I had an experience some years ago, which taught me something about the ways in which people make a bad situation worse by blaming themselves．One January, I had to hold two funerals on successive days for two elderly women in my community．Both had died “full of years”, as the Bible would say．Their homes happened to be near each other, so I paid condolence （吊唁） calls on the two families on the same afternoon.

At the first home, the son of the deceased （已故的） woman said to me, “If only I had sent my mother to Florida and gotten her out of this cold and snow, she would be alive today．It’s my fault that she died.” At the second home, the son of the other deceased woman said, “If only I hadn’t insisted on my mother’s going to Florida, she would be alive today．That long airplane ride, the sudden change of climate, was more than she could take．It’s my fault that she’s dead.”

You see that any time there is a death, the survivors will feel guilty．Because the course of action they took turned out badly, they believe that the opposite course — keeping Mother at home, putting off the operation — would have turned out better．After all, how could it have turned out any worse?

There seem to be two elements involved in our willingness to feel guilty．The first is our pressing need to believe that the world makes sense, that there is a cause for every effect and a reason for everything that happens．That leads us to find patterns and connections both where they really exist and where they exist only in our minds.

The second element is the view that we are the cause of what happens, especially the bad things that happen．It seems to be a short step from believing that every event has a cause to believing that every disaster is our fault．The roots of this feeling may lie in our childhood.

A baby comes to think that the world exists to meet his needs, and that he makes everything happen in it．He wakes up in the morning and summons the rest of the world to its tasks．He cries, and someone comes to attend to him．When he is hungry, people feed him, and when he is wet, people change him．Very often, we do not completely outgrow that childish view that our wishes cause things to happen.

1.The author had to hold the two women’s funerals probably because __________________.

A．he wanted to comfort the two families

B．he was an official from the community

C．he had great pity for the deceased

D．he was priest of the local church

2.People feel guilty for the deaths of their loved ones because _______________________.

A．they couldn’t find a better way to express their sorrow

B．they believe that they were responsible

C．they had neglected the natural course of events

D．they didn’t know things often turn out in the opposite direction

3.According to the passage, the underlined part in paragraph 4 probably means that ______.

A．everything in the world is predetermined

B．the world can be interpreted in different ways

C．there’s an explanation for everything in the world

D．we have to be sensible in order to understand the world

4.What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．Life and death is an unsolved mystery.

B．Every story should have a happy ending.

C．Never feel guilty all the time because not every disaster is our fault.

D．In general, the survivors will feel guilty about the people who passed away .

 

A year ago, August, Dave Fuss lost his job driving a truck for a small company in west Michigan. His wife, Gerrie, was still working in the local school cafeteria, but it was hard for Dave to find work, and the price of everything was rising. The Fusses were at the risk of joining the millions of Americans who have lost their homes in recent years. Then Dave and Gerrie received a timely gift—$7,000, a legacy(遗产) from their neighbors Ish and Arlene Hatch, who died in an accident. “It really made a difference when we were meeting difficulty.” says Dave.

But the Fusses weren’t the only folks in Alto and the neighboring town of Lowell to receive unexpected legacy from the Hatches. Dozens of other families were touched by what the Hatches had done. In some cases, it was a few thousand dollars; in others, it was more than $100,000.

It surprised nearly everyone that the Hatches had so much money, more than $3 million—they were an elderly couple who lived in an old house on what was left of the family farm.

Children of the Great Depression, Ish and Arlene were known for their habit of saving. They preferred comparison shopping and would go from store to store, checking prices before making a new purchase.

Through the years, the Hatches paid for local children to attend summer camps when their parents couldn’t afford it. “Ish and Arlene never asked if you needed anything,” says their friend Sandy Van Weelden, “They could see things they could do to make you happier, and they would do them.”

Even more extraordinary was that the Hatches gave away their farmland. It was the Hatches’ wish that their legacy—a legacy of kindness as much as one of dollars and cents—should enrich the whole community and last for generations to come.

Neighbors helping neighbors—that was Ish and Arlene Hatch’s story.

1.According to the text, the Fusses ________.

   A. were employed by a truck company     B. led a difficult life

   C. worked in a school cafeteria              D. lost their home

2.What can we learn about the Hatches?

   A. They had their children during the Great Depression.

   B. They left the old house to live on their family farm.

   C. They gave away their possessions（财产）to their neighbors.

   D. They helped their neighbors to find jobs.

3.What Sandy Van Weelden said mainly tells us that the Hatches were _________.

   A. understanding         B. kind         C. childlike   D. wealthy

 

In the early part of the twentieth century, racism was widespread in the United States. Many African Americans were not given equal opportunities in education or employment. Marian Anderson (1897-1993) was an African American woman who gained fame as a concert singer in this climate of racism. She was born in Philadelphia and sang in church choirs during her childhood. When she applied for admission to a local music school in 1917, she was turned down because she was black. Unable to attend music school, she began her career as a singer for church gatherings. In 1929, she went to Europe to study voice and spent several years performing there. Her voice was widely praised throughout Europe. Then she returned to the US in 1935 and became a top concert singer after performing at Town Hall in New York City.

Racism again affected Anderson in 1939. When it was arranged for her to sing at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, the Daughters of the American Revolution opposed it because of her color. She sang instead at the Lincoln Memorial for over 75 000 people. In 1955, Anderson became the first black soloist to sing win the Metropolitan Opera of New York City. The famous conductor Toscanini praised her voice as “heard only once in a hundred years”. She was a US delegate to the United Nations in 1958 and won the UN peace prize in 1977. Anderson eventually triumphed over racism.

1. According to this passage, what did Marian Anderson do between 1917 and 1929?

A．She studied at a music school.              B．She sang for religious activities.

C．She sang at Town Hall in New York.           D．She studied voice in Europe.

2.Toscanini thought that Marian Anderson        .

A．had a very rare voice                    B．sang occasionally in public

C．sang only once in many years              D．was seldom heard by people

3.Anderson’s beautiful voice was first recognized      .

A. at the Lincoln Memorial              B. in Washington, DC.

C. in Europe                            D. at the United Nations

4.This passage shows that Anderson finally defeated racism in the US by         .

A．protesting to the government              B．appealing to the United Nations

C．demonstrating in the streets               D．working hard to perfect her art

 

阅读下列各小题，根据汉语句子，用句末括号内的英语单词完成句子，并将答案写在答题卡上的相应题号后。

1.___________________________, she will spare no time to attend the party.(with)

有那么多作业要做，她抽不出时间参加聚会。

2.What I hate most is ______________________.(laugh)

我最讨厌被人嘲笑了。

3.________________________, we couldn’t get in touch with her.(know)

不知道她的电话号码，我们无法与他取得联系。

4.If you don’t go to play basketball tomorrow, _______________________.(nor) 

明天你不去打篮球，我也不去。

5.This park is a good place for the people here to ________________ on weekends.(get)

这个公园是这儿的人周末去亲近自然的一个好去处。

6.The old man on the roadside ________________ after the kind girl gave him first aid. (come)

路边上的老人在这位好心的女孩对他进行了急救之后终于醒了过来。

7.As a president, Obama always ___________________________ Lincoln. (model)

作为总统，奥巴马总是以林肯作为自己的榜样。

8.____________________ the novel, he didn’t notice that the teacher was approaching.(absorb)

由于全神贯注地看小说，他没有注意到老师正向他走来。

9.I _____________________ the music “Tante”, which, however, is so popular online.(sense)

我弄不懂“忐忑”这支曲子，而它却在网络上这么流行。

10.When I entered the theatre, I found him __________________________. (seat)

当我进剧院时，发现他坐在第一排。

 

Peter was so excited ______ he received an invitation from his friend to attend the wedding.

A．where

B．that

C．why

D．when