2 . The sound that woke Damian Languell at 8:15 in the morning was so loud he assumed it came from inside his house in Wade, Maine. As he got up to investigate, he heard another sound, this one coming most definitely from outside. Looking out of his bedroom window, he noticed a tree enveloped in smoke about 500 yards away. A car wrapped around the tree's base, its engine on fire.

Grabbing buckets of water, he and his wife ran to the crash site. Up close, the accident looked worse. The car was split nearly in two, and the tree was where the driver's seat ought to have been, as if planted there. No one should have survived this crash, and yet there was 20- year-old Quintin Thompson, his terrified face pressed against the driver's side window, in visible pain.

Languell tried putting out the fire with his buckets of water but failed. When the flames got into the front seats, he knew he had to get the young man out. So Languell opened the car's back door and climbed in. Using a pocket knife he'd brought with him, he cut through Thompson's seat belt. Now that Thompson was free, Languell pulled him out, and dragged him to safety before the entire car was in flames.

It is empathy that drove Languell to help, just as he said, "My heart goes out to Thompson. When you are that close to that level of hurt, you feel it so directly." For his heroic action, Languell was added to the list of real-life heroes changing the world.

1. Where was the first sound actually from?

A．A house on fire.	B．A car crash.
C．The bedroom window.	D．The basement.

2. What do we know about Quintin Thompson?

A．He saved his car from fire.	B．He was successfully rescued.
C．He remained calm all the time.	D．He was capable of helping himself out.

3. Which of the following best explains "empathy” underlined in the last paragraph?

A．Honesty.

B．Wisdom.

C．Sympathy.

D．Responsibility.

4. Which words can best describe Damian Languell?

A．Daring and generous.	B．Caring and grateful.
C．Courageous and noble.	D．Ambitious and reliable.

3 . It was rush hour on the morning of June 1 in the West Texas city of San Angelo. Heather Santellano, 36, was driving her white 2012 Mazda on Houston、 Harte Frontage Road with her nine-year-old daughter and ten-year- old son in the back. Suddenly, a red pickup truck cut them off. Santellano turned the wheel hard to the right, sending the Mazda skidding off the road and down an embankment(堤)that ended in a drop-off after about 50 feet. If the car didn't stop, it would go airborne and plunge onto the road some 20 feet below.

Then a bit of luck: As the car raced toward the edge, its undercarriage got stuck on the cement lip of the embankment ledge, stopping it cold. The occupants, however, were far from safe. The car had come to rest on top of a retaining wall, literally teetering(摇摇欲坠)on the edge of disaster. One sudden move by anyone inside could send it over.

Jacob Rodriguez watched the scene unfold from the 'T'ruck Repair Plant where he works. Then he and four other men ran to the car. They leaped onto the trunk to balance the weight as the terrified kids in the back seat watched.

Meanwhile, Julio Vasquez and his nephew, Marco Vasquez, were driving to their jabs at nearby Premier Automotive. Julio jumped out of the car to help while Marco went to the shop, grabbed a heavy-duty strap(皮带)，and returned to the swinging car. He fastened the Mazda to an P-350 truck that had been driven over by one of the other rescuers. With the car secured, the group carefully opened the back doors and helped the children out.

But their departure shifted the car's weight, causing it to lean forward. The men, still on-the trunk, asked Santellano to jump into the back seat to rebalance the weight. She did and then inched out the back door. Finally, the men carefully got off the trunk. Everyone was safe.

1. What do we know about Heather Santellano?

A．She was a careless driver.	B．She drove her twins to school.
C．She ran into a pickup truck.	D．She made a sharp turn to avoid the truck.

2. What does the author intend to do in paragraph 2?

A．Stress the coming of good fortune.	B．Describe the car's dangerous situation.
C．Add some background information.	D．Explain why people came to the rescue.

3. What is the most critical in the rescue process?

A．Balance.	B．Cooperation.
C．Calmness.	D．Gravity.

4. Which of the following statements is consistent with the theme of the passage?

A．Persistence will pay off. .	B．One in trouble, all to help.、
C．Many hands make light work.	D．Love makes the world go round.

4 . New York—A truck struck a 56-year-old woman riding a Citi Bike through Midtown Thursday morning, and officers Dimitri Coutsouvelis and Thomas Demery came to her rescue, officials said.

Two counter-terrorism policemen on Sixth Ave. near W. 47th St. spotted the white truck dragging the Citi Bike about 9:30 a. m. — moments after it struck the woman, who was found lying on the street with an injured right leg, frightened witnesses said.

“She was just lying there in a lot of pain,” said Stanford Dawson, 57, who sells goods on the comer of Sixth Ave. and 48th St. “You could see her leg was turned back and the knee bones were sticking out through the skin.’’

One of the policemen ran after the truck and forced it to stop while the other tended to the woman.

“The driver acted a little confused about what happened,” said Police Officer Thomas Demery, who ran to stop the truck after hearing the “sound of the bike being dragged.”

“The woman suffered a deep gash on her leg from her knee to her hip,” said the policeman. “I kept telling her not to look at it, that it’s going to be fine. I kept comforting her.”

The ambulance rushed her to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition. The driver of the truck remained at the scene, policemen said. No charges were immediately filed.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of the work that the Critical Response Team does each and every day protecting New York City. Generally, people think they always face danger all day and sometimes they shall feel bored in the street,” said Counter-terrorism Chief James Waters. “They always perform admirably, including today.”

“It feels really good to be a part of helping fellow New Yorkers. That’s what we guys want to express most,” Demery said.

Cars have struck and killed many bicyclists so far this year, and the reported number of deaths is a 21 % increase compared to the 13 killed during the same time last year.

1. Which is right about the truck driver?

A．His over-speeding made the accident happen.

B．He kept driving, not knowing the accident.

C．He was arrested shortly after the accident.

D．He had his leg hurt in the accident.

2. Who ran to take care of the injured woman?

A．Thomas Demery.

B．James Waters.

C．Stanford Dawson.

D．Dimitri Coutsouvelis.

3. What do the policemen think of their work on the street?

A．Rewarding.

B．Boring.

C．Acceptable.

D．Dangerous.

4. What can be inferred about the woman?

A．She was struck by a truck.	B．She was badly injured in the foot.
C．She was lucky to get timely help.	D．She was unconscious in hospital.

5 . Any car accident is frightening, but an accident in which your vehicle is thrown into the water, with you trapped inside, is absolutely terrifying.     1    However, most deaths result from panic, without a plan or understanding what is happening to the car in the water. By adopting a brace(支撑) position, acting decisively and getting out fast, you can save yourself from a sinking vehicle.

Brace yourself for impact (撞击力). As soon as you're aware that you're going off the road and into a body of water, adopt a brace position. The impact could set off the airbag system in your vehicle, so you should place both hands on the steering wheel in the “ten and two” position.

Undo your seat belt.     2     Unfasten the children, starting with the oldest first. Forget the cell phone call. Your car isn’t going to wait for you to make the call.

    3     Leave the door alone at this stage and concentrate on the window. A car’s electrical system should work for up to three minutes in water, so try the method of opening it electronically first. Many people don’t think about the window as an escape option either because of panic or misinformation about doors and sinking.

Break the window. If you aren’t able to open the window, or it only opens halfway, you’ll need to break it with an object or your foot. It may feel counterintuitive (有悖常理的) to let water into the car.     4    

Escape when the car has equalized. If it has reached the dramatic stage where the car cabin has been filled with water and it has become balanced, you must move quickly and effectively to ensure your survival.     5     While there is still air in the car, take slow，deep breaths and focus on what you’re doing.

A．Open the window as soon as you hit the water.

B．Surviving a sinking car is not as difficult as you think.

C．It takes 60 to 120 seconds for a car to fill up with water usually.

D．Such accidents are particularly dangerous due to the risk of drowning.

E．In conclusion, if you know what to do in the water, you will be safe.

F．This is the first thing to attend to, yet it often gets forgotten in the panic.

G．But the sooner the window is open, the sooner you can escape directly through it.

6 .      No one knows yet the accurate number of lives which have been lost in this terrible fire. But reports suggest that it is more than one hundred.
     A wall of flames fifty feet high and at least one hundred and fifty miles wide is now racing towards the forests and rich farmlands of southern Victoria . Towns less than one hundred miles from Melbourne will be in danger unless the wind changes . People are rushing excitedly into the streets . The police have warned them not to see the fire but many people are doing so .
     The cause of the fire is unknown . No rain has fallen in this part of Australia for three months , and the hot , north-west wind from the great central desert is blowing at more than thirty miles an hour .
     The firefighters are travelling to the fire by road , rail and air . But it is not easy to get there . Flames and fallen trees have cut off or blocked roads and railway lines . The thick smoke often prevents them from finding the air strips (飞机跑道).
     It is said that the fire has brought the greater danger to the country since the Second World War .
1. By the time the article was written , the fire        .

A．had just broken out	B．had been put out
C．was spreading violently	D．was coming to an end

2. The writer wrote this article mainly to tell people        .

A．the fire was terrible and dangerous

B．it was impossible to put out the fire

C．more than one hundred people died of the fire

D．to join in the fight against the fire

3. In the 4th paragraph , the writer suggested that        .

A．the fire would soon be controlled by the firefighters

B．it would be very difficult to put out the fire

C．the government was paying great attention to the fire

D．the fire had caused great losses and the airport was in ganger

4. The underlined word “ accurate” in the first sentence has the same meaning as        .

A．recent

B．whole

C．rough

D．exact