Mark Twain’s First Money

Mark Twain was asked one day if he could remember the first money he ever earned．

He thought a long time and then said , “Yes, it was at school．I can remember everything about it ．School boys in those days did not take good care of their chairs and desks．There was a rule in our school that if anyone damaged his desk or chair, he would have to pay five dollars or  the teacher would beat him in front of the whole school．”

“One day I damaged my desk in some way, I had to pay five dollars or be beaten before the whole school．My father said it would be too bad to have our family disgraced in front of the whole school．He agreed to give me five dollars to hand over the teacher．But before he gave me the money, he took me upstairs and gave me a beating．”

“But as I had one beating and I decided I would take another beating at school and keep the  five dollars．So that’s what I did．That was the first money I ever earned．”

1.Mark Twain earned his first money _________．

A．when he was a pupil                     B．when he became a writer

C．when he taught at a school                D．when he was beaten by his father

2.The school made the rule so that they could_____．

A．teach the students well                   B．give the students a beating

C．keep the desks and chairs well             D．ask the students for more money

3.Mark Twain’s father______．

A．was happy to give him the money

B．got angry when he knew what Mark Twain had done at school

C．said sorry to the teacher when he heard the news

D．agreed to beat Mark Twain and then give him the money

4.Mark Twain was beaten_______．

A．at home          B．only by his father    C．at school          D．both at school and at home

 

 

Hu Yaohui, a schoolgirl in Zhejiang province, didn’t want to speak or eat for a week. She kept worrying about her scores on the exam. “I can’t stop thinking about my place in the class,” she said. “I feel stressed out.”

Hu is not the only one who faces stress. According to a recent survey conducted by Wuhan University of Hubei province, 70 percent of the 2,000 students who are going to take the college and high school entrance exams feel under pressure (压力).

Stress is a normal physical response (反应) to things that make people feel worried or break their balance of life in some way.

Stress isn’t always bad. Sometimes, people’s stress is important during emergency situations, such as when a driver has to stop his car to avoid an accident. Sometimes, stress can help people do their best — like while getting ready before a big competition or exam.

However, too much or long-term stress gives people a stress overload (负荷过多). People with stress overloads may have problems remembering or concentrating on things. They are quick to get angry or lose patience. They may even have other problems, such as sleeping problems, headaches and often getting colds.

The most helpful way to deal with stress overloads is to learn how to manage the stress. For example, you might manage it by getting a good night’s sleep, or by exercising every day.

Another good way to deal with stress is to ask parents or friends for help. Everyone has stress. For many people, stress is so common that it has become a way of life. Don’t be too shy to tell others that you are having a hard time. They may comfort you or give you some useful advice. Sometimes just sharing your problems with someone else can make you feel better.

1.Hu Yaohui felt stressed out about ________.

A. her marks on the exams

B. which seat to take during exams

C. not being able to sit in the front

D. not being allowed to eat in class

2.According to the survey in Paragraph 2, _______ of the 2,000 students who will take entrance exams feel stressed.

A. nearly half                       B. about 1,400

C. almost seven hundred             D. about one seventh

3.Which of the following is TRUE?

A. Stress is a kind of serious heart disease.

B. Stress is always bad for people.

C. Stress is always useless for an exam.

D. Stress is greatly needed sometimes.

4.This passage is mainly about “________”.

A. Many students face stress now.

B. People’s stress is always important.

C. How to get less stress

D. How to get good results with the help of stress.

 

Sometimes people come into your life and you know at once that they were sure to be there. They serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson or help find out who you are or who you want to become. You never know who these people may be: your classmate, neighbor, teacher, long-lost friend or even a real stranger. But you know that every moment they will affect (影响) your life in some serious way.

Sometimes things happen to you. At the time they may seem terrible, painful (痛苦的) and unfair. But later you realize that without getting over those difficulties you would have never realized your further ability and strength. Everything happens for a reason and nothing happens by chance or with good or bad luck.

The people you meet affect your life, and the successes and failure (失败) you experience, create who you are. Even the bad experiences can be learned from. In fact, they are probably the most poignant and important ones.

Enjoy every day even every moment and take from it everything that you possibly can, for you may never be able to experience it again. Talk to people you have never talked to before, and really listen. You should set your sights high, hold your head up, tell yourself you are a great one and believe in yourself.

You can make your life anything you wish. Create your own life and then go out and live it.

1. The people we meet      .

A. all know where to find us       B. serve us on no purpose

C. won't become our neighbor      D. will change us in some way

2. From the passage, we know that bad things can make us      .

A. terribly meet bad luck        B. realize our further ability

C. find no serious success       D. possibly enjoy every moment

3.The underlined word "poignant" in the passage means "       ".

A. 平淡的      B. 明显的     C. 深刻的    D. 艰苦的

4.The writer's advice is that we should      .

A. never talk to strange people       B. learn as much as we can each day

C. get over difficulties painfully    D. not believe in ourselves but others

5.Which is the best title for the passage?

A. Create Your Own Life           B. Hold Your Head Up

C. People You Meet in Life        D. Things Happen to You

 

All the wisdom of the times, all the stories that have delighted mankind for centuries, are easily and cheaply available to all of us in books, but we must know how to make use of this treasure. The unluckiest people in the world are those who have never discovered how satisfying it is to read good books.
I’m very interested in people and finding out about them. Some of the most amazing people I’ve met could only  be found in a writer’s imagination, then in his book, and then, again, in my imagination. I’ve found in books new friends and new worlds.
Reading is fun, not because the writer is telling you something, but because it makes your mind work. Your own imagination works along with the writer’s or even goes beyond his. Your experience, compared with his, brings you to the same or different conclusions, and your ideas develop as you understand his.
Every book stands by itself, like a one-family house, but books in a library are like houses in a city. Although they are separate(分开的), in some way they are connected with each other. The same ideas, or related(相关的) ones, appear in different places; the human problems that repeat themselves in life repeat themselves in books, but with different solutions(解决方法) according to different writings at different times. Books influence each other. They connect the past, the present and the future and have their own generations (age groups), like families. Wherever you start reading, you connect yourself with one of the families of ideas, and in the end, you not only find out about the world and the people in it, you find out about yourself, too.
Reading can only be fun if you expect it to be. If you concentrate on(专注于) books somebody tells you “ought” to read, you probably won’ t have fun. But if you put down a book you don’t like and try another till you find one that means something to you, and then relax with it, you will almost certainly have a good time — and if you become, as a result of reading, better, wiser, kinder, or more gentle, you won’t suffer during the process.
【小题1】Which of the following ideas may the writer of this article agree with?

A．You will never meet amazing people in your life unless you read.

B．You think actively instead of getting facts passively（被动地）when reading.

C．You will get much delight from any book that you are told to read.

D．You can relax yourself by reading because it involves little thinking.

【小题2】What can we learn from Paragraph 4?

A．We can often find something connected with ourselves in books.

B．Different writings at different times share the same characteristics.

C．The same problems will appear in different books with similar solutions.

D．Reading books which are written for your generation is more helpful to you.

【小题3】What’s the writer’s purpose of writing this article?

A．To advise us to enjoy ourselves by reading.

B．To encourage us to make full use of libraries.

C．To encourage us to find out solutions in books.

D．To advise us to discuss books with other people.

 

Hu Yaohui, a schoolgirl in Zhejiang province, didn’t want to speak or eat for a week. She kept worrying about her scores on the exam. “I can’t stop thinking about my place in the class,” she said. “I feel stressed out.”

Hu is not the only one who faces stress. According to a recent survey conducted by Wuhan University of Hubei province, 70 percent of the 2,000 students who are going to take the college and high school entrance exams feel under pressure (压力).

Stress is a normal physical response (反应) to things that make people feel worried or break their balance of life in some way.

Stress isn’t always bad. Sometimes, people’s stress is important during emergency situations, such as when a driver has to stop his car to avoid an accident. Sometimes, stress can help people do their best — like while getting ready before a big competition or exam.

However, too much or long-term stress gives people a stress overload (负荷过多). People with stress overloads may have problems remembering or concentrating on things. They are quick to get angry or lose patience. They may even have other problems, such as sleeping problems, headaches and often getting colds.

The most helpful way to deal with stress overloads is to learn how to manage the stress. For example, you might manage it by getting a good night’s sleep, or by exercising every day.

Another good way to deal with stress is to ask parents or friends for help. Everyone has stress. For many people, stress is so common that it has become a way of life. Don’t be too shy to tell others that you are having a hard time. They may comfort you or give you some useful advice. Sometimes just sharing your problems with someone else can make you feel better.

1.Hu Yaohui felt stressed out about __________.

A. her marks on the exams

B. which seat to take during exams

C. not being able to sit in the front

D. not being allowed to eat in class

2.According to the survey in Paragraph 2, __________ of the 2,000 students who will take entrance exams feel stressed.

A. nearly half                          B. about 1,400

C. almost seven hundred                 D. about one seventh

3.Which of the following is TRUE?

A. Stress is a kind of serious heart disease.

B. Stress is always bad for people.

C. Stress is always useless for an exam.

D. Stress is greatly needed sometimes.

4.The best title of this passage is “__________”.

A. Many students face stress now.

B. People’s stress is sometimes important.

C. How to get less stress

D. How to get good results with the help of stress.