Born in a fishing village in Japan, Fujiyama, 25, recalls a childhood dominated by health concerns. Doctors told his parents that he had a hole in his heart and “they didn’t think I had a lot longer to live”. But during a later visit to the doctor, his family learned the hole had closed. “Somehow I was cured and I became a normal kid,” Fujiyama says. “And I had a second chance.”
During his second year at the University of Mary Washington, he volunteered in Honduras with a campus group and was struck by the extreme poverty he saw—barefoot children collecting cans and sleeping in the streets. Fujiyama realized he could help give other children their own second chance.
Today, his organization, Students Helping Honduras, brings education and community projects to children and families in need.
He started by telling his friends about his experience and collecting spare change at his two campus jobs. “When I had my very first meeting, only two people showed up,” he says. “I knew I had to keep fighting.” He persuaded his younger sister, Cosmo, to join the cause. “She’s dynamite,.” He says. “When she talks in front of a crowd, she can move mountains. Knowing that she was behind it, I knew I could do anything.” Since 2006, the siblings’ organization has grown to 25 campuses and raised more than $750,000 to fund projects, including the construction of two schools and the establishment of scholarships to help young women attend college.
Fujiyama says students are deeply committed to the organization. They raise money and then travel to Honduras to help building houses. While Fujiyama spends his summers in Honduras working alongside volunteers, he spends a large portion of the year on the road visiting colleges to raise funds. Cosmo Fujiyama, 23, lives in Honduras full time to coordinate(协调)the group’s building efforts on the ground.
Students Helping Honduras is working with community members of Siete de Abril to build a new village. Many of the families lost their belongings in Hurricane Mitch in 1998. A lot of them didn’t have access to clean water or health care, and they didn’t have a school. Fujiyama’s group helped build 44 homes in the village named “Sunshine Village”. The organization is also raising funds to build a water tower, an eco-friendly sanitation system and a library.At the beginning of his organization, ________.
A.Fujiyama was supported by many friends | B.things didn’t go on smoothly |
C.Fujiyama had little idea of Honduras | D.many famous people joined in |
We can infer that Fujiyama is a _______ man.
A.diligent | B.mean | C.sympathetic | D.cheerful |
The underlined word “siblings’” can be replaced by __________.
A.brothers’ | B.brother and sister’s | C.friends’ | D.couple’s |
Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A.Help the people in need |
B.Students lend a hand in America |
C.Fujiyama helps build “Sunshine Village” |
D.Fujiyama gives poor people in Honduras a second chance |
Hobbs was an orphan(孤儿). He worked in a factory and every day he got a little money. Hard work made him thin and weak. He wanted to borrow a lot of money to learn to paint pictures, but he did not think he could pay off the debts.
One day a lawyer said to him, “One thousand dollars, and here is the money.” As Hobbs took the package of notes, he was very dumbfounded. He didn’t know where the money came from and how to spend it. He said to himself, “I could go to find a hotel and live like a rich man for a few days; or I give up my work in the factory and do what I’d like to do: painting pictures. I could do that for a few weeks, but what would I do after that? I should have lost my place in the factory and have no money to live on. If it were a little less money, I would buy a new coat, or a radio, or give a dinner to my friends. If it were more, I could give up the work and pay for painting pictures. But it’s too much for one and too little for the other.”
“Here is the reading of your uncle’s will(遗嘱),” said the lawyer, “telling what is to be done with this money after his death. I must ask you to remember one point. Your uncle has said you must bring me a paper showing exactly what you did with his money, as soon as you have spent it.”
“Yes, I see. I’ll do that,” said the young man.Hobbs wanted to borrow money to _______.
A.study abroad | B.work abroad |
C.pay off the debts | D.learn to paint pictures |
What does the underlined word “dumbfounded” (in Paragraph 2) probably mean?
A.Surprised. | B.Frightened. |
C.Satisfied. | D.Excited. |
With the money he got, at first Hobbs _______.
A.planned to have a happy life for a few days |
B.decided to give up his work in the factory |
C.was to give a dinner to his friends |
D.had no idea what to do |
Hobbs was asked to _______.
A.tell the lawyer what he did with the money after spending it |
B.read his uncle’s will |
C.tell the lawyer what was to be done with the money |
D.buy some pictures |
Air is an odorless (无气味的), invisible (看不见的) gas that surrounds the earth. It is everywhere on the planet. An “empty” drinking glass and an “empty” room, to give two examples, are not really empty. Each is filled with air. When the glass is filled with water, the water pushes the air out of the glass.
Air, as a gas, has no definite (明确的) shape, but, because it is matter, it takes up space. It is easy to prove that air is something that takes up space. Stuff a dry handkerchief into the bottom(底部) of a glass so that it will not fall out when the glass is turned upside-down. Push the upside-down glass; hold it straight into a jar of water till the glass is completely covered. When the glass is taken out of water, the handkerchief will be dry. The air inside the glass takes up space and keeps the water from coming in.What does the underlined word “Stuff” (in Paragraph 2) mean?
A.Press tightly. | B.Take out. |
C.Put down. | D.Turn fully. |
The writer tells us that _______.
A.the experiment is done in the laboratory |
B.the experiment is done outside the room |
C.the experiment is easily done |
D.the experiment is carried out indoors |
Which of the following pictures gives us the correct result?
( W—water; A—air; H—handkerchief )
____ This was not because the woods and fields were always far away, but because they were too far from the city to permit people to make a day trip between morning and nightfall.
______ He decided to turn his little school house into a dormitory for the summer holidays. Anyone who brought his sleeping bag and cooking equipment along could stay there for a very small quantity of money. The idea was a success. A few years later, the school house was much too small to hold the many young people who wanted to stay there. ___
___ This was the first hostel (青年招待所).
Today, young students and workers of every country can meet in the hostel and get to know each other. When young people arrive at the hostel, they have only to show their cards of membership in a hostel organization in their own country. ______
Often, at the evening meal, a group of boys and girls from various parts of the country or world will happen to meet at the same hostel. They may put their food together and prepare a dinner with many kinds of dishes. Sometimes a program will be organized after the meal with dances, songs, or short talks followed by a question period.______ For this reason, a few weeks spent ‘hostelling’ can be just as useful a part of one’s education as classes in school.
A.In 1970, a young German school master had an idea which changed this situation. |
B.People can stay in the hostel if they brought enough equipment with them. |
C.One can learn a lot about other places, just by meeting people from those places. |
D.As a result, a dormitory was set up in an old castle nearby. |
E. For years, children in the industrial areas of Europe seldom left their cities to see the beauties of the countryside.
F. More and more young people went to the hostel for summer holidays.
G. This card will permit them to stay in a hostel all over the world for very low prices.
Life is too short to waste a moment, so while you still have time, let your hair down, remove that “boring” tag in your so-called life and start making it worthwhile. Below are some tips that will help you live a wonderful life.
1. Keep a Positive Attitude. Enjoy what you have and work on getting the things you desire. Psychologists believe that optimism (乐观主义) is a good defense against unhappiness, so it is better to keep your optimism alive. Feeling sad about your life will only make you sadder, so be happy.
2. Don’t Be Afraid to Take Risks. Life is all about taking risks, and that’s the exciting part of it. Challenges and failure are part of life. Once you learn how to take risks, you’ll soon realize how good it feels not to let moments pass you by.
3. You only have one life, so make it worthwhile. Being unwilling to let the past go just keeps you away from the things you should be enjoying at the present.
4. List the Things You Want to Do. Stop lazing around and give yourself something to be busy with. Write down a list of all the things you want to do and make a timeline, not to stress you out, but to remind you of your goals. So don’t put limits to yourself because you’ll never know what may happen.
5. Try Out Something New. Getting into something or trying something unfamiliar to you may seem scary, but nothing can make you feel happier than being able to overcome your fear. Who knows? You might enjoy it! The world is a big place and there are still lots of things waiting to be explored by you. Go to a foreign place where you know no one. From Tip One we know that we should _________ .
A.never be afraid to take risks | B.try something new every day |
C.focus on the good things in life | D.get rid of all our former habits |
What’s the best title for the third tip?
A.Enjoy Today and Let Go of the Past. | B.Never Think of Tomorrow. |
C.Remember You Are the Best. | D.Never Change Your Mind. |
The writer may NOT agree that _______.
A.feeling sad about your life does you no good |
B.it’s good to keep yourself busy doing something |
C.you shouldn’t go to a new place where you have no friends |
D.you should enjoy the present instead of always thinking of the past |
What is the writer’s attitude toward life?
A.Positive. | B.Negative. | C.Doubtful. | D.Indifferent. |
Several interesting American museums tell about health subjects. One is the Doctor Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry. It is at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. That is where the first college in the world to train dentists began. The museum tells about the history of the medical treatment of teeth. Visitors can see some frightening devices that once were used to remove infected (受感染的) teeth. They also can see sets of teeth made of animal bone. They were made for a famous American -- the first President, George Washington.
Most people do not consider a visit to the dentist their idea of a good time. However, the director of the museum says he wanted to make the museum a fun place to visit. He says he also wants to teach visitors about the importance of taking care of their teeth.
Another museum collects devices that help people hear. The Kenneth W. Berger Hearing Aid Museum is at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. The museum has more than three-thousand hearing aids from around the world. They include old and strange devices. Some hearing aids were made to look like other objects. That is because in the past many people did not want anyone to know they were wearing a hearing aid. It is common for people to think it uneasy to pay a visit to ____.
A.the University of Maryland | B.the Museum of Dentistry |
C.the Hearing Aid Museum | D.the dentist |
The text mainly tells about _____.
A.museums in the US | B.interesting American museums |
C.American museums with health subjects | D.the history of the medical treatment of teeth |
What do we learn about George Washington from the text?
A.He once visited the National Museum of Dentistry. |
B.He considered the Museum of Dentistry a fun place to visit |
C.His artificial teeth were collected in the National Museum of Dentistry. |
D.His teeth seemed to be made of animal bone. |
The underlined word “devices” in the first and last paragraph probably means _____.
A.museums | B.strategies | C.hearing aids | D.tools |