A famous teacher was speaking to the students at our school. He began his lesson by holding up a ¥100 bill. Then he said to the three hundred students, “Who would like this ¥100 bill?” The students began to put up their hands at once.

    Then he said, “I am going to give this ¥100 to one of you, but first, let me do this.” He then made the bill into a ball. Then he said, “Who wants it now?” The hands went back into the air.

    “Well,” he said, “What if I do this?” and he dropped it on the floor and stepped on it. He picked up the dirty, crumpled bill and said, “Who still wants it?” Hands went back into the air.

    “My friends,” he said, “you have learned a valua­ble lesson today. No matter (无论) what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not go down in value (价值). It was still worth ¥ l00!”

    Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crum­pled, and stepped on by the chances we take and the things that happen to us. We feel as if we are worth nothing. But remember, no matter what has happened to you, you will never lose your value: you are always valuable to those people who love you. Your value doesn't come from what you do or whom you know, but WHO YOU ARE.

    You are special and valuable. Don't ever forget it!

◆根据以上短文内容，然后从每题所给的四个选项中选择最佳选项。

    A young woman turns around and around quickly, and jumps high. In the background, a young girl reads a rejection (拒绝) letter from a ballet school. You have the wrong body for ballet, 'it says,' and at thirteen, you are too old. This was one of the most popular advertisements (广告) of 2014 and it describes American ballet Theatre's principal (主要的) dancer Misty Copeland.

    This was not a real letter. But Copeland says it is very similar to letters from her childhood. While many dancers start at the age of three. Copeland only began to study ballet in 1995 as a thirteen-year-old. People often told her that she was too old, or that she didn't have the perfect body type (She is only 157 cm tall). Her family moved a lot, and it was sometimes difficult for her to attend ballet classes. But Copeland loved dancing and did not want to give up. She stayed with her ballet teacher during the week and spent time with her family only at the weekend. This was a difficult life, but she worked hard and won her first national competition when she was fourteen years old. Copeland joined the American Ballet Theatre in 2000 and performed in many ballets over the next few years. In 2007, she became a solo (单独的) performer, and in 2015 she became its principal dancer.

    Copeland is now a dancer, author and Broadway performer. She also stars in the 2015 film A Ballerina's Tale. So what's next? According to Copeland, anything is possible: "My career (职业) really is just now beginning.'

    A call came into Jimmy Gilleece's bar this past March. A newly married woman who had spent the afternoon at the dive beach bar in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, couldn't find her wallet. She didn't care about her ID, credit cards, or $150 — but her wedding ring was inside it.

    Gilleece, 42, the boss of the bar, didn't like the idea that there was a thief at his place. So he set out to find the wallet. He spent hours looking for the footage (录像) from 16 different cameras, watching the woman's every step in the bar. Finally, a young man caught his eyes. He picked up something from the place where the woman stood and put it in his pocket.

    Gilleece posted the picture on the bar's Facebook and asked if anybody knew who the guy was. Within hours, 17-year-old Rivers Prather came and said he had taken the wallet and told Gilleece he'd done it because he hadn't eaten for two days. He said he saw the ring but thought it was not real, so he took the money and threw the wallet into the ocean. Then he bought a sandwich.

    Prather wasn't getting along with his family and lived in the woods for weeks. Gilleece saw him for what he was: more of a kid than a thief. He found two local divers to search the waters where Prather threw the wallet. After waiting for hours worriedly but luckily, a diver came out from the water with the wallet in his hand, and inside was the ring.

    "Most people would give the footage to police, but the boss chose to help me," Prather told CBS News. "I say thank you to him every day."

阅读下列短文, 从下面每个小题的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出最佳选项。

A study conducted by the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom suggest that watching cute animals may lead to a reduction in stress and anxiety.

The study examined how watching images and videos of cute animals for 30 minutes affects blood pressure, heart rate(心率) and anxiety. In December 2019, 19 people, including 15 students, joined in the study.

"There were some kittens, there was puppies, there were baby gorillas, there were quokkas —cute creatures found in Western Australia, are often referred to as 'the world's most cheerful animals'." Dr. Andrea Utley, a professor at the University of Leeds told CNN. The study was timed during winter exams, a time when stress is at an especially high level for students, according to Utley.

 The study recorded that the average blood pressure dropped from 136/88 to 115/71, which the study pointed out is "within ideal blood pressure range." Average(平均的) heart rates were lowered to 67.4 bpm, a reduction of 6.5%. Anxiety rates also went down by 35%.

"I was quite pleasantly surprised that during the session, every single measure for every single participant dropped some — heart rate reduced, blood pressure reduced," Utley said. "When they left, they filled the questionnaire(调查问卷) in again and showed that they were feeling less worried."

When questioning the participants, the study found that most preferred video clips over still images, particularly of animals interacting with humans.

Keeping pets has become popular. Cats and dogs are the two most common pets. People also keep other pets like rabbits, birds, and even snakes. People like staying with pets because keeping a pet is good for them. Here are some points about it. 

It can be a great way to learn how to be responsible(有责任感的) through having a pet. What's more, feeding pets helps us learn to care for the people around us. 

Keeping pets is good for our health. Walking a dog can help us get more exercise and improve our health. Playing with a cat or other small pets can also be a great way to get some body exercise. 

 ▲    They make us feel less lonely and offer us security(安全感). When people stay with a cat, they will feel more relaxed than staying alone. And people can sleep well at night in the company of a pet. 

In a word, having a pet can be a wonderful experience.