Most people know that the United States is made up of fifty states．However, few people know a lot about all fifty of them．Sufjan Stevens is a young American musician．He wants to change this situation．
Sufjan Stevens plans to make an album(专辑)about each of the fifty American states．During college, he played in several musical groups and recorded an album of his own music．However, he wanted to be a writer, not a musician．So after college he moved to New York City to study writing．
In New York, Stevens had trouble writing stories．He discovered that he missed music．He also discovered that most of his stories he did write were about his home state of Michigan．So, Sufjan Stevens decided to make an album of songs about Michigan．
Greetings from Michigan：the Great Lakes State was released(发行)three years ago．The album was a big success．Many young people and music critics liked it．Before long, Stevens announced that he wanted to make an album for every state．He called it his “fifty states project”．
Stevens chose Illinois as his next state．He read many books about Illinois．He studied police documents and old newspapers．He talked to people who live in the state．The CD Illinois was released last year．Critics loved the album．It won many awards．Illinois became popular at colleges throughout the United States．People said the CD sounded different from anything else they had ever heard．
Sufjan Stevens is keeping his next state a secret from reporters．People have said that he is writing about Oregon, Rhode Island, or Minnesota．However, no one but Stevens knows for sure．
(1)
Stevens planned to make an album about each state to ________．
[ ]
A．
excite the music talent of ordinary Americans
B．
record an album of his own music
C．
let people know more about each state of the US
D．
develop his talent for writing
(2)
What did Stevens do to prepare for an album about a state?
[ ]
A．
He played in several musical groups throughout US
B．
He studied records and talked to people there．
C．
He moved to New York City to study writing．
D．
He kept his state a secret from reporters．
(3)
Which of the following is NOT true about Sufjan Stevens?
[ ]
A．
No one but himself knows which state he will write about next．
Odland remembers like it was yesterday working in an expensive French restaurant in Denver．The ice cream he was serving fell onto the white dress of a rich and important woman．
Thirty years have passed, but Odland can't get the memory out of his mind, nor the woman's kind reaction．She was shocked, regained calmness and, in a kind voice, told the young Odland,“It's OK．It wasn't your fault．”When she left the restaurant, she also left the future Fortune 500 CEO with a life lesson：You can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she treats the waiter．
Odland isn't the only CEO to have made this discovery．Rather, it seems to be one of those few laws of the land that every CEO learns on the way up．It's hard to get a dozen CEO's to agree about anything, but most agree with the Waiter Rule．They say how others treat the CEO says nothing．But how others treat the waiter is like a window into the soul．
Watch out for anyone who pulls out the power card to say something like,“I could but this place and fire you,”or“I know the owner and I could have you fired．”Those who say such things have shown more about their character than about their wealth and power．
The CEO who came up with it, or at least first wrote it down, is Raytheon CEO Bill Swanson．He wrote a best-selling book called Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management．
“A person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, or to others, is not a nice person,”Swanson says．“I will never offer a job to the person who is sweet to the boss but turns rude to someone cleaning the tables．”
(1)
What happened after Odland dropped the ice cream onto the woman's dress?
[ ]
A．
He was fired．
B．
He was blamed．
C．
The woman comforted him．
D．
The woman left the restaurant at once．
(2)
Odland learned one of his life lessons from ________．
[ ]
A．
his experience as a waiter
B．
the advice given by the CEOs
C．
an article in Fortune
D．
an interesting best-selling book
(3)
According to the text, most CEOs have the same opinion about ________．
Our boat floated on, between walls of forest too thick to allow us a view of the land we were passing through, though we knew from the map that our river must from time to time be passing through chains of hills which crossed the jungle plains．Nowhere did we find a place where we could have landed：where the jungle did not actually spread right down into the river, banks of soft mud prevented us going ashore．In any case, what would we have sailed by landing?The country was full of snakes and other dangerous creatures, and the jungle was so thick that one would be able to advance only slowly, cutting one’s way with knives the whole way．So we stayed in the boat, hoping we reached the sea, a friendly fisherman would pick us up and take us to civilization．
We lived on fish, caught with home-made net of string(we had no hooks), and fruits and nuts we could pick up out of the water．As we had no fire, we had to eat everything, including the fish, raw I had never tasted raw fish before, and I must say I did not much enjoy the experience; perhaps sea fish which do not live in the mud are less tasteless．After eating my raw fish, I lay back and dreamed of such things as fried chicken and rice, and ice-cream．In the never-ending damp heat of the jungle, ice-cream was a particularly frequent dream．
As for water, there was a choice：we could drink the muddy river water, or die of thirst．We drank the water．Men who had just escaped what had appeared to be certain death lose all worries about such small things as diseases caused by dirty water．In fact, none of us suffered from any illness as a result．
One day we passed another village, but fortunately nobody saw us．We did not wish to risk being taken prisoners a second time：we might not be so lucky to escape in a stolen boat again．
(1)
What they could see in the boat was only ________．
[ ]
A．
high wall
B．
villagers from time to time
C．
vast land
D．
heavy woods
(2)
They couldn’t land because ________．
[ ]
A．
the mud on the shore was too soft
B．
the forest was too thick to let them go through
C．
they could not find the mark on the map
D．
they could not find anyone to lead them out of the forest
(3)
The passage infers that the forest was ________．
[ ]
A．
rich of fruits and animals to be served as food
B．
not very thick as they could advance slowly by cutting the branches
C．
full of various dangerous beings
D．
full of ancient trees
(4)
The most proper title for this passage might be ________．
[ ]
A．
Escape
B．
Scenes of a River
C．
How to Survive on a boat
D．
A New Experience
阅读理解：
Our boat floated on, between walls of forest too thick to allow us a view of the land we were passing through, though we knew from the map that our river must from time to time be passing through chains of hills which crossed the jungle plains．Nowhere did we find a place where we could have landed：where the jungle did not actually spread right down into the river, banks of soft mud prevented us going ashore．In any case, what would we have sailed by landing?The country was full of snakes and other dangerous creatures, and the jungle was so thick that one would be able to advance only slowly, cutting one’s way with knives the whole way．So we stayed in the boat, hoping we reached the sea, a friendly fisherman would pick us up and take us to civilization．
We lived on fish, caught with home-made net of string(we had no hooks), and fruits and nuts we could pick up out of the water．As we had no fire, we had to eat everything, including the fish, raw I had never tasted raw fish before, and I must say I did not much enjoy the experience; perhaps sea fish which do not live in the mud are less tasteless．After eating my raw fish, I lay back and dreamed of such things as fried chicken and rice, and ice-cream．In the never-ending damp heat of the jungle, ice-cream was a particularly frequent dream．
As for water, there was a choice：we could drink the muddy river water, or die of thirst．We drank the water．Men who had just escaped what had appeared to be certain death lose all worries about such small things as diseases caused by dirty water．In fact, none of us suffered from any illness as a result．
One day we passed another village, but fortunately nobody saw us．We did not wish to risk being taken prisoners a second time：we might not be so lucky to escape in a stolen boat again．
(1)
What they could see in the boat was only ________．
[ ]
A．
high wall
B．
villagers from time to time
C．
vast land
D．
heavy woods
(2)
They couldn’t land because ________．
[ ]
A．
the mud on the shore was too soft
B．
the forest was too thick to let them go through
C．
they could not find the mark on the map
D．
they could not find anyone to lead them out of the forest．
(3)
The passage infers that the forest was ________．
[ ]
A．
rich of fruits and animals to be served as food
B．
not very thick as they could advance slowly by cutting the branches
C．
full of various dangerous beings
D．
full of ancient trees
(4)
The most proper title for this passage might be ________．
