A woman in her sixties lived alone in her little cottage with a pear tree at her door. She spent all her time taking care of the tree. But the children nearby drove her ________ by making fun of her. They would climb her tree and then run away with pears, ________ “Aunty Misery” at her.
One evening, a passer-by asked to ________ for the night. Seeing that he had an ________ face, she let him in and gave him a nice ________. The next morning the stranger, actually a sorcerer (巫师), thanked her by granting (允准) her ________ that anyone who climbed up her tree ________ not be able to come back down until she ________ it.
When the children came back to steal her ________, she had them stuck on the tree. They had to beg her long ________ she gave the tree permission to let ________ go. Aunty Misery was free from the ________ at last.
One day another man ________ her door. This one did not look trustworthy to her, ________ she asked who he was. “I am Death. I’ve come to take you ________ me,” said he.
Thinking fast Aunty Misery said, “Fine, but I’d like to ________ some pears from my pear tree to remember the ________ it brought to me in this life. But I am too ________ to climb high to get the best fruit. Will you be so ________ as to do it for me?” With a deep sigh, Mr. Death climbed up the tree ________ and was immediately stuck to it. No matter how much he warned or begged, Aunty Misery would not allow the tree to let Death go.
1.A. hopeless B. painful C. dull D. crazy
2.A. calling B. shouting C. announcing D. whispering
3.A. stay B. live C. hide D. lie
4.A. interesting B. honest C. anxious D. angry
5.A. gift B. kiss C. treat D. smile
6.A. suggestion B. advice C. permission D. wish
7.A. could B. should C. might D. must
8.A. permitted B. promised C. answered D. declared
9.A. branch B. food C. tree D. fruit
10.A. after B. while C. since D. before
11.A. it B. them C. him D. her
12.A. trick B. question C. trouble D. difficulty
13.A. stepped into B. left for C. stopped at D. walked around
14.A. so B. but C. although D. because
15.A. with B. off C. upon D. for
16.A. choose B. pick C. shake D. hit
17.A. honor B. pleasure C. hope D. excitement
18.A. thin B. short C. old D. light
19.A. light B. kind C. fine D. smart
20.A. disappointedly B. cheerfully C. unwillingly D. eagerly
A lot of parents help their kids do homework and study for school. 1.
A photographer in India’s Bihar state took a photo of dozens of parents risking their lives to help their 10th-graders cheat on tests. The parents climbed the walls of a four-story school to throw cheat sheets through the window for their children.
2. About 600 students were expelled(开除) from the school. And police have detained(拘留) more than 1,000 people connected with the scandal(丑闻).
The tests the Bihar students were taking are called board exams. These exams help determine who will be considered the top students in each class. India’s best university will take only students with a 95 percent score or better. 3.
Students who make it into India’s top universities have a much better chance of getting well-paid jobs. They can help their families by becoming doctors or engineers. Many of the students who don’t pursue(追求) these kinds of careers have a much more difficult time making money.
4. About 30 percent of its citizens are considered poor. In many parts of the country, a family of five might struggle to survive on as little as $80 a month. For students who do well, the exams can be a life-changing event for their families.
Few believe the Bihar incident will stop people from cheating on exams. Many students think that because others are cheating, they also have to cheat to keep up. 5.
Officials believe that new laws and policies will help only so much. To stop cheating, they say, people need to change their attitudes toward it.
A. India has a high poverty rate.
B. This cycle has proved very difficult to break.
C. The exam season can be called cheating season.
D. The government cannot stop cheating in exams.
E. The serious cheating outbreak did not go unpunished.
F. But the parents of some students in India have taken helping their kids to a new level.
G. As a result, students throughout the country are under great pressure to do well on the tests.
Gregory Kloehn digs through dustbins every day, but not for the reason that most people would think. He isn’t homeless. In fact he is trying to help the homeless.
Gregory began his life as a sculptor. But he often felt that his sculpture (雕塑) which just stood in rich people’s houses for years, lacked a meaningful purpose. So in 2015 he decided to put his artistic energies into creating homes to sell—not ordinary homes but small structures built entirely from recycled materials.
The thought of creating homes for the homeless didn’t come to him until the year 2017, when a homeless couple asked him for a tarp(防水布). Instead of a tarp, Gregory offered them something better: a small home with a water tank, a kitchen and a tap for waste. They were so grateful that Gregory decided to focus his efforts on helping house the homeless population in his city. And soon his “Homeless Homes Project” was started.
Before starting a new home, Gregory goes hunting for materials by digging through dustbins. Everything he finds is usable—refrigerator doors become house doors; washing machine doors often serve as windows, and the tops of cars become strong roofs. He put wheels at the bottom for users to move their homes around easily. Each home takes two to three days to make.
So far Gregory has donated dozens of homes to the city’s most needy. While his small low- cost mobile homes are not the final solution to the problem of homelessness, they are really practical and do provide a warm and safe place for the homeless to stay in. They are simply a way for one man to do something nice for those in need of some help.
Gregory has written a book titled Homeless Architecture, where he explains techniques to build those homes and he is now working on weekend workshops. “A lot of people who hear about what I’m doing want to get involved,” he said. “Maybe we can meet someplace and put a couple of homes together. ”
1.Why did Gregory turn from making sculptures to creating homes?
A. He had no home to live in.
B. He had to make more money.
C. He wanted to help the homeless.
D. He lost interest in sculpture.
2.The author mentions the story in paragraph 3 to tell us ________.
A. how Gregory got the idea of “Homeless Homes Project”
B. Gregory’s small homes were popular among the homeless
C. the homeless couple asked Gregory to produce more homes
D. housing the homeless in a city was not an easy task
3.What can we learn from Paragraph 4?
A. It takes Gregory a long time to produce a home.
B. Gregory’s work needs imagination and creativity.
C. Everything in the dustbins will be used in Gregory’s work.
D. Gregory has great trouble hunting for materials for his small houses.
4.What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A. Gregory doesn’t need to make small homes now.
B. Gregory’s project will help more homeless people.
C. Gregory’s work will completely solve the homelessness problem.
D. A single person can make no differences to social problems.
Imagine yourself on a boat looking out at the horizon and all you can see is the water meeting the sky with no land in sight and you are sailing straight ahead to meet the world. Jesse Martin does not have to imagine: he is living in it.
On Dec. 7, 1998, at 17 years old, Jesse set sail from Melbourne, Australia on his boat, attempting to become the youngest person to sail alone and nonstop around the world. He sailed south of New Zealand, through the South Pacific, around South America, north on the Atlantic, back south past Africa, through the Indian Ocean and back to Melbourne. Even as a young child, Jesse had been an adventurer who traveled all over Europe and Asia with his parents. Born in Munich, Germany in 1981, he moved to Australia with his family when he was only two years old. They moved close to a rainforest in Cow Bay, about 3,500kms north of Melbourne, where they built a small house with no electricity or running water. Jesse grew up at the beach enjoying the outdoors to its fullest. At 14, he sailed for the first time with his father and brother, Beau. It was after this trip that he began to dream about sailing around the world.
Jesse’s family played an important role. “I was made to believe I could do anything, although there were others that were not so encouraging or supportive” he says. “People that I looked up to, respected and trusted told me I couldn’t. Thankfully, I trusted myself. There were people that said that the boat couldn’t be ready by the time I had to leave.” However, through perseverance(坚持不懈) and belief in himself, he was able to do what many told him was impossible.
On Oct.31, 1999, more than 10 months after he set sail, Jesse Martin went down in history as the youngest person to sail around the world alone, nonstop and unassisted.
1.By encouraging readers to imagine a sailing experience, the author wants to __________.
A. show how difficult it is to be a sailor B. describe what Jesse’s sailing is like
C. show how wonderful Jesse’s life is D. describe what a sailor’s life is like
2.What can you know from paragraph 2?
A. Jesse was the first person who had sailed alone around the world.
B. Jesse traveled all over Europe and Asia with his parents when he was 17.
C. Jesse was born in Melbourne and grew up at the beach.
D. Jesse grew up in a small house with no electricity or running water.
3.What made Jesse decide to sail alone around the world according to the passage?
A. His childhood adventure experiences. B. His journeys to Europe.
C. His love for outdoor activities. D. His first sailing trip with his family.
4.What can we learn from Jesse Martin’s story?
A. Life is an unusual adventure we should enjoy. B. Failure is the mother of success.
C. A strong belief will make a person stronger. D. Great interest contributes to success.
Feeding a crowd of hundreds doesn’t make Kenny Seals-Nutt nervous.
In fact, he loves being in the kitchen.
By the time Kenny, 16, reached his third year of high school in Charlotte, US, he had become vice president of his school’s cooking club.
Kenny said he developed his love of cooking by watching his grandmother, who owned a business.
And at the age of 5, he cooked his first dish. Taking it to school for lunch, he warmed it up in the school’s microwave, while the other kids ate their sandwiches.
“I love to eat, and it started to become more fun to cook than to have food prepared for me,” he said.
Cooking came easy to Kenny, and he enjoyed adding new ingredients (原料)into common dishes. “It started with a passion（热情）and I wanted to know more,” he said.
Last summer, Kenny put his skills to the test by working with his grandmother to cater his uncle’s wedding. Kenny added new changes to the traditional（传统的）dishes that his grandma had prepared.
Chef Frederick Mookie Hicks, owner of a catering business, said Kenny’s success comes from his ability（能力）to multitask（多任务）in the kitchen.
“He’s so enthusiastic（热情的）about cooking that he doesn’t let anything stop him,” Hicks said.
1.What inspired（激励）Kenny’s interest in cooking?
A. The cooking club in his school. B. His love for eating.
C. His desire to run a catering business alone. D. The sight of his grandmother cooking.
2.The underlined word “cater” in Paragraph 8 probably means “to ______”.
A. have fun at B. be present at C. provide food for D. make a plan for
3.Which of the following best describes（描述）Kenny’s cooking?
A. Traditional. B. Creative. C. Simple. D. Strange.
4.What does Hicks think sets Kenny apart from other students?
a. His passion for cooking. b. His cooperation with others.
c. His ability to multitask. d. His special family background.
A. a, b B. a, c C. b, c D. c, d
One day. One lifetime. You can do it! From the museum of modem art to the museum of ancient articles, visit our picks for the world’s best museums.
National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa)
This museum has a great collection of art spanning the Middle Ages to the present day, including American, Indian, European, Inuit and Canadian works. It offers a unique, near-complete overview of Canadian art — from early Quebec religious work, through Inuit work from the 1950s, to the contemporaries.
Tokugawa Art Museum (Japan)
The Tokugawa family reigned over Japan from 1600 to 1868. Under them, the country enjoyed the longest period of peace in its history. This time span is also known as the Edo period, during which the arts flowered in Japan. Artists of this period directly influenced Western masters such as Monet, Gauguin and Whistler and have since gone on to become household names. Other exhibits effectively present, through accurately reproduced environments, aspects of Japanese life at the time.
Museum of Fine Arts (Boston)
Highlights of this museum’s collection include a 4th-century Christian marble bust (半身像) of St. Paul at prayer, and a painting that questions life and our very existence, Gauguin’s “Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?” It’s a must — go in the US.
The Egyptian Museum (Cairo)
As well as gathering together some of the finest archaeological finds from all Egypt, this museum also provides a rare opportunity to simply pop in and within minutes be standing face-to-face with one of the greatest works of mankind, Tutankhamun’s golden mask. A portrait of unbelievable quality, craftsmanship and beauty, the highly polished gold face — at once a god, a king and a teenager — shines like water: delicate, yet untouchable all at the same time.
1.Which museum will you visit if you want to know more about Monet?
A. Tokugawa Art Museum. B. National Gallery of Canada.
C. Museum of Fine Arts. D. The Egyptian Museum.
2.What kind of works can’t you see in the National Gallery of Canada?
A. American works. B. European works.
C. Japanese works. D. Inuit woks.
3.What is the most famous art work in The Egyptian Museum?
A. Gauguin’s painting.
B. A golden mask of Tutankhamun.
C. The Tokugawa family paintings.
D. A 4th-century Christian marble bust of St. Paul at prayer.
