After giving a talk at a high school, I was asked to pay a visit to a special student. An illness had kept the boy home, but he had expressed an interest in meeting me. I was told it would mean a great deal to him, so I agreed. During the nine-mile drive to his home, I found out something about Matthew. He had muscular dystrophy . When he was born, the doctor told his parents that he would not live to five, and then they were told he would not make it to ten. Now he was thirteen. He wanted to meet me because I was a gold-medal power lifter, and I knew about overcoming obstacles and going for my dreams. I spent over an hour talking to Matthew. Never once did he complain or ask, "Why me?" He spoke about winning and succeeding and going for his dreams. Obviously, he knew what he was talking about. He didn't mention that his classmates had made fun of him because he was different. He just talked about his hopes for the future, and how one day he wanted to lift weights with me. When we had finished talking, I went to my briefcase and pulled out the first gold medal I had won and put it around his neck. I told him he was more of a winner and knew more about success and overcoming obstacles than I ever would. He looked at it for a moment, then took it off and handed it back to me. He said, "You are a champion. You earned that medal. Someday when I get to the Olympics and win my own medal, I will show it to you." Last summer I received a letter from Matthew's parents telling me that Matthew had passed away. They wanted me to have a letter he had written to me a few days before: From the passage we learn that _ . A) Matthew was an athlete B) Matthew was an optimistic and determined boy C) The author used to have the same disease as Matthew had D) Matthew became a champion before he died
B
(Question)
NASA-s New Horizons probe flew by Pluto this morning, sending back history's first up-close looks at the vast freezing-cold world. Closest approach came at 7:49 a.m. EDT. To celebrate, NASA gave out the latest photo of Pluto. It showed a reddish world with an amazing heart-shaped feature on its surface. After today's close encounter, all the nine solar system's traditionally recognized planets have now been visited by a spaceship-a huge project begun in 1962 when NASA's Mariner 2 probe flew past Venus, a planet in the solar system. More than l,200 scientists, NASA guests and important persons, including 200 reporters, watched the flyby live at New Horizons' mission control center. That close encounter has been a long time coming. The$723 million New Horizons mission launched in January 2006 but began taking shape in 1989. "New Horizons is'a capstone mission'," Glen Fountain, mission project manager told Space, com. "It is the first completion of the observations of our solar system. It-s giving us a new idea about how we human beings fit into the universe." New Horizons "faced a crazy number of challenges," Stern, a driving force behind New Horizons said, "So many people stuck with this for so long. They got knocked down; they stood up. They got knocked down again; they stood up again." In a coincidence, today's close approach falls on the 50th anniversary of the first flyby of Mars, another planet, which was completed by NASA-s Mariner 4 spaceship. There are no longer nine officially recognized planets, of course. The International Astronomical Union regarded Pluto as "a dwarf planet" in 2006 in a decision that remains controversial today. Which is the best title for the passage? A) A New Horizons Probe B) NASA's Huge Project C) Pluto,a Controversial Planet D) A Close Approach to Pluto
(Answer)
D
Before I had my son, I spent two years working with children with disabilities. I learned that shouting and threats of punishment would result in a disaster. Coming up against their behaviour could only make the job harder and their behaviour more extreme. I found something that worked, though. There was a very naughty boy in the nursery and a teacher who was generally very confident with the children was asked to take charge of him. One day the boy joined a session in the room next to mine. His appearance created an atmosphere of tension. He spent the entire session running around, hitting and kicking, and destroying property. I was in the craft room working with some other children when my co-worker told me that this boy's teacher was in tears, and could not get control of the situation. As we were talking,the boy ran in. I told my co-worker that I would take care of him. I closed the door. He was full of energy, throwing things around and making a huge mess. But I could see that he was doing all these to annoy me. He needed connection, and this was the only way he knew how to ask for it. So I sat back down and kept quiet. Then he slowed down and began making a rocket. I talked to him about it. We continued like this for a few minutes before I slipped into the conversation: "So what happened today?" It was purely a question, no blame or anger in my tone. I believe that if I had criticized him, the gate that was slowly opening would have shut firmly closed. He told me that the teacher didn't let him do what he knew well due to safety but asked him to do what he disliked. He also admitted that he had enjoyed making her run around and saw it as a game. I explained that his teacher had not seen it as a game and was very upset. This again was stated simply as a fact. I suggested that next time he had a session, he talk about what he hoped to do at the start,which might be easier for everyone. He agreed and was quiet for a moment. Then he looked at me with tears in his eyes before quietly asking if he could go to... Why did the boy have tears in his eyes in the end? A) He was sorry about his reputation. B) He was regretful about his behavior. C) He was fearful of the author's warning. D) He was sad for the author's misunderstanding.
B