High climbing kid raises hopes
Michael McCarthy climbed to the top of the Willis Tower not long ago. The Tower stands 1451 feet
(442 meters) tall, the highest building in the US.
As he got to the last step, McCarthy almost fell down, but that didn"t stop him. The 14-year-old boy
finally finished climbing the 2,109 steps and arrived at the top, where he enjoyed the cheers from the
crowd.
"I just want to show people that if a kid with no legs can do it, anyone can do it," McCarthy said.
McCarthy, who was born without legs, has to wear prosthetic legs (假肢) and use a set of crutches (拐
杖) to walk. But McCarthy has a strong heart. He believes nothing can stop him from achieving his
success.
He has been in a karate (空手道) school since he was four years old. When he decided to climb the
Willis Tower, his karate teacher, Jeff Kohn, was moved and offered to help train him. They spent more
than 10 hours practicing climbing stairs and keeping balance with the prostheses and crutches on the steps
every day. "It seems that he never knows what tiredness is. Sometimes, I was so tired that I asked him to
call it a day,"said Kohn. "But he said he was still full of energy and wanted more exercise."
Kohn was with McCarthy for the climb. "I saw the last 10 floors — he went faster," said Kohn. "He"s
the most hardworking athlete I"ve ever trained."
McCarthy said he was proud of himself and that the Tower now holds special meaning. "When I"m
older, I"ll point to the building and say "Look at this building I climbed"." he said.
( ) 1 A. message ( ) 2 A. surely ( ) 3 A. with ( ) 4 A. lonely ( ) 5 A. invited ( ) 6 A. news ( ) 7 A. jumped ( ) 8 A. must ( ) 9. A. nobody ( ) 10. A. carefully ( ) 11. A. walked ( ) 12. A. wonderful ( ) 13. A. searched for ( ) 14. A. patience ( ) 15. A. so | B. game B. truly B. through B. bored B. pushe d B. reply B. fell B. can B. somebody B. seriously B. helped B. hopeful B. rang up B. shame B. because | C. smile C. mainly C. out C. frightened C. found C. letters C. spread C. could C. anybody C. nervously C. talked C. interested C. called on C. pride C. however | D. prize D. hardly D. off D. sorry D. driven D. sentence D. slept D. may D. everybody D. silently D. saw D. relaxed D. bumped into D. hope D. though |
阅读理解。 | |||
After a serious earthquake happened, a father left his wife safely at home and rushed to his son"s school, only to find that the building where his son studied had collapsed and looked like a pancake. He was shocked. He didn"t know what he should do for a while, then he remembered the words he had said to his son, "No matter what happens, I"ll always be there for you! "And tears began to fill his eyes. He started digging through the ruins (废墟). As he was digging, other helpless parents and the firemen arrived and tried to pull him off the ruins, saying, "It"s too late! They"re all dead! There"s nothing you can do! " To them he replied with one line, "Are you going to help me now? " And then he kept on digging. No one helped, however. He went on alone because he needed to know for himself: "Is my boy alive or is he dead? " He dug for eight hours. . . 12 hours. . . 24 hours. . . 36 hours. . . then, in the 39th hour, he pulled back a rock and heard his son"s words. He shouted his son"s name, "ARMAND! " He heard back, "Dad! It"s me, Dad! I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you"d save me and when you saved me, they"d be saved. You promised, "No matter what happens, I"ll always be there for you! You did it, Dad! " "What"s going on in there? How is it? " the father asked. "There are 14 of us left out of 33, Dad. We"re frightened, hungry, thirsty and thankful you"re here. When the building fell down, it made a triangle (三角) , and it saved us." "Come out, boy!" "No, Dad! Let the other kids out first, because I know you"ll get me! No matter what happens, I know you"ll always be there for me!" | |||
1. The underlined word "collapsed" probably means "_____". | |||
A. break down B. shake away C. stand by D. fall into | |||
2. Who came to help the father when he was digging? | |||
A. His wife. B. Other parents. C. The firemen. D. No one. | |||
3. Other parents and the firemen wanted to pull him off the ruins because they thought _____. | |||
A. he was mad B. all the children had died in the earthquake C. he was too dangerous to others D. it was not his job to dig | |||
4. How many students were already dead when the father found them in the ruins? | |||
A. Fourteen. B. Thirty-three. C. Forty-seven. D. Nineteen. | |||
5. We can learn from the passage that _____. | |||
A. it took the father one day to find his son and other students B. his wife died in the earthquake C. his son was the last one to come out of the ruins D. the son didn"t believe his father would come to save him | |||
词语填空。用方框中所给单词的适当形式填空,使短文通顺、正确、连贯(每个单词限用一次) | |||