Nathan Sawaya's childhood was a lot of fun. He drew cartoons, wrote stories, and played with plastic toy bricks (积木). His grandparents bought his first set of toy bricks when he was five years old and he's been building with toy bricks ever since. He even took his building bricks to college with him! Instead of books and a computer, he had a model of Greenwich Village made of bricks on his desk.

     Nathan started as a lawyer but gave up His highly-paid (高薪的) job to become an artist that uses toys in his art. He uses toy bricks to build everything from the Statue of Liberty(自由女神像) to Superman! He has more than 1.5 million colored bricks in his working room in New York which he uses to make pieces of art. He started by building small models but then decided to do something big and created a self-portrait (自画像). It took him two days just to build the eyes.

     Nathan's work has appeared in museums around the world. Children love his art because it is made out of the same toys that they play with at home and adults love his work because it is fascinating. Since it began in2007, Nathan's exhibition "The Art of the Brick" has been very popular with museum visitors everywhere.

     "I'm proud that I took a dream I had as a child, to become an artist, and I have actually made a job out of it," says Nathan. "To do what you love in life is the most important thing."

1.What did Nathan put on his desk at college?

A. The Statue of Liberty.

B. Superman.

C. His serf-portrait.

D. A Greenwich Village modal.

2.Why did Nathan give up his job as a lawyer?

A. Because he made little money out of a lawyer.

B. Because he wanted to make toys for the children.

C. Because he decided to become an artist of toy bricks.

D. Because he was going to work in the museum instead.

3.What does the underlined word "it" in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A. Nathan's work.                 B. Nathan's exhibition.

C. Nathan's art.                   D. Nathan's self-portrait

4.What would be the best title for the passage?

A. The Brick Artist                B. The Brick Exhibition

C. Toy Bricks for Adults           D. The Artist's Childhood

7 January, 2014

A new report says more and more international students are attending colleges and universities in the United States. It also notes a large increase in the number of international students from China.

These findings are from the latest Open Doors Report. The report documents the record number of international students in the United States during 2012, 2013 school year. It says more than seven hundred sixty-four thousand four-hundred such students were attending American colleges and universities during the last two years. That represents an increase of almost six percent than one year earlier.

On the other hand, the number of Americans studying overseas (海外) increased by one percent, which reached nineteen thousand this year.

The report says one hundred ninety-four thousand students at American colleges and universities were from

China. That is an increase of more than twenty-three percent over the year before. Peggy Blumenthal, an expert(专家) of international education, described the effect of the increase in Chinese students.

"Now they have been coming for some time. But this year was the highest level ever." She says many Chinese families are able to pay for the highest-quality education for their children. The children mainly choose to study in America.

"We know many of them have enough income to be able to afford to send them anywhere in the world that they want to go. And for the most part, looking around the world, Chinese students still prefer to come to the United States as their choice."

Chinese students are not the only ones who want to attend American colleges and universities. After China, India sends the second largest number of students to the United States for higher education. India has about one hundred thousand students in American schools. South Korea is third with about seventy two thousand students.

Why do so many foreign students study in the United States? Peggy Blumenthal provides one reason.

Richard found a job in a big office after he finished college. He liked to use his (1)_______ and was good at his job. So he was often paid more than (得到的报酬多于) his workmates and he worked (2) __________. But something was wrong with the young man a month ago. He couldn't fall (3) _________ at night. So he was always (4) _________ in the daytime and often made mistakes. He had to go to a hospital. The doctor (5) _________ and told him to buy some sleeping pills. He took them (6) _________ he went to bed. Soon after that he went to sleep. Richard  (7) _________ in the morning. He had a look at the clock on the wall. It was a quarter to seven. He got up and went to work after (8) _________ . As soon as he went into the office, he said to the head of the office, "Good morning, Mr Clarke! I've (9) _________ had a good sleep like last night's and I'm feeling much better now!" "Skunk (混蛋)!" the head (10) _________ loudly. "We've looked for you for two days! I wanted you to do something important, but it's too late now!"

1.                A．hand           B．head           C．eyes D．feet

2.                A．hard           B．fast            C．harder   D．faster

3.                A．asleep         B．alone          C．afraid    D．awake

4.                A．well           B．hungry         C．thirsty    D．tired

5.                A．looked for him   B．looked at him    C．looked after him    D．looked him over

6.                A．after           B．because        C．before   D．if

7.                A．stood up        B．woke up        C．sat down  D．lay down

8.                A．lunch          B．dinner          C．supper   D．breakfast

9.                A．always         B．usually         C．never    D．often

10.               A．laughed        B．shouted        C．smiled D．asked

A young woman was driving through the lonely countryside. It was dark and rainy. Suddenly she saw an old woman by the side of the road, holding up her hand as if she wanted a lift(搭便车).

"I can't leave her out in this weather," the young woman said to herself. She stopped the car and opened the door.

  "Do you want a lift?" she asked. The old woman nodded(点头) and climbed into the car. After a while, she said to the old woman, “Have you been waiting a long time?" The old woman shook (摇晃) her head. "Strange!" thought the woman. She tried again. "Bad weather for the time of year," she said. The old woman nodded.  Then the young woman noticed the old woman's hands, which were large and hairy(多毛的). Suddenly she realized that "she" was a man! She was frightened at first. Then she stopped the car. "I can't see out of the rear screen(挡风玻璃) ,"she said. "Would you mind cleaning it for me?"

  "The old woman" nodded and opened the door. As soon as "she" was out of the car, the frightened young woman drove off as fast as she could.

   When she got to the next village, she stopped. She noticed "the old woman" had left "her" handbag behind. She picked it up and opened it. Inside was a gun(枪)

1.When the young woman talked with "her", "the old woman" only nodded or shook "her" head because "she"_______.

A .didn't want the young woman to hear "her" voice

B. didn't want to trouble the young woman any more

C. was so tired that "she" didn't want to talk with her

D. wondered if the young woman had seen "her" hands

2. How did the young woman find “she” was a man?

A. The young woman hared her "voice"

B. The young woman saw a gun in the handbag

C. The young woman noticed the old woman’s hands were big and fairy

D. The young woman had never seen "the old woman"

3.The young woman asked "the old woman" to clean the rear screen in order to________

A. see more clearly               B. drive fast and well

C. make "her" speak            D. throw "her" out

4.From the story we can see that the young woman was______.

A. kind and clever                  B. beautiful and bright

C. foolish and shy                   D. strong and helpful

5.What do you think "the old woman" was________.

A. A policeman.                      B. A basketball player.

C. A robber                        D. A poor villager

"BANG !" the door caused a reverberation（回声）. It was just standing there, with father standing on one side, and I on the other side.

    We were both in great anger. "Never set foot in this house again!" stormed father. With tears  welling up in my eyes, I rushed out of the flat and ran along the street.

    The street lights were shining, causing rather sad feelings. I walked aimlessly.

    A young father who held a child in his arms walked past me. I felt as if I saw my childhood from another space: happy and carefree.

    But now ... I don't know whether it is because I have grown up or because dad is getting old.  We differ in our ways of thinking. He always puts his opinions of behavior on me. Whenever I do something wrong, he never turns a blind eye to it. We are just like two people coming from two different worlds. It feels like there is an iron door between us that can never be opened.

    I walked aimlessly on the streets, without an exact place in mind. My heart was frozen on this hot summer night. As I walked on there were fewer and fewer people on the streets, until I had only the street lights to be with me. When I finally reached the high-rise apartment block in which I lived.

    I saw that all the lights were off except the father's.

    I thought to myself: "Is father waiting for me, or is he still angry with me?" "Am I wrong?" I whispered, maybe... With the key in hand, I was as nervous as I had ever been. At last, I decided to open the door. As soon as I opened the door tears ran down my cheeks. I suddenly realized that there was no iron door between us at all. Love - it's second to none.

1.Decide which is the best order of the following according to what happened in the passage.

a. I opened the door and father was waiting for me.

b. I had a quarrel with my father.

c. I walked about in the street without any aim.

d. I returned to my house and saw it was still brightly lit.

e. Sadly I ran out into the street.

A. b, e, d, c, a    B. b, e, c, d, a    C. b, e, a, c, d    D. b, e, c, a, d

2.What made the writer think of his childhood?

A. The sight of the street lights.                        

B. The sight of the empty street.

C. The sight of a father with a child in his arms.   

D. The sight of light in his own house.

3.What conclusion can you come to after reading the passage?

A. The father treats his son in an unfair way.   

B. The father is actually kind to his son.

C. The father is neither kind nor cruel to his son.   

D. The father is always finding fault with his son.