Some students often complain (抱怨) about learning English. The subject, they say, takes up too much of their time. They have to read many passages, look up new words in the dictionary and do lots of exercises. Although they work hard, they still can’t get good scores on tests. “Why?” they ask. “How can I enjoy success?”
The story of Chinese astronaut Deng Qingming might help to answer their questions.
Deng was chosen as an astronaut trainee (接受培训者) in 1998. That was long ago—you readers hadn’t even been born yet. Since that day, he had spent almost all of his time training hard to become an astronaut. Over the years, Deng has seen other trainees with him go into space one after another. However, he was always a backup (后备人员) . He often felt sad. Sometimes, he even cried.
But Deng never gave up. Although he is now in his fifties, he keeps training hard. “I must be ready whenever the chance comes to me,” he once said. Finally, on the night of November 29, 2022, he and two other astronauts boarded the Shenzhou 15 spaceship and flew into space. Deng had waited 24 years for this very moment.
So, if you want to give up learning English (or something else), think about Deng’s story. Your efforts might not pay off immediately. Be patient, though. Try to improve your methods and keep going. One day, success will knock at your door. Being different from Deng, you probably won’t even have to wait 24 years for that moment!
1．Which one is not mentioned about learning English in paragraph 1?| A．Looking up new words in the dictionary. |
| B．Doing lots of English exercises. |
| C．Reading many English passages. |
| D．Writing more short articles. |
| A．Learning English. | B．Flying into space. |
| C．Keeping training hard. | D．Seeing others training. |
| A．Sad. | B．Angry. | C．Nervous. | D．Surprised. |
| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．Four. |
| A．Don’t complain when you meet difficulties. |
| B．Don’t give up and keep going, you will succeed. |
| C．You’ll get good scores on tests if you work hard. |
| D．You’ll have to wait 24 years if you want to succeed. |
| A．situation | B．challenge | C．achievement | D．advantage |
| A．warn | B．invite | C．control | D．promise |
| A．late | B．simple | C．natural | D．difficult |
A Bright Idea
Evans Wadongo was from a village of Africa. He had to do homework by the light of a kerosene lamp（煤油灯）. Evans’ eyes hurt and this made studying difficult. It was common in his village. Many children left school for this reason, so they remained poor for the rest of their lives.
Although studying was difficult, Evans was an excellent student and went to a university. He continued to worry about the kerosene lamp. By this time, he realized it was not just bad for schoolchildren but for the whole family. First, it can cause illnesses such as coughs. Also, the light can hurt people’s eyes. Besides, it can lead to fires. Lastly, kerosene is expensive, so families have less money for food. It was difficult to come up with a different kind of lamp that was cheap and good for the environment. Yet Evans did not give up.
One day, he had an idea. He could use a small solar（太阳能的）light. Sunlight is free and solar power is good for the environment. Evans built his first solar lamp, and it worked. He began to build more lamps and sent them to local families. An organization heard about this and provided money for him to build more solar lamps.
Each lamp only cost $20. However, this was a lot of money to many villagers, who only earned around $34 a week, so Evans made sure he kept the cost down. First, Evans used recycled materials. Next, volunteers built the lamps. Finally, people from many countries gave away money to his team, so the lamps were usually free.
Thousands of people had safe light. Julia, a mother of three, said, “Thanks to Evans, my children have light to read, and I have my own light to cook.” The solar lamps made a big difference.
1．What does the underlined word “this” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Leaving school. | B．Doing homework. |
| C．Having eye problems. | D．Having a bright idea. |
| A．6. | B．5. | C．4. | D．3. |
| A．d-a-c-e-f-b | B．d-f-b-a-e-c | C．a-d-f-e-c-b | D．a-e-c-d-f-b |
| A．To share Julia’s experience. | B．To show Evans’ influence. |
| C．To describe Evans’ feelings. | D．To introduce Evans’ invention. |
| A．Polite, talented and humorous. | B．Quiet, smart and honest. |
| C．Humorous, clever and friendly. | D．Hard-working, loving and creative. |
While I was jumping rope, my smartphone took a fall to the floor which created cracks (裂缝) on my screen. However, the music kept playing 30 minutes later, I could see only one tenth of my screen while the rest was black. The next morning, I decided not to use it for 24 hours. I felt a sense of calm that day, which led to my not using it for one week. One week ended up becoming 60 days in total without my smartphone.
Here are some advantages I noticed in this challenge.
—You’ll become “bored”
Without my phone, I became bored, but my mind went through all kinds of topics. Boredom（无聊) is a perfect way to create new ideas on a business or project. When you are bored, you allow your mind to relax to reach all possibilities.
—You’ll be able to reduce your “work” hours
A survey found that adults checked their smartphones 85 times a day, or once every 10 minutes. As I learned in my challenge, by not having my smartphone, I fell into deep work more easily, so I completed my tasks in a shorter time.
—You’ll improve your mental health
Without my phone, I avoided reading negative (负面的) news and comments. While that helped make a big improvement in my mental health, the biggest reason for it was truly communicating with people. It brought me more connections with humans in the real world. I went to more dinners with friends and asked more questions to strangers.
1．What happened to the writer’s smartphone?| A．It was lost. | B．It had no sound. |
| C．Its music stopped playing. | D．Its screen was mostly black. |
| A．For 24 hours. | B．For one week. |
| C．For one month. | D．For sixty days. |
| A．to create new ideas | B．to start a business |
| C．to set up a project | D．to relax the body |
| A．more terribly | B．more quickly |
| C．more carelessly | D．more comfortably |
| A．Chatting on the phone. | B．Reading negative news. |
| C．Communicating in the real world. | D．Avoiding meeting friends and strangers. |
A． | B． | C． |
A． | B． | C． |
A． | B． | C． |
A． | B． | C． |
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