Poet Dean Young has dealt with impermanence( 无常)a lot in his career, but it's a particularly strong theme in Young's latest collection, Fall Higher.The new collection was published in April, just days after the poet received a life-saving heart transplant (移植) after about a decade of living with a weakening heart condition.
Young, whose work is often frank and rich with twisted humor, tells NPR's Renee Montaigne that as he recovers from operation, he's also slowly returning to his everyday writing habits.
"I'm getting back to it," Young says."Not with the sort of concentration and sort of flame that I look forward to in the future, but I am blackening some pages."
And on those blackened pages you'll find poems like " How Grasp Green," which carries themes of springtime and rebirth.It's one of the first poems Young has written since his transplant.
It's easy to spot clues (线索) to Young's awful health situation in the lines of his poetry. Fall Higher's "Vintage" opens with, "Because I will die soon, I fall asleep, during the lecture on the ongoing emergency." And the poem "-The Rhythms Pronounce Themselves Then Vanish—published in The /Vew Barker in February —opens with the CT scan that revealed Young's heart condition.
Young says "Rhythms" was written about the beginning of his illness.
"I had been having a lot of physical pain so that I could hardly walk a block.I got sent to a gastroenterologist and he did a series of tests, and then the tests came back to me and it was all heart related," he says." And the outlook wasn't good.
Hearts tend to come up a lot in poetry, and that's especially true of Young's work, which has clearly been influenced by the troubles of his own heart,
"A lot of times, it's not just a metaphor (比喻) ," Young says."For me, it's an actual concern because I've been living with this disease for over 10 years.My father died of heart problems when he was 49, so it's been a sort of shadowy concern for me my whole life.
But Young's poems also deal with more abstract matters of the heart.He wrote Fall Higher's, "Late Valentine" for his wife."We've been married since late November and most of it has been spent in the hospital," Young says of his marriage to poet Laurie Saurborn Young, who says " 'Late Valentine' is very sweet.
Today, Young says, his friends can't help but comment on how pink his cheeks have become—the result of a new heart and better circulation (循环).But Young wrote the poems of Fall Higher before the transplant, at a time when, at its weakest point, his old heart was pumping at 8 percent of what it should have been.
He was staring death in the face—but he was still able to look at his life and see art
in it.
Young's work also touches on themes of randomness and fate —two factors that contributed to him getting a second chance in the form of a new heart from a 22-year-old student.
"Everything in life is molecules (分子) bouncing against molecules," Young says, and having a successful transplant is no different." Somebody had to die; it had to be a fit; my blood and his blood had to not have an argument; the heart had to be transported; I had to get it."
There were, in short, an amazing number of variables (变量) that led to Young
being here today.
"I just feel enormous gratitude," he says of his donor (捐献者)."He gave me a heart so I'm still alive-"I'm sure I'm going to think about this person for the rest of my life."

  1. 1.

    The poetry collection Fall Higher _______.

    1. A.
      was published in February
    2. B.
      refers darkness as its main theme
    3. C.
      is Young's latest collection of poetry
    4. D.
      was written after Young's heart transplant
  2. 2.

    We can learn from the text that Young _______.

    1. A.
      was born with heart disease
    2. B.
      received a heart transplant in February
    3. C.
      married a female poet after he wrote "Late Valentine"
    4. D.
      wrote a poem for his wife in his collection
  3. 3.

    What does the writer try to say in Paragraph 3?

    1. A.
      The writer expected some bright future, but he was disappointed.
    2. B.
      The writer had less enthusiasm than before, but he still kept on writing.
    3. C.
      The writer devoted more time to poems, so he grasped a good chance.
    4. D.
      The writer wrote poems with less enthusiasm, so he quitted for a while.
  4. 4.

    Which of the following statements is TRUE?

    1. A.
      "How Grasp Green" is the first poem in Fall Higher.
    2. B.
      Young began all his poems with his illness.
    3. C.
      Young's father died when Young was 49 years old.
    4. D.
      Young's health situation is mentioned in his poetry.
  5. 5.

    What is the text mainly about?

    1. A.
      Dean Young and his latest collection.
    2. B.
      Dean Young and his heart problems.
    3. C.
      The meaning of Fall Higher.
    4. D.
      An analysis of Dean Young's poems.

The ability to memorize things seems to be a vanishing (消失的) technique.So what can we do to bring out brain cells back into action? A newly published book on memory, Moomvalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, by American journalist Joshua Foer, makes a telling point, one that is an analysis of the importance of memorising events and stories in human history; the decline of its role in modem life; and the techniques that we need to adopt to restore the art of remembering.
As For points out, we no longer need to remember telephone numbers.Our mobile phones do that for us.We don't recall addresses either.We send emails from computers that store electronic addresses.Nor do we bother to remember multiplication tables (乘法表) .Pocket calculators do the job of multiplying quite nicely.Museums, photographs, the digital media and books also act as storehouses for memories that once we had to keep in mind.
As a result, we no longer remember long poems or folk stories by heart, feats (技艺) of memory that were once the cornerstones of most people's lives.Indeed, society has changed so much that we no longer know what techniques we should employ to remember such lengthy works.We are, quite simply, forgetting how to remember.
And let's face it, there is nothing sadder than someone who has lost their mobile phone and who finds they cannot even phone home or call their parents or partners because they cannot remember a single telephone number.That is a sad example of loss of personal independence.So, yes, there is a need for us to he able to remember certain things in life.
Therefore, Foer's book outlines the methods that need to be mastered in order to promote our memories and regain the ability to recall long strings of names, numbers or faces.In the process, he adds, we will become more aware of the world about us.
The trick, Foer says, is to adopt a process known as " elaborative encoding", which involves transforming information, such as a shopping list, into a series of "absorbing visual images".If you want to remember a list of household objects—potatoes, cottage cheese, sugar and other items, then visualise them in an unforgettable manner, he says.Start by creating an image of a large jar of potatoes standing in the garden.Next to it, imagine a giant tub of cottage cheese—the size of an outdoor pool—and then picture Lady Gaga swimming in it.And so on.Each image should be as fantastic and memorable as possible.
Using methods like this, it becomes possible to achieve great feats of memory quite easily, Foer says.It certainly seems to have worked for him: he won the annual US Memory Championships after learning how to memorize 120 random digits in five minutes; the first and last names of 156 strangers in 15 minutes; and a deck of cards in under two minutes."What I had really trained my brain to do, as much as to memorise, was to be more mindful and to pay attention to the world around," he says.
These techniques employed by Foer to master his memory were developed by Ed Cooke—a British writer and a world memory championship grandmaster.He acted as Foer's trainer during preparations for the book and helped him achieve his championship performances." Memory techniques do just one thing: they make information more meaningful to the mind, making the things we try to learn unforgettably bright and amusing," said Cooke.

  1. 1.

    Which of the following is conveyed in this article?

    1. A.
      People become more independent with modern equipment.
    2. B.
      The memory's role in life is declining in modem society.
    3. C.
      Memory techniques can make information less meaningful.
    4. D.
      Ed Cooke is the first one who benefited from Foer's techniques.
  2. 2.

    According to Joshua Foer, people no longer memorize information today because________.

    1. A.
      museums can do everything for them.
    2. B.
      they no longer have the ability to memorize things.
    3. C.
      they have things that can act as storehouses for memories.
    4. D.
      it is not necessary to memorize anything in modem life.
  3. 3.

    One method of memorizing things mentioned in the passage is to ________.

    1. A.
      link things to famous pop stars
    2. B.
      find the connection between different things
    3. C.
      form vivid, unforgettable images of certain things
    4. D.
      use advanced digital imaging technology to help
  4. 4.

    The underlined word "visualise" in the last paragraph most probably means "_______".

    1. A.
      imagine
    2. B.
      undertake
    3. C.
      remark
    4. D.
      indicate
  5. 5.

    This passage can be sorted as ________.

    1. A.
      a news report
    2. B.
      an advertisement
    3. C.
      a scientific discovery
    4. D.
      a book review

Kalle Lasn was in a supermarket parking lot one afternoon when he had an experience that changed his life.In order to shop at the store, he needed to put money into the shopping cart to use it.Annoyed that he had to "pay to shop," Lasn jammed the coin into the cart so that it wouldn't work.It was an act of rebellion—the first of many—for Lasn.
Born in Estonia, Kalle Lasn moved to Australia as a young man and then later to Japan, where he founded a marketing research firm in Tokyo.Eventually, Lasn moved to Canada and for several years produced documentaries (纪录片) for public television.In the late 1980s, Lasn made an advertisement that spoke out against the logging industry and the deforestation going on in the Pacific Northwest.When he tried to show his ad on TV, though, no station in this area would give him airtime.In response, Lasn and a colleague founded Adbusters Media Foundation, a company for the "Human right to communicate.
Adbusters produces magazine, newspaper, and TV ads with a social message.Many use humor and irony to make their points: In one, for example, a man chain smokes a brand of cigarettes called "Hope".In another, a child is dressed in an outfit used in fast-food ads.Next to the child is a note from its mother telling the restaurant to leave her child alone.
Adbusters also has a magazine and a web site, the Culture Jammers Network, whose members include students, artists, and activists as well as educators and businesspeople interested in social change.Many of these "culture jammers" are working to raise awareness about different social issues by hosting events like "Buy Nothing Day" , " No Car Day" and "TV Turnoff Week" .Lasn and his partners hope these events will encourage people to think about questions such as;
·What kinds of things are we being encouraged to buy by the media?
·Should cars be our primary means of transportation?
·How are television and radio being used now? How could we be using them?
Some culture jammers are using other methods to challenge how people think.Some pretend to be shoppers.They move items in stores from one shelf to another making it difficult for people to find things easily.Other culture jammers break into large company well sites and jam them so that they become unusable.The goal in both cases ia to prevent "Business as usual" and to gel people to ask themselves questions such as "Why am I shopping here?" or "Why should I buy this product?"
Lasn and members of the Culture Jammers Network want to make people aware of social issues, but they also believe it's important to think of solutions, too."A lot of people tell you everything that's wrong but they never say much about how to fix these problems," says Lasn."But there is plenty we can do.If you start despairing, you have lost everything."
Though many TV stations still won't show Adbusters' " uncommercials" , some cable TV stations have started to.People all over the world have joined the Culture Jammers Network and are doing their part to promote social change.

  1. 1.

    What does the underlined word "rebellion" in Paragraph 1 most probably mean?

    1. A.
      argument
    2. B.
      violence
    3. C.
      opposition
    4. D.
      protection
  2. 2.

    What's the main point of the ad for "Hope" cigarettes?

    1. A.
      Smoking can help to remove your worries and make you hopeful.
    2. B.
      Hopefully, the bad taste of the cigarette can help you to quit smoking.
    3. C.
      You are hopeless at abandoning the habit of smoking.
    4. D.
      Smoking can ruin you if you are hopelessly addicted to it.
  3. 3.

    Some culture jammers break into websites in order to ________.

    1. A.
      ask people to be thoughtful consumers.
    2. B.
      help make the companies better known.
    3. C.
      encourage people to think less and buy less
    4. D.
      challenge how people react to sudden changes
  4. 4.

    It can be inferred from the passage ________.

    1. A.
      Adbusters Media Foundation was founded to fight against deforestation
    2. B.
      More and more people will know about and even become culture jammers
    3. C.
      The Culture Jammers Network is made up of annoying trouble makers
    4. D.
      People can see some of Adbusters ads on TV stations
  5. 5.

    Which of the following best describes what Lasn has done?

    1. A.
      One step at a time.
    2. B.
      We can and must change the world.
    3. C.
      Accept what you can't change.
    4. D.
      Everyone deserves a second chance.

When you enter a crowded room or go on a picnic or to a party, who is the most attractive and appealing person? It is the person who is cheerful, has a smiling face and behaves as if he or she is enjoying every moment of the event! Such people have an optimistic opinion on life.They are the ones with a positive attitude.On the other hand, let’s see that fellow in the corner with a long face.He is most probably thinking about the time and money wasted in having fun.He is a pessimist, one with a negative attitude.
A person with a positive attitude gets on well with the job at hand.He doesn’t worry about what’s gone before or what might happen in the future.If there is a problem, he quickly thinks of ways to solve it.If the problem cannot be solved singly, he seeks help from someone else.He doesn’t feel that it’s beneath his dignity to seek assistance.
When Sonal lost her history notes days before an important examination, she sat down and cried.Then she pulled herself together, borrowed a friend’s notes, worked day and night and managed to copy down whatever she had lost.Sonal passed the exam with flying colors.
It’s just not possible, even for the greatest optimist, to smile all the time and feel good all day.Everyone has a period of blues now and then, when everything seems sad and without cheer.But once you develop a positive attitude, once you realize that life is a series of ups and downs, dark clouds and bright sunshine, in no time at all, you’ve bounced back, ready to welcome the world again with open arms and a huge smile! So from this moment on, keep your face to the sunshine and you’ll never see the shadows.

  1. 1.

    What might be the best title of the passage?

    1. A.
      To live with an aim in life     
    2. B.
      To be a pessimist or optimist
    3. C.
      Life is full of ups and downs  
    4. D.
      Develop the positive attitude
  2. 2.

    The case of Sonal suggested that _______.

    1. A.
      a person can solve the problem once he thinks of a way
    2. B.
      Sonal made up for what she had lost by working day and night
    3. C.
      Sonal was a pessimist because he lost her history notes
    4. D.
      the history notes that she lost was not important for her
  3. 3.

    The underlined phrase bounced back in the last paragraph means_______.

    1. A.
      moved back and forth    
    2. B.
      jumped up
    3. C.
      returned to active state   
    4. D.
      came back
  4. 4.

    According to the last paragraph, which of the following statement is TRUE?

    1. A.
      If you always look at the shadows, you will be in high spirits.
    2. B.
      It is impossible for a person to be in a good mood all the time.
    3. C.
      A negative attitude will make you welcome life with a big smile.
    4. D.
      When someone feels sad, he thinks the world comes to an end.

I moved into a new house in July. Since then I have met a few of my neighbors who are very nice people. For Christmas, I thought I would do something nice for each of the neighbors I know. There were nine neighbors whom I knew by name or spoke with often when I was out in my yard. I knew which houses they lived in.
I decided to add one more to my list. This lady I decided to add lives down the street from me. I meet her every morning walking to work as I drive down the street. She always smiles to me. But I had no idea who she was and which house she lived in.
I planned to make small fruit baskets and leave them on my neighbor’s front porches(门廊) on Christmas Eve. I signed the cards: "Happy Holidays from 5104 Northumberland Road."
I saved the last for the friendly lady. I finally decided on a house where I met her each morning and guessed that it was hers.
My neighbors really appreciated the baskets and would tell me as they saw me in the yard or they would call, and a couple even came by to thank me.
This morning I found a small note in the mailbox. It was addressed simply: Resident, 5104 Northumberland Road.
The Thank You card really caught me by surprise. I opened it and read the message, "Thank you for the lovely fruit basket you left on our porch. It was very thoughtful. Richard Kelly passed away last week. He talked a lot about how nice it was that someone remembered him in his time of illness. He really appreciated it."
I had no idea who Richard Kelly was and that he had been seriously ill. I had left that nice lady’s basket on his porch by mistake. I wanted to say sorry, but that would be wrong. I believe that Mr. Kelly was meant to have that basket because he was dying. I hate that the nice lady did not get to receive a fruit basket on Christmas, but I believe if she knew what had happened, she would be happy. I feel pleased to have helped Richard Kelly’s last days be more cheerful.

  1. 1.

    How many Christmas gifts did the author intend to send?

    1. A.
      Nine.
    2. B.
      Eight.
    3. C.
      Ten.
    4. D.
      Eleven.
  2. 2.

    Where did the friendly lady live?

    1. A.
      She lived at the end of Northumberland Road.
    2. B.
      Her address was 5104 Northumberland Road.
    3. C.
      She was thought to share a house with Mr. Kelly.
    4. D.
      The author was not sure about her address at all.
  3. 3.

    How did the author’s neighbors respond to his gifts?

    1. A.
      They liked the gifts very much and were thankful.
    2. B.
      They were thankful that they wanted to be friends.
    3. C.
      They all made phone calls to say “Thank You”.
    4. D.
      They all visited him by person to show gratitude.
  4. 4.

    What does the author mean in the last paragraph?

    1. A.
      He was regretful that the nice lady didn’t receive his gift.
    2. B.
      He was glad to have made Mr. Kelly’s life more pleasant.
    3. C.
      He thought Richard Kelly deserved to receive that basket.
    4. D.
      The old lady was happy to sacrifice to make Kelly happy.

Two years ago, the Funk family of suburban Chicago adopted a Chinese baby girl who had been abandoned on a sidewalk near a Yangzhou textile factory.
Last year and halfway across the United States, the Ramirez family of suburban Miami adopted a girl who had been abandoned a week later on the same spot.
Both families named their daughters Mia. It turns out, a first name and Chinese heritage aren’t the only things the three-year-olds have in common. The girls’ mothers—Holly Funk and Diana Ramirez—met on a website for parents who had gone through international adoptions. After a flurry of e-mails comparing photographs and biographical details, DNA testing proved the families’ suspicions: The girls are probably fraternal (手足般的) twins.
“I was in shock,” said Ramirez, who lives with her husband Carlos in Pembroke Pines, Florida. “Well, now this is for real.”
The Internet and Web groups revolving around international orphanages are increasingly being used to link adopted children with biological kin(亲属). The site that the Funks and Ramirezes used has a membership of 137 people, with 15 sets of twins and seven sets of siblings whose relationships have been confirmed.
At a reunion on Friday at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, Mia Diamond Funk Mia Hanying Ramirez shyly surveyed each other, then reached for each other’s hand.
DNA tests established an 85 percent probability that the girls are at least half sisters. Scientists did not have a biological parent to test and reach a greater certainty, but given their ages and physical similarities, experts say it is likely they are fraternal twins.
Douglas and Holly Funk hope to take Mia to Miami in October. Both sets of parents say they are committed to staying in touch and often let the twins talk to each other on the phone.

  1. 1.

    . Both the adopted girls shared a first name ________.

    1. A.
      because they both came from China
    2. B.
      because of their physical similarities
    3. C.
      because their US parents suspected they were twins
    4. D.
      for no good reason
  2. 2.

    Why did the girls’ mothers meet on the Internet?

    1. A.
      To compare photographs of the two girls.
    2. B.
      To communicate with other people who had adopted children abroad.
    3. C.
      To test their suspicion.
    4. D.
      To exchange experiences on adopting children.
  3. 3.

    Experts are still not 100 percent sure that the two girls are fraternal twins because ________.

    1. A.
      DNA tests are still not accurate enough
    2. B.
      the two girls were born by different parents
    3. C.
      the DNA of a biological parent is still missing
    4. D.
      one girl is born a week later than the other
  4. 4.

    What would be the best title for the passage?

    1. A.
      Adopted Twins Reunited on Internet
    2. B.
      Adopted Twins Live happily in the US.
    3. C.
      Suspicion Turned into Reality
    4. D.
      The Story of Adopted Twins and Their Parents

Nearly thirty years ago, I went rock climbing for the first time with a group in New Mexico. It sounded exciting and1! Anyone who has ever climbed knows that you can easily2where there is no place to go, or so. It seems you’re stuck. But3is not an option. You cannot just stand there and feel4for yourself. You cannot go back down, so you are5to become solution minded.
I held on for dear life that day, on my first climb,6about three quarters of the way to the top. It seemed that there was no place to go, and7to put my hands or feet so that I could8upward. But after a few minutes had passed I realized that I had to do9. I began to look again for a(n)10. I then noticed a11sticking out, which I might be able to grab with my hands and12myself up to where I could have a small foothold. I called to the instructor at the top and asked him if that rock would hold my13if I pulled myself up. I can14remember his answer, “I don’t know. Why don’t you try it and see?”
In life we many times feel “stuck”. We wonder how we got into the15that we are presently in. It is in those times that we need to be careful about how we define(定义)it. Have we failed,16is it just a setback?
Setbacks, adversity(逆境), or being stuck is never an indication that you are a17unless you decide that those things define your life as a failure. For people looking for a(n)18to be a failure, there are always plenty to choose from. But if you want your life to be successful, setbacks, adversity and being stuck are19stepping-stones to your success. Success minded people20those kinds of things for what they really are. They know that for them, they are only temporary.

  1. 1.
    1. A.
      amusing
    2. B.
      challenging
    3. C.
      boring
    4. D.
      surprising
  2. 2.
    1. A.
      put away
    2. B.
      take up
    3. C.
      end up
    4. D.
      lead to
  3. 3.
    1. A.
      searching
    2. B.
      regretting
    3. C.
      refusing
    4. D.
      quitting
  4. 4.
    1. A.
      sorry
    2. B.
      free
    3. C.
      amazed
    4. D.
      surprised
  5. 5.
    1. A.
      unlikely
    2. B.
      forced
    3. C.
      asked
    4. D.
      bound
  6. 6.
    1. A.
      shocked
    2. B.
      stuck
    3. C.
      suffered
    4. D.
      struck
  7. 7.
    1. A.
      nowhere
    2. B.
      somewhere
    3. C.
      anywhere
    4. D.
      wherever
  8. 8.
    1. A.
      continue
    2. B.
      improve
    3. C.
      promote
    4. D.
      enjoy
  9. 9.
    1. A.
      everything
    2. B.
      something
    3. C.
      anything
    4. D.
      nothing
  10. 10.
    1. A.
      attention
    2. B.
      appreciation
    3. C.
      solution
    4. D.
      expectation
  11. 11.
    1. A.
      track
    2. B.
      sign
    3. C.
      tree
    4. D.
      rock
  12. 12.
    1. A.
      turn
    2. B.
      push
    3. C.
      pull
    4. D.
      build
  13. 13.
    1. A.
      quantity
    2. B.
      feet
    3. C.
      weight
    4. D.
      burden
  14. 14.
    1. A.
      still
    2. B.
      never
    3. C.
      hardly
    4. D.
      ever
  15. 15.
    1. A.
      destination
    2. B.
      situation
    3. C.
      location
    4. D.
      occasion
  16. 16.
    1. A.
      however
    2. B.
      otherwise
    3. C.
      or
    4. D.
      yet
  17. 17.
    1. A.
      learner
    2. B.
      failure
    3. C.
      thinker
    4. D.
      winner
  18. 18.
    1. A.
      signal
    2. B.
      excuse
    3. C.
      comment
    4. D.
      imagine
  19. 19.
    1. A.
      easily
    2. B.
      hardly
    3. C.
      simply
    4. D.
      nearly
  20. 20.
    1. A.
      develop
    2. B.
      deserve
    3. C.
      promise
    4. D.
      accept

Wings of Angel
I used to hate myself because I wasn't "normal". Everyone else could play on the monkey bars and ride on a bicycle, but not1 . I had a severe spinal cord disorder(脊髓病) and I knew I would always be much2 than others. I hated going to school and I hated others3 at me. I hated seeing others smiling broadly and standing4 and tall. And most of all, I hated looking in the5 and seeing an ugly hunchback(驼背).
My friends found me6 because I didn't let other get close to me. I thought I was going to go on like this for the rest of my life7 Angela appeared.
That afternoon, I was sitting by myself in a corner of the school—a spot where no one would8 me. That's when I first heard your voice. "Hi. Can I sit down?"
I raised my head and there she was, with an irresistible smile on her round face. "What are you looking at?" you asked. "Ants." "What are they doing?" "No9 ." "I bet they're playing games and make friends. Don't you think so?" That was how our10 started and it didn't stop. We talked about everything under the sun—the ants, the clouds, my little niche(处境)—until it was sunset. Then suddenly, you saw my11 . She just stared. My heart12 . What I feared most had happened and I knew for sure she would13 me now. She stood up, pointed at my back and said, "I know14your back is hunched." I closed my eyes like a criminal waiting to be15 . I begged in my heart for her to16 , but she just kept on going. "I know what you've got there. Do you?" "No," I answered17 . She bent and whispered in my ears. "Your back is bunched because you've got a pair of wings from the angels."I was18 . I looked into her eyes and her19 touched my heart. From that day on, I started to learn to20 myself because I have the wings of an angel and a kind_hearted friend.

  1. 1.
    1. A.
      them
    2. B.
      it
    3. C.
      me
    4. D.
      her
  2. 2.
    1. A.
      sadder
    2. B.
      shorter
    3. C.
      weaker
    4. D.
      slower
  3. 3.
    1. A.
      looking
    2. B.
      smiling
    3. C.
      aiming
    4. D.
      glaring
  4. 4.
    1. A.
      still
    2. B.
      alone
    3. C.
      straight
    4. D.
      together
  5. 5.
    1. A.
      street
    2. B.
      sun
    3. C.
      corner
    4. D.
      mirror
  6. 6.
    1. A.
      distant
    2. B.
      stubborn
    3. C.
      hopeless
    4. D.
      unfortunate
  7. 7.
    1. A.
      after
    2. B.
      before
    3. C.
      since
    4. D.
      until
  8. 8.
    1. A.
      disturb
    2. B.
      seek
    3. C.
      interrupt
    4. D.
      ignore
  9. 9.
    1. A.
      wonder
    2. B.
      idea
    3. C.
      sign
    4. D.
      action
  10. 10.
    1. A.
      connection
    2. B.
      competition
    3. C.
      conversation
    4. D.
      comprehension
  11. 11.
    1. A.
      face
    2. B.
      back
    3. C.
      eyes
    4. D.
      shoulders
  12. 12.
    1. A.
      sank
    2. B.
      beat
    3. C.
      broke
    4. D.
      ached
  13. 13.
    1. A.
      care for
    2. B.
      rely on
    3. C.
      look down upon
    4. D.
      put up with
  14. 14.
    1. A.
      that
    2. B.
      how
    3. C.
      whether
    4. D.
      why
  15. 15.
    1. A.
      accused
    2. B.
      arrested
    3. C.
      punished
    4. D.
      sentenced
  16. 16.
    1. A.
      relax
    2. B.
      leave
    3. C.
      stop
    4. D.
      pause
  17. 17.
    1. A.
      shyly
    2. B.
      weakly
    3. C.
      proudly
    4. D.
      firmly
  18. 18.
    1. A.
      astonished
    2. B.
      ashamed
    3. C.
      annoyed
    4. D.
      amused
  19. 19.
    1. A.
      wisdom
    2. B.
      generosity
    3. C.
      honesty
    4. D.
      kindness
  20. 20.
    1. A.
      control
    2. B.
      like
    3. C.
      comfort
    4. D.
      enjoy

When Ben delivered milk to my home one morning before Christmas,he wasn’t his usual sunny self. He told me a customer had left without paying the bill,$79,nor leaving her new address. So it meant that he had to cover the loss.
“She was a pretty woman,”he said, “with six children and another on the way. She was always saying. ‘I’m going to pay you soon when my husband gets a second job.’ I believed her,but she left. Isn’t it annoying?”
“Give her the milk. Make it a Christmas present to the kids who need it.” I said.
The holidays came and went. On a sunny January morning two weeks later,Ben was rushing to deliver milk when he saw a woman running down the street,waving money. He recognized her immediately--the woman who didn’t pay her bill.
“I’m so sorry.” she said. “I really have been meaning to pay you.”
She explained that her husband had come home one night and announced he' d found cheaper apartment. He' d also got a new job. With all that happened, she' d forgotten to leave the new address. “But I've been saving,” she said. “Here's $20 toward the bill.
“That' s all right,” Ben replied. “It's been paid.”
“Paid!” she exclaimed (惊叫). “What do you mean? Who paid it?”
“I did,” Ben said, “It went to the children as a Christmas present!”

  1. 1.

    Ben was upset one morning because _______.

    1. A.
      a customer left without paying the bill
    2. B.
      he lost $ 79 on the way of the delivery
    3. C.
      he had to buy a present for the children
    4. D.
      he was going to lose his job
  2. 2.

    The author helped Ben by offering him _______.

    1. A.
      a Christmas present
    2. B.
      the debtor' s new address
    3. C.
      some money to cover the loss
    4. D.
      a suggestion to cheer him up
  3. 3.

    We can probably infer from the passage that the woman _______.

    1. A.
      cheated to raise her children
    2. B.
      moved to escape paying back the debts
    3. C.
      was a person with honesty
    4. D.
      wanted to give her children a Christmas gift
  4. 4.

    What is the best title of the passage?

    1. A.
      An Unhappy Christmas
    2. B.
      An Unusual Present
    3. C.
      A Poor Couple's Life
    4. D.
      A Helpful Customer

Who owns the sea? The ships of all countries sail in the open seas. Not long ago, all countries could fish and hunt in the oceans as they pleased. But now, the countries using the sea must work together to protect the animal life in the seas.
In 1870, there were millions of valuable fur seals in the Berling Sea. Ships came from all over the world to kill them.
Man wanted the animals’ fur and their oil from their bodies. By 1930, only about 130,000 seals were left there in the seas and the oceans. Even the hunters themselves knew that something had to be done to protect them, otherwise the seals would die out or disappear from the earth forever.
Four countries owned the land near the seals’ northern home. In 1911, these countries began plans to control seal—hunting. The governments of these four countries, Japan, Russia, Canada and the United States, where the animals rested and gave birth to their young, formulated a policy that only male seals that didn’t have mates were to be divided among the four governments.
Today, large herds of seals swim in the Berling sea again. By working together, the four countries mentioned above have saved the seals in the seas they share.

  1. 1.

    .The passage is mainly about ________.

    1. A.
      the governments of the four countries      
    2. B.
      protecting seals
    3. C.
      the seals’ northern home—the rocky island   
    4. D.
      the Berling Sea
  2. 2.

    Why did people hunt or kill seals in the open seas?

    1. A.
      People wanted to eat the meat.    
    2. B.
      The seals were eating too many of the fishes.
    3. C.
      Their fur and oil were very valuable  
    4. D.
      The seals were did much harm at that time
  3. 3.

    The four countries worked together __________.

    1. A.
      in order to kill more seals      
    2. B.
      so as to protect the seal
    3. C.
      to protect the seals’ rocky island—their northern home
    4. D.
      in order to kill any seal that was alive in the open sea
  4. 4.

    According to the short passage, which of the following is true?

    1. A.
      It is important to protect wildlife   
    2. B.
      No more seals can be seen in the Berling Sea
    3. C.
      Only one country could hunt or kill seals  
    4. D.
      There are no seals in other parts of the world besides the Berling Sea
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