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  For nearly half a century, Mary Lasker, who died last week at 93, was America's leading crusader (社会活动参与者) against cancer. Yet much of the money she used to fight the disease came from a product which is now considered as a cancer cause—the cigarette.

  Her fortune first took shape in 1992 when advertising genius Albert Lasker was trying to raise American Tobacco Co. sales.“Get women to smoke”, a friend suggested,“and you'll double your market.”Lakser hired actresses and opera singers to support Lasker Strikes. For women worried about extra pounds, he coined the word,“Reach for a Lucky instead of a Sweet.”Lucky Strike sales increased 312 percent in a year.

  By the time he met Mary Woodard in 1939, Lasker was one of America's richest men, thanks to Luckier and ads that brought in orange juice, facial tissue and sanitary napkins.“What do you want most out of life?”he asked her. She replied,“To help to develop the research in cancer, tuberculosis (结核病) and the major diseases.”They got married, and in 1942 she persuaded him to retire and devote his time and money to philanthropy (慈善业), especially medical research, which then had little private funding (利息) and almost not any support from the government.

  Albert's 1952 cancer death left Mary with one goal: a cancer cure. She sold off several painting—Matisses, Renoirs and Van Goghs—and gave the money to researchers. For ten years, she managed to persuade to give a high position to the National Institutes of Health. Result: NIT's funding rises quickly from $ 2.4 million in 1954 to nearly $ 11 billion in 1994. Richard Nixon, moved and encouraged by Lasker, declared a $ 100 million“War on cancer”and promised a cancer vaccine (疫苗) by 1976. That proved a different goal, but research has scored advances against several cancers. And Mary Lasker's advice remains a laboratory watchword:“If there are no leads, let us make them.”

1.The words“Reach for a Lucky instead of a Sweet”were coined by Albert Lasker for the purpose of ________.

[  ]

A.tempting(劝诱)women to smoke so as to lose weight

B.persuading women not to eat sweets

C.telling women to smoke Lucky Strikes only

D.advertising Lucky Strikes

2.Albert gained his fortune by ________.

[  ]

A.selling orange juice

B.producing facial tissue and napkins

C.running tobacco businesses

D.none of the above

3.The money Mary used to fight cancer was from ________.

[  ]

A.The Lucky Strikes Co.

B.the government

C.her husband

D.her parents

4.Mary Lasker died ________.

[  ]

A.of cancer

B.from poverty

C.of T. B.

D.not mentioned in the passage

One of the strongest arguments for the raising of the school leaving age(ROSLA)has been that it will bring us some way nearer to “equality of opportunity”.?

Many people like to think of our present system of schooling as providing plenty of steps up the ladder of success for clever children. It would be good to think that no one who is really bright can be missed out when the state system is obviously so complete. It is obvious, for instance, that many children from less wealthy homes reach university or do well in other ways.?

Unfortunately, we now have plenty of proofs that many children of every level of ability do much less well than they could. For instance, during the years of national military service it was possible to test the intelligence of all male 18-to-20-year-old. Half of those soldiers who were placed in the two highest ability groups had left school at 15.

It has also been shown that the percentage of working class children going to university is almost the same now as it was in 1939.One study of 5000 children from birth to 21 years old shows that up to half the bright pupils from working class homes left school when they reached 16 years old. Moreover, there is no difference in intelligence between the sexes, but far more boys than girls stay in education after 16.

It is clear from this and many other proofs that many children are still leaving school too early to benefit from the prizes—money, social respectability, and interesting jobs—which higher education gives. It is clear too that the reasons why such children leave have much to do with their social background. Their parents often need the extra money another money-earner would bring in; they don't value education for itself because their own was probably dull and unhappy. It is not so much that they force their sons and daughters to leave school, rather than they tend to say, “It's up to you.”?

It is hoped that ROSLA will give all children _______.?

A. a more enjoyable time at school

B. the same chances in society ?

C. the right to a better school

D. higher scores in intelligence tests?

People would like to think that _______.?

A. equal numbers of poor and wealthy children reach university?

B. those with the least money get the best education?

C. intelligent children are always selected by the system?

D. only really clever children do well?

Working class children are thought to be at a disadvantage because _______.

A. many of the clever ones leave school early?

B. fewer go to university than ever before?

C. more than half leave school when they are 16?

D. fewer boys than girls stay at school after 16?

Many children leave school early because _______.?

A. their social background makes them unhappy?

B. they have to give something to their family's income?

C. their school is a dull and unhappy place?

D. their parents don't allow them to make their own decisions?

The writer Margaret Mitchell is best known for writing Gone with the Wind, first published in 1936. Her book and the movie based on it, tell a story of love and survival during the American Civil War. Visitors to the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta, Georgia, can go where she lived when she started composing the story and learn more about her life.
Our first stop at the Margaret Mitchell House is an exhibit area telling about the writer’s life. She was born in Atlanta in 1900. She started writing stories when she was a child. She started working as a reporter for the Atlanta Journal newspaper in 1922. One photograph of Ms. Mitchell, called Peggy, shows her talking to a group of young college boys. She was only about one and a half meters tall. The young men tower over her, but she seems very happy and sure of herself. The tour guide explains: “Now in this picture Peggy is interviewing some boys from Georgia Tech, asking them such questions as ‘Would you really marry a woman who works?’ And today it’d be ‘Would you marry one who doesn’t?’ ”
The Margaret Mitchell House is a building that once contained several apartments. Now we enter the first floor apartment where Ms. Mitchell lived with her husband, John Marsh. They made fun of the small apartment by calling it “The Dump ” .
Around 1926, Margaret Mitchell had stopped working as a reporter and was at home healing after an injury. Her husband brought her books to read from the library. She read so many books that he bought her a typewriter and said it was time for her to write her own book. Our guide says Gone with the Wind became a huge success. Margaret Mitchell received the Pulitzer Prize for the book. In 1939 the film version was released. It won ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
【小题1】The book Gone with the Wind was _________.

A.first published on a newspaper
B.awarded ten Academy Awards
C.written in “The Dump”
D.adapted from a movie
【小题2】The underlined phrase “tower over” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to_________.
A.be very pleased with
B.show great respect for
C.be much taller than
D.show little interest in
【小题3】Why did Ms. Mitchell stop working as a reporter according to the passage?
A.Because she was rich enough.
B.Because she was injured then.
C.Because her husband didn’t like it.
D.Because she wanted to write books.
【小题4】We can know about Margaret Mitchell from the passage that _________.
A.her height made her marriage unhappy
B.her interest in writing continued as an adult
C.writing stopped her working as a reporter
D.her life was full of hardship and sadness
【小题5】Which is the best title for the passage?
A.A Trip to Know Margaret Mitchell.
B. Gone with the Wind: A Huge Success.
C.An Introduction of the Margaret Mitchell House.
D.Margaret Mitchell: A Great Female Writer.

October 31, 2009, California

     Tsien Hsue-shen, PhD'39, one of the founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, died on October 31, He was 98.

     Tsien, born in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, graduated from the National Qinghua University in 1934 and in August of 1935 he left China to study at the Massachusetts Institute Technology. In 1936 he went to the California Institute of Technology to commence graduate studies .Tsien obtained his doctor degree in 1939 and would remain at Caltech for 20 years, becoming the Goddard Professor and establishing a reputation as one of the leading rocket scientists in the United States.

   In 1943, Tsien and two others in the Caltech rocketry group drafted the first document to use the name Jet Propulsion Laboratory. During the Second World War, he was amongst the other scientists participated the "Manhattan Project" .After World War II he served as a consultant to the  United States Army Air Force. During this time, Conlonel Tsien worked on designing an intercontinental space plane. His work would inspire the X--20Dyna-Soar which would later be the inspiration for the Space Shuttle. In1945 Tsien Hsue--shen married Jiang Ying, the daughter of Jiang Baili--one of the Chinese nationalist leader Chiang Kai--shen's leading military strategists. But in 1950, the Chinese-born scientist was accused of harboring Communist sympathies and stripped of his security clearance.

   In September 1955 he was permitted to leave for China, where Tsien resumed his research, founded the Institute of Mechanics, and went on to become the father of China's missile program, a trusted member of the government and Party's inner circle, and the nation's most honored scientist, Tsien retired in 1991 and has maintained a low public profile in Beijing, China. The PRC government launched its manned space program in 1992 and used Tsien's research as the basis for the Long March rocket which successfully launched the Shenzhou V mission in October of 2003.The elderly Tsien was able to watch China's first manned space mission on television from his hospital bed.

   In his late years, since the 1980s, Tsien devoted himself to spirituality research, and advocated scientific investigation of traditional Chinese medicine, Qigong and "special human body functions".

1.The underlined word "commence" in this passage probably means ____

A. make up    B. get    C. begin   D. promise

2.Tsien Hsue--shen got married at the age of ______

A.45          B.28     C. 24      D.34

3.What is the right order of the events related to Tsien Hsue--shen ?

a. his later life    b. return to China    c. career in the U.S.A  d. his early life and education 

A. a-b-c-d    B. d-c-b-a     C. d-b-c-a     D. c-b-d-a

4.Which of the following statements is NOT true?

A. Tsien Hsue--shen got a doctor's degree in 1939.

B. Tsien Hsue--shen married Jiang Ying, the daughter of Chinese nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shen.

C. Tsien Hsue-shen has made a contribution to the Space Shuttle.

D. Tsien Hsue-shen was interested in traditional Chinese medicine, qigong and "special human body functions" in his later life.

 

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