1 . "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. |
2 . Saber Hosseini, who teaches children in the city of Bamiyan, central Afghanistan, has converted his bicycle into a mobile library which he rides to remote villages.
“I came up with the idea for this project six months ago. I started alone with 200 storybooks for kids, and started riding to remote villages throughout Bamiyan province. Soon, I recruited more volunteers and we have a collection of about 6,000 books.”
Hosseini revealed that he chose to use bicycles for his mobile library project for a number of reasons. Many of volunteers simply cannot afford cars and most of the villages in his province are only accessible by bike.
Hosseini does more than just distribute books to children—he also stops to talk to them about topics such as peace, tolerance, and why they should stay away from drugs. “One time, I talked to children in a village about guns, using the slogan ‘say no to guns and yes to books’. The next time I went to their village, the kids had gathered up all of their plastic toy guns and handed them over to me—but they had one condition: they wanted their village to be the first in the next round of book deliveries so they could get first pick. It was the most joyful moment of my life!”
Sadly, Hosseini is forced to work with a limited budget and cannot always afford to get the kinds of books that the children request—mainly comics about Batman that they’ve seen on TV. There are other dangers associated with his work too—he sometimes receives phone threats warning him to only distribute religious books or face dire consequences.
“These kids live such stressful lives—they live in a society that is full of death and violence, and they often face violence from their parents at home, too. So we want to keep delivering a bit of joy and calm in their lives through books,” Hosseini said.
1. When Saber Hosseini first started, ______.| A．he was lacking in funds |
| B．he didn’t have enough books |
| C．he was unwilling to ride |
| D．he appealed for more volunteers |
| A．he is in favour of environment protection |
| B．he is fond of taking exercise by bike |
| C．the majority of villages have bad roads |
| D．cars are too expensive for all of volunteers |
| A．Generous but adventurous. |
| B．Caring and talkative. |
| C．Easy-going and generous. |
| D．Great but particular. |
| A．The difficulties Hosseini is facing. |
| B．Hosseini knows little about comics. |
| C．Dangers keep happening to Hosseini. |
| D．Hosseini might give up his project. |
3 . Every year in Australia, the strongest long-distance runners race more than 500 miles from Sydney to Melbourne. The race takes more than five days to complete. It attracts world-class athletes—the kind who become spokespeople for sports shoes and drinks.
In 1983, however, as the competitors lined up to race, they were joined by a 61-year-old farmer wearing overalls（工作服）.
When the race began，the younger runners flew past Cliff. Instead of trying to catch them, Cliff shuffled（拖着脚走）along in an unusual way.
Cliff received $10,000 for winning the race. He said he did not realize there would be prize money, and he gave the money to his fellow runners. Doing this made him a hero in Australia. Since then, many runners have started to use his special way of running.
| A．His name was Cliff Young. |
| B．He greeted them with a big smile. |
| C．No one sleeps during the race anymore, either. |
| D．On the fifth day, the sheep farmer shuffled into the first place. |
| E．Cliff was welcomed by cheerful crowds when he went home. |
| F．Sometimes I had to run after those sheep for two or three days. |
| G．The other runners and the spectators thought he would never finish the race. |
4 . Ray Tokuda,a 54-year-old Japanese American,takes pride in the title his school has already given him.He is a Shifu,a Chinese word literally meaning a master,mentor or senior practioner of martial arts.
Surely, he has reason to be proud.He has been involved with Chinese martial arts for almost 40 years.After learning them at the martial arts school in New Mexico State,he is among the most experienced kung fu teachers of the school today.
Practicing martial arts two to three hours and helping students improve their skills have become Tokuda’s daily routine.He expects to practice and teach martial arts for the rest of his life.“I’m still learning.It’s worth more than a lifetime to learn Chinese martial arts,”he said.“Once I started,I just couldn’t stop.I think it’s also the magic of Chinese culture.”
Tokuda was sent to the martial arts school when he was 10.He still remembers how unwilling he was when starting out.“I remember my father had always wanted to learn Chinese martial arts but never got the chance,so he put his kid in,”he said.“I was so afraid at that time because I thought kung fu was all about fighting.”
But things changed after he learned that martial arts were more than punching and kicking.
“One of the things martial arts teach me is to overcome adversity,”Tokuda said.“As a little kid,my first lesson was like,oh,look,this is a thing that I can get through by diligence,perseverance（毅力）and dedication,and that was priceless for my life.”
Learning Chinese martial arts opened a gateway for him to better understand the culture of China.
Meanwhile,Tokuda has also been invited to various events in his home state to showcase traditional Chinese culture,including the dragon dance and lion dance,which he also learnt at the martial arts school.Because of this,he is now considered a cultural envoy(使者)in the eyes of the public.
1. At first,Tokuda weren’t willing to learn kung fu because he had thought it was______.| A．practical | B．magical | C．violent | D．difficult |
| A．He learnt martial arts from his mother. |
| B．He is the founder of the kung fu school. |
| C．He learnt from martial arts how to solve difficulties. |
| D．He is the most experienced kung fu teacher of his state. |
| A．Modest and friendly. |
| B．Persevering and devoted. |
| C．Talented and humorous. |
| D．Motivated and considerate. |
5 . One spring morning many years ago, I had been prospecting for gold along Coho Creek in southeastern Alaska. Suddenly, no more than 20 paces away was a huge Alaskan timber wolf-caught in a trap.
From her appearance, I guessed she had been trapped for several days. She needed my help, I thought. But if I tried to release her, she would turn aggressive to me. The wolf was clearly suffering. The trap's steel jaws had imprisoned two toes. They were swollen and lacerated, but she wouldn't lose the paw (爪子) — if freed. Yet each time I moved closer, she would make a frightening growl. If I could only win her confidence, I thought. It was her only hope.
Over the next few days, I divided my time between prospecting and trying to win the wolf's trust. I talked gently with her, throwing her some meat. Gradually, I kept edging closer — though I was careful to remain beyond the length of her trap chain.
At dusk on the fifth day, I delivered her dinner. Suddenly, I saw a slight wagging of her tail. I moved within the length of her chain. She remained sill. As a towering man, my heart was in my mouth, though. Within her reach, I wrapped my blanket around myself and slowly settled onto the cold ground. It was long before I fell asleep.
The next morning, I slowly placed my hand on the wolf's injured leg. Unexpectedly; she made no threatening move. Then I applied pressure, the trap sprang open, and the wolf pulled free.
My experience told me the wolf would vanish into the woods quickly. But cautiously, she crept toward me and sniffed my hands and arms. This went against everything I'd ever heard about timber wolves. Yet, strangely, it all seemed so natural.
1. What happened to the timber wolf?| A．She was stuck in a trap. | B．Her food ran out. |
| C．Her legs were swollen. | D．She was caught in the author's trap. |
| A．Some food. | B．The author's care. |
| C．Her trust in the author. | D．Winning the author's confidence. |
| A．He was too close to the wolf. | B．The ground was too cold. |
| C．The wolf remained still. | D．The wolf wagged her tail. |
| A．It was frightening and surprising. | B．It was unexpected but natural. |
| C．It was humorous and natural. | D．It was terrifying but encouraging. |
6 . It was an extremely cold December night, and I had just settled into the living room sofa with a book when I heard a sharp knocking on the front door. The sound frightened me, mainly because it was 8:45 PM, quite dark outside, and I was alone. My husband had left two days before for a meeting.
I sat thinking for a moment about who could be at my door at that hour. I live on a really quiet street on the North Shore about a block off the main road. Hours can go by without a car or pedestrian(行人)passing in front of my home, a small house that's more than 100 years old.
Another moment passed. More sharp knocking. And then a face pressed against the square window in my front door, with which I made eye contact(接触). A woman's face. She was saying something, but I couldn't make it out.
I wish I could say that the first thing I wanted to do was to jump off the sofa to help this woman, but I hesitated(犹豫)because of all the bad stories about women who open their doors to strangers. What went through my mind was this: What if I open the door and she isn't alone but has an accomplice(同伙)hiding behind that big plant, and then they both come in and kill me?
Still, I opened the door. If I was killed, I had had a good life. She ran into my living room "Gracias. My phone---is dead." Speaking mostly Spanish, but intermixed with bits of English, the woman indicated(暗示)that she was lost, that her phone was dead and that she needed to call her sister who was supposed to have picked her up at the train station but hadn't. So she had decided to try and walk to her sister's but had gotten completely lost in the dark.
I offered to make her some tea while we waited for her phone to charge enough so that she could show me her sister's address.
1. Why does the author mention her surroundings in Paragraph 2?| A．To show off her wealth and social position. |
| B．To stress her house can seldom be visited. |
| C．To express her satisfaction with her life. |
| D．To explain how to find her house easily. |
| A．She turned a deaf ear to it. |
| B．She answered it immediately. |
| C．She asked her husband for advice. |
| D．She thought twice before opening the door. |
| A．She mistook her sister's address. |
| B．She was a native English speaker. |
| C．She meant to turn to the author for help. |
| D．She got in touch with her sister just recently. |
| A．Unusual. | B．Relaxing. |
| C．Frightening. | D．Painful. |
7 . In one of the old buildings near our school, one could see an old man sitting by a large window on the first floor. His name was James. During the three years at school, I had hardly ever found him missing from his usual position.
He was a high-ranking government official and lived happily with his wife. Once there was a bus accident, in which a number of passengers were seriously injured and were taken to the hospital for treatment. James was responsible for the rescue operation. It was a big hospital, but James was shocked to notice how ill-equipped it was. There were no enough life-saving drugs and life-supporting equipment. The injured and their companions had to struggle there. James attempted to help. However, though he emptied his pockets, many of them died that day.
That was a turning point in his life. He made a decision to devote his life to helping others, particularly the poor and needy patients and their companions. He began spending much of his income on these people. Since this required a lot of time and energy, he found it difficult to fulfill his official duties and therefore chose to retire, which, in turn, reduced his income considerably.
His wife was deeply worried. Most of the time, James was out and paid least attention to home affairs. Meanwhile, as he was spending a lot helping others, she had to struggle even to meet the household expenses. Though she was not opposed to his helping the poor, she urged him not to overlook his own life and home, but it had no effect on him. One day they had a heated argument and in the end she left him, never to return. Though he continued with his work, this was a great blow and did serious harm to his health and enthusiasm and he was soon forced to stay indoors. That was when he took his position by the window, spending his time looking outside.
A few weeks after my graduation, I returned to school, only to find the buildings gone. I heard that they were torn down. All the people left except James. He refused to go' and the next morning, he was found at his usual place by the window, dead.
1. What changed James' view toward life?| A．The difficulties in his career. | B．The deaths in the bus accident. |
| C．The bad conditions in the hospital. | D．The responsibilities in the operation. |
| A．take care of the injured passengers |
| B．find a better job to increase his income |
| C．spare more time and energy to help others |
| D．stay away from the difficult official duties |
| A．she was strongly against his deeds |
| B．James paid too little attention to his work |
| C．her work to support their daily life was too tiring |
| D．James failed to keep a balance between charity and home |
8 . Around four years ago, I received a call from the principal of our school as to the “Parents View” talk the next morning. He asked me to speak to the group. After the call, my whole body became feverish and panicky. The time from his call to the next morning seemed like years. The whole night, I could not sleep with many ominous apprehensions in mind. One of them was to call the principal with regret and tell him that I could not come. Finally, I gathered some courage. I thought, “If I miss this opportunity, surely the school will never invite me again to any of their programs.”
I reached the school in time. Before my turn came, my whole body was trembling. When my turn came and I started speaking, my heartbeat increased and my mouth went dry. I wasn’t even able to read the written speech properly. I was not aware of where I was standing and what I was reading. That was the day when I realized my biggest weakness, Public Speaking.
After my speech，I met with the principal and explained what happened to me. He told me that this happens to everyone. Even great speakers faced the same things when they started. He suggested that I come again next time.
Around one month later, I was invited to refer to a topic on Motivation. This time I was feeling comfortable. My speech was appreciated by the principal as well as the teachers, because I was able to get my idea across to them. They encouraged and praised my efforts.
After the successful delivering, I became more confident. I said to myself, “If I can speak in front of such a learned audience, like the principal who educates others, I can now speak in front of others too.”
I started delivering lectures in my plant, on various topics like Self-Motivation, Personality Development, Personal Excellence, Spoken English and Presentation Skills. This has become a passion for me. I learned that everything is possible if we have the courage to take the first step.
1. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?| A．Practice Makes a Man a Better Speaker. | B．Public Speaking Makes a Man Embarrassed. |
| C．Principal Provides the Best Chances. | D．Spoken English Develops in Speeches. |
| A．he disliked the principal | B．he had got a high fever before that |
| C．he regretted turning down another invitation | D．he feared he couldn’t perform it properly |
| A．Unlucky opportunities. | B．Negative ideas. | C．Curious colleagues. | D．Happy comments. |
| A．Nothing is to be got without pains but poverty. |
| B．Knowledge makes one humble, while ignorance makes one proud. |
| C．A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. |
| D．Necessity is the mother of invention. |
9 . Life on the street is a constant struggle for homeless people. In times of extreme weather conditions, that struggle becomes even more difficult. Recently, homeless people across Chicago faced freezing to death if they couldn't find shelter for the night.
Thankfully, one local woman refused to let that happen. On January 30，2018, 34-year-old Candice Payne, a local managing broker, was lucky enough to have shelter from the dangerous conditions.
“It was - 20℃, and I knew they were going to be sleeping on ice and I had to do something,” said Payne. Payne started brainstorming different ways she could possibly help. Finally， she decided to see if there were any rooms available at local inns and hotels that she could get to help those stuck on the street.
For Payne, her mission was personal. According to Payne, her husband, Carlos Callahan， had lived on the streets at one point in his life. Based on his experiences, Payne knew that the homeless people still out on the street desperately needed help and that if she didn't step up to help, no one likely would.
However, when Payne explained what she was trying to do，many of the local hotels refused to allow her to pay for the rooms as they didn't want homeless people to stay in their rooms. “No one wanted them, but one hotel, the Amber Inn, was nice enough to allow me to buy the rooms,” said Payne.
Payne's selfless act made news across the country. However, she insisted she had never done it for attention. “I am a regular person, ” said Payne, who spent thousands of dollars of her own money to help complete strangers.“It all sounded like a rich person did this, but I’m just a little black girl from the South Side. ”
1. What does the underlined word “ that” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Locals living on the street‘ |
| B．The homeless freezing to death. |
| C．The extreme weather. |
| D．The shelter for the homeless. |
| A．By drawing public attention. |
| B．By giving them money directly. |
| C．By taking them to her own house. |
| D．By buying hotel rooms for them. |
| A．Her husband's past experiences. |
| B．The requests from the homeless. |
| C．Her desire to become famous. |
| D．The coldness of local hotels. |
| A．A Black Fighter Changes the World |
| B．A Woman’s Curiosity Brings a Reward |
| C．A Regular Woman Makes a Difference |
| D．A Couple's Brave Act Moves the Country |
10 . It was dawn of March 21, 2018. Gary Messina was on his morning run along New York City’s East River. Suddenly something caught his eye – a large 60-year-old man balancing on the four-foot-high fence that guarded the path from the water. As Messina got closer to the scene, the man took a step forward and slipped into the dark river below.
When Messina reached nearer, the man was struggling in the water, clearly unable to swim. Other joggers also heard the man’s cry. David Blauzvern and John Green dropped their phones and keys on land and jumped in. “People had called the police, but it was unclear when they’d get there.” says Green. “We just reacted.” Messina joined them in the river. Just as the jumper was losing strength, Blauzvern take hold of him. The pair were about 30 yards from the seawall when Messina and Green caught up to them. They seized the man, with Blauzvern supporting his back and Messina and Green holding him up from either side. As the men made their toward the concrete seawall that stretched (延伸) for blocks in each direction, Blauzvern had an awful realization: there was no way out of the river.
By now, a crowd had gathered on land. “A rescue boat is on its way,” someone yelled to them. Swimming forward was getting tougher by the minute. The jumper, who was six foot two and weighed around 260 pounds, was heavy in his rescuers’ arms. After ten minutes, they managed to get to the river’s edge. “I’ve never been so out of breath,” says Blauzvern.
Fifteen minutes after the men had jumped into the river, the two-man rescue boat appeared. But because it couldn’t risk getting too close to the seawall, the men had to swim out to it. “I was completely out of energy at this point,” says Blauzvern. The men in the water pushed the jumper while the men in the boat pulled him up and, finally, to safety. The man they had saved was taken to the hospital for evaluation(评估). Details on his condition have not been known. As for the rescuers, each of them was at work by 10:30 a.m. “I was a bit late,” admits Blauzvern, smiling. “But I had a good excuse.”
1. The story mainly centers around ________.| A．why the old man slipped into the river |
| B．who saved the old man |
| C．how the old man was rescued |
| D．when and where the accident happened |
| A．Gary Messina. | B．David Blauzvern. |
| C．John Green. | D．An unknown jogger. |
| A．The rescued man is rather tall and fat. |
| B．Police would never be found on the spot of rescue. |
| C．The process of rescuing the man took up the whole morning/ |
| D．The man was actually saved by the two-man rescue boat. |
| A．The man wanted to kill himself in the river. |
| B．The men is the river were all good swimmers. |
| C．The man was taken home immediately he was saved. |
| D．Blauzvern felt at ease even if he was late for work that day. |
