It was unusually quiet in the emergency room on December 25.

I was the nurse on duty that day. I didn’t think there would be any patients, sighing about having to work on Christmas. Just then five bodies showed up at my desk, a pale woman and four small children.

“Are you all sick?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said weakly and lowered her head.

But when it came to descriptions of their problems, things got a little unclear. Two of the children had headaches, but the headaches weren’t accompanied by the normal body language of holding the head or trying to keep it still. Two children had earaches, but only one could tell me which ear was affected. The mother complained of a cough but seemed to work to produce it.

Something was wrong, but I didn’t say anything but explained that it might be a little while before a doctor saw her. She responded, “Take your time; it’s warm here.”

Then I checked the chart after the admitting clerk had finished registering the family. No address—they were homeless. The waiting room was warm.

I looked out at the family gathering close together by the Christmas tree. The little one was pointing at the television and saying something to her mother. The oldest one was looking at something on the Christmas tree.

I went back to the nurses’ station and mentioned we had a homeless family in the waiting room. The nurses, complaining about working on Christmas, began to feel pity for a family just trying to get warm on Christmas. The team went into action, much as we do when there’s a medical emergency. But this one was a Christmas emergency.

We were all offered a free meal in the hospital cafeteria on Christmas Day, so we claimed that meal and prepared a banquet for our Christmas guests. We needed presents. We put together oranges and apples in a basket. We collected from different departments candies, crayons and other things available that could be presents. As seriously as we met the physical needs of the patients that came to us that day, our team worked to meet the needs of a family who just wanted to be warm on Christmas Day.

Later, as the family walked to the door to leave, the four-year old came running back, gave me a hug and whispered, “Thanks for being our angels today.”

1.Which of the following would be the best title of the passage?

A. Working on Christmas Day

B. Christmas Day is Coming

C. A Happy Family

D. A Pale Woman and Four Small Children

2.What kind of person do you think the author is?

A. Hardworking and outgoing

B. Serious and careful

C. Hardworking and warmhearted

D. Serious and stubborn

3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Something was wrong with one of the children’ s head.

B. The pale woman forgot to write the address.

C. One of the children had a language problem.

D. The whole family pretended to be sick.

4.It can be inferred from the text that ______.

A. The author didn’t think there would be any patients on Christmas Day

B. The woman was uncomfortable when she lowered her head

C. The family appeared in the emergency room on Christmas Eve

D. The woman and four small children were satisfied and grateful

Weekends are normally a time for shopping and last Saturday was no exception. My son Henry and I were shopping in a neighborhood market. Henry was busy weighing each new bag of vegetables I selected. I gave him a bag of potatoes and he walked over to the scale and waited in line. Suddenly, a man rushed over from behind, and stepped before him, hitting him out of the way. Henry looked shocked and scared. Seeing this I left my shopping cart and walked over to Henry, saying loudly, “Are you OK, honey? I saw what that man did to you. That was very, very wrong.”

When the man finished weighing his bag, his sudden turning around made all his onions fall to the ground. The three of us stood there, frozen for a moment. And then I bent down on my hands and knees and started collecting onions. After I handed the onions to the man, he accepted them and put them into his bag. After Henry and I picked up all the onions, the man walked away without saying anything. We didn’t discuss the event until we got back in the car.

On the way back home, Henry said through tears, “Mommy, I’ve a frustrating day. That man cut right in front of me. And we had to help him pick up his onions! Why did we do that? That didn’t make any sense!”

I took a deep breath and said, “Henry, that man seemed to have a very bad mood today. We should forgive him. I was also angry with the man for treating you rudely. I really wanted to kick him. But doing that doesn’t make any sense. If we hadn’t helped him, we might have felt good for a moment, but then I bet we would have felt really sorry for a long time. You and I have a lot of love to share. Maybe that man doesn’t have much. People who behave badly still need love.”

A cheerful smile appeared on Henry’s face. It was a smile of promise kept. It was the best smile I had ever seen. It was a good moment. It may have been my best mommy moment ever.

1.What did the man do?

A. He cut in the line.

B. He hit Henry on the head.

C. He hurried away without paying.

D. He ran into Henry suddenly.

2. What can we infer from the passage?

A. The author was not angry at all with what the man had done.

B. The man was very sorry for what he had done to Henry.

C. At last, Henry learned a very valuable life lesson from the event.

D. Henry didn’t help the author pick up the onions for the man.

3. Which of the following word can best describe the author?

A. Narrow-minded. B. Broad-minded.

C. Strong-willed. D. Bad-tempered.

My mother got divorced when I was 5 and was left to raise me and my two younger brothers. She didn’t have a formal education, so she had to work two full-time jobs to make ends meet.

One day several years later, I was determined to help. I told the manager of the Don Carlos Motel in Nana Point that I was 15, so I could get a work permit to work as a maid.

Since then, I’ve started to work alongside some of America’s top leaders, written books, and achieved financial independence. It took a lot of hard work and sacrifices.

But what if I was 15 years old today? Would I be able to accomplish the same things in this new, highly competitive world with so many global challenges? It seems hard work and sacrifices aren’t enough anymore.

Today, you need to be extremely adaptable. To progress in your career, it’s not enough to know one thing well. As my friend Sean Harvey, product manager at Google put it when we were speaking to students, “Today, companies aren’t hiring people for a specific position but rather people who are smart and flexible. The way you prove that is by showing you can do multiple things well.”

People need to take more risks to succeed now than ever. The combination of unemployment and slow wage growth means that we are not only at greater financial risk, but we have to take more risks to succeed.

Luckily, the new Internet world of all-the-time connectedness means that anyone with a hot idea, product or service can create a business out of almost nothing. And success can be quick and big. But that success demands more “out of the box” thinking.

And what about our kids? It makes me think a lot about the future that my 3-years-old daughter faces. But no matter what the future brings, I think the best message I’ll give her is to believe in herself. Life won’t get any easier, but the opportunities will come — as they always have — to those who work hard, adapt as they need to, and trust their abilities.

1.We can infer that the author had _________.

A. a difficult childhood B. a lonely childhood

C. a normal childhood D. a happy childhood

2.The author achieved financial independence when she was 15 largely due to ______.

A. her strong leadership

B. her boss’s help

C. her hard work

D. her competitive spirit

3. Compared to the past, people who want to succeed now need __________.

A. more time B. more money

C. to work harder D. to be more creative

4. The author writes the text mainly to __________.

A. describe her childhood

B. give some suggestions about success

C. tell a story about her mother

D. share some useful parenting skills

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