1 . 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. |
2 . 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. |
3 . Luke Grenfell—Shaw had a rare form of cancer. It started as a pain in his shoulder and the tumour spread to his lungs, making it stage four. The Oxford graduate was teaching English in Siberia when he suffered a shoulder pain and saw the school nurse. It was her reaction to a lump on his back that sent him back home to Bristol. “I was 24 years old. I had done an ultramarathon,” Luke says. “48 hours later. I was back in hospital in the UK.” On 19 June, 2018, doctors told Luke that he had cancer.
“I had kind of worked out that it was cancer, but what kind of blew me away was the fact that it was stage four cancer,” says Luke. “That day, my life felt like it had disintegrated. My life had been comfortable and conventional. I had worked hard and got rewards in terms of education, jobs, things like that. That was all taken away.” On the day of his diagnosis, Luke had one clear thought in his mind that he wanted to cycle around the world. It was something he had always hoped to do, but the cancer news made him realize that he couldn’t put it off.
“I realized that the future had to become now,” Luke explains. He decided to cycle from Bristol to Beijing—more than 5,000 miles—on a tandem bike, because he wanted to bring people along to share the experience with him. Luke will not only be joined by family and friends for certain legs of his trip, but also by other young people who are living with cancer. “This trip is something I’m going to enjoy,” says Luke. “I’s going to be the richest and most fulfilling experience that I can have.”
1. What made Luke realize the potential threat of the illness?| A．A lump on his back. | B．The pain on his shoulder. |
| C．The school nurse’s reaction. | D．The Oxford graduate’s warning. |
| A．changed | B．broken | C．disappointed | D．protested |
| A．To enjoy the rest of his life peacefully. |
| B．To seek the best doctor treating his cancer. |
| C．To conquer the cancer in his own way. |
| D．To make his dream come true. |
| A．Luke intended to change his future life by cycling. |
| B．Luke planned to challenge the cancer with young men. |
| C．Luke wanted to end his life during the cycling trip. |
| D．Luke expected to challenge the tough journey. |
4 . Once upon a time a man became a great archer(射手). He asked the king to declare him as the greatest archer of the country. The king was about to do so when an old servant of the king said,“Wait, sir. I know an old man who lives in the forest. He is a much greater archer. Let this young man go to him and learn from him for at least three years.”
The man could not believe that there could be a greater archer than him, but he went and found the old man and he was! For three years he learned from him. Then one day, when he thought he had learned everything, the thought arose in him:“If I kill this old man, then I will be the greatest archer.”
The old man had gone to cut wood and he was coming back carrying wood on his shoulder. The young man hid behind a tree, waiting to kill him. He shot an arrow. The old man took a small piece of wood and threw it. It struck the arrow and the arrow turned back and wounded the young man very deeply. The old man came, took out the arrow and said, “I knew that some day or other you were going to do this. That's why I have not taught you this secret. There is no need to kill me. My Master is still alive, and I'm nothing before him. You must be with him for at least thirty years. And he is very old, so go fast! Find the old man!”
1. The young archer wanted to kill the old man because________.| A．he had nothing more to learn from him |
| B．he could then become the greatest archer |
| C．the old man refused to teach him everything |
| D．the king's old servant ordered him to do so |
a.The old man wounded the young man.
b.The young man learned from the old man.
c.The young man wanted to kill the old man.
d.The young man asked the king to declare him as the greatest archer.
| A．abcd | B．dcba | C．dbca | D．dbac |
| A．The young archer died from the wound soon after. |
| B．The king declared the young man the greatest archer. |
| C．The young archer found the old man's master and killed him. |
| D．The young archer set off to look for the old man's master. |
| A．There's always someone better than you in this world. |
| B．You must never try to become better than your teacher. |
| C．The older a man is, the better archer he usually becomes. |
| D．Always use a piece of wood to protect yourself from an arrow. |
5 . One day, a farmer was walking along a road with his son Thomas. The father said, “Look! There’s a horseshoe. Pick it up and put it in your bag.” Thomas said, “It isn’t worth the trouble.” His father said nothing but he picked it up himself. When they got to a nearby town, they had a rest. There the farmer sold the horseshoe and with the few pennies he bought some cherries.
The father and the son continued their way. The sun was well up in the sky, and there wasn’t a house or even a tree where they could have a rest. Thomas felt too thirsty to walk on. At this time, his father dropped a cherry on the ground and Thomas picked it up quickly and ate it. After a while, his father dropped another cherry and once again, his son lost on time in picking it up and putting it in his mouth.
And so they went on. The old farmer dropped the cherries and the son picked them up. When Thomas had eaten up all the cherries, his father said to him, “My dear son, if you had bent down early to pick up that horseshoe, it would not have been necessary for you to bend so many times for the cherries. Always remember the lesson that he who does not worry about the little things will find that he cannot do the great things.”
1. Who picked up the horseshoe at last?| A．The son | B．The father |
| C．Both the father and the son | D．Neither the father nor the son |
| A．some bread | B．some water | C．some cherries | D．some pennies |
| A．beat the son | B．said nothing | C．felt very happy | D．became very angry |
| A．cherries are so delicious that most of us like to eat them |
| B．a horseshoe is so expensive that it can bring us a lot of money |
| C．if we want to eat cherries, we must pick up a horseshoe |
| D．if we don’t worry about the little things, we cannot do the great things |
6 . The morning had been a disaster. My tooth was aching, and I’d been in an argument with a friend. Her words still hurt, “The trouble with you is that you won’t put yourself in my place. Can’t you see things from my point of view?” I shook my head stubbornly and felt the ache in my tooth. I’d thought I could hold out till my dentist came back from holiday, but the pain was really unbearable. I started calling the dentists in the phone book, but no one could see me immediately. Finally, at about lunch time, I got lucky.
“If you come by right now,” the receptionist said, “the dentist will fit you in.”
I took my purse and keys and rushed to my car. But suddenly I began to doubt about the dentist. What kind of dentist would be so eager to treat someone at such short notice? Why wasn’t he as busy as the others?
In the dentist’s office, I sat down and looked around. I saw nothing but the bare walls and I became even more worried. The assistant noticed my nervousness and placed her warm hand over my ice-cold one.
When I told her my fears, she laughed and said, “Don’t worry. The dentist is very good.”
“How long do I have to wait for him?” I asked impatiently.
“Come on, he is coming. Just lie down and relax. And enjoy the artwork,” the assistant said.
“The artwork?” I was puzzled.
The chair went back, suddenly I smiled. There was a beautiful picture, right where I could enjoy it-on the ceiling. How considerate the dentist was! At that moment, I began to understand what my friend meant by her words.
What a relief!
1. Which of the following best describes the author’s feeling that morning?| A．Cheerful. | B．Upset. | C．Nervous. | D．Satisfied. |
| A．The laughing assistant of the dentist. |
| B．The surroundings of the dentist’s office. |
| C．The dentist’s being as busy as the other dentists. |
| D．The dentist’s agreeing to treat her at very short notice. |
| A．The dentist came at last. | B．She could relax in the chair. |
| C．She saw a picture on the ceiling. | D．The assistant kept comforting her. |
| A．Put oneself in someone’s shoes. | B．Think twice before you act. |
| C．A friend in need is a friend indeed. | D．Strike while the iron is hot. |
7 . It was a carefree summer day when a father, Steven Poust, was out boating on the St. John’s River with his 4-year-old daughter Abigail and 4-year-old son Chase. The children were playfully swimming near their anchored boat while their father was fishing, smiling at his kids. Suddenly, Abigail got caught in the powerful current, forcing her to release the handle on the boat. Chase let go of the boat to take hold of his little sister, but he found himself caught in the current. When Steven jumped into the water to rescue his struggling children, he was also pulled in.
As they all drifted farther from the boat, the desperate father pushed his son to a safer place and tried to stick with his daughter as long as he could. However, he wore himself out later, and she drifted away from him. The father had to follow his daughter. So the responsibility to save the family was now on young Chase’ s shoulders.
Steven instructed his son to swim to the shore and find immediate help. Meanwhile, he would attempt to retrieve his little girl, who was continuously being pulled farther from his reach.
Chase did as he was told. The young boy was swimming against the current, which made it more difficult to swim toward the shore. However, the young boy continued to swim with one thought in mind: to save his family. Chase swam as fast as he could to reach the riverbank. When he grew tired, Chase cleverly floated on his back; at times, he paddled to conserve his energy. Once he reached the shore, he raced to the closest house he could find, knocked on the door and screamed for help. The owners answered and immediately dialed 911.
The Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department responded quickly. They located the empty boat. In the water, they found kids’ shoes, a cellphone and fishing poles floating near the boat. After a 90-minute search, the search crew located the father and the daughter in the water, who had been swept a mile and a half from their abandoned boat.
1. What can we know about the father and his kids before the accident?| A．They had nothing to enjoy. | B．They had a very pleasant time. |
| C．They were far from their boat. | D．They were practising swimming. |
| A．His mental strength ran out. | B．His swimming skill was poorer. |
| C．He wanted to get Chase trained, | D．He had to try to save his daughter. |
| A．Get…back. | B．Push... away. | C．Take...in. | D．Give...up. |
| A．Honest and modest. | B．Brave and smart. |
| C．Strict and responsible. | D．Ambitious and generous. |
8 . Homeowners Hermine Ricketts and her husband, Tom Carroll, held a ceremonial planting of vegetables in their garden on the day when a Florida law went into effect that removed local bans across the state on vegetable gardens at residential properties. It was one of the rules that had forced the couple, who lived in Miami Shores, to uproot(根除) all the vegetables in the garden that Ricketts had kept for almost twenty years.
Ricketts had her vegetable garden in her front yard because it faced south and her backyard was mostly in the shade. The retired architect said she gardened for the food and also for the peace it brought her.
“This is a peach tree that I planted, and around it, I had kale, and in between the kale, I had some cabbages,” Ricketts said then.
But then a zoning ordinance(条例) was tightened by Miami Shores Village to forbid vegetables in front yards on the ground, saying that they were unpleasant to look at. Village officials told Ricketts to uproot all her vegetables or she would face a $50 daily fine according to the ban.
And she fought back, joining up with the Institute for Justice, a national law firm, to challenge the ban.
It took six years, but they won. The Florida Legislature passed a bill protecting vegetable gardens, and Governor Ron DeSantis signed it. “After nearly six years of fighting... I will once again be able to legally plant vegetables in my front yard,” Ricketts said in a statement. “I’m grateful to the Legislature and the Governor for standing up to protect my freedom to grow healthy food on my own property.”
She complained that the fight even had to happen. “We had kept a beautiful, nutritious garden for many years before the Village went out of its way to ban it and then scared us with ruinous fines,” she said.
“Gardening is wonderful,” Ricketts added gladly. “I feel victory.... I have no words.”
1. Why did Ricketts position her vegetable garden in the front yard?| A．It was peaceful out there. | B．It could get enough sunlight. |
| C．It offered more vegetables. | D．It was mostly in the shade. |
| A．It required a regular fine. | B．It had been effective for twenty years. |
| C．It was tightened to forbid ugly gardens. | D．It was removed after Ricketts’ ceremony. |
| A．Proud. | B．Grateful. | C．Dissatisfied. | D．Disapproving. |
| A．A Ban on Vegetable Gardens in Front Yards. |
| B．A Bill Signed to Protect Vegetable Gardens. |
| C．A Couple Held a Ceremonial Planting of Vegetables. |
| D．A Couple Won the Right to Plant Vegetables in Front Yards. |
9 . The sun was setting and the farm would be closing soon. I dressed our three daughters quickly as my husband started the van. Cutting down our own Christmas-tree had been a family tradition. As our family grew, so did our excitement for going out to find the perfect tree.
As we walked through the rows of trees, my youngest daughter Kimberly shouted excitedly, “There it is, the perfect tree!” The other two agreed. My husband and I looked at each other, puzzled. Its branches were misshapen and the trunk was visible through the spots where there were no pine needles.
We tried to persuade our daughters into changing their minds, but in vain. We had to tie the tree to the roof of our van and headed home. As we reached our house, Heather jumped out first. Suddenly she shouted, “The tree isn’t there!” We thought she was kidding. However, it wasn’t there.
The girls were so disappointed. “We’ll get another tree tomorrow”, I said, secretly hoping the new tree would be prettier. But the girls gave us the look that no parent could resist. We had no choice but to go back and find that tree.
After driving for about five minutes, we saw our tree on the side of the road. As we got closer, it was apparent that it had been run over by a truck. As we lifted the tree, we saw that a big part of the tree was ripped off, but we took our little broken tree home anyway.
That night, as we decorated our tree, something magical happened. We didn’t realize it at that time that we were making a very special family memory. By the time we were done, I had to admit, it didn’t look sad at all. This is the best tree we have ever had. “It’s perfect!” my second daughter Samantha said excitedly. My husband and I couldn’t have agreed more!
Now we always recall that little broken tree! Year by year, we tell the story of that very special Christmas almost twenty-five years ago.
1. Who was the first to find the tree was missing?| A．The youngest daughter. | B．The second daughter. |
| C．The oldest daughter. | D．The author’s husband. |
| A．Worried. | B．Upset. | C．Curious. | D．Pleased. |
| A．They took turns telling their own stories. |
| B．They didn’t seem to agree with each other. |
| C．They turned the tree into an unforgettable one. |
| D．They realized the importance of finding a perfect tree. |
| A．A Special Christmas Gift | B．A Seemingly Imperfect Christmas Tree |
| C．A Story of a Happy Family | D．A Wonderful Family Get-together |
10 . On September 2nd, BUAA (北京航空航天大学) welcomed its first 2021 student. His name is Xing Yifan, coming together with his parents ahead of time.
"Yifan is 18 years old, but he weighs only 18 kilograms. When 6 months old, he suffered from LAMA2 (渐冻症), a type of disease that no more than a hundred people have got in the country. However, with his strong will, he made one amazing achievement after another in learning. In this year's college entrance exam, he entered BUAA with a score of 645.
Because of the illness, Yifan can only sit alone for a while, unable to stand and walk like other children. In class, he could only put his head on the table and his eyes can only scan half the pages of the book. He couldn't turn over the book with one hand. And he could only sit and listen to a class for up to 30 minutes, with the remaining 15 minutes to lie down to listen to his teacher.
But these did not scare Yifan, with only a little muscle strength left in his hands, he finished one test paper after another, more than 20 a day, often till one or two o'clock in the morning. Finally, he successfully completed the 2021 college entrance examination.
To live is much more difficult than others. Why does he have to learn? The family said because of the serious disease, he was deprived (剥夺) of the right to walk, run, jump, but he can no longer be deprived of the right to education. Xing Yifan decided to let himself be Hawking of China, and change his life with knowledge.
He came to BUAA and stayed in the love dormitory on the first floor. Xing Yifan said he was feeling particularly warm with all the help. He was expecting new college life and hoped to know more students, and take part in lots of activities. Life kisses him with pain, but he sings.
1. What can Xing Yifan do according to the text?| A．Sit alone for 45 minutes at a time. |
| B．Walk and run faster than others. |
| C．Turn over the book with one hand. |
| D．Lie down to listen during the class. |
| A．Easy-going. | B．Warm-hearted. |
| C．Hard-working. | D．Simple-minded. |
| A．His parents didn't support his learning. |
| B．He faced up to his difficulty positively. |
| C．He was forced to learn by his parents. |
| D．He was once refused to learn at school. |
| A．BUAA. a university filled with love and care |
| B．A disabled boy, being the first student of BUAA |
| C．LAMA2, attacking no more than a hundred people |
| D．A disabled boy, making a surprising achievement |
