Last summer I went through a training program and became a literacy volunteer（扫盲志愿者）. The training I received, though excellent, did not tell me how it was to work with a real student, however. When I began to discover what other people’s lives were like because they could not read, I realized the true importance of reading.

My first student Marie was a 44-year-old single mother of three. In the first lesson, I found out she walked two miles to the nearest supermarket twice a week because she didn’t know which bus to take. When I told her I would get her a bus schedule. She told me it would not help because she could not read it. She said she also had difficulty once she got to the supermarket, because she couldn’t always remember what she needed. Since she did not know words, she could not write out a shopping list. Also, she could only recognize items by sight, so if the product had a different label, she would not recognize it as the product she wanted.

As we worked together, learning how to read built Marie’s self-confidence, which encouraged her to continue in her studies. She began to make rapid progress and was even able to take the bus to the supermarket. After this successful trip, she reported how self-confident she felt. At the end of the program, she began helping her youngest son, Tony, a shy first grader, with his reading. She sat with him before he went to sleep and together they would read bedtime stories. When his eyes became wide with excitement as she read, pride was written all over her face, and she began to see how her own hard work in learning to read paid off. As she described this experience, I was proud of myself as well. I found that helping Marie to build her self-confidence was more rewarding than anything I had ever done before.

As a literacy volunteer, I learned a great deal about teaching and helping others. In fact, I may have learned more from the experience than Marie did.

1.What did the author do last summer?

2.Why didn’t Marie go to the supermarket by bus at first?

3.How did Marie use to find the goods she wanted in the supermarket?

4.Which of the following statements is true about Marie?

 — Did he notice you enter the room?

— I don’t think so. He _____ to the radio with his eyes shut.

(NEW YORK)---Scientists have discovered small signs of awareness in some vegetative(植物人的) brain injury patients and have even communicated with one of them---findings that are beneficial to how to assess and care for such people.

The new research suggests that standard tests may ignore patients who have some consciousness, and that someday some kind of communication may be possible.

In the strongest example, a 29-year-old patient was able to answer yes-or-no questions by picturing specific scenes the doctors asked him to imagine.

“We were stunned when this happened,” said one study author, Martin Monti of the Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge. “I find it really amazing. This was a patient who was believed to be vegetative for five years.”

Ever since a research paper four years ago described obvious signs of awareness in a vegetative patient, families of patients have been demanding brain scans, said Dr. James Bernat, a spokesman for the American Academy for Neurology.

But experts said more study is needed before the specialized brain scans could be used in medical treatment. “It’s still a research tool,” Bernat said.

Experts also pointed out that only a few tested patients showed evidence of awareness. And they said it is not clear what degree of consciousness and mental abilities the signs imply.

They also noted that the positive signals appeared only in people with traumatic(外伤的) brain injury---not in patients whose brains had been lacking in oxygen, as can happen when the heart stops.

The new study used brain scanning called functional MRI, for 23 patients in a vegetative state and 31 that are minimally(极微地) conscious.

Patients are said to be in a vegetative state if they are tested and found unable to do such things as move on command or follow a moving object with their eyes. Minimally conscious patients show signs of awareness, but they are minimal and discontinuous.

1. What is the practical use of the research?

2.What does the underlined word “stunned” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

3.One is considered vegetative if _______________.

4.The passage mainly deals with ________________.

One afternoon I toured an art museum while waiting for my husband to finish a business meeting. I was looking forward to a quiet view of the wonderful works..

A young couple viewing the paintings ahead of me chatted nonstop between themselves. I watched them a moment and decided she was doing all the talking. I admired his patience for tolerating her constant words. Disturbed by their noise, I moved on.

I encountered them several times as I moved through the various rooms of art. Each time I heard her constant talking, I moved away quickly.

I was standing at the counter of the museum gift store doing some shopping when the couple approached the exit. Before they left, the man reached into his pocket and pulled out a white object. He turned it into a long cane (手杖) and then tapped his way into the coatroom to get his wife’s jacket.

“He’s a brave man,” the clerk at the counter said, “Most of us would give up if we were blinded at such a young age. During his recovery, he made a promise his life wouldn’t change. So, as before, he and his wife come in whenever there’s a new art show.”

“But what does he get out of the art?” I asked, “He can’t see.”

“Can’t see! You’re wrong. He sees a lot. More than you or I do,” the clerk said, “His wife describes each painting so he can see it in his head.”

I learned something about patience, courage and love that day. I saw the patience of a young wife describing paintings to a person without sight and the courage of a husband who would not allow blindness to change his life.

And I saw the love shared by two people as I watched this couple walk away arm in arm.

1.Which of the following statements is true?

A. The husband was doing all the talking when the couple viewed the works.                   

B. The husband tapped his way to the coatroom to get his jacket.   

C. The husband was considered a brave man by the clerk at the store.                

D. The husband allowed blindness to change his life.

2.The underlined word “encountered” in the passage means “________”.

A. saw     B. met      C. talked          D. argued

3.At first the author’s attitude towards the wife of the couple was _________.

A. positive       B. neutral             C. bored       D. admiring

4.What can be inferred from the passage is ___________. 

A. the man had his eyes blinded in a fight

B. the man must be a painter before

C. the woman was very devoted to his husband

D. the man often killed time by visiting exhibitions

That cold January night, I was growing sick of my life in San Francisco. There I was walking home at one in the morning after a tiring practice at the theater. With opening night only a week away, I was still learning my lines. I was having trouble dealing with my part-time job at the bank and my acting at night at the same time. As I walked, I thought seriously about giving up both acting and San Francisco. City life had become too much for me.

 As I walked down empty streets under tall buildings, I felt very small and cold. I began running, both to keep warm and to keep away any possible robbers(抢劫犯). Very few people were still out except a few sad-looking homeless people under blankets.

  About a block from my apartment, I heard a sound behind me. I turned quickly, half expecting to see someone with a knife or a gun. The street was empty. All I saw was a shining streetlight. Still, the noise had made me nervous, so I started to run faster. Not until I reached my apartment building and unlocked the door did I realize what the noise had been. It had been my wallet falling to the sidewalk.

    Suddenly I wasn’t cold or tired anymore. I ran out of the door and back to where I’d heard the noise. Although I searched the sidewalk anxiously for fifteen minutes, my wallet was nowhere to be found.

   Just as I was about to give up the search, I heard the garbage truck(垃圾车) pull up to the sidewalk next to me. When a voice called from the inside, “Alisa Camacho?” I thought I was dreaming. How could this man know my name? The door opened, and out jumped a small red-haired man with an amused look in his eyes. “Is this what you’re looking for?” he asked, holding up a small square shape.

It was nearly 3 a.m. by the time I got into bed. I wouldn’t get much sleep that night, but I had got my wallet back. I also had got back some enjoyment of city life. I realized that the city couldn’t be a bad place as long as people were willing to help each other.

1.How did the writer feel when she was walking home after work?

A. Cold and sick                                        B. Lucky and hopeful

C. Satisfied and cheerful                   D. Disappointed and helpless

2.From the first paragraph, we learn that the writer was busy_____.

A. solving her problem at the bank

B. taking part in various city activities

C. learning acting in an evening school  

D. preparing for the first night show

3.On her way home the writer_____.

A. lost her wallet unknowingly                 

B. was stopped by a garbage truck driver

C. was robbed of her wallet by a man with a knife

D. found some homeless people following her