In the age of reality television, success isn’t the only way to the public eye. Failure can also create fame, just like William Hung, 21, a native of Hong Kong.

Hung recently has made an agreement with US-based entertainment firms Koch Records and Fuse Music Network. They will publish a full-length record, titled “The True Idol” on April 6.

The idol is a civil engineering student at the University of California at Berkeley. He did a version of Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs” on the television show “American Idol 3”, on January 27. The Fox TV singing contest searches for pop stars among ordinary people. In the case of Hung, however, his act was so bad that the judges cut him off in mid-act.

Hung’s response? “I already gave my best, so I have no regrets at all.” That’s good, because any common person would have found plenty to regret: The off-key singing. The blue Hawaiian shirt worn with pants pulled up too high. The terrible dancing. The hips jerking (摇摆) to a beat that did not belong to the song, maybe not even to this planet. It was, by all accounts, bad.But, it was this very bad act that sold well.Marc Juris, president of Fuse, explained it this way: “Every one of us is happily guilty of singing our favorite song at the top of our lungs with complete freedom, completely off-key and completely unworried. That’s what William did and immediately won the hearts of America.”

Whatever it is, for the moment it’s big. Three websites devoted to Hung have gone up on the Internet in the past few weeks. Versions of his performance have been remixed with hip hop and techno-music and have made it to the top 10 request list at a Chicago radio station.So, what does Hung think of this?

“There were all these people saying things about me. A lot were saying I was very courageous and that I was great on the show, but some didn’t have much respect for me and some were kind of mean.”

Now he says he’s not so sure whether to distance himself from the glamour (魅力) or to accept it. Returning to normal hasn’t been easy.

13.What is the main idea of this passage?

A.Sometimes an idol behaves quite foolishly.  

B.Hung’s performance attracted the public eye.

C.How an unsuccessful person became famous.

D.Success sometimes does not require hard work.

14.What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 7 refer to?

A.William Hung.     B.Hung’s bad act.   C.Hung’s website.    D.The public’s opinion.

15.Which of the following shows the correct order of what happened to Hung?

a.The entertainment firms made an agreement with Hung.

b.The judges cut Hung off in mid-act in the singing contest.

c.Hung became popular among Americans.

d.Hung gave a terrible performance though he tried his best.

e.Three websites put Hung’s funny performance on the Internet.

A.d, b, e, c, a       B.a, c, d, b, e        C.a, d, b, c, e          D.d, b, a, e, c

16.Why was Hung able to win the hearts of America?

A.His success was based on his own hard work.

B.He attracted people’s attention in the contest.

C.He was good-looking though he didn’t sing well.

  D.His character was completely different from other idols’.

    In the course of working my way through school, I took many jobs I would rather forget．But none of these jobs was as dreadful as my job in an apple plant．The work was hard; the pay was poor; and, most of all, the working conditions were terrible.

    First of all, the job made huge demands on my strength．For then hours a night, I took boxes that rolled down a metal track and piled them onto a truck．Each box contained twelve heavy bottles of apple juice．I once figured out that I was lifting an average of twelve tons of apple juice every night.

    I would not have minded the difficulty of the work so much if the pay had not been so poor．I was paid the lowest wage of that time―two dollars an hour．Because of the low pay, I felt eager to get as much as possible．I usually worked twelve hours a night but did not take home much more than $ 100 a week.

    But even more than the low pay, what made me unhappy was the working conditions．During work I was limited to two ten-minute breaks and an unpaid half hour for lunch．Most of my time was spent outside loading trucks with those heavy boxes in near-zero-degree temperatures．The steel floors of the trucks were like ice, which made my feet feel like stone．And after the production line shut down at night and most people left, I had to spend two hours alone cleaning the floor.

    I stayed on the job for five months, all the while hating the difficulty of the work, the poor money, and the conditions under which I worked．By the time I left, I was determined never to go back there again.

49．Why did the writer have to take many jobs at that time?

       A．To pay for his schooling.                     B．To save for his future.

       C．To support his family                           D．To gain some experience

50．The following facts describe the terrible working conditions of the plant EXCEPT ______.

       A．loading boxes in the freezing cold          B．having limited time for breaks

       C．working and studying at the same time   D．getting no pay for lunch time

51．What is the subject discussed in the text?

       A．The writer’s unhappy school life.          B．The writer’s eagerness to earn money.

       C．The writer’s experience to earn money.  D．The writer’s hard work in an apple plant.

52．How is the text organized?

       A．Topic―Argument―Explanation           

       B．Opinion―Discussion―Description

       C．Main idea―Comparison―Supporting examples                     

       D．Introduction―Supporting examples―Conclusion

In the clinic, I asked if Michael could be retested, so the specialist tested him again. To my ___1___, it was the same score.
Later that evening, I ___2___ told Frank what I had learned that day. After talking it over, we agree that we knew our ___3___ much better than an IQ test. We ___4___ that Michael’s score must have been a ___5___ and we should treat him ___6___ as usual.
We moved to Indiana in 1962, and Michael studied at Concordia High School in the same year. He got ___7___ grades in the school, especially ___8___ biology and chemistry, which was a great comfort.
Michael ___9___ Indiana University in 1965 as a pre-medical student, soon afterwards, his teachers permitted him to take more courses than ___10___. In 1968, he was accepted by the School of Medicine, Yale University.
On graduation day in 1972, Frank and I ___11___ the ceremony at Yale. After the ceremony, we told Michael about the ___12___ IQ score he got when he was six. Since that day, Michael sometimes would look at us and say ___13___, “My dear mom and dad never told me that I couldn’t be a doctor, not until after I graduated from medical school!” It is his special way of thanking us for the ___14___ we had in him.
Interestingly, Michael then ___15___ another IQ test. We went to the same clinic where he had __16___ the test eighteen years before. This time Michael scored 126, an increase of 36 points. A result like that was supposed to be ___17___.
Children often do as ___18___ as what adults, particularly parents and teachers, ___19___ of them. That is, tell a child he is “ ___20___”, and he may play the role of a foolish child.

In the clinic, I asked if Michael could be retested, so the specialist tested him again. To my __36__, it was the same score.
Later that evening, I _37_ told Frank what I had learned that day. After talking it over, we agree that we knew our _38_ much better than an IQ test. We _39_ that Michael’s score must have been a __40___ and we should treat him ___41___ as usual.
We moved to Indiana in 1962, and Michael studied at Concordia High School in the same year. He got _42 _ grades in the school, especially _43_ biology and chemistry, which was a great comfort.
Michael _44_ Indiana University in 1965 as a pre-medical student, soon afterwards, his teachers permitted him to take more courses than _45_. In 1968, he was accepted by the School of Medicine, Yale University.
On graduation day in 1972, Frank and I _46_ the ceremony  at Yale. After the ceremony, we told Michael about the _47_ IQ score he got when he was six. Since that day, Michael sometimes would look at us and say _48_, “My dear mom and dad never told me that I couldn’t be a doctor, not until after I graduated from medical school!” It is his special way of thanking us for the _49_ we had in him.
Interestingly, Michael then _50_ another IQ test. We went to the same clinic where he had _51_ the test eighteen years before. This time Michael scored 126, an increase of 36 points. A result like that was supposed to be _52_.
Children often do as _53_ as what adults, particularly parents and teachers, _54_ of them. That is, tell a child he is “ _55_”, and he may play the role of a foolish child.

In the clinic, I asked if Michael could be retested, so the specialist tested him again. To my  16  , it was the same score.
Later that evening, I   17  told Frank what I had learned that day. After talking it over, we agreed that we knew our son much better than an IQ test. We decided that Michael’s score must have been a   18  and we should treat him   19  as usual.
We moved to Indiana in 1962, and Michael studied at Concordia High School in the same year, he got     20   grades in the school, especially in biology and chemistry, which was a great comfort.
Michael   21   Indiana University in 1965 as a pre-medical student. Soon afterwards, his teacher permitted him to take more courses than  22 . In 1968, he was accepted by the School of Medicine, Yale University.
On graduation day in 1972, Frank and I   23  the ceremony (典礼) at Yale. After the ceremony, we told Michael about the   24  IQ score he got when he was six. Since that day, Michael sometimes would look at us and say   25 , “My dear mom and dad never told me that I couldn’t be a doctor, not until after I graduated from medical school!” It is his special way of thanking us for the  26  we had in him.
Interestingly, Michael then asked for another IQ test. We went to the same clinic where he had   27  the test eighteen years before. This time Michael scored 126, an increase of 36 points. A result like that was supposed to be  28 .
Children often do as well as what adults, particularly parents and teachers,  29 of them. That is, tell a child he is “  30  ” , and he may play the role of a foolish child.