O.Henry,born in Greensboro,North Carolina,was the pen name of William Sydney Porter.His father,Algernon Sidney Porter,was a physician.When William was three years old,his mother died,and he was raised by his grandmother and aunt.William was a good reader,but at the age of fifteen he left school,and worked in a drug store and later on a Texas farm.After that,he moved to Houston,where he had a number of jobs,including that of bank clerk.After moving to Austin,Texas,in 1882,he married.
In 1884 he started a humorous weekly The  Rolling Stone.When the weekly failed,he joined The  Houston Post as a reporter and columnist(专栏作家).In 1897 he was put into prison over some financial(财务的)dealings.While in prison,William started to write short stories to earn money to support his daughter Margaret.His first work,Whistling Dick’s Christmas Stocking(1899),appeared in McClure’s Magazine.After serving three years of the five years’ sentence,he changed his name to O.Henry,hoping to forget his bitter past.
O.Henry moved to New York City in 1902 and from December 1903 to January 1906 he wrote a story a week for the New York World,and also published the stories in other magazines.His first collection,Cabbages and Kings,appeared in 1904.Many other works quickly followed,such as The Gift of the Magi and The Furnished Room.O.Henry’s best known work is The Ransom of Red Chief.His stories always have surprising endings.He published 10 collections and over 600 short stories during his lifetime.
O.Henry’s last years were shadowed by drinking,ill health,and financial problems.In 1907,he experienced a failed marriage.In 1910,O.Henry died after an illness.
【小题1】What’s the passage mainly about?

A.A brief introduction to O.Henry.
B.O.Henry’s career and marriage.
C.How O.Henry became a well­known writer.
D.O.Henry’s best known works.
【小题2】It can be inferred from the passage that O.Henry ________.
A.didn’t like to study during his childhood
B.had little parental love as a child
C.was very interested in medicine and farming
D.took up only one job after he moved to Houston
【小题3】Which is the right time order for the following events in O.Henry’s life?
①He moved to New York City.
②He joined The Houston Post.
③Whistling Dick’s Christmas Stocking came out.
④The Furnished Room came out.
⑤Cabbages and Kings appeared.
A.①②③④⑤B.②①③⑤④C.③②①④⑤D.②③①⑤④
【小题4】Which of the following works of O. Henry’s is the most popular according to the passage?
A.Cabbages and Kings.
B.The Gift of the Magi.
C.The Furnished Room.
D.The Ransom of Red Chief.

Robert Frost was one of America’s best known and most honored serious writers. But his fame came late in his life.
He was born in San Francisco, California in 1874. He lived in California during his early  childhood. He was named after the chief Southern general in America’s Civil War. The general’s name was Robert Edward Lee. The poet was named Robert Lee Frost, because his father wanted to honor the general.
Someone once asked another American writer, Ernest Hemingway, how to become a writer. The best thing, he said, was to have an unhappy childhood. If this is true, Robert Frost’s childhood was unhappy enough to make him a very good writer. Robert Frost’s father was a reporter who wanted to be a politician. He often drank too much wine and became angry. Robert was the victim (受害者) of his anger.
Robert Frost finished high school in 1891. After high school, Robert’s grandfather offered to pay his costs at Dartmouth College. But Robert left the school after a few months. He did not like it. He spent the next few years working at different jobs. At one time, he worked in a factory. Later, he repaired shoes. He was a teacher. He was a reporter. Always, he wrote poetry.
Robert Frost attended Harvard University for two years. After that, he returned to the many jobs  he held before. For a while, Frost tried to take care of a farm in the state of New Hampshire. He was not a successful farmer. And he continued to write poetry. He said that until 1930, he earned only about ten dollars a year from writing.
In 1912, he decided to try to make a new start. He took his family to Britain. The cost of living was low. In Britain, Frost found a publisher for his first book of poems. The book was called A Boy’s Will. When it appeared in 1913. Frost received high praise from British readers. Praise was something he had not received in his own country.
Ezra Pound, another American poet living in Britain, read the poems and liked them very much. He wrote a magazine article about Frost. He also helped get Frost’s second book of poems published in America. That book was called North of Boston.
【小题1】The followings are writers EXCEPT ________.

A.Robert Edward LeeB.Robert Lee Frost
C.Ernest Hemingway D.Ezra Pound
【小题2】The passage wrote about Hemingway in order to show that
A.he had great influence on Frost’s poetry and life
B.Frost’ s poetry style was the same as Hemingway’s
C.Frost was unhappy because he was the victim of his father
D.Frost spent his childhood unhappily
【小题3】What can we learn from the passage?
A.Once Frost’s first book was published he gained great praise in his country.
B.After leaving Harvard University, he began to learn to write poetry.
C.Frost was found lo have a gift in poetry while he studied in high school.
D.Robert Frost’s father was angry and drank a lot because he didn’t realize his dream.
【小题4】What’s the passage mainly about?
A.Robert Frost’s unhappy childhood.B.Robert Frost’s first and second book.
C.Robert Frost’s family and jobs.D.Robert Frost’s life and poetry.

How many people have I met who have told me about the book that they have been planning to write but have never yet found the time? Far too many.

This is Life, all right, but we do treat it like a rehearsal (排演) and, unhappily, we do miss so many of its best moments.

We take jobs to stay alive and provide homes for our families, always making ourselves believe that this style of life is merely a temporary state of affairs along the road to what we really want to do. Then, at 60 or 65, we are suddenly presented with a clock and several grandchildren and we look back and realize that all those years waiting for Real Life to come along were in fact real life.

    In America they have a saying much laughed at by the English:“Have a nice day!” They speak slowly and seriously in their shops, hotels and sandwich bars. I think it is a wonderful phrase, reminding us, in effect, to enjoy the moment: to value this very day.

How often do we say to ourselves, "I'll take up horse-riding (or golf, or sailing) as soon as I get a higher position," only to do none of those things when I do get the higher position.

    When I first became a reporter, I knew a man who gave up a very well paid respectable job at the Daily Telegraph to go and edit a small weekly newspaper. At the time I was astonished by what appeared to me to be his completely abnormal (反常的) mental state. How could anyone turn his back on Fleet Street in central London for a small local area?I wanted to know.

Now I am a little older and possibly wiser, I see the sense in it. In Fleet Street the man was under continual pressure. He lived in an unattractive London suburb and he spent much of his life sitting on Southern Region trains.

1.The first paragraph of the passage tells us that           

    A.we always try to find some time to write a book

    B.we always make plans but seldom fulfill them

    C.we always enjoy many of life's best moments

    D.we always do what we really want to do

2.The underlined phrase "turn his back on" (paragraph 6) most probably means       

    A.leave for        B.return to        C.give up          D.rely on

3.The man ( paragraph 6) left his first job partly because he was           

    A.in an abnormal state                 B.under too much pressure

    C.not well paid                        D.not respected

4.What is probably the best title for the passage?

    A.Provide Homes For Our Family         B.Take Up Horse-riding

C.Value This Very Day                  D.Stay Alive

 

 

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