Mark Twain left school when he was twelve. He had little school education. In spite of this, he became the most famous writer of his time. He made millions of dollars by writing. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, but he is better known all over the world as Mark Twain, his penname.
Mark Twain was born in 1835 and he was not a healthy baby. In fact, he was not ex­pected to live through the first winter. But with his mother’s care, he managed to survive. As a boy, he caused much trouble for his parents. He used to play jokes on all his friends and neighbors. He didn’t like to go to school, and he often ran away from home. He always went in the direction of the nearby Mississippi(密西西比河). He was nearly drowned nine times.
After his father’s death, Mark Twain began to work for a printer, who only provided him with food and clothing. Then, he worked as a printer, a river-boat pilot and later joined the army. But shortly after that he became a miner. During this period, he started to write short stories. Afterwards he became a full time writer.
In 1870, Mark Twain got married. In the years that followed he wrote many books including Tom Sawyer in 1876, and Huckleberry Finn in 1884, which made him famous, and brought him great fortune.
Unfortunately, Mark Twain got into debts in bad investments(投资) and he had to write large numbers of stories to pay these debts. In 1904, his wife died, and then three of his children passed away.
At the age of 70, his hair was completely white. He bought many white suits and neckties. He wore nothing but white from head to foot until his death on April 21, 1910.
【小题1】In his childhood, Mark Twain, ________.

1.The most universal f__________ expression is the smile, which is to show happiness and put people at ease.

2.We hadn’t told anybody else about our plan, but c__________, he seemed to have

known what we would do next.

3.--What happened to Tom yesterday?

--He had a car accident, but f__________ he was not injured.

4.In order not to let others hear what they said, they talked in a w___________.

5.When the dog attacked me, I picked up a stick and d__________ myself.

6.Though She was very successful, she was never c__________ with what she had

achieved. 

7.Stephen Hawking, one of the greatest scientists in the world, has been

s___________ with illness for many years. （斗争）

8.--What do you think of my new dress?

--It’s pretty, but I don’t think it’s suitable for this __________. (场合)

9.Steven Spielberg is one of the best d__________ in the world, who has made a lot of

excellent movies. (导演)

10.At last Yuan Longpin succeeded in finding a way to increase rice harvests without

__________ the areas of fields. (扩大)

He was a good runner so he ______ escape from the police.

We have seen that pesticides(杀虫剂)now pollute soil, water, and food, and that they have the power to make our rivers fishless and our gardens and woodlands silent and birdless. Man, however much he may like to pretend the opposite, is part of nature. Can he escape a pollution that is now so thoroughly spread throughout our world?

We know that even single exposure(暴露) to these chemicals, if the amount is large enough, can cause extremely severe poisoning. But this is not the major problem. The sudden illness or death of farmers, farm workers, and others exposed to enough quantities of pesticides is very sad and should not happen. For the population as a whole, we must pay more attention to the delayed effects of taking in small amounts of the pesticides that unseeably pollute our world.

Responsible(负责的) public health officials have pointed out that the biological effects of chemicals are increasing in amount over long periods of time, and that the danger to man may depend on the amount of the exposures received throughout his lifetime. For these very reasons people easily take no notice of the danger. It is human nature to shake off what may seem to us a future disaster(灾害). "Men are naturally most impressed by diseases which have obvious signs," says a wise physician, Dr. Rene Dubos, "yet some of their worst enemies slowly come near them unnoticed."

Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined sentence?

A. Man doesn't care about what happens in nature.

B. Man acts as if he does not belong to nature.

C. Man can avoid the effects of environmental pollution.

D. Man can escape his responsibilities for environmental protection.

People are likely to take no notice of the delayed effects of exposure to chemicals because________.

A. limited exposure to them does little harm to people's health

B. the present is more important to them than the future

C. the danger does not become seen clearly and immediately

D. humans are able to bear small amounts of poisoning

It can be concluded from what Dr. Dubos says that________.

A. people find hidden diseases difficult to deal with

B. attacks by hidden enemies are likely to be deadly

C. diseases with obvious signs are easy to cure

D. people are likely to take no notice of hidden dangers caused by pesticides

A man heard that a certain government wanted a clerk, so wrote and asked for the position. But while he was waiting for an answer, a friend of his introduced him to the head of the department, who gave him the job. Several months later, while the man was working in the department, he got a letter that had been sent to him from the place he used to live in. This letter said,
“Dear sir,
We are sorry to have to tell you that we cannot offer work in this department because we do not think that you would be able to do the work successfully.
Your faithfully.”
The man laughed, but when he looked at the letter more carefully, he saw that he had signed it himself.
【小题1】At the beginning of the story the man wanted ____.