1 . Surfer Dudes to the Rescue!
About 50 feet from shore of the Northern California’s Trinidad State Beach, two brothers were fighting for their lives. They had been swept out to sea in a rip current (激流), their mouths barely able to stay above the water. Thick fog made it difficult for beachgoers to see the guys, but the screams were unmistakable. And every second counted. The brothers, ages 15 and 20, were wearing shorts and T-shirts, unsuitable for a November day, let alone the freezing water. Keven Harder, a supervising ranger (巡查员), told the North Coast Journal in nearby Eureka that swimming in such a temperature “takes the fight right out of you.”
Luckily, four surfers in wet suits were nearby. Narayan Weibel, Spenser Stratton, and Adrian York, all 16, along with Taj Ortiz-Beck, 15, were on their surfboards riding up and down the coast on five-foot waves when they heard the cries. They turned and saw two bobbing heads and four struggling arms. “We looked at each other and knew these guys were about to drown,” Weibel told the Washington Post.
Weibel, Stratton, and Ortiz-Beck paddled toward the distressed swimmers while York headed to shore to warn someone to call 911. He then dived back in to help his friends.
As the surfers drew close, the brothers were still fighting hard for their lives. “It was pretty stressful, but there wasn’t any time to think about it, and that helped me keep my cool,” Ortiz-Beck says.
Ortiz-Beck pulled up alongside the younger brother. Grabbing him under his arms, he raised him up onto his board. Stratton and Weibel, meanwhile, hurried to help the older brother. He was large, 250 to 300 pounds, and he was panicked.
“I told them, ‘Calm down—we got you!’” says Weibel. “They thought they were going to die.”
York arrived in time to help get the older brother atop the second board. The surfers then paddled several minutes through choppy water to the medical help waiting onshore. The brothers were scared but fine.
“When we get a call like this one, it’s usually too late by the time we get there,” says Dillon Cleavenger, a first responder. “I can’t say enough about what these boys did. They were willing and prepared to risk their lives.”
1. What can we know from the first paragraph?| A．Two brothers were almost drowned in the sea. |
| B．Beachgoers happened to meet the two brothers. |
| C．The supervising ranger warned them not to swim then. |
| D．Surfers barely wore T-shirts and shorts in such weather. |
| A．Swimming in a rip current. | B．Surfing on high waves. |
| C．Struggling with their arms to shore. | D．Practising diving in the sea. |
| A．Andrian York dived back to call the police |
| B．Keven Harder played the most important role |
| C．Narayan Weibel tried to calm down the brothers |
| D．Ortiz-Beck saved the larger and panicked brother |
| A．Hardworking and friendly. | B．Kind and humorous. |
| C．Devoted and talented. | D．Brave and determined. |
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. |
| 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. |
| A．Honesty. | B．Wisdom. | C．Sympathy. | D．Responsibility. |
| A．Daring and generous. | B．Caring and grateful. |
| C．Courageous and noble. | D．Ambitious and reliable. |
3 . Notre-Dame, the cathedral (大教堂) that serves as one of Paris’s most beloved monuments, is on fire. According to The New York Times, the fire began around 6: 30 p.m. local time, when tourists urgently rushed out of the building. While Andre Finot, a spokesman for the cathedral, told The Times, that the cause of the fire is still unknown and that no one has been hurt while damage to the building appears catastrophic(灾难性的).
CNN reports that over 400 firefighters have been sent to fight the fire, but that they may be unable to save the cathedral. Built in the 12th century, Notre-Dame houses several relics important to Catholics (天主教徒). NBC News reports that relics from Saint Genevieve and Saint Denis may been lost, together with a relic believed to be from Jesus Christ’s crown of thorns, but it states that authorities now believe that the cathedral has been saved from “total destruction”.
Notre-Dame is visited by a reported 30, 000 people a day and 13 million people per year. Its destruction represents a global cultural loss. “This is just horrible”, Mohamed Megdoul, 33, a film producer and witness to the fire told The Times, speaking through tears. “A thousand years of history is being wiped away. This belonged to the whole world, and now it’s disappearing.”
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his sadness on Twitter. “Notre-Dame of Paris in flames,” reads an English translation of his statement. “Emotion for a whole nation. Thoughts for all Catholics and for all the French. Like all our countrymen, I’m sad together to see this part of us burn.” Other politicians, including Melanis Trump, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, U. K. Prime Minister Theresa May also shared their sadness on Twitter.
1. What do we know about Notre-Dame according to the passage?| A．It has been completely destroyed by the fire. |
| B．It’s a huge political loss to the world. |
| C．It’s only meaningful to Catholics. |
| D．The reason of the fire remained to be found out. |
| A．The history of France is destroyed because of the fire. |
| B．The loss the fire caused is huge. |
| C．The damage of Notre-Dame is being wiped off. |
| D．The cathedral has been saved from “total destruction”. |
| A．To report a disaster of Notre-Dame. |
| B．To express people’s sadness of the destruction. |
| C．To emphasize the value of Notre-Dame. |
| D．To show the concerns from the worldwide. |
4 . Which is safer-staying at home, traveling to work on public transport, or working in the office? Surprisingly, each of these carries the same risk, which is very low. However, what about flying compared to working in the chemical industry? Unfortunately, the former is 65 times riskier than the latter! In fact, the accident rate of workers in the chemical industry is less than that of almost any of human activity, and almost as safe as staying at home.
The trouble with the chemical industry is that when things go wrong they often cause death to those living nearby. It is this that makes chemical accidents so newsworthy. Fortunately they are extremely rare. The most famous ones happened at Texas City (1947), Flixborough( 1974), Seveso (1976), Pemex (1984) and Bhopal (1984).
Some of these are always in the minds of the people even though the loss of life was small. No one died at Seveso, and only 28 workers at Flixborough. The worst accident of all was Bhopal, where up to 3,000 were killed. The Texas City explosion of fertilizer killed 552. The Pemex fire at a storage plant for natural gas in the suburbs of Mexico City took 542 lives, just a month before the unfortunate event at Bhopal.
Some experts have discussed these accidents and used each accident to illustrate a particular danger. Thus the Texas City explosion was caused by tons of ammonium nitrate (硝酸氨), which is safe unless stored in great quantity. The Flixborough fireball was the fault of management, which took risks to keep production going during essential repairs. The Seveso accident shows what happens if the local authorities lack knowledge of the danger on their doorstep. When the poisonous gas drifted over the town, local leaders were incapable of taking effective action. The Pemex fire was made worse by an overloaded site in an overcrowded suburb. The fire set off a chain reaction of exploding storage tanks. Yet, by a miracle, the two Largest tanks did not explode. Had these caught fire, then 3,000 strong rescue team and fire fighters would all have died.
1. Which of the following statements is true?| A．Working at the office is safer than staying at home. |
| B．Travelling to work on public transport is safer than working at the office. |
| C．Staying at home is safer than working in the chemical industry. |
| D．Working in the chemical industry is safer than traveling by air. |
| A．they are very rare |
| B．they often cause loss of life |
| C．they always occur in big cities |
| D．they arouse the interest of all the readers |
| A．natural gas, which can easily catch fire |
| B．fertilizer, which can’t be stored in a great quantity |
| C．poisonous substance, which can’t be used in overcrowded areas |
| D．fuel, which is stored in large tanks |
| A．natural gas stored in very large tanks is always safe |
| B．to avoid any accidents we should not repair the facilities in chemical industry |
| C．all these accidents could have been avoided or controlled if effective measures had been taken |
| D．the local authorities should not be concerned with the production of the chemical industry |
5 . Norwood, a junior High School student, was driving three friends home in St. Petersburg, when another driver crashed into her from her left and made her car hit the tree. The impact jammed shut the driver’s side door, so Norwood climbed out the front window. Two of her friends managed to get out of the car unharmed, but her 16-year-old friend Zarria didn’t. She run back to the car only to find Zarria was just sitting there reactionless.
A lot of people started to gather around to see what was happening. Norwood started yelling, “Back up, back up, she needs space.” Norwood pulled Zarria out of the back seat, avoiding broken glass from the window. “That’s when I checked her pulse on her neck. I put my head against her chest, and I didn’t really hear nothing. So that’s when I just started doing CPR on her.” Norwood told the reporter. After the 30 compressions and two rescue breaths, Zarria regained consciousness. Ambulance quickly arrived and rushed her to the hospital to receive medical help.
When Miller, Norwood’s high school teacher, learned that Norwood saved a friend just one day after completing CPR training, she was at a loss of words and so proud. Norwood participates in the school’s Athletic Lifestyle Management Academy (ALMA). The program prepares students for various careers in health science. “We do vital signs and they learn how to take blood pressure and check pulse.” Miller introduced. And another one of the skills learned is CPR. “There are two components, a hands-on skills component where they have to demonstrate that they’re able to do CPR well, and then there’s a written test component, showing that they remember that knowledge.”
Thanks to Norwood’s quick thinking, Zarria is recovering well. She also isn’t surprised by her friend’s actions. “She will always help any way she can, so I wasn’t really shocked about that.”
1. What happened to Norwood and her friends on their way home?| A．They lost their way. | B．They suffered a car accident. |
| C．They crashed into another car. | D．They were stuck in a traffic jam. |
| A．To give her first aid. | B．To ask people for help. |
| C．To call ambulance at once. | D．To send her to hospital immediately. |
| A．It normally lasts for one day. |
| B．It is for medical students only. |
| C．It focuses on both theory and practice. |
| D．It trains students to live a healthy lifestyle. |
| A．Considerate and flexible. | B．Kind and ambitious. |
| C．Hardworking and clever. | D．Brave and calm. |
6 . Any car accident is frightening, but an accident in which your vehicle is thrown into the water, with you trapped inside, is absolutely terrifying.
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.
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.
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.
| 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. |
7 . Most people are hoping the recent stranding (搁浅) of the 1,300-foot, 220,000-ton Ever Given container ship (集装箱货运船) in the Suez Canal was a one-off---just a case of a very big ship getting stuck in a narrow waterway. However, more than 100 ships of similar size are passing through the world’s waterways, and even bigger ones are being built.
Capt.Andrew Kinsey, a senior marine-risk consultant (海洋风险顾问) for a global financial services firm, says with heavy weather in the North Pacific Ocean over the past year, a lot of containers are going overboard (落水). Part of the problem is the way the ultra-large ships handle at sea with towering stacks (堆叠) of containers, especially in strong winds.
Alan Murphy, chief executive of a container-shipping research and advisory firm in Copenhagen, Denmark, says it’s difficult to know whether there has been an increase in the number of containers going overboard or if trans-Pacific container losses over the past year have just received more attention.In a November report, the World Shipping Council found the number of such incidents to be falling in recent years, although the report does not cover 2020. There is no central database for reporting container losses, so it’s not known exactly how many containers fall overboard, Murphy says.
Murphy says container ships are often fully loaded nowadays, as demand for consumer products has jumped during the corona virus pandemic. “In the past, these huge ships have never really sailed as fully loaded as they are now,” he says.“Obviously, the more the ship carries, the greater the risk of an incident happening.”
“The stranding of Ever Given in the Suez Canal is a warning,” Kinsey says.“We’ve been bring up the issue of size in our yearly safety and shipping review and in papers for over five years.”
Carrying more containers needs bigger and wider ships, which means it is harder for them to sail through narrow waterways like the Suez Canal and move when they get stuck.
1. What can we imply from paragraph 1?| A．It might be a tough task to build bigger ships. |
| B．Costs of overseas shipments might rise sharply. |
| C．There might be changes in the world’s waterways. |
| D．More accidents like the recent stranding might happen. |
| A．No database for reporting container losses had been created. |
| B．Trans-Pacific container losses had received more attention. |
| C．The number of container losses had dropped in recent years before 2020. |
| D．More container losses happened in 2020 than in the past few years. |
| A．The extreme weather. | B．The increasing size of ships |
| C．The slow transportation. | D．The growing demand for consumer goods. |
| A．Warnings about the risks of stranding are given yearly. |
| B．Concern about larger ships has been voiced for some time. |
| C．Some container ships can carry as many goods as Ever Given. |
| D．Ships bigger than Ever Given won’t be allowed through the Suez Canal. |
If you are in a crowd, the first and most important thing is to make yourself familiar with your surroundings and mentally notice alternate exits.
| A．Be aware of the general atmosphere of the event, as panic situations can often be expected. |
| B．There is always space between people. |
| C．Do not lie on your stomach or back, as this dangerously exposes your lungs. |
| D．The worst is to be pushed by the crowd against an immovable object |
| E．If you fall, get up quickly. |
| F．No matter where you are, make sure you always know how to get out. |
| G．Instead, move in the same direction of the crowd. |
9 . It was late, about 10:15 p. m. Janice Esposito got off the train at Bellport, New York, went to her car and started driving home. She was so familiar with the route that she almost drove automatically. However, when Esposito's car had just crossed the railroad tracks—bam!, it hit another vehicle and was pushed back onto the tracks. Injured but mostly shocked by the crash and by the airbags that popped up, she was stuck in the vehicle.
As it happened, Pete DiPinto was just about to go to sleep when he heard a sharp noise. As a volunteer firefighter, he fetched a flashlight and rushed out without hesitation. “Any firefighter would have done what I did,” he said. “We're always on duty.”
After making sure that the driver was all right, DiPinto discovered Esposito's car straddling the railway tracks. And then he heard the bell ring, which signaled a train's arrival.
DiPinto rushed to Esposito's car and broke the window on the driver's side. Esposito looked up at him, with her eyes glazing over. “I don't know where 1 am,” she said.
“I have to get you off right now!” DiPinto yelled. The train was running toward them at a high speed. The driver's door cannot be opened due to the collision (硬撞), so DiPinto quickly ran to the other side and managed to open the door. He pulled her toward him across the passenger seat until finally got her out to safety. Several seconds later, the train crashed into the vehicle. “It was like a Hollywood movie,” DiPinto told reporters the next day.
“Last night,” said Gregory Miglino Jr, Chief of the Department in South Country Ambulance, “the hero arrived in pajamas (睡衣裤), not in a fire truck.”
1. What can we know about the accident from Paragraph 1?| A．Esposito's car hit another vehicle. |
| B．Esposito drove too fast. |
| C．Esposito didn't know the route well. |
| D．A running train crashed into Esposito's car. |
| A．She felt all right. |
| B．She was badly hurt. |
| C．She got stuck in the car. |
| D．She completely lost her consciousness. |
| A．Through the window on the driver's side. |
| B．Through the door on the driver's side. |
| C．Through the window on the passenger's side. |
| D．Through the door on the passenger's side. |
| A．DiPinto was not a professional firefighter. |
| B．DiPinto rushed to save life without thinking about himself. |
| C．DiPinto was a special firefighter who liked wearing pajamas. |
| D．DiPinto was unable to find a fire ruck when the accident happened. |
10 . 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 |
