綜合閱讀（二）

A

（2012天津）閱讀短文，并按照題目要求用英語回答問題。

[1] Born in 1949， Diana Nyad took an early interest in swimming as a sport and was a Florida State High School swimming champion. Like many young athletes， she had Olympic dreams， but a serious illness kept her from competing in the Games. The disappointment didn’t stop her from going forward. Instead， she became interested in marathon swimming. A brilliant athlete， she was well-conditioned for spending long periods of time in the water. As a long-distance swimmer， she would compete against herself and the obstacles presented by distance， danger， cold， and exhaustion.

[2] For ten years Nyad devoted herself to becoming one of the world’s best long-distance swimmers. In 1970， she swam a ten-mile marathon in Lake Ontario， setting the women’s record for the course. In 1972 she set another record by swimming 102.5 miles from an island in the Bahamas to the coast of Florida. Then she broke a third record when swimming around Manhattan Island in 1975.

[3] Nyad attempted to swim the distance between Florida and Cuba in 1978. Though the span of water is less than 100 miles wide， it is rough and dangerous. After battling the water for two days， she had to give up for the sake of her own health and safety. Even so， she impressed the world with her courage and strong desire to succeed. For Nyad her strength of purpose was just as important as reading Cuba. That is how she defined success. It did not matter that her swim came up short； she believed she had touched the other shore.

[4] When Nyad ended her career as a swimmer， she continued to try new things—travelling the world as a reporter， writing books and giving public speeches about her life. Diana Nyad works to inspire others， just as she did when she swam the waters of the world.

1. What prevented Nyad from taking part in the Olympic Games？ （No more than 5 words）

2. What does the underlined word “obstacles” mean？ （No more than 1 word）

3. What achievement did Nyad make in 1970？ （No more than 10 words）

4. Why did Nyad believe that she had touched the other shore？ （No more than 10 words）

5. Please explain how you are inspired by Nyad. （No more than 20 words）

B

（2012山東）閱讀短文，并按照題目要求用英語回答問題。

[1] Ashley Power’s mother bought a computer for her when she was eight. When she was thirteen， she was surfing the Internet regularly， but she couldn’t find anywhere for teenagers to meet and talk. And one day she thought， “If I had my own website， I’d make it a really interesting site for teenagers.”

[2] So， when Ashley was sixteen， she launched her own website， called GooseHead. She had no idea how big a success it would be， but three years later， the site was the most successful teen site in the USA！ It was getting 100，000 hits every day， and Ashley had about 30 employees.

[3] After a few years， the website closed down. Then Ashley， who lives in Los Angeles， was asked to write a book called The Goosehead Guide to Life. The book is about how to design a website and start a business. It begins with a section called “All About Ashley”， where Ashley tells readers what it is like to be the boss of a company when you are only sixteen. “I was so happy. But it was crazy in a lot of ways. I got very stressed. I mean， I was only sixteen — I didn’t even have a car！ If you were sixteen and you had your own company， you’d be stressed， too！”

[4] In an interview Ashley gave advice to teenagers who wanted to start their own business， “Just be strong and have your dreams and work hard at them. And don’t listen when ， because I heard ‘no’ a lot. Just keep going until you hear ‘yes’！”

6. For what purpose did Ashley create GooseHead？ （No more than 10 words）

7. What is the main idea of Paragraph 2？ （No more than 6 words）

8. According to Paragraph 3， what did Ashley do after GooseHead closed down？ （No more than 10 words）

9. How did Ashley feel as a young boss of a company？ （No more than 5 words）

10. Fill in the blank in Paragraph 4 with proper words.

C

（2012湖南）閱讀短文，并按照題目要求用英語回答問題。

[1] A wise teacher once told me that every teenager needs to experience a not-so-fun first job from working at a grocery store to the fast food industry.

[2] Now I still remember my first day at a fast food restaurant three years ago. I wanted to save up money and buy my own car， so I applied everywhere I could that summer. The restaurant called me right away and I thought to myself， this is going to be easy. Within four hours of my first shift （輪班）， I had angry customers who complained how slow I was. I watched in fear as a kid spilled his milk everywhere， and I heard the words that no 16-year-old boy or anyone for that matter wants to hear： “Mike， there’s a problem in the men’s bathroom and you might want gloves for this one.” I realized right away that working at the restaurant was not going to be a picnic. The manager expected a clean environment and， particularly， fast service with a friendly smile.

[3] Over three years later I still work at that restaurant whenever I go home during vacations. I love my co-workers there and all the customers know who I am. Every morning the same senior citizens come in and get their morning coffees. They chat with us workers and joke around. Our smiles have just as much to do with them making us a part of their everyday lives as the coffee does.

[4] From my first job at the restaurant， I learned teamwork and devotion. I also learned staying positive no matter how rough things seem to get. I will forever carry the experience that I gained at the restaurant with me as I go forward in my life.

11. Why did the author apply everywhere that summer？ （No more than 12 words）

12. What did the manager particularly expect the workers to do？ （No more than 14 words）

13. Why does the author still work at the restaurant during vacations？ （No more than 13 words）

14. What did the author learn from his first job？ （No more than 11 words）

D

[1] Your children are so different—they each have very different talents， skills， and personalities， so it seems natural to give them labels （標簽）. For example， one child may be the “smart one” or the “artist” or the “troublemaker”. Although it is easy to ， you can be hard for your children.

[2] Downsides of Labels

[3] When kids are given negative （消極） labels they often feel that parents don’t expect or want them to change， and they may feel that they should live up to their negative labels. For example： The “messy child” may see no reason to try to be neat and tidy when his parents have already defined his role in the family. The “troublemaker” may feel that any attempt to be good will be ignored. The “wild child” may think that he or she might as well continue to do crazy things because parents expect it. Even positive labels can be problematic as children may feel uneasy to meet their parents’ expectations， and often feel uncomfortable that their parents seem to like them more than a brother or sister.

[4] Avoiding Labels

[5] Remember that each child is unique and has the ability to do many things and act in many different ways.

[6] Focus on the positives. For example， if your child， who always seems to be running late， but gets to the dinner on time， be sure to praise him for being on time.

[7] Avoid focusing children on some particular things only， you’d better encourage them to do all that they fancy doing.

15. Who do you think the passage is mainly written for？ （No more than 2 words）

16. List three negative labels given to children based on the passage. （No more than 6 words）

17. Why did positive labels can also be problematic？ （No more than 10 words）

18. What should parents do when children are always running late but being on time for the dinner？ （No more than 9

words）

19. Fill in the blank in Paragraph 1 with proper words. （No more than 6 words）

E

[1] Do you want to work with people or animals or machines or tools？ Do you want to work indoors or outdoors， directly serve people in need or serve people behind the scenes？ These are the typical questions that a volunteer service agency would ask.

[2] Every year， thousands and thousands of people in the west offer volunteer services. Volunteering greatly strengthens the community partly because it helps the old， the young， the weak， the sick， the disabled and the injured to overcome difficulties.

[3] Volunteers usually help in many different ways. They may give people advice， offer friendship to the young， or drive the elderly to church. Work as an assistant in a school or nursing home， raise funds， plant trees， help out in local libraries and do many other things.

[4] Volunteering can be a few hours a week or a few hours a month， during the day， evenings or weekends， either part time or full time. Anybody can become a volunteer.

[5] The art of volunteering is a process of both giving and receiving. Volunteering allows volunteers to meet new people and make new friends and mix with people from all walks of life. Volunteering is an excellent way to experiment， practice and try out new techniques and skills. It is much more effective to practice a skill than to read about it or study it in a classroom. Volunteering is a great way to develop good teamwork skills， discover your individual talents and explore career choices. Being a volunteer takes individuals on a wonderful journey and helps them learn many important things beyond their school.

20. What is the best title of the passage？ （No more than 6 words）

21. What is the function of volunteering to the community？ （No more than 8 words）

22. Fill in the blank in Paragraph 4 with proper words. （No more than 10 words）

23. What does the underlined sentence mean？ （No more than 15 words）

24. Why volunteering is an excellent way for volunteers to practice？ （No more than 15 words）