1 . One day Howard had to go to New York for a meeting. He flew to New York and called a taxi.
“Congratulations!” he said. “You’re my first passenger and this is my first day as a taxi driver, but you don’t have to worry. In my old job I had lots of driving experience, and I know the city very well.”
Howard looked at his watch and noticed that he was early for his meeting. He decided to ask the driver to take him to a bookstore. He leaned forward and tapped him on his shoulder.
Howard was afraid. He shouted at the taxi driver. “Be careful!”
The driver screamed again, and the taxi went suddenly to the other side of the road and almost hit a truck. The truck driver shook his fist (拳头) angrily.
The driver looked at Howard. Then slowly he began to laugh. He laughed and laughed.
“What was your old job?” asked Howard. “Didn’t I tell you?” said the driver. “I used to drive a car that carried coffins (棺材) to funerals (葬礼)!”
| A．“That’s good,” said Howard. “I’m sure you’ll be a good driver.” |
| B．“I’m good at avoiding accidents,” the driver said confidently. |
| C．The driver screamed and made the taxi go suddenly across the road. |
| D．He told the driver the address of the hotel and sat in the back seat. |
| E．“It’s not funny,” said Howard. “You could have killed somebody!” |
| F．Then the taxi went into the sidewalk, just missing two more pedestrians (行人). |
| G．On the way to the hotel, Howard wanted to stop at a bookstore, so he tapped the driver on the shoulder. |
2 . I was feeling splendid this morning! When approaching the bakery I saw a man asking for coins. I’ve often seen him and usually don’t react well to his whiney (嘀咕不停的) tone of his voice. This time I decided I’d give him something. After I’d paid for my tea-to-go, I got a 5 Euro bill ready. Leaving the store really slowly so he’d have a good chance to approach me, I nearly ran into him.
“Would you maybe have some coins for me?” He asked.
I said, “No, sorry, I don’t,” and watched his face fall already at what he thought was a refusal, one of many thousands he probably gets each day.
“I only have this for you”, I said and held the bill in front of his eyes. The way his jaw nearly fell and his eyes widened were priceless.
“Err… wow!” he said, doing a double-take. “That’s really… Thanks.”
“No problem,” I said. “I’m doing well at the moment, and I wanted to share it—have a good day!”
And I walked away. Actually, I walked away leisurely (悠闲地), and I did giggle and laugh out loud for the next 200 meters. Really, you should have seen his face. He totally had not seen that coming! The joy, I think, did not just come from the fact that I love being generous. It also came from breaking up his expectations of what would happen, to allow for that tiny moment of amazement.
1. How did the beggar feel when the writer said “No”?| A．Worried. | B．Surprised. | C．Disappointed. | D．Grateful. |
| A．wasn’t used to being refused | B．hesitated before reaction |
| C．accepted my offer immediately | D．understood me without difficulty |
| A．the beggar didn’t expect so much money | B．he was attracted by the beggar’s face |
| C．he found the beggar was blind | D．the beggar wished him a good day |
| A．He’s always generous to people in need. | B．He enjoys making fun of poor people. |
| C．He lacks sympathy for the poor. | D．He can find happiness from little things. |
3 . Being highly successful in any field is pretty rare. It takes a combination of natural talent, luck, determination, and plenty of outside support for someone to make it big in sports, entertainment, or business. But what if competing is all that matters to you, whether you are likely to succeed or not? This was the goal of Michael Edwards, better known as Eddie “The Eagle” Edwards, and his reaching that goal was an amazing achievement.
Born in the UK in 1963, Edwards was a passionate downhill skier whose dream was to compete for Britain in world-class competitions. He would have liked to represent his country in the 1984 Winter Olympics, but there were a large number of downhill competitors, and Edwards didn’t qualify. Seeing his chance elsewhere, he switched to ski jumping. Ski jumping didn’t cost as much as downhill skiing, and there was almost no competition for a place on the British team.
But a number of hurdles could have meant the end of Edwards’ dream. He weighed more than most competitors. He had no financial support for his training. Poor eyesight meant that he had to wear glasses under his goggles—not a good thing when they steamed up at high altitudes. But he couldn’t let any of these discourage him. He saw himself as a true lover of the sport who simply wanted the chance to compete. Winning wasn’t the point. Having the opportunity to try was all he cared about. And nothing could stop him from trying.
In the end, Edwards took 55th place at the 1987 World Championships. He then went on to the
1988 Winter Olympics where he finished last. Many athletes would have been embarrassed about this result, but he is proud of his achievements to this day. His determination to fight against all the odds made him a global hero, and in 2016, the inspiring film Eddie the Eagle was made about his life.
1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?
| A．To add some background information. | B．To uncover the secret of success. |
| C．To expect an answer from readers. | D．To introduce the topic. |
| A．It was more popular. | B．It needed fewer skills. |
| C．There was little competition. | D．There was free equipment. |
| A．Doubts. | B．Obstacles. | C．Changes. | D．Options. |
| A．His passion for the sport. | B．His determination to win. |
| C．His attitude towards the Olympics. | D．His ability to overcome physical disabilities. |
4 . On March 14, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic (新冠疫情) forced 57th Street Books, in Chicago, to close its doors. The store wouldn’t reopen for nearly a year and a half. During that time, director Jeff Deutsch was worried. Customers couldn’t come to the shop. His main advantage over online business had gone overnight.
Deutsch said he and his team were lucky. Customers stepped up. They offered gifts and support. “There was something very beautiful in the way our community came together,” he said. “We really supported one another’s businesses,”
Similar stories played out over the past two years in cities and towns around the country. Though independent bookstores were forced to close during the pandemic, many found ways to connect with and help their community.
Anne Holman is co-owner of the King’s English Bookshop. It’s in Salt Lake City, Utah. She said the store put books outside for reading and started doing a lot of events online. Other stores set up bookselling hotlines, and improved their tools for e-business.
Some bookstores did events that went more than bookselling. They offered COVID testing. They collected food for people in need. “Having an independent bookstore in your community is almost like a town square,” said Samira Ahmed, an author of books for young adults. “It’s an important place to build community.”
11-year-old Adele Sorkin, a fan of 57th Street Books, is on its Young Readers Advisory Board. Members receive early copies of books in exchange for writing reviews. “I think of the bookstore as a cookie jar (罐子),” Adele says. “It’s something special and fun that is always there for you.” Jeff Deutsch sees a bright future. “If we reimagine bookstores and do our best to support them,” he says, “then bookstores can thrive (兴盛).”
1. Why did Jeff Deutsch feel lucky?| A．A smart team had been built. | B．He could shop on the Internet. |
| C．Customers gave him a hand. | D．Online business grew overnight. |
| A．How they sold books to the young. | B．When they built a town square. |
| C．Why they helped people in need. | D．What they did for the community. |
| A．She dreams of running a business. | B．She praises the 57th Street Books. |
| C．She often brings cookies with her. | D．She tries to write a short story. |
| A．They will mostly offer COVID testing. |
| B．Their advantage has turned into nothing. |
| C．They could take the place of e-business. |
| D．Their growth is tied to the community. |
5 . Rain beat against the window, matching my mood. I should have known that my new job at the hospital was too good to be true. Throughout the day, rumors (传言) warned that the newest employee from each department would be laid off. I was the newest one in the training department.
My boss appeared. “You probably know we’re cutting back,” he said. “Administration wants us to offer outplacement classes to help those employees find other jobs, showing them how to act in an interview, for example.” “Fine,” I answered unwillingly, not knowing what else to say.
I decided to go home early that day. In the hall, I met the lady who brought us cookies every Friday. She was a little woman with gray hair. Only her head and the top of her green apron (围裙) were visible over the cart (小车) loaded with cleaning supplies. At least she had a job!
At the final meeting, laid-off workers formed a line at the door. A colleague whispered, “I can’t believe our Cookie Lady is being laid off. We’ll miss her as much as we’ll miss her cookies.” When the colleague spoke to her in Spanish, I knew my classes would be useless for her and I realized how much better off I was than this poor woman.
I decided to do something for her. I wrote to a newspaper expressing how I felt about the unselfishness of the Cookie Lady who needed a job. A few days later, my article appeared in the newspaper and the Cookie Lady was allowed to stay in her position. On the same day, I received a letter, which seemed so unlikely that I read it twice. “An editor of a local magazine likes your piece and wants you to call her next time you’re looking for work…”
1. How did the author feel on that rainy day?| A．Nervous. | B．Excited. | C．Embarrassed. | D．Proud. |
| A．Take care of patients. | B．Leave earlier that day. |
| C．Help the laid-off workers. | D．Give up the job in the hospital. |
| A．He offered her a high-paid job. | B．He gave her advice on job hunting. |
| C．He made her story known to others. | D．He taught her how to pass an interview. |
| A．Good deeds have their rewards. |
| B．A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
| C．Little people can make a big difference. |
| D．Love brings more joy to people than work does. |
6 . When I was younger, I had been a top student with a strong desire to attend a top university. But things started to go downhill for me in high school after my parents divorced. Torn between wanting to be with my mother, who moved to Canada alone with no support, and with my beloved aging grandfather in Pakistan, I moved back and forth, struggling with my studies. I barely graduated from high school and entered an ordinary college, feeling that I had already failed.
I got discouraged, and began to suffer from severe depression. The death of my grandfather was the final straw. With no real hope for the future, I dropped out and returned to my mother and sisters in Canada.
Then I was riding with a trucking company to help support my mother and sisters. During those long hours on the road, my grandfather’s last words came back to me: “Please accept the challenges of life and work harder. It is now or never. I hope you will never disappoint us.” With his words ringing in my ears, I discovered a newfound resolve. My path suddenly became clear: I had to finish what I had started and go back to school.
To get back on track, I needed to take a full course load while continuing to work enough part-time hours to help pay the bills. After graduating from high school again, I began university engineering cooperation program, in which I worked as a paid intern (实习生) every other term, allowing me to keep my student loans in check. At the same time, I tried my best to focus on my studies. After completing my university, I went on to a master’s and now a PhD, wining several research awards along the way.
My path to this point has made one thing clear: Never fear failure. I hope I have made my grandfather proud.
1. Which of the following can best describe the author’s life in his first high school?| A．Struggling. | B．Ordinary. | C．Fruitful. | D．Boring. |
| A．He had a big family to support. | B．He had to get a well-paid job. |
| C．He felt hopeless about the future. | D．He fought with his classmate. |
| A．He was laughed at by his mother and sisters. | B．He was encouraged to win research awards. |
| C．He was motivated by his grandfather s words. | D．He was forced to acquire more skills at work. |
| A．Business. | B．Science. | C．Health. | D．Life. |
7 . There was once a boy called Mario who loved to have lots of friends at school. However, he wasn’t sure whether or not his classmates were his true friends, so he asked his grandpa. The old man answered, “I have just exactly what you need; it’s in the attic (阁楼). Wait here for a minute.”
Grandpa left, soon returning as though carrying something in his hand, but Mario could see nothing there. “Take it. It’s a very special chair. Because it’s invisible (无形的) it’s rather difficult to sit on, but if you take it to school and you manage to sit on it, you’ll be able to tell who your true friends are.”
Mario took the strange invisible chair and went to school. At break time he asked everyone to form a circle, and he put himself in the middle, with his chair. “Nobody move. You’re about to see something amazing,” Mario said.
Then Mario tried sitting on the chair. He missed and fell straight onto his backside. Everyone had a pretty good laugh. Mario wouldn’t be beaten. He kept trying to sit on the magic chair, and kept falling to the ground... until, suddenly, he tried again and didn’t fall. This time he sat, hovering (悬停) in mid-air.
Looking around, Mario saw George, Lucas, and Diana — three of his best friends — holding him up, so he wouldn’t fall. At the same time, many others he had thought of as friends were doing nothing but make fun of him, enjoying each and every fall.
Leaving with his three friends, Mario explained to them how his grandpa had so cleverly thought of such a good idea. Now he knows that those who take joy in our misfortunes (不幸) when we are in difficulty are not our true friends.
1. What did Mario’s grandpa take from the attic?| A．An invisible chair. | B．An old chair. |
| C．A real chair. | D．Nothing. |
| A．To see whether Mario could sit on it. |
| B．To test who were Mario’s true friends. |
| C．To let Mario have fun with his classmates. |
| D．To test whether Mario was popular at school. |
| A．He saw the invisible chair suddenly. |
| B．He managed to sit on the chair finally. |
| C．His friends held him up with their hands. |
| D．His classmates gave him a chair to sit on. |
| A．Never laugh at our friends. |
| B．True friends can help us do magic. |
| C．True friends are those who care for us. |
| D．Having too many good friends isn’t a good thing. |
8 . On January 22, 2022, the British-Belgian 19-year-old, Zara Rutherford, successfully landed her two-seat microlight aircraft back at the Kortrijk-Wevelgem Airport, from where she had departed 155 days ago, fulfilling her dream to be the youngest woman to fly around the world solo.
“I feel excited not only to break the Guinness World Record, but also to diminish the gender gap by 11 years between the current youngest male record holder Travis Ludlow 18 at the time of his record, and the previous female record holder Shaesta Waez, who was 30 when she completed her ‘Dreams Soar’ around-the-world flight.” Rutherford wrote on her blog.
Rutherford’s journey crossing five continents and 52 countries began on August 18, 2021. She encountered numerous unexpected delays along the way. They included an unscheduled stop in Redding, California, due to wildfires and a month-long stop in Nome, Alaska, to renew her Russian visa. She also faced several challenges in the air. When flying from Iceland to Greenland, Rutherford lost radio contact with her ground team for much of the 3-hour flight. The incidents also resulted in her having to cross over Russia in sub-zero temperatures. The hardest part was flying over Siberia — it was extremely cold and if the engine broke down, she’d be hours away from rescue. Despite the severe difficulties, the determined young pilot never gave up on her dream.
Rutherford grew up around airplanes. Her British father flies commercially, while her Belgian mother is a recreational pilot. The young girl began learning how to fly at age 14 and obtained her aviators license in 2020. With her goal of flying around the world accomplished, Rutherford now has her sights set even higher. She wants to become an astronaut and explore space.
She hopes that her journey will encourage more young women to pursue careers in aviation. Currently the number of female pilots is just 5 percent. Rutherford says, “It’s an easy thing to say, but just go for it. If you don’t try and see how high you can fly, then you’ll never know.”
1. What does the underlined word “diminish” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Cause. | B．Divide. | C．Narrow. | D．Expand. |
| A．The wildfires were too fierce. | B．Her Russian visa was due. |
| C．The weather was too severe. | D．Her engine broke down. |
| A．To switch to a new topic. | B．To summarize her achievements. |
| C．To illustrate her admirable talents. | D．To add some background information. |
| A．Life is not all roses. | B．Dream big, aim high. |
| C．Not to advance is to go back. | D．The greatest talkers, the least doers. |
9 . Becca was 6 when she was told she had cancer on Sept. 8, 2014. She clearly remembers the bad days of her 26 months of non -stop treatment. Luckily, Becca celebrated her final treatment on Nov. 13, 2016, and she has been cancer-free ever since. But she was thinking about what her life was like while experiencing the treatment.
“I was never able to do much, and that’s what the kids lying in their hospital beds right now experience, asking their mom and dad, ‘When are we leaving? When can I play with my friends?’ So I decided I have to help them.”
In February, 2017, Becca came up with the idea for Knots and Arrows, a company that makes bracelets (手镯) out of swimsuit materials (泳衣布料). Part of the money made from each bracelet goes to the organizations that help people with cancer.
Becca created the company with her father, Gerhard Salmins. Gerhard Salmins once had cancer and already recovered from it. “I would be in the hospital sitting there crying and then my dad would come in and he would play games with me,” she said. “It made me forget about what I was going through” Becca said the name of the organization shows the motto (座右铭) she stuck to through her personal cancer journey.
Her organization has already given thousands of dollars to research organizations and families in need. Becca said she hoped her bracelets would make people remember that great things can result from small changes. “No matter what age you are, what you look like, and how you act, you can make a difference!”she said.
1. What happened to Becca at the end of 2016?| A．She recovered from cancer. | B．She created an organization. |
| C．She raised a lot of money. | D．She was helped by a company. |
| A．He showed Becca a famous motto. | B．He fought off cancer successfully. |
| C．He advised Becca to forget her pain. | D．He named the company Knots and Arrows. |
| A．Negative. | B．Creative. | C．Caring. | D．Clever. |
| A．To tell us having a motto is important. |
| B．To prove cancer can be got over successfully. |
| C．To show there’s always someone who needs help. |
| D．To make us realize everyone can make a difference. |
10 . Tired of working in IT and staying the same in Australia, Paulo Cattaneo decided to make a change. In 2015 he started a strict budget so he could save up enough money to buy his dream KTM 1190 motorbike, a camera, and enough funds to support himself for a few years.
Then he gave up his job, packed his things, and set off on an adventure, travelling the world on his motorbike. Paulo, 39, has spent the last four years biking through Australia, South America, North America, and Europe, riding up to 12 hours a day and spending his nights in his tent under the stars.
“Australia for me was my first experience riding long distance and I was mind-blown by the beauty of the old continent.” Paulo wrote on his travel journal, “Traveling through Latin America, I explored the rainforest and learned Spanish and Portuguese. Mexico has some of the best food I ever had and Peru is an interesting place where I can enjoy the unique local Indian culture, also called Inca civilization.”
Paulo has managed to keep his travels going by keeping his budget tight, so he hasn’t had to get a job for his travels. To keep costs low, he seldom looked for accommodation in hotels and went camping instead. Thankfully, the motorbike, which Paulo bought secondhand in Australia, has not required any major repairs since he set off. The journey isn’t always easy, but Paulo has never looked back.
Sadly, the Covid-19 pandemic put a stop to his travels in Greece when he traveled around Europe, and Paulo has had to spend the last few months in Italy, his homeland. Once the world is back up and running, he plans to return to life on the road and explore Asia and Africa.
1. What did Paulo begin to do in 2015?| A．Change his job to live a better life. | B．Travel the world on his motorbike. |
| C．Collect enough money to buy a car. | D．Prepare for his trip around the world. |
| A．The way to travel. | B．The last destination of travel. |
| C．The places he’d been to. | D．The accommodation of travel. |
| A．He enjoyed the best food in Peru. | B．He got a job to support his travel. |
| C．The motorbike often troubled him. | D．The view in Australia attracted him. |
| A．Paulo was glad to return to his homeland. | B．Paulo had to find accommodation in hotel. |
| C．The Covid-19 couldn’t stop Paulo’s dream. | D．Being alone was a challenge during Paulo’s trip. |
