A severely handicapped teenager who cannot walk,talk or hold a paintbrush has won a place at Oxford to study fine art.

Hero Joy Nightingale,16,who communicates through hand movements,is to be given assistants to paint and sculpt on her behalf.Her mother Pauline Reid “translated for” her daughter during interviews for the place at Magdalen College.

The teenager is the most severely handicapped student ever to be granted a place at Oxford.She suffers from “locked-in syndrome”,a profound apraxia caused by brain damage that renders her body useless and her voice mute.

She is unlikely ever to be able to walk,feed or care for herself but,thanks to the efforts of her mother,she can communicate.When Hero was four,Pauline devised a complicated system of hand gestures that equate to the alphabet.

A spokesperson for Oxford said,“The university welcomes applications from students with disabilities.In cases where students are profoundly disabled,there may be many issues that need to be carefully addressed before an individual can take up a place,such as establishing how the student can best be taught and examined.”

Hero,who suffers almost daily epileptic fits and has a hole in her heart,has not attended school since she was six.She has been taught at home by her mother and father,the pro-vice chancellor of Kent University.

Peter Giles,her art tutor until last year,said she has a genuine talent for art.“She is ferociously gifted.We would sit together and her mother would grab her daughter’s hand and then we would begin work,”he said.

Together,they built several modern sculptures from plaster and metal.“The instructions would take a while to decipher.But eventually,they would come,and eventually make sense.”

Hero’s classes will be held at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art.

Hero communicates with others _________.

A.through common hand movements

B.by typing words on computer

C.through a complicated system of hand gestures devised by her mother

D.by drawing pictures on a board

According to the passage,how does Hero paint or sculpt?

A.She instructs her assistants to paint or sculpt through hand movements.

B.She gives instructions,and her mother paints or sculpts following her instructions.

C.She paints or sculpts with her own hands.

D.She gives instructions,her mother “translates” them,and her assistants paint or sculpt according to the “translations”.

From the story we can infer _________.

A.Oxford welcomes any handicapped student who is good at fine art

B.Hero has not attended school since she was six

C.Hero is gifted in fine art

D.Hero is a strong-minded girl who loves life very much

Which of the following is NOT true?

A.Hero is the most seriously handicapped student ever to be admitted to Oxford.

B.Oxford will admit a disabled student without any requirements.

C.Hero has been taught by her parents at home for10 years.

D.Hero is not able to walk,talk or hold a paintbrush.

A well-dressed man entered a famous jewelry shop. He explained that he wished to buy a pearl for his wife’s birthday. The price didn’t matter. Since business had been very good for him that year. After examining a nice black one that cost $5000, he paid for the pearl in cash, shook hands with the jeweler, and left.

A few days later the man returned and said that his wife liked the pearl so much that she wanted another one just like it. It had to be exactly the same size and quality, as she wanted a pair of earrings made, “Can you give me any advice on how to get such a pearl?” said the man. The jeweler regretfully replied, “I would say it’s exactly impossible to find one exactly like that pearl.”

The rich man insisted that the jeweler advertise in the newspapers, offering $ 25,000 for the matching pearl. Many people answered the advertisement but nobody had a pearl that was just right.

Just when the jeweler had given up hope, a little old lady came into his store. To his great surprise, she pulled the perfect pearl from her purse. “I don’t like to part with it,” she said sadly, “I inherited it from my mother, and my mother inherited it from hers. But I really need the money.”

The jeweler was quick to pay her before she changed her mind. Then he called the rich man’s hotel to tell him the good news. The man, however, was nowhere to be found.

The man said he wanted to buy a pearl for ______.

A. his wife              B. his mother-in–law 

C. his own mother            D. no one

57. He paid $ 5,000 for the black pearl without bargaining because ______.

A. he was very rich            B. he wanted to make the jeweler believe him

C. he was anxious to get it       D. his business had been successful

He told the jeweler to get him another pearl that must be ______.

A. exactly the same size as the black one

B. exactly the same quality as the black one

C. worth no more than $ 25,000

D. exactly as big and nice as the black one

Many people answered the advertisement because they wanted _______.

A. to see the perfect pearl

B. to buy some beautiful pearls too

C. to get in touch with the rich man

D. to sell their own pearl at a high price

The jeweler couldn’t find the man anywhere because ______.

A. he died suddenly.

B. He happened to be out

C. He got $ 20,000 by cheating and had run away with the money.

D. He wouldn’t show up until the jeweler called him a second time.

A severely handicapped teenager who cannot walk, talk or hold a

paintbrush has won a place at Oxford to study fine art. Hero Joy Nightingale, 16, who communicates through hand movements, is to be given assistants to paint and sculpt(雕塑) in place of her .Her mother Pauline Reid “translated” for her daughter during interviews for the place at Magdalen College.

The teenager is the most severely handicapped student ever to be given a place at Oxford. She suffers from a terrible disease caused by brain damage that makes her unable to speak and her body useless.

She is unlikely ever to be able to walk, feed or care for herself but, thanks to the efforts of her mother. She can communicate. When Hero was four, Pauline designed a system of hand gestures that is equal to the alphabet.

By dictating to the her mother , Hero has created an internet magazine, From the window, which contains by George Carey, Melvyn Bragg, Margaret Atwood and Kofi Annan — all of whom are invited to write for her.

A spokesperson for Oxford said, “The university welcomes applications from students with disabilities. In cases where students are profoundly disabled, there may be many issues(问题) that need to be carefully talked about before an individual can take up a place, such as fixing firmly how the student can best be taught and examined.”

Hero, who suffers almost daily epileptic fits and has a hole in her heart, has not attended school since she was six. She has been taught at home by her mother and father, who work at Kent University.

Peter Giles, her art tutor until last year, said she has a gift for art. “She is ferociously gifted. We would sit together and her mother would grab her daughter’s hand and then we would begin work,” he said.

Together, they www..combuilt several modern sculptures from plaster and metal. “The instructions would talk a while to decipher(解释，解密). But finally, they would come, and finally make sense.”

Hero’s classes will be held at the Ruskin School Drawing and Fine Art.

According to the passage, which of the following statement is NOT TRUE?

A. Oxford University has taken in other handicapped students besides Hero.

B. Hero’s mother is the only person who can understand her fairly well.

C. Hero can not create any art works without her fairly well.

D. Only through her hand movement, is Hero able to paint and sculpt.

In the sentence: “But finally, they would come and finally make sense.”, the word “they” refers to _______.

A. the assistants              B. the mother and the assistants

C. Hero’s instructions          D. the mother’s instructions

Which would be the best title for the passage?

A. Disabled Hero and her Mother

B. Disabled Hero Wins Oxford Place

C. Oxford University Welcome Disabled Students

D. Disabled Students Living in Oxford University

A well-dressed man entered a famous jewelry shop. He explained that he wished to buy a pearl for his wife’s birthday. The price didn’t matter. Since business had been very good for him that year. After examining a nice black one that cost $5000, he paid for the pearl in cash, shook hands with the jeweler, and left.

A few days later the man returned and said that his wife liked the pearl so much that she wanted another one just like it. It had to be exactly the same size and quality, as she wanted a pair of earrings made, “Can you give me any advice on how to get such a pearl?” said the man. The jeweler regretfully replied, “I would say it’s exactly impossible to find one exactly like that pearl.”

The rich man insisted that the jeweler advertise in the newspapers, offering $ 25,000 for the matching pearl. Many people answered the advertisement but nobody had a pearl that was just right.

Just when the jeweler had given up hope, a little old lady came into his store. To his great surprise, she pulled the perfect pearl from her purse. “I don’t like to part with it,” she said sadly, “I inherited it from my mother, and my mother inherited it from hers. But I really need the money.”

The jeweler was quick to pay her before she changed her mind. Then he called the rich man’s hotel to tell him the good news. The man, however, was nowhere to be found.

The man said he wanted to buy a pearl for ______.

A. his wife             B. his mother-in–law 

C. his own mother       D. no one

He paid $ 5,000 for the black pearl without bargaining because ______.

A. he was very rich      B. he wanted to make the jeweler believe him

C. he was anxious to get it   D. his business had been successful

He told the jeweler to get him another pearl that must be ______.

A. exactly the same size as the black one

B. exactly the same quality as the black one

C. worth no more than $ 25,000

D. exactly as big and nice as the black one

Many people answered the advertisement because they wanted _______.

A. to see the perfect pearl

B. to buy some beautiful pearls too

C. to get in touch with the rich man

D. to sell their own pearl at a high price

The jeweler couldn’t find the man anywhere because ______.

A. he died suddenly.

B. He happened to be out

C. He got $ 20,000 by cheating and had run away with the money.

D. He wouldn’t show up until the jeweler called him a second time.

When the world was a simpler place ,the rich were fat ,the poor were thin ,and right-thinking people worried about how to feed the hungry .Now ,in much of the world ,the rich are thin ,the poor are fat ,and right-thinking people are worrying about fatness.?
Evolution（进化）is mostly to blame. It has designed mankind to deal with lack ,not plenty .People are perfectly fit to store energy in good years to see them through lean ones. But when bad time never comes ,they are stuck with that energy ,stored around their expanding bellies.?
Thanks to rising agricultural productivity ,lean years are rarer all over the globe .According to the UN ,the number of people short of food fell from 920 m in 1980 to 799 m 20 years later ,even though the world's population increased by 1.6 billion over the period .This is mostly a cause for celebration .Mankind has won what was ,for most of his time on this planet ,his biggest battle：to ensure that he and his offspring had enough to eat. But every silver lining has a cloud ,and the result of prosperity is a new trouble.?
Fatness is the world's biggest public-health topic today—the main cause of heart disease ,which kills more ?people? these days than AIDS ,malaria（疟疾）,war; the major risk factor in diabetes（糖尿病）；heavily connected with cancer and other diseases .Since the World Health Organization labeled fatness an “epidemic（流行病）”in 2000,?reports? on its fearful results have come thick and fast.?
Will public-health warnings ,combined with media pressure ,persuade people to get thinner ,just as they ?finally? put them off tobacco? Possibly .In the rich world ,sales of healthier foods are booming and new figures suggest that over the past year Americans got very slightly thinner for the first time in recorded history .But even if Americans are losing a few ounces ,it will be many years before the country solves the health problems caused by half a century's dining to overload .And ,everywhere else in the world ,people are still piling on the pounds .That's why there is now an agreement among doctors that governments should do something to stop them.?
1.What's the main idea the writer intends to tell us in this passage??
A.It's harmful to have enough to eat.?
B.It's better to be thin than fat.?
C.Fatness is the greatest danger in the world.?
D.Fatness has become a great health problem.
2.It can be inferred from the passage that the biggest problem in history is_______.
A.people were thin?
B.people smoked heavily?
C.there was not enough food to eat?
D.people stored energy in good years
3.Why does the author compare smoking with the fat problem in this passage??
A.Because they are both difficult problems to be settled.?
B.Because they both lead to the same diseases.?
C.Because they are both bad habits.?
D.Because they are both harmful to health.
4.Which of the following is TRUE according to this passage??
A.Man has got rid of lean years by increasing agricultural productivity.?
B.Though fatness is a difficult problem ,man may break away from it.? C.Fatness may cause many diseases such as heart disease ,AIDS and cancer.?
D.The fat problem won't be settled until governments take measures.