OnacoolNovemberafternooninFlemingIslandFloridaMelissaHawkinson41wasdrivingherfive-year-oldtwinshomefromschoolwhenshesawasuddensplashinDoctorsLakejustahead.Whatwasthat?Shethought.Asshedroveuptothes

Question

On a cool November afternoon in Fleming Island Florida Melissa Hawkinson 41 was driving her five-year-old twins home from school when she saw a sudden splash in Doctors Lake just ahead. What was that? She thought. As she drove up to the scene she saw a half-submerged car sinking about 30 yards offshore. “It was going down pretty quickly ” Hawkinson recalls. She stopped the car near the boat ramp and ran toward the water. Water is going to be cold she thought.

She took off her vest and leather boots got into the icy water and swam to the car where she found Cameron Dorsey five trapped into his car as the swirling water rose around him.

Hawkinson tried to open the door but it was locked. So she pushed and pulled hard on the partially open window until she could reach through and unlock the door. She pulled the boy free swam to shore and handed him off to onlookers who were only watching them on a dock. The driver the boy’s suicidal father swam back to land on his own. Afterward Hawkinson sat on the shore wrapped in a blanket. “For ten or 15 minutes I couldn’t stop shaking ” she said.

There’s nothing visibly extraordinary about Melissa Hawkinson an energetic stay-at-home mom with brown hair and a sweet smile. Yet something made her different from the dockside onlookers that day. Why do some people act quickly willing to take a risk for a stranger? What makes them run toward danger rather than away from it? Hawkinson the Granite Mountain Hotshots (能手，高手)---19 of whom lost their life this past summer in Arizona--- every hero who puts his or her life on the line to save another: what makes them brave?

Moreover can bravery be learned or is it a quality with which you are born? The answer is complex. Bravery taps the mind brain and heart. It comes from instinct training and sympathy. Today neurologists psychologists and other researchers are studying bravery trying to uncover the mystery.

1.It can be learned from the passage that _______.

A. Melissa Hawkinson was a 41-year-old nurse

B. it was spring when the accident happened

C. Melissa Hawkinson was picking up her five-year-old son

D. Melissa Hawkinson was kind and courageous.

2.What conclusion can we draw from the third paragraph?

A. Not everyone was ready to risk saving the five-year-old boy..

B. The father committed suicide because of the divorce.

C. The father was saved in the end by Melissa Hawkinson.

D. No one else was available except Melissa Hawkinson.

3.How does the writer find other people on the dockside?

A. Warm and ready to help B. Thoughtful

C. Kind of cold-blooded D. Not skillful at swimming

4.What is the writer’s purpose of writing this passage?

A. To set us thinking what makes people brave.

B. To call on us to learn from such people as Hawkinson.

C. To remind people of risk while saving others.

D. To show people bravery can be learned.

 

Answer 1

1.D

2.A

3.C

4.A

分 析：
文章通过讲述Melissa Hawkinson 冒生命危险在冰冷的水中救出被困在汽车里面的孩子，而很多人只是在一旁观看，由此作者引发感想，是什么让一些人这么勇敢？

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考点：
考查人生百味类短文