When I was eight, I saw a movie about an island that had an erupting volcano and jungles filled with wild animals. The island was ruled by a beautiful woman called Tondalaya, the Fire Goddess of the Volcano. It was a low-budget(小成本) movie, but to me, it represented the perfect life. But through the years, Tondalaya was forgotten.

The week I turned 50, my marriage came to a sudden end. My house, furniture and everything I’d owned was sold to pay debts that I didn’t even know existed. In a week I had lost my husband, my home and my parents who had refused to accept a divorce (离婚) in the family. I’d lost everything except my four teenage children. I used every penny I had to buy five plane tickets from Missouri to Hawaii. Everyone said I was crazy to think I could just run off to an island and survive. I was afraid they were right.

I worked 18 hours a day and lost 30 pounds because I lived on one meal a day. One night as I walked alone on the beach, I saw the red orange lava (火山岩) pouring out of Kilauea Volcano in the distance. It was time to live my imagination!

The next day, I quit my job, bought some art supplies and began doing what I loved. I hadn’t painted a picture in 15 years. I wondered if I could still paint. My hands trembled the first time I picked up a brush. But before an hour had passed, I was lost in the colors spreading across the canvas (画布) in front of me. And as soon as I started believing in myself, other people started believing in me, too. The first painting sold for $1,500.

The past six years have been filled with adventures. My children and I have gone swimming with dolphins, watched whales and hiked around the crater rim (火山口边缘) of the volcano. We wake up every morning with the ocean in front of us and the volcano behind us. The dream I had more than 40 years is now reality. I’m living freely and happily ever after.

1.Why did the writer go to Hawaii?

A. To realize her childhood dream.

B. To free herself from trouble.

C. To spend her holiday.

D. To make a living.

2.Which of the following is the writer’s dream?

A. Living in nature with animals.

B. Becoming a successful painter.

C. Getting close to wildlife.

D. Living a free and happy life.

3.We can infer from the passage that ________.

A. the writer’s husband took away most of her money

B. the writer wasn’t sure whether she could survive in Hawaii at first

C. the writer had never done painting before

D. the writer’s parents encouraged her to divorce

Primary Source Holiday Shopping Night at Ten Thousand Villages

● Shop for your holiday gifts and give back to Primary Source at Ten Thousand Villages on Friday, December 4! 15% of all sales from 3:00 p. m.—7:00 p. m. that day will be donated to Primary Source. Join us for light refreshments and enjoy beautiful handmade gifts from artisans around the world. All are welcome!

Primary Source's Holiday Shopping Night

Friday, December 4, 2014

3:00 p. m.—7:00 p. m.

Ten Thousand Villages

226 Harvard Street, Brookline, Massachusetts (Coolidge Corner)

Download our flyer and tell your friends!

Ten Thousand Villages provides vital, fair income for the people from developing countries by marketing their handicrafts and telling their stories in North America. Learn more and preview toys, home decor, jewelry, and other gifts online.

● Can't join us on Dec. 4? At GoodShop, 30% of your spending will be given to Primary Source. The next time you're ready to make an online purchase(购物), visit www. goodshop. com and enter “Primary Source” in the space provided. Click “verify” and choose from more than seven hundred popular stores and sites, from Apple to Zappos. GoodShop is free and easy to use, and each purchase you make will help Primary Source provide global education materials for schools all over New England.

1.What is Ten Thousand Villages?

A. A town.B. A website.C. A shop.D. An organization.

2.The underlined word “flyer” probably means ________.

A. a softwareB. an e-bookC. a ticketD. an advertisement

3.If you pay $10 for a gift at GoodShop, ________ in the end.

A. 7 dollars will go to GoodShop

B. 3 dollars will go to GoodShop

C. 7 dollars will go to Primary Source

D. 10 dollars will go to schools in new England

Chinese car makers have narrowed the quality gap with their foreign rivals in the world’s largest vehicle market to the smallest level in seven years, according to research.

But the improvements have not been enough to see an obvious drop in the market share for local car companies this year, raising questions about their ability to be global competitors.

The annual quality survey of China’s car market by J.D. Power, a Californian market research company, tracks the number of mechanical and design problems reported per 100 vehicles by more than 21,000 Chinese drivers.

It documented 131 problems per 100 domestic(国内的) vehicles, compared with 95 per 100 foreign vehicles. The 36-point gap was the narrowest in the study’s seven-year history. When China overtook the US as the world’s largest car maker in the 2009, the gap between domestic and foreign cars was 145 points. “It’s evidence to the improvements that domestic brands have been making,” said Geoff Broderick, head of J.D. Power’s operations. “By 2018 the domestic and the global brands will be equal in terms of quality.”

Despite the steady improvement in quality, local vehicle makers have been performing poorly this year. According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, domestic brand’s share of the market for cars—not including SUVs—has fallen from about 25 percent to 20 percent.

“Chinese customers are very picky in the world because they have been trained to distrust products,” said Mr Broderick, citing scandals(丑闻) affecting baby milk powder and toys.

“They go into a situation expecting there could be quality issues, whereas in the West we trust the brands.

1.What was the gap between Chinese vehicles and foreign vehicles in 2016?

A. 131 points.B. 145 points.C. 95 points.D. 36 points.

2.The data in the fourth paragraph shows that ________.

A. the market share of the domestic cars has dropped

B. the quality of domestic vehicles have been improved

C. China’s cars have many mechanical and design problems

D. J.D. Power has done many surveys in the past seven years

3.J.D. Power is ________.

A. a name of a company

B. a car maker

C. a head of an association

D. a milk brand

4.According to what Mr. Broderick said in the last two paragraphs, we can learn that ________.

A. Chinese car market will be optimistic as is expected

B. Chinese and western consumers have different attitudes to products

C. he doesn’t like Chinese customers because they don’t trust products

D. it is easier for China’s car companies to sell cars to the West

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