Dana Cummings was in his thirties before he first went surfing. But, even more interesting is that Dana Cummings chose to learn the sport after losing a leg in a car accident. Now, nine years later, he helps other disabled (伤残的) people learn how to ride the waves in AmpSurf.
On the coast of Maine, he is working with 27-year-old Matthew Fish, who is partly blind. Cummings takes hold of Fish and leads him into the ocean. The surfboard floats next to them. Fish lies on the surfboard. He tries to stand up on it. After a few attempts (尝试) he is up and riding all the way back to land. “That was exciting,” Fish says.
A car accident in 2002 took Dana Cummings’ leg. He says the crash changed him more than just physically. “Losing my leg made me realize how precious (珍贵的) life is and get off the couch and start living. I do more things now than I ever did before. Next week I am going to compete in a contest in Hawaii,” Dana says.
One year later Dana Cummings formed AmpSurf. AmpSurf is a group that volunteers to hold surfing classes and events for people with all kinds of disabilities.
Recently, AmpSurf took its training programs to the East Coast. Eleven students attended the class in Maine. They came from all over the northeastern United States.
Dana Cummings thinks AmpSurf can change the way a disabled person thinks. “Most people with disabilities consider himself or herself unlucky and useless, but we want them to see what they can do. Who cares you lose your leg or you are blind, whatever? Have fun. Just enjoy life. Take the most advantage of it you can,” Dana says.Matthew Fish thinks learning to ride the waves is _____.
| A．boring | B．easy | C．interesting | D．difficult |
When did Dana Cummings set up AmpSurf according to the text?
| A．In 2002. | B．In 2003. | C．In 2008. | D．In 2011. |
According to Dana Cummings, AmpSurf can _____.
| A．ease the physical pain of the disabled |
| B．help the disabled learn to get used to their life |
| C．change the attitude of the disabled towards life |
| D．make the disabled pay more attention to their disabilities |
What is the best title for the text?
| A．Dana Cummings — a great surfer |
| B．AmpSurf — a training group |
| C．How to learn to live with disabilities |
| D．Disabled surfers ride the waves |
Recently I spoke to some of my students about what they wanted to do after they graduated, and what kind of job prospects they thought they had.
Given that I teach students who are trained to be doctors, I was surprised to find that most thought that they would not be able to get the jobs they wanted without “outside help”. “What kind of help is that?” I asked, expecting them to tell me that they would need a relative or family friend to help them out.
“Surgery(外科手术), ”one replied. I was pretty alarmed by that response. It seems that the graduates of today are increasingly willing to go under the knife to get ahead of others when it comes to getting a job. One girl told me that she was considering surgery to increase her height. “They break your legs, put in special extending screws, and slowly expand the gap between the two ends of the bone as it regrows. You can get at least 5 cm taller! ”
At that point, I was shocked. I am short. I can’t deny that, but I don’t think I would put myself through months of agony(痛苦)just to be a few centimeters taller. I don’t even bother to wear shoes with thick soles, as I’m not trying to hide the fact that I am just not tall!
It seems to me that there is a trend toward wanting “perfection”, and that is an ideal that just does not exist in reality.
No one is born perfect, yet magazines, TV shows and movies present images of thin, tall, beautiful people as being the norm. Advertisements for slimming aids, beauty treatments and cosmetic surgery clinics fill the pages of newspapers, further creating an idea that “perfection” is a requirement, and that it must be purchased, no matter what the cost is. In my opinion, skills, rather than appearance, should determine how successful a person is in his chosen career.Many graduates today turn to cosmetic surgery to .
| A．marry a better man/woman |
| B．become a model |
| C．get an advantage over others in job-hunting |
| D．attract more admirers |
According to the passage, the author believes that .
| A．everyone should pursue perfection, whatever the cost is |
| B．it’s right for graduates to ask for others to help them out in hunting for jobs |
| C．media are to blame for misleading young people in their seeking for surgery |
| D．it is one’s appearance instead of skills that really matters in one’s career |
What does the author think of his height?
| A．He hates to be called a short man. |
| B．He tries to increase his height through surgery. |
| C．He always wears shoes with thick soles to hide the fact. |
| D．He just accepts it as it is. |
I was never very neat, while my roommate Kate was extremely organized. Each of her objects had its place, but mine always hid somewhere. She even labeled(贴标签)everything. I always looked for everything. Over time, Kate got neater and I got messier. She would push my dirty clothing over, and I would lay my books on her tidy desk. We both got tired of each other.
War broke out one evening. Kate came into the room. Soon, I heard her screaming, “Take your shoes away! Why under my bed! ”Deafened, I saw my shoes flying at me. I jumped to my feet and started yelling. She yelled back louder.
The room was filled with anger. We could not have stayed together for a single minute but for a phone call. Kate answered it. From her end of the conversation, I could tell right away her grandma was seriously ill. When she hung up, she quickly crawled(爬)under her covers, sobbing. Obviously, that was something she should not go through alone. All of a sudden, a warm feeling of sympathy rose up in my heart.
Slowly, I collected the pencils, took back the books, made my bed, cleaned the socks and swept the floor, even on her side. I got so into my work that I even didn’t notice Kate had sat up. She was watching, her tears dried and her expression one of disbelief. Then, she reached out her hands to grasp mine. I looked up into her eyes. She smiled at me, “Thanks. ”
Kate and I stayed roommates for the rest of the year. We didn’t always agree, but we learned the key to living together: giving in, cleaning up and holding on.What made Kate so angry one evening?
| A．She couldn’t find her books. |
| B．She heard the author shouting loud. |
| C．She got the news that her grandma was ill. |
| D．She saw the author’s shoes beneath her bed. |
The author tidied up the room most probably because .
| A．she was scared by Kate’s anger |
| B．she hated herself for being so messy |
| C．she wanted to show her care |
| D．she was asked by Kate to do so |
How is Paragraph 1 mainly developed?
| A．By analyzing causes. | B．By showing differences. |
| C．By describing a process. | D．By following time order. |
What might be the best title for the story?
| A．My Friend Kate | B．Hard Work Pays Off |
| C．How to Be Organized | D．Learning to Be Roommates |
With around 100 students scheduled to be in that 9 am Monday morning lecture, it is no surprise that almost 20 people actually make it to the class and only 10 of them are still awake after the first 15 minutes; it is not even a surprise that most of them are still in their pyjamas(睡衣). Obviously, students are terrible at adjusting their sleep cycles to their daily schedule.
All human beings possess a body clock. Along with other alerting(警报)systems, this governs the sleep/wake cycle and is therefore one of the main processes which govern sleep behaviour. Typically, the preferred sleep/wake cycle is delayed in adolescents, which leads to many students not feeling sleepy until much later in the evenings. This typical sleep pattern is usually referred to as the“night owl”schedule of sleep.
This is opposed to the“early bird”schedule, and is a kind of disorder where the individual tends to stay up much past midnight. Such a person has great difficulty in waking up in the mornings. Research suggests that night owls feel most alert and function best in the evenings and at night. Research findings have shown that about 20 percent of people can be classified as“night owls”and only 10 percent can be classified as“early birds”—the other 70 percent are in the middle. Although this is clearly not true for all students, for the ones who are true night owls this gives them an excellent excuse for missing their lectures which unfortunately fall before midday. What does the author stress in Paragraph 1?
| A．Many students are absent from class. |
| B．Students are very tired on Monday mornings. |
| C．Students do not adjust their sleep patterns well. |
| D．Students are not well prepared for class on Mondays. |
Which of the following is true according to Paragraph 2?
| A．Most students prefer to get up late in the morning. |
| B．Students don’t sleep well because of alerting systems. |
| C．One’s body clock governs the sleep/wake cycle independently. |
| D．Adolescents’delayed sleep/wake cycle isn’t the preferred pattern. |
Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word “classified”?
| A．Criticised. | B．Grouped. | C．Organised. | D．Named. |
What does the text mainly talk about?
| A．Functions of the body clock. |
| B．The “night owl” phenomenon. |
| C．Human beings’ sleep behaviour. |
| D．The school schedule of “early birds”. |
One afternoon last week, I saw three tearful children from my son’s school being comforted by teachers. That morning, my 11-year-old had stomach pains, retching(干呕)into a bowl. Talking to other mothers later, I heard about other children with stomachache or difficulty sleeping the night before.
What caused so much pain? Sports day. Sports day might be necessary at a highly-competitive independent school, but not at a village primary school. For the children who can fly like the wind, sports day causes no problem. For those who are overweight or just not good at sport, it is a nightmare(噩梦). Even for those who enjoy running but fall halfway down the track in front of the entire school and their parents, it can prove a disaster.
Why do we put our children through this annual suffering? Some may say competition is character building; or it’s taking part, not winning, that’s important; or that it is a tradition of school life. I just felt great pity for those children in tears or in pain.
Team games at the end of sports day produced some close races, wild enthusiasm, lots of shouting—and were fun to watch. More importantly, the children who were not so fast or quick at passing the ball were hidden a little from everyone’s eyes. Some of them also had the thrill of being on the winning side.
I wish that sports day could be abandoned and replaced with some other less-competitive event. Perhaps an afternoon of team games, with a few races for those who want them, would be less stressful for the children and a lot more fun to watch.What can we learn about the author’s son from Paragraph 1?
| A．He talked with some mothers. |
| B．He comforted his classmates. |
| C．He had difficulty in sleeping. |
| D．He suffered from stomachache. |
Sports day is still an annual event in this school probably because .
| A．this is an independent school |
| B．it is a tradition of the school |
| C．it helps children lose weight |
| D．children enjoy watching sports |
What does the author think about team games?
| A．They should include more stressful races. |
| B．They are acceptable to different children. |
| C．They should be abandoned at primary schools. |
| D．They are less fun for those who love running. |
What is the author’s attitude towards sports day?
| A．Critical. | B．Neutral. | C．Positive. | D．Ambiguous. |
It’s such a happy-looking library, painted yellow, decorated with palm-tree stickers and sheltered from the Florida sun by its own roof. About the size of a microwave oven, it’s pedestrian-friendly, too, waiting for book lovers next to a sidewalk in Palm Beach Country Estates, along the northern boundary of Palm Beach Gardens.
It’s a library built with love.
A year ago, shortly after, Janey Henriksen saw a Brian Williams report about the Little Free. Library organization, a Wisconsin-based nonprofit that aims to promote literacy and build a sense of community in a neighborhood by making，books freely available, she announced to her family of four, “That’s what we’re going to do for our spring break!”
Son Austin, now a 10th-grader, didn’t see the point of building a library that resembles a mailbos. But Janey insisted, and husband Peter unwillingly got to work. The 51-year-old owner of a ship supply company modified a small wooden house that he’d built years earlier for daughter Abbie’s toy horses, and made a door of glass.
After adding the library’s final touches(装点), the family hung a signboard on the front, instructing users to “take a book, return a book,” and making the Henriksen library, now one of several hundred like it nationwide and among more than 2,500 in the world, the only Little Free Library in Palm Beach county.
They stocked it with 20 or so books they’d already read, a mix of science fiction, reference titles, novels and kids’ favorites. “I told them, keep in mind that you might not see it again,” said Janey s stay-at-home mom.
Since then, the collection keeps replenishing(补充) itself, thanks to ongoing donations from borrowers. The library now gets an average of five visits a day.
The project’s best payoff, says Peter, are the thank-you notes left behind. “We had no idea in the beginning that it would be so popular.”In what way is the library “pedestrian—friendly”?
| A．It owns a yellow roof. |
| B．It stands near a sidewalk. |
| C．It protects book lovers from the sun. |
| D．It uses palm-tree stickers as decorations. |
Janey got the idea to build a library from .
| A．a visit to Brian Williams |
| B．a spring break with her family |
| C．a book sent by one of her neighbors |
| D．a report on a Wisconsin-based organization |
What can we infer about the signboard?
| A．It Was made by a user of the library. |
| B．It marked a final touch to the library. |
| C．It aimed at making the library last long. |
| D．It indicated the library was a family property. |