1 . Happy April Fool’s Day! In celebration of the day, we have put together a list of some of the greatest hoaxes in history. They are the lies that have been designed for innocent people who are ready to believe them.
▲INSTANT COLOR TV
In 1962 there was only one TV channel in Sweden, and it broadcast in black and white. The station’s Kjell Stepson, appearing on the news to announce that thanks to a newly developed technology, all viewers could now quickly and easily transform their existing sets to display color reception. All they had to do was pull a nylon (尼龙) stocking over their TV screen, and they would begin to see their favorite shows in color. Reportedly, hundreds of thousands of people, were taken in. Actual color TV transmission only started to appear in Sweden on April 1,1970.
▲SAN SERRIFFE
In 1977 the British newspaper The Guardian published a special seven-page supplement (增刊) in honor of the tenth anniversary of San Serriffe, a small republic located in the Indian Ocean. A series of articles affectionately asked for more information about the beautiful holiday spot. Few noticed that everything about the island was made up.
▲NIXON FOR PRESIDENT
In 1992 American National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation program announced that, Richard Nixon, in a surprise move, was running for President again. His new campaign slogan was, “I didn’t do anything wrong, and I won’t do it again.” Accompanying this announcement were audio clips (片断) of Nixon delivering his election speech. Listeners responded immediately to the announcement, flooding the show with calls expressing shock and anger. Only during the second half of the show did the host John Huckleberry reveal that the announcement was a practical joke. Nixon’s voice was copied by comedian Rich Little.
1. Which of the following countries is NOT mentioned in the text?| A．Sweden. | B．Germany. | C．The UK. | D．The United States. |
| A．Never. | B．In 1962. | C．In 1977. | D．In 1992. |
| A．Kjell Stepson. | B．Rich Little. | C．Richard Nixon. | D．John Huckleberry. |
2 . Oregon firefighters battling wildfires across the state have a new force on their team: a Baby Yoda doll, which has become a symbol of hope and joy among the first responders who have been tirelessly fighting the historic fires that have wiped out communities and killed at least nine people since early September.
It all began when five-year-old Carver Tinning and his grandmother Sasha Tinning from Scappoose, Oregon, came across the toy while searching for items to donate to Oregon firefighters.
The toy, along with a note saying, “Thank you, firefighters. Here is a friend for you, in case you get lonely. Love, Carver.” was handed to donation drive volunteers on September 12, 2020. The thoughtful gift brought tears to their eyes. “The fires were close to us, and everyone was really high on emotion,” says volunteer Tyler Eubanks. “We were all really inspired that Carver wanted to give a companion to the men and women who were out there risking their lives to fight the wildfires.”
Eubanks delivered the toy to a group of firefighters working to control a 25-acre fire in Colton, Oregon. He had initially intended to take a few pictures of the Baby Yoda in action for Carver, and then bring back the toy to the donation site. However, the firefighters decided to hold on to the doll and share it to lift the spirits of troops across the state and also of colleagues fighting fires in Colorado.
“He’s been a really big morale boost,” said Jaebyn Drake, a firefighter with the Oregon Air National Guard. “A lot of the people on my crew, I showed them the note and everything, and they just loved it. A couple of people broke down in tears ... It just really meant a lot to us, and it was really emotional for a lot of people.”
1. What can we know from Tyler Eubanks’s words?| A．He was a firefighter. | B．He was really touched. |
| C．He participated in rescue. | D．He was in charge of reception. |
| A．Because he lost in touch with Carver. |
| B．Because the firefighters exhibited in public. |
| C．Because he was occupied in taking pictures. |
| D．Because the firefighters determined to keep it. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Objective. | C．Approving. | D．Conservative. |
| A．Small Toys Make a Big Difference |
| B．A Five-year-old Child Drew Wide Attention |
| C．Oregon firefighters Are Fighting with wildfires |
| D．Baby Yoda Joins Firefighters in Battling Wildfires |
3 . I’d gone snowboarding in France with my little brother, and what we lacked in skill we made up for in enthusiasm. That day, fresh snow had been falling, and we were in high spirits. We stopped near the top of an off-path section that went through forests. I let my brother disappear into the trees ahead, figuring I would soon catch up.
It was like hitting a solid wall. I began to pick up speed when I was suddenly thrown off balance. Just as I was regaining control, I ran into the trunk of a large tree.
The pain was instant. I knew immediately that my back was broken and quickly realized the situation could get very serious. Nobody would be coming past. There was no phone signal. It was snowing and cold. If I waited, I would probably be rescued eventually. But the chance of freezing to death before that happened was too high for me to risk staying put.
I tried to stand but fell down and almost blacked out with pain. I managed to get the board off from my feet and moved it under my stomach so I was lying on it. I faced down the mountain and used the board to slowly drag and slide my body down the steep, tree-lined slope.
It took about two hours before a skier found me and I got help. The mountain rescue team came, with my brother arriving shortly afterwards. I couldn’t feel my hands or my toes from the cold, but the relief at knowing I was safe was immense (极大的).
A helicopter took me to hospital. I had broken one of my backbones, so I had an operation where the doctors inserted plates. The constant pain was agonizing, but it wasn’t as bad as seeing the pain and worry I put my family through.
The recovery road was tough, but I was lucky. Gradually, I was able to walk, then swim, then cycle and then run. I haven’t been back to the slopes yet, but it might happen someday — I will, however, be sticking to the paths.
1. What caused the author’s accident?| A．The poor weather. |
| B．His brother’s push from behind. |
| C．His loss of balance while snowboarding. |
| D．The author’s overconfidence in his skills. |
| A．He suffered only minor injuries. |
| B．He was fully aware of the risks of waiting. |
| C．He wanted to catch up with his brother. |
| D．He preferred to challenge himself. |
| A．Guilty. | B．Delighted. | C．Disappointed. | D．Annoyed. |
4 . Ever since Jaden Hunter was a little boy growing up in South Los Angeles, he’s always been focused on his education. This year he graduated at the top of his class from Crenshaw Arts Tech Charter High with 4.7 grade point average and was named co-valedictorian (致告别辞的最优秀毕业生).
“I felt good because my hard work paid off. All the long sleepless nights I took in, stuff like that, it finally paid off,” Hunter said. His accolades (嘉奖) and achievements don’t stop there. The 18-year-old is one of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s scholarship recipients. Also, he was accepted not just into one, two or even three universities. He was accepted to 39 schools and received $3.5 million in scholarships. Eventually, he got accepted into his childhood dream school, USC.
After weighing his options, Hunter made a decision and is set to start college this week.”Math has been my favorite subject. So that’s why I’ll be studying mechanical engineering at Berkeley,” he said.
His mother, Rodkeisha Polian, said her son’s schedule was always filled with a variety of activities.” I kept him in sports, I kept him in church and I kept him in community events,” Polian said. “I always kept him busy, so he didn’t have time to wander out in the streets and get into any trouble.”
Although Hunter was busy enough, he’s also launched his own clothing brand called The Legit Way. The young entrepreneur said he’s most inspired by his community and wants to give back.
“In my community, just all low-income communities, we don’t know what it is to build credit, how to buy a home, how to obtain a loan from the bank, anything in that sort. So I just want to teach the community that and empower my community, promote them, help us get further than where we were,” Jaden said.
He said the success he’s been able to achieve is just the beginning. Once he graduates from college, he said he wants to work for NASA or Space X.
1. What can we know about Hunter from the first paragraph?| A．He chose the major in education. |
| B．He was a little boy interested in Art. |
| C．He made a speech at the graduation ceremony. |
| D．He graduated from Crenshaw Arts Tech Charter College. |
| A．To keep away from quarrel. |
| B．To avoid causing unnecessary loss. |
| C．To prevent him making bad friends. |
| D．To make him have no energy to hang out. |
| A．His ambition. | B．His hobby. | C．His achievement. | D．His career. |
| A．A short novel. | B．A report. |
| C．A review. | D．A story introduction. |
5 . To those normal kids, it’s not unusual to hear “Goodnight” when you kiss them, saying “Goodnight” to them. For most parents, it’s just a storm in a teacup. However, for me it’s opposite.
My son James, suffered from the autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a developmental disability caused by differences in the brain. Some people with ASD may have advanced conversation skills whereas James is an exception.
Pre-diagnosis, I’d give James a big kiss and whisper goodnight when putting James to bed. Post-diagnosis, the silence that I received in return was deafening. It had never occurred to me before to be concerned that when I said “Goodnight, James. I love you”, my toddler said nothing in response.
I needed to hear him say something. My husband and I began to promote James to say goodnight back to us. “Say goodnight, Mommy.” For over a year, “Say goodnight, Mommy” was the parting routine of the day. Every night, it made me cry. I never got used to it. But I never gave up hope.
With more efforts, one night, I’d hear something more organic come out of James’s mouth. He dropped the “say”— and his response became “goodnight, Mommy” when James turned four. It was fantastic — but it was still prompted. At six, I got my first unprompted, “Goodnight, Mommy. I love you.” Next to my wedding, and births of my children, this was the most exciting night of my life.
James, now eight, routinely kisses us goodnight and tells us he loves us. The other evening, after giving me a big hug and kiss, James told me, “You’re a great mom! You’re not a mom with feathers, or a mom with colors and markers. I’m glad you’re a... a person!” I don’t know if he had the book Are You My Mother? on his mind, or if this was just one of the many random thoughts that crossed my son’s brain on a daily basis. I do know it was music to my ears.
1. What do most parents think of a kiss goodnight from their normal children?| A．It’s an advanced conversation skill. | B．It’s a precious routine they treasure. |
| C．It’s a privilege they take for granted. | D．It’s a good way to recover from ASD. |
| A．He was too talkative. | B．He couldn’t say anything. |
| C．He daren’t sleep alone. | D．He was lack of security. |
| A．It has evolved over time. | B．It always upsets his parents. |
| C．It benefits face-to-face talk. | D．It helps exercise James’ mind. |
| A．The Cycles of Life | B．A Mom with Feathers |
| C．The Symptoms of ASD | D．Unusual Bedtime-Routines |
6 . Noah Wall recently celebrated his ninth birthday. The little boy from Cumbria, England, uses a wheelchair to get around. He’s incredibly smart and loves learning about the solar system. His life is pretty normal, which is astonishing considering doctors didn’t even expect Noah to survive his first birthday.
His mom, Michelle Wall, was pregnant when tests revealed that her little one had spina bifida (脊椎裂). When they performed more tests, a scan of Noah’s head showed a cyst (囊肿) that was destroying his brain.
Michelle and her husband Rob prayed for a wonder. On the day Noah was born, he let out a huge cry the moment he appeared to let his parents know that their little guy wasn’t going down without a fight!
Scans showed that just 2 percent of Noah’s brain had survived the cyst in his head. Seven weeks after birth, he received an operation to close the opening in his spine and place a shunt (分流管) in his head to lead fluid (积液) away from his brain.
Yet Noah is not mentally disabled. In fact, he’s impressively clever! At 9, he is physically active and dreams of becoming an astronaut someday.
“They told us he might not be able to speak, hear, eat, or anything,” Michelle said. “But I see he can tell the time, read, do maths and love science He can talk about the solar system He has incredible dreams”.
Noah has gone through 11 surgeries so far and there are many more to come, but he has already exceeded everyone’s expectations—in every possible way!
“Every single day he does something that impresses me” Michelle said “I’m so extremely proud of him I will help him all I can and always be there for him”.
Noah! What a wonderful reminder of the importance of keeping hope alive!
1. Why is the nine-year-old Noah Wall’s life astonishing?| A．The young child lived through 11 operations. | B．He is too smart to explore the solar system. |
| C．His recovery created an incredible miracle. | D．The doctor judged him not to survive a year. |
| A．Gone beyond. | B．Subscribed to. | C．Lived up to. | D．Set the stage for. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Positive. | C．Cautious. | D．Objective. |
| A．A Touching Family | B．A Medical Miracle |
| C．A Powerful Child | D．A Wonderful Birthday |
7 . At her heaviest, Chasity Davis weighed 365 pounds at only 4.11 feet tall. While she was pregnant (怀孕) with her third daughter, she knew something had to change.
“I was piling on the weight. Just eating all the time. I was in a very terrible state,” she said.
As many moms know, new health problems can pop up after giving birth, and that’s just what happened to Davis. She started experiencing shallow breathing when she sat back or lay down. Luckily, her doctors took it very seriously. When the doctors put the heart monitor on Davis they found her heart actually stopping.
“My heart had stopped for about three seconds,” said Davis. Obviously, her blood pressure had risen as well. To make matters worse, she was upset at not being allowed to see her baby daughter, and that was further affecting her blood pressure, but doctors warned her that she needed to concentrate on taking care of herself first.
Davis went through heart and stomach operations, which helped her quickly lose 65 pounds, but she couldn’t stop there. Even at 300 pounds, that was too much weight for her height. So after her recovery, she made a choice to work hard to get fit.
She began by working out seven days a week, twice a day, and switching to a diet that included lots of fruits and vegetables. She now walks about 5-6 miles a day! After all the diet and exercise, Davis has now lost 242 pounds over the last 7 years, with 171of that being from walking. Incredible!
Of course, she still has some fatty or sugary foods, but she limits them. “Just because losing weight doesn’t mean I never eat anything bad,” Davis said. “The difference now is that we have a home-cooked meal every single day.”
“Life is so much greater when you are healthier,” she added, “I just feel great about myself. I have learned so much.”
1. Why was Davis connected to the heart monitor?| A．She was pregnant. | B．She ate all the time. |
| C．She had health problems. | D．She gave birth to her third daughter. |
| A．She put on weight quickly. | B．Her blood pressure rose higher. |
| C．Her heart stopped for about 3 seconds. | D．She started experiencing shallow breathing. |
| A．By joining a fitness club. | B．By receiving the operations. |
| C．By walking about 5-6 miles a day. | D．By switching to a healthy diet. |
| A．She seldom has meals out. | B．She hardly has anything for supper. |
| C．She no longer has fatty or sugary foods. | D．She never eats anything bad for health now. |
8 . I was born in a poor community on the north side of Boston, US, raised by a single mother who didn’t finish 3rd grade, lived each day on food stamps and attended what the media called “the most dysfunctional (功能失调的) public school district”. Not many people expected much of me, so I had to expect.
On my 13th birthday, I bought a poster of Harvard to hang in my room. Being at Harvard became what I dreamt about. Even if my electricity was cut off, I still woke up at 5:30, because I knew that my poster of Harvard was still hanging only two feet away from me.
Reminding myself of my goal each day made it easy to say no to the same choices I saw my peers making, because those paths wouldn’t have had me closer to my goal. Being poor could not take away my power to decide what I choose to do with my day. The poster gave me the courage to send emails to about 50 Harvard students to ask for feedback on my application essays; it gave me the energy to study just one more hour on my SATs when my friends were asleep; and it gave me the determination to submit just one more scholarship application when 180 others had already turned me down.
Every day, I could feel myself getting closer and closer to my goal as my writing got better, my SAT score increased, and my scholarship checks started coming in. Finally, an email arrived from Harvard. The first word was “Congratulations!” A month later, Harvard flew me up to visit the campus where for the first time I stepped onto my dreaming land.
Who you are today is the result of the decisions you made yesterday, and who you will be tomorrow will be the result of the choices you make today. Who do you want to be tomorrow?
1. What can we learn about the author from the first two paragraphs?| A．All people expected too much of him. |
| B．He grew up in a happy family. |
| C．He accepted the greatest education. |
| D．He had high expectation of himself. |
| A．He spent more time preparing for the exams. |
| B．He learnt from his peers from time to time. |
| C．He often wrote feedbacks on others’ essays. |
| D．He turned to his teacher when facing problems. |
| A．Intelligent and humorous. | B．Generous and selfless. |
| C．Determined and hardworking. | D．Courageous and friendly. |
| A．Failure is the mother of success. |
| B．Perseverance can help realize your dream. |
| C．Easier said than done. |
| D．It’s never too late to study. |
9 . To raise money for restaurant workers who had to stay at home during COVID-19, two brothers, Aiden and Louis Ardine, decided to walk 3,200 miles across America to raise money.
Having just arrived on the sands of the Pacific Ocean, Aiden and Louis Ardine have now completed their five-month walk which started on the Asbury Park boardwalk in New Jersey. They hoped to raise $30, 000 for some charities (慈善组织) that were helping restaurant workers waiting for lockdown (隔离) to end, but ended up making $70,000 — which they gave away to the COCO Fund and the Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation.
“This would not have been possible without the help of a huge community of people, whether people were donating or helping us guide our way across the United States,” said Aiden Ardine. “This was surely an adventure full of hope, and it proved people are born good and want to help their neighbors.”
Just like cross-country trips in this nation, their journey was characterized by amazing views, long roads, and helpful strangers: like a man who passed them in the extreme heat of summertime Iowa, before doubling back and giving them a cold Gatorade; or a Nevada campground manager who left them stay for free.
In Utah they had what the naturalist John Muir would have described as an “interview” with a black bear, when rounding a corner in the path, they found themselves within a few feet of it.
When they reached San Francisco, their supporters were waiting for them on the beach. Afterwards they flew home along with their mom who had been there to meet them. After their adventurous stay away from home, we can only imagine she was really feeling proud of her sons.
1. What did the two brothers collect money for?| A．Setting up some charities. | B．Helping to end the lockdown. |
| C．Completing their five-month walk. | D．Aiding restaurant workers stuck at home. |
| A．Humorous. | B．Caring. | C．Curious. | D．Honest. |
| A．They met with a bear. | B．They were interviewed. |
| C．They visited a naturalist. | D．They were lost in the path. |
| A．A Long Journey | B．Walk with Love |
| C．A Proud Mother | D．Adventure with Fun |
10 . It was a hot day in late summer. I was a young dad working in a local lumber mill(伐木场).It was dangerous, back-breaking work that paid very little. In the year I had worked there, only four other people hadn’t been replaced with new faces. Those of us who stayed did so only because there was no other work to find to support our families.
One day, we were working hard. Suddenly, a voice called out, “Hey! A deer!” A lost little deer had wandered through the open doors and was now cowering(畏缩) in between the huge piles of lumber. All of us stopped working and went to look for her as she ran about crazily looking for a way out.
Now most people in the town where I live hunt deer in the fall but also treat them with great kindness the rest of the year. Some will even buy many bags of corn to help feed them during the tough winter months. It was no surprise then all of us were soon quickly working together to free this little deer. By blocking off all the other routes we were able to guide her desperate search back to the open doors. We watched as she ran out of the building and back into the woods. Then we walked back to work. I noticed something, though. On every face there was a joyful smile. It was as if this one single act of kindness had energized us again and reminded us of what life is all about.
Committing acts of kindness shows us the power that we have. They also bring us closer to love. Fill your day and your life with acts of kindness then Let them light up your life Let them lead you to love.
1. Why didn’t the author quit his job in the lumber mill?| A．He was well paid. | B．His work was easy. |
| C．He had a family to support. | D．He enjoyed working there. |
| A．It was killed. | B．It went crazy. |
| C．It was fed with some food. | D．It returned to the woods. |
| A．Brave and generous. | B．Strong and humorous. |
| C．Creative and confident. | D．Kind-hearted and hard-working. |
| A．Acts of kindness. | B．Days. | C．Life. | D．Love. |
| A．To show his deep love for deer. | B．To encourage people to protect deer. |
| C．To stress the importance of being kind. | D．To describe his life in the lumber mill. |
