1 . Pleasanton Partnerships in Education Foundation (PPIE) was started in 1987 to raise money by organizing running events for local schools. Based in Pleasanton, California, a suburb of San Francisco, the non-profit organization recently hosted a family-focused fitness event for the community. “Our event helps to bring the community together,” said Mindy Louie, events and outreach manager for PPIE. “We have more than 3,000 participants, hard-working volunteers and viewers.”
This year’s fitness event took place on April 30 at the Alameda County Fairgrounds. It featured races of two miles, five kilometers and ten kilometers. A new Kids Challenge consisted of a quarter-mile run to encourage younger children to participate. When asked to describe the run, 11-year-old Jeremy Louie said, “Fun, exciting and enjoyable.” Jeremy added that he was happy to help support his school.
PPIE supports all 15 schools in the Pleasanton Unified School District, which include more than 14, 500 students and 800 teachers and staff. The nonprofit organization tries to fund programs affected by budget cuts, while encouraging fitness and athleticism. To date, the PPIE has raised over $1 million for the school district.
A local runners’ group called the BURN Youth Development (B. Y. D.) participated in the fundraising. The B.Y.D. has since grown to more than 100 youth members, 30 of whom ran in April’s PPIE event. Jerry Wu, the group’s founder and lead coach, explained that the B.Y.D. was born to keep kids running. “Watching them running strongly and happily makes me smile every time,” Jerry said.
Jerry encourages teamwork and teaches the students valuable running techniques. As a B.Y.D. member, Ollie Gu, an eighth grader, was one of the top finishers in the ten-kilometer run. He completed the race in 40 minutes and 46 seconds and won first place in the 12-to-15 year-old age group. “The race was extremely rewarding,” Ollie said. “I’m looking forward to it next year.”
1. Which race was recently created?| A．A ten-kilometer run. | B．A quarter-mile run. |
| C．A five-kilometer run. | D．A two-mile run. |
| A．To stress the great influence of PPIE. |
| B．To show a small budget for education. |
| C．To introduce the school district in brief. |
| D．To advertise the organization’s programs. |
| A．Their duties as athletes. | B．Their feelings as coaches. |
| C．Their recognition of the B.Y.D. | D．Their anticipation of the next run. |
| A．Sports volunteers. | B．Young sportsmen. |
| C．Running with teachers. | D．Racing for education. |
2 . Clara Barton, born on December 25, 1821, is widely known as one of the most honored women in American history. She lived in Washington, D.C., when the Civil War began in 1861. She heard stories of wounded and suffering soldiers. She immediately recognized that the poorly equipped soldiers needed help. Instead of waiting for others to step in, Clara collected necessary things on her own, asked the public for donations and learned how to store and distribute them to the soldiers in the battlefield.
After the Battle of Cedar Mountain in northern Virginia in 1863, Clara arrived at a field hospital at midnight with a vehicle full of supplies. A doctor named Paul Smith at that hospital would later write, “I thought heaven had sent out an angel that night — her assistance arrived at exactly the right time.
After four years of hard work, Clara fell ill and moved to Switzerland to recover. It was there that she first learned about a group called the Red Cross. This group worked to help people who were suffering during times of war. But the United States did not take part in then. Clara, returned home and began to establish the Red Cross in America. She worked hard, travelling to Washington for support, gave speeches and wrote articles to win the support of the public. She told people the Red Cross was not only important during times of war, but also useful in peace time. This got the attention of both the public and the politicians, and thus the American Association of the Red Cross came into being in 1881.
Clara Barton retired from the Red Cross in 1904. She died 8 years later on April 12,1912. Her legacy with the American Red Cross lives on.
1. What did Clara Barton want to do during the war time?| A．Help some families to rebuild their home. |
| B．Advise the government to buy some medical supplies. |
| C．Treat the wounded soldiers by herself. |
| D．Collect money to buy medical supplies. |
| A．Proud and joyful. |
| B．Excited and grateful. |
| C．Shy and nervous. |
| D．Exhausted and upset. |
| A．To explain how dangerous being a soldier was during the Civil War. |
| B．To compare and contrast the Red Cross in Switzerland and America. |
| C．To describe an important historical figure. |
| D．To illustrate the history of the Red Cross. |
3 . When a group of college kids channeled their pandemic troubles into action, they never imagined the project would fuel a nationwide movement to tackle hunger and food waste.
But that’s exactly what Farmlink has done since 2020, bringing together hundreds of young volunteers to rescue nearly 77 million pounds of harvests headed for the trash and delivered them to those in need. The organization’s efforts help farmers, the environment, and people struggling to feed thef.
Launched during the height of the pandemic in spring, 2020, Farmlink was initially supposed to help struggling families and food banks. “In the United States, 40 million Americans are food insecure,” said Aidan Reilly, who co-founded Farmlink. “Meanwhile, we’re throwing out over 100 billion pounds of food every year.” Learning that local farms were forced to destroy excess produce that they couldn’t sell, especially with restaurants and schools closed, Aidan and a group of friends worked together to contact farms coast to coast.
In California, they found a farmer who had 13,000 eggs that could be donated, and Reilly offered to do the pickup and delivery himself. That was the first of many more deliveries. With “we’ll come to you” as their catchphrase, the group rented trucks and attempted to do all the food pickup and deliveries themselves.
The students ultimately got a welcome help from Uber Freight, and with the help of professional drivers, they moved more than one million pounds of produce from farms to food banks within just two months, transforming their passion project into a massive logistics (物流) operation in the process. Word spread, and more and more young people at home during the pandemic reached out to help.
Farmlink has worked with more than 100 farms and 300 communities in the US, rescuing and moving enough food to distribute more than 64 million meals.
1. What is Farmlink?| A．A project. | B．A volunteer. | C．A food bank. | D．A college. |
| A．To deal with food waste. | B．To protect the environment. |
| C．To help with food shortages. | D．To fight against the pandemic. |
| A．Fresh. | B．Necessary. | C．Expensive. | D．Extra. |
| A．Transforming Passion into Action |
| B．Turning Food Waste into Meals |
| C．Distributing Meals with Joint Efforts |
| D．Rescuing the World from Hunger |
4 . Where would we be without food? We certainly wouldn’t be at Starbucks, grocery stores or restaurants. We wouldn’t, in fact, be anywhere for very long, because we need food to live. Food is seen as a basic human right, and yet one in nine people globally experience hunger. As far back as 1945 the United Nations recognized food as not a privilege, but a right, and that’s why they created World Food Day, observed annually on October 16, in 1979. It’s a day of observance to draw attention to the plight of the hungry. So, today, join us in alleviating hunger.
HOW TO OBSERVE WORLD FOOD DAY
(1).Give to a local food bank
In the United States it’s estimated 1 in 7 people rely on food banks as their primary or supplemental food source—many of these are working families who suffer from unemployment and cannot afford the groceries needed to help their family live healthily. The top requested items for food banks are healthy, nutritious and easy-to-store items high in protein, such as canned or dry beans, peanut butter, rolled oats, low-sodium soups and vegetables and tuna canned in water.
(2).Support small scale farms
Ninety-eight percent of the farms in the world are family farms. They usually practice sustainable agriculture with plants that are native to the area, rotating crops and limited use of pesticides. Sadly, many family farmers are unable to produce the variety of crops needed for their own survival and without support, can suffer from insufficient nutrition themselves. On World Food Day, shop locally and support family farms.
(3).Raise money to eliminate hunger
On World Food Day there are typically a number of food drives. If you don’t know of a local food drive, organize one yourself and donate the food to it. Globally there are hunger walks, World Food Day dinners or food packaging rallies. Get involved and let’s end world hunger!
1. What does the underlined word “plight” mean in Paragraph 1?| A．A difficult situation. | B．The health state. |
| C．The emotional condition. | D．The financial problem. |
| A．It is observed only in less developed countries. |
| B．It falls on October 16 annually since 1979. |
| C．It is committed to boosting the rice yield worldwide. |
| D．It aims to teach farmers to practice sustainable agriculture. |
| A．A campaign to deliver extra food to the place where it is needed. |
| B．An organization to call on people to save food. |
| C．A soup kitchen to teach people how to cook healthy food. |
| D．A volunteer activity to collect food for hungry people. |
| A．To inform the readers of the origin of World Food Day. |
| B．To share the diverse activities held on World Food Day. |
| C．To stress the importance of food security. |
| D．To appeal to the readers to do their part to end hunger. |
5 . Anyone wanting to help the poor may like this idea—recycling aluminum cans in a different way, which is apparently also good for the environment. So you're actually killing two birds with one stone. It goes without saying that recycling aluminum cans can save resources, energy, time and money. People usually save and place aluminum cans in the dustbins, which are then collected and taken away by cleaners, who will finally recycle them in the recycling center. But if you save the aluminum cans, and skip the cleaners, you can save these same cans for something more important—helping the poor. In other words, by doing less, you are giving the environmental cause some new significance.
Here is how to put this idea into action. Take your aluminum cans and place them in a plastic bag. For the dirty ones, rinse them out first. Store the bag of clean aluminum cans. Once you collect about one hundred cans or more, take the cans to the recycle center yourself. There are about eighteen aluminum cans in a pound. And you can receive three to four dollars for one hundred cans. Donate your three to four dollars to the poor or any charity organization of your choice.
By now, you may wonder if your few dollars have really made a difference to the poor. Consider this: Is there any individual or any specific event that is great enough to change the world or decide the direction that history takes? The answer is probably no. What if there were a lot of people who would do the same thing? History shows nothing but the collective will of the whole community. And that will surely be powerful enough to make a bigger difference.
Go to your community or your school and spread your idea. Share your idea and save your aluminum cans with other people. One hundred people can speak louder than one. And the money you make by saving cans can be multiplied by one hundred times. And if more people join in the cause around the world, an even larger difference can be made , and more people in need will enjoy the benefits.
1. What's special about the new idea?| A．It makes profits. | B．It saves resources. |
| C．It benefits the poor. | D．It involves cleaners. |
| A．Dirty cans do not sell well. | B．You decide who receives the money. |
| C．A hundred cans weigh about 3 pounds. | D．The recycle center is conveniently located. |
| A．A great individual or event. | B．The direction history takes. |
| C．The collective will of people. | D．The neighbourhood you live in. |
| A．Many hands make light work. | B．Kill two birds with one stone. |
| C．Don't put the cart before the horse. | D．No man can do two things at once. |
6 . Just two months before his senior year in high school, Foster Andersen was riding a motorcycle in his hometown of Henrietta, N.Y., when he crashed. The accident left him in a coma. He remained in a hospital for seven months.
In the nearly 40 years that have followed, Andersen has to use a wheelchair. He can write when a pen is intertwined in his fingers, but he needs an assistant to help him with everyday needs. However, a quick survey of his achievements shows not one, but two college degrees and a huge network of people who call him friend. And probably the best example of Andersen’s spirit is his nonprofit group Shared Adventures. Last summer the organization celebrated 21 years of bringing recreational and social activities to people with disabilities.
“It’s founded on the belief that recreation, fun, challenge and opportunity to the outdoors are necessary parts of a healthy life,” Andersen said. “We are the only year-round program that offers such a wide range of activities to people with physical challenges and special needs.”
Cycling is on today’s schedule. A group of about 50 people gather at the campus of California State University for a 25-mile ride along the California coast.
Besides cycling, Shared Adventures offers year-round classes in yoga, gardening and art. It also hosts many social events, such as a winter holiday party.
The most well-known event is called Day on the Beach. Last year, nearly 1,200 volunteers and participants gathered on the Cowell Beach in Santa Cruz to give participants a rare opportunity to surf in the Pacific Ocean.
Wendy Bell, a disabled yoga teacher and Day on the Beach participant, said the event is the best example of the great experience the organization offers. And Shared Adventures helps her in another way. “More than half of the people I meet are through Shared Adventures, so it provides something that can be hard to find elsewhere,” she said.
1. What can we know about Foster Andersen?| A．He has spent most of his life writing. | B．He built a big charity organization online. |
| C．He made a survey on people with disabilities. | D．He has lived a rich and full life despite his disability. |
| A．It offers the disabled year-around indoor activities. |
| B．It aims to improve the quality of disabled people’s life. |
| C．It helps the disabled face challenges and problems in life. |
| D．It encourages people to hold a positive attitude towards life. |
| A．It helps her to show her yoga skills. | B．It allows her to forget her disabilities. |
| C．It enables her to study the Pacific Ocean. | D．It gives her a chance to set up her social network. |
| A．Foster Anderson: try bravely without fear of failure |
| B．Foster Anderson: take action for extraordinary changes |
| C．Shared Adventures: save Foster Anderson |
| D．Shared Adventures: meet the recreational and social needs |
1. What is Habitat for Humanity?
| A．A farm. | B．A community. | C．An organization. |
| A．To make profits. | B．To provide shelter for the poor. | C．To live a simple life. |
| A．Building companies. | B．Local authorities. | C．House owners. |
| A．They are cheap. | B．They are expensive. | C．They are free. |
8 . It all started with a post on social media. Returning home from the grocery store, then 25-year-old Simone Policano felt compelled to help the elderly in her neighbourhood to practise safer social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. With this in mind, she reached out to her friends via the social media, inquiring about existing volunteer opportunities in the state of New York. Unexpectedly, many responded to her post, expressing their interest to volunteer as well. As a result of that outreach, one of her friends, Liam Elkind joined Policano. They decided to start an initiative called Invisible Hands Deliver.
Just two days after conceiving(想出)the idea, Policano and Elkind had a website up and running. This site allowed the elderly and other at-risk individuals to make requests for groceries and prescription medicines to be delivered to them. Volunteers left the bags of groceries outside the doors. The webpage also included a call for volunteers, which gained more than 2,000 sign-ups within the first five days.
As the pandemic began to take its toll on New York in March 2020, Invisible Hands Deliver witnessed a massive outpouring of support from like-minded individuals in the community. Besides volunteering to deliver groceries for free, New Yorkers also reached out to translate the Invisible Hands flyers into over a dozen languages, enabling the organisation to reach out to more members of the community.
Following its success in New York and New Jersey, the organisation has expanded its operations to Philadelphia and there are plans to expand to other areas of the United States. Their acts of kindness have also inspired similar networks to sprout up worldwide. Invisible Hands Deliver is also supported by other organizations.
Helmed by a team of college students and recent graduates, Invisible Hands Deliver has shown that one is never too young to make a difference and give back to the community. In a time when the pandemic has forced people apart, the young are in a prime position to take advantage of technology and bridge the gap, bringing communities together.
1. Why did Simone Policano setup “Invisible Hands Deliver”?| A．To practice outreach on the social media. |
| B．To bring volunteers of the same interest together. |
| C．To help the elderly with their daily chores contactlessly. |
| D．To sell groceries and prescription medicines to the lonely elderly. |
| A．Cause great damage. | B．Reduce the impact. |
| C．Fill a huge gap. | D．Recover slowly. |
| A．Invisible Hands Deliver has drawn wide attention. |
| B．People responded to Simon’s post in actively at the beginning. |
| C．Invisible Hands Deliver has existed in many areas of the United States. |
| D．Young people pull the elderly together when the pandemic pulls them apart. |
| A．Great minds think alike. | B．All the people gather the fire. |
| C．Great things never come easy. | D．Kill two birds with one stone. |
9 . Every year, natural disasters affect about 250 million people and global warming is making droughts and floods more common.
In Bangladesh，a lot of people have to live on flat and near the sea, but the cyclones (旋风) there bring terrible floods. In 1970, Cyclone Bhola killed at least 300,000 people.
After this, villages set up groups of emergency volunteers and teachers had to talk to children every week about the things which they should do if there was a cyclone warning.
Not everyone in Bangladesh was so lucky.
| A．Sadly, we can’t stop the disasters. |
| B．Four thousand people died in cyclone Sidr. |
| C．Heavy rains, too, contribute to the total cyclone damage. |
| D．They didn’t have to wait many years for the next big cyclone. |
| E．It was one of the worst natural disasters of the twentieth century. |
| F．Ten-year-old Rupa and her friends ran to all their neighbours’ homes. |
| G．A tropical cyclone can be up to six miles high, and hundreds of miles wide. |
10 . Games for Peace
The Peace Corps is a United States volunteer organization. The mission of the Peace Corps is to promote world peace and friendship by providing trained volunteers to countries who need them. Here is advice of two of those volunteers on joining the Peace Corps and some more information about the activity.
Schwille: It usually takes nine to twelve months to be placed, and it’ll take longer if you’re married. If you’re willing to go anywhere, there are more opportunities. Remember the place you’re going is not the place you think it is.
Schneider: The biggest piece of advice I could share is that each experience is so unique and every experience is incredibly valuable. There is no one way to measure the “success” or “impact” a volunteer has in their community.
Click here to get more information
FAST FACT
Peace Corps Online
Follow the adventures of the Peace Corps, and get updates about the program, on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. FAST FACT
To Be a Volunteer
Length of service is 27 months, which includes an average of three months of in-country training and 24 months of Volunteer service.
The application process averages 9-12 months. The minimum age for Peace Corps service is 18; there is no upper age limit. Volunteers must be U.S. citizens. Competitive applicants will have a demonstrated commitment to community service, leadership experience, and a willingness to learn a new language.
1. What’s the purpose of the Peace Corps?| A．To train volunteers. | B．To advance peace and friendship. |
| C．To provide opportunities. | D．To share experiences. |
| A．A British postgraduate who wants to give back to society. |
| B．A Canadian lawyer with adequate volunteering experience. |
| C．An American gardener who is proficient in French. |
| D．An American high school student with busy school schedule. |
| A．In a magazine. | B．In a biography. | C．On the website. | D．In a novel. |
