Maricel Apatan，22，stands in the kitchen of the Edsa Shangri—La Hotel in Manila，preparing to decorate a cheesecake. It would seem to be a routine task for a cake chef，but Maricel is no ordinary chef－she has no hands．

Maricel has come a long way since the day in September 2000 when she and her uncle were attacked near their farm. Fortunately, both of them survived，but the 11-year-old girt lost her hands. In 2004，she entered a Manila training centre for people with disabilities. She learned how to write and do housework and，more importantly , came to terms with her disability.

After graduation from high school，she took a two—year Hotel and Restaurant Management course and flourished even though she was the only disabled student in the course．After she moved back to Manila to continue her studies, the media started reporting on this determined young woman. She didn't shy away from the attention.“I wanted others living With disabilities to believe it's possible to live a normal life,” Maricel says.

When managers at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel saw Maricel on television，they hired her as part of the hotel's Care for People project．She has also accomplished her goal Of inspiring others．One of them is Ronelyn Calumpiano．a 21-year-old with cerebral palsy(脑瘫).She saw Maricel on television and Was moved by her confidence. Ronelyn will soon start classes and is already planning a career in IT.

Maricel's three younger sisters have moved to Manila．She pays for the rent of their small apartment. While their parents look after their family farm in Mindanao．“It is difficult to make ends meet but I don't lose hope. I believe anything is possible if you dream．work hard and pray．”

56．“Maricel is no ordinary chef because         .

A．she is better than other chefs

B．she is physically disabled

C．she can do a routine task

D．she is good at decorating cakes

57．Which of the following is NOT true about Maricel?

A．She survived while her uncle did not．

B．She didn't shy away from pubic attention.

C．She has inspired some disabled people．

D．She managed to make a living by herself．

58．The underlined word“flourished”in Paragraph 3 is similar in meaning to         .

A．was rejected

B．was employed

C．recovered well

D．developed well

59．According to the text，Ronelyn           .

A．works in art IT company

B．was inspired by Maricel

C．once lived hi Mindanao

D．has already started classes

60．What does the author want to tell US in the text?

A．We should be determined and never lose hope．

B．We shouldn't look down upon the disabled．

C．We should help those who suffer disabilities．

D．We should feel sympathy for the unfortunate．

—You see, I’m poor in maths, you are not good at English, and...

— That’s ____ we should help each other.

A. when          B. where        C. how         D. what

Bushwick is a tough place to grow up. This part of Brooklyn, in New York City, has a lot of crime. More than half of its 100,000 residents rely on aid from the government. Only 50% of students at Bushwick High School graduate in four years.
Some people might say, “We should help these poor kids who have so many challenges.” But Malaak Compton-Rock looks at the teens in Bushwick and says, “ Go to help kids who have even bigger challenges than you do.” She believes that once young people see the power they have to make things better, they can handle their own problems more easily. So her service group, the Angel Rock Project, took 30 Bushwick kids to Soweto, in South Africa, to help poor families there. Soweto is a township outside the city of Johannesburg. The effort, called Journey for Change, aims to show that any kid can change the world.
“Kids in Bushwick face pressure to drop out of school or become involved in gangs and drugs.” Says Compton-Rock. “We want them to live a life of purpose and service.”
In Soweto, many parents have died of AIDS, a deadly disease. When that happens, a grandparent or a child must lead the family. The Bushwick volunteers helped such families. They tended vegetable gardens, cared for babies and bought groceries.
“The saddest thing was when we visited an orphanage (孤儿院) and I helped a little boy who had been abandoned because he had HIV, the virus that causes AIDS,” says Queen Clyde, 12. “It‘s been good to be on this trip. But what’s also important is what we do when it’s finished. That’s what counts.” “ I never appreciated what I had until I saw some people who had nothing,” says Sadara Lewis, 12 “It’s really changed my attitude. I want to make a difference.”
The trip was two weeks long. But the kids, aged 12 to 15, will spend all year speaking about their experience, fund-raising and more.
【小题1】What’s the main idea of the first paragraph?

A．Bushwick is the poorest place in New York City.

B．Bushwick still needs more care from the government.

C．It is children who suffer most in New York City.

D．Children in Bushwick are living in a bad situation.

【小题2】In Compton-Rock’s opinion, the Bushwick kids __________.

A．have few challenges

B．should be kept out of schools

C．can learn to deal with their own problems by helping others

D．are living much better than people in Africa

【小题3】Compared to Bushwick kids, some children in Soweto __________.

A．may have bigger challenges

B．receive no care from the government

C．are much more independent

D．are able to lead the family

【小题4】According to the passage, “Journey for Change” can be best seen as the saying “________”.

A．God helps those who help themselves

B．saying and doing are two things

C．one stone kills two birds

D．a friend in need is a friend indeed

【小题5】From the passage we know that __________.

A．there are few students in Bushwick High School

B．the trip to Soweto will have a long influence in spite of its short time.

C．most children are suffering from AIDS in Soweto

D．kids with HIV will be abandoned in Soweto

—You see，I’m poor in maths，you are not good at English，and...

—That’s________we should help each other.

A．when            B．where            C．how              D．what

 

Let’s say you took violin lessons all through elementary school, but you haven’t got the instrument out of its case for years. Were all those lessons a waste of your parents’ money because you didn’t become a violinist?
Even though it has been a long time since you played the violin, a new study shows that as little as one year of music training can have a positive impact (影响) on your brain that will last the rest of your life.
In an experiment, researchers compared children who had taken music lessons to those who hadn’t. Laurel Trainor, who studies music and the mind, discovered that the musically-trained children had better brain responses in certain sound recognition exams. Trainor’s findings show the possibility that musical education can actually improve the brain’s hearing cortex(大脑皮层). “The study’s results show that music training affects attention and memory, and helps children develop learning skills. In this way music training might lead to better learning across a number of fields,” Trainor said in a statement. The effects of music education are even more obvious on children with difficulty in reading and writing and other language-related disabilities.
So, whether you can play a good piece of music or not, it’s likely that your years of music lessons have prepared your brain for all the speeches, emails, and adult conversations that are part of your life today. We should help make sure that children today have the same opportunities for music, and help out by volunteering with or donating instruments to your school’s music education department.
【小题1】Compared with children who haven’t taken music lessons, musically-trained children _______.

A．sing better	B．do better in exams
C．recognize sounds better	D．response more quickly

【小题2】According to the study, we know musical education can _____.

A．change the structure of the brain

B．improve children’s learning skills

C．help children focus their attention

D．provide more memorizing methods

【小题3】What can we learn from the text?

A．Adults should also take some music lessons.

B．The author has taken violin lessons when he was young.

C．Even a day’s music training can affect the human brain.

D．Music training can also help children with certain disabilities.