高考英语一轮复习限时阅读训练12

高考英语一轮复习限时阅读训练12

‎2019届高考英语一轮复习限时阅读训练12‎ A I try not to be biased, but I had my doubts about hiring Stevie. His social worker assured me that he would be a good, reliable busboy. But I had never had a mentally handicapped employee. He was short, a little fat, with the smooth facial features and thick-tongued speech of Down’s Syndrome(唐氏综合症). I thought most of my customers would be uncomfortable around Stevie, so I closely watched him for the first few weeks.‎ I shouldn’t have worried. After the first week, Stevie had my staff wrapped around his stubby little finger, and within a month my trucker regulars had adopted him as their official truck stop mascot. After that, I really didn’t care what the rest of the customers thought of him. He was like a 21-year-old in blue jeans and Nikes, eager to laugh and eager to please, but fierce in his attention to his duties. Every salt and pepper shaker was exactly in its place, not a coffee spill was visible, when Stevie got done with the table. Our only problem was convincing him to wait to clean a table until after the customers were finished.‎ Over time, we learned that he lived with his mother, a widow who was disabled. Money was tight, and what I paid him was probably the difference between them being able to live together and Stevie being sent to a group home. ‎ That’s why the restaurant was a gloomy place that morning last August, the first morning in three years that Stevie missed work. He was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester getting a heart surgery. His social worker said that people with Down’s syndrome often had heart problems at an early age, and there was a good chance he would come through the surgery in good shape and be back at work in a few months.‎ A ripple of excitement ran through the staff later that morning when word came that he was out of surgery, in recovery and doing fine. Frannie, my head waitress, let out a war whoop and did a little dance in the aisle when she heard the good news. Belle Ringer, one of our regular trucker ‎ customers, stared at the sight of the 50-year-old grandmother of four doing a victory shimmy beside his table. He ginned. “OK, Frannie, what was that all about?” he asked. ‎ ‎“We just got word that Stevie is out of surgery and going to be okay.” ‎ ‎“I was wondering where he was. I had a new joke to tell him. What was the surgery about?”‎ Frannie quickly told Belle Ringer and the other two drivers sitting at his booth about Stevie’s surgery, the sighed. “but I don’t know how he and his mom are going to handle all the bills. From what I hear, they’re barely getting by as it is.” ‎ Belle Ringer nodded thoughtfully, and Frannie hurried off to wait on the rest of her tables.‎ After the morning rush, Frannie walked into my office. She had a couple of paper napkins in her hand. ‎ ‎“What’s up?” I asked. ‎ ‎“I cleared off the table where Belle Ringer and his friends were sitting after they left, and I found this. This was folded and put under a coffee cup.”‎ She handed the napkin to me, and three $20 bills fell onto my desk when I opened it. On the outside, in big, bold letters, was printed “Something For Stevie”. ‎ That was three months ago. Today is Thanksgiving Day, the first day Stevie is supposed to be back to work. His social worker said he’s been counting the days until the doctor said he could work. I arranged to have his mother bring him to work, met them in the parking lot and invited them both to celebrate his day back. I took him and his mother by their arms. “To celebrate you coming back, breakfast for you and your mother is on me.”‎ I led them toward a large corner booth at the rear of the room. I could feel and hear the rest of the staff following behind as we marched through the dining room. We stopped in front of the big table. Its surface was covered with coffee cups, saucers and dinner plates, all sitting slightly crooked on dozens of folded paper napkins. ‎ ‎“First thing you have to do, Stevie, is clean up this mess,” I said. ‎ Stevie looked at me, then pulled out one of the napkins. It had “Something for Stevie” printed on the outside. As he picked it up, two $10 bills fell onto the table. Stevie stared at the money, then at all the napkins peeking from beneath the tableware, each with his name printed on it. ‎ I turned to his mother. “There’s more $10,000 in cash and checks on that table, all from truckers and trucking companies that heard about your problems. Happy Thanksgiving.” ‎ Well, it got real noisy about that time, with everybody hollering and shouting, and there were a few tears, as well… but you know what’s funny? ‎ While everybody else was busy shaking hands and hugging each other, Stevie, with a big, big smile on his face, was busy clearing all the cups and dishes from the table….‎ ‎52Why did the author have doubts about hiring Stevie?‎ A. Stevie was not that reliable. B. Stevie was mentally disabled.‎ C. Stevie was too short and fat. D. Stevie was bad-tempered.‎ ‎53. What made the author not fully satisfied with Stevie’s work?‎ ‎ A. He made customers uncomfortable. B. He couldn’t pay attention to his duties.‎ ‎ C. He often spilled cups of coffee. D. He usually cleaned the table too early.‎ ‎54. By saying the underlined words in Para.3, the author meant that the money she paid Stevie___. A. could help Stevie out of the trouble. ‎ B. couldn’t thoroughly solve Stevie’s problem.‎ ‎ C. could make a great difference to Stevie’s life. ‎ D. could send Stevie a group home ‎55. According to this text, Frannie sighed for Stevie’s ____________.‎ ‎ A. health problem B. work problem ‎ C. finance problem D. mental problem ‎56. Why did the author ask Stevie to clean up the mess on the table?‎ ‎ A. It was Stevie’s duty to clean the table.‎ ‎ B. The table was so dirty that it needed cleaning.‎ ‎ C. Stevie could pick up the money that was given to him. ‎ ‎ D. She wanted to congratulate Stevie on his coming back.‎ B STREAMWOOD, Ill.—For years, attendance was small at Tefft Middle School’s yearly parent-teacher conferences, but the principal did not blame families for their poor response. Instead, she blamed the poor way the conferences were conducted. ‎ ‎“Five years ago, the most important person—the student—was left out of the parent-teacher conference,” Tefft’s principal, Lavonne Smiley, said. “The old conferences were such a negative thing, so we turned it around,” allowing students not only to attend but also to lead the gatherings instead of anxiously awaiting their parents’ return home with the teacher’s opinion on their classroom performance.‎ Recently, 525 parents attended parent-teacher-student conferences, Ms. Smiley said, compared with 75 parents in 2019. No appointments were needed, and everyone was welcome at the conferences this year, spread over two days that school officials called a Celebration of Learning. ‎ ‎“I think we’re learning that every school has its own DNA, and there is not a prescription for conferences that works for every school,” Ms. Kinney said. “There is such an increasingly diverse population at our nation’s schools, the one-size-fits-all model conference just doesn’t work anymore.” ‎ At some schools, not only are students on hand for conferences, but their siblings are also welcome, as are grandparents, aunts and uncles, even family friends.‎ When Mark Heller accepted a job as an assistant principal at the middle school in his hometown of Plano, Ill.‎, he discovered that the community had changed a lot in the eight years he had been a teacher in Iowa. The population had nearly doubled to 10,000 residents, and 37 percent of the students at Plano‎ ‎Middle School were now from low-income families.‎ The traditional parent-teacher conferences without a student present are always available by appointment, and sometimes necessary, for example, to discuss a private matter concerning a non-custodial (无监护权的) parent, a family crisis the child is unaware of or a special education diagnosis. ‎ Still, Mr. Heller is convinced that a true dialogue concerning a student’s academic progress is ‎ impossible without both the child and the parent engaged and present, and with the teacher on hand to share impressions and answer any questions the parents have about homework, standardized test scores, behavior and other issues. ‎ ‎“At the student-led conferences, our children are learning to be organized and capable adults someday,” Ms. Issa said. “When I was growing up, my parents went to my conference, and I waited at home, scared they would come back with some concerns. With this new kind of conference, there are no secrets. My daughter is learning that she is responsible for her own success.”‎ ‎57. What is mainly talked about in this text? ‎ ‎ A. The change of population in Mr. Heller’s hometown.‎ ‎ B. The way the parent-teacher conferences are conducted.‎ ‎ C. The people who take part in parent-teacher conferences.‎ ‎ D. The percentage of attendants to parent-teacher conferences.‎ ‎58. What was the population in Plano, Ill.‎ when Mr. Heller became a teacher in Iowa eight years before? ‎ A. 3,700 B. 20,000 C. 10,000 D. 5,000‎ ‎59. The number of parents who attended parent-teacher-student conferences recently was ______ times more than that in 2019. ‎ ‎ A. five B. six C. seven D. eight ‎ ‎60. What does Ms. Kinney mean by saying “every school has its own DNA’? ‎ ‎ A. Every school is unique and different. ‎ B. One model fits all school conferences.‎ ‎ C. All prescriptions do not work well. ‎ ‎ D. The population at schools is diverse.‎ ‎ 52-56 BDBCC 57-60 BDBA