On the first day of school our professor introduced himself and asked us to get to know someone we didn’t know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. “Hi, girl! My name is Rose, I’m 87 years old.”

“Why are you in college at such a young age?” I asked jokingly.

“I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!”she replied.  Rose became a college symbol(象征) this year and she easily on her from the other students.

At the end of the term we invited Rose to speak at our football party. I’ll never forget what she taught us.

“We do not stop playing because we are old, we grow old because we stop playing. There are only two secrets to staying young, being happy and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humour every day. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose you dreams, you die!” she said.

“There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do anything, you will turn 20 years older. If I am 87 years old, and stay in bed for a year, and never do anything, I will turn 88. Anybody can grow older. But every minute counts for young men,” she added.

She ended her speech by singing The Song of Rose. She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live then out in our daily lives.

At the year’s end, Rose finished the college education she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose did peacefully in her sleep.

1.Rose went to college because she_________.

2.From the story we can see that Rose was _______during her stay in college.

3.Which of the following is included in Rose’s speech?

4.At the end of her speech, Rose asked each of her classmates _______.

5.Which of the following can best describe the story?

On the first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder(肩膀). “Hi, girl! My name is Rose, I’m 87 years old.”

“Why are you in college at such a young age?” I asked jokingly.

“I always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one!”she replied. Rose became a college symbol(象征) this year and she easily on her from the other students.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football party. I’ll never forget what she taught us.

“We do not stop playing because we are old, we grow old because we stop playing. There are only two secrets to staying young, being happy and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor(幽默) every day. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose you dreams, you die!”she said.

“There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do anything, you will turn 20 years older. If I am 87 years old, and stay in bed for a year, and never do anything, I will turn 88. Anybody can grow older. But every minute counts for young men,” she added.

She ended her speech by singing The Song of Rose. She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live then out in our daily lives.

At the year’s end, Rose finished the college education she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose did peacefully in her sleep.

1.Rose went to college because she         .

2.From the story we can see that Rose was    during her stay in college.

3.Which of the following is included in Rose’s speech?

4.At the end of her speech, Rose asked each of her classmates          .

5.Which of the following can best describe the story?

People often said Thomas Edison was the greatest genius of his age. There are only a few men in all of history, who have changed the lives of other men as much as the inventor of the first useful electric light. But Edison could never be pleased only because someone said he was a genius. “There is no such thing as genius,” Edison said. He thought what people called genius was mostly hard work.

But Edison was a dreamer as well as a worker. From his earliest days as a child he wondered about the secrets of nature. He tried to understand them, and then he tried to learn what he could usefully do with them.

Edison enjoyed thinking. He knew that most people would do almost anything instead of the difficult work of thinking, especially if they do not think very often. But he knew, too, that thinking could give men enjoyment and pleasure.

Edison could not understand how anyone could not be interested in life. As he loved to think, he also loved to work. On the day he became 75 years old, someone asked him what idea he had about life. “Work,” he answered, “Discovering the secrets of nature and using them to make men happier.” He said he had enough inventions in his mind to give him another 100 years of work.

1．According to Thomas Edison, what’s genius?

       A．Hard thinking.                                     B．Hard work.

       C．Useful dreams.                                    D．Useful inventions.

2．After exploring the secrets of nature, Edison always tried to         .

       A．write down what he had learnt              B．carry out a new experiment

       C．make them useful in life                        D．share them with others

3．Edison could not understand         .

      A．how anybody enjoyed life                     B．how anybody loved working

       C．why anybody loved thinking                 D．why anybody was tired of life

4．The last sentence in the passage means that           .

       A．Edison was born to be a great inventor

       B．Edison was able to live another 100 years

       C．Edison was ready to make his 100th invention

       D．life was too short for Edison to work for human beings

When I was seven years old, my family made me an ant farm. First, we put clean sand in a thin glass box. Then we waited for the ants to arrive. After the ants were in the glass farm, they started to make tunnels(地道). I was amazed that each one knew exactly what to do. Each had its own job.
On the fifth day a tragedy(悲剧) happened. I put my face so close to the glass farm that I knocked it over. All the tunnels fell down. Although the ants remained alive after their earthquake, one by one began to die. I was scared as I watched them give up building their tunnels to carry the bodies to a corner the farm. My mother said that the ants were dying of sadness. They simply could not stand that their tunnels were gone.
Although much time has passed, I still think of that ant farm. Mom had hoped it would teach me about the natural world, but it taught me much more.
Over the years, I came to realize the importance of teamwork. Working together, the ants were able to make an amazing world for themselves. I also learned that they should be admired for their hard work.
But there was an even larger lesson that I did not realize until recently: Adversity(逆境) is a natural part of life, and must be accepted. Unlike the ants, we cannot give up when we are sad. We have to realize that if a tunnel is gone, we must build another.
Giving up, I say, is not a good choice.
【小题1】What did the writer’s family do for him when he was seven?