When Dekalb Walcott III was just 8 years old, his father, a Chicago fire chief, let him tag along on a call. Dekalb says a lot of kids idolized basketball player Michael Jordan when he was growing up in Chicago in the 1990s. Not him.

"I wanted to be like Dekalb Walcott Jr.," he says of his father.

So when his dad asked if he wanted to go on that call with him when he was 8, Dekalb was excited. "I'm jumping up and down, saying, 'Mom, can I go? Can I go?'"

The experience changed Dekalb's life, he tells his dad on a visit to Story Corps. "My eyes got big from the moment the alarm went off." the younger Dekalb says. "This is the life that I want to live someday."

Now 27, the younger Dekalb is living that life. He became a firefighter at 21 and went to work alongside his dad at the Chicago Fire Department. Before his father retired, the pair even went out on a call together—father supervising(监督)son.

"You know, it's everything for me to watch you grow," his father says. But he also recalls worrying about one particular fire that his son faced."

I received a phone call that night. And they said, 'Well, your son was at this fire.' I said, 'OK, which way is this conversation going to go? ' Dekalb Walcott Jr. recalls.

"And they said, 'But he's OK. And he put it out all by himself. Everybody here was proud of him.'

And the word went around, 'Who was out there managing that fire? Oh, that's Walcott! That's Walcott up there!' So, you know, moments like that, it's heaven on Earth for a dad."

Dekalb Walcott Jr. retired in 2009. The younger Dekalb says he's proud of being a second-generation firefighter. "You know, it makes me look forward to fatherhood as well, because I'm definitely looking forward to passing that torch down to my son."

1.The underlined phrase tag along in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______.

A. put out fire

B. watch basketball

C. follow his father

D. ask his mother’s permission

2.Dekalb Walcott III determined to become a firefighter at the age of _________.

A. 27 B. 21 C. 8 D. 35

3.What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A. Dekalb Walcott III wants his son to become a firefighter too.

B. Dekalb Walcott Jr. is proud to be a second-generation firefighter.

C. Dekalb Walcott Jr. wants to pass the torch to Dekalb Walcott III.

D. Dekalb Walcott III is proud that his son has become an excellent firefighter.

4.Which of the following is the best title of the passage?

A. Putting Out Fire: A Challenging Job for Father and son

B. Passing The Torch: A Firefighter Dad's Legacy

C. Dekalb Walcott III: A Second-generation Firefighter

D. Dekalb Walcott Jr.: A Chicago Fire Chief

My father was always a good gardener. One of my earliest memories is standing without shoes in the freshly tilled(翻耕的) soil, my hands blackened from digging in the ground.

As a child, I loved following Dad around in the garden. I remember Dad pushing the tiller(耕作机) ahead in perfectly straight lines. Dad loved growing all sorts of things: yellow and green onions, watermelons almost as big as me, rows of yellow corn, and our favorite--- red tomatoes.

As I grew into a teenager, I didn’t get so excited about gardening with Dad. Instead of magical land of possibility, it had turned into some kind of prison. As Dad grew older, his love for gardening never disappeared. After all the kids were grown and had started families of their own, Dad turned to gardening like never before. Even when he was diagnosed with cancer, he still took care of his garden.

But then, the cancer, bit by bit, invaded his body. I had to do the things he used to do. What really convinced me that Dad was dying was the state of his garden that year. The rows and rows of multicolored vegetables were gone. Too tired to weed them, he simply let them be.

For the first few years after he died, I couldn’t even bear to look at anyone’s garden without having strong memories pour over me like cold water from a bucket. Three years ago, I decided to plant my own garden and started out with just a few tomatoes. That morning, after breaking up a fair amount of soil, something caught the corner of my eye and I had to smile. It was my eight-year-old son Nathan, happily playing in the freshly tilled soil.

1.Why did the author like the garden when he was a child?

A. He wanted to be a garden-crazy like his father.

B. He loved being in the garden with his father.

C. The garden was full of his favorite food.

D. The garden was just freshly tilled.

2.When all the kids started their own families, the author’s father _____.

A. stopped his gardening

B. turned to other hobbies

C. devoted more to gardening

D. focused on planting tomatoes

3.What happened to the garden when the author’s father was seriously ill?

A. There was a great harvest.

B. The garden was almost deserted.

C. No plant grew in the garden at all.

D. The author’s son took charge of the garden.

4.Why did the author start his garden with tomatoes?

A. He wanted to honor his father.

B. His son liked the fields of tomatoes.

C. He only knew how to grow tomatoes.

D. He thought tomatoes were easy to manage.

Some years ago, on a hot summer day in south Florida, a little boy decided to go for a swim in the cold swimming hole behind his house.

In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he did not realize an alligator(短吻鳄)was swimming towards the shore. His mother in the house, looking out of the window, saw the two as they got closer and closer together. In fear, she ran towards the water, yelling to the son as loudly as she could.

It was too late. The alligator reached him.

From the dock, the mother grabbed her little boy by the arms just as the alligator got his legs. That began an incredible tug of war(拔河)between the two. The alligator was much stronger than the mother, but the mother would not let go. A farmer happened to drive by, heard her screams, ran from his truck, and shot the alligator.

Amazingly, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived. His leg were extremely scarred by the animal’s attack, and on his arms were scratches (抓痕) from mothers’ fingernails where she had tried to hang on to the son she loved.

The newspaper reporter who interviewed the boy asked if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs . And then, he proudly said to the reporter: “But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my mom would not let go.”

You and I can identify with (理解) that little boy. We have scars, too. No, not from alligator, or anything quite so dramatic . But the scars of a painful past. Some of those scares are ugly and have caused us deep regret.

But some wounds, my friend, are because someone has refused to let go. In your struggle, maybe someone has been there holding on to you.

1.Upon seeing the alligator getting close to her boy, the mother ________ .

A. dived into the cool water at once

B. was too afraid to move

C. shouted a warning to her boy

D. got ready to fight the crocodile

2.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the text?

A. There were scars on the boy’s arms and legs.

B. The mother won the “match” because of her strength.

C. A farmer scared the alligator away by hitting it in the eyes.

D. A crocodile attacked the boy when he and his mother were swimming.

3.By saying, “But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too,” the boy really wanted to show ___________.

A. how deep the scars were

B. what a brave boy he was

C. how recently he had survived an attack

D. how great his mother was

4.According to the author, how are we all similar to the boy in the story?

A. We can be brave and never let go of our loved ones.

B. We may be faced with danger in our lives.

C. We may have to depend on the kindness of strangers.

D. We may have scars that come from pain and love.

The popularity of farmers’ markets combined with concerns over food security is making the number of school leavers taking agriculture courses increase rapidly, according to a study.

Large numbers of 16- to 18-year-olds are going to study subjects such as agriculture, food and gamekeeping despite having no background in farming. Jeanette Dawson, principal of Bishop Burton College, said women were also taking up courses at an increasing rate.

She said it was related to a series of food scandals (丑闻)such as the discovery of horsemeat in frozen meals stocked by major supermarkets.

But the movement was also promoted by an increased awareness of the importance of local food and produce, she said. The number of students taking courses in “land-based subjects” has increased by a quarter in the last 12 months alone – from 5,138 to 6,482.

Mrs. Dawson said there were a lot of young people who weren’t from farming backgrounds. But there had been a growth in the number of them accessing agriculture programes with a view to a career in the industry. She said agriculture was an “applied science, with the great outdoors as its laboratory”. And it was increasingly seen as an attractive job for school leavers.

“I never underestimate (低估) the ability of teenagers to pick up on it. The more it is in the media, the more it interests young people. Whenever I go in my local pub, it has on the blackboard where the sausages (香肠) are from. Everyone is interested in buying local food and knowing where their food is from.

The comments were made as Bishop Burton prepares to expand, with a £I3 million project to build a new campus in Lincolnshire. The site – due to open in September 20l5 – will be the college’s second in the county, in addition to one at nearby Riseholme.

1.What is making large numbers of students take agriculture courses?

A. Agriculture is very important to a country.

B. People are increasingly concerned about food security.

C. Many colleges are offering agriculture courses.

D. Agriculture is an applied science.

2.The example of horsemeat in the third paragraph illustrates(证明) the necessity of_________ .

A. protecting animals

B. strengthening food safety

C. protecting the environment

D. forming healthy eating habits

3.What does the writer mainly discuss in the passage?

A. Why the government should strengthen agriculture.

B. How to strengthen food safety.

C. Why agriculture courses are becoming popular among students.

D. How to do well in agriculture courses.

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