Adrian’s “Amazing Race” started early when his parents realized that he, as a baby, couldn’t hear a thing, not even loud noises. In a special school for the hearing-impaired，he learned sign language and got to mix with other disabled children. However, the sight of all the disabled children communicating with one another upset his mother. She wanted him to lead a normal life. So after speaking to an advisor, she sent him to private classes where he learned to read lips and pronounce words.

    Later on, Adrian’s parents decided to send him to a regular school. But the headmaster tried to prevent them from doing so, saying regular school couldn’t take care of a special needs student. His parents were determined to take the risk and push him hard to go through his work every day because they wanted to prove that, given the opportunity, he could do anything. Adrian made the grade and got accepted. It was a big challenge. The pace （节奏）was faster so he had to sit at the front of the class and really pay attention to the teacher, which wasn’t always easy. But he stuck to it and did a lot of extra work after school. 

    The efforts made by Adrian and his parents paid off. Adrian graduated with good grades and got into a top high school. He also achieved a lot in life outside school. He developed a love for the outdoors and went to Nepal to climb mountains. He even entered the World Yacht Race 05/06--- being the first hearing-impaired Asian to do so.

    But none of these achievements would have been possible without one of the most important lessons from his mother.” “If you believe in yourself and work hard, you can achieve great results.” She often said.

1. How did Adrian communicate with other children in the special school?

A. By speaking.                   B. By using sign language

C. By reading lips                  D. By making loud noises

2. Adrian’s parents decided to send him to a regular school because___________.

A. they wanted him to live a normal life    

B. they wanted to prove the headmaster wrong

C. he wouldn’t mix with other disabled children

D. he wasn’t taken good care of in the special school

3. How did Adrian finally succeed in his study?

A. He did a lot of outdoor activities.        

B. He was pushed hard to study every day.

C. He attended private classes after school.   

D. He worked very hard both in and after class

4. Why is Adrian’s life described as an “Amazing Race”?

A. He did very well in his study                 

B. He succeeded in entering a regular school

C. He reached his goals in spite of his disability  

D. He took part in the World Yacht Race 05/06

D

Mr. Frank shot well and once he had come in fourth in a competition.

Then he went to a big city on business. There he joined the local rifle club. The club had a very good team, which used to take part in a lot of important shooting competitions. One of these took place while Frank was with them. But one of the members of the club's team suddenly fell ill just before the match. The captain had heard of Mr. Frank. He therefore invited Mr. Frank to take the sick man's place.

Mr. Frank felt greatly happy to be asked to shoot for such a good team, but he also felt very nervous, because he was afraid of making a fool of himself.

In fact, he was so nervous that he could not keep his hands from trembling while he was shooting, with the result that he did very badly in the competition. When he took his score card to his captain, he said:" After seeing my score, I want to go outside and shoot myself. " The captain looked at the card for a few seconds and then said, "Well, you'd better take two bullets with you if you want to do that. "

53. Mr. Frank once__________-in a competition.

A. joined the fourth team            B. took the fourth place

C. was the fourth to start shooting     D. shot with the other three

54. Why did Mr. Frank feel nervous to be asked to shoot for the team? Because_______.

A. actually he was not good at shooting

B. he thought the captain and the other members would fool him

C. he was afraid of losing face before so many good shooters

D. he would lose a lot of money if he should fail

55. When Frank said, "After seeing my score, I want to go outside and shoot myself", he meant to say that___________

A. he wants to practice shooting all by himself

B. he wanted to find out the reason for his failure

C. he was too shamed of himself to remain inside and face the captain and the other members

D. he wanted to kill himself with the rifle

56. By saying "You had better take two bullets with you if you want to do that", the captain actually meant to say

A. "We haven't got so many bullets for you to practice shooting."

B. "You can't improve your shooting with only one bullet."

C. "I don't believe you can keep your hands from shaking this time."

D. "you are such a bad shooter that one bullet is certainly not enough to end you life with."

57. According to this passage, which of the following is wrong?

A. He fired several shots and they all missed the target.

B. The captain wasn't satisfied with Frank and laughed at him.

C. In the big city Frank was admitted to the local rifle club.

D. Frank could have done better in the competition.

Philo Farnsworth was a man who made it possible for one of the most important communication devices — television to be created. Philo was born on August 19th, 1906, near Indian Creek in the western state of Utah. He attended a very small school near his family’s farm. He did very well in school. He asked his teacher for special help in science. The teacher began helping Philo learn a great deal more than most young students could understand.

One night, Philo read a magazine story about the idea of sending pictures and sound through the air. Anyone with a device that could receive this electronic information could watch the pictures and hear the sound. The magazine story said some of the world’s best scientists were using special machines to try to make a kind of device to send pictures.

14-year-old Philo decided these famous scientists were wrong and that mechanical devices would never work. He decided that such a device would have to be electronic. Philo knew electrons could be made to move extremely fast. All he would have to do was to find a way to make electrons do the work.

Very quickly Philo had an idea for such a receiver. It would trap light in a container and send the light on a line of electrons. Philo called it “light in a bottle”.

Several days later, Philo told his teacher about a device that could capture pictures. He drew a plan for it, which he gave his teacher. Philo’s drawing seemed very simple, but it clearly showed the information needed to build a television. In fact, all television equipment today still uses Philo’s early idea.

Philo Farnsworth was only 14 years old then. He knew no one would listen to a child. In fact, experts say that probably only ten scientists in the world at that time could have understood his idea.

On September 7th, 1927, Philo turned on a device that was the first working television receiver. In another room was the first television camera. Philo had invented the special camera tube earlier that year.

The image produced on the receiver was not very clear, but the device worked. In1930, the United States government gave Philo patent documents. These would protect his invention from being copied by others.

56. Before he was 14 years old, _______________.

A. Philo had formed the idea of sending pictures and sound through the air

B. Philo had learned a great deal in science from his father

C. Philo had helped his parents on their family’s farm

D. Philo had had a very strong interest in science

57. How did Philo get the idea of inventing a television?

A. By learning from his science teacher.

B. By reading a story about the idea in a magazine.

C. By thinking hard himself.

D. By using his knowledge about electrons.

58. Philo referred to “ _________ ” when he called something “light in a bottle”.

A. a container sending pictures and sound through the air

B. a light box with a line of electrons in a bottle

C. a receiver that held light and sent it on a line of electrons

D. a way to make electrons send pictures

59. We can infer from the passage that _________________.

A. without his teacher’s help, he would never have become interested in science

B. he made the first working television receiver and the first television camera himself

C. Philo’s early ideas about the television could not be understood by most people of that time

D. his invention was recognized and protected immediately he made it

60. In the passage, the author mainly tells us _______________.

A. that Philo Farnsworth was a great inventor

B. when and where the television was invented

C. who made it possible to create television

D. how Philo Farnsworth invented the television

In high school, George Lucas didn’t do much work because he spent all his time dreaming about racing cars.

Just a few days before graduation, George was driving home from the library in his Fiat; he prepared for a left turn by looking in the minor. But as he started the turn, he heard the sound of another car, a blowing horn（喇叭）, and the speeding Chevy hit the driver side of his car. The little Fiat turned over four or five times before it was stopped by a big tree. Luckily, George did not die in the accident, but his recovery was slow and he needed months of physical treatment. He would never be able to race ears now.

The accident really changed George’s life. He decided there must be some reason he survived, and made up his mind to get his act together and make something out of his life. He decided to go to university and developed an interest in reading and writing. He got on quite well in his studies. He didn’t quite forget about racing cars. At that time instead of driving race cars, he began filming them.

You may have seen one or all of George Lucas’s most famous films from the Star Wars series or the Indiana Jones trilogy. Not only has George produced movies, but also he has helped invent and develop new technologies to modernize the movie industry.

Today, Lucas, who earns as much as ＄3.0 billion, is one of the American film industry’s most successful directors and producers.

1.What was George Lueas’s life like in high school?

A．He was the best race ear driver.

B．He did very well in his school subjects.

C．He didn’t spend much time on his studies.

D．He was one of the worst students in school.

2.We can learn from this passage that __________.

A．George’s Fiat was not seriously damaged

B．the Chevy driver didn’t break the traffic law

C．George was seriously injured in the accident

D．the Chevy driver wasn’t injured in the accident

3.The greatness of George Lucas mainly lies in his __________.

A．earning a great deal of money

B．directing several famous movies

C．making movies about racing cars

D．making the film industry more modern

    Adrian’s “Amazing Race” started early when his parents realized that he, as a baby, couldn’t hear a thing, not even loud noises. In a special school for the hearing-impaired (听觉受损的)，he learned sign language and got to mix with other disabled children. However, the sight of all the disabled children communicating with one another upset his mother. She wanted him to lead a normal life. So after speaking to an advisor, she sent him to private classes where he learned to read lips and pronounce words.

     Later on, Adrian’s parents decided to send him to a regular school. But the headmaster tried to prevent them from doing so, saying regular school couldn’t take care of a special needs students. His parents were determined to take the risk and push him hard to go through his work everyday because they wanted to prove that, given the opportunity, he could do anything. Adrian made the grade and got accepted. It was a big challenge. The pace （节奏）was faster so he had to sit at the front of the class and really pay attention to the teacher, which wasn’t always easy. But he stuck to it and did a lot of extra work after school.

    The efforts made by Adrian and his parents paid off. Adrian graduated with good grades and got into a top high school. He also achieved a lot in life outside school. He developed a love for the outdoors and went to Nepal to climb mountains. He even entered the World Yacht Race 05/06--- being the first hearing-impaired Asian to do so.

    But none of these achievements would have been possible without one of the most important lessons from his mother.” “If you believe in yourself and work hard, you can achieve great results.” She often said.

41. How did Adrian communicate with other children in the special school?

A. By speaking.            B. By using sign language

C. By reading lips           D. By making loud noises

42. Adrian’s parents decided to send him to a regular school because          .

A. they wanted him to live a normal life

B. they wanted to prove the headmaster wrong

C. he wouldn’t mix with other disabled children

D. he wasn’t taken good care of in the special school

43. How did Adrian finally succeed in his study?

A. He did a lot of outdoor activities.

B. He was pushed hard to study every day.

C. He attended private classes after school.

D. He worked very hard both in and after class

44. Why is Adrian’s life described as an “Amazing Race”?

A. He did very well in his study

B. He succeeded in entering a regular school

C. He reached his goals in spite of his disability

D. He took part in the World Yacht Race 05/06