It was a winter morning,just a couple of weeks before Christmas of 2005. While most people were warming up their cars,Trevor,my husband,had to get up early to ride his bike four kilometers away from home to work. On arrival,he parked his bike outside the back door as he usually does. After putting in 10 hours of labor, he returned to find his bike gone. The bike,a black Kona 18 Speed,was our only transport. Trevor used it to get to work,putting in 60-hour weeks to support his young family. And the bike was also used to get foods, saving us from having to walk along long distances from where we live. I was so sad that someone would steal our bike that I wrote to the newspaper and told them our story. Shortly after that,several people in our area offered to help. One wonderful stranger even bought a bike,then called my husband to pick it up. Once again my husband had a way to get to and from his job. It really is an honor that a complete stranger would go out of their way for someone they have never met before. People say that a smile can be passed from one person to another,but acts of kindness from strangers are even more so. This experience has had a spreading effect in our lives because it made us believe more in the beauty of humanity as a whole. And it has influenced us to be more mindful of ways we,too,can share with others. No matter how big or how small,an act of kindness shows that someone cares. And the results can last forever. How did people get to know the couple's problem? A) From a stranger B) From a newspaper C) From TV news D) From radio broadcasts
B
(Question)
Joseph Francis Charles Rock (1884-1962) was an Austrian-American explorer, botanist, and anthropologist . For more than 25 years, he travelled extensively through Tibet and Yunnan, Gansu, and Sichuan provinces in China before finally leaving in 1949. In 1924, Harvard sent Joseph Francis Rock on a treasure hunt through China's southwestern provinces--the Wild West of their day. But gold and silver weren't his task: Rock, a distinguished botanist, sought only to fill his bags with all the seeds, saplings, and shrubs he could find. During his three-year expedition, he collected 20,000 specimens for the Arnold Arboretum . Botany, though, was just one of Rock's strengths. As an ethnologist , he took hundreds of photographs of the Naxi, a tribe in Yunnan province, recording their now-lost way of life for both Harvard and National Geographic, and took notes for an eventual 500-page dictionary of their language. His hand-drawn map of his travels through China's "Cho-Ni" territory, in the Harvard Map Collection, includes more than a thousand rivers, towns, and mountains indicated in both English and Chinese, and was so well made that the U.S. government used it to plan aerial missions in World War II. Scientist, linguist, cartographer, photographer, writer--Rock was not a wallflower in any sense. Arrogant and self-possessed, he would walk into a village or warlord's place "as if he owned the place," said Lisa Pearson, the Arboretum's head librarian. In declaring his successful return under the headline "Seeking Strange Flowers, in the Far Reaches of the World," the Boston Evening Transcript ran a large photo of the daring explorer wearing in a woolly coat and fox-skin hat. "In discussing his heroism including hair-raising escapes from death either from mountain slides, snow slides and robber armies, he waves the idea away as if it is of no importance." The Arboretum and Rock parted ways after 1927, mainly because his trip cost Harvard a fortune--about $900,000 in today's dollars. Fortunately, many of his specimens,... What is the passage mainly about? A) Rock's service for the U.S government. B) Rock's cooperation with Harvard. C) Rock's work as a botanist. D) Rock's exploration in Southwest China.
(Answer)
D
Question: There is a very instructive incident involving the life of Alexander, the great Greek king. Alexander, after conquering many kingdoms, was returning home. On the way, he fell ill and it took him to his death bed. With death staring him in his face, Alexander realized how his conquests, his great army, his sharp sword and all his wealth were of no consequence. So, he lay helplessly waiting to breathe his last. He called his generals and said, "I will depart from this world soon, I have three wishes, please carry them out without fail." "My first desire is that," said Alexander, "My physicians alone must carry my coffin." After a pause, he continued, "Secondly, I desire that when my coffin is being carried to the grave, the path leading to the graveyard be strewn with gold, silver and precious stones which I have collected." The king continued, "My third and last wish is that both my hands be kept hanging out of my coffin." Alexander's favorite general kissed his hand and pressed them to his heart. "Oh King, we assure you that your wishes will all be fulfilled. But tell us why do you make such strange wishes?" At this Alexander took a deep breath and said, "I would like the world to know of the three lessons I have just learnt. I want my physicians to carry my coffin because people should realize that no doctor can really cure any body. They are powerless and cannot save a person from the _ of death. So let people not take life for granted. The second wish of strewing gold, silver and other riches on the way to the graveyard is to tell people that not even a bit of gold will come with me. I spent all my life earning riches but cannot take anything with me. Let people realize that it is just a waste of time to chase wealth. And about my third wish of having my hands hanging out of the coffin, I wish people to know that I came empty-handed into this world and empty-handed I go out of this world." With these words, the king closed his eyes. Soon he let death conquer him and breathed his last. The author intends to _ . A) tell us the story of Alexander B) introduce readers to the instructive lessons of Alexander C) stress the powers of Alexander the Great D) persuade people to realize what Alexander said
Answer:
B