"Mark Twain" was the name used by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910) when he wrote books. His father was a lawyer, but a poor one, who lived at Florida, Missouri. The family was so poor that Samuel did not receive much teaching. He had to learn all that he could from the people whom he met. His father died when he was very young, and then there was even less money than before.

　　Many of the men in this part of America worked in the ships on the great River Mississippi, and he did this himself at one time (1857).

　　Where did he find the name "Mark Twain"? It came from the great river itself. It was part of one of the cries used by men who worked in the ships. When a man called "By the mark twain!"  he meant that the river was "two marks deep" there, that is to say, six feet deep ( "Twain" is an old form of the work "Two".) Samuel Clemens often heard these words when he was young, and he used them as a penname all his life.

　　During his work on the Mississippi he met travelers of all kinds, and this helped him a great deal when he started to write. But the number of travelers became smaller when war started in America in 1861. Many of the great ships on the river stopped work. Samuel left then and went to Nevada with his brother, who was at that time Governor of Nevada. There, near the town of Carson, Samuel became a gold miner, but he never made much money at the time. He soon saw that life in the gold mines was not for him. He also tried writing for the newspapers in Nevada, and this seemed more hopeful. He found that he could write.

　　He went to Europe in 1867 and visited France and Italy. In 1870 he married Olivia Langdon, and two years later he was spending nearly all his time writing. Among his books is his own story (1908).

　　He is now always known as Mark Twain, and many people do not even know that his family name was Clemens. He traveled in America and in England, and went to Oxford in 1907. He was one of  the great American writers of the time, and could make his readers laugh – a thing which few writers can do. He died in 1910.

1."Mark Twain" was _________.

      A. a famous American writer  B. name of a book

      C. a great river in America  D. a large ship

2.As a child, Samuel did not get much education because _________.

A.his father died too early

B.the family was very poor

  C. he disliked school very much

D. he could learn what he liked from the people he met

3. What gave him a great deal when he started writing? _______

A. His poor childhood     B. The Mississippi river 

C. All kinds of travelers he met  D. His brother

4. We can infer from the passage that ________.

A. Samuel loved writing from his early age

B. Samuel did not love writing at the beginning

C. his writings to the newspaper were successful

D. his brother encouraged him to write more

5.According to the writer of the passage, a good writer could _________.

A. write a lot for his readers

B. make a lot of money for his family

C. cause his readers to laugh

D. travel everywhere he wanted

I want to let you know about an event that changed my life many years ago. We were living in College Station, Texas and my wife and I were on our way home from Houston, Texas one Sunday morning. We decided to stop at a local gas station to get something to eat since we had enough time.

      When we finished, we got back into our car and before I started it, we noticed a homeless man standing in front of the building. His clothes were worn and it looked as if he didn’t have any money. It was cold and I was sure he wanted something to drink. However, it was not this that moved(感动) me.

　　A dog was also walking up to the front of the building. Being a dog lover, I noticed that the dog was a mother and that she had just had some puppies(小狗). She was hungry and weak and I felt so bad for her. I knew if she didn’t eat soon, she and her puppies would not live on.

　　People walking by didn’t even notice her. She might not have been as pretty and clean as most, but she still deserved(值得) better. But we still did not do anything, someone else did. The homeless man, who I thought could not afford anything to eat, went back into a store and bought dog food with all the money he had.

1. From the passage we can know that______.

　A. the author didn’t like dogs

　B. the dog was not pretty enough to be loved

　C. the author wanted to help the dog but he was unable to

　D. the dog and her puppies were in danger of dying of hunger

2.Which of the following moved the author?

　A. Most people walking by the dog didn’t notice her

　B. The homeless man wore worn clothes on the cold day

　C. The homeless man bought food for the dog with all of his money

　D. The homeless man had not any money to buy any food for himself

3. The author did the following except that he_______.

　A. had pity on the dog that was in danger

　B. bought dog food with all the money he had

　C. was a person who treasured dogs very much

　D. went home from Houston one Sunday morning

4.According to the passage, we know that the homeless man was _______.

　A. kind and helpful           B. brave and kind

　C. clever and helpful          D. clever and brave

5.. The best title for this passage would be_______.

　A. My Memory　　           B. My wife and I

C. Animals Are Parents Too      D. A Mother Dog and Her Puppies

改错

What's On

Stage

An acrobatic(杂技) soul: To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the China Acrobatic Troupe will present "The Soul of China", where the seemingly impossible is made real. Chills(寒战) will run down your spine (脊柱) as you watch breathlessly as performers take their art and their bodies to the edge

Time: 7:30p. m,Septemberl3—19

Place: Capital Theatre,22 Wangfujing Dajie, Dongcheng District

Exhibitions

Joint show: A group ink painting exhibition is running at the Huangshicheng Art Gallery in Beijing.

About 50 works by 25 young artists including Ge Yun and Yu Yang are on display.

Time: 9 a.m. —5 p.m.until September 10

Place: Huangshicheng Gallery, 136 Nanchizi Dajie, Dongcheng Distirct

Oil paintings: The Wanfung Art Gallery will host a joint show of oil paintings by 10 young and middle — aged artists. On display are more than 30 of their latest works, which capture(捕捉) he wonderous variety of life in unique(独特的) styles.

Time: 9 a.m. —4 p.m.until September 15

Place: 136 Nanchizi Street, Dongcheng District

Literature (文学) museum: The National Museum of Modern Chinese Literature offers an in —depth study of the evolution of Chinese contemporary literature from 1919 to 1949.

Time: 9 a.m. — 4 p.m, daily

Place: 45 Anyuan Donglu, Chaoyang District(Shaoyaoju area)

Conarts

Beijing rocks: "The Fashionow Night of Chinese Rock" is set to bring rock fans out by the thousands next month. Nine Chinese rock bands will perform at the concert, including older generation bands, middle generation and some recent arrivals. The audience(听众) will be given a chance to decide what songs they want to hear, which is sure to bring a storm.

Time: September 16

Place: The Olympic Center

Belgium Orchestra (管弦乐队): La Petite Bande, the Baroque Orchestra of Belgium, will perform in Beijing at the Grand Theatre of the Cultural Palace of Nationalities as part of activities across the world to commemorate(纪念) the 250th anniversary of Bach' s death.

Time: 7:30 p.m. September l1—14

Place: Grand Theatre of the Cultural Palace of Nationalities

What do you think of the acrobatic show mentioned here?

A．When you watch it, you will certainly feel cold.

B．Something strange will puzzle everyone, including scientists.

C．Unexpected things will make you excited and surprised.

D．Even the bravest ones will be too frightened to go on watching.

The most characteristic thing about the Fashionow Night of Chinese Rock is that_________.

A．it will let the audience choose the performers and the music

B．it is to bring thousands of rock fans out of their homes

C．it will certainly cause a rock storm throughout China

D．it is to be held in memory of one of the greatest musicians

Suppose it is September 14 today, how marry activities can people choose to attend?

A．2　　　　　　　 B．3　　　　　　　　 C．4　　　　　　　　D．5

On the whole, we can conclude__________.

A．people in Beijing prefer modem culture to something traditional

B．there are usually more cultural activities in September than in any other month

C．most of the cultural activities in Beijing are for foreign visitors only

D．we can enjoy a large variety of cultural activities in Beijing

　The leaders of Russia and China vowed to support each other’s fight against Muslim separatists and urged peaceful solutions in Iraq, during a meeting in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on December 2, 2002.

　　Russian President Vladimir Put in and China’s Jiang Zemin signed a joint declaration calling for a “multipolar world”.

　　His two - day visit comes shortly after the conclusion of the 16th Patry Cogress which elected the new CPC leadership. Put in said that Russia wants to “work hard” with the new generation of Chinese leaders.

　　The Treaty（条约）of Good = Neighbourliness and Friendly Cooperation, signed in July last year, has provided a solid legal foundation for lasting friendship for generations to come, according to Jiang, “China and Russia will be good neighbours, friends and partners forever.”

　　The Russian Government, in return, said it would continue to give priority（优先权）to relations with China in its foreign policies.

　　Put in spoke on the morning of Dec. 3rd at Peking University and took questions from students on his understanding of Chinese literature, Russian reform（改革）and NATO enlargement.

　　He said a growing number of young people in Russia are interested in Chinese literature and one of his daughters is learning Chinese.

We can infer from the last paragraph that ________ .

　　A. many young Russian people hope to study Chinese in China

　　B. China is richer and stronger than Russia

　　C. Russia will give some support to China

　　D. The relation between China and Russia is developing healthily

It is implied, in the sentence“Put in said that Russia wants to‘work hard’with the new generation on Chinese leaders”, that ________ .

　　A. Russia will co - operate closely with China

　　B. There are many differences between Russia and China

　　C. Put in knew little of the new generation of Chinese leaders

　　D. It will be long before Put in gets to know the new generation of Chinese leaders

The underlined word“multipolar”is likely to mean ________ .

　　A. equal　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. peaceful

　　C. balanced　　　　　　　　　　　D. fair

Which of the following is mentioned in the passage?

　　A. Put in agreed that NATO was enlarged．

　　B. Put in was invited to the 16th Chinese communist Party congress.

　　C. Russia puts China first.

   D. Muslim separatists make trouble only in Russia.