Have you thought about what might have happened if American President Kennedy was saved in
  1963? Impossible, you'll say Kennedy was killed in Dallas, Texas, on 22nd November, 1963, and that's
   an end to it.
       But what would happen if he came back to life?  That's what the "stuff books"are made of. In 1988 an
   American named George Bernall wrote a book of this kind. The book is called "Promises to Keep". It
  was thought of as the best one of the kind. He made the book like real life. The story was so interesting
  that it kept readers turning the page till the end though it had over 800 pages.
       In fact we know that John F. Kennedy was killed and never came back to life. In this book, he comes
  back to life, and the story begins from there.
       The book set readers thinking, not especially about Kennedy's killing, but about what would happen
  after.

1. The phrase "come back to life" means _____.

A. never die again
B. become alive again
C. know one is still living
D. live forever                          

2. What kind of book is "Promises to Keep"?

A. A kind of study of Kennedy's killing.
B. An American horror novel.
C. A life story about Kennedy.
D. A story book developed from a true story.

3. The book "Promises to Keep" tells us _____.

A. how to write a "stuff book" like the one written by George Bernall
B. how to write about history
C. what would happen when Kennedy was brought back to life
D. how to make up a story about the presidents

4. The book not only keeps the readers interested, until the end, but makes them _____.

A. feel terrible
B. stop thinking
C. laugh at something
D. think about something

5. Although the story is _____, readers like to read it very much.

A. not interesting              
B. long
C. sad                      
D. not exciting

     Does reading really matter?
     Some people say that today, reading is not as important as it was. These days we have photographs,
films, radio and television. Why read a description of something when you can look at a photograph? Why read a newspaper when the latest news is brought to us every hour on radio and TV?
     Photography was certainly a wonderful invention. Photographs can give a very clear idea of places and of people that we have never seen. An encyclopedia (百科全书) , for example, is always better when
it has good illustrations. But we also need words to explain the photographs and drawings. A photograph
of an elephant may give us a very good idea of what an elephant looks like, but it tells us nothing about the different sorts of elephants there are and where they are found, their exact size and weight, how they can
be useful to man and so on.
     In the same way, a good film has action, movement, color, and maybe music. These are things we do
not find on the printed page. But reading a novel has certain advantages over watching even an excellent
feature film. Reading a novel requires imagination. Each of us imagines a story differently.
     Watching news on television can certainly be exciting.But we need newspapers as well.Some important news stories happen when there are no cameras around. More importantly, a newspaper does not just
report the news. It explains why something has been happening. It also contains interesting articles on
different subjects. Newspapers are an important part of our lives, if we want to understand what is going
on in the places we live as well as in other parts of the world.
     Reading is very important for information and pleasure. We need to be good readers to enjoy a full life as human beings. Reading is a skill and like other skills, it needs practice. The more we read, the better
readers we become. And the better readers we become, the more we enjoy reading! The secret is to get
the reading habit. Read at least a little every day.

1. What does the author think photographs can give us?
A. Enough information about people and places.
B. No information about things.
C. Some information about things but not enough.
D. The wrong information about things.
2. What does the author think newspapers can give us?
A. More information than television.
B. Less information than television.
C. More news from other countries.
D. Less information about important events than TV.
3. What does the "illustrations" mean?
A. Inventions.
B. Pictures
C. Words.
D. Ideas
4. What are the advantages of novel over a feature film?
A. There are more interesting subjects in novels.
B. We do not hear any music in a novel.
C. Novels always explain what is happening.
D. Novels make us use our imagination.
5. What does the author think about reading?
A. It is a wonderful invention.
B. It is an important part of our lives.
C. It requires no practices.
D. It is not as important as television.