1 . Given the chance, 15-year-old Lenny King likes nothing more than to climb over seven foot-high garden fences and run across the busy road to the Co-op, which he associates with free biscuits. His sister Daisy, 17, frequently falls over, and she was told she’d never walk.
The eldest, 19-year-old Rosie, might launch into an outburst of swearing (咒骂) at any moment. The King family are special in a number of ways. Not only are all three children on the autism (自闭症) spectrum, but their parents — rather than see their situation as at best unlucky and at worst a curse (诅咒) — regard it as a blessing. “In some ways my children are forever young, so while in most families the children grow up and pull away from their parents, mine continue to be a source of childlike surprises,” says Mum Sharon, 47.
Sharon and Richard King met in a Wakefield nightclub. Sharon had a normal pregnancy (怀孕) and gave birth to Rosie, who was a highly developed youngster. While her parents thought her “a bit different”, they saw no reason to be concerned about having a second child. Two years later Daisy was born and, within 12 months, she was diagnosed (诊断) with the rare genetic condition Kabuki Syndrome which is a rare, multi-system disorder characterized by abnormalities including distinctive facial features, growth delays, varying degrees of intellectual disability.
The Kings were told that Daisy may never walk or talk, though she proved the doctors wrong in the first instance by getting to her feet, aged five. Sharon and Richard, a 52-year-old civil engineer, were also advised to think carefully about having any more children. At that point Sharon was already six months pregnant with Lenny. When their son was 18 months old, the Kings noticed that he wasn’t meeting his developmental milestones and doctors raised the possibility that he might be autistic. Lenny was finally diagnosed with classic autism before his third birthday, which then raised questions about nine-year-old Rosie. Tests revealed she had high functioning Asperger’s (阿斯伯格综合征).
Now Lenny and Daisy are collected by an autism resource centre at 8 a. m. each day and returned at 4 p. m. People who are not defeated by suffering are brave warriors in life, and they definitely will have a bright future.
1. Which can best describe Sharon?| A．Optimistic. | B．Pitiful. | C．Inspiring. | D．Grateful. |
| A．They were healthy. | B．They prefer a large family. |
| C．Rosie seemed almost normal. | D．There was no history of the illness in them. |
| A．She was infected by Lenny. | B．She also carried some disease. |
| C．She was ignored by her parents. | D．She was diagnosed with autism at birth. |
| A．To explain the unfairness of life. | B．To encourage readers to offer help. |
| C．To persuade people to focus on autism. | D．To tell people to be positive about misfortune. |
2 . After losing her house to a fire, Jo Ann Ussery had a strange idea: to live in an airplane. She bought an old Boeing 727, had it shipped to a piece of land she already owned, and spent six months renovating (翻新), doing most of the work by herself.
By the end, Ussery had a fully functional home, with over 140 square metres of living space, three bedrooms, and two bathrooms. All for less than $30,000．
Ussery had no professional connection to aviation (航空), and was following the offbeat suggestion of her brother-in-law, an air traffic controller. She lived in the plane from 1995to 1999, when it was seriously damaged after falling off the truck that was moving it to a different location.
Although Ussery wasn’t the first person to ever live in an airplane, her perfect execution (执行)of the project had an inspirational effect. In the late 1990s, Bruce Campbell, an electrical engineer, was struck by her story, “I was driving home and listening to the radio, and they had Jo Ann’s story, and my focus turned entirely to it. The next morning I was placing phone calls,” he said.
Campbell has now been living in his own plane — also a Boeing 727 — for over 20 years. “I still stand on Jo Ann’s shoulder and I’m grateful for the proof of concept.” His project cost $220,000 in total, of which roughly half was for the purchase of the plane.
If you think living in an airplane is extravagant (肆意挥霍的) enough, how about living in two? That’s the plan for Joe Axline, who owns an MD-80 and DC-9 in Brookshire, Texas. Axline has lived in the MD-80 for over a decade and is planning to renovate the DC-9 and equip it with recreational areas such as a movie theatre.“I’ve spent less than a quarter of a million dollars in the whole project,” said Axline, who has very few running expenses because he owns the land and has built his own water well.
1. What does the underlined word “offbeat” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?| A．Practical. | B．Great. | C．Stupid. | D．Unconventional. |
| A．Joe Axline. | B．Jo Ann Ussery. |
| C．Jo Ann Ussery’s brother-in-law. | D．An unknown air traffic controller. |
| A．Less than $30,000． | B．About $110,000. |
| C．About $220,000． | D．Less than 250,000． |
| A．To persuade readers to live in airplanes. |
| B．To entertain readers with interesting stories. |
| C．To introduce some people who live in airplanes. |
| D．To introduce a new and fashionable way of life. |
3 . As the winner of six gold medals, cyclist Sir Chris Hoy is one of Britain's most successful Olympians. Now he has written a book to help young people achieve their own goals in life, called Be Amazing! An Inspiring Guide to Being Your Oum Cham pion. The book is packed with stories from his cycling career and the lessons he learned along the way. Speaking to The Week Junior, Hoy says the book's advice can apply to anything, whether it's sport, the arts or science.
When he was young, Hoy never thought he would have a career in cycling. “First of all, I wasn't that good at it,” he says. Heever thought that successful people were just certain to be great and were different from everyone else. But after growing up, Hoy realized that wasn't true and he saw whatever can happen if you work hard at something you love. He won his first gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Greece in a time trial event. In this event, the cyclists took it in turns to see who could go the fastest round a track. Before Hoy's turn came, the world record had been broken three times. However, he focused on his own performance and won gold. Hoy said hearing his name followed by the words “Olympic champion” was truly magical.
If Hoy could give his younger self a piece of advice, it would be, “Not everyone can win a gold medal, so there has to be more than that. There has to be enjoyment and fun at the heart of everything.”
1. What is Chris Hoy’s main purpose of writing the book？| A．To get young people to buy it. |
| B．To make the young learn how to cycle. |
| C．To help the young realize their dreams. |
| D．To let young people know his sports career. |
| A．His works of art. |
| B．His cycling profession. |
| C．His educational theories. |
| D．His academic achievements. |
| A．Interest and effort. |
| B．Technique and talent. |
| C．Warmth and strength. |
| D．Energy and curiosity. |
| A．He did well in cycling as a boy. |
| B．He has broken the world record three times. |
| C．He won his first Olympic gold medal in Australia |
| D．He thinks the key to doing everything is pleasure. |
4 . Granny had just bought a sandwich for her office and was stopped at a red light in the city center. She had the window rolled down to enjoy the soft wind when a man rushed up to the driver’s side window to rob her. The robber broke into the open window with one hand in his pocket. He ordered Granny to get out of the car, or he would shoot her. A word like that would have frightened anyone else. Instead, Granny saw it as a challenge.
Completely unafraid she said that if he really had a gun, he would have pulled it out. She was right. The criminal had no gun actually and tried to pull her out of the car. Granny sounded the horn and started shouting out to draw others’ attention. With the door now open, she started kicking the man anywhere her foot could reach. After a kick to his stomach, the man attempted to escape. But Granny wouldn’t stand for that. It was now her turn to grab onto him. That poor fool didn’t have a chance. She called for help to bystanders, and they rushed to her aid. With Granny leading the charge, a group of strangers came together and took the man to the sidewalk, holding him there until the police came.
When asked by a young reporter covering the story why she fought back and wasn’t afraid, Granny’s answer was surprisingly simple: She had had her new car for less than two days and a pack of good sandwiches for her office. And there was no way for the robber to get either of those. Although we were angry with her because she could have gotten herself killed, we all learned an important lesson from her that day.
1. Why did Granny think the incident as a challenge?| A．She was afraid of the robber, |
| B．She has never experienced the robbery before. |
| C．There was possibility that the robber didn’t have a gun. |
| D．There was possibility that her new car would be robbed |
| A．He looked very terrible. | B．He had a poor memory. |
| C．He was not strong enough. | D．He was foolish and unlucky. |
| A．Granny kicked his stomach violently. |
| B．Granny kicked him anywhere her foot could reach. |
| C．Granny’s reaction was beyond his expectation. |
| D．Granny managed to grab onto him. |
| A．illegal | B．annoying |
| C．admirable | D．confusing |
