Helen Thomas, the pioneering White House reporter known for putting presidents on the hot seat, died at 92.

To those who regularly watch presidential press conferences, Helen Thomas is a familiar figure.Usually dressed in red and always seated in the front row, she is always the first or second reporter the president calls upon.It is an honor she has earned.Besides, it affords her the perfect opportunity to do what she does best ---- challenge the president and other public officials to tell the plain truth.She said, "We reporters' priority(首要事情) is the people's right to know ---- without fear or favor.We are the people's servants."

Helen Thomas was born in Kentucky in 1920.All the nine Thomas children were brought up to value education, and all were expected to make something of themselves through working hard.She made up her mind while still in high school to become a reporter after writing for the student newspaper.After receiving her bachelor's degree in 1942, Thomas headed straight for Washington, D.C.in search of a newspaper job.Before long, she landed one at Washington Daily News.Her duty included fetching coffee and doughnuts for the paper's reporters and editors.The eager young woman found the atmosphere exciting and was convinced she had made the right career choice.

Her big break came when she was sent to Florida to report on the vacation of President-elect John F.Kennedy and his family.Once President Kennedy took office, Thomas changed her focus from the president's family to his policies.She began attending the daily press briefings at the White House as well as presidential press conferences.Thomas has covered every president since Kennedy.Over the years, Thomas found her job "thrilling and inspiring," but never boring.And she took very seriously her duty to "keep an eye on the president" and keep American people informed.

1.What can we learn about Helen Thomas from the passage?

A. Her career took off after covering the Kennedys.

B. Her first job was to deliver doughnuts to a news agency.

C. She was born to a large family in Kentucky in 1942.

D. She decided to be a reporter while in college.

2.Paragraph 3 is written to show Helen Thomas

A. is a good decision maker for her career

B. appreciates education and hard work

C. wants to be famous by writing reports

D. has great support from her family

3.What does Helen Thomas think other work?

A. Unbearable. B. Exciting.

C. Challenging. D.Unforgettable.

4.What can be the best title for the text?

A.A reporter sticking to the facts.

B.A reporter challenging President Kennedy.

C.A reporter from an ordinary family.

D.A reporter for Washington Daily News.

Over the last 25 years, British society has changed a great deal – or at least many parts of it have. 1. . Ideas about social class – whether a person is “working - class” or “middle - class” – are one area in which changes have been extremely slow.

In the past, the working-class tended to be paid less than middle-class people. The typical working man would collect his wages on Friday evening and then, it was widely believed, having given his wife her "housekeeping", would go out and squander the rest on beer and betting.

The old style of what a middle-class man did with his money was perhaps nearer the truth. He was-and still is - inclined to take a longer-term view. Not only did he regard buying a house as a most important thing, but he also considered the education of his children as extremely important. 2. . Only in very few cases did workers have the opportunity (or the education and training) to make such long-term plans.

3. . In a large number of cases factory workers earn as much as their middle – class supervisors (管理者). Social security and laws to improve century, have made it less necessary than before to worry about "tomorrow". Working-class people seem slowly to be losing the feeling of inferiority(自卑感). In fact there has been a growing tendency in the past few years for the middle-classes to feel slightly ashamed of their position.

4. .They generally tend to share very similar tastes in music and clothes, they spend their money in having a good time, and save for holidays or longer-term plans when necessary. There seems to be much less difference than in precious generations. 5. . As long as this gap exists, there will always be a possibility that new conflicts and jealousies will emerge, or rather that the old conflicts will re-appear, but between different groups.

A.Nowadays, a great deal has changed

B.Both of these provided him and his family with security

C.As a result, differences in life – styles and attitudes came into existence

D.However, we still have a wide gap between the well – paid and the low - paid

E.In recent years, the working – class people have begun to design long – term plans

F.In some ways, however, very little has changed, particularly where attitudes are concerned

G.The changes in both life – styles and attitudes are probably most easily seen among younger people

An old man in a faded yellow shirt sat in a windowless room on a raised concrete form. The only source of heat came from somewhere beneath the plastic mattress and the rough blanket the blank-faced police woman had handed him after taking his thumb prints. He heard voices and metallic clang as the cell door swung open.

At the front desk a tired looking policeman handed the old man back his belongings, his worn-out cap and the Seiko watch that had stopped working the day his beloved Evelyn left. The policeman dramatically held the blue plastic bag at an arm’s length to the old man who took it and made sure its contents were undamaged: the goat meat, palm oil, leaves and spices. He ignored the confused expression on the officer’s face and signed the document declaring he had been returned the possessions they had taken off him the night before.

No one spoke to him as he walked slowly towards the exit.

“Mr. Easy-nwa?” He stopped and prayed to the God who now took care of Evelyn to please take him far away from this unhappy place of expressionless faces, clipped accents and people who did not even attempt to pronounce his name right.

“Ezenwa,” He said and looked at a woman with tangerine lips, her name tag said Jessica Harlow, Social Services. “A bit far from home”,she said as she drove fast and with confidence the way Evelyn used to. He wondered if she meant the 50 miles from Liverpool or the 50,000 miles from Enugu,a city in Nigeria. He did not bother replying as this woman had plenty to say about the weather, bad drivers, her daughter’s school play...

At last she drew up outside the block of flats where he lived.

“Got here in the end”,said she seriously, “Really Mr. Easy-nwa, if you keep getting lost, we will have to consider moving you into a home”.

“No need, I was not lost,”he answered.

He carefully rolled up the sleeves of the oversize bomber jacket he wore and turned on the tap to wash his hands, relieved the pipes were not frozen. In a clean pan he placed the chopped pieces of goat meat. The herbs and spices that had taken him three months to track down, the uziza seeds had taken him into the heart of Granby Market in Liverpool, his uchanwu leaves down a shady back alley in Manchester, and yesterday, among other food items, the finest goat meat from a Sierra Leonean Butcher in Birmingham. That had taken some time, so much he missed the last train and when the police found him shivering outside the locked up station, so cold he couldn’t answer loudly enough the pink-faced big copper who yelled in his face, “What’s your name sir?” spraying his face with spittle (吐沫)as he did so, leaving them with no choice but to search an exhausted, frozen old black man and finding him in possession of mysterious condiments (调味品)including a bag of dried bitter-leaf which could of course be mistaken for anything that resulted in him getting read his rights and charged with ...possession?

He lifted the lid of the bubbling soup, the room was filled with the rich and spicy scent of his culinary (烹饪的)effort. He served two bowls, taking the chipped one and placing the other opposite where Evelyn would have sat. He would tell her about his adventure, it was their anniversary and this was the perfect pepper soup to celebrate.

Ken Onyia, UK (Nigeria) Commonwealth Sport Short Story Prize

1.Why was Mr. Ezenwa taken to the prison for a night?

A. He was too weak to move.

B. He couldn’t find his way back home.

C. He then had nowhere else to go.

D. He was suspected of possessing drugs.

2.When Mr. Ezenwa was to leave the prison,

A. his thumb print was taken immediately

B. the policeman was confused about what he had

C. a social worker was assigned to drive him back home

D. the policeman was so kind as not to damage his belongings

3.What did Mr. Ezenwa do for his wedding anniversary?

A. He collected all sorts of valuables as presents.

B. He cooked native food as a surprise for his wife.

C. He prepared a special Nigerian pepper soup carefully.

D. He travelled a lot, attempting to get his wife back.

4.What words can be used to describe Mr. Ezenwa?

A. Hopeless and pessimistic.

B. Mysterious and troublesome.

C. Affectionate and persistent.

D. Energetic and sympathetic.

5.What theme does the author want to express through the story?

A. Racial prejudice.

B. Hard life of the elderly.

C. Struggle for freedom.

D. Preservation of tradition.

In the fall of 1985, I was a bright-eyed girl heading off to Howard University, aiming at a legal career and dreaming of sitting on a Supreme Court bench somewhere. Twenty-one years later I am still a bright-eyed dreamer and one with quite a different tale to tell.

My grandma, an amazing woman, graduated from college at the age of 65. She was the first in our family to reach that goal. But one year after I started college, she developed cancer. I made the choice to withdraw from college to care for her. It meant that school and my personal dream would have to wait.

Then I got married with another dream: building my family with a combination of adopted and biological children. In 1999, we adopted our first son. To lay eyes on him was fantastic and very emotional. A year later came our second adopted boy. Then followed son No. 3. In 2003, I gave birth to another boy.

You can imagine how fully occupied I became, raising four boys under the age of 8. Our home was a complete zoo---a joyous zoo. Not surprising, I never did make it back to college full-time. But I never gave up on the dream either. I had only one choice: to find a way. That meant taking as few as one class each semester.

The hardest part was feeling guilty about the time I spent away from the boys. They often wanted me to stay home with them. There certainly were times I wanted to quit, but I knew I should set an example for them to follow through the rest of their lives.

In 2007, I graduated from the University of North Carolina. It took me over 21 years to get my college degree!

I am not special, just single-minded. It always struck me that when you’re looking at a big challenge from the outside it looks huge, but when you’re in the middle of it, it just seems normal. Everything you want won’t arrive in your life on one day. It’s a process. Remember: little steps add up to big dreams.

1. When the author went to Howard University, her dream was to be __________.

A. a writer B. a teacher

C. a judge D. a doctor

2.Why did the author quit school in her second year of college?

A. She wanted to study by herself.

B. She fell in love and got married.

C. She suffered from a serious illness.

D. She decided to look after her grandma.

3.What can we learn about the author from Paragraphs 4 and 5?

A. She was busy yet happy with her family life.

B. She ignored her guilty feeling for her sons.

C. She wanted to remain a full-time housewife.

D. She was too confused to make a correct choice.

4. What does the author mostly want to tell us in the last paragraph?

A. Failure is the mother of success.

B. Little by little, one goes far.

C. Every coin has two sides.

D. Well begun, half done.

5. Which of the following can best describe the author?

A. Caring and determined.

B. Honest and responsible.

C. Ambitious and sensitive.

D. Innocent and single-minded.

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