1 . My two daughters and I got into the car to spend our weekend in Florida. Autumn, the elder one, offered to drive. I sat next to her, and Amber sat in back. After setting off, the three of us sang to the radio at the top of our voice.
It was a great trip until the rain poured and the rain was too heavy. “I have to pull over, ” Autumn said. She tried to enter the far right lane (车道) to find a place to stop, but trucks ran fast, making water onto our car. The car was out of control, then worse — it started to move left and right. Autumn fought to control it but it was too late. We ran into a truck. The girls jumped out of the car. My chest felt much pain.
“Get out, Mom. Come on！” Amber cried. “I can't,” I said. Autumn took out her cellphone, “There's been an accident. Send an ambulance (救护车)！” Amber and Autumn pulled me out of the car and helped me lie on my back in the grassy area by the roadside. I had to calm myself and looked up. A man held a large umbrella over me and other kind faces appeared above me. A woman helped to treat a cut over Amber's eye. Another woman came close to me and said, “No one in the truck was injured. Help was on the way.” The woman mentioned she was a nurse; the other woman who took care of Amber's cut was an eye specialist. We couldn't have asked for better care.
In the hospital the pain in my chest began to disappear. Later, the tests at the hospital made sure we had no serious injuries. We'd left all our troubles behind thanks to these kind people, who seemed to be angels (天使) in my eyes.
1. How did the author and her two daughters feel after setting out?| A．They were worried about the weather. |
| B．They enjoyed themselves greatly. |
| C．They thought it was a long journey. |
| D．They felt lucky to take the journey. |
| A．To stop by the roadside. |
| B．To follow the truck closely. |
| C．To get into the fast traffic lane. |
| D．To move the car left and right. |
| A．Unexpected heavy rain |
| B．Leave our troubles behind |
| C．Kind angels saved the day |
| D．My two kind daughters |
2 . Mount Hood is the highest mountain in Oregon, a state in the western United States. At 3,400 meters it is attractive (有吸引力的) to many people, some of whom, of course, run into trouble. Each year 25 to 50 people have accidents or get lost on Mount Hood and require rescue. Although most of these are understandable accidents, a few result from careless risk-taking.
In one recent case, three experienced climbers went hiking (远足) in the middle of a snowstorm in December. Most hikers climb Mount Hood in May or June when the weather conditions are favorable. But in December, the mountain is covered in snow and ice. Winds up to 135 kilometers per hour blow the snow around making it difficult to see. Temperatures can drop below freezing. As one rescue worker put it, “What were they thinking? They were just asking for it.”
During a rescue a few years ago, a helicopter full of rescue workers crashed (坠毁) and the rescue workers were almost killed. Linda Carle, who lives in the Mount Hood area, asks, “If someone made a poor decision, why should rescue teams have to risk their lives to save them? Why do people take unnecessary risks and do things that aren’t right if they know that they can get into trouble?”
Most of the Mount Hood rescue workers are either volunteers (志愿者) or part of the local sheriff’s department. There is no charge for these rescues. It is the taxpayers (纳税人) who pay the bill. Linda Carle suggests that people who take careless risks and require rescue should be charged for the rescue. She feels it is only fair that costs for things like damaged helicopters and medical care for rescuers be paid for by the people who took the risk. What would you do if you were the local sheriff at Mount Hood?
1. What can we learn about Mount Hood?| A．It lies in the south of the United States. |
| B．It is the highest mountain in the United States. |
| C．The best time to climb the mountain is in May or June. |
| D．Hundreds of people get lost in the mountain every year. |
| A．peace | B．pride | C．loneliness | D．anger |
| A．pay for all the costs needed | B．learn to save themselves |
| C．be taxed at a higher rate | D．work as volunteers |
| A．ask the government to provide more rescuers |
| B．introduce Mount Hood to mountain climbers |
| C．advise climbers to think twice before they act |
| D．report some serious accidents in Mount Hood |
3 . "The firefighters of Paris told me they are very hopeful about saving the northern tower, " French Junior Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Twitter late Monday, adding that the firefighting efforts would continue for hours.
The Notre Dame Cathedral(巴黎圣母院)， one of the most famous landmarks in the French capital， was engulfed in flames Monday evening as a catastrophic fire tore through the historic structure， collapsing its spire as fire officials raced to save the monument from total destruction.
Video and photos posted on social media showed flames engulfing the cathedral, thus both the ceiling and the 90-meter spire came crashing down. The fire spread to one of the cathedral's towers, but French officials said late Monday that firefighters were optimistic they could save both towers.
French President Emmanuel Macron said a national fundraising campaign would be launched on Tuesday and called on the world's "greatest talents" to assist in the effort. "We will rebuild, Macron told reporters. "We will rebuild Notre Dame because this is what the French expect, because this is what our history deserves.
Officials said there were no deaths in the fire. Jean-Claude Gallet, chief of the Parisian fire department, said one firefighter was injured while responding to the flame. Two-thirds of the cathedral's roof was destroyed, Gal let said. The fire broke out just before p. m. minutes after the cathedral, which has been partly rebuilt, closed to the public. Around 30 000 people visit the church daily.
Despite its long history and many treasures the Cathedral needed the help of a writer to become truly famous. Victor Hugo's 1831 novel, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, presented the building to a wide audience of readers. The book's ugly lead character, Quasimodo, serves as a symbol for Paris forgotten Gothic architecture. Hugo wrote the book to remind people of it, with hope they would work to protect the beautiful old buildings of Paris. The loss of cultural relics will never come again if they are lost only once. This is a painful loss of world civilization.
1. The following issues are wrongly stated in the text except________________.| A．the Notre Dame Cathedral was totally destroyed |
| B．firefighters were pessimistic because they couldn't save both towers |
| C．a national fundraising campaign would be launched to rebuild the cathedral |
| D．the Cathedral became truly famous for its long history and many treasures |
| A．Flooded. | B．Swallowed. |
| C．Disappeared. | D．Constructed. |
| A．A fire broke out in the Notre Dame Cathedral |
| B．The mystery of the Notre Dame Cathedral |
| C．A national fundraising campaign |
| D．The rebuilding of the Notre Dame Cathedral |
4 . It was the final climb on his quest to reach the highest summit on all seven continents. When Christopher Kulish finally reached Mount Everest’s 29,035-foot peak, he joined an elite group known as the “Seven Summits Club”. But the 62-year-old Colorado attorney died suddenly Monday after returning to the first camp below the mountain’s summit. He’s the second American to die in the past week after reaching Everest’s highest point. His family believes the cause was a heart attack, according to the Denver Post. “He saw his last sunrise from the highest peak on Earth,” his brother, Mark Kulish, said in a statement to the Denver Post. “We are heartbroken at this news.”
Last week, 55-year-old Donald Lynn Cash of Utah collapsed and died just after reaching the Everest peak. He too had reached the highest point on all seven continents. Including Christopher and Cash, at least 11 people have died on Mount Everest this year.
The deaths come among reports of overcrowding on the popular mountain. The Nepali government granted a total of 381 permits to climb Everest this year, a number that doesn’t include guides who are on the mountain as well. For some climbers, that traffic has meant longer wait times — some told the Himalayan Times the wait has exceeded two hours between the last camp and the peak. Mountaineer Vanessa O’Brien, who has also climbed the seven summits, said when there’s a crowd, being a more experienced climber won’t help you. “It doesn’t matter if you’re the best racecar driver in the world. If you’re stuck in traffic, you’re stuck in traffic,” she said in an interview.
And when a climber is stuck in that traffic, “their body is starting to deteriorate.” O’Brien, who set a record as the fastest woman to reach the highest peak on every continent, also said the descent is often harder than the climb.
Climbing expert Alan Arnette said there’s no simple explanation for the string of deaths. He said weather that has led to a shorter climbing season is one factor causing overcrowding. He also said the cost to climb Mount Everest has decreased, which means more people are making the journey. He urged the governments in charge of granting permits to limit how many people can be on the mountain at once.
Still, Christopher was no beginner. His family said he’d been mountain climbing for five decades. He arrived at the base camp nearly two months before his climb so he could give himself time to adapt to the conditions. When he made his journey, his family said he was climbing with a small group in almost ideal conditions after some of the overcrowding had cleared.
His brother described being a lawyer as a “day job” for Christopher. Climbing was his passion. “He was an inveterate climber of peaks in Colorado, the West and the world over,” Mark Kulish said. “He passed away doing what he loved.”
1. What do we know from Christopher?| A．He has reached the highest point on all seven continents. |
| B．He joined the “Seven Summits Club” at the base camp. |
| C．11 people following him died after reaching the Everest peak this year. |
| D．He died from a heart attack below the mountain’s summit. |
| A．Lacking guides. | B．Overcrowding. |
| C．Bad weather. | D．Getting Government’s permission. |
| A．To wait for his friends. | B．To learn about the mountain. |
| C．To clear the traffic jam. | D．To adapt to conditions earlier. |
| A．Experienced. | B．Famous. | C．Excellent. | D．Addictive. |
5 . Every summer holiday, there are always many drowning accidents. Especially, swimming in the wild is extremely dangerous.
The main reason is that people who can't swim have a fear of water and
But the person that can swim is otherwise.
The improvement of swimming skills lies in practice. The only proper place for practice is a swimming pool with coaches and ambulance people present.
Good advice to prevent drowning:
| A．Common swimming strokes（泳姿） are breaststroke, freestyle, and backstroke. |
| B．Most accidents happen right there. |
| C．He is not afraid of water |
| D．they don't want to go near dangerous waters. |
| E．Master swimming skills and never swim in the wild. |
| F．However, we cannot think learning to swim is useless for this reason. |
6 . Mr. Peter Johnson, aged twenty-three, battled for half an hour to escape from his trapped car yesterday when it landed upside down in three feet of water. Mr. Johnson took the only escape route—through the boot(行李箱).
Mr. Johnson’s car had finished up in a ditch(沟渠) at Romney Marsin, Kent after skidding on ice and hitting a bank. “Fortunately, the water began to come in only slowly,” Mr. Johnson said. “I couldn’t force the doors because they were jammed against the walls of the ditch and dared not open the windows because I knew water would come flooding in.”
Mr. Johnson, a sweet salesman of Sitting Home, Kent, first tried to attract the attention of other motorists by sounding the horn and hammering on the roof and boot. Then he began his struggle to escape.
Later he said, “It was really a half penny that saved my life. It was the only coin I had in my pocket and I used it to unscrew the back seat to get into the boot. I hammered desperately with a hammer trying to make someone hear, but no help came.”
It took ten minutes to unscrew the seat, and a further five minutes to clear the sweet samples from the boot. Then Mr. Johnson found a wrench and began to work on the boot lock. Fifteen minutes passed by. “It was the only chance I had. Finally it gave, but as soon as I moved the boot lid, the water and mud poured in. I forced the lid down into the mud and scrambled clear as the car filled up.”
His hands and arms cut and bruised(擦伤), Mr. Johnson got to Beckett Farm nearby, where he was looked after by the farmer’s wife, Mrs. Lucy Bates. Huddled in a blanket, he said, “That thirty minutes seemed like hours.” Only the tips of the car wheels were visible, police said last night. The vehicle had sunk into two feet of mud at the bottom of the ditch.
1. What is the best title for this newspaper article?| A．The Story of Mr. Johnson, A Sweet Salesman |
| B．Car Boot Can Serve As The Best Escape Route |
| C．Driver Escapes Through Car Boot |
| D．The Driver Survived A Terrible Car Accident |
| A．The hammer. | B．The coin. | C．The screw. | D．The horn. |
| A．Mr. Johnson’s car stood on its boot as it fell down. |
| B．Mr. Johnson could not escape from the door because it was full of sweet jam. |
| C．Mr. Johnson’s car accident was partly due to the slippery road. |
| D．Mr. Johnson struggled in the pouring mud as he unscrewed the back seat. |
| A．Luckily the door was torn away in the end | B．At last the wrench went broken |
| C．The lock came open after all his efforts | D．The chance was lost at the last minute |
| A．the ditch was along a quiet country road | B．the accident happened on a clear warm day |
| C．the police helped Mr. Johnson get out of the ditch | D．Mr. Johnson had a tender wife and was well attended |
7 . New York factories in the early 1900s were busy and dangerous places to work. Most factories were housed in brick buildings that were overly hot in the summer and extremely cold in the winter. Workers at the time often worked more than 12 hours each day, receiving few breaks and no overtime pay. The floors were crowded with people and equipment, and the doors were often locked to prevent employees from leaving early. In fact, most factory owners and managers mistreated those who asked for changes or directly fired them. The people in charge believed that they did not owe anything more than a paycheck to their workers.
Everything changed when a fire broke out at the Triangle shirtwaist factory in 1911. During that tragic event, about a quarter of the workers (mostly young immigrant women) lost their lives. The factory workers, located on the ninth floor of the building, could not get the door open. The fire escape led only to flames below. The fire truck ladders were not long enough, nor were the water hoses (水管). Fire nets were inadequate.
After the fire, people marched and protested in order to change conditions in factories. Many large protests took place in New York. Eventually, politicians took up the cause, and legislators (立法者) passed workplace laws regulating child labor and the number of workers allowed on a floor. They also called for sprinkler systems (自动喷水系统) to be placed in all factories. The rights of workers were important and valuable.
Today, working in a factory is still a demanding, difficult, and often dangerous job. The victims of the Triangle shirtwaist factory did not die in vain, however. Because of their experience, the workplace was forever changed for the better.
1. Which is the cause of the tragic accident?| A．The quality of the factory building. |
| B．The involvement of politicians. |
| C．The lack of worker safety at the factory. |
| D．The inexperience of the workers. |
| A．employers were given more control |
| B．many laws were passed to protect workers |
| C．sprinkler systems were invented |
| D．factories in New York closed |
| A．The tragedy could have been avoided. |
| B．The women who died were wealthy. |
| C．Factories were the best places to work. |
| D．Shirtwaists were hard to find after the fire. |
| A．caused little damage to the factory |
| B．brought the reform in the working conditions |
| C．became a turning point for politicians |
| D．took place on the ninth floor of the building |
8 . One Sunday night, a high school student, Rory Campbell, heard noises next door to his home in Bonita Mews, off St Asaph Road, Brockley. When he went outside, he saw his neighbor climbing out of a front window of his second floor flat, which was on fire. He then saw the man covered in black soot(黑灰), shouting for help.
The 15-year-old boy called the fire service and tried to calm the neighbor, who is in his thirties, until firefighters arrived. Rory said, “He was shouting ‘Help me, help me! Get a ladder, get a ladder!’ He was a bit hysterical(歇斯底里的). I didn’t have time to think. I just tried to calm him by telling him the firefighters were on the way.”
Rory was told by the man that the fire had been caused by a candle falling over. Firefighters from New Cross, Peckham, Lewisham and Forest Hill rescued the man by ladder and got the fire under control within minutes of arriving. The man was taken to a south London hospital where he is still recovering from smoke inhalation(吸入).
25% of the flat was damaged by the fire.
Rory, studying music, added, “As the man walked past me, he said ‘Thanks’ and that meant a lot to me. I do feel good because I helped save his life.”
Another neighbor said, “I heard a lot of noise but thought it was coming from the railway opposite. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the man hanging there. The boy next door really did save his life by calling the firefighters.”
1. According to the passage, what caused the fire?| A．Rory’s smoking. |
| B．Careless cooking. |
| C．The gas fire. |
| D．A lighted candle. |
| A．He lighted the candle. |
| B．He calmed his neighbor. |
| C．He closed doors to stop the fire. |
| D．He held a ladder. |
| A．He was rescued by ladder. |
| B．The boy carried him out. |
| C．He was carried by a firefighter who got into the room. |
| D．He got out himself. |
| A．much of the flat was destroyed |
| B．Rory was sent to hospital for injuries |
| C．Rory studied music |
| D．Rory led an important part in saving the man’s life |
9 . Every Christmas,the firm I worked for raised money for disadvantaged kids in the area,and every Christmas I'd drive out with colleagues to deliver gifts.Some years ago, we were returning to work and stopped at an intersection as the lights turned red.
We were in the middle lane and I became aware of an SUV(越野车）coming up behind us at speed;at the last moment,it switched to the righthand lane and carried straight on past the red light into traffic moving west to east.It crashed into another vehicle,causing it to veer off(转向），then they both skidded to a stop.
There was a loud"Bang"and flames leapt from the SUV 's front.I had been a volunteer firefighter for many years and had attended automobile accidents before.As the flames grew fiercer,I knew the car's battery had exploded and that there was no time to lose.I dashed round to the passenger side.The door was locked,but by pulling on the window frame,I managed to tear it open.I leaned in,unbuckled the driver's belt and pulled him across to the passenger side.
Other than some cuts,he was fine.I left him with my workmates and went to check on the driver of the other car,who was also unhurt.Then I headed back to the intersection, where I directed traffic around the burning vehicle until the emergency services arrived.
On the way back to work,I said to my colleagues:"What you saw,keep it under your hats,OK?"But an hour later I had a call from a friend on a local TV station."Brad,"he said,"I have a picture here that someone's sent in of you helping out at a traffic accident."
I hoped that would be the end f it,but the story was to have an unexpected ending. A couple of weeks after the accident,I agreed to a televised reunion with Michael Walker, the guy I'd pulled from the car.He thanked me,and then he introduced me to his daughter, Amber.It turned out she had been separated from her mum and dad,but returned home after the accident.Knowing this family had been reunited was greatly comforting to me-a real Christmas gift.
1. The car crash was caused by| A．the SUV driver's running the red light |
| B．the traffic chaos at the intersection |
| C．the heavy traffic during Christmas |
| D．the author's car blocking the way |
| A．The emergency services. | B．The author. |
| C．The author's workmates. | D．A pedestrian. |
| A．Cover up the hair. | B．Hide the face. |
| C．Keep it secret. | D．Bear it in mind. |
| A．The reunion with the saved driver. |
| B．Acquaintance with Michael' s daughter. |
| C．Raising money for disadvantaged kids. |
| D．Michael' s family reunion after the accident. |
10 . Lee Spargo initially set up an outdoor trail camera at his home near Mount Holly in hopes of catching a wild fox that had been hunting his chickens. But he was aware of another danger Tuesday night when the camera caught footage of his house being swallowed in flames.
A fire inside Lee’s home triggered (触发) the camera and sent an alarm to his phone around 2:22 a.m. Lee woke up thinking he had caught the fox, but soon realized that his house was on fire instead.
“If I didn’t set up the equipment, we’d all be dead. It saved our lives,” he said. “I got up, Thinking ‘Oh, the fox is out there and I’m going to get him’. And then I saw a big reflection in the kitchen and I was considering, ‘What’s that?’”
Lee said he quickly jumped into action and got his wife Rhonda and his two kids Jonathan and Meagan out of the burning building. The family was also able to rescue two of their four dogs from the fire. Unfortunately, Lee’s 4-year-old Lulu and 2-year-old Sampson did not survive.
“We were yelling for them to get out, but the poor things were just so scared. They were just trying to hide,” Lee said.
Lee and his family also said they lost a number of personal belongings in the fire, including a treasured clock that had survived another fire at a relative’s home years ago. “We’ve been here for a long time. We raised our kids here,” he said. “We lost all in a couple hours. But at least I still have my family.”
1. Why did Lee set up an outdoor game trail camera?| A．To catch a fox. | B．To prevent the fire. |
| C．To monitor his family. | D．To help him feed the chicken. |
| A．The alarm. | B．The phone. |
| C．The camera. | D．The wild animal. |
| A．Lee’s wife. | B．One of Lee’s lost dogs. |
| C．One of Lee’s friends. | D．Lee’s daughter. |
| A．He lost faith in life. |
| B．He had survived in another fire. |
| C．He regretted living there for such a long time. |
| D．He was still positive towards life. |
