People often ask why“Uncle Sam”is a nickname(绰号)for the United Stated of America. The reason is strange but simple.

Once there was a man called Samuel Wilson. He was born in Arlington, Massachusetts, on September 3, 1766. He was called“Uncle Sam”. When Sam Wilson was 14 years old, he joined the army and fought in several battles. At the end of the war, he went to live in Troy in the state of New York. He opened a meat-packing(肉食品包装)business there.

Sam Wilson worked hard and loved his country. Everyone in the city liked him. One day in 1812, a reporter from a newspaper visited his business. The reporter looked at some boxes of meat. He saw the letters“EAUS”on the sides of the boxes.

“What do those letters mean?”he asked one of the workers.

“The EA stands for ‘Edward Anderson’,”the workman replied.“The boxes of meat are for him.”“What about the letters US?”the reporter asked.

These letters really stood for “United States”, but the workman wanted to have a laugh.“Oh,”he said .“They stand for Sam Wilson. He owns this company. We call him ‘Uncle Sam’.”

The worker did not think that the reporter would believe him. But the reporter wrote a story about his visit to Sam Wilson’s business. He wrote that his workers called him“Uncle Sam”and that“Uncle Sam”meant the United States.

Many people liked using the name“Uncle Sam”as a nickname for the United States and soon everyone was using it. In 1961, almost 150 years later, the United States government made the nickname“Uncle Sam”official(官方的).

1. This passage is mainly about_____.

A. why the USA is called“Uncle Sam”

B. how to carry boxes with goods to other countries

C. a businessman in Troy, New York State

D. why people called Sam Wilson“Uncle Sam”

2. Many people liked Samuel Wilson because_______.

A. a reporter wrote a story about him

B. his nickname was “Uncle Sam”

C. he worked hard and loved his country

D. he had a meat-packing business

3. The reporter became important in this story because he________.

A. visited Sam Wilson’s business

B. wrote about Sam Wilson and the letters“US”

C. was Sam Wilson’s best friend

D. was good at advertising Sam’s business

4. From this passage, we can infer that________.

A. most Americans don’t like the nickname“Uncle Sam”

B. the British soldiers liked calling Americans“Uncle Sam”

C. the reporter made Americans nicknamed“Uncle Sam”on purpose(故意地)

D. the United States government has agreed to use the nickname“Uncle Sam”

 

阅读理解

  My father made a deal with me that he would match whatever I could come up with to buy my fir st car.From the time I wa s a saver.My allowance, back in tho se day s, wa s twenty five cent s a week.I grew up on a farm near a small town called Ventura.In tho se day s the area wa s mo stly agricultural.The climate wa s and still i s a s clo se to perfect a s you could get.I earned some of my money picking one crop or another.When I wa s about ten, a school friend' s family owned walnut orchard s(果园)and it wa s harve st time.She told me we could earn five dollar s for every bag of walnut s we picked.I certainly learned about picking walnut s that day.Not surprisingly, that wa s my fir st and la st time a s a walnut picker.

  In 1960 my grandmother pa s sed away.She left me 100 share s of AT&T.One hundred share s of stock don't seem like much today but back then tho se share s paid me$240 per year in dividend s(利息).That wa s huge for a kid my age.

  By the time I wa s seventeen.I had saved up $ 1, 300 and I knew exactly that I wanted.Ithink my father wa s somewhat suri sed when I announced I had saved up $ 1, 300 and wa s ready to buy my new car.I'll never forget the evening my father said, “Let' s go see about that car”.I wa s so excited.

  My father could have ea sily ju st given me the car but he alway s in si sted that hi s children work for what they got.Thi s wa s not a bad thing.I learned self-reliance.Self-reliance i s equal to freedom.Now that I think about it I need to be thanking my father.

(1)

Which one of the following s didn't belong to the saving of $1, 300?

[  ]

A.

Weekly allowance.

B.

Her earning s by picking crop s.

C.

Share s left by grandma.

D.

Money earned from selling share s.

(2)

The underlined part in the second paragraph probably meant ________.

[  ]

A.

she didn't have the chance of picking walnut s

B.

enough money had been earned for her car

C.

the work wa s too hard for children like her

D.

she had no time to do that again for some rea son

(3)

We can know from the pa s sage the author got her car at the age of ________.

[  ]

A.

16

B.

17

C.

18

D.

19

(4)

The purpo se of the author' s father doing like that wa s to ________.

[  ]

A.

give the author freedom

B.

be unwilling to buy the author a car

C.

teach the author to learn self-reliance

D.

give the author a big surpri se

Lexi Peters, a 14-year-old girl in New York, loves hockey. She’s not only good at playing on her after-school team, but also at playing hockey video games. But when Peters played the popular NHL (National Hockey League) games made by Electronic Arts, something really bothered her. The virtual (虚拟的) character in the game could only be a boy — not a girl.
She didn’t think that was reasonable. There must be many girls playing hockey in the US. So she wrote a letter to Electronic Arts.
“Being represented by a man is unfair to women and girl hockey players,” Peters wrote. “Women’s hockey is a fast-growing sport. I am confident that I’m not the only woman interested in the opportunity to create herself in the game.”
Several weeks later, Peters received an unexpected e-mail from the senior producer for EA Sports’ NHL games, David Littman. “Hi, Lexi,” the e-mail began. “We agree with you!”
Electronic Arts said it would create a female player in the game. “I was thinking you could be the model,” Littman wrote. Peters almost couldn’t believe it. Later, she sent photos of herself taken at all different angles (角度).
And so, when Electronic Arts released the newest version of their game, NHL 12, this fall, Peters was the face of the female player. She can now skate with the NHL’s great players. “It’s strange at first, but you get used to it,” said Peters. “It’s really funny and cool.”
For Peters, there is also an important lesson that she will take with her the rest of her life. “If you have something to say, and you think it’s important, go for it!” she said.
【小题1】What bothered Peters when playing NHL games?

A.There was no girl character in the game.
B.The characters were not real at all.
C.No girls would like to play the game.
D.It was not like playing real hockey games.
【小题2】According to Peters’ letter, we can know that ________.
A.girls were not allowed to play hockey in the past
B.female players can be represented by men
C.boys don’t like to play hockey with girls
D.more and more girls are interested in hockey
【小题3】What was David Littman’s opinion of Peters’ letter?
A.He ignored it.B.He disliked it.
C.He agreed to it.D.He voted against it.
【小题4】Peters’ experience tells us that we should ________.
A.enjoy the fun of being a model
B.do what you think important to do
C.work hard to get used to any new situation
D.think about problems from different angles

E
A year after graduation, I was offered a position teaching a writing class. Teaching was a profession I had never seriously considered, though several of my stories had been published. I accepted the job without hesitation, as it would allow me to wear a tie and go by the name of Mr. Davis. My father went by the same name, and I liked to imagine people getting the two of us confused. “Wait a minute” someone might say, “are you talking about Mr. Davis the retired man, or Mr. Davis the respectable scholar?”
The position was offered at the last minute, and I was given two weeks to prepare, a period I spent searching for briefcase (公文包) and standing before my full-length mirror, repeating the words, “Hello, class. I’m Mr. Davis.” Sometimes I would give myself an aggressive voice. Sometimes I would sound experienced. But when the day eventually came, my nerves kicked in and the true Mr. Davis was there. I sounded not like a thoughtful professor, but rather a 12-year-old boy.
I arrived in the classroom with paper cards designed in the shape of maple leaves. I had cut them myself out of orange construction paper. I saw nine students along a long table. I handed out the cards, and the students wrote down their names and fastened them to their breast pockets as I required.
“All right then,” I said. “Okey, here we go.” Then I opened my briefcase and realized that I had never thought beyond this moment. I had been thinking that the students would be the first to talk, offering their thoughts and opinions on the events of the day. I had imagined that I would sit at the edge of the desk, overlooking a forest of hands. Every student would yell. “Calm down, you’ll all get your turn. Once at a time, once at a time!”
A terrible silence ruled the room, and seeing no other opinions, I inspected the students to pull out their notebooks and write a brief essay related to the theme of deep disappointment.
【小题1】The author took the job to teach writing because ______.

A.he had written some storiesB.he wanted to be expected
C.he wanted to please his fatherD.he had dreamed of being a teacher
【小题2】Before he started his class, the author asked the students to ______.
A.write down their suggestions on the paper cards
B.cut maple leaves out of the construction paper
C.cut some cards out of the construction paper
D.write down their names on the paper cards
【小题3】What did the students do when the author started his class?
A.They began to talk.B.They stayed silent.
C.They raised their hands.D.They shouted to be heard.
【小题4】The author chose the composition topic probably because ______.
A.he got disappointed with his first classB.he had prepared the topic before class
C.he wanted to calm down the studentsD.he thought it was an easy topic

Lexi Peters, a 14-year-old girl in New York, loves hockey. She’s not only good at playing on her after-school team, but also at playing hockey video games. But when Peters played the popular NHL (National Hockey League) games made by Electronic Arts, something really bothered her. The virtual (虚拟的) character in the game could only be a boy — not a girl.

She didn’t think that was reasonable. There must be many girls playing hockey in the US. So she wrote a letter to Electronic Arts.

“Being represented by a man is unfair to women and girl hockey players,” Peters wrote. “Women’s hockey is a fast-growing sport. I am confident that I’m not the only woman interested in the opportunity to create herself in the game.”

Several weeks later, Peters received an unexpected e-mail from the senior producer for EA Sports’ NHL games, David Littman. “Hi, Lexi,” the e-mail began. “We agree with you!”

Electronic Arts said it would create a female player in the game. “I was thinking you could be the model,” Littman wrote. Peters almost couldn’t believe it. Later, she sent photos of herself taken at all different angles (角度).

And so, when Electronic Arts released the newest version of their game, NHL 12, this fall, Peters was the face of the female player. She can now skate with the NHL’s great players. “It’s strange at first, but you get used to it,” said Peters. “It’s really funny and cool.”

For Peters, there is also an important lesson that she will take with her the rest of her life. “If you have something to say, and you think it’s important, go for it!” she said.

1.What bothered Peters when playing NHL games?

A.There was no girl character in the game.

B.The characters were not real at all.

C.No girls would like to play the game.

D.It was not like playing real hockey games.

2.According to Peters’ letter, we can know that ________.

A.girls were not allowed to play hockey in the past

B.female players can be represented by men

C.boys don’t like to play hockey with girls

D.more and more girls are interested in hockey

3.What was David Littman’s opinion of Peters’ letter?

A.He ignored it.                          B.He disliked it.

C.He agreed to it.                         D.He voted against it.

4.Peters’ experience tells us that we should ________.

A.enjoy the fun of being a model

B.do what you think important to do

C.work hard to get used to any new situation

D.think about problems from different angles

 

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