Nick Santonastasso has one arm equipped with one finger. He has no legs. He also has no limitations(局限).
“ I know anything’s possible ,” the 12-year-old told TODAY ’s Ann Curry.
He can play baseball and football, play the keyboard and drums, and play video games with his brothers.
When Nick was born, he suffered a disease only found in 11 other people. The Santonastassos had three other children, and they decided to treat Nick the same as others, with love but without excuse
“ We’re supposed to be heroes to our children, but Nick is a hero to us,” his father Michael said. But heroes have heroes, too, and Nick’s is Tiki Barber, the former football superstar who retired last year and became a reporter for TODAY. Curry told Nick that for his birthday, the show wanted to give him a new skateboard. The person who presented it to him was Barber.
“ You’re an inspiration,” Barber said. “ There are a lot of kids who might be at a disadvantage.
You give them strength.”
Curry observed that most parents try to protect their kids from failure, but the Santonastassos didn’t do that with Nick.
“Absolutely not, “Nick’s mother Stacey said. “ If you do have a small failure, it just makes you stronger to succeed at the next stop.”
“ It builds self-confidence in yourself to try it again,” Nick added.
Recently, Nick entered a drawing in a statewide contest in New Jersey. His drawing was a tree with a spreading canopy (树冠) and deep toots. Above the tree were the words, “The roots of a family are…” Below the ground, the roots spelled out the final word for the message: “ Love.”
It won the contest. The judges didn’t know Nick’ physical condition. He won on merit (成绩), the same way he does everything else in life.How did the Santonastassos treat Nick?
| A．They gave him much more care | B．They treated him as a normal boy |
| C．They made excuse for his failure | D．They protected him from failure. |
In the opinion of Barber, Nick__________.
| A．would learn a lot from his failure. | B．would become a star in playing skateboard. |
| C．set a good example to other disabled kids | D．proved a real hero to other heroes |
What message did Nick’s drawing express?
| A．Love is the “root” of a family. | B．Each family has its own value among its members. |
| C．Trees without deep roots can’t grow tall and strong | D．Roots are the most important of a tree. |
According to the passage, ______ other people have the same disease as Nick’s.
| A．two | B．three | C．eleven | D．twelve |
What might be the most suitable title for the passage?
| A．Nothing Is Impossible | B．Keep Trying Forever | C．The roots | D．Nick and his Skateboard |
Want to improve your writing skills? New Writing South is directing the way!
·Towner Writer Squad (班组）for kids aged 13-17
Led by comedy and TV writer, Marian Kilpatrick, Towner Writer Squad will meet once a month at the contemporary art museum for 11 months, starting 12 October, 2014.
The FREE squad sessions will include introductions to a wide range of writing styles, from poetry to play writing and lyrics (抒情诗）to flash fiction, to support the development of young writers.
Application & Selection
If you would like to apply to be part of the Towner Writer Squad, please send a sample piece of your writing (about 500 words), responding to the title‘LUNCH,’with your name, age, address and e-mail address to: debo@newwritingsouth.com.
Once all applications are in, you will be invited to an open selection event on 17 September，4-5pm, at the gallery of Towner. This will be an informal opportunity to meet the Squad Leader, Squad Associate and other young people.
You will also have a chance to get to know the fantastic gallery space and get a taste of what’s to come.
Deadline for applications: 8 September, 2014
For further information go to: facebook.com/towner or towner.org.uk or newwritingsouth.com
Any questions 一 feel free to send your e-mail to Towner Writer Squad Associate: whame@towner.gov.uk
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·Beginner Writing Project for kids aged 10-13
Due to popular demand, a writing project will be started for eager beginners.
Start time: 6 September, 2014
Meet every other Saturday，2-4pm, at the Towner Study Centre.
Study and write at your own pace 一 you do not have to rush 一 as you have a year to go through the project. Practise under the guidance of some experienced writers and teachers who can help you with basic writing skills. Most importantly, build confidence and have fun while writing!
No previous experience or special background is required. Many others have been successful this way. If they can do it, why can’t you?
Fee: £179
For more information go to: newtowner.org.uk or generate.org.ukTowner Writer Squad will be started _______.
| A． to train comedy and TV writers |
| B． to explore the fantastic gallery space |
| C． to introduce a contemporary art museum |
| D． to promote the development of young writers |
To join the Writer Squad，each applicant should first _______.
| A． provide a piece of their writing |
| B． meet the Writer Squad Leader |
| C． offer their family information |
| D． complete an application form |
Applications for the Writer Squad should be e-mailed no later than _______.
| A． 6 September, 2014 |
| B． 8 September, 2014 |
| C． 17 September, 2014 |
| D． 12 October, 2014 |
What is most important for the beginners?
| A． Practising as much as possible. |
| B． Gaining confidence and having fun. |
| C． Studying and writing at their own pace. |
| D． Learning skills from writers and teachers. |
More information about Beginner Writing Project can be found at _______.
| A． facebook.com/towner |
| B． newwritingsouth.com |
| C． newtowner.org.uk |
| D． towner.org.uk |
For most city people, the elevator is an unremarkable machine that inspires none of the enthusiasm or interest that Americans afford trains, jets，and even bicycles. Dr. Christopher Wilk is a member of a small group of elevator experts who consider this a misunderstanding. Without the elevator, they point out, there could be no downtown skyscrapers or tall buildings, and city life as we know it would be impossible. In that sense, they argue，the elevator’s role in American history has been no less significant than that of cars. In fact, according to Wilk? the car and the elevator have been locked in a “secret war” for over a century, with cars making it possible for people to spread horizontally (水平地)，and elevators pushing them toward life in close groups of towering vertical (垂直的)columns.
If we tend to ignore the significance of elevators, it might be because riding in them tends to be such a brief, boring, and even awkward experience^one that can involve unexpectedly meeting people with whom we have nothing in common, and an unpleasant awareness of the fact that we’re hanging from a cable in a long passage.
In a new book, Lifted, German journalist and cultural studies professor Andreas Bernard directed all his attention to this experience, studying the origins of elevator and its relationship to humankind and finding that riding in an elevator has never been a totally comfortable experience. “After 150 years, we are still not used to it”， Bernard said. “We still have not exactly learned to cope with the mixture of closeness and displeasure.” That mixture, according to Bernard, sets the elevator ride apart from just about every other situation we find ourselves in as we go about our lives.
Today，as the world’s urban population explodes，and cities become more crowded, taller, and more crowded, America’s total number of elevators—900,000 at last count, according to Elevator World magazine’s “2012 Vertical Transportation Industry”一are a force that’s becoming more important than ever. And for the people who really, really love them, it seems like high time that we looked seriously at just what kind of force they are.What does the underlined word “this” in Paragraph 1 refer to?
| A．The general view of elevators. |
| B．The particular interests of experts. |
| C．The desire for a remarkable machine. |
| D．The enthusiasm for transport vehicles. |
The author’s purpose in mentioning cars is.
| A．to contrast their functions with elevators, |
| B．to emphasize the importance of elevators |
| C．to reveal their secret war against elevators |
| D．to explain people’s preference for elevators |
According to Prof. Bernard, what has made the elevator ride different from other life experiences?
| A．Vertical direction. |
| B．Lack of excitement. |
| C．Little physical space. |
| D．Uncomfortable conditions. |
The author urges readers to consider.
| A．the exact number of elevator lovers |
| B．the serious future situation of elevators |
| C．the role of elevators in city development |
| D．the relationship between cars and elevators |
You've flown halfway around the world; you've sniffed out this place that nobody in Falongland or Thailand seems to have ever heard of; so what on earth is there to do here? You consider this question as you sink into an old wooden beach chair that holds you above the sand.
It was a long journey from Bangkok to Huaplee. By the time you found the bus station and got yourself sorted out, it took almost as long as the flight from Falongland.
Huaplee is located just south of Hua Hin, about two hundred kilometres from Bangkok, down the west side of the Gulf of Thailand. Not many tourists find this place，and the ones that do wonder if finding it has been their purpose all along.
There's an apparent laziness that surrounds you here. It's what this place offers, and it，s free of charge. The small waves that tap the shoreline seem to slow everything down. You settle into your beach chair in preparation for a long rest. You sit there and watch the sea.
It's early afternoon, so the cook comes out and asks what you'd like to eat this evening. Before long he's rushed off to the market to buy the ingredients for whatever it was that you ordered---every meal fresh and to order. No menu here.
There is no poolside noise here but just that wonderfully warm, clear blue sea. There's no street noise. The only sounds are the murmurs of nature.For now you just count your blessings (福祉)，listing them in the sand with your toe (脚趾).You don't have to worry about being late for work. You don't have to do anything.
The beach to your right stretches off to the horizon (地平线)，slowly narrowing to nothingness only to re-emerge again on your left, now steadily widening until it covers the chair beneath you. Sand to your left and sand to your right; it's unbroken, endless. No start, no end, just sand, sun,and peace. Step off it, and you re-enter the world of traffic, stress, work，and hurry.
Normally you，re the type who can，t sit still for more than ten minutes, but you're on Huaplee Lazy Beach now and, in the right frame of mind, it stretches all the way around theworld.
"How could it take me so long to find it?" you wonder.
| 1． |
When the author first went to Huaplee Beach,
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| 2． |
What is special about the food service at Huaplee Beach?
|
| 3． |
In the author's opinion, a tourist can enjoy Huaplee Beach most when he.
|
| 4． |
What does the author imply by his question at the end of the passage?
|
Working with a group of baboons (狒狒）in the Namibian desert, Dr. Alecia Carter of the Department of Zoology，Cambridge University set baboons learning tasks involving a novel food and a familiar food hidden in a box. Some baboons were given the chance to watch another baboon who already knew how to solve the task, while others had to learn for themselves. To work out how brave or anxious the baboons were, Dr. Carter presented them either with a novel food or a threat in the form of a model of a poisonous snake.
She found that personality had a major impact on learning. The braver baboons learnt, but the shy ones did not learn the task although they watched the baboon perform the task of finding the novel food just as long as the brave ones did. In effect, despite being made aware of what to do, they were still too shy to do what the experienced baboon did.
The same held true for anxious baboons compared with calm ones. The anxious individuals learnt the task by observing others while those who were relaxed did not, even though they spent more time watching.
This mismatch between collecting social information and using it shows that personality plays a key role in social learning in animals, something that has previously been ignored in studies on how animals learn to do things. The findings are significant because they suggest that animals may perform poorly in cognitive (认 知的）tasks not because they aren't clever enough to solve them，but because they are too shy or nervous to use the social information.
The findings may impact how we understand the formation of culture in societies through social learning. If some individuals are unable to get information from others because they don't associate with the knowledgeable individuals，or they are too shy to use the information once they have it，information may not travel between all group members, preventing the formation of a culture based on social learning.
| 1． |
What is the first paragraph mainly about?
|
| 2． |
According to the research, which baboons are more likely to complete a new learning task?
|
| 3． |
Which best illustrates the "mismatch" mentioned in Paragraph 4?
|
| 4． |
Dr. Carter's findings indicate that our culture might be formed through.
|
London’s newest skyscraper (摩天大楼)is called the Shard and it cost about 430 million pounds to build. At a height of almost 310 metres, it is the tallest building in Europe. The Shard has completely changed the appearance of London. However, not everyone thinks that it is a change for the better.
The Shard was designed by the famous Italian architect Renzo Piano. When he began designing the Shard for London, Piano wanted a very tall building that looked like a spire (尖顶)• He wanted the glass surfaces to reflect the sky and the city. The sides of the building aren’t regular. So the building has an unusual shape. It looks like a very thin，sharp piece of broken glass. And that is how the building got the name: the Shard. Piano says that the spire shape of the Shard is part of a great London tradition. The shape reminds him of the spires of the churches of London or the tall masts (桅杆）of the ships that were once on the river Thames.
The Shard has 87 floors. At the top, there is an observatory. At the moment the building is empty, but eventually there will be a five-star hotel. There will also be top quality restaurants, apartments and offices.
Before building work began, a lot of people didn’t want the Shard though the plans were approved. Now they are still unhappy about the Shard. Some critics say that such a tall skyscraper might be good in a city like New York, but not in London. They say that the best thing about the Shard is its spire shape. But that is the only thing. There is no decoration, only flat surfaces. The Egyptians did that 4,500 years ago. They also think the Shard is too big for London. It destroys the beauty of the city.
Other critics don’t like what the Shard seems to represent. They say that the Shard shows how London is becoming more unequal. Only very rich people can afford to buy the expensive private apartments and stay in the hotel. But the people who live near the Shard are among the poorest in London. So the Shard seems a symbol of the division in society between the very rich and the poor.
The Shard now dominates the London skyline. It is not certain, however, that ordinary London citizens will ever accept it as a valuable addition to the city.London’s newest skyscraper is called the Shard because of ._____
A. its cost
B its size
C .its shape
D .its heightWhen he designed the Shard, Piano wanted it to ._____
| A．change London’s skyline |
| B．inherit London’s tradition |
| C．imitate the Egyptian style |
| D．attract potential visitors |
The critics who refer to social division think the Shard_______ .
| A．is only preferred by the rich |
| B．is intended for wealthy people |
| C．is far away from the poor area |
| D．is popular only with Londoners |
Which would be the best title for the passage?
| A．The Shard: Cheers and Claps |
| B．The Shard: Work of a Great Architect |
| C．The Shard: New Symbol of London? |
| D．The Shard: A Change for the Better? |