Bushwick is a tough place to grow up. This part of Brooklyn, in New York City, has a lot of crime. More than half of its 100,000 residents rely on aid from the government. Only 50% of students at Bushwick High School graduate in four years.
Some people might say, “We should help these poor kids who have so many challenges.” But Malaak Compton-Rock looks at the teens in Bushwick and says, “ Go to help kids who have even bigger challenges than you do.” She believes that once young people see the power they have to make things better, they can handle their own problems more easily. So her service group, the Angel Rock Project, took 30 Bushwick kids to Soweto, in South Africa, to help poor families there. Soweto is a township outside the city of Johannesburg. The effort, called Journey for Change, aims to show that any kid can change the world.
“Kids in Bushwick face pressure to drop out of school or become involved in gangs and drugs.” Says Compton-Rock. “We want them to live a life of purpose and service.”
In Soweto, many parents have died of AIDS, a deadly disease. When that happens, a grandparent or a child must lead the family. The Bushwick volunteers helped such families. They tended vegetable gardens, cared for babies and bought groceries.
“The saddest thing was when we visited an orphanage (孤儿院) and I helped a little boy who had been abandoned because he had HIV, the virus that causes AIDS,” says Queen Clyde, 12. “It‘s been good to be on this trip. But what’s also important is what we do when it’s finished. That’s what counts.” “ I never appreciated what I had until I saw some people who had nothing,” says Sadara Lewis, 12 “It’s really changed my attitude. I want to make a difference.”
The trip was two weeks long. But the kids, aged 12 to 15, will spend all year speaking about their experience, fund-raising and more.
1.What’s the main idea of the first paragraph?
A．Bushwick is the poorest place in New York City.
B．Bushwick still needs more care from the government.
C．It is children who suffer most in New York City.
D．Children in Bushwick are living in a bad situation.
2.In Compton-Rock’s opinion, the Bushwick kids __________.
A．have few challenges
B．should be kept out of schools
C．can learn to deal with their own problems by helping others
D．are living much better than people in Africa
3.Compared to Bushwick kids, some children in Soweto __________.
A．may have bigger challenges
B．receive no care from the government
C．are much more independent
D．are able to lead the family
4.According to the passage, “Journey for Change” can be best seen as the saying “________”.
A．God helps those who help themselves
B．saying and doing are two things
C．one stone kills two birds
D．a friend in need is a friend indeed
5.From the passage we know that __________.
A．there are few students in Bushwick High School
B．the trip to Soweto will have a long influence in spite of its short time.
C．most children are suffering from AIDS in Soweto
D．kids with HIV will be abandoned in Soweto
It was Thanksgiving morning and in the crowded kitchen of my small home I was busy preparing the traditional Thanksgiving turkey when the doorbell rang. I opened the front door and saw two small children in rags huddling together. “Any old papers, lady?” asked one of them.
I was busy. I wanted to say “no” until I looked down at their feet. They were wearing thin little sandals, wet with heavy snow.
“Come in and I’ll make you a cup of hot cocoa.”
They walked over and sat down at the table. Their wet sandals left marks upon the floor. I served them cocoa and bread with jam to fight against the cold outside. Then I went back to the kitchen and started again on my household budget.
The silence in the front room struck me. I looked in. The girl held the empty cup in her hands, looking at it. The boy asked in a flat voice, “Lady, are you rich?”
I looked at my shabby slipcovers. The girl put her cup back in its saucer carefully and said, “Your cups match your saucers.” Her voice was hungry with a need that no amount of food could supply. They left after that, holding their bundles of papers against the wind. They hadn’t said “Thank you.” They didn’t need to. They had reminded me that I had so much for which to be grateful. Plain blue china cups and saucers were only worth five pence. But they matched.
I tasted the potatoes and stirred the meat soup. Potatoes and brown meat soup, a roof over our heads, my man with a good steady job—these matched, too.
I moved the chairs back from the fire and cleaned the living room. The muddy prints of small sandals were still wet upon my floor. Let them be for a while, I thought, just in case I should begin to forget how rich I am.
1.Two children came to the writer’s front door because _________________.
A．it was Thanksgiving Day B．they were beggars
C．they wanted old papers D．they wanted a cup of cocoa
2.Why did the writer let the children in?
A．She showed great pity on them
B．She had old papers to sell
C．She wanted to invite them to her Thanksgiving feast
D．She wanted them to see how rich she was
3.The girl thought the writer was rich perhaps because ________________.
A．she saw that the lady’s room was comfortable
B．she saw the cups matched the saucers
C．the writer’s slipcovers were very new
D．the writer was preparing a big meal while she was too hungry.
4.From the passage, we can infer that whether you are rich depends on ________.
A．how much money you have had
B．how you feel about your life
C．how you have helped others
D．what job your husband is doing
5.The writer left the muddy prints of small sandals on the floor for a while to ____________.
A．show her husband that someone had come
B．remind her that she had helped two children
C．remind her that she was very rich in the neighborhood
D．remind her how life should be
When an ant dies, other ants move the dead insect out. Sometimes, the dead ant get moved away very soon—within an hour of dying. This behavior is interesting to scientists, who wonder how ants know for sure—and so soon—that another ant is dead.
One scientist recently came up with a way to explain this ant behavior. Dong-Hwan Choe is a biologist. Choe found that Argentine ants have a chemical on the outside of their bodies that signals to other ants, “I’m dead—take me away.”
But there’s a twist to Choe’s discovery. Choe says that the living ants—not just the dead ones—have this death chemical. In other words, while an ant crawls around, perhaps in a picnic or home, it’s telling other ants that it’s dead.
What keeps ants from dragging away the living ants？Choe found that Argentine ants have two additional chemicals on their bodies, and these tell nearby ants something like, “Wait—I’m not dead yet.” So Choe’s research turned up two sets of chemical signals in ants: one says, “I’m dead,” and the other set says, “I’m not dead yet.”
Other scientists have tried to figure out how ants know when another ant is dead. If an ant is knocked unconscious, for example, other ants leave it alone until it wakes up. That means ants know that unmoving ants can still be alive.
Choe suspects that when an Argentine ant dies, the chemical that says “Wait-I’m not dead yet” quickly goes away. Once that chemical is gone, only the one that says “I’m dead” is left. “It’s because the dead ant no longer smells like a living ant that it gets carried to the graveyard, not because its body releases(释放) new unique chemicals after death,” said Choe. When other ants detect the “dead” chemical without the “not dead yet” chemical, they drag away the body.
Understanding this behavior may help scientists figure out how to stop Argentine ants from invading new places and causing problems. Choe would like to find a way to use the newly discovered chemicals to spread ant killer to Argentine ant nests.
The ants’ removal behavior is important to the overall health of the nest. “Being able to quickly remove dead individuals and other possible sources of disease is extremely important to all animals living in societies, including us,” says Choe. “Think about all the effort and money that we invest daily in waste management.”
1.The underlined word “twist” in Paragraph 3 means .
A．an unexpected change B．a clear mistake
C．an important key D．a shocking conclusion
2.Ants judge whether another one is dead or not depending on .
A．the sense of taste B．the sense of smell
C．the sense of touch D．the sense of sight
3.The result of the research can be used to .
A．kill troublesome pests
B．solve the problem of endangered species
C．prevent further expansion of the ants’ territory
D．keep the balance of nature
4.Why is it important to remove dead individuals?
A．Because it is easier to manage the living.
B．Because it can save money to deal with the waste.
C．Because it can provide more space for the living.
D．Because it can keep the living from suffering disease.
5.What might be the best title of the text?
A．Dead or living? It is easy to judge
B．Pulling away the dead ants is a difficult task
C．Ant nests have great undertaking capacity
D．Leaving it alone or taking it away? Ants feel puzzled
The accident at Lake Sherwood was in our backyard. An SUV(运动型多用途车)had gone off the road，down a hill, and collided with a tree. When we heard the wreck, I remembered to say “call 911”. My family was the first on the scene. Nick, my son, was on the cell phone with 911. He saw a friend who was a victim in the crash who was a 15 years old girl who was badly disfigured and had died instantly. It was a terrible scene.
There had been six people in the truck, all between 15 and 17 years old. My husband and I checked all the victims, and I picked one who was conscious and stayed with him. I talked with him and had him lay on the ground. When I asked him if he was hurt, he said he was sore all over. When help arrived, they asked me to stay and continue working with them. I did as Debbie Romine, .my instructor, said in class, and did what they wanted. They even said thank you before they left.
The sheriff deputies came by Saturday night to get our statements and play the 911 tape back, so Nick could identify all the voices in the background. They said over and over that the way he handled the call was the best they had heard in a long time. He was calm and worked with them even when he saw his friend who had died. The Sheriff’s Department is sending some people over to help us work through our emotions.
The first aid and CPR course I took in January really helped me. I just didn’t expect to put it to good use so soon.
Pennyd. Miller
Kansas State Dept of Education,Topeka
1.According to the passage, in case of an emergence, people should dial_______________.
A．110 B．120 C．800 D．911
2.Who died immediately after the accident?
A．A girl. B．The writer. C．Debbie Romine. D．Nick.
3.Why did the Sheriff deputies come by Saturday night?
A．To arrest the offender. B．To offer them help.
C．To get their statements. D．To help them.
4.According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
A．The writer is a doctor.
B．All the people in the car were killed in the accident.
C．Debbie Romine offered much help to the victims.
D．The writer took a first aid and CPR course in January.
5.We can infer from the passage that__________________.
A．The first aid and CPR course in January really helped the writer
B．The writer’s family were affected emotionally by the accident
C．The victims were all conscious after the accident
D．The police arrived long after the accident
When I was nine , my father was ill．I can remember my mother’s words ___16___ it were yesterday: “Kerrel, Your father has AIDS．Be very ____17___ when you are around him.”
AIDS wasn’t something we talked about in my country when I was growing up．From then on, I knew that this would be a family ___18___．My parents were not together anymore, and Dad lived ___19___．For a while, he____20__ take care of himself．But when I was 12, his condition__21____．My father’s other children lived far away, so it fell to me to look after him.
We couldn’t___22____ all the necessary medication for him, and because Dad was unable to work, I had no money for ___23____ supplies and often couldn’t even buy food for dinner．I would sit in class feeling completely ___24____, the teacher’s words muffled as I tried to figure out how I was going to manage.
I did not share my ___25___ with anyone．I had seen how people ___26___ to AIDS．Kids laughed at classmates who had parents with the disease．And even adults could be ___27__．When my father was __28____to the hospital, the nurses would leave his food on the bedside table even though he was too weak to feed himself.
I had known that he was going to die, but after so many years of __29____ his condition a secret．I was completely __30____when he reached his ___31___ days．__32___ and hopeless, I __33___ a woman at the nonprofit National AIDS Support．That day, she kept me on the phone for hours．I was so __34____to find someone who cared．She saved my life．
I was 15 when my father died．He took his secret away with him, having never spoken about AIDS to___35____, even me．He didn’t want to call attention to AIDS．I do.
1. A．as B．though C．as if D．even if
2. A．dangerous B．careful C．calm D．confident
3. A．difficulty B．shyness C．secret D．weight
4. A．unhappily B．lonely C．separately D．alone
5. A．could B．must C．should D．need
6. A．broken B．worsened C．damaged D．destroyed
7. A．pay B．spend C．afford D．offer
8. A．family B．everyday C．medical D．school
9. A．lost B．nervous C．disappointed D．worried
10. A．suffering B．burden C．pressure D．sadness
11. A．treated B．cared C．reacted D．feared
12. A．different B．nervous C．sensitive D．cruel
13. A．moved B．retreated C．returned D．recovered
14. A．leaving B．keeping C．stopping D．preventing
15. A．uneasy B．unabsorbed C．unprepared D．uncomfortable
16. A．due B．relaxing C．profound D．final
17. A．Curious B．Strange C．Terrified D．Sad
18. A．encountered B．visited C．called D．contracted
19. A．lucky B．dramatic C．romantic D．magical
20. A．anyone B．someone C．nobody D．none
Tom likes playing the violin and is good at English.______his sister.
A．So is B．So does C．It is so with D．It is the same with
