Before she appeared on the reality show(真人秀) Britain’s Got Talent, Susan Boyle was just an ordinary middle-aged British woman. Now all this is going to change.
She lives in a house with her cat Pebbles in a tiny Scottish town. Because of learning difficulties, she doesn’t have much education. But what she does have is a very good voice. As a kid, she sang in church and choirs and school plays. For a living, she sang at local pubs.
When she took the stage on April 10^th her hair was untidy and her clothes seemed just one step up from rags. The audience laughed at her.
But then she opened her mouth. A few bars into the song and the laughing audience went silent. A beautiful voice was singing I Dreamed a Dream from the musical Les Miserables. Everyone was amazed. At the end of her song, the audience jumped to their feet and applauded wildly.
Almost overnight, Susan became a household name. She won fans and millions of admirers. Her online videos have drawn over 85.2 million hits.
Susan’s story proved the truth of an old saying: “Never judge the book by its cover.” Susan may look ordinary, and doesn’t have much dress sense, but she can certainly sing.
Susan’s fans admire her courage, as much as they do her voice. She has experienced mockery and many disappointments, but her love for music has kept her going, which is worth anyone’s respect.
【小题1】According to the passage, Susan Boyle _______.

Once again, I was in a new school. So was a girl in my class named Phoebe. That’s   36  the similaritiesended.

I was tall and she was small. I was one of the oldest in the class while she was the youngest. I was   37 and shy. She wasn’t. I couldn’t   38  her, considering her my enemy. But she wanted to be friends.

One day, she invited me over and I said yes — I was too   39  to say no. Actually no one has invited me over to play before. But this girl, who wore the latest fashion, wanted to see me.

She lived on the fourth floor in a two-room place with her mother, her stepfather, her two brothers and her sister. When we got to the room she shared with her sister, she took out a big case of Barbies（芭比娃娃）- which was my next   40 . I would have thought she’d outgrown them. I had never played with them. But we sat on the floor of a walk-in cupboard laughing as we made up crazy stories about the Barbies. That’s   41  we found out that we both wanted to be writers when we were older. We both had wild   42 .

We had a great day that afternoon. Our jaws ached from   43  so much. She showed me her outfits, which had mostly come from a designer clothing store down the block. The woman who owned it used her   44  a model sometimes for her newspaper ads and gave her clothes in exchange.

Phoebe had the whole neighborhood   45 . The bookstore owners lent her fashion magazines, the movie theater gave her free passes and the pizza place let her have free slices. Soon I was included in her magic world. We slept over at each other's houses and spent every free moment together. My dark hair grew out and I learned to love being   46 .

Phoebe, my first real friend since childhood, helped me get through the through teenage years and taught me an amazing and very surprising thing about making friends: your “worst enemy” can   47  to be your best friend.

1.                A．how           B．why            C．that  D．where

2.                A．beautiful        B．awkward        C．brave    D．clever

3.                A．like            B．hate           C．stand D．help

4.                A．shocked        B．worried         C．shamed   D．happy

5.                A．surprise        B．puzzle          C．issue D．question

6.                A．where         B．how           C．when D．why

7.                A．profile         B．imagination      C．image    D．thinking

8.                A．crying          B．shouting        C．smiling   D．doing

9.                A．for            B．from           C．of   D．as

10.               A．confused       B．charmed        C．addicted   D．annoyed

11.               A．short          B．high           C．funny D．tall

12.               A．turn out        B．look out        C．watch out  D．work out

An old woman walked around as she pushed her shopping cart full of many things. She was

 36 . Her hair was untidy. Her clothes were torn. And some of her teeth were missing.

She  37  and asked me for change. Instead of giving her change, I  38  her to eat out and she  39 . We went across the street to an outdoor café so she could  40  her cart while we had lunch. The  41  was surprised when this woman appeared and did not want to serve us,  42  she forced herself. We ate our lunch. She was very  43  and the food disappeared almost as soon as it arrived.

When we were ready to  44 , I was feeling very good about myself and then she asked for a  45 . It was then that I had to  46  myself and all the hidden bias (偏见) that I had towards this  47.

She wasn’t wrong, but my reluctance(不愿)must have  48 . I held her in my arms carelessly and  49 I felt shame. She thanked me for lunch and then left.

I  50  there for a moment and realized that I had  51  to give this woman the one thing that cost  52  —love. I ran after the woman and caught up with her and asked her if I could give her a  53  hug and she agreed. I gave the woman the best one I’ve ever given anyone. “That’s getting it right,” she said and her big  54  lit my path as we parted.

The  55  I learned was that if you’re going to give, then give it your all and get it right the first time.

1.                A．happy          B．dirty           C．nervous  D．small

2.                A．ran            B．arrived         C．stopped  D．hid

3.                A．invited         B．pushed         C．forced   D．wished

4.                A．refused        B．returned        C．left  D．agreed

5.                A．watch over      B．get hold of      C．reach for D．catch up with

6.                A．customer       B．shopper        C．waitress D．traveler

7.                A．and            B．but            C．or   D．so

8.                A．thirsty          B．sleepy          C．tired D．hungry

9.                A．leave          B．rest            C．move D．apologize

10.               A．break          B．gift            C．hug  D．partner

11.               A．believe         B．face           C．hurt  D．introduce

12.               A．behavior       B．nation          C．person    D．district

13.               A．gone          B．shown         C．resulted   D．remained

14.               A．slowly          B．again          C．gradually  D．soon

15.               A．stood          B．cried          C．lay   D．drank

16.               A．decided        B．hoped         C．tried  D．failed

17.               A．anything        B．nothing         C．something D．everything

18.               A．real           B．quiet          C．brave D．safe

19.               A．teeth          B．smile          C．feet  D．mouth

20.               A．fact           B．information     C．lesson D．expression

—How do you think of our new English teacher?

— _____her clothes, she must be very strict.

A. Passing by     B. Putting on      C. Taking off     D. Going by

Zoe, Damacela, 19, didn't have nice clothes when she was young. It wasn't easy for Zoe’s hard-working single mother to make ends meet. They moved in and out of homeless shelters.

Everything changed for Zoe in grade nine. At that time, she heard about a sewing(缝纫) class at her school. She signed up and couldn't wait to turn her designs into clothes. The color of the first dress she made was white-black strips. Soon the clothes she wore were all made by her. Other girls at school loved her designs too. They asked her if they could buy dresses from her. Zoe sold her first dress for $13. Unfortunately, it cost her $25 to make the dress. “I had the creativity in designs," says Zoe. “But I really had no idea about business.”

Zoe kept selling the clothes she designed. Her business was booming, and even the girls who had ever teased her became her customers. In the eleventh grade, Zoe took a business class. She learned how to price her clothes so that she could be sure to make a fair profit.

Her business teacher suggested she take part in a contest for teenaged entrepreneurs (企业家). The contest was for teens from all over the United States. Zoe sent in her business plan, which explained how she planned to make her company grow. She won the second prize in the end. Zoe ’s success became a news item. Supermodel Tyra Banks heard about it and she invited Zoe to take part in her TV show. “Being recognized I felt really unreal,”says Zoe. Zoe has advice for teens who want to start their own business. “If you really work hard on it, you will be able to make it happen,” she says. “If I can do it, anyone else can.”

1.We can learn that ______when she was in grade nine.

A．Zoe had no interest in designing clothes

B．Zoe seldom wore her self-made clothes

C．Zoe didn' t know how to make money

D．Zoe attended a business course

2.After winning the contest, Zoe ______

A．considered it a reward

B．expected to be known

C．was proud of her own gift

D．could hardly believe it

3.Zoe advised the teens  ______  .

A．to make efforts to achieve their dreams

B．to design and make their own clothes

C．to try every means to become famous

D．to do whatever they would like to

4.What is the main idea of the passage?

A．How Zoe learned to design clothes.

B．A poor girl achieved success in business.

C．How Zoe got a prize in a contest.

D．A poor girl was invited to a TV show.