One day, Tomas Jefferson, the president of the USA, was crossing a river with a group of travelers. The river was overflowing its banks. So it was very dangerous to cross it on a horse. Each man was fighting for his life! Then another traveler came and he wanted to cross it, too. But he didn’t have a horse. He watched the group and then asked Jefferson to take him. Jefferson agreed immediately. The man climbed on. After they were both safe to the other side of the river, someone asked the man, “Why did you ask present for help? Did you know him?” The man was shocked because he didn’t know Jefferson was the president. “All I know,” he said, “on some of your faces were written the answer NO, but there was the answer YES on his face.”

1. 1.

   Who was Tomas Jefferson?

   1. A.
      He was a businessman.       
   2. B.
      He was a teacher.
   3. C.
      He was a captain.           
   4. D.
      He was the president of the US
2. 2.

   How did they cross the river?

   1. A.
      In a boat.
   2. B.
      On their horses.
   3. C.
      By swimming.
   4. D.
      By building a bridge.
3. 3.

   When the group were crossing the river, ________.

   1. A.
      water was flowing out of the river
   2. B.
      it was windy and very cold
   3. C.
      there were many empty boats in the river
   4. D.
      everyone wrote a word on the face
4. 4.

   At last, __________.

   1. A.
      both Jefferson and the man were safe to cross the river
   2. B.
      only Jefferson crossed the river
   3. C.
      only the man crossed the river
   4. D.
      Jefferson’s horse died
5. 5.

   From the passage, we know that _________.

   1. A.
      all the travelers were kind
   2. B.
      Jefferson was helpful
   3. C.
      nobody knew the president
   4. D.
      the man gave Jefferson some money

Nathan Sawaya's childhood was a lot of fun. He drew cartoons, wrote stories, and played with plastic toy bricks (积木). His grandparents bought his first set of toy bricks when he was five years old and he's been building with toy bricks ever since. He even took his building bricks to college with him! Instead of books and a computer, he had a model of Greenwich Village made of bricks on his desk.

     Nathan started as a lawyer but gave up His highly-paid (高薪的) job to become an artist that uses toys in his art. He uses toy bricks to build everything from the Statue of Liberty(自由女神像) to Superman! He has more than 1.5 million colored bricks in his working room in New York which he uses to make pieces of art. He started by building small models but then decided to do something big and created a self-portrait (自画像). It took him two days just to build the eyes.

     Nathan's work has appeared in museums around the world. Children love his art because it is made out of the same toys that they play with at home and adults love his work because it is fascinating. Since it began in2007, Nathan's exhibition "The Art of the Brick" has been very popular with museum visitors everywhere.

     "I'm proud that I took a dream I had as a child, to become an artist, and I have actually made a job out of it," says Nathan. "To do what you love in life is the most important thing."

1.What did Nathan put on his desk at college?

A. The Statue of Liberty.                 B. Superman.

C. His serf-portrait.                     D. A Greenwich Village modal.

2.Why did Nathan give up his job as a lawyer?

A. Because he made little money out of a lawyer.

B. Because he wanted to make toys for the children.

C. Because he decided to become an artist of toy bricks.

D. Because he was going to work in the museum instead.

3. What does the underlined word "it" in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A. Nathan's work.                       B. Nathan's exhibition.

C. Nathan's art.                         D. Nathan's self-portrait

4.What would be the best title for the passage?

A. The Brick Artist                      B. The Brick Exhibition

C. Toy Bricks for Adults                  D. The Artist's Childhood

用方框中所给单词的适当形式填空，使短文通顺、正确、连贯（每个单词限用一次）

Hangzhouhua (杭州话)：use it or lose it
There are about 6.000 languages in the world and some experts say that as many as half of these languages will disappear(消失) in the next one hundred years. Will Hangzhouhua be one of 【小题1】________? It’s a 【小题2】________ that more people are asking.
In China, Putonghua is the official language. That【小题3】________ it’s the language of government, business and the media (媒体). And it’s also the language that is 【小题4】________ in schools.
Hangzhou is a special city. It used to be the capital of Wu and Yue States in the 10th century during the Five Dynasties period. Now it is modern, fashionable and also beautiful. And Hangzhouhua shows that 【小题5】________ being modern, fashionable and beautiful.
Young people still speak Hangzhouhua but not as 【小题6】________ as their parents and grandparents. They are under more and more pressure to speak Putonghua. So the language is being used 【小题7】________ often in everyday life. Some people want to keep the language from disappearing completely by building museums and having cultural festivals to save it. But a language isn’t a painting 【小题8】________ a book. It’s a living thing and you 【小题9】________ use it or lose it.
If people 【小题10】________ using it in their daily lives, a museum or a festival will not help. It will be lost forever, like the Yangtze River dolphin.

Though the ways of teaching have come a long way, the ways of communicating between teachers and students are almost the same. But now, a European country is trying to change that by building schools that have no classrooms, no subject lessons and best of all, no grades.
The idea behind the special school is that children are creative. And researchers also think that kids’ learning and ideas are as important as those of the CEO of Google, so why not give them a similar environment? Kids may be successful in such an environment.
To make kids more creative, the schools are built with special learning areas instead of traditional classrooms. And even the lessons are taught in a special way, with mobile phones and computers.
There is no “right” or “wrong” kind of education. The school believes that everything is a learning experience, whether it is about a serious science project or making a movie inside the school’s recording studio.
One of the special schools opened in August, 2011. It has five learning areas. The Cave is a secluded place where students fix their attention on individual (个人的) projects without being bothered (打扰). The Lab is a place where students can do all kinds of experiments and test their ideas. Kids can work in groups in the same projects in The Camp Fire. The Show Off is where kids can show their inventions. And if the kids need a rest, they can visit The Watering Hole, which has all kinds of fun activities.
Sounds great? And the coolest thing is that the school is free! I hope more schools like this will appear in the world!
【小题1】What is the idea behind the special school?

 Steve Jobs made technology* fun. The co-founder of Apple died on October 6^th 2011 at the age of fifty-seven. He had fought for years against cancer. Thousands of people gathered outside his house in California, and Apple stores around the world.

Steve Jobs didn’t finish his college when he was young. His parents supported his early interest in electronics*. He and his friend started Apple Computer -- now just called Apple – at the age of 21. They stayed at the company until 1985. That year, his friend returned to college and Steve Jobs left in an argument with the CEO.

Mr. Jobs then set up his own company, called NeXT Computer. He rejoined* Apple Computer in 1997 when it was in bad time and then made it to one of the most valuable* companies in the world today.

Steve Jobs stepped down as Apple's CEO in August because of his health. He died a day after the company released* the new iPhone 4S.

President Obama said in a statement*: "By building one of the world’s most successful companies from his garage*, he explained the spirit of American. By making computers personal and putting the Internet in our pockets, he made the technology not only convenient, but fun."

1.When was Steve Jobs born?

A. 1955        B. 1952         C. 1958        D. 1959

2.At the age of 21, Jobs_____

A. finish his college             B. started Apple Computer

C. set up NeXT Computer        D. left Apple Computer

3.Jobs left Apple Computer because ______.

A. the Apple Computer was in bad time 

B. he wanted to set up his own company

C. he argued with the CEO

D. he hoped to return to college

4.Why did President Obama call Jobs the spirit of American?

A. He built one of the world’s most successful companies from his garage

B. His father was very famous

C. He made the technology not only convenient, but fun.

D. He had fought for years against cancer.