Mark Twain left school when he was twelve. Though he had little school education, he became the most famous writer of his time. He made millions of dollars by writing. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clements, but he is better known all over the world as Mark Twain, his penname.
Mark Twain was born in 1835 and he was not a healthy baby. In fact, he was not expected to live through the first winter. But with his mother’s tender care, he managed to survive. As a boy, he caused much trouble to his parents. He used to play jokes on all his friends and neighbors. He didn’t like to go to school, and he ran away from home from time to time. He always went in the direction of the nearby Mississippi. He was nearly drowned(淹死) nine times.
After his father’s death in 1847, Mark Twain began to work for a printer, who only provided him with food and clothing. Then, he worked as a river-boat pilot and later joined the army. But shortly after that he became a miner, during this period, he started to write short stories. Afterwards he became a full-time writer.
In 1870, Mark Twain got married. In the years that followed he wrote many books including Tom Sawyer in 1876, and Huckleberry Finn in 1884, which made him famous, and brought him a great fortune（财富）.Unfortunately, Mark Twain got into debts in bad investments（投资） and he had to write large numbers of stories to pay these debts. In 1904, his wife died and then three of their children passed away.
He died on April 21, 1910 at the age of 70.Mark Twain was ________ in his childhood.
| A．a naughty boy | B．a good student |
| C．a handsome boy | D．a strong boy |
Mark Twain began to write short stories when he _______.
| A．was at school | B．was in the army |
| C．worked for a printer | D．was a miner |
Before he became a full time writer Mark Twain had not been ___
| A．a printer. | B．a miner |
| C．a tailor | D．a soldier |
Mark Twain’s wife died _________
| A．soon after she give birth to three children |
| B．at the same time with her children |
| C．before three of her children died |
| D．after Mark Twain had died |
Years ago, when I started looking for my first job, wise advisers advised, “Barbara, be enthusiastic（热情的）! Enthusiasm will take you further than any amount of experience.” How right they were!
“Nothing great was ever done without enthusiasm,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson. It is the paste（浆糊） that helps you hang in there when the things get tough. It is the inner voice that tells you, “I can do it!” when others shout, “No, you can’t!” It took years and years for the early work of Barbara McClintock, a geneticist who won the 1983 Nobel Prize in medicine, to be generally accepted. Yet she didn’t stop working on her experiments.
We are all born with wide-eyed, enthusiastic wonder and it is the childlike wonder that gives enthusiastic people such youthful air, whatever their age. At 90, cellist Pablo Casals would start his day by playing the cello（大提琴）. As the music flowed through his fingers, his shoulders would straighten and joy would reappear in his eyes. As writer and poet Samuel Ullman once worte, “Years wrinkle(起皱纹) the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.”
Enthusiastic people also love what they do, not considering money or title or power. Patricia Mellratl, a retired director of the Missouri Rpertory Theater in Kansas City, was once asked where she got her enthusiasm. She replied, “My father, long ago, told me, ‘I never made any money until I stopped working for it.’”
We can’t afford to waste tears on “might-have-been”. We need to turn the tears into sweat as we go after “what-can-be”. We need to live each moment whole-heartedly, with all our senses finding pleasure in the sweet of a backyard garden, the simple picture of a six-year-old, and the beauty of a rainbow.What is the passage mainly talking about?
| A．Enthusiasm is more important than experience. |
| B．Enthusiasm can give people more success and fame |
| C．Enthusiastic people will never get old |
| D．Enthusiasm can make you succeed and enjoy life. |
We can infer that enthusiasm is more important for a person especially when __________.
| A．he is in trouble | B．he is getting old |
| C．he can do what he love | D．he has succeeded |
The author mentions Pablo Casals in the third paragraph to show that ______.
| A．enthusiasm can make people feel young |
| B．music can arouse people’s enthusiasm |
| C．enthusiasm can give people inspiration needed to succeed |
| D．enthusiasm can keep people healthy |
How many examples are referred in the passage to show the importance of enthusiasm?
| A．Three | B．Four | C．Five | D．Six |
Which proverb(谚语) may the writer agree with according to the last paragraph?
| A．A good beginning makes a good ending |
| B．Don’t cry over the spoiled milk |
| C．Love me, love my dog |
| D．All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy |
A serious problem for today’s society is who should be responsible for our elderly and how to improve their lives. It is not only a financial problem but also a question of the system we want for our society. I would like to suggest several possible solutions to this problem.
First, employers should take the responsibility for their retried employees. To make this possible, a percentage of profits should be set aside for this purpose. But when a company must take life long responsibility for its employees, it may suffer from a commercial disadvantage due to higher employee costs.
Another way of solving the problem is to return the responsibility to the individual. This means each person must save during his working years to pay for his years of retirement. This does not seem a very fair model since some people have enough trouble paying for their daily life without trying to earn extra to cover their retirement years. This means the government might have to step in to care for the poor.
In addition, the government could take responsibility for the care of the elderly. This could be financed through government taxes to increase the level of pensions. Furthermore, some institutions should be created for senior citizens, which can help provide a comfortable life for them. Unfortunately , as the present situation in our country shows, this is not a truly viable answer. The government can seldom afford to care for the elderly, particularly when it is busy trying to care for the young.
One further solution is that the government or social organizations establish some workplaces especially for the elderly where they are independent.
To sum up, all these options have advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that some combination of these options may be needed to provide the care we hope to give to our elderly generations.What is the passage mainly about?
| A．The problem faced by the old in society. |
| B．Why we should take responsibility for the old. |
| C．How we can improve the lives of the old |
| D．Where the old can go to get their pensions. |
According to the passage, how can the government help to improve the lives of retired people?
| A．Set aside some profits to help people with problems after they retire |
| B．Increase saving levels of people during their working years |
| C．Increase the discounts for food and transport for the old |
| D．Make available pensions for those who have retired |
The underlined word “viable” most probably means ____.
| A．impossible | B．practical | C．usefull | D．successful |
What can be concluded from the passage?
| A．Taking care of the old is mainly an issue of money |
| B．Employers should allow their workers to retire at a later age |
| C．Becoming independent should be the goal of most old people |
| D．There is no single solution to the problem of the old |
What is the writer’s main purpose of writing this article?
| A．To point out the need for government supporting for old people |
| B．To make general readers aware of the problems of retired people |
| C．To discuss some possible solutions to an important social problem |
| D．To instruct retired people on how they can have a happier life. |
As kids, my friends and I spent a lot of time out in the woods. “The woods” was our part-time address, destination, purpose, and excuse. If I went to a friend’s house and found him not at home, his mother might say, “Oh, he’s out in the woods, ” with a tone(语气) of airy acceptance. It’s similar to the tone people sometimes use nowadays to tell me that someone I’m looking for is on the golf course or at the gym, or even “away from his desk.” For us ten-year-olds, “being out in the woods” was just an excuse to do whatever we feel like for a while.
We sometimes told ourselves that what we were doing in the woods was exploring(探索). Exploring was a more popular idea back then than it is today. History seemed to be mostly about explorers. Our explorations, though, seemed to have less system than the historic kind: something usually came up along the way. Say we stayed in the woods, throwing rocks, shooting frogs, picking blackberries, digging in what we were briefly persuaded was an Italian burial mound.
Often we got “lost” and had to climb a tree to find out where we were. If you read a story in which someone does that successfully, be skeptical: the topmost branches are usually too skinny to hold weight, and we could never climb high enough to see anything except other trees. There were four or five trees that we visited regularly----tall beeches, easy to climb and comfortable to sit in.
It was in a tree, too, that our days of fooling around in the woods came to an end. By then some of us has reached seventh grade and had begun the rough ride of adolescence（青春期）. In March, the month when we usually took to the woods again after winter, two friends and I set out to go exploring. We climbed a tree, and all of a sudden it occurred to all three of us at the same time that were really were rather big to be up in a tree. Soon there would be the spring dances on Friday evenings in the high school cafeteria.The author and his fiends were often out in the woods to _______.
| A．avoid doing their schoolwork |
| B．play gold and other sports |
| C．spend their free time |
| D．keep away from their parents |
What can we infer from Paragraph 2?
| A．The author explored in the woods aimlessly. |
| B．Human history is not the result of exploration. |
| C．Exploration should be a systematic activity. |
| D．The activities in the woods were well planned.The author explored in the woods aimlessly. |
The underlined word “skeptical” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ______.
| A．doubtful |
| B．calm |
| C．serious |
| D．optimistic |
How does the author feel about his childhood?
| A．Long and unforgettable. |
| B．Lonely but memorable. |
| C．Boring and meaningless. |
| D．Happy but short. |
We can achieve knowledge either actively or passively（被动地）. We achieve it actively by direct experience, by testing and proving an idea, or by reasoning.
We achieve knowledge passively by being told by someone else. Most of the learning that takes place in the classroom and the kind that happens when we watch TV or read newspapers or magazines is passive. Conditioned as we are to passive learning, it’s not surprising that we depend on it in our everyday communication with friends and co-workers.
Unfortunately, passive learning has a serious problem. It makes us tend to accept what we are told even when it is little more than hearsay and rumor(谣言).
Did you ever play the game Rumor? It begins when one person writes down a message but doesn’t show it to anyone. Then the person whispers it, word for word, to another person. That person, in turn, whispers it to still another, and so on, through all the people playing the game. The last person writes down the message word for word as he or she hears it. Then the two written statements are compared. Typically, the original message has changed.
That’s what happens in daily life. The simple fact that people repeat a story in their own words changes the story. Then, too, most people listen imperfectly. And many enjoy adding their own creative touch to a story, trying to improve on it, stamping（打上标记）it with their own personal style. Yet those who hear it think they know.
This process is also found among scholars and authors: A statement of opinion by one writer may be re-stated as fact by another, who may in turn be quoted by yet another; and this process may continue, unless it occurs to someone to question the facts on which the original writer based his opinion or to challenge the interpretation he placed upon those facts.According to the passage, passive learning may occur in _______.
| A．visiting an exhibition |
| B．solving a math problem |
| C．doing a medical experiment |
| D．doing scientific reasoning |
The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refers to _____.
| A．active learning |
| B．passive learning |
| C．communication |
| D．knowledge |
The author mentions the game Rumor to show that _____.
| A．a message should be delivered in different ways |
| B．a message may be changed when being passed on |
| C．people may have problems with their sense of hearing |
| D．people tend not to believe in what they know as rumor |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．Active learning is less important. |
| B．Passive learning is not found among scholars. |
| C．Active learning occurs more frequently. |
| D．Passive learning may not be reliable. |
Harriet Tubman lived a life filled with adventure.Tubman worked with the Underground Railroad. She helped many slaves reach freedom in the North. She was a scout(侦察员)in the Civil War. She also worked as a nurse during the war.
Life in the Old South was very hard for slaves. Most slaves lived in small houses.They had large families, and even the children had to work in the fields.Most slaves dreamed of getting to the north.They wanted to be free.
One day Harriet saw a slave trying to run away. Then she saw the keeper running after him with a whip.Harriet stood in the keeper's way.The keeper took a weight and threw it at the slave.He hit Harriet above her eyes.It almost killed her. The scar(伤疤)on Harriet's head was an emblem(向征)of her will to fight for what she believed in.
The Fugitive(逃亡)Slave Law made Harriet's job harder.The law said that slaves could be caught even in the North. Harriet began leading slaves all the way into Canada.There they were safe.The law couldn't hurt them there.
When Harriet came for her mother and father,they were very old.Harriet was afraid they might not be able to make the trip.She got a horse.She and a friend made a wagon.She helped her mother and father ride to freedom.The story mainly tells us about______.
| A．life of the slaves in the Old South |
| B．life of Harriet Tubman |
| C．Harriet Tubman's fight for freedom for the slaves |
| D．the Civil War |
According to the story,which of the following statements is NOT TRUE?______.
| A．Harriet Tubman used to work as a nurse during the Civil War. |
| B．The weight hit Harriet in the head and left a scar on her head. |
| C．Harriet led slaves to Canada where the law couldn't hurt them. |
| D．The Fugitive Slave Law protected running slaves in the North. |
The Fugitive Slave Law______.
| A．protected running slaves |
| B．set slaves free |
| C．offered good jobs for slaves |
| D．made Harriet's job more difficult |
We can infer from the story that the author______.
| A．was in favor of slavery |
| B．was supportive about Harriet's work |
| C．thought the Fugitive Slave Law was good |
| D．thought slaves were treated well in the North |
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