Some say everyday miracles(奇迹) are predestined(注定的)—the right time for the appointed meeting. And it can happen anywhere.
In 2001, 11-year-old Kevin Stephan was a bat boy for his younger brother’s Little League team in Lancaster, New York. It was an early evening in late July. Kevin was standing on the grass away from the plate, where another youngster was warming up for the next game. Swinging his bat back and forth, giving it all the power an elementary school kid could give. The boy brought the bat back hard and hit Kevin in the chest. His heart stopped.
When Kevin fell to the ground, the mother of one of the players rushed out of the stands to his aid. Penny Brown hadn’t planned to be there that day, but at the last minute, her shift(换班)at the hospital had been changed to see her son’s performance. She was given the night off. Penny bent over the senseless boy, his face already starting to turn blue, and giving him CPR(心肺复苏术), breathing into his mouth and giving him chest compressions. And he revived in the end.
After his recovery, he became a volunteer junior firefighter, learning some of the emergency first-aid techniques that had saved his life. He studied hard in school and was saving money for college by working as a dishwasher in a local restaurant in his spare time.
Kevin, now 18, was working in the kitchen when he heard people screaming, customers in confusion, employees rushing toward a table. He hurried into the main room and saw a woman there, her face turning blue, her hands at her throat. She was choking.
Quickly Kevin stepped behind her, wrapped his arms around her and clasped his hands. Then, he used skills he’d first learned in Scouts. The food that was trapped in the woman’s throat was freed. The colour began to return to her face.
“The food was stuck in my throat. I couldn’t breathe,” she said. She thought she was dying. “I was very frightened.”
Who was the woman?
Penny Brown.
小题1: The author wrote the passage to show us that .| A．miracles are predestined and they can happen anywhere | | B．whoever helps you in trouble will get a reward one day | | C．God will help those who give others a helping hand | | D．miracles won’t come without any difficulty sometimes |
小题2:Which of the following statements is TRUE of Kevin Stephan?| A．He was hit in the face by a boy and almost lost his life. | | B．He was a volunteer junior firefighter, teaching the players first-aid skills. | | C．He worked part-time in a local restaurant to save money for college. | | D．He saved Penny Brown though he didn’t really know how to deal with food choke. |
小题3:Why did Penny Brown change her shift and was given the night off that night?| A．She was invited to give the players directions. | | B．She volunteered to give medical services. | | C．She was a little worried about his son’s safety. | | D．She came to watch her son’s game and cheered for him. |
小题4:The underlined word “revived” in the third paragraph most likely means .| A．came back to life | B．became worse | C．failed | D．moved |
小题5: When Kevin knew the woman was Penny Brown, probably he first felt .| A．happy | B．surprised | C．sad | D．worried |
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小题1:A
小题1:C
小题1:D
小题1:A
小题1:B |
小题1:主旨大意题。文章第一段点明了本文的写作目的：奇迹是注定的，无处不在。下文具体讲述了两个人的互救经历来证明这一观点。
小题2: 正误判断题。由第四段中He studied hard in school and was saving money for college by working as a dishwasher in a local restaurant in his spare time.可知C项表述正确，符合题意。
小题3: 细节推理题。由第三段中…, but at the last minute, her shift(换班)at the hospital had been changed to see her son’s performance.可以推出Penny Brown是为了看她儿子的比赛,为他加油。
小题4:猜测词义题。根据breathing into his mouth and giving him chest compressions 及After his recovery可知他是恢复了，故选A。
小题5:推理判断题。当Kevin知道Penny Brown正是七年前挽救他生命的那个人时， 他的第一感觉应该是惊讶，意想不到；再结合本文的写作目的：奇迹无处不在，可以推出B项为正确答案。 |
核心考点
试题【Some say everyday miracles(奇迹) are predestined(注定的)—the right time for the appoi】；主要考察你对
题材分类等知识点的理解。
[详细]举一反三
When I was a law professor, a student reported that I made an error in grading his exam by giving him too many points. He was 36 , and after thanking him for his honesty, I changed the grade in my 37 . His beaming (欢笑的) face turned to shock. “You’re 38 my grade?” he said angrily. “I would never have come in 39 ……”
He didn’t finish the 40 , but it was obvious that his display of honesty was 41 . He thought he’d have it all—praise and the higher grade.
Several colleagues thought I should have let the higher grade 42 because all I’d accomplished was to discourage him from being 43 in the future. And every time I tell this story some people agree with this 44 .
But I can’t see how I could give good reason for worsening my 45 in grading by undermining (损害) the honesty of all my grades by failing to 46 an error. The grade itself would be a dishonest 47 of his knowledge and it would have been 48 to other students. How could I 49 give a student a gift of an unearned grade?
I know 50 reporting an error in one’s favor is unusual, but, like 51 too much change, it’s clearly the right thing to do. People of character, those with real honesty, hate to give up 52_ as much as anyone else. The difference is that for them a good conscience and reputation is _53 enough to give reason for the cost of doing the right thing.
Perhaps lowering the student’s grade did 54 him from being honest in the future, but bribing (贿赂) him to be honest so that he does the right thing when it’s cost-free would have _55
him even more. The duty to be honest is about right and wrong, not risks and rewards.
| 小题1: | | A．wise | B．right | C．grateful | D．upset |
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| 小题2: | | A．files | B．books | C．records | D．notes |
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| 小题3: | | A．lowering | B．correcting | C．changing | D．making |
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| 小题5: | | A．sentence | B．work | C．exam | D．lesson |
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| 小题6: | | A．good | B．false | C．special | D．impressive |
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| 小题7: | | A．remove | B．change | C．stand | D．add |
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| 小题8: | | A．brave | B．adventurous | C．successful | D．honest |
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| 小题9: | | A．remark | B．complaint | C．praise | D．achievement |
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| 小题10: | | A．crime | B．mistake | C．doubt | D．guilty |
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| 小题11: | | A．make | B．find | C．correct | D．avoid |
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| 小题12: | | A．reaction | B．sense | C．sign | D．reflection |
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| 小题13: | | A．unfair | B．cruel | C．tough | D．funny |
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| 小题14: | | A．reluctantly | B．responsibly | C．impossibly | D．impatiently |
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| 小题15: | | A．actively | B．secretly | C．voluntarily | D．curiously |
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| 小题16: | | A．receiving | B．paying | C．earning | D．returning |
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| 小题17: | | A．benefits | B．honors | C．awards | D．gifts |
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| 小题18: | | A．pleasure | B．reward | C．content | D．honor |
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| 小题19: | | A．protect | B．influence | C．discourage | D．separate |
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| 小题20: | | A．improved | B．encouraged | C．blamed | D．ruined |
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For about three years now, I have been writing poetry. It was not until my junior year in high school that I developed an interest, love and skill for writing poetry.
Back in elementary school, I loved to write stories. I would write stories on post-it notes and anywhere I could. Yet when I had to write a limerick(五行打油诗) for an assignment, I could not wrap my head around poetry. I had a very hard time figuring out how to rhyme words and have the words make sense. I eventually tossed the paper with the attempted limerick in the trash. I did not try my hand at poetry again until several years later.
Many years later in my freshman year of high school, my English teacher gave my class a poetry project as an assignment. I still remember my limerick assignment and was afraid of doing the poetry project. For the project, we had to analyze a poem and write a response to it. I chose to respond to Robert Frost’s poem Fire and Ice. I also wrote my own poem first. I became really excited when writing the poem.
Two years later, I started writing poetry as a hobby and for fun. To learn how good or bad my poems were, I handed them in to some magazines and contests. I won second place in the North Carolina Poetry Society’s Sherry Pruitt Award Contest with a poem called The Ocean, and had my two poems published as high merit(优等) poems. I have continued to write poetry, and have even self-published three collections of poetry in both print and e-book formats, which can be found at my store on Lulu.
Now, I love writing poetry, but I don’t hate writing short stories. I just find it more difficult and not my style of writing, even though I still write short stories occasionally.
小题1:When the author was a pupil, he ___________.| A．liked writing stories | | B．was good at writing poetry | | C．could understand poetry well | | D．was often praised by his teacher |
小题2:When given the poetry project in high school, the author was___________.| A．excited | B．annoyed | C．confident | D．worried |
小题3:The author took up writing poetry as a hobby when he____________.| A．was in Grade Three in high school | | B．worked as a storekeeper | | C．was in Grade One in high school | D．was at college |
小题4:How did the author increase his confidence in writing poetry?| A．He wrote a lot of poems and asked advice from his teacher. | | B．He published three collections of poetry by himself. | | C．He submitted his poems to magazines and contests. | | D．He gave up writing stories and only wrote poetry. |
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In Stockholm, the Swedish Academy has chosen the British author Doris Lessing for the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature.
The selection of Doris Lessing for a Nobel was popular among the hundreds of journalists gathered for the announcement in Stockholm.
Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy Horace Engdahl said with skepticism, fire and visionary power Lessing has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny.
Doris Lessing was born in 1919 in Persia - modern-day Iran - to British parents, moving as a child with her family to southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, where she stayed in school only to the age of 14.
A year after moving to London, she published her first novel in 1950. The Grass is Singing examines unbridgeable racial conflict in colonial Africa through the eyes of a white farmer’s wife and her black servant.
A member of the British Communist Party during the 1950s and a campaigner against nuclear arms and South African apartheid, Lessing was for years banned from that country and from Rhodesia.
Her literary breakthrough came in 1962 with publication of The Golden Notebook, seen by many, though not necessarily Lessing, as a pioneering work of modern feminism. A disjointed study of the mind of the main character, Anna Wulf, the novel explores her thoughts about Africa, politics and communism, relationships with men and sex, and Jungian analysis and dream interpretation.
Lessing’s themes shifted to psychology in her works from the 1960s, and by the 1970s she was fascinated with the Islamic mystic tradition of Sufism. Her turn toward science fiction with the Canopus series in the early 1980s was not warmly received by traditionalist critics, but she has continued to win new readers and numerous literary awards, including the David Cohen British Literary Prize and the Companion of Honour from the Royal Society of Literature, both in 2001.
Following the announcement, the Horace Engdahl told VOA why he was personally so pleased with Lessing’s selection.
"She is one of the truly great writers - of novels, short stories, fiction and non-fiction," Engdahl said. "She is one of the few writers who have had the courage to uphold the principle of equality between the male and female experience, and she has given the impulse to numbers of other women writers. And she is really the mother of a school that is one of the most important in our contemporary literature."
At 87, Doris lessing is the oldest Nobel Literature laureate since the first prizes were awarded in 1901. Each Nobel Prize is this year accompanied by a check for approximately $1.4 million.
小题1:How old was Doris Lessing when she published her first novel?小题2:Which of the following about The Grass is Singing is true?| A．It is mainly about racial conflict between the whites and the blacks in the US. | | B．The main characters are a white farmer’s wife and her black servant. | | C．It was published in Africa. | | D．It was Doris Lessing’s most famous novel. |
小题3:We can infer from the passage that __________. | A．Journalists are very interested in the election of Doris Lessing’s for Nobel Prize. | | B．Doris Lessing regard The Golden Notes as a pioneering work of feminism. | | C．Doris Lessing has written about many different subjects. | | D．Many writers have the courage to stick to the equality between the male and female experience. |
小题4:The underlined wordschool in the last but one paragraph means________.| A．institution for educating children | | B．college or university | | C．department of a university | | D．group of writers, thinkers |
小题5: Which of the following can be the best title of this passage?| A．Doris Lessing wins Nobel Prize for literature. | | B．The greatest British female writer. | | C．The oldest Nobel Prize winner. | | D．2007 Nobel Prize announced in Stockholm. |
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Sometimes things happen beyond expectation. A 10-year-old boy decided to study Judo（柔道） __1__ he had lost his left arm in a car accident. He began his __2_ with an old Japanese Judo teacher. He was doing well, but he could not __3__ why the teacher had taught him only one move for quite a long time.
“Sir,” the boy finally said, “I think I should __4__ more moves.”
“But this is the __5__ move you will ever need to know,” the master replied.
Not quite understanding, the boy kept __6__. Several months later, the teacher __7__ the boy to his first tournament（锦标赛）. __8__ himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more __9__. However, after some time, the opponent（对手） became impatient. The boy used his one move to __10__ the match. Now the boy was in the finals.
This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger and more __11__. Concerned that the boy might get __12__, the referee(裁判) wanted to stop the match.
“No,” the teacher __13__, “let him continue.”
Soon his opponent made a mistake. __14__ the boy used his move to attack him. The boy won the match and became the champion.
On the way home, the boy and the teacher __15__ every move in every match. Then the boy asked __16__was really on his mind. “How did I win the tournament __17__ only one move?”
“You won for two reasons,” the teacher answered. “First, you’ve __18__ one of the most difficult moves in Judo. And second, the only known __19__ for that move is to grasp your left arm. But you’ve lost it.” The boy’s biggest __20__ had become his biggest strength.
| 小题1: | | A．because | B．and | C．although | D．while |
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| 小题2: | | A．lessons | B．games | C．talks | D．stories |
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| 小题3: | | A．discover | B．understand | C．examine | D．forget |
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| 小题4: | | A．learn | B．notice | C．advise | D．change |
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| 小题5: | | A．easiest | B．only | C．best | D．first |
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| 小题6: | | A．improving | B．following | C．checking | D．training |
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| 小题8: | | A．Disappointing | B．Frightening | C．Surprising | D．Worrying |
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| 小题9: | | A．serious | B．careful | C．powerful | D．difficult |
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| 小题10: | | A．win | B．play | C．miss | D．watch |
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| 小题11: | | A．developed | B．terrified | C．advanced | D．experienced |
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| 小题12: | | A．bored | B．hurt | C．changed | D．broken |
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| 小题13: | | A．insisted | B．announced | C．reported | D．repeated |
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| 小题14: | | A．Especially | B．Probably | C．Actually | D．Immediately |
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| 小题15: | | A．reviewed | B．designed | C．suggested | D．continued |
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| 小题18: | | A．ordered | B．mastered | C．managed | D．supposed |
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| 小题19: | | A．condition | B．influence | C．defense | D．process |
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| 小题20: | | A．kindness | B．happiness | C．weakness | D．sadness |
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136 Crestview Circle
Dover, Connecticut
January 16, 1995
Gander’s Furniture Store
Stamford, Connecticut, 09876
Dear Sir,
I am writing about your January bill, which I am returning with this letter. I am not going to pay this bill. Last month I bought a table and four chairs for $65.50. They were sent to me on December 18. That night one leg of the table broke while my wife was putting our dinner on it. It fell on one of the chair, and that broke, too. Our $ 2.50 steak(牛排) landed on the floor, and the dog ate it.
I spoke to the salesmen who had sold me the table and the chairs. He told me to write you a letter. I wrote you on December 20, saying that I was not going to pay for the furniture. On December 21 some men came and took it back to the store.
Please do something about your records. I do not want to receive another bill for the furniture which I returned.
Yours truly
Alberts Robbins
小题1:From the letter we can know that Mr. Robbins had actually paid _____ for the table and the four chairs. | A．$ 65.50 | B．$ 68.00 | C．$ 2.50 | D．no money |
小题2: Why do you think Mr. Robbins write the letter to the furniture store? | A．He had paid for the furniture but was asked to pay again. | | B．He didn’t want to receive a second bill for the furniture he had returned. | | C．The furniture he bought was badly made and he wanted to return it. | | D．He wanted the manager to scold the salesmen for the bad furniture. |
小题3:Try to guess how Mr. Robins felt when he was writing the letter.| A．He was angry. | B．He was sad. | C．He was anxious. | D．He was friendly. |
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