A mother from Colorado who doctors said had died while giving birth to her son, has said it is a
Christmas miracle that both she and the boy are alive.
      Tracey Hermanstorfer's heart stopped beating and her son Coltyn appeared lifeless after the
Caesarean (剖腹產(chǎn)術(shù)) section on Christmas Eve.However a few minutes after he was born, both began
breathing again.Dr Stephanie Martin told Good Morning America she could not explain how the pair
survived.Mrs Hermanstorfer and her husband Mike told the American television show that their baby
was now healthy and that they were doing "good" following the drama at Colorado Springs Memorial
Hospital.
     The couple, who already had two children, had to go into the hospital seven weeks earlier than
planned.Her husband,37, said his wife was tired after receiving an epidural (硬膜外麻醉) during the
labour (分娩) but after closing her eyes, she "wasn't waking up". She stopped breathing and she is
believed to have suffered a heart attack before her heart stopped beating entirely.
     Dr Martin said she was called in and that the outlook was grim since in most situations like this, "
despite the best efforts of the team", the mother was often unable to be revived.In that case doctors then
tried to focus on delivering the baby but when he was born he was "completely lifeless".
     Mr Hermanstorfer told the Associated Press news agency, "I had everything in the world taken
from me, and in an hour and a half I had everything given to me."
     Dr Martin said she did not have a "great explanation" for why Mrs Hermanstorfer's heartbeat returned."Somewhere between four and five minutes she had been without heart rate and had stopped breathing
a minute or two prior to her heart stopping, " she said.The doctors were then able to bring the baby back
to life, and the mother was alive after that.
     Despite tests, she said doctors were still not sure about what had happened.However Mrs
Hermanstorfer and her husband Mike have said they believed it was down to a miracle.She said:"I got a
second chance in life."

1. The story happened on________.

A. December,24  
B. December,25
C. December,31  
D. January,1

2. What might have happened to Tracey Hermanstorfer just before her heart stopped beating?

A. She became unconscious.
B. She took a nap.
C. She had a bad headache.
D. She suffered a heart attack.

3. Which of the following is the correct order of what happened to Tracey Hermanstorfer?
a. suffering a heart attackb. stopping heart beating entirely
c. stopping breathingd. coming back to life
e. receiving an epiduralf. producing a baby

A. acfdbe  
B. fcadbe  
C. eacbfd  
D. eabcfd

4. What feelings did Mr Hermanstorfer experience during the incident?
A. Sad and delighted.
B. Disappointed and depressed.
C. Sad and angry.
D. Touched and regrettable.

5. Which of the following words best expresses Dr Martin's attitude towards Tracey Hermanstorfer's
     coming back to life?

A. Shocked.  
B. Puzzled.  
C. Normal.  
D. Curious.

     For years Tom Anderson's life was withered up (枯萎) by the memory of his part in a fraternity (友愛(ài),  互助會(huì)) adventure that resulted in the death of one of his classmates.He and his wife separated after
six years of marriage.Then the news about Tom changed.His wife Betty came back;  he earned a fine
position.One day he told me what had changed his life."I used to think,  'Nothing can undo what I have
done.' The thought of my guilt would stop me in the middle of a smile or a handshake.It put a wall
between my wife and me."
     "Then I had an unexpected visit from the person I was most afraid to see-the mother of the  college
classmate who died.'Years ago',  she said,  'I found it in my heart,  through prayer,  to  forgive you.Betty
forgave you.So did your friends and employers.'She paused,  and then said seriously,  'You are the one
person who hasn't forgiven Tom Anderson.Who do you think you are to stand out against the people of
this town and the Lord Almighty?'I looked into her eyes and found there a_kind_of_permission_to_be
_the_person_I_might_have_been_if_her_boy_had_lived.For the first time in my adult life I felt worthy to
love and be loved."
     It is only through forgiveness of our mistakes that we gain the freedom to learn from experience. But
forgiving our shortcomings doesn't mean denying that they exist.On the contrary,  it means facing them
honestly,  realistically.
      Can a person be allforgiving and still be human?A scientist I know spent four years as a slave laborer
in Germany.His parents were killed by Nazi street bullies;  his younger sister and older brother were sent
to the gas chambers.This is a man who has every reason to hate.Yet he is filled with a love of life that he
conveys to everyone who knows him.He explained it to me the other day:"In the beginning I was filled
with hatred.Then I realized that in hating I had become my own enemy.Unless you forgive,  you cannot
love.And without love,  life has no meaning."Forgiveness is truly the saving grace.

1. Tom Anderson and his wife separated after six years of marriage probably because________.

A. he had killed one of his classmates
B. he had cared more for his adventure than for his wife
C. his wife looked down upon his poor position
D. his life had been made in a great mess by his deep guilt

2. The key reason for which Tom's life changed back to normal may be that________.

A. his wife Betty came back to him
B. the mother of his college classmate asked Betty to forgive him for his guilt
C. he eventually learned to face his guilt honestly,  realistically and forgave himself
D. he earned a fine position and finally made a lot of money

3. The underlined part in the second paragraph means that________.

A. the mother of my college classmate permitted me to be a real person
B. even my college classmate would permit me to be what I used to be
C. I wouldn't be a person unless my college classmate permitted me to
D. I might have been a successful person if my college classmate had lived

4. The best title for this passage could be________.

A. Forgiveness:the saving grace
B. Hatred:unrealistic way of living
C. Love:a meaningful worthy life
D. Guilt:unforgivable mistake

                                                          My Best Enemy
     Once again, I was in a new school.So was a girl in my class named Lisa.That's where the similarity
ended.
     I was tall and she was small.My thick black hair had been recently cut short into an untidy style.Her
natural blonde hair flowed to her waist and looked great.I was 12 and one of the oldest in the class while
she was 11 and the youngest.I was awkward and shy.She wasn't.I couldn't standher, considering her my
enemy.But she liked me and wanted to be friends with me.
      One day, she invited me over and I said yes-I was too shocked to answer any other way.My family
had moved six times in six years, and I had never managed to develop any friendships.But this girl who
wore the latest fashions wanted me to go home with her after school.
      She lived in a fun part of town that had two pizza places, an all night bookstore, a movie theater and
a park.As we walked from the school bus stop through her neighborhood, I tried to guess which house
might be hers.Was it the white one with the perfect lawn or the threestory house with a front porch?I got
very surprised when she led me into an old apartment building.She lived on the fourth floor in a tworoom
place with her mother, her stepfather, her two brothers and her sister.
      When we got into the room she shared with her sister, she took out a big case of Barbies, which was my next surprise.I had never played with them.We sat on the floor, laughing as we made up crazy stories
about the Barbies.We found out that we both wanted to be writers when we were older and both had
wild imaginations.We had a great time that afternoon.
      Lisa was loved by the whole neighborhood.The bookstore owners lent her fashion magazines; the
movie theater gave her free tickets...Soon I was included in her magic world.We slept over at each other's house and spent every free moment together.
     Lisa, my first real friend since childhood, helped me get through the rough years of early adolescence (青春期) and taught me an amazing and very surprising thing about making friends:your worst enemy
can turn out to be your best friend.

1. The writer and Lisa were similar in the way that________.

A. they were both new students
B. they had the same hairstyle
C. they were both tall
D. they were of the same age

2. One day Lisa invited the writer________.

A. to go to the movie
B. to go to her home
C. to go to walk in a park
D. to go to a pizza place

3. In the passage the writer described Lisa as a girl who was________.

A. awkward and shy
B. rich and happy
C. quiet and lonely
D. friendly and lovely

4. Which of the following did the writer learn from Lisa?

A. How to make up stories.
B. How to deal with enemies.
C. How to make friends.
D. How to live a better life.

     I shall never forget the night, a few years ago, when Marion J. Douglas was a student in one of my
adulteducation classes.He told us how tragedy had struck at his home, not once, but twice.The first time
he had lost his fiveyearold daughter.He and his wife thought they couldn't bear that first loss; but, as he
said, "Ten months later, God gave us another little girl and she died in five days."
      This double bereavement was almost too much to bear."I couldn't take it, " this father told us"I
couldn't sleep, eat, rest or relax.My nerves were entirely shaken and my confidence gone."At last he
went to doctors; one recommended sleeping pills and another recommended a trip, but neither helped.
He said, "My body felt as if it was surrounded in a vice (大鉗子), and the jaws of the vice were being
drawn tighter and tighter." The tension of grief (悲傷)-if you have ever been paralyzed (使癱瘓) by
sorrow, you know what he meant.
     "But thank God, I had one child left-a fouryearold son.He gave me the solution to my problem.One
afternoon as I sat around feeling sorry for myself, he asked, 'Daddy, will you build a boat for me?' I was
in no mood to build a boat; in fact, I was in no mood to do anything.But my son is a persistent little fellow!
I had to give in.Building that toy boat took me about three hours.By the time it was finished, I realized that
those three hours spent building that boat were first hours of mental relaxation and peace that I had had in months!I realized that it is difficult to worry while you are busy doing something that requires planning and
thinking.In my case, building the boat had knocked worry out of the ring.So I determined to keep busy."
     "The following night, I made a list of jobs that ought to be done.Scores of items needed to be repaired.  Amazingly, I had made a list of 242 items that needed attention.During the last two years I have
completed most of them.I am busy so that I have no time for worry."
     No time for worry!That is exactly what Winston Churchill said when he was working eighteen hour's
a day at the height of the war.When he was asked if he worried about his huge responsibilities, he said, "I
am too busy.I have no time for worry."

1. The underlined word "bereavement" in the second paragraph refers to________.

A. having lost a loved one
B. having lost a valuable article
C. having lost a profitmaking business
D. having lost a wellpaid job

2. Marion felt his body as if it was caught in a vice because________.

A. he couldn't earn enough money to support his family
B. he was suffering from sleeplessness disease
C. he couldn't get out of mental pressure
D. he felt tired of adulteducation classes

3. Marion made a list of over 200 items that needed to be repaired because________.

A. he hadn't been able to spare time to mend them
B. he wanted to kill his free time by repairing them
C. the items had actually been broken and needed attention
D. repairing the items helped crowd worry out of his mind

4. At the end of the passage, the author wrote about Winston Churchill in order to________.

A. prove that he followed Churchill's example
B. support his student's solution to his problem
C. show that he was successful in his career
D. clarify how his conclusion was reached

     During my high school years, the most important thing was what I was wearing to the Friday night
dance and who I was taking.Although college was talked about, it was the least of my worries.
     When I was graduating eighth grade and starting high school, my older brother was graduating twelfth
grade and going onto college.For my graduation, he gave me a card in which he wrote, "Enjoy your four
years...They go by fast." I remember not believing him then, but looking back...He was right.Those four
years shaped who I was as a person, pushed me to my limit and encouraged me to become an adult.
     However, I was so completely absorbed in my junior and senior years of high school, that when
someone spoke of college I brushed it off.I wasn't ready to leave my comfort zone of having all of my
closest friends together and knowing what every single day was going to be like.Studying was something
I did only AFTER I nailed my halftime dance performance.I knew my parents wanted me to go to college, so I told them I would go to community college (社區(qū)學(xué)院) and I didn't worry about my SAT (美國(guó)大
學(xué)入學(xué)考試) scores.
     When my senior year passed and everyone graduated and went off to their own colleges, I started to
wish I had done the same.My friends were living away, meeting new people, and discovering new places, while I was living at home and driving to and from class every day.It seemed exactly like high school.I
hated it!I thought college was supposed to be different!Why didn't I take more time to research colleges
and do the same?I ended up loving college and wishing I had four years to enjoy the campus (大學(xué)校園) atmosphere instead of two.
      My advice to anyone thinking about attending college is to think about it very seriously and look into
all of your choices well ahead of time.Now I have graduated and I am working fulltime and I would do
anything to go back to my high school days for a second chance!

1. Why didn't the author worry about his SAT scores?

A. He wanted to go to community college.
B. He had been admitted for his gift in dance.
C. He was well prepared for the exam.
D. He believed his brother would help him.

2. When in high school, the author________.

A. drove to and from class every day
B. buried himself in his study all the time
C. enjoyed talking about future college life
D. lived in the school except on holidays

3. What did the author's brother mean by "Enjoy your four years...They go by fast."?

A. He wished the author to have more dance.
B. He advised the author to value the years.
C. He encouraged the author to leave his comfort zone.
D. He suggested the author aim at a community college.

4. Talking of his high school years, the author feels________.

A. regretful
B. lonely
C. angry
D. pleased