I cry easily. I cried when a boy in the film suffered from an incurable disease. I cried when an athlete broke a world record.
One night my wife and I were going to dinner at a friend ' s．As we went towards the house, I noticed a car pulling out from the sidewalk．Just ahead, another car was waiting to back into the parking space．But before he could do so a yellow car came up from behind and sneaked into the space．
While my wife went ahead into our friend' s house, I stepped into the street．
“Hey,” I said, “this parking space belongs to that guy．” I gestured towards the man ahead, who was looking back angrily．At that moment I was feeling pretty manly．
“ Mind your own business!” the driver told me．
“No,” I said．“You don' t understand．That fellow was waiting to back into this space．”
Things quickly heated up, until finally he jumped out of the car．My God, he was extremely large．He grabbed me and shook his rock of a fist at me．I tasted blood．I was terrified．
Almost in a panic, I ran to my friend ' s front door．As a former Marine （海军） , as a man, I felt absolutely embarrassed as my wife and friends asked me what had happened．All I could say was that I had had an argument about a parking space．They were sensitive and let it go at that．
Perhaps half an hour later, the doorbell rang．For some reason I was sure that the huge man had returned for me．My blood ran cold．My hostess got up to answer it, but I stopped her．I knew I had to face up to my fear．
I opened the door．There he stood．“I came back to apologize,” he said in a low voice．“I am ashamed of myself．The Brooklyn Navy Yard where I've worked for ten years is closing．Today I got laid off．I' m not myself．I hope you’ ll accept my apology．”
I remembered that after I closed the door, I stood there for a few minutes alone with tears in my eyes．
【小题1】What did the author do when a yellow car drove into the parking space?

A．He beat the driver．

B．He blamed the driver．

C．He asked the driver to apologize．

D．He ran to his friend' s house for help．

【小题2】What do we know about the yellow car' s driver?

A．He was rude and liked fighting．

B．He was famous for his bad temper．

C．He lost his job and felt terrible that day．

D．He tried to get the author' s parking space．

【小题3】What does the underlined sentence mean?

A．I became quite calm．

B．I felt extremely frightened．

C．I couldn't move with cold．

D．I was too angry to say anything．

【小题4】What kind of person is the author?

A．Direct and serious．	B．Humorous and open - minded．
C．Honest and ambitious．	D．Warm - hearted and understanding

“Mark Twain” was the name used by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835～1910) when he wrote books.His father was a lawyer，but a poor one，who lived in Florida，Missouri.The family was so poor that Samuel did not receive much teaching.He had to learn all that he could from the people whom he met.His father died when he was very young，and then there was even less money than before.
Many of the men in this part of America worked in the ships on the great Mississippi River，and he did this himself at one time (1857).
Where did he find the name “Mark Twain”？ It came from the great river itself.It was part of one of the cries used by men who worked in the ships.When a man called “By the mark twain！” he meant that the river was “two marks deep” there，that is to say，six feet deep ( “Twain” is an old form of the word “Two”.) Samuel Clemens often heard these words when he was young，and he used them as a pen name all his life.
During his work on the Mississippi he met travelers of all kinds，and this helped him a great deal when he started to write.But the number of travelers became smaller when war started in America in 1861.Many of the great ships on the river stopped work.Samuel left then and went to Nevada with his brother，who was at that time Governor of Nevada.There，near the town of Carson，Samuel became a gold miner，but he never made much money at the time.He soon saw that life in the gold mines was not for him.He also tried writing for the newspapers in Nevada，and this seemed more hopeful.He found that he could write.
He went to Europe in 1867 and visited France and Italy.In 1870 he married Olivia Langdon，and two years later he was spending nearly all his time writing.Among his books is his own story (1908).
He is now always known as Mark Twain，and many people do not even know that his family name was Clemens.He traveled in America and in England，and went to Oxford in 1907.He was one of the great American writers of the time，and could make his readers laugh—a thing which few writers can do.He died in 1910.
【小题1】“Mark Twain” was         .

A．a famous American writer

B．name of a book

C．a great river in America

D．a large ship

【小题2】As a child，Samuel did not get much education because         .

A．his father died too early

B．the family was very poor

C．he disliked school very much

D．he could learn what he liked from the people he met

【小题3】What gave him a great deal when he started writing?

A．His poor childhood.

B．The Mississippi River.

C．All kinds of travelers he met.

D．His brother.

【小题4】We can infer（推断）from the passage that         .

A．Samuel loved writing from his early age

B．Samuel did not love writing at the beginning

C．his writings to the newspaper were successful

D．his brother encouraged him to write more

【小题5】According to the writer of the passage，a good writer could         .

A．write a lot for his readers

B．make a lot of money for his family

C．cause his readers to laugh

D．travel everywhere he wanted

Thomas Lagos graduated from Wittenburg University in Ohio in only one year. His father, a Greek immigrant（移民）, said, “Whatever Tommy do, he’ll like to do fast.”
Thomas studied at Showee High School. He taught himself to read 750 words a minute. While he was in high school, he took  of the 36 credits（学分）he needed to graduate from university. He took another 12 credits at the university simply taking examinations without attending the courses. The remaining credits he took by the old fashioned method of attending classes.
He studied very well, so he graduated with the greatest honours. Now at the age of nineteen, he has entered the graduate school of Michigan University. He is studying law.
【小题1】Thomas Lagos is        .

A．a Greek	B．an American in Greece
C．an immigrant	D．an American

【小题2】Thomas’s father          .

A．speaks English poorly	B．speaks English perfectly
C．does not speak English	D．is an Englishman

【小题3】The number of credits Thomas took by attending university courses was        .

A．36

B．

C．

D．12

【小题4】Thomas entered Wittenburg University          .

A．at the age of 19	B．in one year
C．with the greatest honours	D．at the age of 18

【小题5】Thomas’s course         .

A．can hardly be taken in an ordinary way	B．is unworthy
C．is good for boy students to take	D．should be widely taken

From Monday until Friday most people are busy working or studying, but in the evenings and on weekends they are free to relax and enjoy themselves. Some watch TV or go to the movies; others take part in sports. It depends on individual interest. There are many different ways to spend our spare time.
Almost everyone has some kind of hobby. It may be anything from collecting stamps to making model airplanes. Some hobbies are very expensive, but others don’t cost anything at all. Some collections are worth a lot of money; others are valuable only to their owners.
I know a man who has a coin collection worth several thousand dollars. A short time ago he bought a rare fifty-cent piece worth $250！He was very happy about his purchase (buying) and thought the price was reasonable. On the other hand, my youngest brother collects matchboxes. He has almost 600 of them but I doubt if they are worth any money. However, to my brother they are extremely valuable. Nothing makes him happier than to find a new matchbox for his collection.
That’s what a hobby means, I guess. It is something we like to do in our spare time simply for the fun of it. The value in dollars is not important, but the pleasure it gives us is.
【小题1】The word “individual” in the first paragraph most probably means        .

A．different

B．strange

C．secret

D．one’s own

【小题2】According to the passage, most people are          from Monday until Friday.

A．free to relax and enjoy themselves	B．busy working or studying
C．free to take part in sports games	D．busy watching TV and going to the cinema

【小题3】Something that one enjoys doing in one’s spare time is a          .

A．job

B．pleasure

C．hobby

D．contribution

【小题4】In the writer’s opinion,             .

A．all hobbies are very expensive	B．some hobbies don’t cost anything
C．hobbies are worthless	D．hobbies are valuable to everybody

When Callie Rogers won almost 1.9 million pounds on the lottery(彩票) at 16, she hoped it would help her put her troubles behind her. The teenager came from a broken home, had dropped out of school and was living in local authority care.
Rogers, from Cumbria, England, won the National Lottery in 2003. Then she began spending her money wildlly, buying four homes for her family, flash cars and designer clothes, partying and having some cosmetic (整容的) surgery. Two weeks after her win, she married and had two children. But then she spent 250, 000 pounds on cocaine (可卡因) and suffered depression. Earlier this year she lost the right to take care of her children because of her mental state.
She became addicted to drugs and attempted suicide three times as her life unraveled. She says the money brought her only misery. Now she is down to her last 100 000 pounds, but she has never been happier.
Now 22, she said：“Just a few months ago I was taking too many drugs and hated myself. I simply did not want to live any more. But now I have a new man and am finally becoming the woman I want to be. And it's only after I've spent most of my fortune that this has finally happened.”
“I need to get my act together and make my kids proud, and for the first time I really do think that's possible.” She credits her new boyfriend with giving her the stable home life she has always longed for and she now hopes to go to college and eventually become a counselor. “After all I've experienced, I think I have a lot of advice to offer，” she said.
【小题1】Why was Rogers not allowed to look after her children?

A．She was in a bad mental state.	B．She was addicted to using drugs.
C．She was not responsible for them.	D．She was too poor to support them.

【小题2】What can we learn about Rogers from Paragraph 3?

A．Being addicted to drugs cost her everything.

B．Money didn't bring her happiness as expected.

C．Rogers felt much happier with her money gone.

D．Too much money allowed her to do what she wanted.

【小题3】What caused Rogers to change and start a new life?

A．The loss of money.	B．Her bitter past.
C．Her husband and children.	D．Her new boyfriend.

【小题4】Why does Rogers hope to go to college?

A．She intends to find a good job.	B．She expects to become a professor.
C．She longs to improve her situation.	D．She wants to offer advice for others.

O．Henry，born in Greensboro，North Carolina，was the pen name of William Sydney Porter.His father，Algernon Sidney Porter，was a physician.When William was three years old，his mother died，and he was raised by his grandmother and aunt.William was a good reader，but at the age of fifteen he left school，and worked in a drug store and later on a Texas farm.After that，he moved to Houston，where he had a number of jobs，including that of bank clerk.After moving to Austin，Texas，in 1882，he married.
In 1884 he started a humorous weekly The  Rolling Stone.When the weekly failed，he joined The  Houston Post as a reporter and columnist(专栏作家)．In 1897 he was put into prison over some financial(财务的)dealings.While in prison，William started to write short stories to earn money to support his daughter Margaret.His first work，Whistling Dick’s Christmas Stocking(1899)，appeared in McClure’s Magazine.After serving three years of the five years’ sentence，he changed his name to O．Henry，hoping to forget his bitter past.
O．Henry moved to New York City in 1902 and from December 1903 to January 1906 he wrote a story a week for the New York World，and also published the stories in other magazines.His first collection，Cabbages and Kings，appeared in 1904.Many other works quickly followed，such as The Gift of the Magi and The Furnished Room.O.Henry’s best known work is The Ransom of Red Chief.His stories always have surprising endings.He published 10 collections and over 600 short stories during his lifetime.
O．Henry’s last years were shadowed by drinking，ill health，and financial problems.In 1907，he experienced a failed marriage.In 1910，O.Henry died after an illness.
【小题1】What’s the passage mainly about?

A．A brief introduction to O．Henry.

B．O.Henry’s career and marriage.

C．How O．Henry became a well­known writer.

D．O.Henry’s best known works.

【小题2】It can be inferred from the passage that O．Henry ________.

A．didn’t like to study during his childhood

B．had little parental love as a child

C．was very interested in medicine and farming

D．took up only one job after he moved to Houston

【小题3】Which is the right time order for the following events in O．Henry’s life?
①He moved to New York City.
②He joined The Houston Post.
③Whistling Dick’s Christmas Stocking came out.
④The Furnished Room came out.
⑤Cabbages and Kings appeared.

A．①②③④⑤

B．②①③⑤④

C．③②①④⑤

D．②③①⑤④

【小题4】Which of the following works of O. Henry’s is the most popular according to the passage?

A．Cabbages and Kings.

B．The Gift of the Magi.

C．The Furnished Room.

D．The Ransom of Red Chief.

A driver stopped his car on a street side to have a rest. As he lay down in the seat and closed his eyes, a person came up and knocked at the window to ask the time. The driver opened his eyes and looked at his watch. “It’s 8:05,” he said. Then he went to sleep again. But soon he was waken up again because a second person was knocking at the window. “Sir, do you know the time?” he asked. The driver looked at his watch, and told him it was half past eight.
In this way, the driver thought he could not have a good rest, so he wrote a short note and stuck it on the window for all to see. It said, “ I don’t know the time.”
Again, he lay down in the seat for his sleep. A few minutes later, a third person came and began to knock at the window, “Hey, sir,” he said. “It’s 8:45.”
【小题1】 Where did the driver sleep?

A．At the window.

B．In the street road.

C．In his car.

D．In his room.

【小题2】How long had the driver been there when the third person called him?

A．40 minutes.

B．25 minutes.

C．50 minutes.

D．70 minutes.

【小题3】 Why did the driver write a note and stick it on the window?

A．Because he didn’t know the time.

B．Because he didn’t want anybody to trouble him.

C．Because he needed somebody to wake him up.

D．Because he wanted somebody to tell him the time.

【小题4】 The third person knocked at the window to _____.

A．ask him the time	B．ask him not to sleep
C．see if the driver was sleeping	D． tell him what time it was

【小题5】 What do you think of the third person?

A．Cold-hearted.

B．Helpful.

C．Thankful.

D．Hopeful.

Christopher Thomas, 27, was a writer by night and a teacher by day when he noticed he was always tired and was losing weight fast. Diagnosed with diabetes(糖尿病), Thomas would need to inject himself with insulin(胰岛素) three times a day for the rest of his life or risk nerve damage, blindness, and even death. And if that weren't bad enough, he had no health insurance.
After a month of feeling upset, Thomas decided he'd better find a way to fight back. He left Canton, Michigan for New York, got a job waiting tables, nicknamed himself the Diabetic Rockstar, and created diabeticrockstar.com, a free online community for diabetics and their loved ones—a place where over 1,100 people share personal stories, information, and resources.
Jason Swencki’s son, Kody, was diagnosed with type diabetes at six. Father and son visit the online children's forums(论坛) together most evenings. "Kody gets so excited, writing to kids from all over," says Swencki, one of the site's volunteers. "They know what he's going through, so he doesn't feel alone."
Kody is anything but alone: Diabetes is now the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, with 24 million diagnosed cases. And more people are being diagnosed at younger ages.
These days, Thomas's main focus is his charity（慈善机构）, Fight It, which provides medicines and supplies to people—225 to date—who can't afford a diabetic's huge expenses. Fight-it.org has raised about $23,000—in products and in cash. In May, Thomas will hold the first annual Diabetic Rockstar Festival in the Caribbean.
Even with a staff of 22 volunteers, Thomas often devotes up to 50 hours a week to his cause, while still doing his full-time job waiting tables. "Of the diabetes charities out there, most are putting money into finding a cure," says Bentley Gubar, one of Rockstar's original members. "But Christopher is the only person I know saying people need help now."
【小题1】Which of the following is true of Christopher Thomas?

A．He needs to go to the doctor every day.

B．He studies the leading cause of diabetes

C．He has a positive attitude to this disease.

D．He encourages diabetics by writing articles.

【小题2】 Diabeitcrockstar.com was created for _________.

A．diabetics to communicate	B．volunteers to find jobs
C．children to amuse themselves	D．rock stars to share resources.

【小题3】According to the text, Kody ______.

A．feel lonely because of his illness	B．benefits from diabeticrockstar.com
C．helps create the online kid’s forums	D．writes children’s stories online

【小题4】What can we learn about Fight It?

A．It helps the diabetics in financial difficulties.

B．It organizes parties for volunteer once a year.

C．It offers less expensive medicine to diabetics.

D．It owns a well-known medical website.

【小题5】The last paragraph suggests that Thomas ______.

A．works full-time in a diabetes charity	B．employs 22 people for his website
C．helps diabetics in his own way	D．ties to find a cure for diabetes

In the 1930s, a lot of people in the USA were out of work. Among these people was a man named Alfred Butts. He always had an interest in word games and so, to fill his time, he planned a game which he called ‘Lexico’. However, he was not completely satisfied with the game, so he made a number of changes to it and, in time, changed its name from ‘Lexico’ to ‘Alph’ and then to ‘Criss Cross’. He wanted to make some money from his new game but he didn't have any real commercial success.
In 1939, Butts happened to meet a man called Jim Brunot who showed an interest in the new game. The two men worked together on developing the game and in 1948 it was offered for sale in the United States under its new name —‘Scrabble’.
At first, it didn't sell very well. In the first year it sold just 2,250 sets and by 1951 it had only reached 8,500 sets a year.
Then, in 1952 the manager of Macy's department store in New York, Jack Strauss, happened to play ‘Scrabble’ while he was on holiday. He thought it was a wonderful game and, when he went back to work after his holiday, he insisted that Macy's should stock（储备）the game and make an effort to call the public's attention to it.
As a result, ‘scrabble’ became a big success in the United States and it soon spread to Australia and then to other English-speaking countries.
【小题1】The text is mainly about       .

A．‘Lexico’

B．three men

C．a word game

D．Alfred Butts

【小题2】Alfred Butts invented the game ‘Lexico’        .

A．to make himself famous

B．to make spelling simpler

C．when he was out of work and looking for a job

D．when he was playing word games to pass the time

【小题3】 Who made ‘Scrabble’ popular?

A．Alfred Butts.	B．Jack Strauss.
C．Alfred Butts and Jim Brunot.	D．Jack Strauss and Jim Brunot.

【小题4】When did Alfred Butts first put his game on the market?

A．In 1939.	B．In 1948.
C．Before 1939.	D．Between 1939 and 1948.

Rachael lives in Wisconsin and has lived there all her life. She is just an average girl; at first when you are around her, she seems to be very shy. If you get to know her, she’ll start to open up but always keep things to herself.
Sports are something that keeps her going, a way to release stress. Usually, you will see Rachael out with friends or just sitting down reading a good book. She takes pride in the fact that she can read a whole book in one day, and that she still doesn’t consider herself a bookworm.
Some people call Rachael strange because of things she does. She’s learned to disregard what other people think because she just doesn’t care any more. She likes to surround herself with people like her so it makes he feel like she is the less strange one in most situations.
Rachael wants to be two completely different people in her life. A communication journalist for one, she has always wanted to be that person. The second possible career would be lawyer. It’s a huge goal, and one day you’ll see her doing something she loves.
Influenced by her parents, Rachael enjoys listening to all kinds of music. Rarely, if ever, do you see her without some sort of music. Every morning you can see Rachael in her bathroom getting ready for school with her player at maximum volume(音量).Her parents always get mad at her about that, but she can’t hear them anyway over the music. They don’t know that she uses their surround sound stereo when they aren’t at home!
【小题1】 Rachael likes to be with people like her because_______.

A．she only wants to make friends with the people like her

B．many people think she is strange and don’t like to be with her

C．she knows there are many other people who are also strange

D．it makes her feel like she is not so strange as people think

【小题2】 The underlined word “disregard” in the third paragraph probably means “_______”.

A．ignore

B．realize

C．accept

D．mind

【小题3】Rachael’s parents don’t like their children to _______.

A．be late for school

B．use their surround sound stereo

C．listen to the music in the bathroom

D．play music to loudly

【小题4】It can be inferred from the passage that______.

A．Rachael likes to be different from others

B．Rachael never reads books carefully

C．Rachael will be a lawyer in the future

D．Rachael’s parents also like music

【小题5】The passage mentions the following about Rachael EXCEPT her_______.

A．hobby

B．personality

C．ideal jobs

D．appearance