When Webster was young, he was a teacher. But he quickly became tired of the books he used in
classes. They were all about the English people and places. Since he wanted books that would be
interesting to American children, he wrote three books with many American examples.
      Webster worked industriously (勤奋地) to change the spelling of American English. He wanted
words to be spelled in the same way they were pronounced (发音). For example, he thought the word
"laugh" should be spelled "1af".
     One day he walked into a print shop and gave the boy there a piece of paper. "Young man," he said,
"when you print any please don't spell as English people do. For example when you print these words
"theatre, centre, colour, and labour (劳动)", please always print them as "theater, center, color,
and labor'." The boy studied it and answered, "OK, but I must ask my boss first."
      With the money he made from his books, Webster could start his work, which took him more
than twenty years to finish. In 1828, the first American English dictionary was born. And today,
Webster's dictionary is thought to be the most important American dictionary in the whole world.

1. What kind of books did he use when Webster was young?

[     ]

A. Books about Great Britain.
B. Books about the USA.
C. Books about both Great Britain and the USA.
D. Books that were very interesting.

2. Webster decided to change the spelling of American English because _____.

[     ]

A. he was born in America
B. there were too many mistakes in them
C. American children were not interested in them
D. they were not spelled in the same way they were pronounced

3. On the paper Webster gave the boy were the words _____.

[     ]

A. easy to say
B. that didn't sound well
C. whose pronunciations he wanted to change
D. whose spellings he wanted to change

4. Webster began to write the first American English dictionary before the year _____.

[     ]

A. 1808
B. 1820
C. 1828
D. 1858

    Pearl S．Buck (赛珍珠·巴克) was a very popular American writer of her day. She was famous
for her books about China. Pearl S.Buck was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature (诺贝尔文学奖)
in 1938. The writer was born in West Virginia, America. She spent almost half of her long life in China.
Her youth was spent in Jiangsu Province, China. She learned to speak Chinese before she could speak
English. Her mother had traveled widely in her youth and liked literature very much. After being educated
by her mother and by a Chinese teacher, Pearl S. Buck went to school in Shanghai at the age of fifteen.
She continued her education in the United States at a Woman's College to study psychology (心理学).
After graduating in 1914, she returned to China as a teacher. In the 1920s her family moved to Nanjing.
There she taught English and American literature at a university. As a writer, Buck's book, The Good Earth,
appeared in 1931 and sold quite well in its first year. It has been translated into over thirty languages.
In 1938 she became the third American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. By the time of her death,
Pearl had published (出版) more than seventy books. Pearl S.Buck died in March, 1973, just two months
before her 81^st birthday.
(      )1. Before she went to school in Shanghai, Pearl S.Buck studied all by herself.
(      )2. Pearl S.Buck was known to many people for her books about China．
(      )3. In 1914, Pearl S.Buck worked as a literature teacher at.a university in Nanjing.
(      )4. Pearl S.Buck went to study literature at a Woman's College in America.
(      )5. Pearl S.Buck won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1938 and published over seventy books in her life.

         William Shakespeare was a writer of plays and poems. Some of his most famous plays are Hamlet, Romeo
and Juliet, Macbeth. He wrote thirty-seven plays in all. They are still popular today.
          He was born in 1564 in England. At school he liked watching plays. He decided to be an actor (演员)
when he finished school at the age of fourteen. In 1582, he married a famer's daughter. She was eight years
older than he was. Their first child was a daughter. Later they had twins. In 1585, Shakespeare left his
hometown, Stratfordupon-Avon. His wife and children stayed behind. No one knows why he left or what he
did between 1585 and 1592.
         At twenty-eight he moved to London and joined a theatre company which opened the Globe Theatre in
1599. He became an actor, and he also wrote plays. He usually acted in his own plays. He earned almost no
money from his writing. But he made a lot of money from acting. With the money he bought a large house in
his hometown. At the age of forty-nine, Shakespeare retired (退休) and went to live in Stratford-upon-Avon. He
died at the age of fifty-two. He left his money to his family. He left his genius to the world. You still see his
plays in English and in many other languages. He is one of the most famous writers in the world.

                                                                  

1. Shakespeare wrote many famous plays except __________.

A. Hamlet
B. Macbeth
C. Romeo and Juliet
D. Man and Superman

2. Shakespeare decided to be an actor in _________.

A. 1578
B. 1582
C. 1599
D. 1616

3. In 1585, Shakespeare left his hometown Stratford-upon-Avon _______.

A. with his wife
B. with his daughter
C. with his wife and children
D. alone

4. Shakespeare got much money from _________.

A. writing
B. plays
C. acting
D. retirement

5. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

A. Shakespeare had two children.
B. Shakespeare wrote both plays and poems.
C. Shakespeare left his money to the Globe Theatre.
D. Shakespeare wrote plays in English and some other languages.

     Yao Ming is a famous basketball p______. He was b______ in Shanghai in 1980. He is as t______ as 2.26
metres. His parents are b______ tall. He plays basketball f______ Houston Rockets in the USA. Now more and
more Americans begin to like him. They think he plays very w_______. 
     He usually likes w______ sports clothes. When he has time, he e______ playing computer games and
listening to music. He loves animals. He likes dogs b_______. His f_______ food is sausage and tomatoes.