The meaning of the word “volunteer” may be a little different in different countries, but it usually means “one who offers his or her services” .There are many different ways in which people can volunteer, such as taking care of sick people, working in homes for homeless children, and picking up garbage(垃圾)from beaches and parks. Volunteers may work within their own countries or in other countries. They are often people with a strong wish to help those who are less fortunate than themselves. Volunteers don’t expect any kind of pay.
At the root of volunteering is the idea that one person may have the ability to offer services that can help other people. Tracy, a good friend of mine, however, recently came back from India with a new idea of what being a volunteer means. She worked for two and a half weeks in one of Mother Teresa’s homes in Calcutta. The following is her story.
“I first heard about
Mother Teresa in my high school, we watched a video(录像)about her work in India and all over the world. I was so moved by her spirit to help others and her endless love for every human being that after I graduated from high school, I too wanted to try her kind of work. So with two friends I flew to Calcutta for a few weeks.”
“I was asked to work
in a home for sick people. I helped w
ash clothes and sheets, and pass out lunch. I also fed the people who were too weak to feed themselves and tried to cheer them up. I felt it was better to share with them than to think that I have helped them. To be honest, I don’t think I was helping very much. It was then that I realized that I had not really come to help, but to learn about and experience another culture(文化)that helped improve my own understanding of life and the world.”
1. According to the text, a volunteer refers to a person who __________.
A. is willing to help those in need without pay
B. can afford to travel to different places
C. has a strong wish to be successful
D. has made a big fortune in life
2.Tracy started her work as a volunteer ____________ .
A. after she met Mother Teresa B. when she was touring Calcutta
C. after she finished high school D. when she was working in a hospital
3. Why did Tracy choose to be a volunteer?
A. She liked to work with Mother Teresa.
B. She was asked by Mother Teresa to do so.
C. She had already had some experience.
D. She wanted to follow Mother Teresa’s example.
4. What is Tracy’s “new idea”(Paragraph 2)of being a volunteer?
A. Going abroad to help the sick.
B. Improving oneself through helping others.
C. Working in Mother Teresa’s home.
D. Doing simple things to help the poor.
JINTAN, JIANGSU: The 20 students — 18 boys and 2 girls —had a thousand reasons to be proud of themselves. They had just climbed their way to the top rung（阶梯）out of 4 million students taking part in the Fifth National Hua Luogeng Gold Cup Mathematics Contest（竞赛）on Tuesday evening. The 20 gold medal winners are all primary and middle school students under the age of 14. ‘Many of the problems are of college level and these pupils can figure them out. It is just unbelievable!’said a teacher from Guangdong province. Named after China's most famous mathematician, Hua Luogeng, the contest started in 1986,one year after his death. In less than 10 years, it has been recognized by the State Education Commission（国家教委） as the country's biggest and best contest of its kind. This news story is mainly about________ .
| A．when the contest started |
| B．how the contest got its name |
| C．the 20 pupils who have won gold medals in the contest |
| D．the 5th National Hua Luogeng Gold Cup Mathematics Contest |
This news story most probably appeared in a newspaper in ________.
| A．1986 | B．1987 | C．1995 | D．1997 |
It can be inferred from the text that the teacher from Guangdong province ________.
| A．felt proud of the gold medal winners |
| B．wondered if the students were honest |
| C．thought that the problems were too difficult for the students |
| D．believed that the twenty winners could go to study at university |
The underlined phrase ‘figure out’ in the text means_________.
| A．work out | B．add up | C．guess | D．study |
Dear Guys,
I’d like to talk to you about the shame you subjected me to last night. Let me first refresh your memory: You, a group of fit, young men, were playing soccer on the field across from my apartment building. I, a better-than-average looking young woman, was walking along the sidewalk with my groceries. That’s when your ball came flying over the fence and landed in front of me.
One of you approached and asked politely if I would throw the ball back to you. Fighting the urge to drop my bags and run screaming down the street, I reluctantly (勉强地) agreed.
Before I continue, let me explain something that I didn’t have a chance to mention last night: I hate sports. More specifically, I hate sports involving balls. This results from my lack of natural ability when it comes to throwing, catching and hitting. I’m bad at aiming too. So you can understand why I’d be nervous at what I’m sure seemed to you like a laughably simple request.
However, wanting to appear agreeable, I put my bags down, picked up the ball and, eyes half-shut, threw it as hard as I could.
It hit the middle of the fence and bounced back to me.
Trying to act casually, I said something about being out of practice, then picked up the ball again. If you’ll remember, at your command, I agreed to try throwing underhand. While outwardly I was smiling, in my head, I was praying, Oh God, oh please oh please oh please. I threw the ball upward with all my strength, terrified by what happened next.
The ball hit slightly higher up on the fence and bounced back to me.
This is the point where I start to take issue with you. Wouldn’t it have been a better use of your time, and mine, if you had just walked around the fence and took the ball then? I was clearly struggling; my smiles were more and more forced. And yet, you all just stood there, motionless.
Seeing that you weren’t going to let me out of the trouble, I became desperate. Memories of middle school softball came flooding back. I tried hard to throw the ball but it only went about eight feet, then I decided to pick it up and dash with ball in hand towards the baseline, while annoyed thirteen-year-old boys screamed at me that I was ruining their lives. Children are cruel.
Being a big girl now, I pushed those memories aside and picked up the soccer ball for the third time. I forced a good-natured laugh while crying inside as you patiently shouted words of support over the fence at me.
“Throw it granny-style!” one of you said.
“Just back up a little and give it all you’ve got!” another offered.
And, most embarrassing of all, “You can do it!”
I know you thought you were being encouraging, but it only served to deepen the shame.
Anyway, I accepted your ball-throwing advice, backed up, rocked back and forth a little, took a deep breath and let it fly.
It hit the edge of the fence and bounced back to me.
I surprised myself-and I’m sure you as well-by letting out a cry, “DAMN IT!!!” I then willed myself to have a heart attack and pass out in front of you just so I’d be put out of my misery.
Alas, the heart attack didn’t happen, and you continued to look at me expectantly, like you were content to do this all night. I had become a sort of exhibition for you. I could feel your collective thoughts drifting through the chain-link: “Can she really not do it? But I mean, really?”
Unfortunately for you, I wasn’t really game to continue your experiment. Three failed attempts at a simple task in front of a group of people in a two-minute period was just enough blow for me for one night. I picked up the ball one last time, approached the fence and grumbled, “Please just come get the damn ball.”
And you did. And thanks to you, I decided at that very moment to never throw anything ever again, except disrespectful glances at people who play sports.
Sincerely, Jen CorderyThe writer agreed to throw the ball because ______.
| A．she needed to have a relax carrying the heavy groceries |
| B．she wanted to refresh her childhood memories |
| C．she could not refuse the polite request from the young man |
| D．she had fallen in love with the young man at first sight |
Why did the writer mention her middle school memory?
| A．To explain why she failed the attempts to throw the ball back. |
| B．To complain that she had not mastered the ball throwing skills. |
| C．To show how cruel those 13-year-old boys were. |
| D．To express her dislike towards softball. |
What the boys said before the writer’s third attempt actually made the writer _______.
| A．inspired | B．encouraged | C．embarrassed | D．depressed |
What happened to the ball at last?
| A．The writer managed to throw the ball back. |
| B．The boy got the ball back by himself. |
| C．The writer threw the ball away out of anger. |
| D．The boys got angry and left without the ball. |
It was eleven o'clock that night when Mr. Pontellier returned from his night out. He was in an excellent humor, in high spirits, and very talkative. His entrance awoke his wife, who was in bed and fast asleep when he came in. He talked to her while he undressed, telling her anecdotes and bits of news and gossip that he had gathered during the day. She was overcome with sleep, and answered him with little half utterances.
He thought it very discouraging that his wife, who was the sole object of his existence, showed so little interest in things which concerned him and valued so little his conversation.
Mr. Pontellier had forgotten the candies and peanuts that he had promised the boys. Still, he loved them very much and went into the room where they slept to take a look at them and make sure that they were resting comfortably. The result of his investigation was far from satisfactory. He turned and shifted the youngsters about in bed. One of them began to kick and talk about a basket full of crabs.
Mr. Pontellier returned to his wife with the information that Raoul had a high fever and needed looking after. Then he lit his cigar and went and sat near the open door to smoke it.
Mrs. Pontellier was quite sure Raoul had no fever. He had gone to bed perfectly well, she said, and nothing had made him sick. Mr. Pontellier was too well familiar with fever symptoms to be mistaken. He assured her the child was burning with fever at that moment in the next room.
He reproached his wife with her inattention, her habitual neglect of the children. If it was not a mother's place to look after children, whose on earth was it? He himself had his hands full with his business. He could not be in two places at once; making a living for his family on the street, and staying home to see that no harm done to them. He talked in a dull, repeated and insistent way.
Mrs. Pontellier sprang out of bed and went into the next room. She soon came back and sat on the edge of the bed, leaning her head down on the pillow. She said nothing, and refused to answer her husband when he questioned her. When his cigar was smoked out, he went to bed, and in half a minute was fast asleep.
Mrs. Pontellier was by that time thoroughly awake. She began to cry a little, and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her nightdress. She went out on the porch, where she sat down and began to rock herself in the chair.
It was then past midnight. The cottages were all dark. There was no sound except the hooting of an old owl and the everlasting voice of the sea, which broke like a mournful lullaby (催眠曲) upon the night.
The tears came so fast to Mrs. Pontellier's eyes that the damp sleeve of her nightdress no longer served to dry them. She went on crying there, not caring any longer to dry her face, her eyes, her arms.
She could not have told why she was crying. Such experiences as had just happened were not uncommon in her married life. They seemed never before to have weighed much against theabundance (充足) of her husband's kindness and a uniform devotion which had come to be self-understood.
An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with vague pain. It was like a shadow, like a mist passing across her soul's summer day. It was strange and unfamiliar; it was a mood. She did not sit there inwardly scolding her husband, expressing sadness about Fate, which had directed her footsteps to the path which they had taken. She was just having a good cry all to herself.
The mosquitoes succeeded in driving away a mood which might have held her there in the darkness half a night longer.
The following morning Mr. Pontellier was up in good time to take the carriage which was to convey him to the ship. He was returning to the city to his business, and they would not see him again at the Island till the coming Saturday. He had regained his calmness, which seemed to have been somewhatweakened the night before. He was eager to be gone, as he looked forward to a lively week in the financial center.Mr.Pontellier comes back home from his night out in a/an ______state of mind.
| A．excited | B．confused | C．depressed | D．disappointed |
The writer would most likely describe Mr. Pontellier’s conduct during the evening as ______.
| A．impatient and generous | B．enthusiastic and responsible |
| C．concerned and gentle | D．inconsiderate and self-centered |
In paragraphs 8 to 13, Mrs. Pontellier’s reactions to her husband’s behavior suggest that ______.
| A．she accepts unquestioningly her role of taking care of the children |
| B．this is one of the times she has acknowledged her unhappiness with her husband |
| C．her relationship with her husband is not what has made her depressed |
| D．she is angry about something that happened before her husband left |
You hear the comment all the time: the U.S. economy looks good by figures, but it doesn’t feel good. Why doesn’t ever-greater wealth promote ever-greater happiness? It is a question that dates at least to the appearance in 1958 of The Wealthy Society by John Kenneth Galbraith, who died recently at 97.
The Wealthy Society is a modern classic because it helped describe a new moment in the human condition. For most of history, “hunger, sickness, and cold” threatened nearly everyone, Galbraith wrote. “Poverty was found everywhere in that world. Obviously it is not of ours.” After World War II, the fear of another Great Depression gave way to an economic growth. By the 1930s unemployment had averaged 18.2 percent; in the 1950s it was 4.5 percent.
To Galbraith, materialism had gone mad and would cause discontent. Through advertising, companies conditioned consumers to buy things they didn’t really want or need. Because so much spending was artificial, it wouldbe unsatisfying. Meanwhile, government spending that would make everyone better off was being cut down because people wrongly considered government only as “a necessary bad.”
It’s often said that only the rich are getting ahead; everyone else isstanding still or falling behind. Well, there are many undeserving rich — overpaid chief managers, for instance. But over any meaningful period, most people’s incomes are increasing. From 1995 to 2004, people feel “squeezed” because their rising incomes often don’t satisfy their rising wants — for bigger homes, more health care, more education, and faster Internet connections.
The other great disappointment is that it has not got rid of insecurity. People regard job stability as part of their standard of living. As company unemployment increased, that part has gradually become weaker. More workers fear they’ve become “the disposable American,” as Louis Uchitelle puts it in his book by the same name.
Because so much previous suffering and social conflict resulted from poverty, the arrival of widespread wealth suggested utopian (乌托邦式的) possibilities. Up to a point, wealth succeeds. There is much less physical suffering than before. People are better off. Unfortunately, wealth also creates new complaints.
Advanced societies need economic growth to satisfy the multiplying wants of their citizens. But the search for growth cause new anxieties and economic conflicts that disturb the social order. Wealth sets free the individual, promising that everyone can choose a unique way to self-accomplishment. But the promise is so unreasonable that it leads to many disappointments and sometimes inspires choices that have anti-social consequences, including family breakdown. Figures indicate that happiness has not risen with incomes.
Should we be surprised? Not really. We’ve simply confirmed an old truth: the seeking of wealth does not always end with happiness.The Wealthy Society is a book ______.
| A．about previous suffering and social conflict in the past |
| B．written by Louis Uchitelle who died recently at 97 |
| C．indicating that people are becoming worse off |
| D．about why happiness does not rise with wealth |
Why do people feel“squeezed”when their average income rises considerably?
| A．They think there are too many overpaid rich. |
| B．There is more unemployment in modern society. |
| C．Their material demands go faster than their earnings. |
| D．Health care and educational cost have somehow gone out of control. |
What has wealth brought to American society?
| A．Stability and security. |
| B．Materialism and content. |
| C．A sense of self-accomplishment. |
| D．New anxiety, conflicts and complaints. |
The United Nations is warning that the world is not prepared to deal with the fast growth of cities. The World Economic and Social Survey 2013 calls for new ways to meet the needs of city populations. More than 6.5 billion people are expected to be living in cities by 2050.
Most new city dwellers will be in developing countries. The United Nations says the effect on limited resources in many countries will be huge. The World Economic and Social Survey points to the increasing demand for energy, water, sanitation, public services, education and health care.
The world population is expected to rise to more than nine billion by 2050, two-thirds of all people are expected to live in cities. The United Nations says about 80 percent of this growing urban population will be found in Africa and Asia.
The report says sustainable development of urban areas requires coordination and investments to deal with important issues, these include land-use, food security, job creation and transportation.
Willem Van Der Geest is with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, he says cities need to work closely with rural communities, so that food supplies can be secured, and the environment can be protected.
"We need enough integration(整合，融合) with cities... An integration between the rural and urban economies is absolutely vital for issues of nutrition, food security, and environmental sustainability."
The report says development in a sustainable（可持续发展）way is important to end poverty. The report also examines the problem of food insecurity, which affects hundreds of millions of people around the world. One in eight people still severely lack nutrition.
UN officials say some things are clear. The Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, Shamshad Akhtar, says world food production will have to increase by 70%, that increase will be needed to feed the additional 2.3 billion people expected on the planet by the middle of the century. She says an important part of meeting that need is to waste less food. "There has to be efforts to reduce food wastage. ."
Food and nutrition security are core elements of the sustainable development agenda.The survey includes the following statements except that ______.
| A．varieties of demands are hard to meet because of the increasing population in Africa and Asia. |
| B．one way to put an end to poverty is to be able to develop for a long time. |
| C．transportation is an important issue to deal with when it comes to sustainable development of urban areas. |
| D．hundreds of millions of people around the world are affected by the problem of food insecurity. |
From the passage we can infer that ______.
| A．cities grow so fast that the world can’t find out new ways to deal with the growing population. |
| B．the growing city dwellers who mainly come from the developing countries greatly challenge limited resources in the world. |
| C．sustainable development of urban areas requires coordination and investments to deal with important issues |
| D．food wastage is an effective way to feed the additional 2.3 biilion people by the middle of the century. |
What is the best titile of the passage?
| A．The World Economic and Social Survey 2013. |
| B．City Population Will Increase to 9 Billion. |
| C．Cities Need to Cooperate with Rural Areas. |
| D．The World Is Not Prepared to Deal with the Fast Growth of Cities. |
The passage is chosen from ______.
| A．a textbook | B．a travel guide | C．a novel | D．a newspaper |