Like many of my generation, I have a weakness for hero worship. At some point, however, we all begin to question our heroes and our need for them. This leads us to ask: What is a hero?
Despite immense differences in cultures, heroes around the world generally share a number of characteristics that instruct and inspire people.
A hero does something worth talking about. A hero has a story of adventure to tell and a community who will listen. But a hero goes beyond mere fame.
Heroes serve powers or principles larger than themselves. Like high-voltage(电压) transformers, heroes take the energy of higher powers and step it down so that it can be used by ordinary people.
The hero lives a life worthy of imitation. Those who imitate a genuine hero experience life with new depth, enthusiasm, and meaning. A sure test for would-be heroes is what or whom do they serve? What are they willing to live and die for? If the answer or evidence suggests they serve only their own fame, they may be famous persons but not heroes. Madonna and Michael Jackson are famous, but who would claim that their fans find life more abundant?
Heroes are catalysts (催化剂) for change. They have a vision from the mountaintop. They have the skill and the charm to move the masses. They create new possibilities. Without Gandhi, India might still be part of the British Empire. Without Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., we might still have segregated(隔离的) buses, restaurants, and parks. It may be possible for large-scale change to occur without leaders with magnetic personalities, but the pace of change would be slow, the vision uncertain, and the committee meetings endless.
1. Although heroes may come from different cultures, they _______.
A. generally possess certain inspiring characteristics
B. probably share some weaknesses of ordinary people
C. are often influenced by previous generations
D. all unknowingly attract a large number of fans
2. According to the passage, heroes are compared to high-voltage transformers in that ____.
A. they have a vision from the mountaintop
B. they have warm feelings and emotions
C. they can serve as concrete(具体的) examples of noble principles
D. they can make people feel stronger and more confident
3. Madonna and Michael Jackson are not considered heroes because ________.
A. they are popular only among certain groups of people
B. their performances do not improve their fans morally
C. their primary concern is their own financial interests
D. they are not clear about the principles they should follow
4. Gandhi and Martin Luther King are typical examples of outstanding leaders who ___.
A. are good at demonstrating their charming characters
B. can move the masses with the skill and the charm
C. are capable of meeting all challenges and hardships
D. can provide an answer to the problems of their people
5. The author concludes that historical changes would ______.
A. be delayed without leaders with inspiring personal qualities
B. not happen without heroes making the necessary sacrifices
C. take place if there were heroes to lead the people
D. produce leaders with attractive personalities
四、阅读理解
Each morning a rich man found a poor man sitting on a park bench (长凳). The poor man always sat there, looking at the big hotel in which the rich man lived. One day the rich man got out of his car and said to the poor man, “Excuse me, but I just want to know why you sit here and look at my hotel every morning.” “Sir,” said the poor man, “I am a failure. I have no money, no family, no home. I sleep on this bench, and every night I dream that one day I’ll sleep in that hotel.” The rich man said, “That is not so hard. Tonight your dream will come true. I’ll pay for the best room in that hotel for you for a whole month.”
A few days later, the rich man went by the poor man’s room to ask him how he was enjoying himself. To his surprise, he found that the man had moved out of the hotel, back to his park bench. When the rich man asked why, the poor man said, “you see, when I am down here sleeping on my bench, I dream I’m up there, in that big hotel. It’s a wonderful dream. But when I was up there, I dreamed I was back to this cold bench. It was a terrible dream, and I couldn’t get any sleep at all.”
1. The poor man lived in_____ before he met the rich man.
A. the hotel B. his home C. the park D. the car
2. Every morning, the poor man sat on the bench and _____
A. waited for the rich man B. looked at the rich man’s hotel
C. looked at the rich man’s car D. enjoyed the clean air
3. The poor man moved out of the hotel because_______
A. he didn’t want to live in such a fine room
B. he didn’t like the rich man
C. he couldn’t pay for the room
D. he couldn’t get any sleep at all there
4. In the end, the poor man found it _____to sleep in the hotel.
A. sorry B. nice C. sad D.terrible
第三部分：阅读理解(共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分)
阅读下列短文，从短文所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将相应的字母涂黑。
Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago in 1954 to a Mexican American family. As the only girl in a family of seven children, she often felt like she had “seven fathers,” because her six brothers, as well as her father, tried to control her. Feeling shy and unimportant, she retreated(躲避) into books. Despite her love of reading, she did not do well in elementary school because she was too shy to participate.
In high school, with the encouragement of one particular teacher, Cisneros improved her grades and worked for the school literary magazine. Her father encouraged her to go to college because he thought it would be a good way for her to find a husband. Cisneros did attend college, but instead of searching for a husband, she found a teacher who helped her join the famous graduate writing program at the University of Iowa. At the university’s Writers’ Workshop, however, she felt lonely—a Mexican American from a poor neighborhood among students from wealthy families. The feeling of being so different helped Cisneros find her “creative voice.”
“It was not until this moment when I considered myself truly different that my writing acquired （获得）a voice. I knew I was a Mexican woman, but I didn’t think it had anything to do with why I felt so much imbalance（不平衡） in my life, but it had everything to do with it! That’s when I decided I would write about something my classmates couldn’t write about.”
Cisneros published her first work, The House on Mango Street, when she was twenty-nine. The book tells about a young Mexican American girl growing up in a Spanish-speaking area in Chicago, much like the neighborhoods in which Cisneros lived as a child. The book won an award in 1985 and has been used in classes from high school through graduate school level. Since then, Cisneros has published several books of poetry, a children’s book, and a short-story collection.
1. Which of the following is TRUE about Cisneros in her childhood?
A. She had seven brothers. B. She felt herself a nobody.
C. She was too shy to go to school. D. She did not have any good teachers.
2. The graduate program gave Cisneros a chance to _____.
A. work for a school magazine B. run away from her family
C. make a lot of friends D. develop her writing style
3. According to Cisneros, what played the decisive role in her success?
A. Her early years in college. B. Her training in the Workshop.
C. Her feeling of being different. D. Her childhood experience.
4. What do we learn about The House on Mango Street?
A. It is quite popular among students.
B. It is the only book ever written by Cisneros.
C. It wasn’t a success as it was written in Spanish.
D. It won an award when Cisneros was twenty-nine.