湖北省天门市、仙桃市、潜江市2017-2018学年高一英语下学期期末联考试题
Edison Park Community（社区）Church stood for 87 years in northwest Chicago before it was pulled down in2016. Churches come and go, but what makes the passing of the church impressive is the beautiful way its members chose to go out.
Edison Park Community had 300 active members in the 1960s. But by the time the most recent minister（牧师）, Rev. Katherine Karch took over, 12 years ago, membership had shrunk unexpectedly. By last year, Edison Park Community was home to only 30 m3mbers. “We couldn’t pay the bills anymore.”Karch says. The church’s members had little choice but to sell their brick building. A developer paid $740,000 for the property（财产）and planned to tear down the church to make room for single-family homes.
Yet the sale of the property created a major change. Edison Park Community is part of the United Church of Christ, in which each church is owned by its members. That means the church belonged to its members. They had the right to deal with the earnings from the sale as they wished.
Yet almost a century of baptisms（洗礼）and Sunday socials had laid down strong community roots. Karch says there was only one idea considered from the start. “What they have chosen to do is donate（捐赠）that money to charities.” she says.
Their first check, for $100,000, went to the Greater Chicago Food and provided more than 300,000 meals for the hungry. Other beneficiaries（受益者）include United Church of Christ’s disaster-relief efforts, and a no-kill animal shelter. Let these extraordinary stories of generosity inspire you to give back to your community.
24. When did Edison Park Community Church begin to stand?
A. In 1929.
B. In 1960.
C. In 1987.
D. In 2004.
25. What does the underlined word in paragraph 2 “shrunk” probably refer to?
A. Ranked.
B. Reduced.
C. Disappeared.
D. Increased.
26. What did the church members do after the sale of the church?
A. They rebuilt another church.
B. They equally shared the money.
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