1 . Marina Delune is 67 years old. The other day her pet Ruthie jumped out of her car and ran off. As days went by with no
She
This community is dog friendly. And even if you don’t
Kimberly Mitchell, 53, an animal lover who also has disabilities
It was dark by the time she rounded the corner of a neighbor’s house and
The
| A．signal | B．sight | C．proof | D．idea |
| A．complained | B．advertised | C．admitted | D．posted |
| A．respond | B．register | C．review | D．resist |
| A．come up with | B．look up to | C．keep up with | D．live up to |
| A．delivered | B．happened | C．mattered | D．meant |
| A．know | B．comfort | C．challenge | D．comprehend |
| A．fragile | B．energetic | C．disabled | D．sensitive |
| A．Guards | B．Policemen | C．Seniors | D．Volunteers |
| A．just | B．even | C．ever | D．still |
| A．contacted | B．attracted | C．contracted | D．located |
| A．assistance | B．strength | C．appreciation | D．interest |
| A．faraway | B．upstairs | C．nearby | D．indoors |
| A．deepened | B．expanded | C．recommended | D．exposed |
| A．tongue-tied | B．open-mouthed | C．whole-hearted | D．empty-handed |
| A．occupied | B．explored | C．evaluated | D．spotted |
| A．flashlight | B．camera | C．button | D．battery |
| A．acknowledging | B．accumulating | C．witnessing | D．confirming |
| A．yard | B．community | C．country | D．family |
| A．phenomenon | B．adventure | C．reunion | D．arrangement |
| A．partly | B．consistently | C．basically | D．absolutely |
2 . I remember the first day I saw her playing basketball. I watched in wonder as she ran circles around the other kids. She managed to shoot jump shots just over their heads and into the net. The boys always tried to stop her but no one could.
I began to notice her at other times, basketball in hand, playing alone, sometimes until dark. One day I asked her why she practiced so much. She looked directly in my eyes and without a moment of hesitation she said, “I want to go to college. The only way I can go is if I get a scholarship. I like basketball. I decided that if I were good enough, I would get a scholarship. I am going to play college basketball. I want to be the best. My daddy told me if the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count. Then she smiled and ran towards the court to repeat the routine I had seen her over and over again.
One day in her senior year, I saw her sitting in the grass, head cradled in her arms. I walked across the street and sat down in the cool grass beside her. Quietly, I asked what was wrong. “Oh, nothing,” came a soft reply, “I’m just too short.” The coach told her that because of her height she would probably never get to play for a top ranked team — much less offered a scholarship — so she should stop dreaming about college.
She was heartbroken and I felt my own throat tighten as I sensed her disappointment. I asked whether she had talked to her dad about it yet. She lifted her head from her hands and told me that her father said those coaches were wrong. They just didn’t understand the power of a dream. He told her that if she really wanted to play for a good college, if she truly wanted a scholarship, that nothing could stop her except one thing — her own attitude. He told her again, “if the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.”
The next year, as she and her team went to the Northern California Championship game, she was seen by a college recruiter. She was indeed offered a full scholarship to a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) women’s basketball team. She was going to get the college education that she had dreamed of and worked toward for all those years.
It’s true: If the dream is big enough, the facts don’t count.
1. Which of the following is TRUE about the girl according to the passage?| A．She sometimes played basketball alone because she had no friends. |
| B．She believed that girls had to pay a bit more than boys to succeed. |
| C．She played basketball so well that she could compete against some boys. |
| D．She felt sad when her coach didn’t allow her to play for the college team. |
| A．Because he thought her height was of little advantage. |
| B．Because he thought her confidence in her ability had gone away. |
| C．Because he thought she had been good enough to get a scholarship. |
| D．Because he thought she couldn’t get along well with her teammates. |
| A．Competitive. | B．Determined. | C．Demanding. | D．Humorous. |
| A．Failure is the mother of success. |
| B．Whoever wants to succeed must work hard. |
| C．Only if you have a good result can you succeed. |
| D．Follow your dream and you’ll make it sooner or later. |
3 . Xing Yifan and his parents were thrilled to learn that he had been admitted to Beihang University with a score of 645 out of a possible 750 points in this (2021) year’s national college entrance examination, or gaokao. It would take most high school graduates great effort to score that high.
But the challenge for 18-year-old Xing was greater, as he was born with congenital muscular dystrophy (营养不良), a group of disorders characterized by muscle weakness and problems with the eyes and central nervous system.
After the Spring Festival in 2004, the Xing couple took Yifan to Beijing for treatment, and he was finally diagnosed with CMD (先天性肌营养不良亚型) at Peking University First Hospital.
When relatives and friends heard the news,they advised the couple to have another baby, but they were determined to pour all their love and care into their son.
“Yifan is an angel who came to our family,” the father said. “He might have broken wings, but we will never give him up.”
The young man’s health continued to deteriorate (恶化). As a result of his condition，he is unable to grow much muscle, so his skeleton (骨骼) suffers from a lack of support and protection.
“He has never walked independently and can only sit against a support,” said Xing Dacheng.
“And every 30minutes,he has to lie down to rest,even in the classroom.”
The condition has also deformed Xing Yifan’s spine and fingers, making it difficult for him to write. “His teachers and principals from primary school to senior high school never refused him. The opportunity of education gave us lots of help,” his father added.
Hou Suyun, head teacher at Xing Yifan’s primary school,carried him up and down stairs during the six years he spent at the school.
Yang Weihong, head teacher at Xing Yifan’s junior high school, gave him extra care but subjected him to the same strict academic requirements as his classmates. “I tried everything I could to stimulate his desire to study, hoping to give him more confidence,” Yang said. “I also hoped he would discover his own sense of worth.”
Yang’s methods worked. Xing Yifan got the highest score in his school for the senior high school entrance examination in 2018.
1. Which word can take the place of the underlined word “thrilled” in Paragraph 1?| A．Excited. | B．Relaxed. | C．Moved. | D．Astonished. |
| A．In 2001. | B．In 2002. | C．In 2003. | D．In 2004. |
| A．His parents never gave him up. |
| B．He’s suffered a lot from sickness since his birth. |
| C．His teachers helped him a lot. |
| D．He studied harder than his classmates. |
| A．Head teacher at Xing’s primary school. |
| B．Kind and careful, like Xing’s mother. |
| C．Responsible for Xing’s life at school. |
| D．A strict teacher with wisdom and strategies. |
4 . I enjoy throwing stuff away. I’d love to go full minimalism (极简主义), but my wife and two teenage kids do not share my dream of a house with almost nothing in it. I have tried. When the kids were little, I taught them my two favorite games – “Do We Need It?” and “Put It in Its Place”– and made them play every few months. Their enthusiasm never matched mine.
If I’m going to be honest, my own tidying skills are not as great as I’d like. My “discarded” pile is never quite the trash mountain I want because I make up excuses for why things are useful. I consider this unhealthy. I want to be better at moving on.
So, this time I found help – the classics for people like me: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, by Marie Kondo. Kondo’s commitment to her craft is astonishing. Her philosophy is only to keep things you love. Can I go full Kondo? I will try. One central idea is to clean by category. You start by collecting all clothes and gathering them together for consideration. It makes you rethink how you organize. Next, hold each item and ask if it brings you joy. This way you’re choosing what to keep. And that’s how I find myself with all my clothes on my bedroom floor. My wife walks by and gives me a look that says I’m nuts. She’s probably not wrong.
Somewhere near the bottom of this chaos is my special jacket. I move through the pile: pants, shirts, suits and shoes. Then my last category: jackets. I haven’t worn the thing in about 30 years. Somehow, it has survived. Now that I’m striving to follow Kondo – surely, its time has come?
I hold it in my hand. There is a tear just below the collar that widens as I hold it. It’s literally falling apart. Will I ever wear it again? Not a chance. Does it feel good to wear? Does it bring me joy? Actually, yes. At this moment, my daughter walks in. She asks about the jacket. I tell her the story. She thinks I should keep it. It’s cool and unique and full of memories. She is arguing that nostalgia (怀念) is the very reason.
I’m not entirely convinced by my daughter’s arguments. I believe in looking ahead, not backward. Nevertheless, sometimes it’s hard to let go. So I gently place the jacket on the “keep” pile.
1. What does the underlined word “discarded” probably mean in Paragraph 2?| A．adjusted | B．reserved | C．abandoned | D．tidied |
| A．To learn how to categorize. | B．To improve his tidying skills. |
| C．To persuade his family members. | D．To develop passion for minimalism. |
| A．They don’t understand it. | B．They completely support it. |
| C．They are strongly opposed to it. | D．They are less passionate about it. |
| A．Knowing when to let go | B．Classifying what you love |
| C．Throwing worn-out clothes | D．Keeping valuable possessions |
5 . Shi Huishan is a senior majoring in Microbiology and minoring in Public Health and Music. She was
As a result of her keen interest in biology, she
As a senior, she talks about her
After
| A．interested | B．occupied | C．disappointed | D．experienced |
| A．refused | B．praised | C．joined | D．judged |
| A．difference | B．disease | C．subject | D．language |
| A．complex | B．special | C．regular | D．easy |
| A．similarly | B．completely | C．hardly | D．probably |
| A．give up | B．keep on | C．put off | D．rid of |
| A．true | B．unordered | C．consistent | D．numerous |
| A．drives | B．leaves | C．finds | D．makes |
| A．growth | B．surprise | C．happiness | D．advice |
| A．praised | B．recalled | C．affected | D．questioned |
| A．currently | B．frequently | C．finally | D．initially |
| A．analyzes | B．blames | C．consults | D．directs |
| A．lesson | B．suggestion | C．role | D．step |
| A．honest | B．confident | C．skillful | D．patient |
| A．share | B．collect | C．evaluate | D．break |
| A．setting aside | B．making up | C．dealing with | D．looking up |
| A．graduation | B．description | C．explanation | D．exhibition |
| A．depressions | B．challenges | C．examinations | D．impressions |
| A．conveyed | B．ignored | C．explored | D．imagined |
| A．casual | B．generous | C．determined | D．modest |
6 . A few years back I suffered from a strange vertigo (眩晕) which caused me to feel dizzy. Around that time, I had to travel to North Carolina for a
On our hour-long Uber ride to the airport, vertigo
I asked the driver
The Uber driver got us to the airport safely. He even helped us
My wife and I were so glad that we were always surrounded by kindness
| A．round | B．field | C．return | D．business |
| A．rescue | B．accompany | C．encounter | D．consult |
| A．anxious | B．curious | C．cautious | D．certain |
| A．skipped | B．suffered | C．spread | D．struck |
| A．enjoy | B．believe | C．help | D．behave |
| A．in a panic | B．in a rush | C．in a mess | D．in a way |
| A．satisfied | B．relieved | C．delighted | D．embarrassed |
| A．casually | B．quietly | C．constantly | D．apparently |
| A．colleagues | B．drivers | C．conductors | D．passengers |
| A．build-up | B．mix-up | C．clean-up | D．wake-up |
| A．reserve | B．cancel | C．delay | D．continue |
| A．load | B．pack | C．check | D．guard |
| A．trip | B．arrival | C．departure | D．release |
| A．take care | B．take part | C．take action | D．take place |
| A．Gradually | B．Actually | C．Thankfully | D．Generally |
| A．typical | B．smooth | C．original | D．permanent |
| A．in addition to | B．by comparison | C．instead of | D．regardless of |
| A．paid off | B．rolled over | C．knocked on | D．attended to |
| A．blessing | B．guidance | C．will | D．mercy |
| A．hesitation | B．question | C．reason | D．pause |
7 . On January 9, 2022, it was another cold morning. Temperatures reached lows of 17. 6 °F (-8℃). Dusti Talavera, a housewife in the south suburbs of Denver, was washing dishes in her kitchen when she witnessed a frightening scene outside her kitchen window. Glancing out her kitchen window, she noticed a group of young children playing on an icy pond. Moments later, the children fell through the ice.
Dusti’s heart raced as she saw the children fall through the ice, and she immediately grabbed her shoes to run outside. Submerged（淹没）in the freezing water, the children had lost the strength to stay above the surface. Their fingers were only visible as they desperately tried to grab onto the edges of the ice.
Without hesitation, Dusti placed her own life at risk by stepping on the thin, unstable ice to try to reach the three children. As she reached her hands out to grab them, she also broke the ice and fell into the 15-foot deep pond.
Dusti was first able to reach and pull out the 4-year-old girl and 11-year-old boy. She struggled to reach the last child, a 6-year-old girl. After hearing the loud screams for help, the young girl’s 16-year-old cousin suddenly arrived on scene. He threw Dusti a rope, which she used to drag herself and the young girl out of the water.
All three children were pulled out of the icy water as first responders arrived on scene. The 6-year-old girl was not breathing and had no pulse after being submerged in the icy water for two minutes. First responders performed life-saving CPR. Once the girl was able to breathe on her own, the EMTs (emergency medical technicians) rushed her to the hospital.
1. What did Dusti witness outside her kitchen window?| A．The pond was frozen overnight. | B．Her children fell into the icy pond. |
| C．A couple of kids were in danger. | D．Temperatures reached a new low. |
| A．Generous. | B．Brave. |
| C．Demanding. | D．Impatient. |
| A．He cried out for help, | B．He called the EMTs. |
| C．He performed CPR. | D．He got a rope to come to the rescue. |
| A．Three children were found playing on the ice. |
| B．A woman risked her life to save three children. |
| C．EMTs did a great job at the moment of truth. |
| D．Life-saving CPR got spread everywhere. |
8 . Five years ago, I was 30, living in London and working in advertising. My job required long hours, and my
A complete stranger
A few months later, when life became even
It took a while to see the
Now I practice meditating twice a day. I’ve made other
| A．strangers | B．coaches | C．colleagues | D．interviewers |
| A．improved | B．stressed | C．affected | D．confused |
| A．unusual | B．similar | C．familiar | D．lucky |
| A．satisfied | B．required | C．acquired | D．inspired |
| A．Japan | B．China | C．Australia | D．India |
| A．amazingly | B．importantly | C．punctually | D．obviously |
| A．worship | B．message | C．experience | D．secret |
| A．buried | B．rooted | C．engaged | D．resulted |
| A．longer | B．slower | C．tougher | D．brighter |
| A．On the contrary | B．By coincidence | C．In conclusion | D．Above all |
| A．recommended | B．decorated | C．undertook | D．rented |
| A．experiment | B．challenge | C．course | D．routine |
| A．moments | B．effects | C．senses | D．stages |
| A．stepped | B．rested | C．acted | D．dragged |
| A．instructor | B．volunteer | C．examiner | D．officer |
| A．caught up | B．agreed | C．came up | D．stuck |
| A．insisted | B．commented | C．depended | D．focused |
| A．generous | B．public | C．healthy | D．pitiful |
| A．ideas | B．fights | C．doubts | D．worries |
| A．manageable | B．miserable | C．comfortable | D．acceptable |
9 . At a speed of roughly 20 miles a day, the Ardines experienced practically all the extremes the United States has to offer. The brothers kept a detailed record of their
Along their heroes’
Walking by 11 states, four times zones, mountains, deserts, forests, and a run-in with a black bear later, Aiden and Louis
Without the
| A．reputations | B．virtues | C．surveys | D．experiences |
| A．requests | B．motivation | C．tracks | D．admission |
| A．interesting | B．tiring | C．moral | D．initial |
| A．cover | B．enrich | C．replace | D．investigate |
| A．information | B．attention | C．contribution | D．imagination |
| A．saved | B．showed | C．offered | D．sold |
| A．behaviour | B．speech | C．journey | D．advice |
| A．adopted | B．spotted | C．defended | D．examined |
| A．hot | B．cold | C．alcoholic | D．expensive |
| A．rowed | B．took | C．turned | D．invited |
| A．free of charge | B．ahead of time | C．at random | D．by accident |
| A．assessed | B．satisfied | C．stabbed | D．filled |
| A．searched for | B．cleared up | C．arrived at | D．passed by |
| A．Greeted | B．Blamed | C．Attracted | D．Identified |
| A．delighted | B．upset | C．cautious | D．ashamed |
| A．arranged | B．discovered | C．shared | D．packed |
| A．aid | B．hire | C．move | D．control |
| A．spread | B．doubt | C．help | D．belief |
| A．grateful | B．excited | C．determined | D．successful |
| A．quantity | B．nature | C．anxiety | D．ambition |
10 . When Tony took up running as a hobby he was 42 years old. Now 42 years later he’s a national champion and a world record holder.
He never imagined at the age of 84 this is where he’d be, but then he doesn’t meet many people in their 80s who are out training four times a week.
“I can see it’s a bit unusual, yes. But it’s been my life,” he told the reporter. The retired officer runs at a track near his home in Leeds.
At an event in Italy last month he set a world record in the 80 metres hurdles（跨栏）with a time of under 17 seconds. But he sees no reason to slow down and his ambition（雄心）is still to be competing when he passes a hundred.
“I probably won’t be doing a crouch start（蹲式起跑）, but it’s only 16 years away,” he joked. Like anyone his age, he’s had health problems. He’s had a string of severe heart attacks, but doctors have told him as long as it makes him feel good, he should carry on running.
“I can’t let my heart get in the way of my training. When I am sprinting I have to give it my absolute all. My heart is the last thing on my mind. ” he said.
He trains every other day, dances and plays hockey and he recently cuts down on alcohol （酒精）and chocolate. He said “ I’ve heard alcohol can lead to dementia and I don’t want that. I’ve cut down to one glass of wine every other day. I now have to stay as fit as I can be to keep up my lifestyle.”
Tony’s next birthday is next September. And the first thing he wants to do is become the world’s fastest 85-year-old.
1. What will Tony do after the competition in Italy?| A．He decides to slow down. |
| B．He decides to retire as an officer. |
| C．He plans on running until he’s 100. |
| D．He plans to compete in the 100 metres hurdles. |
| A．Continuing to run if he feels good. |
| B．Stopping running to treat his heart disease. |
| C．Trying to run as fast as he can. |
| D．Cutting down on alcohol and chocolate. |
| A．Imaginative. | B．Positive. | C．Caring. | D．Helpful. |
| A．The Fastest Man in the World. |
| B．The World’s Fastest 100-year-old. |
| C．A National Champion and a World Record Holder. |
| D．Granddad Crowned Fastest 84-year-old in the World. |
