When Armida Armato’s daughter, Alexia, came home from school one day last year keen to go on a school trip to Ecuador, she wasn’t too sure how to feel. She was happy that her daughter could experience something she never did as a teen but was fearful of letting her travel to such a remote part of the world.

Alexia was 16 at the time, a student at Westwood High School. The school sponsored a humanitarian trip for 26 students and two teachers to spend 18 days living in a mountain village to build a one-room school. Even though Armato trusted her daughter, the other students and the teachers, she was worried about the side effects from the travel vaccines, possible accidents, and medical care.

Now that Alexia was home, Armato said she saw her daughter’s new maturity, greater confidence and independence. “This is the best thing I ever did,” Alexia said. “The experience was so eye-opening and life-changing. You’re with people who are not as lucky as you are. They live in very poor conditions but they’re so happy and outgoing. You say, ‘My God. I’m taking everything for granted back home.’”

She said they built a one-room school from scratch with no mechanical cement mixers. They used their hands, shovels and basic tools. She and another student lived with a local family in a small village about eight hours outside the capital, Quito. Despite the initial strangeness and knowing only basic Spanish, she said they grew very close and felt like a family.

Every year, groups of students at Montreal High School like Alexia pack their bags and fly off with classmates and teachers to developing countries where they volunteer for a variety of projects.

“Armato’s worries are very common among parents,” says Bill Nevin, a teacher at St. George’s High School. He organizes a humanitarian rip to India to the Sheela Bal Bhavan orphanage and says the three biggest fears families have are health, security and contact.

1.When hearing the news that her daughter would go on a school trip to Ecuador, Armato was____.

A. proud and happy B. supportive but concerned

C. fearful and nervous D. excited but puzzled

2.The underlined phrase “from scratch” in Paragraph 4 probably means “______”.

A. having great help B. using high technology

C. ending up in failure D. starting from the beginning

3.What would be the best title for the text?

A. Volunteering helps students grow and develop.

B. School trips make parents worried about their children.

C. Ecuador is the most attractive travel destination in the world.

D. Brave Alexia dreams to work in Ecuador one day.

British singer Sarah Brightman began training for a 2015 flight to the International Space Station where she hopes to become the first professional musician to sing from space, the company arranging the trip said on Tuesday.

Brightman, a famed soprano (女高音) who starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber' s "Phantom of the Opera" , will pay about $ 52 million for a 10-day stay aboard the orbital outpost, Tom Shelley, president of privately owned Space Adventures, said.

Brightman, who will become the eighth privately funded space tourist, is scheduled to fly in September 2015. Her training to fly on a Russian Soyuz capsule began last fall.

Brightman has planned to be the first professional musician to sing from space. But she faces competition from Lady Gaga, who, according to media reports late last year, intends to be the first when she performs one song in space in early 2015 on a Virgin Galactic flight. Virgin Galactic, part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, plans to offer suborbital(亚轨道的) space flights.

Brightman said in 2012 that she would travel to the space station, but her plans haven't been confirmed until now. So far. Space Adventures has arranged for nine private missions to the space station, a $ 100 billion research laboratory that flies about 260 miles above the earth. Microsoft co-founder Charles Simonyi made two trips.

Brightman will be the first private citizen to visit the station since Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Lalibarte paid about $ 35 million for an 11-day stay in September 2009.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has an option to fly on the next available Soyuz seat after Brightman, which most likely will be in 2017, Shelley told Reuters.

1. What is the purpose of the passage?

A. To praise Brightman.

B. To persuade the readers that Brightman is more famous than Lady Gaga.

C. To instruct the readers how to begin a space flight.

D. To give some information about Brightman.

2. When did Brightman start training for her space travel?

A. Last winter. B. Last autumn.

C. Next spring. D. Next summer.

3. The underlined word "she" in Paragraph 4 refers to ____.

A. Brightman B. Lady Gaga

C. Andrew Lloyd Webber D. Tom Shelley

4. The fifth paragraph is mainly carried out ____.

A. in time order B. in space order

C. by giving examples D. by comparison

Tom Brennan was working in a Philadelphia office building when he noticed a black bag. The bag contained a book.

This chance discovery ended a 12-day search by the Library Company of Philadelphia for a historical treasure-a 120-page diary kept 190 years age by Deborah Logan, "a woman who knew everybody in her day, "James Green ,the librarian told the magazine American Libraries.

Most of the diary is a record of big events in Philadelphia ,It also includes a description of British soldiers burning Washington .D. C in the war of 1812.She describes President James Madison on horseback as "perfectly shaking with fear" during the troubled days. George Wash- ington, she writes, mistook her for the wife of a French man. and praised her excellent English .

The adventure of the lost book began September 4 when Cory Luxmoore arrived from Eng- land to deliver the diary of his ancestor(祖先)to the Library Company, which he and his wife considered to be the best home for the diary.

Green told American Libraries he had the diary in his possession" about five minutes" when Luxmoore took it back because he had promised to show it to one other person. On returning to his hotel after showing the precious book to Green, Luxmoore was shocked to realise that he had left it in the taxi.

Without any delay, Green began calling every taxi company in the city, with no luck," I've felt sick since then," Luxmoore told reporters.

According to Green. no one has yet learned how the diary came to the office building .

Tom Brennan received a reward(奖励)of 1,000,Philadelphia gained another treasure for its histo- ry, and Luxmoore told reporters, "It's wonderful news. I'm on high".

1.This article mainly tells about the story of _____

A. a lost diary B. Deborah Logan

C. Cory Luxmoore D. the Library Company

2.From the text,we learn that the diary is now owned by_____

A. Tom Brennan

B. an unknown person

C. a Philadelphia magazine

D. the Library Company of Philadelphia

3.Philadelphia is thought to be the best home for the diary because_____.

A. it was written in Philadelphia

B. it tells stories about Philadelphia

C. people in the city are interested in old things

D. the British and the Americans once fought in Philadelphia

4.Which of the following shows the right order of what happened to the diary?

a-Tom Brennan found the book in an office building.

b-The book was shown to James Green.

c-Cory Luxmoore arrived from England.

d-The book was left behind in a taxi.

A. a. b. c. d B. c. b. d. a

C. a. c. d. b D. c. a. b. d

5.What did Cory Luxmoore mean when he said "I'm on high"?

A. I'm rich B. I'm famous

C. I'm excited D. I'm lucky.

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