Son’s Help
Mr. Lang worked in a factory. As a driver, he was busy but he was paid much. His wife was an able woman and did all the housework. When he came back, she took good care of him and he never did anything at home. So he had enough time when he had a holiday. A few friends of his liked gambling(赌博) and he learned it soon. So he was interested in it and hardly forgot anything except gambling. He lost all his money and later he began to sell the television, watches and so on. His wife told him not to do it but he didn’t listen to her. She had to tell the police. He and his friends were punished for it. And he was hardly sent away. After he came out of lockup(拘留所), he hated her very much and the woman had to leave him. It was New Year’s Day. Mr. Lang didn’t go to work. He felt lonely and wanted to gamble again. He called his friends and they came soon. But they were afraid the police would come. He told his five-year-old son to go to find out if there were the policemen outside. They waited for a long time and didn’t think the police would come and began to gamble. Suddenly opened the door and in came a few policemen. ―“I saw there weren’t any policemen outside, daddy,” said the boy, ―“so I went to the crossing and asked some to come.”
Mr. Lang was paid much because _______.
| A．he worked in a factory |
| B．he had a lot of work to do |
| C．he had worked there for a long time |
| D．he was a driver |
Mrs. Lang did all housework because _______.
| A．she wouldn’t stop her husband gambling |
| B．she couldn’t find any work |
| C．she thought her husband was tired |
| D．her husband spent all time in gambling |
The woman had to leave Mr. Lang because _______.
| A．he wouldn’t stop gambling |
| B．he had been put into lockup |
| C．he was hardly sent away by the factory |
| D．he didn’t love her any longer |
Which of the following is right?
| A．The boy thought his father needed some policemen. |
| B．The boy hoped his father would stop gambling soon. |
| C．The boy hoped his mother would come back. |
| D．The boy hoped his father would be put into lockup again. |
My wife and I have always been friendly with the clerks at the local store. I don’t think many people appreciate what a difficult job these clerks have. They work for a little money and I often wonder how they make ends meet.
One of the clerks, Charlie, was always wearing his glasses but he didn’t one day. I asked him about it and he said they’d been out of order and that he couldn’t afford a new pair. His family needed money. It was clear that he was having a difficult time.
We wanted to help him, so we turned to our own eye doctor for help with a plan. We had his secretary contact him, asking him to come in for an eye exam for free. We told the doctor to let him order whatever glasses he wanted and that we would pay for them. Although Charlie questioned what was going on, the doctor just told him that someone had offered the money for his new glasses. When we went in to pay the bill, the doctor told us he was touched by our idea so that he waived the exam fee and only charged us for half the price of the glasses!
It was so wonderful to see Charlie in his new glasses and he enjoyed telling all the regular customers how the gift came about. I’m sure that upon hearing his story, ideas of kindness may have come in the minds of many people.Why didn’t the clerk Charlie wear glasses one day?
| A．It was very warm and fine. |
| B．His glasses were missing. |
| C．His old glasses were broken. |
| D．He forgot to wear his glasses. |
From the passage, we can infer that ______.
| A．Charlie was a young man with skills |
| B．Charlie knew who paid the money for the new glasses |
| C．Charlie completely accepted the money for the new glasses |
| D．Charlie couldn’t support his family with enough money |
The underlined word “waived” in the third paragraph can be replaced by ______.
| A．took up | B．gave up |
| C．cut down | D．put off |
Which of the following could be the best title for the passage?
| A．Customers’ Gift to an Employee |
| B．A Friendly Clerk — Charlie |
| C．The Wonderful Feeling of Helping others |
| D．An Expensive Pair of Glasses |
In April 2014，the world's oldest known message in a bottle was discovered floating in theBaltic Sea. It had spent 101 years lost in the ocean！The message was finally sent to the author's granddaughter.
A German fisherman named Konrad Fischer found the brown bottle near Kiel，Germany. He said he nearly threw the bottle back into the water after pulling it out of a fishing net. Then he noticed something inside.
The bottle in good condition contained a Danish postcard with two German stamps，dated May 17，1913. Although dampness had made most of the writing illegible（字迹模糊的），thereadable part of the message asked whoever found it to return it to an address in Berlin. It even contained two stamps to pay for postage.
From the address，researchers found that the postcard was written by a man named Richard Platz，who was 20 years old when he wrote the message. While he was hiking on the Baltic coast with a nature appreciation group，he threw the bottle into the sea. Then the researchers began a search for any living relatives of his. Sure enough，they were able to find his 62-year-old granddaughter，Angela Erdmann，who still lives in Berlin.
“It was almost unbelievable，”Erdmann said upon being presented with her grandfather's bottle and message.“That was a pretty moving moment. Tears rolled down my face."
Erdmann never knew her grandfather，who died in 1946，but says that the discovery of the bottle has made her want to learn more about him.
The bottle remained on display at the International Maritime Museum in Hamburg until May 1 ．After that，the researchers examined the postcard and tried to figure out the meaning of the rest of the message.
Previously，the oldest message found in a bottle spent nearly 98 years at sea and was discovered in April 2012，according to Guinness World Records.
When Konrad Fischer picked up the bottle from the sea， ．
| A．he thought it would bring him good luck |
| B．he noticed the postcard inside immediately |
| C．he decided to uncover the secret of the bottle |
| D．he wanted to throw it back into the sea at first |
Why did Richard Platz throw the bottle with the message into the sea?
| A．He expected his granddaughter could find the postcard. |
| B．He wished the finder would send the postcard to his home. |
| C．He believed his postcard would be kept secret at sea forever. |
| D．He thought he could make friends with the finder of the bottle. |
What can be the best title for this passage？
| A．The finding of a floating bottle at the sea |
| B．A one-century-old letter to a granddaughter |
| C．The world's oldest message in a floating bottle |
| D．The oldest Danish postcard in a floating bottle |
The thing is，my luck’s always been ruineD． Just look at my name: Jean．Not Jean Marie，or Jeanine，or Jeanette，or even Jeanne．Just Jean．Did you know in France，they name boys Jean? It’s French for John．And okay，I don’t live in France．But still，I’m basically a girl named John．If I lived in France，anyway．
This is the kind of luck I’ve had since before Mom even filled out my birth certificate．So it wasn’t any big surprise to me when the cab driver didn’t help me with my suitcase．I’d already had to tolerate arriving at the airport to find no one there to greet me，and then got no answer to my many phone calls，asking where my aunt and uncle were．Did they not want me after all? Had they changed their minds? Had they heard about my bad luck—all the way from Iowa—and decided they didn’t want any of it to rub off on them?
So when the cab driver，instead of getting out and helping me with my bags，just pushed a little button so that the trunk (汽车后备箱) popped open a few inches，it wasn’t the worst thing that had ever happened to me．It wasn’t even the worst thing that had happened to me that day．
According to my mom，most brownstones in New York City were originally single-family homes when they were built way back in the 1800s．But now they’ve been divided up into apartments，so that there’s one—or sometimes even two or more families—per floor．
Not Mom’s sister Evelyn’s brownstone，though．Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted Gardiner own all four floors of their brownstone．That’s practically one floor per person，since Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted only have three kids，my cousins Tory，Teddy，and Alice．
Back home，we just have two floors，but there are seven people living on them．And only one bathroom．Not that I’m complaining．Still，ever since my sister Courtney discovered blow-outs，it’s been pretty frightful at home．
But as tall as my aunt and uncle’s house was，it was really narrow—just three windows across．Still，it was a very pretty townhouse，painted gray．The door was a bright，cheerful yellow．There were yellow flower boxes along the base of each window，flower boxes from which bright red—and obviously newly planted，since it was only the middle of April，and not quite warm enough for them．
It was nice to know that，even in a sophisticated (世故的) city like New York，people still realized how homey and welcoming a box of flowers could be．The sight of those flowers cheered me up a little．
Like maybe Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Ted just forgot I was arriving today，and hadn’t deliberately failed to meet me at the airport because they’d changed their minds about letting me come to stay．
Like everything was going to be all right，after all．
Yeah．With my luck，probably not．
I started up the steps to the front door of 326 East Sixty-Ninth Street，then realized I couldn’t make it with both bags and my violin．Leaving one bag on the sidewalk，I dragged the other up the steps with me．Maybe I took the steps a little too fast，since I nearly tripped and fell flat on my face on the sidewalk．I managed to catch myself at the last moment by grabbing some of the fence the gardeners had put up…
Why did the author go to New York?
| A．She intended to go sightseeing there． |
| B．She meant to stay with her aunt’s family． |
| C．She was homeless and adopted by her aunt. |
| D．She wanted to try her luck and find a job there． |
According to the author，some facts account for her bad luck EXCEPT that ________．
| A．she was given a boy’s name in French |
| B．the cab driver didn’t help her with her bags |
| C．her sister Courtney discovered blow-outs |
| D．nobody had come to meet her at the airport |
The underlined phrase “rub off on” in Paragraph 3 probably means _________.
| A．have an effect on |
| B．play tricks on |
| C．put pressure on |
| D．throw doubt on |
From the passage，we can know that _________．
| A．the author left home without informing her mother |
| B．the author arrived in New York in a very warm season |
| C．her aunt’s family lived a much better life than her own |
| D．her aunt and uncle were likely to forget about her arrival |
One day an ant was drinking at a small stream and fell in. She made desperate(adj.拼死的) efforts to reach the side, but made no progress at all. The poor ant almost exhausted(adj.精疲力竭的) was still bravely doing her best when a dove saw her. Moved with pity, the bird threw her a blade of grass, which supported her like a raft, and thus the ant reached the bank again. While she was resting and drying herself in the grass, she heard a man come near. He was walking along barefooted with a gun in his hand. As soon as he saw the dove, he wished to kill it. He would certainly have done so, but the ant bit him in the foot just as he raised his gun to fire. He stopped to see what had bit him, and the dove immediately flew away. It was an animal much weaker and smaller than herself that had saved her life.The ant could not reach the side though _______.
| A．she cried for help | B．she asked the dove to save her |
| C．she tried very hard | D．she could smell well |
The dove saved the ant because _______.
| A．she was the ant's friend |
| B．she took pity on the poor ant |
| C．the ant was almost exhausted |
| D．the ant had been struggled in the water for a long time |
The ant succeeded in getting on the bank with the help of _______.
| A．a leaf | B．a piece of wood |
| C．a blade of grass | D．a raft |
Just as the man shot at the dove, _______.
| A．the dove immediately flew away |
| B．the dove hid himself in the grass |
| C．the ant told the dove to leave at once |
| D．he felt something biting him in the foot |
In writing the story, the writer wants to show _______.
| A．how clever the ant was |
| B．how kind the dove was |
| C．how the ant and the dove helped each other |
| D．we often need help from others, therefore we should help others as much as we can |
A young boy recently received an unexpected message in the mail from his father Joseph, who died two years ago.
Rowan's dad was a hardworking man who wanted to give his son the best life he could. It was why Rowan's mother, Julie Van Stone, said Joseph joined the Navy and went to MIT to get two masters degrees.
While at school in Boston, he would often write to Rowan. Even when he left school and was driving back to Colorado, he would send postcards from each state he stopped in. Those postcards were sent in 2007. "I remember him saying he had sent 5 or 6, and I only got 3 or 4 in the mail. But I never thought anything of it," Van Stone said.
Those postcards and pictures are priceless memories for Van Stone and her son, especially after Joseph passed away from a rare brain disease. Rowan never had a chance to say goodbye. But, on Saturday, just days before the two-year anniversary of Joseph's death, a postcard arrived in the mail. It arrived March 11, 2015. The message read: "Hello from Pennsylvania. I love you, and I miss you so much. See you soon. Love, Daddy."
Neither he nor his mother knows how it happened, and they may never know. But, they have their own ideas why. "I feel like that was the final goodbye that he didn't get to say," Van Stone said. Van Stone says Joseph's last words to her before he died were: "Everything is a circle. We will see each other again. All that matters is love."
What did Rowan’s dad do to give his son the best life?
| A．He bought many for Julie. |
| B．He became a soldier in Navy. |
| C．He kept writing to his son. |
| D．He got many masters degrees. |
How long did it take for the postcard to reach Rowan?
| A．2 years. | B．5 years. | C．6 years. | D．8 years. |
Where did Rowan’s dad send the postcard?
A. In Boston. B. In Colorada
B. In Pennsylvania D. In New York
In New York, Ma Yun witnessed the Alibaba Group opening on the New York stock exchange with the largest initial public offering (IPO，新股发行) in American history. “Alibaba, the world’s largest Internet commerce company makes China equal to the US in the rapidly increasing global competition for technological innovation (创新) and economic transformation ” commented the South China Morning Post.
It has also made Ma China’s richest man with a fortune of around $25 billion (153 billion yuan), reported Reuters.
It’s reported that Ma’s rags-to-riches journey is just as spectacular as his Internet Empire. Ma failed the national college entrance exams twice before he was finally in Hangzhou Normal University on his third attempt and failed in finding a suitable job several times. Also, Mr Ma is a big believer in perseverance, which was proved in his English study experience.
However, it was his vision and goals that launched his career.
During a short trip to the US as an interpreter in 1995, Ma first experienced the Internet. He believed in the Internet’s business potential when few other Chinese people did. He started Alibaba in his Hangzhou apartment, with 17 friends and $60,000 of funds. At the time, when e-commerce was unheard of in China, “I called myself a blind man riding on the back of blind tigers,” he once said, according to The Guardian. His unusual ideas earned him the nickname “Crazy Jack Ma”.
Indeed, Ma is different. Although he is very thin and about 160cm tall, “Ma is yet animated and forceful,” said The Guardian. “He is funny, creative, and a compelling (引人注目的) speaker.
Ma told Time magazine that he was “old for the Internet”. He started to slow down and looked around. According to The Wall Street Journal, Ma “plans to open a tai chi club with the actor Jet Li, build an entrepreneur (企业家) university in Hangzhou and continue to work on several environmental projects.”What made him into e-commerce industry?
| A．His English learning experience. |
| B．His foresight and ambitions. |
| C．His belief in perseverance. |
| D．His 17 friends and $60,000 funds. |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 5 mean?
| A．Ma is a blind man riding on a blind tiger. |
| B．Ma had no confidence in his business future. |
| C．Ma knew little about e-commerce. |
| D．Ma had not enough money at that time. |
What’s the personality of Ma Yun according to the passage?
| A．Funny and competitive. |
| B．Determined and creative. |
| C．Rich and different. |
| D．Attractive and believable. |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．The Development of Alibaba Group |
| B．Ma Yun’s Personal Life |
| C．Ma Yun’s Crazy Success |
| D．E-commerce in China |
Directions：Read the following three passages．Each passage is followed by several questions or unfinished statements．For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D．Choose the one that fits best according to the information given in the passage you have just read.
Death is a serious theme worthy of great poets．For example, John Keats’s ‘When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be’ and John Donne’s ‘Death, Be Not Proud’ both discuss death in reflective ways．However, the imagery(意象) in these poems shows that while Keats believes that death can only destroy, Donne believes that death can be overcome.
Keats is afraid of death, because to him death means the loss of those things that make his life worth living: ‘On the shore/ of the wide world I stand alone, and think/ Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.’ Earlier in the poem, Keats says that he hopes this ‘Love’ will be a ‘high romance’ with a ‘fair creature.’ He also says that he hopes the ‘Fame’ he seeks will be the result of the ‘high piled books’ produced by his ‘crowded brain.’ In other words, Keats’s fear is that death is a ‘nothingness’ that will arrive before he can finish his life’s work or find his true love.
Donne has a different attitude toward death, and so the imagery in his poem is different, too．To Donne, death should ‘be not proud,’ because it is not ‘mighty and dreadful.’ Unlike Keats, Donne sees death as weak and merely a ‘slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men.’ He also says that death is like ‘rest and sleep’．Donne believes that we will all wake from the sleep of death to everlasting life, just as we wake from our normal sleep to our everyday lives．In fact, Donne believes that it is death itself that will die: ‘One short sleep past, we wake forever,/ And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.’
Keats and Donne both know that death is a prat of life, and both poets use powerful imagery to talk about that difficult theme．The differences in this imagery show two very different attitudes toward the subject, one of which is much more positive than the other．Which poet to believe is up to the reader to decide.
Not surprisingly, the readers’ own experiences may play a part in the way they respond to these poets’ approaches．Like the two poets and their beliefs, contemporary readers also may be divided on the subject．This may explain why Keats’s and Donne’s poetry remains fascinating years after their won deaths.According to the passage, ________ makes Keats’s life worth living.
| A．expressing his grand passion for poetry |
| B．walking on the shore with a pretty lady |
| C．defeating nothingness with his true love |
| D．pursuing the fame of being a romantic poet |
In Donne’s poems he believes that death is ________ .
| A．generally powerful and terrible |
| B．only a ceaseless sleep |
| C．merely the loss of work and love |
| D．hardly worth the fear |
Contemporary readers may view the two poets’ serious subject differently because ________.
| A．they are attracted to the two poets’ everlasting opposite beliefs |
| B．they are divided naturally by their positive or negative personalities |
| C．their own life experiences affect the understandings of the poems |
| D．their preferences for the poets’ strong imageries are various |
Which of the following best describes the main writing style of the passage?
| A．Analysis． |
| B．Argument． |
| C．Comparison． |
| D．Reasoning. |
Gregory Kloehn digs through dustbins every day, but not for the reason that most people would think．He isn’t homeless．In fact he is trying to help the homeless.
Gregory began his life as a sculptor．But he often felt that his sculptures, which just stood in rich people’s houses for years, lacked a meaningful purpose．So in 201l he decided to put his artistic energies into creating homes to sell—not ordinary homes but small structures built entirely from recycled materials.
The thought of creating homes for the homeless didn’t occur to him until the year 2013, when a homeless couple asked him for a tarp(防水布)．Instead of a tarp, Gregory offered them something better: a small home with a water tank, a kitchen and a trap for waste．They were so grateful that Gregory decided to focus his efforts on helping house the homeless population in his city．And soon his “Homeless Homes Project” was started.
Before starting a new home, Gregory, goes hunting for materials by digging through dustbins．Everything he finds is usable—refrigerator doors become house doors; washing machine doors often serve as windows, and the tops of cars become strong roofs．He put wheels at the bottom for users to move their homes around easily．Each home takes two to three days to make．
So far Gregory has donated dozens of homes to the city’s most needy．While his small low-cost mobile homes are not the final solution to the problem of homelessness, they are really practical and do provide a warm and safe place for the homeless to stay in．They are simply a way for one man to do something nice for those in need of some help.
Gregory has written a book titled Homeless Architecture, where he explains techniques to build those homes and he is now working on weekend workshops．“A lot of people who hear about what I’m doing want to get involved,” he said． “Maybe we can meet someplace and put a couple of homes together.”Why did Gregory turn from making sculptures to creating homes?
| A．He had no home to live in． |
| B．He had to make more money. |
| C．He lost interest in sculpture. |
| D．He wanted to help the homeless. |
The author mentions the story in Paragraph 3 to tell us____________.
| A．Gregory’s small homes were popular among the homeless |
| B．how Gregory got the idea of “Homeless Homes Project” |
| C．the homeless couple asked Gregory to produce more homes |
| D．housing the homeless in a city was not an easy task |
What can we conclude from Paragraph 4?
| A．Gregory has great trouble hunting for materials for his small houses． |
| B．It takes Gregory a long time to produce a home． |
| C．Gregory’s work requires imagination and creativity |
| D．Everything in the dustbins will be used in Gregory’s work． |
What can we infer from the last paragraph?
| A．Gregory’s project will help more homeless people. |
| B．Gregory doesn’t need to make small homes now． |
| C．Gregory’s work will completely solve the homelessness problem． |
| D．A single person can make no difference to social problems． |
When Peng Liyuan stepped off the plane in Moscow，the whole world wanted to know who dressed the elegant first lady．The reporter released the secret—Ma Ke．
Peng Liyuan has been wearing Ma Ke's designs for more than a decade，a fact that was only highlighted recently when she was on her first state visitaccompanying her husband President Xi Jinping．The elegant and attractive Peng，formerly a popular singer，has been compared with the US' first lady Michelle Obama and France's Carla BruniSarkozy，since stepping off the airplane in Moscow on March 22.Suddenly，everyone was curious to know more about the first lady's wardrobe．
Even so，Ma prefers a lowkey approach．“If you eat a tasty egg why would you want to see the hen？” she says of all the media attention．
Ma's relationship with Peng began 10 years ago after a concert in Guangzhou when a reporter told Peng she knew the designer behind the label Exception de Mixmind． Peng asked for an introduction because she was a fan of Ma's designs and had been wearing them for years．
The two naturally became friends．Ma says: “The painting reflects the painter，and clothes reflect both the designer and the wearer．Someone desires fame and wealth，or love and sympathy; what you have in your heart is reflected in the design．Those who don't share my philosophy won't buy my clothes．Peng is a caring person，devoted to charity and environmental protection，which is exactly what I'm doing now．”
However，regardless of the brand，Peng's support of Chinese labels has surprised millions of Chinese who favor foreign fashion brands．
“Instead she presented a vision of Chinese fashion，desiring to bring Chinese designers to the world stage,”says a western designer．
The first lady's doublebreasted coat and her black leather handbag aren't available at any of Exception's shops，though Exception's physical stores do have seen a rising number of visitors．
The passage mainly discusses________．
| A．the designer of the first lady Peng Liyuan's dress，Ma Ke |
| B．the friendship between Peng Liyuan and her designer |
| C．Peng Liyuan's clothes on her first state visit |
| D．the reactions to Peng Liyuan's first visit to Moscow |
In the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3 Ma Ke mentioned“an egg and the hen” to show________．
| A．it is hard to explain “Which came first，the egg or the hen？” |
| B．paying such great attention to her was unnecessary |
| C．the outcome was more important than the process |
| D．her dissatisfaction with the media attention on her dress |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．First ladies compete with each other whenever they are together． |
| B．Peng's suits can be bought in Ma Ke's clothes stores． |
| C．Ma Ke offered to design the first lady's clothes through her friends． |
| D．Peng had liked Ma's designs long before she got to know her in the flesh． |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Peng wears the dress designed by a Chinese designer probably to support Chinese brands． |
| B．Many citizens found Peng Liyuan's choice quite unexpected． |
| C．Black leather handbags like Peng's are widely sold in bag stores in big cities． |
| D．After Peng Liyuan's visit to Moscow Ma Ke's clothes became more popular． |
Amanda Clement grew up in Hudson, South Dakota. Baseball was always her favorite sport. Once in a while her brother Hank and his friends would let her play first base in their games. More often, however, they asked her to umpire (裁判) for them, because they knew her calls would be fair and there would be no arguing.
One day in 1904, Amanda and her mother traveled to Hawarden, Iowa, to watch Hank play for the home team against Hawarden. When they arrived at the ball field, two local teams were waiting to play a preliminary (预备) game. The umpire hadn’t arrived, so Hank argued that the teams should let his sister serve as umpire. The players finally agreed.
Amanda, then sixteen and standing five feet, ten inches tall, made perfect calls. She was so good that players for the main game asked her to umpire for them and even offered to pay her. Thus, at sixteen, Amanda Clement became the first paid female baseball umpire of all time. She is honored in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.Why did Hank and his friends often ask Amanda to umpire for them?
| A．Because she called them brothers. |
| B．Because they wanted to make her happy. |
| C．Because no one else wanted to do it for them. |
| D．Because she knew the rules well and was fair. |
Amanda went to Hawarden in order to ______.
| A．serve as umpire |
| B．watch her brother play |
| C．make money |
| D．help the local teams |
Amanda most probably learned how to umpire a baseball game ______.
| A．in her P. E. classes at school |
| B．in an umpire training school |
| C．by watching and playing the games |
| D．from her mother, a baseball umpire |
Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
| A．The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown |
| B．Amanda Clement, First Female Umpire |
| C．Baseball Games in Hawarden, Iowa |
| D．A Family of Baseball Fans |
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A,B,C,D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂上.
When Charles Stratton was five, he stopped growing. His mother took him to see the famous showman, P. T. Barnum. Mr. Barnum thought a small person would be the perfect addition to his show. He hired Charles' parents along with him, and they traveled the world together.
He gave the two-foot-tall Charles a name, General Tom Thumb. He taught Tom how to sing, dance, act and tell jokes. When he felt Tom was ready to perform on stage, he made up ads. To stir up great interest, he said that Tom was eleven years old and had come from England.
During the show, Tom fought battles pretendedly with tall people. He also danced upon a wooden plate held by a person who was eight feet tall. Tom's act was very popular and brought in a lot of money. By the time Tom was an adult, he had grown very rich. He had become a billionaire at the age of twenty five.
Fortunately for Tom, Mr. Barnum added more little people to his show, and Tom became lucky in love as well. One of the little people was Lavinia Warren, a schoolteacher. Tom was able to win her love, and they married.
The ceremony and reception were the talk of the town. They were attended by many rich and famous people and by about 2000 guests. Crowds filled the streets of New York to have a look at their tiny wedding marriage. The couple even met with President Abraham Lincoln on their honeymoon just before going to live in Tom's house in Connecticut.
Their wedding, which took place during the Civil War, provided a welcome escape from the sad problems of war. Not willing to let this bit of sunshine fade, communities throughout the country sponsored "Tom Thumb" weddings. In these weddings, small boys and girls, all dressed up, went through marriage ceremony for fun.The underlined words "talk of the town" means________.
| A．it was in the newspaper |
| B．it was the most popular topic |
| C．people spread bad rumors about it |
| D．it was discussed in a city meeting |
Which one of the following statements is true according to the text?
| A．Charles mother took him to see the famous showman because he stopped growing. |
| B．Tom had to fight with others during the show. |
| C．Tom’s wedding ceremony helped people cheer up in a dark time. |
| D．Tom and his mother came from England. |
What is the main idea of the last paragraph?
| A．Weddings always make people feel full of sunshine. |
| B．People are always disappointed during war time. |
| C．Entertainment can serve an important purpose. |
| D．People should be married when they are small children. |
The world is filled with smart, talented, educated and gifted people. We meet them every day. A few days ago, my car was not running well. I pulled it into a garage and the young mechanic had it fixed in just a few minutes. He knew what was wrong by simply listening to the engine. I was amazed. The sad truth is: Great talent is not enough.
I am constantly shocked at how little talented people earn. I heard the other day that less than 5 percent of Americans earn more than $100, 000 a year. A business consultant who specializes in the medical trade was telling me how many doctors and dentists struggle financially. It was this business consultant who gave me the phrase, “They are one skill away from great wealth.”
There is an old saying that goes, “Job means just over broke (破产)' ”. And unfortunately, I would say that the saying applies to millions of people. Because school does not think financial intelligence is intelligence, most workers “live within their means”. They work and they pay the bills. Instead I recommend to young people to seek work for what they will learn, more than what they will earn.
When I ask the classes I teach, “How many of you can cook a better hamburger than McDonald’s?” almost all the students raise their hands. I then ask, “So if most of you can cook a better hamburger, how come McDonald’s makes more money than you?” The answer is obvious: McDonald’s is excellent at business systems. The reason so many talented people are poor is because they focus on bui1ding a better hamburger and know little or nothing about business systems. The world is filled with talented poor people. They focus on perfecting their skills at building a better hamburger rather than the skills of selling and delivering the hamburger.The author mentions the mechanic in the first paragraph to show that __________.
| A．he has a sharp sense of hearing |
| B．he is ready to help others |
| C．he is just one of the talented people |
| D．he knows little about car repairing |
The underlined part in the third paragraph can be best replaced by__________.
| A．spend more than they can afford |
| B．live within what they earn |
| C．live in their own circle |
| D．do in their own way |
Why do talented people earn so little according to the author?
| A．They don't work hard enough. |
| B．They have no specialized skills. |
| C．They don't make full use of their talents. |
| D．They lack financial intelligence. |
The main purpose of the author is to tell us___________.
| A．why so many talented people are poor |
| B．what schools should teach students |
| C．how young people can find a satisfactory job |
| D．how McDonald's makes much money |
Larry was on another of his underwater expeditions(探险)but this time, it was different. He decided to take his daughter along with him. She was only ten years old. This would be her first trip with her father on what he had always been famous for.
Larry first began diving when he was his daughter’s age. Similarly, his father had taken him along on one of his expeditions. Since then, he had never looked back. Larry started out by renting diving suits from the small diving shop just along the shore. He had hated them. They were either too big or too small. Then, there was the instructor. He gave him a short lesson before allowing him into the water with his father. He had made an exception. Larry would never have been able to go down without at least five hours of theory and another similar number of hours on practical lessons with a guide. Children his age were not even allowed to dive.
After the first expedition, Larry’s later diving adventures only got better and better. There was never a dull moment. In his black and blue suit and with an oxygen tank fastened on his back, Larry dived from boats into the middle of the ocean. Dangerous areas did not prevent him from continuing his search. Sometimes, he was limited to a cage underwater but that did not bother him. At least, he was still able to take photographs of the underwater creatures
Larry’s first expedition without his father was in the Cayman Islands. There were numerous diving spots in the area and Larry was determined to visit all of them. Fortunately for him, a man offered to take him around the different spots for free. Larry did not even know what the time was, how many spots he dived into or how many photographs he had taken. The diving spots afforded such a wide array of fish and sea creatures that Larry saw more than thirty varieties of creatures.
Larry looked at his daughter. She looked as excited as he had been when he was her age. He hoped she would be able to continue the family tradition. Already, she looked like she was much braver than Larry had been then. This was the key to a successful underwater expedition.In what way was this expedition different for Larry?
| A．His daughter had grown up. |
| B．He had become a famous diver. |
| C．His father would dive with him. |
| D．His daughter would dive with him. |
What can be inferred from Paragraph 2?
| A．Larry had some privileges. |
| B．Larry liked the rented diving suits. |
| C．Divers had to buy diving equipment. |
| D．Ten-year-old children were permitted to dive. |
Why did Larry have to stay in a cage underwater sometimes?
| A．To protect himself from danger. |
| B．To dive into the deep water. |
| C．To admire the underwater view. |
| D．To take photos more conveniently. |
What did Larry expect his daughter to do?
| A．Become a successful diver. |
| B．Make a good diving guide. |
| C．Take a lot of photos underwater. |
| D．Have longer hours of training. |
The story began with a young mother who had three sons. Unfortunately, the youngest son developed slow thinking skills, not having the intelligence of his brothers.
With double duty as the mother of the household, she was exhausted, so that the youngest was often the target of anger and annoyance. Bad words, such as “you little fool” and the like, served as a daily meal for the youngest.
The words and curses he got from the mother and ridicule from friends convinced him that he was distressing and embarrassing his family. Every morning he woke up with his own face staring from the mirror reflection, he started to say quietly and sadly, “The fool is going to school.”
As adult citizens, there was compulsory military service which should be lived. Thus, the youngest son also signed up and started to follow the various tests: a medical, physical ability test and other tests. On the day of the announcement, he was called into the board of examiners.
In his mind, he convinced himself that he was the fool and couldn’t pass the tests this time as he entered the room with his head down. It was not expected at all. The tests turned out to have the highest praise from the board of examiners.
“Congratulations, young man! Your test results are incredible! You are really a great and talented young man. ”Words from the board of examiners became the discovery of a new side of himself that was not known in advance. Voice kept echoing in his mind, such as “I, the great man, am in the shower”, “The great man washes his face”, “The talented young man again brushes his teeth” and so on. Confidence and improved self-image came beyond usual.
20 years later, the youngest established himself as a successful businessman who was admired and respected, and received many awards.
The mindset and belief are the power behind the success that is within us. Whatever we think and believe in or minds continuously, it will eventually materialize in reality. That’s the universally applicable law.Why was the youngest often scolded by his mother?
| A．He was not as clever as his brothers. |
| B．He considered himself to be a fool. |
| C．He didn’t behave himself at school. |
| D．He didn’t cook meals for his mother. |
From the story we know that the young mother is ____.
| A．selfish and lazy |
| B．gentle and caring |
| C．ill-tempered and impatient |
| D．kind-hearted and diligent |
What happened to the youngest son later on?
| A．He received aid from others. |
| B．He became an admirable psychologist. |
| C．He became confident and successful. |
| D．He developed strange mental diseases. |
From this passage, the author tells us that____.
| A．military service can change a person completely |
| B．mothers’ attitude toward children is important |
| C．even a fool can become a successful businessman |
| D．think big and you will get big results |
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