[2025 南通市如东县期中]On the first day of school, our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady with a smile. She said, "Hi, handsome! My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?"
I laughed and warmly responded, "Of course you can!" She gave me a big hug. "Why are you in college at such a young, innocent(天真的) age?" I asked.
She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel."
"No, seriously?" I asked. I was curious about what might have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.
"I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!" she told me.
After class we walked to the Student Union building and shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends. Every day of the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always attracted listening to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.
Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon(校园偶像) and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and enjoyed the attention from other students. She was enjoying life.
At the end of the term, we invited Rose to speak at a student gathering. I'll never forget what she taught us. "We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only a few secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humour every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. There are so many people walking around who are dead, and they don't even know it," she said.
"There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability," she added. "But growing up requires finding opportunities in change. Have no regrets. The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do."
She concluded her speech by courageously singing "The Rose". She challenged each of us to study the lyrics(歌词) and live them out in our daily life.
At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years. We'd always keep her in mind because it is the wonderful woman who taught us by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.
()37. Why did Rose go to college according to the passage?
A. To share her wisdom and experience.
B. To find out the secret of living longer.
C. To make her college dream come true.
D. To get married to a wealthy husband.
()38. (创新考法·代词指代)What does the underlined word "it" refer to?
A. People are dead in spirit.
B. People are achieving success.
C. People are walking around.
D. People are growing older.
()39. Which is the correct order of the following events?
a. Rose graduated from college.
b. Rose gave an encouraging speech.
c. Rose and the writer became friends.
d. Rose introduced herself to the writer.
e. Rose became popular among students.
f. Rose greeted the writer with a big hug.
A. f-e-b-c-d-a B. f-c-a-b-d-e C. d-b-e-a-c-f D. d-f-c-e-b-a
()40. What lesson can we learn from Rose's story?
A. Being generous to people helps us gain respect from them.
B. Growing up is easy while growing older needs efforts.
C. Doing what we dream of helps avoid regrets in the future.
D. Making good friends helps people stay young forever.
第二节 请认真阅读下面短文,从短文后所给的六个选项中选出五个可