Dec. 24, 1848

Dear Johnston,

       Your request for eighty dollars, I do not think it best to satisfy now. At the various times when I have helped you a little, you have said to me, “We can get along very well again,” but in a very short time I find you in the same difficulty again. Now this can only happen by some fault in your behavior. What that fault is, I think I know. You are not lazy, and still you are an idler(游手好闲). I doubt whether since I saw you, you have done a good whole day’s work, in any other day. You do not very much dislike to work, and still you do not work much, merely because it does not seem to you that you could get much for it.

This habit of uselessly wasting time is the whole difficulty; it is vastly important to you, and still more so to your children, that you should break this habit. It is more important to them, because they have longer to live, and can keep out of an idle habit before they are in it, easier than they can get out after they are in.

You are now in need of some ready money; and what I suggest is, that you shall go to work hard, for somebody who will give you money for it.

Let father and your boys take charge of your things at home-prepare for a crop, and make the crop, and you go to work for the best money wages, or to pay back any debt you owe. And to secure you a fair reward for your labor, I now promise you that for every dollar you will, between this and the first of May, get for your own labor, I will then give you one other dollar. By this, if you hire yourself at ten dollars a month, from me you will get ten more, making twenty dollars a month for your work.

Now if you will do this, you will soon be out of debt, and what is better, you will have a habit that will keep you from getting in debt again. But if I should now clear you out, next year you will be just as deep in as ever. You say you would almost give your place in Heaven for $ 70 or $80. Then you value your place in Heaven cheaply, for I am sure you can with the offer I make you get the seventy or eighty dollars for four or five months’ work. You say if I furnish you the money you will deed(抵押) me the land, and if you don’t pay the money back, you will deliver possession-Nonsense! If you can’t now live with the land, how will you then live without it? You have always been kind to me, and I do not now mean to be unkind to you. On the contrary, if you will but follow my advice, you will find it worth more than eight time eighty dollars to you.

               Affectionately

  Your brother

   A. Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln wrote the letter to Johnston mainly to ________.

A. show his concern for him                 B. recommend him to save money

C. decline his request and motivate him              D. introduce him a new job

What’s the problem with Johnston, according to Lincoln?

A. He was very lazy.                                 B. He wasted time a lot.

C. He couldn’t get much from work.           D. He disliked working.

In the letter Lincoln suggested that Johnston should ________.

A. keep himself from getting into trouble    B. go to work hard for somebody

C. manage well the things at home             D. keep the children out of the idle habit

If Johnston got one dollar for his work, Lincoln promised to _________.

A. reward him with labor                           B. pay off his debt

C. hire him at 10 dollars a month                      D. give him another dollar

In order to get 80 dollars from Lincoln, Johnston promised to ________.

A. take away his place in Heaven                B. deed Lincoln the land

C. live without the land                                    D. do good work every day 

As a saying goes, when life gives you lemons, then make lemonade. But how is delicious lemonade made from sour lemons?

Singer-actor Yu Haoming knows how. He’s   36__ difficulties by returning to the stage. After a   37___ left him scarred, the 25-year-old man   38___ for the first time on Hunan TV’s New Year Concert on Dec. 31, 2012.

His comeback captured (吸引) audiences’   39___. They went to his Weibo page and left messages such as, “You’ve taught me what toughness means.” and “I’m   40___ of your courage. You moved me to tears by taking off your mask and    41___ onward in confidence. ”

Only Yu himself knew how   42 __it was to stand on his feet again after disaster   43 __When his career as a handsome Super Boy singer and   44   actor took off, Yu got seriously burnt. He was hurt in 2010 when an explosive scene in the TV drama I Have a Date With Spring went wrong   45__ His wounds became worse because of delayed   46___ .

The bums were far more than just wounds and pain for Yu. “You can’t   47___ what kind of sufferings he’s been through and how hard he’s been working to get well，” said his father on the singer’s blog.

His recovery has been long and difficult. Some people might have   48 __during such a process, but Yu has   49  _ not to. He says he still has his dreams.

__ 50   medicine, checkups and therapy (治疗）exercises, he plays the piano a bit every day, reads books about acting and learns English.

The idiom, “  51__ bitten, twice shy”，doesn’t really apply to him. In August he restarted to film his   52__ in the drama，although he admitted that fears still haunted (萦绕) him sometimes.

“Why should I let the experience stop me going after my   53___ ?” he told the Southern Metropolis Entertainment Weekly in early December.

How did Yu make lemonade? “Life gave me the   54___ gift, and I’ve just got to get on with it and turn difficulties into    55   , ’’ he told the magazine.

1.                A．won           B．overcome       C．realized  D．left

2.                A．mistake         B．blow           C．fire  D．scene

3.                A．sang           B．showed         C．practiced D．tried

4.                A．praises         B．thoughts        C．messages D．hearts

5.                A．aware          B．afraid          C．proud    D．short

6.                A．walking         B．marching        C．living D．touring

7.                A．terrible         B．strong          C．harmful   D．hard

8.                A．beat           B．crashed         C．struggled D．struck

9.                A．promising       B．confident       C．simple    D．reliable

10.               A．unexpectedly    B．fiercely         C．completely D．surprisingly

11.               A．protection      B．examination     C．treatment  D．performance

12.               A．feel           B．imagine        C．understand D．believe

13.               A．broken down    B．given away      C．pulled through  D．died away

14.               A．hoped         B．managed       C．intended  D．decided

15.               A．Instead of       B．Except for       C．Apart from D．Regardless of

16.               A．Unless         B．Until           C．While D．Once

17.               A．part           B．appearance     C．play  D．talent

18.               A．happiness       B．careers         C．dreams    D．success

19.               A．meaningful      B．unusual        C．valuable   D．rewarding

20.               A．abilities        B．realities        C．actions    D．opportunities

※Live Music - Late Night Jazz   Enjoy real American jazz from Herbie Davis, the famous trumpet player. He is known play well into the early hours, so don’t want to get much sleep.

※Scottish Dancing   Scottish dancing is nice and easy to learn. The wonderful dance from England will be given.

※Shows- Anhui Museum    There are 12,000 pieces on show here. You can see the whole of Chinese history.

※Hotels     Three-star hotels whose service can make you feel at home.

If you want to watch dancing, you can call________.

As a saying goes, when life gives you lemons, then make lemonade. But how is delicious lemonade made from sour lemons?
Singer-actor Yu Haoming knows how. He’s   36__ difficulties by returning to the stage. After a   37___ left him scarred, the 25-year-old man   38___ for the first time on Hunan TV’s New Year Concert on Dec. 31, 2012.
His comeback captured (吸引) audiences’   39___. They went to his Weibo page and left messages such as, “You’ve taught me what toughness means.” and “I’m   40___ of your courage. You moved me to tears by taking off your mask and    41___ onward in confidence. ”
Only Yu himself knew how   42 __it was to stand on his feet again after disaster   43 __When his career as a handsome Super Boy singer and   44   actor took off, Yu got seriously burnt. He was hurt in 2010 when an explosive scene in the TV drama I Have a Date With Spring went wrong   45__ His wounds became worse because of delayed   46___ .
The bums were far more than just wounds and pain for Yu. “You can’t   47___ what kind of sufferings he’s been through and how hard he’s been working to get well，” said his father on the singer’s blog.
His recovery has been long and difficult. Some people might have   48 __during such a process, but Yu has   49  _ not to. He says he still has his dreams.
__ 50   medicine, checkups and therapy (治疗）exercises, he plays the piano a bit every day, reads books about acting and learns English.
The idiom, “  51__ bitten, twice shy”，doesn’t really apply to him. In August he restarted to film his   52__ in the drama，although he admitted that fears still haunted (萦绕) him sometimes.
“Why should I let the experience stop me going after my   53___ ?” he told the Southern Metropolis Entertainment Weekly in early December.
How did Yu make lemonade? “Life gave me the   54___ gift, and I’ve just got to get on with it and turn difficulties into    55   , ’’ he told the magazine.

On the 36th day after they had voted, Americans finally learned Wednesday who would be their next president: Governor George W. Bush of Texas.

Vice President Al Gore, his last realistic avenue for legal challenge closed by a U. S. Supreme Court decision late Tuesday, planned to end the contest formally in a televised evening speech of perhaps 10 minutes, advisers said.

They said that Senator Joseph Lieberman, his vice presidential running mate, would first make brief comments. The men would speak from a ceremonial chamber of the Old Executive office Building, to the west of the White House.

The dozens of political workers and lawyers who had helped lead Mr. Gore’s unprecedented fight to claw a come-from-behind electoral victory in the pivotal state of Florida were thanked Wednesday and asked to stand down.

“The vice president has directed the recount committee to suspend activities,” William Daley, the Gore campaign chairman, said in a written statement.

Mr. Gore authorized that statement after meeting with his wife, Tipper, and with top advisers including Mr. Daley.

He was expected to telephone Mr. Bush during the day. The Bush campaign kept a low profile and moved gingerly, as if to leave space for Mr. Gore to contemplate his next steps.

Yet, at the end of a trying and tumultuous process that had focused world attention on sleepless vote counters across Florida, and on courtrooms form Miami to Tallahassee to Atlanta to Washington the Texas governor was set to become the 43d U. S. president.

The news of Mr. Gore’s plans followed the longest and most rancorous dispute over a U. S. presidential election in more than a century, one certain to leave scars in a badly divided country.

It was a bitter ending for Mr. Gore, who had outpolled Mr. Bush nationwide by some 300000 votes, but, without Florida, fell short in the Electoral College by 271votes to 267—the narrowest Electoral College victory since the turbulent election of 1876.

Mr. Gore was said to be distressed by what he and many Democratic activists felt was a partisan decision from the nation’s highest court.

The 5-to –4 decision of the Supreme Court held, in essence, that while a vote recount in Florida could be conducted in legal and constitutional fashion, as Mr. Gore had sought, this could not be done by the Dec. 12 deadline for states to select their presidential electors.

James Baker 3rd, the former secretary of state who represented Mr. Bush in the Florida dispute, issued a short statement after the U. S. high court ruling, saying that the governor was “very pleased and gratified.”

Mr. Bush was planning a nationwide speech aimed at trying to begin to heal the country’s deep, aching and varied divisions. He then was expected to meet with congressional leaders, including Democrats. Dick Cheney, Mr. Bush’s ruing mate, was meeting with congressmen Wednesday in Washington.

When Mr. Bush, who is 54, is sworn into office on Jan.20, he will be only the second son of  a president to follow his father to the White House, after John Adams and John Quincy Adams in the early 19th century.

Mr. Gore, in his speech, was expected to thank his supporters, defend his hive-week battle as an effort to ensure, as a matter of principle, that every vote be counted, and call for the nation to join behind the new president. He was described by an aide as “resolved and resigned.”

While some constitutional experts had said they believed states could present electors as late as Dec. 18, the U. S. high court made clear that it saw no such leeway.

The U.S. high court sent back “for revision” to the Florida court its order allowing recounts but made clear that for all practical purposes the election was over.

In its unsigned main opinion, the court declared, “The recount process, in its features here described, is inconsistent with the minimum procedures necessary to protect the fundamental right of each voter.”

That decision, by a court fractured along philosophical lines, left one liberal justice charging that the high court’s proceedings bore a political taint.

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in an angry dissent:” Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year’s presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the nation’s confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the law.”

But at the end of five seemingly endless weeks, during which the physical, legal and constitutional machines of the U. S. election were pressed and sorely tested in ways unseen in more than a century, the system finally produced a result, and one most Americans appeared to be willing at lease provisionally to support.

The Bush team welcomed the news with an outward show of restraint and aplomb. The governor’s hopes had risen and fallen so many times since Election night, and the legal warriors of each side suffered through so many dramatic reversals, that there was little energy left for celebration.

The main idea of this passage is

[A]. Bush’s victory in presidential election bore a political taint.

[B]. The process of the American presidential election.

[C]. The Supreme Court plays a very important part in the presidential election.

[D]. Gore is distressed.

     What does the sentence “as if to leave space for Mr. Gore to contemplate his next step” mean

[A]. Bush hopes Gore to join his administration.

[B]. Bush hopes Gore to concede defeat and to support him.

[C]. Bush hopes Gore to congraduate him.

[D]. Bush hopes Gore go on fighting with him.

     Why couldn’t Mr. Gore win the presidential election after he outpolled Mr. Bush in the popular vote? Because

[A]. the American president is decided by the supreme court’s decision.

[B]. people can’t directly elect their president.

[C]. the American president is elected by a slate of presidential electors.

[D]. the people of each state support Mr. Bush.

     What was the result of the 5—4 decision of the supreme court?

[A]. It was in fact for the vote recount.

[B]. It had nothing to do with the presidential election.

[C]. It decided the fate of the winner.

[D]. It was in essence against the vote recount.

     What did the “turbulent election of 1876” imply?

[A]. The process of presidential election of 2000 was the same as that.

[B]. There were great similarities between the two presidential elections (2000 and 1876).

[C]. It was compared to presidential election of 2000.

[D]. It was given an example.