1 . 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. |
2 . From two-time winner on the Ladies European Tour(LET)to Wales’ first ever Sondheim Cup player, there were many ways for onlookers to label Becky Brewer-ton in 2012, but none got close to the way she was describing herself.
In January 2012, Brewer-ton was enjoying a peaceful Sunday afternoon in Spain before deciding to venture out on a bike ride. One small stone on a corner later got the 29-year-old flying headfirst over the handlebars, cutting her head and tearing half the skin on her right hand. The crash was so severe that it left a cut around her hip joint (髋关节) big enough to fit her entire thumb into. Suddenly becoming near-disabled, she was always feeling genuinely scared on the golf course, but could do little to get rid of such feelings. After shooting 88 on the opening day at the Ladies European Masters in2016, she was told by officials that she could not return for the second round. Then, almost overnight, her game disappeared. In Brewer-ton’s own words, she had hit rock bottom.
As Brewer-ton’s ranking fell downwards, so too did her income. She worked for Amazon, Deliveroo, and then in the professional shop of a golf club. Without a place to live, she stayed with a friend and former physical trainer for two and a half years. Working other jobs acted as a “reality check”, offering a perspective of how lucky she felt to be a professional sportsperson. She began journaling and meditating. Despite her struggles, Brewer-ton never fell out of love with golf. After returning to LET qualifying school to regain her Tour card, by the end of 2021, Brewer-ton found herself again enjoying golf.
While she dreams of a return to silverware, the 39-year-old is targeting a success beyond wins. “I’ve absolutely, hand on heart, promised myself that I’m not going to interpret those days as bad things, because this is what we live for.” she said.
1. What did the cycling experience mean to Brewer-ton’s career?| A．A starting line. | B．A tough challenge. |
| C．A breakthrough. | D．A turning point. |
| A．To make ends meet. | B．To gain work experience. |
| C．To change her perspective. | D．To make golf her passion. |
| A．Consistent and positive. | B．Determined and reliable. |
| C．Inventive and independent. | D．Adventurous and responsible. |
| A．Constant dropping wears the stone. |
| B．Every man is his own worst enemy. |
| C．Difficult circumstances serve as a textbook of life. |
| D．When a man is going down-hill, everyone will give him a push. |
3 . When my son first began competing in school chess tournaments, I often chatted with other parents. Occasionally, I would ask if they played chess themselves. Normally, the reply was no. When I volunteered that I was learning to play, their tone was cheerfully joking, “Good luck with that!” If this game is so good, why are adults ignoring it? Seeing someone playing smart phone games, I preferred to say, “Why are you having your kids do chess while you play?”
Sure, we parents had work to do, work that helped pay for the lessons our kids were enjoying. But I was also wondering if we were sending an unnoticeable message that learning was for the young. During one tournament, I saw a group of parents playing chess! Just then, a group of kids passed me, “Why are adults learning chess?” One asked, in an apparently joking tone.
I was tired of sitting on the sidelines. I wanted in, and that is why I got a membership card and started throwing myself in. “Early on, I was nervous, even the master can sometimes play badly,” as one Grandmaster put it “a fan never”. And a fan I was. It was three hours of concentration and thinking with my phone off. It felt like a gym where I was trained to solve problems with focus, memory, logic, and occasional headaches. And of course hours of absence of digital devices would never be no good for thinking sharply.
Being a beginner can be hard at any age, but it gets harder when you are older. The phrase “adult beginner” has an fairly gentle pity. It implies the learning of something that you should have perhaps already learned.
1. What can we learn about other parents from their remarks?| A．They were ignoring other learners. |
| B．They agreed on the idea of learning chess. |
| C．They thought it odd for an adult to learn chess. |
| D．They gave congratulations to the adult lessons. |
| A．Laughable. | B．Unimaginable. | C．Understandable. | D．Sensible. |
| A．Not being noticed. | B．Not being involved. |
| C．Expressing confusing ideas. | D．Following what others do. |
| A．It helped him remain calm. | B．It helped him train his brain. |
| C．It made him proud of himself. | D．It made him look rather funny. |
4 . Every April, I find myself troubled by the same concern—that spring might not occur this year. The landscape looks dull, with hills, sky and forest appearing gray. On May 3, I awoke to a green so amazing as to be almost electric, as if spring were simply a matter of pressing a switch. Hills, sky and forest revealed their purples, blues and green.
Then there was the old apple tree. It sits on an undeveloped lot in my neighborhood. It belongs to no one and therefore to everyone. The tree’s dark branches stretch out in unpruned (未经修剪的) abandon.
Until last year, I thought I was the only one aware of this tree. And then one day, in a bit of spring madness, I set out to prune (修剪) a few disorderly branches. No sooner had I arrived under the tree than neighbors opened their windows and stepped onto their porches (门廊). These were people I barely knew, but it was as if I had come uninvited into their personal gardens. My mobile-home neighbor was the first to speak. “You’re not going to cut it down, are you?” she asked anxiously.
Soon, half the neighborhood joined me under the apple tree. It struck me that I had lived there for five years and only now was learning these people’s names, what they did for a living and how they passed the winter. It was as if the old apple tree was gathering us under its branches for the purpose of both acquaintanceship and shared wonder.
Just the other day, I saw one neighbor at the local store. He remarked how this recent winter had been especially long and complained of not having seen or spoken at length to anyone in our neighborhood. And then, he looked at me and said, “We need to prune that apple tree again.”
1. How did the author feel about the sudden change of the view?| A．Frightened. | B．Depressed. | C．Surprised. | D．Annoyed. |
| A．They intended to greet the author. |
| B．They felt astonished to notice a stranger. |
| C．They meant to protect their personal gardens. |
| D．They wondered what might happen to the tree. |
| A．It served as a bond. | B．It was left unattended. |
| C．It stayed in a poor condition. | D．It proved to be unappealing. |
| A．The arrival of spring. | B．The neighborhood gathering. |
| C．The pruning of the apple tree. | D．Entertainment in the long winter. |
5 . A Colorado woman who lost the diamond engagement ring given to her by her fiance shortly before he died was reunited with the precious item weeks later by a man who found it in the mud.
Raquel Aiken said she had just finished a game of tennis in Denver a few weeks ago when she apparently dropped her ring on the ground while fishing her keys out of her purse. She said she didn’t realize what had happened until much later.
Aiken told KDVR-TV about her missing ring, and the story came to the attention of Dude Olguin, an employee at Brewery Bar II in Denver, when he overheard some customers talking about it. Olguin said he wondered if the woman from the story was the owner of the ring he recently found.
“I was getting ready to go to my third job the next day. I was just going to my car, and I just happened to look down,” Olguin told KDVR-TV. “My first reaction, you know, temptation—maybe go pawn it or to find a jeweler to tell me more about it,” he said. “But really, my faith told me just to hold onto it and just wait and listen.”
Olguin asked Aiken to meet him at the restaurant. “He went to his car, and came back with the ring,” Aiken said. “Immediately I was in tears, I couldn’t believe it. It’s a miracle.” She said the return of the ring was especially meaningful. “It definitely reconnected me again with my fiance,” Aiken said. “The fact of where it was found and how it was found and an employee that works here at a place he loves. The whole connection is really, really amazing and a true blessing.”
Olguin declined a reward for the ring’s return. “I told her, the payment for me is our friendship, and we’re going to be lifetime friends,” Olguin said.
1. What caused Aiken to lose the diamond ring?| A．Her forgetfulness. | B．Her carelessness. |
| C．Her broken purse. | D．Her playing tennis. |
| A．He chose to follow his faith. |
| B．He wanted to keep it for himself. |
| C．He wanted to return it to its owner. |
| D．He asked Aiken to meet him immediately. |
| A．It was a priceless collection. | B．It was a symbol of friendship. |
| C．It reminded her of her fiance. | D．It was well designed by her fiance. |
| A．The lost diamond ring found in the mud |
| B．The lost diamond ring returned by a stranger |
| C．Kindness—a quality to spread in a community |
| D．Kindness—a quality to pay forward among strangers |
6 . A waitress who lost her job during the coronavirus pandemic has kick-started her own career as a business woman and baker. She turned one of her lockdown hobbies into a business that brings her a lot of money.
Mona Route, 27, was let go from her server job at an airport in Melbourne, Australia, when COVID-19 hit in March 2020, and the new-found time on her hands left her feeling “so bored”. With nothing else to do, Mona decided to take up baking as a hobby to pass the time and soon found herself trying out experimental dessert recipes—which eventually led her to start her own cookie business.
Mona’s various cookie recipes became her “cheat meal” when she was on her mission to lose weight, and the massive snacks are made up of baked cookie dough (面团) that surrounds a sweet filling. The cookies quickly became a hit with her family and friends, and when her dad suggested she start selling the sweet treats, the woman set up Mona’s Treats with 15 unique cookie flavors to choose from.
The keen baker created an account on the Internet and spent 282 on ingredients for her first industrial-sized batch. At first, Mona was selling around 30 to 40 cookies a month, but she now has a monthly average of 450 orders—leaving her waking up at 2 am to keep up with demand. During the height of lockdown, Mona was selling as many as 700 cookies a month. Mona currently makes an impressive 1,700 every month from selling cookies in addition to her main occupation, and has turned over 14,000 since she started up.
The cook, who runs her business from her parents’ kitchen, is even hoping to transition into baking full-time when she can reach 1,500 orders a month. She said, “Hopefully one day I can do this in a commercial kitchen.”
1. What made Mona feel “so bored”?| A．Working as a waitress at an airport. |
| B．Doing cookie business all day. |
| C．Experimenting with massive recipes. |
| D．Having too much free time. |
| A．Mona set up her own company. |
| B．Mona’s business began to take off. |
| C．Mona was successful in losing weight. |
| D．Mona’s business was against her family’s will. |
| A．Hardworking and creative. | B．Kind and generous. |
| C．Confident and determined. | D．Ambitious and independent. |
| A．Well begun, half done. | B．Practice makes perfect. |
| C．Actions speak louder than words. | D．Misfortune may be an actual blessing. |
7 . Nicholas Alston, 27, was barely a year into working as a flight attendant(服务人员) when the pandemic influenced the travel industry. By November 2020, due to budget cuts and decreased service, he had taken a voluntary leave of absence.
Alston once worked as a clerk in a food processing factory before becoming a flight attendant in 2019. So when the pandemic slowed his flying schedule, he took it as a sign to revisit his goal of opening a restaurant—a passion project of his since college.
In December 2020, he launched his very own restaurant business—Clutch Handheld Breakfast—a one-person operation that he ran from a so-called ghost kitchen or a cooking facility that produced food only for delivery and takeout with no dine-in areas.
In May 2021, Alston returned to flying full-time and kept a busy schedule: He would report to work at the Detroit Metro Airport on Fridays, fly around the country through Tuesday, return to Detroit and immediately go to Columbus to start service for his restaurant, which he operated on Thursday and Friday mornings. Alston intended to increase his flying hours to save money and move onto the next period of his business plan: Buying a food trailer.
He plans to gather customers’ feedback in 2021. “I know it’s going to take a little bit of time,” Alston says of his business plan. Eventually, he hopes to grow Clutch enough to hire more employees and expand into new locations. So far, the best learning experience has been hearing positive feedback from his customers, which keeps him motivated. He says, “This is my passion, and one of these days, it’s going to be a profitable business. ”
1. Where did Alston work before 2019?| A．In a restaurant. | B．In a travel agency. |
| C．In an airline company. | D．In the food industry. |
| A．It opens part-time. | B．It has a big kitchen. |
| C．It provides dining space. | D．It serves in a food trailer. |
| A．The travel industry will recover soon. |
| B．He has more time to run the restaurant. |
| C．The restaurant’s income is relatively stable. |
| D．Customers make good comments on his restaurant. |
| A．Demanding. | B．Humorous. | C．Ambitious. | D．Caring. |
8 . Sam is autistic. Thus, dining out can be tricky. Though he loves to eat, he dislikes the loud noise during restaurant dining. So he has a solution: overpower all noise with a much louder noise of his own. Faced with a possibility of dining alone all the time, I decided to work on dining skills at a trendy new spot early one Tuesday night.
To my delight, we arrived at an empty restaurant. So far, so good. Everything went well until two older and elegantly-dressed women entered. They were seated two tables away from us. I felt a sense of impending doom.
The women began to chat, paying little notice to us. Sam happily took this as his cue(暗示) to start talking and drown them out. I leaned into Sam and asked for a quiet voice, but unfortunately Sam had left that voice at home.
I glanced at the neighboring table, knowing we wouldn’t go unnoticed much longer. I quickly used Plan B: eat quickly and leave. Sam, who normally inhales food, suddenly embraced the concept of leisurely dining and refused to rush — all while chattering away endlessly.
“SHUSH!” I said, a little annoyed. Sam responded by giggling loudly. “Be quiet!”
Now the two women were watching us. The older of the two women leaned over. “Here it comes!” I thought. She completely surprised me when she said, “Honey, stop shushing that boy. He has something important to say. I have friends that talk way more than he does, and they aren’t nearly as interesting.”
Then she asked Sam, “Now, boy, Don’t you listen to your mom. You talk as much as you want. I want to hear everything you have to say.” Turning to me, she added, “You have a delightful boy. Relax and enjoy your dinner—and don’t let him skip the chocolate cake. It’s unmissable.”
I will always remember those two lovely ladies. Their kindness meant the world to a stressed-out mom. Wherever they are, we’re sending them lots of love and hopes for chocolate cake.
1. What can we learn about the author and Sam from paragraph 1?| A．Few like to have dinner with them. | B．Sam suffers physically and mentally. |
| C．The author has no idea how to dine out. | D．Sam enjoys talking loudly when dining out. |
| A．Thrilled. | B．Annoyed. | C．Regretful. | D．Embarrased. |
| A．Express himself freely. | B．Follow his mom’s order. |
| C．Listen to everything she said. | D．Relax and enjoy the dinner. |
| A．My Autistic Son. | B．Chocolate Cake. |
| C．Two Helping hands. | D．The Pleasure of Eating. |
9 . Rick Guidotti put aside his career as a fashion photographer to turn his lens to people living with genetic, physical and behavioral differences.
He says what changed his perception of beauty was a chance encounter with an albino (患白化病的) girl. “I was just tired of people telling me who was beautiful. Every season that face would change but I was always told who was beautiful. As an artist, I don’t see beauty just on covers of magazines. I see it everywhere. So that was my original intention—that opened my eyes a little wider and wider.”
Guidotti has created Positive Exposure, a not-for-profit organization that uses photography and video to transform public perceptions and promote a world where differences are celebrated. Guidotti and Positive Exposure are featured in a new documentary called On Beauty.
One of the women featured in the film is Jayne Waithera. “I never thought I was beautiful because nobody said that to me, but meeting him was my profound moment. I remember that particular day. He took my picture and I felt so good like I felt there’s somebody who, like, really loves me and sees me for who I am and who sees me more than my condition.”
Guidotti is traveling from city to city to promote On Beauty. He says his tour is not about money; it’s about the message. “As I travel from community to community,I’m taking photographs and I’m empowering individuals with a positive sense of who they are. They’re seeing beauty in their reflection but I’m also empowering their families and they in turn are empowering their communities as well. All is based on the philosophy of change—how you see, how you change.”
1. Why did Guidotti change his career?| A．Because he wanted to create his own company. |
| B．Because the beauty on covers of magazines is not beautiful. |
| C．Because he couldn’t earn enough money from his former career. |
| D．Because his comprehension of beauty changed owing to an albino girl. |
| A．It makes the public more beautiful. |
| B．It brings a lot of money for Guidotti. |
| C．It welcomes differences in the world. |
| D．It makes photography more popular. |
| A．Jayne was beautiful indeed. |
| B．Jayne’s picture was more beautiful than herself. |
| C．It was unfair that nobody discovered Jayne’s beauty. |
| D．Photographs gave Jayne a positive sense of who she was. |
| A．We should travel frequently. |
| B．Communities have a great influence on everyone. |
| C．We should make contributions to our community. |
| D．Your attitude to seeing the world decides your behavior. |
10 . In 1955, at age 12, I became obsessed (着迷) with the idea of recording an album for our parents to do something in celebration of their wedding day. My sister, brother, and I would sing our favourite songs for them.
The recording was to be kept a secret from our parents. I found a local studio, Dunford Recordings, not too far from where we lived in Christchurch. I rang and asked the cost of making a record.
To pay for the recording, I saved the money I earned from helping my aunty Mae in the school holidays. I called a family friend and persuaded her to accompany us on the piano. We couldn’t practise with her for fear of being found out, so I got my sister and brother together and we worked out a routine.
I arranged with Aunty Mae, in strictest secrecy, to take us to the studio at the appointed time. We sang our first two songs a couple of times so they could select the best version, but by the time we got to the third song we were rather tired, so only recorded it once.
Outside the studio door, I had been holding the record very carefully but my sister snatched it from me and it rolled out of its jacket, down the stairs, bouncing onto the pavement and then onto the road. Gasp! Horror! Mercifully, it was undamaged.
The day came and we excitedly gave our precious present to our parents. They were surprised indeed. However, it never occurred to me that my parents bought a brand-new radiogram to play the record on.
My parents had been secretly warned by my aunt about our surprise, and unknown to us, they were downstairs in the appliance shop buying the radiogram while we were upstairs recording. They actually saw the record roll out onto the street.
Our recording has become a wonderful memory of the past.
1. Why did the author want to record an album at age 12?| A．To celebrate their parents’ wedding day. | B．To make money to support his family. |
| C．To found a local studio to play music. | D．To satisfy his curiosity about radiogram. |
| A．He got his sister and brother to earn money. |
| B．He borrowed money from a family friend. |
| C．He earned the money needed on his own. |
| D．He raised some money with his aunty Mae. |
| A．They were listening next to the door. |
| B．They were watching the record rolling. |
| C．They were playing in the appliance shop. |
| D．They were buying the radiogram downstairs. |
| A．Enthusiastic and generous. | B．Loving and considerate. |
| C．Hardworking and responsible. | D．Talented and fashionable. |
