Rosa Parks was an African-American woman who began the civil rights movement by refusing to give up her seat to a white person on a bus . She stood up for what she believed was right , and her courage inspired countless others to do the same.

Born in Alabama in 1913 , Mrs. Parks grew up on a farm just outside Montgomery in a town called Pine Level . She was home-schooled until she was 11. She later attended the Industrial School for Girls in Montgomery. She briefly attended the Alabama State Teachers College for Negroes , but had to drop out to take care of her mother and grandmother when they became ill.

Mrs. Parks married Raymond Parks in 1932 . He encouraged her to finish her education . This was very uncommon at that time , especially for a woman. Less than 7 percent of African-Americans studied in a high school in the 1930s.

Mrs. Parks also succeeded in gaining the right to vote, which was very difficult for blacks under the segregation laws( 种族隔离制度 ) . In 1943, she began working as a secretary for the NAACP----National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Mrs. Parks made her historic decision on December 1,1955. She recalled in her autobiography(自传) ：

“When the driver saw me still sitting, he asked if I was going to stand up and I said , ‘ No, I’m not.’ Then he said , ‘ Well , if you don’t stand up , I’m going to have to call the police and have you arrested .’ I said , ‘ You may do that.’”

Mrs. Parks died on October 24,2005. “ She sat down in order that we might stand up,” said civil rights leaders Jesse Jackson. “ Her imprisonment opened the doors for our long journey to freedom.”

1. From the passage we can infer that in Rosa Parks’ time black people ______________.

A．were not allowed to take buses

B．only stood in the buses

C．were looked down upon

D．had no right at all

2.From the second paragraph we know that Rosa Parks ____________________.

A．began to learn at the age of 11

B．studied at home until she was 11

C．attended the Industrial School when she was 11

D．graduated from the Alabama State Teachers College

3. Rosa Parks didn’t give up her seat to a white person because ________________.

A．she was tired after a day’s work

B．there were empty seats on the bus

C．she didn’t want to stand on the bus

D．she wanted to be treated equally

4. In this passage the phrase “ stood up for ” in the first paragraph probably means “___________”.

A．acted to protect                        B．paid attention to

C．looked forward to                       D．gave up to

 

 

My wife and I used to feel that it was impossible to be a true friend to someone whose name we didn't know. How wrong we were! Years of Sunday-morning bus trips through the city with the same group of “nameless” people have changed our thinking. Before the bus takes off, we all join in a conversation: where’s the silent woman who sits up front and never responds to our cheery greetings? Here she comes. Her worn clothing suggests she doesn't have much money to spare, but she always takes an extra cup of coffee for the driver.

We get smiles from a Mexican couple as they get on the bus hand in hand. When they get off, they’re still holding hands. The woman was pregnant late last year, and one day her change of shape confirmed that she’d delivered the child. We even felt a little pride at the thought of our extended family.?

    For many months, our only sadness lay in our inability to establish the same friendship with the silent woman at the front of the bus. Then, one evening, we went to a fish restaurant. We were shown to a table alongside someone sitting alone. It was the woman from the bus.?

    We greeted her with friendly familiarity we’d shown all year, but this time her face softened, then a shy smile. When she spoke, the words escaped awkwardly from her lips. All at once we realized why she hadn’t spoken to us before. Talking was hard for her.?

    Over dinner, we learned the stay of a single mother with a disabled son who was receiving special care away from home. She missed him desperately, she explained. “I love him… and he loves me, even though he doesn’t express it very well,” she murmured. “Lots of us have that problem, don’t we? We don’t say what we want to say, what we should be saying. And that’s not good enough.” The candles flared on our tables. Our fish had never tasted better. But the atmosphere grew pleasant, and when we parted as friends—we shared names.

1.All the following statements can describe the woman except ______.

A. poor              B. warm -hearted               C. silent                      D. cold

2.The underlined word “establish” in the 3th paragraph has the same meaning as_________.

A. keep             B. discover                          C. set up            D. accept 

3.The woman had the same problem with her son in the way that ______.

A. they both disabled people

B. they both had some difficulty in expressing

C. they both liked bus travel

D. they both brought interest to the passengers

4.Which of the following might be the best title of this passage?

A. Friends of the Road                      B. The Silent Woman on the Bus

C. Going to Work by Bus                     D. Different Kinds of Friendship

 

My wife and I used to feel that it was impossible to be a true friend to someone whose name we didn’t know. How wrong we were! Years of Sunday-morning bus trips through the city with the same group of “nameless” people have changed our thinking. Before the bus takes off, we all join in a conversation: where’s the silent woman who sits up front and never responds to our cheery greetings? Here she comes. Her worn clothing suggests she doesn’t have much money to spare, but she always takes an extra cup of coffee for the driver.

We get smiles from a Mexican couple as they get on the bus hand in hand. When they get off, they’re still holding hands. The woman was pregnant late last year, and one day her change of shape confirmed that she’d delivered the child. We even felt a little pride at the thought of our extended family.

For many months, our only sadness lay in our inability to establish the same friendship with the silent woman at the front of the bus. Then, one evening, we went to a fish restaurant. We were shown to a table alongside someone sitting alone. It was the woman from the bus.

We greeted her with friendly familiarity we’d shown all year, but this time her face softened, then a shy smile. When she spoke, the words escaped awkwardly from her lips. All at once we realized why she hadn’t spoken to us before. Talking was hard for her.

Over dinner; we learned the stay of a single mother with a disabled son who was receiving special care away from home. She missed him desperately, she explained.

“I love him… and he loves me, even though he doesn’t express it very well,” she murmured. “Lots of us have that problem, don’t we? We don’t say what we want to say, what we should be saying. And that’s not good enough.”The candles flared on our tables. Our fish had never tasted better. But the atmosphere grew pleasant, and when we parted as friends—we shared names.

1.Which of the following might be the best title of this passage?

A．Friends of the Road

B．The Silent Woman on the Bus

C．Going to Work by Bus

D．Different Kinds of Friendship

2.All the following statements can describe the woman except ______.

A．poor

B．warm -hearted

C．silent

D．cold

3.The underlined word “establish” in the third paragraph probably has the same      meaning as              

A．keep

B．discover

C．set up

D．accept

4.Why did the woman usually keep silence while taking the bus?

A．She was worried about her disabled son.

B．She was sad to see the happy Mexican couple us a single mother.

C．She had difficulty in expressing herself.

D．She was only interested in the bus driver.

5.The woman had the same problem with her son in the way that ______.

A．they both disabled people

B．they both had some difficulty in expressing

C．they both liked bus travel

D．they both brought interest to the passengers

 

I paid a visit to Cambridge last January.  Though the trip took me 5 hours and it rained the whole day with strong winds there, the town deserved a visit.

    The bus started at 6:10 a. m. It stopped at 4 airports before we finally arrived，which wasted more time than we expected. Tired with long sitting，one passenger stood up to relax his numbed legs. The driver asked him to sit down but in vain. So he pulled up and said seriously, “Either you get off or sit down.” To him, safety is the first policy.

    Cambridge consists of over thirty colleges. The oldest part of the university was built in the 13th century while the newest was founded in the mid 1960s.The number of the students is so great that many students live in lodgings（出租房）and move into college for their final year.

    Cambridge is called a university town because there is no clear separation between the university buildings and the rest of the city. The university is not just one part of the town；it is all over the town. The heart of Cambridge has shops，pubs，and supermarkets，but most of it is university-colleges，departments，libraries，clubs and other places for university staff and students. Students fill the shops，cafes，banks and churches，making these as well part of the university.

    With over 10,000 undergraduates and postgraduates, the town is a busy place indeed. Students here are not allowed to keep cars. If you happen to be walking in the street during a break，better stop a moment to avoid the boiling sea of bicycles hurrying in all directions，carrying students from one college or lecture room to another.

1.The writer believed that the trip took more time because of________

    A. bad weather                          B. unexpected stops of the bus

    C. one passenger                         D. an accident on the way

2.Why is Cambridge called a university town？

    A. It has 10，000 undergraduates and postgraduates.

    B. There are over thirty colleges in the town.

    C. All the students and staff live in the town.

    D. The university and town are fully combined.

3.It can be inferred that most Cambridge students take _______as their first means of transport.

A. boats          B. cars               C. bicycles          D. buses

 

LOS ANGELES, the US

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff ruled Michael Jackson’s father can receive some medical records related to his superstar son’s death．The judge will review the records first before making them accessible to Joe Jackson’s lawyer，Brian Oxman．Beckloff said the man can only receive records on or after June 25一the day Michael Jackson died．

VANCOUVER，CANADA

World number one Zhou Yang overcame three South Korean players to win the women’s short track speed skating 1,500 meters final at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games．The l8-year-old made perfect debut(首次亮相)as she set an Olympic record of a winning time of 2 minutes and l6,993 seconds among other seven skaters．

China has never won the women’s l,500 meters in the Olympics before，and this time Zhou’s performance gave China its third gold medal in Vancouver．

BElJING，CHINA

China’s first compulsory,(强制性的)safety regulation on primary school buses，which requires every seat to have a seat belt，will take effect on July l to help ensure safer transportation for the country’s 100 million students．

Each primary school bus must also be equipped with a “black box”，0r a recording monitor，to record speed，travel time and distance．Also，the bus must be staffed by teachers who will ensure student safety．In addition，the new rule states that the color of the school buses should be yellow，and each bus must have at least two emergency exits．

Texas，the US

A software engineer who crashed his plane into a Texas building housing a United States tax agency office，killing himself and at least one worker，apparently left behind an angry anti-government manifesto(宣言) detailing his financial difficulties and tax problems．The pilot took off from an airport in Georgetown．about 48 km from Austin．He flew low over the Austin skyline before plowing into the building．

1.We can learn from the first news that_________．

A．all Michael Jackson’s medical records can be accessed

B．Mitchell Beckloff will not go over the record first

C．Joe Jackson’s lawyer will not get any records

D．medical records before June 25 won’t be received

2.The new school bus safety rules include all the followings EXCEPT_____________.

A．the color of the bus	B．the equipment of the bus
C．the driver’s experience	D．emergency exits

3.It seems the software engineer crashed into the US tax office mainly because of___________.

A．unhappy marriage	B．financial and tax problems
C．heavy work pressure	D．mental disease

4.We can infer from the news that____________.

A．Joe Jackson will be the first to receive the medical records

B．the tax agency office is somewhere inside the building in Texas

C．Zhou Yang once broke the Olympic records in the same event

D．the software engineer flew high over skyline before crashing into the building