My mother-in-law, Dorothy, is showing me the red notebook that’s almost as precious to her as my husband’s baby pictures. Inside the notebook is a list of the books she has read since 2007. For some people waking up in the middle of the night is a terrible thing. But for my mother-in-law, that time is a gift. At 87, she is getting the education she never had by working her way through great literature. She has now read close to 100 books, including every single novel by Anthony Trollope, Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Edith Wharton, Henry James and Thomas Mann.

My mother-in-law discusses her passion with the enthusiasm of a young girl, although she can also be a very tough critic, writing “VG’ for “ very good” in the margins next to her favorites. So far, only a handful of books have received the top prize.

Born in Ridgefield, Conn, Dorothy was the youngest daughter of an Italian gardener. She taught herself English by reading The New York Times. Eager to come to Manhattan, she became a nurse, married a dentist and spent the next several decades keeping the house and raising a family. In her later years, she put her nursing skills to good use by taking care of my father-in-law, who had lung cancer. There were many trips to the emergency room in the middle of the night and then a long hospital stay. She stayed awake to watch over him for 15 hours a day. Always a light sleeper, she developed sleeplessness as a result of the stress.

It worsened after he died. Deeply sad and lonely for the first time in her life, she began waking up around 2am. Julian and Sylvia, the elderly couple next door suggest she read literature. And so Julian, a great lover of literature, became her “professor”, providing books from his large library. Suddenly the terrifying hole turned onto a world of amazing characters.

1.Why is Dorothy considered a tough critic?

   A. Because no books are inspiring enough in her eyes.                        

B. Because only a few books are thought highly of by her.

   C. Because she only reads books by famous writers.                         

D. Because she finds fault with every book she reads.

2. It can be inferred from the passage that _____.

   A. the books Dorothy has read were bought by her husband.                   

B. the couple next door are college professors.

   C. the author loves literature too.                                         

D. Dorothy was a great wife.

3.The underlined part “the terrifying hole” in the last paragraph refers to _____.

   A. the frightening death                                                   

B. Dorothy’s lack of education

   C. waking up in the middle of the night                                    

D. a hole in a book that Dorothy read

4. What helped Dorothy get over the sadness and loneliness of losing her husband?

   A. Living with her son.                                                 

B. Reading literature.

   C. Seeing her son’s baby pictures.                                         

 D. Talking with neighbors.

Tom_____to several companies after he resigned his position as vice president, but he was rejected over and over again.

   A. applied    B. stuck     C. adjusted   D. took

Henry found work in a bookstore after he finished middle school. He wouldn’t do anything but wanted to get rich. Mr King thought he was too lazy and was going to send him away. Henry was afraid and had to work hard.

    It was a cold morning. It was snowing and there was thin ice on the streets. Few people went to buy the books and the young man had nothing to do. He hated to read, so he watched the traffic. Suddenly he saw a bag fall off a truck and it landed by the other side of the street.

    “It must be full of expensive things, ”Henry said to himself. “I have to get it, or others will take it away. ”

    He went out of the shop and ran across the street. A driver saw him and began to whistle (鸣笛), but he didn’t hear it and went on running. The man drove aside, hit a big tree and was hurt in the accident. Two weeks later Henry was taken to court (法庭). A judge asked if he heard the whistle when he was running across the street. He said that something was wrong with his ears and he could hear nothing.

    “But you’ve heard me this time.”said the judge.

    “Oh, I’m sorry. Now I can hear with one ear.”

    “Cover the ear with your hand and listen to me with your deaf (聋的)one. Well, can you hear me? ”

    “No, I can’t. sir.”

1.What was Mr. King? (   )

 A. a driver                  B. a doctor          C. a policeman                D. a shopkeeper

2. Why did Mr. King want to send Henry away? (   )

A. Because Henry was too lazy.           B. Because Henry hoped to be rich.

C. Because Henry finished middle school.   D. Because Henry sold few books.

3.Why did Henry say that he was deaf? (   )

A. He wanted to have a joke with the judge.    B. He wanted to get the judge’s help

C. He wanted to find another piece of work    D. He didn’t want to pay for the accident.

Here in the hills were buffaloes (野牛). I had even, in my very young days — when I could not live till I had killed one of each kind of African animal — shot a bull out there. Later on, when I was not so interested to shoot as to watch the wild animals, I had been out to see them again. But twice I had to go back without success.

But one afternoon as I was having tea with some friends outside the house, Denys came flying from Nairobi and went over our heads westwards; a little while after he turned and came back and landed on the farm. I drove down to the plane to bring him back, but he would not get out of his plane.

“The buffaloes are out feeding in the hills,” he said, “come out and have a look at them.”

“I cannot come,” I said. “I have got a tea-party up at the house.”

“But we will go and see them and be back in a quarter of an hour,” he said.

This sounded to me like the suggestions which people make to you in a dream. So I went up with him. It did not take us long to see the buffaloes from the air; we counted them as they peacefully mixed and separated on the open ground closed in by bushes. There was one very old big black bull, and a number of young ones; if a stranger had come near to them they would have heard or smelt him at once, but they were not prepared for something from the air. They heard the noise of our machine and stopped feeding, but they did not seem to be able to look up. In the end they realized that something very strange was about; the old bull first walked out in front of the others. Suddenly he began to go down the valley side and after a moment he broke into a run. The whole group now followed him, rushing hurriedly down into the buses. In a small wood of low trees they stopped and kept close together. Here they believed themselves to be out of sight. We flew up and away. It was like having been taken there by a secret unknown route.

When I came back to my tea-party the teapot on the stone was still so hot that I burned my fingers on it.

1.The writer drove to the plane ________.

2. Denys said it would only take a quarter of an hour to go and see the buffaloes ________.

3.When the buffaloes heard the noise of the plane, they ________.