Fatimah Bamun dropped out of Balizenda Primary School in the first grade, when her father refused to buy her pencils and paper. Only after her teachers said to him that his daughter showed unusual promise(有希望) did he change his mind. Today, Fatimah, 14, tall and slender, studies math in a dirt-floored fourth-grade classroom.

    Whether she will reach the fifth grade is another matter. Fatimah is facing the realities of a school with no toilet, no water, no hope of privacy (隐私) other than the shadow of a bush, and no girlfriends with whom to share feelings. Fatimah is the only girl of the 23 students in her class. In fact, in a school of 178 students, she is one of the only three girls who have made it past the third grade.

    “I have no friend in the class,” she said. “Most of my friends have dropped out to get married. So during the break, I just sit in the classroom and read.”

    Her father, however, now says he is fully behind her. “The people from the government are all the time telling us to send our daughters to school, and I am listening to these people,” he said.

    But in many cases, parents don’t listen. Parents think that if the girls stay home, they can help with the harvesting, fetch the water and collect the firewood. So they take them out of school.

    In a region where poverty, tradition and ignorance make about 24 million girls not even have an elementary school education. There are many other barriers (障碍) that prevent girls going to school, such as the lack of school toilets and water.

    The issue is not only equality. The World Bank thinks that if women in sub-Saharan Africa had equal education, land and other wealth, the region’s economy could improve greatly. There is a connection between growth in Africa and sex equality. It is of great importance but still ignored by so many people.

The author’s purpose in writing the passage is to _______.

A. find the cause of Africa’s poverty

B. describe the poor education conditions of African girls

C. prove the inequality in African society

D. reform the present schooling systems in Africa

Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Fatimah is a girl who shows signs of success for the future.

B. Fatimah’s father is now giving a lot of support to her.

C. Fatimah is the only girl who has made it past the fifth grade in her school.

D. Fatimah has no friends at school because they most of them have dropped out to get married.

It can be inferred from the passage that _______.

A. most African girls are treated equally in society

B. African governments don’t care whether girls go to school or not

C. most African girls would rather get married than go to school

D. African girls can’t enjoy equal chances for education

Danielle Steel,America’s sweetheart,is one of the hardest working women in the book business.Unlike other productive authors who write one book at a time,she can work on up to five.Her research alone before writing takes at least three years.Once she has fully studied her subjects,ready to dive into a book,she can spend twenty hours nonstop at her desk.
Danielle Steel comes from New York and was sent to France for her education.After graduation,she worked in the public relations and advertising industries.Later she started a job as a writer which she was best fit for.Her achievements are unbelievable:390 million copies of books in print,nearly fifty New York Times best-selling novels,and a series of “Max and Martha” picture books for children to help them deal with the real-life problems of death,new babies and new schools.Her 1998 book about the death of her son shot to the top of the New York Times best-selling list as soon as it came out.Twenty-eight of her books have been made into films.She is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for one of her books being the Times best-seller for 381 weeks straight.
Not content with a big house,a loving family,and a view of the Golden Gate Bridge,Danielle Steel considers her readers to be the most important resource(资源) and has kept in touch with them by e-mail.While she is often compared to the heroines(女主人公) of her own invention,her life is undoubtedly much quieter.But,if she does have anything in common with them,it is her strength of will and her inimitable(独特的) style.There is only one Danielle Steel.
【小题1】Danielle Steel is different from other writers in that _______.

Danielle Steel, America's sweetheart, is one of the hardest working women in the book business. Unlike other productive authors who write one book at a time, she can work on up to five. Her research time before writing takes at least three years. Once she has fully studied her subjects, ready to dive into a book, she can spend twenty hours nonstop at her desk.

Danielle Steel comes from New York and was sent to France for her education. After graduation, she worked in the public relations and advertising industries. Later she started a job as a writer which she was best fit for. Her achievements are unbelievable: 390 million copies of books in print, nearly fifty New York Times best-selling novels, and a series of "Max and Martha" picture books for children to help them deal with the real-life problems of death, new hobbies and new schools. Her 1998 book about the death of her son shot to the top of the New York Times best-selling list as soon as it came out. Twenty-eight of her books have been made into films. She is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for one of her books being the Times best-seller for 381 weeks straight.

Not content with a big house, a loving family, and a view of the Golden Gate Bridge, Danielle Steel considers her readers to be the most important resource(资源) and has kept in touch with them by e-mail. While she is often compared to the heroines(女主人公) of her own invention, her life is undoubtedly much quieter. But, if she does have anything in common with them, it is her strength of will and her inimitable(独特的) style. There is only one Danielle Steel.

60. Danielle Steel is different from other writers in that ____.

A. she can write several books at the same time

B. she often does some research before writing a book

C. she is one of the most popular American women writers

D. she can keep writing for quite a long time without a break

61. Children who have read "Max and Martha" picture books may know ______.

A. how to deal with affairs at school                  B. what to do if Max and Martha die

C. what to do when new babies are born into their families

D. how to solve the difficult problems in their writing classes

62. One of Danielle Steel's achievements is that ______.

A. some TV plays were based on her books         B. her picture books attracted a lot of young men

C. one of her books became a best-seller in 1998

D. she wrote the Guinness Book of World Records

63. We can learn from the passage that Danielle Steel _____.

A. lives an exciting life                       B. values her readers a lot

C. writes about quiet women               D. is pleased with her achievements

Doris Lessing was born in 1919 in Persia, moving as a child with her family to southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, where she stayed in school only to the age of 14.

A year after moving to London, she published her first novel in 1950. The Grass is Singing examines unbridgeable racial conflict in colonial Africa through the eyes of a white farmer's wife and her black servant.

Her literary breakthrough came in 1962 with publication of The Golden Notebook, seen by many, though not necessarily Lessing, as a pioneering work of modern feminism（女权运动）. A disjointed study of the mind of the main character, Anna Wulf, the novel explores her thoughts about Africa, politics, relationships with men and sex, and Jungian analysis and dream interpretation.

Lessing's themes changed to psychology in her works from the 1960s, and by the 1970s she was interested in the Islamic mystic tradition of Sufism（苏菲教派）. Her turn toward science fiction with the Canopus series in the early 1980s was not warmly received by traditional critics, but she has continued to be popular with new readers and numerous literary awards, including the David Cohen British Literary Prize and the Companion of Honour from the Royal Society of Literature, both in 2001.

Following the announcement, the Horace Engdahl told VOA why he was personally so pleased with Lessing's selection.

“She is one of the truly great writers -- of novels, short stories, fiction and non-fiction,” Engdahl said. “She is one of the few writers who have had the courage to uphold the principle of equality between the male and female experience, and she has given the impulse to numbers of other women writers. And she is really the mother of a school that is one of the most important in our contemporary literature.”

At 87, Doris Lessing is the oldest Nobel Literature winner since the first prizes were awarded in 1901.

What would be the best title of the passage?

A. Doris Lessing’s Great Writings.

B. Doris Lessing’s Concern about Africa.

C. A Great Writer of Novel and a Pioneer of Modern Feminism.

D. A Nobel Prize Winner for Literature.

It can be inferred from the passage that _______.

A. there are only two characters in The Grass is Singing

B. The Golden Notebook is regarded as Lessing’s masterpiece by herself

C. life in Africa in her early age lays solid foundation for her writing

D. Doris Lessing is strongly against traditional culture in Africa

According to the fourth paragraph, _______.

A. Lessing began to believe in Christ in the 1970s

B. Lessing’s science fiction won readers

C. Lessing had won two literary medals for her writings

D. Lessing changed her themes to meet the needs of traditional critics

The underlined word “impulse” in the 6th passage is closest in meaning to _______.

A. pressure      B. inspiration       C. energy        D. desire

What is your body language saying to your children? What is their body language telling you? I had the honor of hearing Jan Hargrave speak the other day. She is one of four body language experts in the US. Jan Hargrave says we lie with the right side of our brains, so it is our left hand that gives us away. A person touching his nose, pulling at his ear or rubbing his eye with his left hand might be lying to you. Also, a person who, in any way, crosses any fingers might just be lying. That, she says, is a holdover(遗留物) from childhood, when we crossed our fingers to signal that we didn’t mean what we were saying. When children squint(眨) their eyes, move their body away from you, or can’t seem to make good eye contact, you may need to ask for a little more clarification.

But just as important, children learn early how to read our body language when they are conversing(交谈) with us. Here are some acceptance signals to let them know you are interested when they are talking to you. Lean(倾斜) towards them. Make good eye contact and smile. Open your arms. Let your hands relax with the palms(手掌) showing: an open, upward palm always show acceptance. If your legs are crossed, make sure you are not crossing them away from your child. These are important because they signal to your child that you are focused on them and are accepting and welcoming them into your world.

By paying attention, we can open those lines of important communication with our children and we can see the truth more clearly. I think it would be a mistake to use these tools to lie, but we need to be aware of the signals we are giving so we can show people that they really do matter to us.

1.According to Jan Hargrave, we can tell whether a person is lying by _______.

A．observing his/her left hand’s movements.

B．looking at how he/ she crosses his/ her fingers

C．observing whether he/ she uses body language

D．making good eye contact with him/ her

2.We can learn from the passage that body language _______.

A．is hard to master for children

B．can be understood in different ways

C．may help improve communication

D．is more likely to hide the truth

3.Which of the following does NOT show acceptance to people?

A．Smile while making eye contact.

B．Open your arms to them.

C．Relax your hands with the palms showing.

D．Cross your leg away from them.

4.In the last paragraph, the author seems to suggest that parents_______.

A．spend more time with their children

B．learn to read and use body language

C．pay attention to family communication

D．try to prevent their children from lying