After giving a talk at a high school, I was asked to pay a visit to a special student. An illness had kept the boy home, but he had expressed an interest in meeting me, and it would mean a great deal to him, so I agreed. During the nine-mile drive to his home, I found out something about Matthew. He had muscular dystrophy (肌肉萎缩症).When he was born, the doctor told his parents that he would not live to see five, and then they were told he would not make it to ten. Now he was thirteen. He wanted to meet me because I was a gold-medal power lifter, and I knew about overcoming(克服)difficulties and going for my dreams. I spent over an hour talking to Matthew. Never once did he complain or ask, “Why me?” He spoke about winning and succeeding and going for his dreams. Clearly, he knew what he was talking about. He didn’t mention that his classmates had made fun of him because he was different. He just talked about his hopes for the future, and how one day he wanted to lift weight with me. When we finished talking, I pulled out the first gold medal I won and put it around his neck. I told him he was more of a winner and knew more about success and overcoming difficulties than I ever would. He looked at it for a moment, then took it off and handed it back to me. He said, “You are a champion. You won that medal. Someday when I get to the Olympics and win my own medal, I will show it to you.” Last summer I received a letter from Matthew’s parents telling me that Matthew had passed away. They wanted me to have a letter he had written to me a few days before:Dear Rick, My mum said I should send you a thank-you letter for the picture you sent me. I also want to let you know that the doctors tell me that I don’t have long to live any more, but I still smile as much as I can. I told you someday that I was going to the Olympics and win a gold medal, but I know now I will never get to do that. However, I know I’m a champion, and God knows that too. When I get to Heaven, God will give me my medal and when you get there, I will show it to you. Thank you for loving me. Your friend, Matthew

1.The underlined part in Paragraph 3 “Why me?” probably means .

A. Why do you come to see me? B. Why do I have to stay at home?

C. Why does the disease fall on me? D. Why give a gold medal to me?

2.Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Matthew knew clearly about his illness.

B. Matthew once got his own gold medal.

C. Matthew thanked Rick for his kindness.

D. Matthew lived happily and brightly all his life.

3.Rick wrote the passage with the purpose of .

A. expressing his pity to all the disabled children

B. telling an experience of meeting a disabled child

C. describing his unusual friendship with a disabled child

D. showing his admiration towards the disabled child

Find Which Direction Is South

Do you have a good sense of direction? If not, please take with you a compass. But if you forget to take a compass, you can still find your way.

It's never a good idea to imagine that the family member who was entrusted (委托) with the job of map-reading actually knows where the family is. You can tell by the slightly confused load on their faces that nothing on the ground seems to match the map. Never mind. The sun is shining and it's still morning.If you don't know the exact time, you can still find out where south is, but you'll need to be patient.

①Find a straight stick and put it in the ground in a place where you can mark its shadow.

②Try to position the stick as vertically(垂直)as you can. You can check this by making a simple plumb line (铅锤线) with a piece of string and weight. You haven't got any string? OK, use a thread from your clothes with a button tied at the end to act as a weight.

③Mark the end of the shadow cast by the stick.

④Wait approximately half an hour and mark the end of the shadow again.

⑤Keep doing this until you have made several marks.

⑥The mark nearest the stick will represent the shortest shadow, which is cast at midday, when the sun is highest in the sky and pointing to the exact south.

⑦Pick a point in the distance along the line between the shortest shadow and the stick.

⑧That point is south of where you are.

⑨Now you can turn the map, like you did before, and find which way you should be travelling.

1.To find the direction, we ought to be patient probablybecause ____ .

A. it is not easy to find a proper stick

B. it is not easy to position the stick

C. it takes hours to make the marks

D. it takes about half an hour to make the marks

2.The passage would probably be most helpful to ____.

A. those who draw maps

B. those who get lost

C. those who make compasses

D. those who do experiments

3.Which of the following pictures best shows the way of finding the direction of south?

4.The writer presents this passage by _____.

A. telling an interesting story B. describing an activity in a lively way

C. testing an idea by reasoning D. introducing a practical method

违法和不良信息举报电话:027-86699610 举报邮箱:58377363@163.com

精英家教网