I lost my sight when I was four by falling off a box car in a freight（货物）yard in Atlantic City. Now I am thirty two. I can slightly remember what color red is. It would be wonderful to see again, but a disaster can do strange things to people. I might not have come to love life as I do if I hadn’t been blind. I don’t mean that I would prefer to go without my eyes. I simply mean that the loss of them made me appreciate the more what I had left.
Life, I believe, asks constant adjustments to reality. The adjustment is never easy. I was totally confused and afraid. But I was lucky. My parents and my teachers saw something in me—a potential to live, and they made me want to fight it out with blindness.
The hardest lesson I had to learn was to believe in myself. If I hadn’t been able to do that, I would have become a chair rocker on the front porch for the rest of my life. When I say belief in myself, I mean: an assurance that I am, despite imperfections, a real, positive person; that somewhere in the intricate（错综复杂的） pattern of people there is a special place where I can make myself fit.
It took me years to discover and strengthen this assurance. Once a man gave me an indoor baseball. I thought he was making fun of me and I was hurt. “I can’t use this.” I said. “Take it with you,” he urged me, “and roll it around.” The words stuck in my head. “Roll it around!” By rolling the ball I could hear where it went. This gave me an idea how to achieve a goal I had thought impossible: playing baseball. At Philadelphia’s Overbrook School for the Blind I invented a new kind of baseball. We called it ground ball.
All my life I have set a series of goals and then tried to reach them, one at a time. I had to learn my limitations. It was no good trying for something that I knew at the start was out of reach. I would fail sometimes anyway but on the average I made progress.
1.We can learn from the beginning of the passage that _______
A. the author lost his sight because of a car crash.
B. the author wouldn’t love life if the disaster didn’t happen.
C. the disaster made the author appreciate what he had.
D. the disaster strengthened the author’s desire to see.
2.What’s the most difficult thing for the author?
A. How to adjust himself to reality.
B. Building up assurance that he can find his place in life.
C. Learning to manage his life alone.
D. How to invent a new kind of baseball.
3.According to the context, “a chair rocker on the front porch” in paragraph 3 means that the author _________.
A. would sit in a rocking chair and enjoy his life.
B. would be unable to move and stay in a rocking chair.
C. would lose his will to struggle against difficulties.
D. would sit in a chair and stay at home.
4.What is the best title for the passage?
A. A Miserable Life B. Struggle Against Difficulties
C. A Disaster Makes a Strong Person D. An Unforgettable Experience
When Scotsman Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, it was a revolution in communication. For the first time, people could talk to each other over great distances almost as clearly as if they were in the same room. Nowadays, though, we increasingly use Bell’s invention for taking photographs, accessing the internet, or watching video clips, rather than talking. Over the last two decades a new means of spoken communication has appeared: the mobile phone.
The first real mobile telephone call was made in 1973 by Dr Martin Cooper, the scientist who invented the modem mobile handset（手机）. Within a decade, mobile phones became available to the public. The streets of modem cities began to feature sharp-suited characters shouting into giant plastic bricks. In Britain the mobile phone quickly became the same with the “yuppie”, the new type of young urban professionals who carried the expensive handsets as status symbols. Around this time many of us said that we would never own a mobile phone.
But in the mid-90s, something happened. Cheaper handsets and cheaper calling rates meant that, almost overnight, it seemed that everyone had a mobile phone. And the giant plastic bricks of the 80s had changed into smooth little objects that fitted nicely into pockets and bags.
Moreover, people’s timekeeping changed. Younger readers will be amazed to know that, not long ago, people made spoken arrangements to meet at a certain place at a certain time. But later Meeting time became approximate under the new order of communication: the Short Message Service （SMS） or text message. Going to be late? Send a text message! It takes much less effort than arriving on time, and it’s much less awkward than explaining your lateness face to face and the text message has changed the way we write in English. Traditional rules of grammar and spelling are much less important when you’re sitting on the bus, hurriedly typing “Will B 15mm late - C U @ the bar. Sorry! -).”
Alexander Graham Bell would be amazed if he could see how far the science of telephony has progressed in less than 150 years. If he were around today, he might say “That’s gr8! But I’m v busy rite now. Will call U 2nite.”
1.What does the underlined part in Para.2 refer to?
A. Houses of modern cities. B. Sharp-suited characters.
C. New type of professionals. D. Mobile phones.
2.According to Paragraph 4, why did Meeting time become approximate?
A. People were more likely to be late for their meeting.
B. SMS made it easier to inform each other.
C. Young people don’t like unchanging things.
D. Traditional customs were dying out.
3.If you want to meet your friend at the school gate this evening, which of the following message can you send him?
A. Call U@ SKUg8 2nite. B. IM2BZ2CU 2nite.
C. CU@ the bar g8 2nite. D. W84U@ SKUg8 2nite.
4.What does the passage mainly tell us about?
A. Alexander Graham’s invention.
B. SMS as a new way of communication.
C. New functions of the mobile telephone.
D. The development of the mobile phone.
The Healing
Jim and his wife, Connie, were shocked by the loss of their four-month-old son—Joshua, whose life was taken by SIDS—sudden infant death syndrome.
Thirty hours ago, Jim drove to the baby-sitter’s home to Joshua. It was a trip, like the one he made five days every week. He arrived, and little Joshua could not be from his nap. The next few hours were a time of life and death: the racing ambulance, swift-moving doctors and nurse. But 12 hours later, at Children’s Hospital, the doctors had exhausted（用尽） all , little Joshua was gone. Yes, they wanted of Joshua’s usable organs to be donated. That was not a decision for Jim and Connie, a loving and couple.
The next morning dawned and many things had to be arranged. Telephone calls and funeral plans. one point Jim realized he needed a .When Jim settled into the chair the barber’s, he began to the past hours, trying to some sense of it all. had Joshua, their first-born, the child they had waited so long for, been taken so soon….He had begun his life. The question kept coming, and the pain in Jim’s heart just him.
While talking with the barber, Jim mentioned the organ donations, looking at his watch, “They are transplanting one of his heart valves（瓣膜）right now.”
The stopped and stood motionless. Finally she spoke, but it was only a whisper. “You’re not going to believe this. But about an hour ago the customer sitting in this chair wanted me to hurry she could get to Children’s Hospital. She here so full of joy. Her prayers had been answered. Today her baby granddaughter is receiving a needed transplant—a heart valve.”
Jim’s healing began.
1.A. pick out B. pick up C. set out D. set up
2.A. routine B. annual C. average D. difficult
3.A. called B. disturbed C. awakened D. survived
4.A. though B. since C. because D. as
5.A. medicine B. strength C. attempts D. spirits
6.A. part B. few C. some D. wise
7.A. giving B. tiring C. boring D. thinking
8.A. Of B. In C. On D. At
9.A. haircut B. break C. donation D. decision
10.A. with B. at C. by D. near
11.A. decide on B. reflect on C. keep on D. focus on
12.A. get B. take C. hold D. make
13.A. How B. Why C. Whether D. If
14.A. barely B. nearly C. seldom D. almost
15.A. covered B. drew C. enveloped D. choked
16.A. hairdresser B. customer C. father D. parent
17.A. since B. as C. so D. and
18.A. arrived B. left C. stayed D. sat
19.A. desperately B. deadly C. clearly D. obviously
一I just can’t stop worrying about the result of my medical examination.
一_________. There’s nothing you can do now but wait.
A. Take your time B. Watch out for it C. Just a moment D. Sit back and relax
Rock-climbing is a breathtaking activity, very popular nationwide among young people, ______ cooperation as well as courage plays an important role.
A. who B. where C. which D. of which
Students are required to go out in couples, especially in the evenings, with friends ______ they get into trouble.
A. even if B. if only C. in case D. when
