閱讀理解 A
Every time I stare at the rows of jars filled with my parents' homemade tomato sauce, I wonder: "Should I really use one?"
I have been keeping these jars like precious treasures. No matter how hard I try to find alternatives, nothing compares. Store-bought sauce? It never tastes right. Even if I try to recreate it, it will never taste the same.
While growing up, I hated the tomato season. My parents would use the basement to ripen the tomatoes they had collected locally in September. Like the other Italian families in the area, we would then take them to the factory when they were ripe enough. There they were cleaned and boiled.
Having been stewed(燉), whole tomatoes were passed through my father's homemade machine to separate the sauce from the skins. Jars were ready. We filled them with sauce and seasoning. The jars would be hot for a few days, sealed(密封) to keep their own heat. They would then be lined up and ready to use.
This tradition was hard to carry on when my father got ill. After being diagnosed(診斷) with cancer in 2019, he spent most of his time in hospital. In September that year he came home, and on the weekend we decided to continue the tradition. I have glorious memories of that day as we once again made the sauce. It was a beautiful but short-lived moment. My father died soon after.
I can't keep these jars forever. But it doesn't make it any easier to open one. Every time I go to reach for one, something stops me. My mother, ever practical, is visiting us recently and just stares at them.
"You should use these or they will go to waste."
What will it feel like to use that last jar? It would mean the end of an era. Who knows? Maybe it's time to bring new traditions into life.
1. What stops the author from using the tomato sauce?
A. It has gone bad.
B. He doesn't like tomato sauce.
C. He keeps it for future use.
D. He values it too much.
2. What do Paragraphs 3 & 4 mainly talk about?
A. The author's love for his father.
B. The homemade machine.
C. The fruitful tomato season.
D. The making of tomato sauce.
3. What will the author most probably do next?
A. Open one jar.
B. Keep the jars.
C. Collect tomatoes.
D. Make tomato sauce.
4. Which of the following words can best describe the author?
A. Practical.
B. Faithful.
C. Loving.
D. Sensitive.
答案：1. D
解析：作者將番茄醬視為珍寶，因它承載著父親的回憶，“values it too much”（過于珍視）而不忍使用，選D。
2. D
解析：第三、四段詳細(xì)描述了制作番茄醬的過程（成熟、清洗、燉煮、裝罐等），選D。
3. A
解析：母親建議“use these or they will go to waste”，結(jié)合最后“bring new traditions into life”，作者可能會(huì)打開一罐，選A。
4. C
解析：作者對父親的愛和對傳統(tǒng)的珍視體現(xiàn)了“l(fā)oving”（充滿愛的），選C。
閱讀理解 B
Stage fright, also called performance anxiety, affects actors of all ages and experience levels, from rookie kindergarteners to Broadway stars. Take Bella Merlin for example. She's a professor of acting and directing at the University of California, Riverside. She has also acted for many seasons in several US theaters. Yet, she says, "For seven years, I feared the ones thing I loved: acting."
Signs of stage fright include sweating, rapid breathing, tightness in the chest and "butterflies" in the stomach. Not everyone shows all these signs or experiences them with the same intensity(強(qiáng)度). Yet extreme fear can make some actors escape mid-performance and bring the curtains down on promising careers.
It seems reasonable to blame stage fright entirely on bad-tempered directors or complicated lines. But psychologists have found the physical signs actually reflect deep-rooted fears of one's own negative future outcomes without including any positive alternatives.
What are these fears? One is that of making mistakes. A few actors are afraid any error will ruin their own or their group's reputation. These may include mispronouncing a word.
For those who have been performing for a while, memories of negative experiences can be an added burden. You're remembering last year's school play and imagining your classmates laughing at your errors. This distracts your attention, raising the chance that you'll make another error.
There's a different worry for actors who put a lot of themselves into their characters. They fear that by not accepting their onstage personalities, the audience is labeling them as "worthless" in real life, too.
Whatever the fear, stage fright activates(激活) a stress-response system in your body. The alarm activating this system comes from an almond-shaped area in the brain called the amygdala. After it sounds the alarm, your body floods with two chemicals: adrenaline and cortisol. They make your heart beat faster and tighten your muscles, putting you into a fight-or-flight mode.
Since stage fright originates in the brain, you might expect the cure exists there, too. You'd be right.
5. Why is Bella Merlin mentioned in Paragraph 1?
A. To illustrate what stage fright is.
B. To show stage fright is quite common.
C. To introduce a famous Broadway star.
D. To explain her mixed feelings about acting.
6. What does the underlined phrase "bring the curtains down on" mean in Paragraph 2?
A. Go ahead with.
B. Look forward to.
C. Bring an end to.
D. Make a difference to.
7. Which of the following is a reason for stage fright?
A. Worries about making any errors.
B. No previous performing experiences.
C. Lines too complicated to remember.
D. Lack of devotion to stage performance.
答案：5. B
解析：第一段提到Bella Merlin作為資深演員仍受舞臺(tái)恐懼困擾，是為了說明舞臺(tái)恐懼“很常見”（quite common），選B。
6. C
解析：“bring the curtains down on promising careers”（結(jié)束有前途的職業(yè)生涯），“bring an end to”（終結(jié)）符合，選C。
7. A
解析：第四段提到“One is that of making mistakes”，擔(dān)心犯錯(cuò)是舞臺(tái)恐懼的原因之一，選A。
