【好题汇编】2024 年高考英语一模试题分类汇编（新高考专用)
专题 02 阅读理解（记叙文）
（2024届·海南·校联考一模）Living in the beauty, scenery and peacefulness of Italy, Thomas Hartke and
Irene Horbrand, both in their 60s, run A Teira, the only pizzeria open year-round in an Italian village. What started
off as a vacation nearly 50 years ago turned into a new life full of unexpected cooking achievements.
“We fell in love with this place in 1975 when we first visited it,” says Hartke. “We came back many times.
Then 23 years ago we moved here for good, settling down in a rented house. The locals are friendly and
welcoming, there’s a comfortable village atmosphere, and we left nothing behind in Germany: why would we ever
go back?”
The couple has always been active. For years they ran the village’s main bar, and then took over the pizzeria in
2016. But running the pizzeria also gave them headaches as permit renewals and day- to-day bureaucracy (官僚主
义) can be a trouble. The greatest challenge, however, was making a good-or acceptable—pizza and hoping that
locals didn’t find it revolting. Italians tend to get quite upset if someone messes with traditional dishes, especially
pasta and pizza, but somehow the locals attracted by the German couple’s mixtures.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy to serve pizza to Italians—it’s such an untouchable, blessed food, but we
were never scared of trying, and our courage was rewarded,” says Hartke. “Customers really do appreciate our
pizzas, they become regulars and there’re not just foreigners. Even locals come here.”
Irene, a former fur designer, had never made a pizza before deciding that was what she and her husband were
going to do. Practically overnight she learned how to make a pizza on a TV course in Germany. Each evening,
alone in the small kitchen where not even her husband is allowed, she bakes 60 pizzas, from 6 p. m. to 10 p. m.
1．What made the couple settle down in the Italian village?
A．The livable environment there. B．Quality elderly care services.
C．Unique delicious local food. D．Their terrible experience in Germany.
2．What is the couple’s attitude to moving to Italy?
A．Doubtful. B．Determined. C．Worried. D．Unclear.
3．What does the underlined word “revolting” in paragraph 3 probably mean?
A．Illegal. B．Conservative. C．Cheap. D．Unpleasant.
4．What can we learn about the couple’s process of cooking pizzas?
A．The husband cooks pizzas following a course.
B．The couple cook the unique pizzas together.
C．The couple make pizzas in the local way.
D．The wife cooks pizzas on her own.
（2024届·吉林长春·统考一模）Halloran has loved mountains since she was five or six, when her mother
took her to Ireland during the summer holidays. They lived overlooking Annascaul lake on the Dingle peninsula.
“It’s a lovely viewpoint. I used to sit there as a child. I loved the freedom of going up the mountain alone, when Iwas nine or ten. I cried for days before going back to London because I felt I would be in a rabbit hutch (窝).”
For Halloran, life had settled into a comfortable rhythm. But then her four-year-old son died in a car accident;
six years later, her husband also passed away. After the loss, she became a workaholic. She went into the office at 5
am, and worked until 10 pm, which was her stability. And it was time to make a change.
One day last September, Ann Halloran made her way to her nearest bus stop in Hove, East Sussex. She had
done plenty of travelling but, at 65, was setting off alone on her first backpacking adventure. Somewhere between
her first stop in Turkey and her final destination—a yoga retreat (静修) in Mazunte, Mexico—she found a new
perspective.
In Nepal, climbing the 5,400 m Gokyo Ri in the Himalayas, Halloran broke her walking stick. She has
osteoporosis (骨质疏松症), which makes bones more likely to break, so the stick was essential in the mountains.
Losing it was a blow, but she found reserves of inner strength.
Now, she says: “Whenever I get scared, I think of myself on top of that mountain, looking out over Lake
Gokyo—and beyond that, Everest. I say, if you can do that, you can do anything.”
Since the backpacking adventure, she understands more fully the role that work played in her life for so long.
“Work was reliable. I knew what I was doing. I’m a workaholic to this day,” she says. “I’ve just realised on this
yoga retreat that I have to let go of all that. The penny is dropping for me now.”
5．Why did Halloran cry before returning to London?
A．Because she didn’t enjoy living alone.
B．Because she was unwilling to live with rabbits.
C．Because she wasn’t used to travelling for a long time.
D．Because she couldn’t bear to part from the freedom in the mountain.
6．What made Halloran a workaholic?
A．Her desire to earn more. B．Her goal to settle comfortably.
C．Her wish to overcome sorrow. D．Her plan to save money for travelling.
7．What can we draw from Halloran’s experience in Nepal?
A．It is never too old to learn.
B．An idle youth, a needy age.
C．East or west, home is the best.
D．Success belongs to the persevering.
8．What does the underlined sentence in the last paragraph mean?
A．Money is not necessary for Halloran any more.
B．Halloran has realized something more meaningful.
C．Halloran will make a tighter budget for her next trip.
D．Nothing can be equal to Halloran’s salary from work.
（2024届·广东肇庆·统考一模）“You’re fired!”Andrew wasn’t joking. At that moment, the high school junior wanted his personal care attendant, Christy, out
of his life forever. He didn’t want her to tell him that he didn’t need help using the computer and he could write his
own term papers. Enough already.
“You’re fired!” He said it again for extra emphasis. Christy didn’t draw back. She needed this job. Hurricane
Katrina had damaged her house. But the retired PE teacher wasn’t discouraged. “I’m a tough nut, ”she says today.
“You know, I’ve taught middle schools.”
When Andrew was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome (阿斯伯格综合征), at age eight, people told his
mom, Cindy, to “get him on the list” for an attendant to provide after- school care. However, it was eight years
before they were matched with Christy. Meanwhile, Andrew’s family did their best to shelter him from life’s
hardships. “I worried about him,” Cindy says. “I tended to handle a lot.”
There was a lot to worry about. Could Andrew graduate from high school? Live independently? Cindy would
do anything for her son. Christy saw the problem right away. “Andrew wouldn’t take a step without his mother’s
permission,” Christy remembers. “You have to let him fail,” she told the family. “It’s the only way he’s going to
learn. To be able to do things on his own.”
No longer would Cindy write Andrew’s papers for him. Christy wouldn’t be helping him with homework
either. He complained. Loudly at times. But then things began to change. Andrew would come home from school
and start on his homework. He saw that Christy really was there for him. She wouldn’t do his papers for him. But
she showed him how to get organized. Once his work was done, Christy offered freedom. She’d take him out to eat
his favorite food, sushi.
One step at a time, Andrew gained independence. He graduated from high school and entered college. Last
spring Andrew moved into his own apartment. At 25, he says life has never been better.
9．What might lead to Andrew’s desire to fire Christy?
A．His tiredness of learning.
B．His being rid of dependence.
C．Her longing for others’ respect.
D．Her prejudice on unhealthy people.
10．What was Cristy’s first response to Andrew’s threat?
A．She felt huge pressure.
B．She begged to stay
C．She reflected deeply.
D．She stayed calm.
11．What can we infer about the purpose of Christy’s insisting on her approach?
A．To relieve the mother’s concerns.
B．To improve Andrew’s confidence.
C．To remove Andrew’s rooted habits.
D．To cure Andrew’s existing disease.
12．Which of the following best describes Christy as a care attendant?A．Demanding but patient.
B．Serious and outgoing.
C．Caring and energetic.
D．Stubborn but cautious.
（2024届·河北石家庄·贵州省思南中学校联考一模）In my early teens, I was once given a film camera as
a gift. On receiving it, I jumped on my bike, headed to Wimbledon Common and took photos, just for me: photos of
trees and wildlife. I was out all day. On my way home I spotted a tree lit up by street lighting and tried to capture its
splendour. Rushing home, I popped the spent film in a special little envelope and sent it off to a photography store,
desperate to see how it came out. I took many photos then and loved the fact that when you processed your film
you got back colour photos which froze the precious moments, gently encouraging the hobby and the payments for
processing.
As I grew into adulthood, that simple, deep happiness gradually faded away. One weekend when I was busy
answering the work calls, my eyes caught a box in the corner of the room. I suddenly felt a sense of sadness. The
stress growing over these years had pushed the camera from beside my pillow to the box in the corner. I thought I
needed a change.
I took out the camera and dusted it down. It was a great joy that it still worked. I bought new film and took the
camera everywhere I went. Now it is always on hand to accompany me on journeys, to allow me time to myself.
Even if the day is full and busy, I can seize some moments for myself to take photos, to observe the world around
me.
The wall of my room now holds all my camera equipment on display, along with photos I’ve taken. To me, the
room represents how I’ve found happiness: by reconnecting to the younger part of myself I laid aside, by allowing
room in my life for pleasure to exist, and by creating an environment that allows opportunities for delight.
13．What did the author think of taking photos as a young boy?
A．Inspiring and practical. B．Tiring yet delightful.
C．Exciting and worthwhile. D．Difficult yet engaging.
14．Why did the author stop taking photos according to paragraph 2?
A．He wanted to focus on his work.
B．He was struck by sudden sorrow.
C．He attempted to behave like an adult.
D．He was faced with increasing pressure.
15．What did the author get from picking up his hobby?
A．More fun in the daily routine. B．New journeys in the wild.
C．Better skills of observation. D．Different styles of photography.
16．What is the best title for the text?
A．Revisiting Lost Childhood Memories
B．Appreciating Beauty Behind the LensC．Escaping Teenage Sadness with Camera
D．Regaining Pleasure Through Photography
（2024 届·云南大理·统考一模）Debra Ferrell got the standard well wishes on Facebook on her 53rd
birthday, but she got some unusual messages too. One was about a family in Minnesota who had just lost their four-
year-old son to cancer. His older brother was especially grief-stricken. Could Ferrell help?
That message and the 30 or so others like it were exactly what Ferrell was looking for. To celebrate her 53rd,
she wanted to commit 53 random acts of kindness by the end of her birth month, and she needed information on
people who could use one.
When she got the note about the Minnesota family, she sent a wind chime (风铃) with the message “Listen to
the wind and know that I am near” on it. It now hangs in the four-year-old’s bedroom, where his brother can go to
listen to it whenever he wants.
This is not the first time that Ferrell decided to give gifts for her birthday. For her 47th, she founded Love with
Skin On, an organization dedicated to doing good deeds near her home in Roanoke, Virginia, and beyond. Its motto
is simple: Be Love, Do Stuff.
Over the years, Ferrell has reached out and touched well over 100 strangers, some found via Facebook
callouts, others with help from her grandkids. In another act of giving, she shares her favorite inexpensive and
creative gift ideas. Ferrell pays for everything herself. Her family often gives her some extra birthday cash with a
stern warning not to spend it on anyone else, which she naturally ignores. “I got a couple of Amazon gift cards for
my birthday this year and was like ‘YESSS!’” It’s Ferrell’s party, and she’ll give if she wants to.
17．What was special for Ferrell’s 53rd birthday?
A．She got messages for help from the needy. B．She posted unusual messages on Facebook.
C．She received many online wishes and gifts. D．She gained special greetings from a family.
18．Why did Ferrell send a wind chime to the Minnesota family?
A．To express her blessings. B．To extend her sympathy.
C．To share her favorite motto. D．To comfort a wounded soul.
19．What can we predict from the last paragraph?
A．Ferrell will give out her family’s cash. B．Ferrell will purchase gifts for herself.
C．Ferrell will stick to her deeds constantly.D．Ferrell will find strangers via Facebook.
20．Which can be a suitable title for the text?
A．An unusual message B．Giving gifts on birthday
C．Helping people in need D．A story of a wind chime
（2024届·湖南永州·统考一模）Sports is one of the purest concepts developed. For some, sports is a hobby,
others an escape, but for Jason Hills, Post Media Edmonton part-time writer, sports is everything.
At a young age, watching countless hours of sports allowed Hills to process and develop an escape to deal
with the childhood painful experience of losing both his parents in a car accident. With so much inside his head,
sports provided him with the outlet that millions of people employ daily: being enveloped into “the game.”Later, as Hills grew into a young man, he began to become involved with school sports. As Hills began to play,
the concept of being involved with a university team came into a dream.
Following high school graduation, Hills realized that university athletics might not be in the cards, but was
still very determined to have sports play a major role in his life. So he attended Lethbridge College for its
Journalism Diploma program. Since then, Hills has been a major component of university athletics coverage in
Edmonton for over 10 years. Spending long hours travelling to back and forth across the North Saskatchewan River
covering all the postsecondary teams, Hills is Postmedia’s go-to reporter in Edmonton for everything amateur
sports.
Hills is a story teller. Though his articles include features, game recaps (简报)and series previews, all of his
work showcases university student-athletes like no one else in the City of Edmonton. Hills stands out and stands
above many, with an extraordinary ability to capture the athletes’ true voice. By putting himself in their shoes, Hills
empathizes (有同感) with the student-athletes by telling their story, bringing a truly human element to the piece.
“My grandma told me when I was young, no matter what you do in life, just do what makes you happy,” Hills
recalls.“This type of job and this type of career, you’re not going to make millions in it. You have to do it because
you love it and because you’re passionate about it.”
21．Why did Hills regard sports as an escape in his childhood?
A．To relieve his pain.
B．To kill boring time.
C．To recover from bad health.
D．To avoid pressure from his parents.
22．What inspired Hills to enter journalism?
A．His love for journalism from childhood.
B．His great achievements in the university team.
C．His determination to become a well-known sports journalist.
D．His passion for sports and hopelessness of entering the university athletics.
23．What is a distinguished feature of Hills’ articles?
A．Focusing on the comments of the game.
B．Telling the childhood stories of athletes.
C．Reflecting the uniqueness of college student athletes.
D．Bringing his own life experiences into them.
24．Which of the following can best describe Hills?
A．Generous.
B．Strong-willed.
C．Artistic.
D．Knowledgeable.
（2024届·辽宁本溪·本溪高中校考一模）A Chinese girl Tan Fanglin overcame a world-class mathematicsproblem and was invited again to attend the World Laureates Forum when she was 15. Communicating with 65 top
scientists in the world, she became a rising star in this meeting of the world’s sharpest minds.
Her discovery has won her many prizes in youth innovation competitions in China. However, Tan is not a
“genius” in the traditional sense. Tan was born in a scholarly family. Her father was a professor of mathematics.
Tan showed a high interest in mathematics when she was very young. She likes to find questions on her own. The
more difficult the problem is, the more potential she will unlock. In this process, her father will only give proper
guidance.
Tan took part in many research projects. So devoted to the projects, she once made serious mistakes during the
exam at school. Instead of severely rebuking her, her parents let her find the problem by herself and achieve a
better balance between textbook study and research. It was because of the respect and trust of her parents that Tan
began to plan her study time scientifically and applied the learning methods summarized in the process of
mathematics research to the classroom. With her hard work, she made great achievements in mathematics.
Attending this meeting enabled Tan to get more inspiration from the world’s top scientists. She even got the
opportunity to talk with germ Miesenböck, who is pioneering the field of Optogenetics (光遗传学). Miesenböc has
encouraged her not to lose her passion and love for what she does and said accepting failure is important to
researchers. He has stressed that people all know that even Thomas Edison went through hundreds of unsuccessful
attempts before finally inventing the light bulb. Tan has met many difficulties in her research and often feels upset.
The words have made her feel inspired.
25．What can we learn about Tan Fanglin?
A．She went to the meeting with her father.B．She has a strong love for mathematics.
C．She never made mistakes in her school exams. D．She was invited to attend the Forum for the first
time.
26．What does the underlined word “rebuking” in Paragraph 3 mean?
A．Helping. B．Challenging. C．Criticizing. D．Praising.
27．How did Tan’s parents help her with her research?
A．By correcting her mistakes.
B．By offering extra training for her research.
C．By stressing the importance of scientific research.
D．By respecting her and encouraging her in self-development.
28．Which statement does germ Miesenböc probably agree with?
A．All roads lead to Rome. B．Nothing is impossible.
C．Where there is a will, there is a way. D．Failure is the mother of success.
（2024届·湖南·湖南师大附中校联考一模）Five years ago, a couple found a baby owl, near-death, on their
lawn. They consulted with me because of my experience with owls and hawks. Eventually my wife and I undertook
the task of treating the owl, Alfie, waiting out a developmental delay (most of her flight feathers came especially
late that first summer) , and then we taught her to fly and hunt. Alfie disappeared for a week. Then she chose to
return, centering her territory (地盘) on our backyard. I put a nest box on my writing studio.Alfie’s first free-living year— mating, raising her first baby— coincided with the COVID-19 that limited us to
our yard. Friends said the birds were singing aloud and happily. From Alfie’s performance, I saw humans’ unrest
and worry when facing the unexpected virus. When Alfie and her mate, Plus-One, played in the shade, the daily
rhythms and quietness of the owls’ world contrasted with our life.
Many cultures view owls as messengers of God. However, Alfie is flesh and feathers: her heart pumps blood
red as ours. She has her comforts and fears. She is a very real little being overall. Yet, throughout the isolation to
prevent the spread of disease, Alfie loosed herself, living comfortably with her mate in the yard, which certainly
inspired me and my family with hope. She is, in reality, a messenger, one conveying the real meaning of life.
To be fully present in life and love, so natural for Alfie, remains a work in progress for me. Alfie is the perfect
little philosophical master. She enjoys a freedom unpolluted by criticism or doubt, and a liberty as the air flows
beneath her wings. Resisting nothing, she is pure presence, here now. Perhaps I’d long labored toward the place
where Alfie was effortlessly taking me, a sense of openness, showing what’s possible when we mess up our
accustomed boundaries.
Alfie remains our magical light of the nighttime backyard. By day she usually stays in a couple of favorite
shaded spots. The choice is always hers. Free within limits; that’s the universe for her. It can inspire a life’s work.
29．What can we learn about Alfie from the first two paragraphs?
A．She had a quick recovery. B．She was first found by the author.
C．She set up a family in the backyard. D．She was badly affected by the COVID-19.
30．How does Alfie inspire the author and his family with hope?
A．She lives a relaxed life. B．She has no fears at all.
C．She has red blood as humans. D．She is viewed as a messenger of God.
31．What does the author mean by describing Alfie’s freedom as “unpolluted by criticism or doubt” in paragraph
4?
A．Alfie is not influenced by social development.
B．Alfie is free from physical and mental limitations.
C．Alfie is completely independent and self-sufficient.
D．Alfie is not affected by external judgment or uncertainty.
32．What is the text mainly about?
A．The author’s successful rescue of an owl.
B．The author’s reflection on life through an owl.
C．The author’s precious friendship with an owl.
D．The author’s fight against a pandemic with an owl.
（2024届·山西吕梁·校联考一模）Tired of the busy and chaotic life in Las Vegas, Nevada for nearly ten
years, my family and I decided to slow things down. We wanted to lead an environmental-friendly life.
None of us felt that this could be accomplished where we were living and we all agreed that a move to the
country would be great for everyone.Before long we set about looking for a home in Yucca, Arizona, a very small town of less than 1, 000 people.
When I called to inquire about the property, I was informed that there was no electricity available in the area.
What? No electricity? I almost denied the idea immediately. But what better way is there to go green? After giving
it a second thought, we decided to put in an offer and moved in on Thanksgiving Day.
When we first moved to the property, we did some remodeling (改造) and stayed in our motor home. We were
faced with real challenges at the time, which just made us work harder. We slowly got things fixed and moved into
the house after 38 days.
While living here for the past four months has been a big adjustment, there are many benefits to living off the
grid (电线). I think one of the most educational lessons is teaching my kids the importance of conservation. They
used to take water, power and gas for granted. We started taking quicker showers, turning off the water while
brushing our teeth. What’s more, we are also trying to make other changes which include reducing the amount of
trash we generate by recycling, growing our own organic vegetables and re-purposing things that we would
normally throw.
Overall, going off the grid has been great for our family. I hope that once my kids move out of the house, they
will keep the habits that they have learned by living off the grid.
33．What caused the family move to a remote town?
A．The financial trouble. B．The popular trend.
C．The desire of a green life. D．A discounted property.
34．What’s the author’s first reaction to the property with no electricity?
A．Satisfied. B．Astonished. C．Relieved. D．Disappointed.
35．What have the kids acquired from the new lifestyle?
A．The awareness of saving. B．The pleasure of a modern life.
C．The skills of classifying trash. D．The techniques of cooking vegetables.
36．What can be inferred from the text?
A．Leading an eco-friendly life is urgent.
B．A family has managed to live a simple life.
C．A green lifestyle has sprung up nationwide.
D．Getting off the grid made no difference to people.
（2024届·湖南郴州·统考一模）Very few of us become fluent in another language by studying it in high
school. I went to university and then moved across the country, pursued a demanding career, married and raised
children. I made an effort to maintain the little bit of French that I learned in school, but eventually realized that this
was pointless. I was well aware that new languages are best learned when young, and that our abilities in that
regard decline with age.
However, just before my 50th birthday, I signed up for French classes. After I was tested to see which group I
belonged in, I was placed at almost the introductory level. When I looked around at my first Saturday morning
class, I was struck by how many of the students were learning French as a third, fourth, or even fifth language.
Contrary to my assumption that learning a new language was impossibly difficult, there were people who learnednew languages as a matter of course. I found that it really was true that certain linguistic abilities fade with age.
While I’d always thought of myself as a quick learner, that was no longer the case. I absorbed new vocabulary very
slowly. What I learned one week seemed to slip away as soon as I learned the next skill. I looked up the same words
and language structures over and over again.
Now, a couple of years in, I can listen to the news in French and catch 90 percent of it on the first try, read a
novel if the language is not too difficult, and hold up my end of a conversation if it doesn’t go too fast.
Who knows what I might still accomplish? I’ve learned so much beyond grammar and vocabulary. I’ve met
people from around the world and all walks of life who have the courage to make fools of themselves in order to
learn something new. I’ve been taught by patient and inspirational teachers from many corners of the world,
including France, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean and Africa. Listening to the news as it is presented to the people of
France, I have a renewed understanding of how something can look completely different from another perspective.
I’ve learned that a language is not just a set of words, but a way of thinking.
But most of all, I’ve learned that it really is never too late to learn something new.
37．When the author took her first French class, she ________.
A．was encouraged by her classmates
B．was afraid of being unable to learn it
C．was curious about her teachers and classmates
D．was ashamed that she was learning it at such an old age
38．What was the biggest challenge for the author when learning French?
A．She found the language structures puzzling.
B．She often confused French with English.
C．She couldn’t learn things as quickly as before.
D．She made a fool of herself when having conversations in French.
39．After studying French for a few years, the author ________.
A．became a fluent French speaker
B．can teach others French vocabulary and grammar
C．considered listening to news the best way to learn a language
D．became aware of a different cultural perspective
40．What’s the main idea of the article?
A．Age is not a problem for those who are determined to learn new things.
B．People’s abilities to learn languages decline with age.
C．It is important to hang out with different kinds of people.
D．Practice makes perfect when it comes to learning a language.
（2024届·山东·德州市第一中学校联考模拟预测）Damon Carson calls himself a matchmaker (媒人) of
the never-ending waste of American society, trying not to pair people with people, but things with people.
In the late 1990s, Carson was on break from business school in Vail, Colorado, when he discovered the vastworld of waste. He began thinking about creating a secondhand store that would sell old materials and keep them
out of being wasted. As a result, in 2010, his company, Repurposed Materials appeared.
For nearly ten years, his company, Repurposed Materials, has not been looking to recycle the waste he gets —
breaking it down to make something new — but rather finding new homes for thrown-away goods in their original
forms.
Carson, a husband and father of three adult children, is far from wasteful. Frugal is how he describes himself.
The clothes he’s wearing all came from a charity shop; his truck was bought with 290, 000 kilometers driven.
“Why break something down, why melt something down, if it still has value?” he asks. An old oil-field pipe
might be melted down and turned into a car bumper, but it still takes an amount of power to finish the complete
change. Why not leave it as a steel pipe? Why not turn it into a fence post on a farm? The only cost is transport.
American industrial facilities create and throw about 7.6 billion tons of unwanted industrial materials every
year. For the moment, Carson’s unique business finds new lives for millions of kilograms of industrial waste every
year.
41．What is paragraph two mainly about?
A．Carson’s school lessons.
B．Carson’s journey to Colorado.
C．The start of Carson’s business.
D．The serious waste of materials.
42．What is Repurposed Materials aimed at?
A．Marketing wastes to people in need.
B．Breaking down the wasted goods.
C．Manufacturing industrial products.
D．Recycling the thrown-away stuffs.
43．How does Carson describe his life?
A．Economical. B．Poetic. C．Tough. D．Risky.
44．What can we learn from Carson?
A．Well began, half done.
B．Innovative thinking counts.
C．One is never too old to learn.
D．Hard work will pay back.
（2024届·吉林长春·高三东北师大附中一模）Jose Alberto Gutierrez’s life would never be the same again
after finding a copy of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy in the garbage 20 years ago. It happened while he was
driving his garbage truck through wealthier neighborhoods at night and seeing deserted books. It sparked his desire
to start rescuing books from the garbage. He took home between 50 and 60 books every morning after his nine-hour
shift. Eventually, he turned his book collection into a community library.
Colombia’s capital city of Bogota has 13 million residents and 19 public libraries. However, these librariestend to be far away from where rural and poorer communities live. The option of buying new books is non-existent
for families struggling to make ends meet. Having access to a library of books and being taken away to another
world while absorbed in a book is a luxury for the kids who visit Gutierrez’s library.
Gutierrez grew up poor, and his family could not afford to educate him beyond primary school. Nevertheless,
his mother was a keen reader and read stories to him every night. Her love for books left a deep impression on
Gutierrez, who never let a lack of formal education stop him from reading classics by the likes of Victor Hugo,
Mario Vargas Llosa and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Today, his community library, called “The Strength of Words”, occupies most of his home and is piled from
floor to ceiling with fiction and non-fiction titles. Everything from school textbooks to story books can be found in
his collection of more than 20,000 books!
The Strength of Words library opens every weekend. It is not just school-going children who are enjoying the
benefits of The Strength of Words library. Adults are also welcome to expand their horizons and develop new skills
to build a better life for themselves.
Despite having done so much for his community, Gutierrez is not yet content to call it a day. He continues to
search through bins for reading material and has even travelled to book fairs in Mexico and Chile to sell his idea of
building library from unwanted books.
45．What inspired Gutierrez to build the community library?
A．The dilemma he faced on the night shift.
B．The hobby he has started since childhood.
C．Famous novelists he liked very much.
D．Abandoned books he came across at work.
46．What can we learn about Gutierrez’s mother?
A．She was born into a poor family.
B．She bought Gutierrez many books.
C．She influenced Gutierrez greatly.
D．She enjoyed reading Hugo’s works.
47．What does the underlined phrase “call it a day” in the last paragraph mean?
A．Take the time.
B．Stop the work.
C．Make a change.
D．Receive a reward.
48．What does Gutierrez’s story tell us?
A．A book holds a house of gold.
B．The early bird catches the worm.
C．Good things come to those who wait.
D．One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
