1 . 
Sam Herbert, 15, saved the life of a 55-year-old stranger even though he himself was born with a poor condition.
The Derby schoolboy says, “I was walking down the street one evening in May when a man in front of me fell over.
“I put him in the right position, but his condition was starting to become worse and he stopped breathing. So I started CPR (心肺复苏法). Because of my condition, I was worried I wouldn’t have the strength to do it for very long.
“When the doctors arrived, they said I’d done the right thing.
In the life-or-death situation he was faced with, Sam acted bravely but also very quickly. “I will have to have more operations on my heart in the future.
| A．Sam was born with a weak heart. |
| B．I couldn’t stop thinking about it. |
| C．He had really a very bad fall. |
| D．There are hundreds of children who die from heart diseases. |
| E．They told me if I hadn’t helped him, he probably would have died. |
| F．But I kept giving him CPR. |
| G．But I’ve never let my condition hold me back. |
2 . “Tomorrow we will see the Golden Gate Bridge,” said Peter. “I have never seen a golden bridge before.”
Peter's father smiled, but said nothing.
The next morning, his father took Peter to the bridge. Peter first saw it from far away. How big it looked! But then he saw the bridge was red!
“The bridge isn't golden!” he said. “Why is it called the Golden Gate Bridge?”
“It isn't named for its color,” said his father. “It is named for the Golden Gate.”
“What is the Golden Gate?” asked Peter.
“A gate is either an opening, or the thing that closes the opening,” said his father.
“ The Golden Gate is an opening in the land. Water from the sea comes through this opening into San Francisco Bay.”
“Oh,” said Peter. “And the bridge goes over the opening. But why is the opening called the Golden Gate?”
“Years ago men came to California to look for gold,” his father said. “Many came by ship. They came into the bay through that opening. For them it was a gate to gold. They named it the Golden Gate.”
“Well,” said Peter, “I still think the bridge should look golden.”
When getting home, he sent a letter to a California paper. he said:” Red is not the right color for the Golden Gate Bridge. The bridge should look golden, the way most people think it does.”
Peter sent $14.78 with his letter. “The money is to help paint the bridge gold, ” he wrote.
Many people read Peter's letter in the newspaper and things began to happen! Some people sent money. A big company gave real gold to make gold paint. A paint company made the paint.
But some people still wanted the bridge to be red!
Will the Golden Gate Bridge ever be golden? It will, if enough people feel as Peter does. How do you feel about it?
1. Why did father smile when hearing his son’s words?| A．His son had never seen a red bridge before. |
| B．His son was too delighted to visit the bridge. |
| C．His son was about to see the bridge tomorrow. |
| D．His son misunderstood the color of the bridge. |
| A．The color of the bridge. |
| B．The shape of the bridge. |
| C．The location of the bridge. |
| D．The function of the bridge. |
| A．Astonished. | B．Puzzled. |
| C．Determined. | D．Frustrated. |
| A．A firm made a gold paint by using real gold. |
| B．The government painted the bridge golden. |
| C．Some people were against the change of the color. |
| D．Some people raised money for the golden bridge. |
3 . Michael Ha has a better understanding of the sentence “Where there is a will,there is a way.” Now he is 22 years old and has become an example of young people because of his story of success.
Michael Ha was born in a very poor family.His parents worked in Vietnam before they moved to Britain in 1980.They couldn’t find jobs in Britain because they spoke little English.The whole family had to live on benefits (救济金) and they lived in a small house in Hackney,a poor area in East London.Growing up is not easy for Michael,but he never gave up.
At the age of ten, he set his heart on going to Cambridge University. It was not easy, either. Michael studied at a school, which used to be called “the worst school in Britain”. However,young Michael made up his mind to try his best,no matter what kind of school he was studying at.
The smart boy studied very hard and did well in every subject at school.Once he made a bet(打赌) with his friend to learn further math.As a result,after just spending four months teaching himself from a textbook,he got an A in further math.
Now Michael is the star medical student in John’s College, Cambridge and has just won an award for his excellent grades. He hopes he will be an example for other young people from poor family.
1. What do we know about Michael Ha’s family according to the passage？| A．They lived in a poor area without any help. |
| B．They made a living with the help of the government in Vietnam. |
| C．Michael Ha’s parents had no jobs because of their little experience. |
| D．His family was very poor and lived on benefits. |
| A．He won an award in his middle school because of hard work. |
| B．Though very young, he decided to go to Cambridge University. |
| C．He was good at making bets with other students. |
| D．His best subjects in school were maths and history. |
| A．English. | B．Geography. |
| C．Medicine. | D．History. |
| A．How to deal with the difficulties |
| B．How to become a good student |
| C．From a poor area to Britain |
| D．From “the worst school” to Cambridge University |
4 . Uminur Kuchukova of Russia could have retired years ago. Yet the 61-year-old teacher keeps working at a school in the Siberian village of Sibilyakovo. She continues to teach for one reason: the school’s one and only student, a nine-year-old boy. Kuchukova is to leave next year for health problems, which means the school will close.
Sibilyakovo is like thousands of villages across Russia: Many people moved out of it after the closure of the local state-operated collective farm. Sibilyakovo is mainly home to Tatars, a Turkic group that is one of many minorities in Russia. In the 1970s, the village had a population of 550 and a primary school with four classes. Each class had about 18 children. Today the village’s population has shrunk to 39.
Kuchukova has taught at the school for 42 years. She has bought a home in the town of Tara, about 50 kilometers away and plans to retire there with her husband at the end of the school year. By then, she hopes, her only student will be old enough to travel to a neighboring village for classes. But the nearest school is a 30-minute boat ride across the Irtysh River followed by a 20-minute ride on a school bus.
Kuchukova does not think her student, Ravil, is ready yet for making such a trip every school day. “His parents don’t want to leave Sibilyakovo yet and it’s scary to send a little boy like him over the Irtysh. There are such big waves,” she says.
And even when she herself will finally retire and go to live in Tara, Kuchukova will not leave her past behind, saying, “My parents are buried here; a part of me is here.”
1. Why did so many people leave Sibilyakovo?| A．Because there was no good school. |
| B．Because it wasn’t comfortable to live there. |
| C．Because they wanted to make a living. |
| D．Because they hated working on the local farm. |
| A．Worried. | B．Hopeful. | C．Proud. | D．Guilty. |
| A．Responsible and caring. |
| B．Careful and positive. |
| C．Patient and determined. |
| D．Selfless and confident. |
| A．Kuchukova’s love for Tara. |
| B．Kuchukova’s plan for future. |
| C．Kuchukova’s memory of her parents. |
| D．Kuchukova’s bond with the village. |
5 . Last summer, Katie Steller pulled off the freeway on her way to work in Minneapolis and stopped at a traffic light, where a man was sitting with a sign asking for help. She rolled her window.
“Hey!” She shouted. "I'm driving around giving free haircuts. If I go grab my chair, do you want one right now?”
The man looked to be in his 60s. He laughed, saying, "Actually, I have a wedding to go this week. I am really hoping to get a haircut. "
"I'll be right back," Steller said.
She drove off, went to the salon (美发厅) she owns, and moved a red chair into her car. en she drove back. The man, named Edward, took a seat. She started to give him a haircut. He told her about his growing up in Mississippi and moving to Minnesota to be closer to adult children. After the haircut was done, Edward looked in a mirror and said gladly, "I look good!”
To date, Steller has given 30 or so such haircuts to people around the city. It's more than haircut. Steller wants it to be a gateway to express care, value and appreciation, but also to know more people.
Steller knows that a haircut can change a life. One changed hers: As a teen, she suffered m a serious disease and her hair thinned drastically. Seeing this, her mother arranged for Steller’s first professional haircut. "To sit down and have somebody look at me and talk to me like a person and not just an illness, it helped me feel cared about and less alone,“ she said.
After that, Steller knew she wanted to have her own salon so she could help people feel the way she'd felt that day. Not long after finishing cosmetology school in 2009, she began what she now calls her Red Chair Project, reaching out to people on the streets.
1. What did Steller offer to Edward?| A．Encouragement. | B．A free haircut. |
| C．A comfortable chair. | D．Financial assistance. |
| A．To advertise her salon. | B．To change the poor's life. |
| C．To show acts of kindness. | D．To draw others' attention. |
| A．Sharply. | B．Occasionally. | C．Cautiously. | D．Painfully. |
| A．A Free Haircut | B．A Chair Project |
| C．More than a Haircut | D．Less Prejudice and Cruelty |
6 . A fine-looking gentleman sat down in the main dining room of an expensive hotel. He ordered grand meal and spent two hours enjoying himself very much. After the bill came, the man sent for the head waiter. “Ah, my friend,” he said. “That was a wonderful meal. Perhaps you remember that I was a guest at this hotel, at this very same table just about a year ago. And at that time just because I couldn't pay the bill, you, sir, had me thrown out of this dining room in full view of all the other guests!”
“My deepest apologies, sir,” said the head waiter. “You understand...” “Oh, it's all right!” said the gentleman, lighting his cigar, “But I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you again.”
1. The man went to the hotel because ______ .| A．he was good-looking. |
| B．he was a gentleman. |
| C．he had lots of money. |
| D．he just wanted to eat something good. |
| A．to say he had no money. | B．to praise him. |
| C．to pay for the last meal. | D．to enjoy the meal together. |
| A．strange | B．sorry | C．anxious | D．angry |
| A．The man paid for the bill. |
| B．The waiter apologized for the rough deeds. |
| C．The man once again was thrown out of the hotel. |
| D．The head waiter paid for the bill for him. |
7 . Have you ever thought of getting away from the present life and doing something completely different?Well,here are some people who have done just that.
Back to the land
In his early forties,Peter Van Der Groot was a successful salesman.He had a large beautiful home.But Peter worked long hours,and he saw little of his home and family.He enjoyed his job,but he was never there to see his children growing up.Then last year,the firm(公司)he worked for closed down,and,unexpectedly,Peter had the chance to do something different.
So Peter and his family sold their house in London and moved to the countryside.They bought a smaller house with some land.Today,Peter is more relaxed.He spends time with his children,and he has seen them change into healthy,happy kids.He’s started working on his land,growing fruit and vegetables.Now he and his family have a common,but comfortable life.
Life in the sun
Husband and wife Rob and Manda Brent used to be teachers,but they have both given up their jobs,and neither of them plans to return to the school where they worked in Birmingham’s city centre.Now they live in Italy,where they’ve bought a farmhouse in Tuscan Hills.“We’re going to offer bed and breakfast,”said Rob.“We’ve never had our own business before,so it’ll be quite a challenge(挑战).And we’ve borrowed a lot of money from the bank to get started.”
“In this first three-month period,we’re settling in and repairing the farmhouse,”said Manda.“Then we’ll open our doors to guests.”Bed and breakfast will not be the only way for them to get money,though.“The farm has got olive(橄榄)trees and the equipment(设备)for producing olive oil.”
1. What caused Peter to change his life?| A．He lost his job. | B．He led a hard life. |
| C．He had to care for his kids. | D．He wasn’t satisfied with his job. |
| A．He lives a busier life. | B．He has set up his own firm. |
| C．He has built a large beautiful house. | D．He spends more time with his family. |
| A．Selling farm produce. | B．Running a school in Italy. |
| C．Serving breakfast for months. | D．Teaching in a Birmingham school. |
| A．A farm. | B．A hotel. | C．A school. | D．A restaurant. |
8 . Guy Raz is the king of podcasts (播客). The 44-year-old NPR (National Public Radio) hosts (主持) three of Apple’s top-20 podcasts, including Wow in the World, NPR’s first podcast for kids.
Raz, who is known for his light-blue eyeglasses, has entertained many families across thousands of miles of road trips. The best thing about him is that he can make any topic feel like just the thing you’ve always wanted to know about.
Podcasts are whenever and wherever radio, Raz explained. You can listen to them wherever you want, wherever you want — in a plane, a car, or at the kitchen table.
Wow in the World is the brainchild of Raz and his co-host, Mindy Thomas. The show “takes” kids through time and space, reporting science news with surprising sound effects (效果), and funny words like “exactdoritos” and “ bonkerballs.”
When asked why the show was created, Raz said, “Mindy has two kids, and I have two kids. Both of us were really worried about how much screen time our children not only had, but wanted. We don’t want kids to pay too much attention to the screen. So the idea was, ‘Let’s create something that is so good; it competes with a video.’ What happened was beyond (超出) our expectations.”
Raz noted that podcasts fire the imagination in a way that screens don’t. “Every single person experiences podcasts differently.” he said. “When you watch a cartoon, for example, the pictures are given to you. Your brain doesn’t have to work.When you' re listening to podcasts like Wow in the World, your mind is your television screen. It fires up all kinds of connections in your brain.”
Raz also hosts How I Build This and The TED Radio Hour, two wildly successful podcasts for older listeners. Raz said, “There's a wow factor (要素) in every single person. What I try to do is to find exciting wow moments in the world and make us think.”
1. What can we learn about Wow in the World?| A．It is NPR’s first podcast. |
| B．It was created 44 yeas ago. |
| C．It mainly tells science stories. |
| D．It is designed for school children. |
| A．They have always been interested in podcasting. |
| B．They wanted to satisfy the needs of their children. |
| C．They wanted to make news more attractive to kids. |
| D．They hoped to make kids spend less time on screens. |
| A．Podcasts are more enjoyable than screens. |
| B．Watching cartoons is harmful to children’s brains. |
| C．People have different understanding of Wow in the World. |
| D．Podcasts excite children’s imagination more easily than screens. |
| A．Wow in the World |
| B．Finding Wow in the World |
| C．Guy Raz, a Well-Known Host |
| D．Podcasts — Whenever and Wherever |
First. I think you have a beautiful name. Of course, I' d say the same to Olivia L., Olivia R..， and Olivia S. Come to think of it; maybe “Dear Olivias” would have been a better header.
I too, was given one of my birth year’s most popular names. I was one of many Erins in 1980.
I wonder if our parents considered how many of us, both Erins and Olivias, there would be. Growing up, I babysat （照看孩子）an Erin whose house was across our backyard, knew an Erin who lived around the corner and who also happened to be my best friend's older sister, knew an Erin who lived just down the street. Not to mention the Erin population at school.
Mostly. I felt like the Erins around me weren’t much like me. 1 thought it was strange that we all had the same name. Then, around Grade 9, as my brother was changing his name from Stacey James to S.J., I wanted to change my name, too.
I experimented （尝 试）a bit with how I might respell my middle name Megan and decided on Maygen, and hyphenated （用连接号连接）it with Erin. I kept using this name until a couple of years later when I said goodbye to Erin all together.
Now, having spent most of my life as Maygen, I've learned that although there were no Megans in my neighbourhood, it turns out I had changed my name to an even more popular name of the 1980s.
But you know what? Common or not, 1 love my name. In my life, I've befriended Erin after Erin, none of whom remind （使想起）me of the kid I babysat or my friend's sister.
I’m not sure why names become popular, but one thing is certain, Olivia: your name is loved by many. May you love it as well.
1. Why does the author say" Dear Olivias' would have been a better header”？| A．The letter could have been written to all Olivias. |
| B．She is not sure which Olivia will read the letter. |
| C．She knows a lot of girls called Olivia. |
| D．Olivia is not a one-of-a-kind name. |
| A．After her brother changed his name. |
| B．After she had some trouble at school. |
| C．When she found more Erins around her. |
| D．When she noticed other Erins were different. |
| A．Megan Kardash. |
| B．Maygen Kardash. |
| C．Erin-Megan Kardash. |
| D．Erin-Maygen Kardash. |
| A．To compare Erins and Olivias. |
| B．To introduce some popular names. |
| C．To talk Olivia into loving her name. |
| D．To express her love for her own name. |
10 . Mia, a little monkey, lived with her mother on a banyan tree. Her best friend was Lily, a bird who also lived on the same tree with her family.
One day, the two friends were on their way back home from school. Lily said that Raksha Bandhan was round the corner and she was going to make rachis (保护绳) for her two brothers. She asked Mia if she wanted to help her. Mia said sorry because she had some housework to do. Then they went to their own homes.
In many parts of India and Nepal, Raksha Bandhan is a celebration of the relationship between a brother and a sister. The sister ties a rakhi on the brother’s hand and in return, the brother gives promises to protect her and also gives her a gift.
Mia understood that Raksha Bandhan did not belong to her — she was an only child, so she refused to join Lily. She climbed the banyan tree and sat on a branch (树枝), looking sad. Mia’s mother came up to her and asked why.
Hearing Mia's reason, her mother had an idea, saying, “But you too can celebrate the festival with your brother — this banyan tree!”
“How can a tree be my brother?” asked Mia in surprise.
“This tree has been protecting us for years. We live on it and rest in its shade (树荫). You and your friends play on its branches. So, it ‘plays’ with you just like a brother does,” explained Mia’s mother.
Mia’s face lit up. Oh, yes! The banyan tree was just like her brother! Then she joined Lily at her house and together they made three rakhis.
On the day of Raksha Bandhan, eager (热切的) to celebrate it with her tree brother, Mia woke up early. She tied the rakhi on one of its branches and hugged (拥抱) the tree. “Thank you for being my brother!” said Mia.
1. What might Lily’s brothers do after receiving her rakhis?| A．Hug the banyan tree. |
| B．Promise to protect her. |
| C．Do housework with her. |
| D．Help her with her studies. |
| A．She didn t like the gift from her brother. |
| B．Her best friend Lily refused to play with her. |
| C．She had no one to celebrate the festival with. |
| D．Her best friend Lily did not want to her. |
| A．age | B．role | C．size | D．power |
| A．She cleaned her house. |
| B．She went to find her brother. |
| C．She climbed the banyan tree. |
| D．She began to prepare her rakhi. |
