’s name, “ARMAND!” He heard back, “Dad!?! It’s me, Dad! I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you’d save me and when you saved me, they’d be saved. You promised, ‘No matter what happens, I’ll always be there for you!’ You did it Dad!”
“What’s going on there? How is it?” the father asked.
“There are 14 of us left out of 33, Dad. We’re frightened, hungry, thirsty and thankful you’re here. When the building fell down, it made a triangle, and it saved us.”
“Come out, boy!”
“No, Dad! Let the other kids out first, because I know you’ll get me! No matter what happens, I know you’ll always be there for me!”
1. The underlined word “collapsed” probably means_________| A．fallen down | B．shaken violently | C．stood by | D．gone off |
| A．he was mad | B．all the children had died in the earthquake |
| C．he was too dangerous to others | D．it was not his job to dig |
| A．Fourteen. | B．Thirty three | C．Forty seven | D．Nineteen. |
| A．it took the father one day to find his son and other students |
| B．his wife died in the earthquake |
| C．his son was the last one to come out of the ruins |
| D．the son didn’t believe his father would come to save him |
10 . One day I was walking around in a national park when I saw a beautiful tarantula (狼蛛) crossing a path. I just stopped and decided to observe its walking.
Behind me there was a family going up the same way and they also noticed the tarantula. Without doubting it, a kid shouted, “Quick, Dad, kill it.” His brother also encouraged their dad to do that.
Then I stopped their dad. “Wait. This is the last place the tarantula has to live in. Do you really want to kill it?”
“Well, it’s dangerous and we have kids here…”
“Why not stand still and let it cross safely? Then you can go and admire the rest of the park.”
After some discussions I persuaded them to stand still and watch. Soon, the tarantula crossed and hid into the bushes.
Their dad thanked me and said, “You’re right. I was about to make a mistake.” The children even said good bye to the tarantula and they learned something too.
1. What did the family want to do on seeing the tarantula?| A．To watch it. | B．To kill it. | C．To stand by | D．To hide away. |
| A．Dangerous. | B．Interesting. | C．Powerful. | D．Beautiful. |
| A．To stop it quickly. | B．To greet it politely. |
| C．To let it cross safely. | D．To drive it into the bushes. |
