It has taken 90 years since she was born in a poor house in County Limerick for a woman considered America’s oldest illegal immigrant to get her Irish passport.It will be a few more months before Josephine Stout will finally be declared a US citizen, entitling(赋于…权力) her to a pension and other benefits.
Despite having lived in America for most of her life since she arrived in 1923, the great-grandmother was declared an undocumented alien(华侨)in 1999, when she tried to claim state aid to help raise her seven grandchildren, who were left orphaned when her daughter was killed by a robber over$20.
Even though she has never considered herself Irish, noting “I don’t even have an accent,” she didn’t officially exist as an American when officials in Chicago insisted that she prove her citizenship in order to qualify for benefits. But she had no birth certificate or passport when she arrived on an immigrant ship from Ireland from Ireland with her parents, who had 12 other children.
She never gave the matter much thought until 1999, when she was in her late 70s and needed assistance to raise her grandchildren. For 12 years, Mrs. Stout managed to support the family by doing various jobs. But her life was hard and marked by tragedy. Her husband died in 1996, and her son Thomas died in a car accident with his girlfriend in 1985. Her only surviving child, Rosemary, died of cancer in 2009.
A Catholic charity referred her case to Chicago Irish Immigrant Support(CIIS), which alerted the Irish Consulate(领事馆). Through them, they tracked down her birth certificate, the website irishcentral.com reported. The document, in turn, allowed her to receive her Irish passport, and eventually her American green card in September 2011, which was dated back to November 1, 1923.What will happen to a person if he has no green card in the US?
| A．he cannot get any chance to get education |
| B．he can’t have a pension and other benefits |
| C．his citizenship will be taken away |
| D．he has to take illegal part-time job |
Josephine couldn’t be a legal immigrant because ______.
| A．she was named an undocumented alien |
| B．she arrived in American in a secret way |
| C．She couldn’t find her proper certificates |
| D．She has too many brothers and sisters |
We can imply from the 4th paragraph that ______.
| A．Josephine lived a lonely life for many years |
| B．Thomas was always driving carelessly |
| C．Josephine was a strong-willed woman |
| D．Mrs. Stout, Josephine’s friend, helped her a lot. |
Please arrange the following events in the correct order according to the text.
a. Josephine’s birth certificate was found.
b. Josephine received her green card.
c. The Catholic charity contacted CIIS.
d. The birth certificate was shown on a website.
e. Josephine was offered her Irish passport.
| A．a-b-c-d-e | B．c-d-e-a-b | C．a-d-c-b-e | D．c-a-d-e-b |
The best way of learning a language is using it. The best way of learning English is talking in English as much as possible. Sometimes you'll get your words mixed up (混合) and people will not understand you. Sometimes people will say things too quickly and you can't understand them. But if you keep your sense of humor, you can always have a good laugh at the mistakes you make. Don't be unhappy if people seem to be laughing at your mistakes. It's better for people to laugh at your mistakes than to be angry with you, because they don't understand what you are saying. The most important thing for learning English is: "Don't be afraid of making mistakes because everyone makes mistakes." The writer thinks that the most important thing for you to learn a language is________.
| A．reading | B．practising | C．talking about it | D．listening |
If people laugh at the mistakes you make, you should ________.
| A．be angry with them | B．be angry with yourself |
| C．not care | D．believe you are right |
The story tells us " ________."
| A．It is normal (正常的) that we make some mistakes in learning English |
| B．Everyone must make mistakes |
| C．We can avoid making mistakes in learning a language |
| D．Laughing can help one learn English well |
Have you ever been afraid to talk back when you were treated unfairly? Have you ever bought something just because the salesman talked you into it? Many people are afraid to support themselves. Dr Robert Albert, author of Stand Up, Speak Out, and Talk Back thinks it' s because their self-respect is low. "There's always a' superior' around— a parent, a teacher, a boss— who knows better."
But Albert and other scientists are doing something to help people help themselves. They offer "assertiveness training" courses , A.T. for short. In the A.T. Course people learn that they have a right to be themselves. They learn to speak out and feel good about doing so. They learn to be aggressive without hurting other people.
In one way, learning to speak out is to get rid of fear. A group taking an A.T. Course will help the timid person to lose his fear. But A.T. uses an even stronger motive— he need to share. The timid person speaks out in the group because he wants to tell how he feels. Whether or not you speak up for yourself depends on your self-respect. If someone you face is more "important" than you, you may feel less of a person. You start to doubt your answers to problems. You can get to feel good about yourself. And once you do, you can learn to speak out.The problem the writer talks about is that ________.
| A．some people buy things they don't want |
| B．some people are afraid to speak out for their rights |
| C．there are too many superiors |
| D．some people don't think enough of themselves |
The cause of the problem talked about in this passage is that ________.
| A．some people have a low self-respect |
| B．there is always someone around who "knows better" |
| C．salesmen talk people into buying things they don't want |
| D．people don t share enough |
The A.T. Courses often ________.
A. make people distrust their own answers
B. make things more favorable for "superiors"
C. help people know as much as their "superiors"
D. help people become more importantA good title for this passage could be "________".
| A．The Need to Share | B．Talk Back When Necessary |
| C．One Way to Build Self-Respect | D．One Way to Train Speaking Ability |
Will it matter if you don't take your breakfast? Recently a test was given in the United States. Those tested included people of different ages, from 12 to 83. During the experiment, these people were given all kinds of breakfasts, and sometimes they got no breakfast at all. Special tests were set up to see how well their bodies worked when they had eaten a certain kind of breakfast. The results show that if a person eats a proper breakfast, he or she will work with better effect than if he or she has no breakfast. This fact appears to be especially true if a person works with his brains. If a student eats fruit, eggs, bread and milk before going to school, he will learn more quickly and listen with more attention to class.
Opposite to what many people believe, if you don't eat breakfast, you will not lose weight. This is because people become so hungry at noon that they eat too much for lunch, and end up gaining weight instead of losing. You will probably lose more weight if you reduce your other meals.During the test, those who were tested were given ________.
| A．no breakfast at all | B．very rich breakfast |
| C．little food for breakfast | D．different breakfast or none |
According to the passage, if a student does not eat breakfast, ________.
| A．he will fall ill |
| B．he will fail to listen to his teacher |
| C．he will not make progress in his studies |
| D．his mind will work more slowly |
The results of the test show that ________.
| A．breakfast has great effect on work and studies |
| B．breakfast has little to do with a person’s work |
| C．a person will work better if he has a simple breakfast |
| D．those working with brains should have much for breakfast |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Poor breakfasts affect those who work with brains. |
| B．Morning diet may cause one to get fatter. |
| C．Reducing lunch and supper is of less value in weight losing. |
| D．Eating less in lunch and supper may help to lose weight. |
Everyone needs friends. We all like to feel close to someone. It is nice to have a friend to talk, laugh and do things with. Surely, there are times when we need to be alone. We don't always want people around. But we would feel lonely if we never had a friend.
No two people are the same. Sometimes friends don't get along well, which doesn't mean that they no longer like each other. Most of the time they will go on being friends. Sometimes friends move away, then we feel very sad. We miss them much, but we can call them and write to them. Maybe we would never see them again, and we can make new friends. It is surprising to find out how much we like new people when we get to know them. Families sometimes name their children after a close friend. Many places are named after men and women, if they are friendly to people in a town. Some libraries are named this way. So are some schools. We think of these people when we go to these places.
There's more good news for people, if they have friends. These people live longer than those people if those don't have friends. Why? It could be that they are happier. Being happy helps you stay well. Or it could be just knowing that someone cares, if someone cares about you, you take better care of yourself.The first paragraph tells us ________.
| A．none needs friends |
| B．we always need friends around us |
| C．making friends is the need in people's life |
| D．we need to be alone |
Which of the following is the most probable place people name after friendly people?
| A．A house. | B．A room. | C．A library. | D．A village. |
If people have friends, they would live longer, because ________.
| A．they feel happier and healthier |
| B．they get a lot of help from their friends |
| C．they take better care of themselves |
| D．both A and C |
This passage tells us ________.
| A．that people are all friends | B．that people need friends |
| C．how to get to know friends | D．how to name a place |
Mrs. Janes gave music lessons at a school．She had a good voice and enjoyed singing, except that some of her high tones sound like a gate that had forgotten to oil．Mrs. Janes knew her weakness well, and took every chance she could find to practise these high notes． As she lived in a small house, where she could not practise without disturbing the rest of the family, she usually went for long walks along the country roads whenever she had time and practised her high notes there．Whenever she heard a car or a person coming along the road, she stopped and waited until she could no longer be heard before she started practicing again, because she was a shy person．
One afternoon, a fast, opened car came up behind her so silently and so fast that she didn’t hear it until it was only a few yards from her．She was singing some of her highest and most difficult tones at that time and as the car passed, she saw an anxious expression came over the driver’s face．He stopped his car suddenly, jumped out and began to examine all his tyres carefully．
Mrs. Janes didn’t dare to tell him what the noise he had heard really was, so he got back into the car and drove off．How did Mrs. Janes sing?
| A．She sang well, but she didn’t practise singing hard． |
| B．She enjoyed singing, but she had a terrible voice． |
| C．She was a good singer, but she could not sing the high tones well． |
| D．She sang terribly, she was no singer at all． |
Why did she go for long walks along the country roads?
| A．Because she enjoyed the country’s fresh air． |
| B．Because she was afraid to disturb the rest of the family． |
| C．Because she lived in a small house far away． |
| D．Because she was afraid to practise the high tones． |
Why did the driver stop his car suddenly and jump out of it?
| A．Because he supposed something must have gone wrong with his car． |
| B．Because he was moved by the pretty voice of Mrs. Janes． |
| C．Because he wondered what had happened to Mrs. Janes． |
| D．Because he frightened by the terrible voice of Mrs. Janes． |