Some people bring out the best in you in a way that you might never have fully realized on your own. My mom was one of those people.

My father died when I was nine months old, making my mom a single mother at the age of eighteen. While I was growing up, we lived a very   36   life. We had little money, but my mom gave me a lot of love. Each night, she sat me on her lap and spoke the words that would   37   my life, “Kemmons, you are certain to be a great man and you can do anything in life if you work hard enough to get it.”

At fourteen, I was hit by a car and the doctors said I would never   38   again. Every day, my mother spoke to me in her gentle, loving voice, telling me that no matter what those doctors said, I could walk again if I didn’t want to be bad enough. She   39   that message so deep into my heart that I finally believed her. A year later, I returned to school-walking on my own!

When the Great Depression（大萧条）  40  , my mom lost her job. Then I left school to support（支撑） both of us. At that moment, I decided never to be   41   again.

Over the years, I experienced various levels of business success. But the real   42   point happened on a vacation I took with my wife and five kids in 1916. I was dissatisfied with the second-class hotels for families and was angry that they charged（收费）an extra $2 for each child. That was too   43   for most American families. I told my wife that I was going to open a hotel for families that would never charge extra for   44  . There were plenty of doubters at that time.

Not   45  , mom was one of my strongest supporters. She worked behind the desk and even designed the room style. As in any business, we experienced a lot of hard time. But with my mother’s words deeply rooted in my heart, I   46   doubted we would succeed. Fifteen years later, we had the largest hotel system in the world­ - Holiday Inn. In 1979 my company had 1,759 inns in more than fifty countries with an income of $1 billion a year.

You may not have started out life in the best situations. But if you can find a   47   in life worth working for and believe in yourself, nothing can stop you.

1.A. quiet          B. boring               C. hard          D. strange

2.A. accept         B. change               C. disturb           D. check

3. A. study         B. speak                C. listen            D. walk

4.A. drove              B. expected        C. explained        D. covered

5.A. did            B. hit             C. cut           D. fit

6.A. excited       B. brave                C. patient           D. poor

7.A. leading            B. breaking         C. turning      D. celebrating

8. A. expensive     B. fantastic            C. different        D. special

9.A. husband        B. parents          C. children          D. wife

10.A. successfully     B. surprisingly          C. interestingly     D. importantly  

11.A. always           B. sometimes            C. almost       D. never

12.A. task              B. hotel               C. company      D. wor

When you read an article you will understand and remember it better if you can work out how the writer has put the ideas together．Sometimes a writer puts ideas together by asking questions and then answering them．For example，if the article is about groundhogs（土拨鼠），the set of questions in the writer’s head might be：
What does a groundhog look like？
Where do groundhogs live？
What do they eat？…
In the article，the author might answer those questions．
Sometimes an author writes out her questions in the article．These questions give you signals．They tell you what the author is going to write next．Often an author has a question in her head but she doesn’t write it out for you．You have to work out her question for yourself．Here’s a sample reading for you to practice this method.
Earthworms
Do you know how many kinds of earthworms there are？There are about 1800 kinds in the world！ They can be brown，purple，green．They can be as small as 3 cm long and as large as 3 m long．
The best time to see earthworms is at night，especially a cool，damp night．That’s when they come up from their burrows（地洞）to hunt for food．Earthworms don’t like to be in the sun．That’s because they breathe through their skin，and they can’t breathe if their skin gets too dry．Earthworms must come out of the earth if it rains a lot，because they can't breathe in their flooded burrows．What a dangerous life！
Earthworms don't have eyes，so how can they tell when it's dark？ They have special places on their skin that are sensitive to light．These spots tell whether it’s light or dark．If you shine a flashlight on an earthworm at night，it will quickly disappear into the ground．
Earthworms don't have ears either，but they can hear by feeling movements in the earth．If you want to hear like an earthworm，lie on the ground with your fingers in your ears．Then have a friend stamp his or her feet near you．This is how earthworms feel birds and people walking，and moles digging，near them．
Earthworms are useful．Farmers and gardeners like having lots of earthworms in their land because the worms help to make better soil when they dig．That digging keeps the soil loose and airy（通风的）．In one year earthworms can pile up as much as 23,000 kg of castings in an area about the size of a football field．

1. 1.

   What’s the purpose of reading Earthworms?

   1. A.
      To show the special life facts of earthworms
   2. B.
      To explain the differences from the groundhogs
   3. C.
      To put the writer’s idea into real use
   4. D.
      To make the readers think more clearly
2. 2.

   Which question CANNOT be answered in the passage?

   1. A.
      How do earthworms help with gardeners?
   2. B.
      What life are earthworms living with?
   3. C.
      When may people observe earthworms?
   4. D.
      Why can human listen like earthworms?
3. 3.

   How can you understand Earthworms better according to this passage?

   1. A.
      Read, ask and answer questions in your own head while reading
   2. B.
      Read to work out all the questions in the writer’s head while reading
   3. C.
      Read and check all the things that are not clear to you again and again
   4. D.
      Read for general ideas and discuss or compare with other similar topics
4. 4.

   What’s the best title for the passage?

   1. A.
      One way to help with understanding
   2. B.
      One way to practice with a new idea
   3. C.
      One way to learn to be a wise writer
   4. D.
      One way to be clearer about worms