During a recent holiday I visited Dusseldorf, a city in the former West Germany. The nine-day trip left a deep impression   1   me. I arrived at Dussedorf airport at 7 pm. It was already  2  outside. The first thing I needed to do was to find a place to    3 . I decided to telephone the youth hotel. But to use the phone I needed some   4   , I asked a lady for help. To my  5   she gave me three coins to use. But all the phones in the   6   needed phone cards. And phone cards could only be bought at post offices during the   7   . I was   8   I would not be able to call the hotel. An old gentleman helped me. He couldn’t speak English   9   understand that I needed to   10   a phone call. He showed me where the phone was and inserted  11   phone card．I called the youth hotel and found a place to stay that night.

The   12   of the German people made me feel that I was not   13   my first day in Germany wasn’t as  14   as I expected．Whenever I went, I asked people for   15  . It surprised me that   16   every young German could speak English fluently. Older Germans couldn't speak English very well, but they would try to help me   17   they could．One middle-aged man I asked for directions even   18   me to the place I was looking for.

My   19   in Germany totally changed my impression of Germans. Now I think the people couldn't be more 20    .

1．  A．on          B．for               C．to              D．about

2．  A．late           B．dark             C．light          D．early

3．  A．visit         B．eat               C．stay           D．keep

4．  A．cards           B．information         C．money          D．coins

5．  A．joy           B．disappointment        C．emotion      D．surprise

6．  A．hotel          B．airport              C．city        D．pavement

7．  A．night         B．daytime            C．trip          D．rush-hour

8．  A．afraid            B．sure               C．glad            D．eager

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

10．A．make           B．have              C．do            D．answer

11．A．another         B．a                  C．my           D．his

12．A．use           B．success            C．care        D．kindness

13．A．really           B．nearly out of         C．far from      D．close to

14．A．interesting       B．good        C．bad   D．busy

15．A．direction B．distance   C．travel       D．serve

16．A．almost     B．even        C．only D．already

17．A．whenever        B．whatever C．wherever        D．however

18．A．drove       B．reached    C．moved     D．came

19．A．experience      B．victory     C．visit   D．memory

20．A．friendly     B．unfriendly        C．cold-hearted    D．valuable

“Get yourself up and make something of yourself，buddy！”Though my mother has passed away，her words are as clear in my head today as when I was a boy．

??? “Christ！”I said，“I have made something of myself. I want to sleep late as I like．”

??? “If there’s one thing I can’t stand，it’s a quitter．”Her voice in my head is more powerful than my will to refuse，so I pull myself from bed．

????? Before I was out of primary school，mother could see I lacked the gifts for either making millions or winning the love of crowds．So she began pushing me toward working with words．Words ran in her family．There seemed to be a word gene that passed down from her mother’s grandfather·

The greatest proof was my mother’s first cousin Edwin．He was the managing editor of the New York Times and had gained a name in his career．

??? In 1947 1 graduated from Johns Hopkins and applied for a job with the Baltimore Sun as a police reporter．It paid＄30 a week ．When I complained the wage was shameful for a learned man，mother refused to sympathize．“If you work hard at this job，”she said，“maybe you can make something of it．”

??? After a while，I was asked to cover diplomats（外交官）at various African embassies. Then，

seven years later I was arranged by the Sun to cover the White House，a task that was as close to heaven as a journalist could get．However，whatever achievement of mine only seemed insignificant in her eyes．Uncle Edwin’s success was really annoying during my early years as a reporter．What a thrill，I thought．

??? Then，out of my wildest childhood fantasy，the Times came knocking．It was sad that Uncle Edwin had passed away by this time．In 1979 I won the Pulitzer Prize．Unfortunately，my mother’s brain and health broke down the year before，leaving her in a nursing home，out of touch with life forevermore ．She never knew of my Pulitzer．

????? I can probably guess how she’d have responded．“ That’s nice，buddy．It shows if you work hand，you’11 be able to make something of yourself one day，”

1.The first three paragraphs are intended to＿＿＿＿＿＿

A．draw readers’attention to the author’s success

B．remind readers that the road to success is rough

C．serve as an introduction to the author’s mother

D．explain why the author’s mother kept blaming him

2.The underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 probably means that tier families＿＿＿＿

A. were gifted at language? B．never broke their promise

C. were fond of reading ? D. stuck to their family belief

3.What can we learn about the author

A．He got a good salary working as a police reporter．

B．He lived a rich life with his mother in his childhood．

C．It was proud of her mother to see his winning the Pulitzer Prize．

D．It was beyond his wildest dream that he could work for the Times．

4.The author regards Uncle Edwin’s success as a thrill because＿＿＿＿＿＿．

A．he himself was less smart than Uncle Edwin

B．his mother’s family thought Uncle Edwin to be a good reporter

C．few reporters can become the managing editor of the New York Times

D．Uncle Edwin spared no effort to get the Pulitzer Prize at the cost of his life

--- I once got lost during my first visit to Beijing.

-- Oh, did you? You _______ me as your guide.

It’s really true what people say about English politeness: it’s everywhere. When squeezing  past someone in a narrow passage, people say “sorry”. When getting off a bus, English passengers say “thank you” rather than the driver. In Germany, people would never dream of doing these things. After all, squeezing past others is sometimes unavoidable, and the bus driver is only doing his job. I used to think the same way, without questioning it, until I started traveling to the British Isles, and here are some more polite ways of interacting  with people in UK.

People thank each other everywhere in England, all the time. When people buy something in a shop, customer and shop assistant in most cases thank each other twice or more. In Germany, it would be exceptional to hear more than one thank you in such a conversation. British students thank their lecturers when leaving the room. English employers thank their employees for doing their jobs, as opposite to Germans, who would normally think that paying their workers money is already enough.

Another thing I observed during my stay was that English people rarely criticize others. Even when I was working and mistakes were pointed out to me, my employers emphasized several times but none of their explanations were intended as criticism. It has been my impression that by avoiding criticism, English people are making an effort to make others feel comfortable. This also is showed in other ways. British men still open doors for women, and British men are more likely to treat women to a meal than German men. However, I do need to point out here that this applies to English men a bit more than it would to Scottish men! Yes, the latter are a bit tightfisted.

1.What is the author’s attitude towards English politeness?

A. He thinks it is unnecessary.                      B. He thinks little of it.

C. He appreciates it very much.                            D. He thinks it goes too far.

2.What can be inferred from the passage?

A. German men never treat a woman to dinner.

B. The author think it’s unnecessary to say “thank you” to the bus driver.

C. In Germany, employers often say “thank you” to employees for their job.

D. Germans think it is unnecessary to thank workers because payment is enough.

3.We can learn from the last paragraph that Scottish men ______.

A. like to fight with each other          

B. treat women in a polite way

C. are as generous as English men              

D. are unwilling to spend money for women

4.The author develops the text through the method of ______.

A. making comparisons   B. telling stories                  C. giving reasons    D. giving examples

I entered St Thoma’s Hospital as a medical student at the age of 18 and spent five years there. I was an unsatisfactory student, for my heart, as you might have guessed, was not in it. I wanted, I had always wanted to be a writer, and in the evening, after my high tea, I wrote and read. Before long, I wrote a novel, called “Liza of Lambeth”, which I sent to a publisher and was accepted. It appeared during my last year at the hospital and had something of a success. It was of course an accident, but naturally I did not know that. I felt I could afford to give up medicine and make writing my profession; so, three days after I graduated from the school of medicine, I set out for Spain to write another book. Looking back now and knowing as I do the terrible difficulties of making a living by writing, I realize I was taking a fearful risk. It never even occurred to me.

The next ten years were very hard, and I earned an average of £100 a year. Then I had a bit of luck. The manager of the Court Theatre put on a play that failed ; the next play he arranged to put on was not ready , and he was at his wits’ end. He read a play of mine and, though he did not much like it, he thought it might just run for the six weeks till the play he had in mind to follow it with could be produced. It ran for fifteen months. Within a short while I had four plays running in London at the same time. Nothing of the kind had ever happened before. I was the talk of the town. One of the students at St Thomas’s Hospital asked the famous surgeon with whom I had worked whether he remembered me. “Yes, I remember him quite well, “he said. “ One of our failures, I’m afraid. “

1. Which of the following statements is not true?

A. The author was very pleased to have his book published but he didn’t realize it was something of an accident.

B. The success of his first book led the author to think he could afford to make writing his profession.

C. The author knew he was running a terrible risk when he decided to become a writer.

D. The author became a writer after graduation but was not a successful one.

2. In the second paragraph, “… he was at his wits’ end “means ________.

A. he was having a nervous breakdown       B. he was out of his wisdom

C. he did not know what to do             D. he almost went mad

3. The manager of the Court Theatre agreed to put the author’s play on the stage because _____________.

A. he thought it would run for fifteen months

B. he knew it was one of the author’s best plays shown in London

C. he had just put on a play that failed

D. the play he had arranged to put on was not ready

4. The author became the talk of the town. The reason was that __________.

A. he talked with a great many people in London about his plays

B. the plays he wrote were excellently performed in London

C. his performances in the Court Theatre were unexpectedly

D. he was criticized by an eminent surgeon as one of their failures