Jeremy Locke, who owns a roofing and construction company in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, had always been wanting to repair the roof of Jeanette MacDonald's home. Whenever he drove past the woman's home, he assumed that the roof was under repair because the job had already been taken on by another group of repairmen—but as the weeks wore on, the roof continued to worsen without any signs of repair.
" I had it in my mind that if no one steps up to help this lady in our community, I'd be more than happy to," Locke told CBC．
When Locke finally reached out to MacDonald about fixing her roof for free, however, she politely declined his offer because she did not like to accept charity. That being said, she had already applied for a government grant (补助金)to fix the roof and she said she was more than happy to hire Locke once her grant application was approved.
Unfortunately, MacDonald never received the approval.
As the stubborn(固执的)Canadian senior refused to accept any assistance from Locke, the sympathetic construction worker played an innocent trick in order to get her to accept his help. He invited MacDonald to enter a raffle (抽奖活动)that his business was holding for a free roof. After the grandmother of four accepted one of the raffle tickets, Locke told her that she was the winner—because she was the only one who had entered the raffle.
Thanks to his sweet little plan, Locke and his crew are starting work on the roof this week, which is expected to cost his company about $9, 000.
MacDonald, meanwhile, told CBC that she doesn't know how to express her gratitude to Locke, saying that he is her "guardian angel".
"There's nobody out there like him," she added.
The other day I was shopping at the local Chinese grocery store. There was a line at the fish counter, but only one staff person was there to take care of the customers. Some customers ordered quite an amount of fish for that staff person to work on. At last I was the second in line; all I wanted was a couple of crabs and should get out of there in no time.
Noticing it was very busy at the fish counter, another staff person came over to help. I was ready to be served, but the staff person went to the end of the line and began to help a couple of ladies with snails （蜗牛）.The customer in front of me, being served, turned around and looked at me sympathetically, and the customer behind me called to the staff person, "You should start her, "pointing at me. He was, well, ignored.
If someone asked me, "What is the most important rule to follow in America？"I would reply without hesitation, "Wait your turn at all times." Wherever you go here in this country, you will find people waiting in a line quietly to get anything: whether in the supermarkets, department stores, bus stops, or gas stations, it's just a matter of waiting your turn. In a larger sense, "wait your turn" is more than just a guideline﹣it is a very basic norm （准则）that reflects the fundamental value of the western cultures. But in some situations your turn does not always come based on when you get there and how long you have waited in line, just like my case at the store. Even though this did not often happen, it did make me feel upset.
At first, muffled (听不太清的)conversations made researchers at a San Diego aquarium puzzled, but when a diver thought he was being told to get “out” of the water they realized the conversations were coming from a white whale.
Noc was about one year old when he was caught off the Pacific coast of Canada. He was kept in an open-ocean pen (围栏) at the US National Marine Mammal Foundation in San Diego, California. After seven years at the Foundation, he began, automatically, to make unusual sounds, a report in the latest issue of the journal, Current Biology, said.
“We thought of the whale' s vocalizations(发出的声音) as an attempt to imitate humans. Whale vocalizations often sounded as if two people were talking just out of the range of our understanding,” the authors said. “ 'These conversations' were heard several times before we finally realized the whale was the source.” The researchers realized it was Noc when a diver surfaced and asked, “Who told me to get out?” It was then that they realized the word “out”, which was repeated several times, had come from Noc. Later, his speech-like sounds were recorded in the air and underwater.
Noc started making the sounds after seven years in the open-ocean pen, and continued making them for another four years. He died five years ago. Researchers have now analyzed the sound recordings. It was the first time that sound recordings had shown how such sounds imitated speech and were different from the usual calls of the species.
The speech-like sounds were lower than normal whale sounds and much closer to those of the human voice. Also, whales talk to each other by blowing air through their noses, rather than using a larynx(喉), as people do.
“We don't claim that our whale was a good imitator compared to such well-known imitators as parrots,” the researchers said. “However, the behavior we observed is an example of vocal learning by the white whale. It seems that Noc's close association with humans played a role in how often and how well he employed his human voice.”
You may ride on your bicycle in a rush to get to school every morning. You may also watch taxis crawl their way through traffic jams.
No matter where you are, all big cities around the world have traffic jams these days. But although they all have their problems, many cities also have a type of transport (交通) that has become a cultural icon (圣像).
In London, to avoid the traffic above ground, people use the "underground",also called the"tube". It brings a lot of convenience to its own residents and visitors and it is the pride of many Londoners. With 12 lines and 275 stations across the city, the tube, is normally the quickest and easiest way of getting around London. In London, you are never far from a tube station.
They serve as a quick and easy way of getting across Manhattan, where the subway doesn't take you everywhere. Stopping a cab is easy; just stick out your arm like you do in any city. But, with over 12,000 yellow cabs in the Big Apple, they also cause traffic jams.
Since 1873 when the first cable car started public service, the slow and noisy vehicle has been a symbol of San Francisco. Although once damaged by a serious earthquake and challenged by cars, it is never caught in traffic jams and provides better views than the subway.
But there are no such symbols in Los Angeles. If you visit you'd better rent a car. It can take hours to get across town by bus. The subway covers just a small part of the city center. The light rail line only runs between the Long Beach hotel area and the city center. That's why Angelenos love their private cars more than any other people in the world.
A. No wonder it's always the first choice for commuters and tourists there.
B. You may fight to get a bit of space on a bus or on the subway.
C. The city has the oldest and most complicated underground railway system in the world.
D. The city's public transportation is terrible.
E. At this time every day, bike rides will be the most reliable means of transportation.
F. New York is famous for its yellow cabs.
G. There will always be one for you to every corner, fast and no worry.
While the dog, you were careless and it got and was hit by a car.
For years I have had no idea what I have been doing with my life. I was a 30-year-old lawyer in New York. But being a lawyer was never my dream or goal in life. I honestly wanted to be a writer. I have a great imagination and would write amazing stories in my head. But I always knew that being a writer was never possible for me because it was a better financial decision to stay a lawyer.
Recently, I couldn't fall asleep at my usual time of 10 p. m. and when I did fall asleep I had the same dream over and over again. The dream starts with me in the ocean trying to go for a swim and I'm searching for something, but I start to drown and have no control over my body. Then a light shines through the waters and when I look up all I can see is myself in a bright white room writing a novel. Then I hear a voice say repeatedly, “Now is the time to try something new!”
It wasn't just a dream; it was my opportunity to make something good out of my life. That afternoon, I quit my job at the law firm and I couldn't have been any happier. My life started at 30, and every day since that point I haven't stopped enjoying life. I started to write and have been on the best-sellers list for the last two months. Things have definitely turned around.
Change is a good thing; it gives us an opportunity to take a chance. So my two favorite words I live by and so should you are “change and chance”.
增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号（∧），并在其下面写上该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（＼）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写上修改后的词。
注意：1）每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2）只允许修改10处，多者（从11处起）不计分。
Last weekend, we watched an excited basketball match in our school. It is between Grade 1 and Grade 2 students. During the match, the players from all teams played very hard. Grade 2 was stronger. However, to our surprised, Grade 1 won at last. The player jumped and hugged celebrate their success. Just then, the players from the other team that came near and said “Congratulations!” to them. They worn smiles on their faces and you couldn't tell from their expressions that they lost the match. We were touching by the scene and felt what important a role sport plays in daily life.
It was in the library was built with stones by the workers he spent his Sunday afternoon.
A．which; that B．that; which
C．which; which D．that; where
David _____ a customer when the fire started．
A．served B．was serving C．had served D．would serve
Two-year-old Harley was asleep with her younger sister in their home in Eden, North Carolina. While their parents were outside welcoming their older sister home from school, the wires in the family’s laundry room caught fire and before anyone knew what was happening, the bedroom next door was consumed in flames.
Harley’s father was able to rescue his two youngest daughters and save their lives, but Harley was severely burned on 80 percent of her body and her parents were told that she was likely to pass away. Over the next several months, Harley would put up with surgery after surgery and remain hooked up to a ventilator（呼吸机）at the hospital. When she was finally released to go home, Harley had no idea that the toughest battle had not even begun yet.
When Harley started school just a few years later, she realized for the first time how cruel her peers could be. Bullied(欺凌) for her appearance and called hateful names, she began to consider ending her life while only in Grade 8. When her friends were getting their first boyfriends and going on their first dates, she was sitting at home wondering if she should end her life.
But in 2013, something changed. It was not something on the outside but something inside Harley. She made the conscious decision to become more like the carefree, laughing, joyous little girl that she had not seen since that night in 1997. So for the first time in her life, she put on a blue dress and walked outside into the light of day throwing caution to the wind and daring anyone to try to rain on her parade.
21. What was the toughest battle for Harley?
A. Her sister’s death. B. Her peers’ discrimination.
C. Surgery after surgery. D. Her emotion of jealousy.
22. What can be inferred from the passage?
A. It took Harley about sixteen years to change her attitude to life.
B. Harley had tried to end her life many times.
C. Harley liked blue dresses and rainy days.
D. In 2013, Harley changed something inside and outside.
23. What can be a suitable title?
A. Transforming a sad girl into a joyous girl B. How to overcome difficulty
C. A blue dress on rainy days D. A girl rose from the dark
The film No One Less tells us a(n) story---A little girl, named Wei Minzhi, kept her promise to care for the pupils.
A. exciting B. amazing C. frightening D. moving
