Born in 1949, Diana Nyad took an early interest in swimming as a sport and was a Florida State High School swimming champion（冠军）. Like many young trainers, she had Olympic dreams, but a serious illness prevented her from competing in the Games. The disappointment didn’t stop her from going forward. Instead, she became interested in marathon swimming.
For ten years Nyad devoted herself to becoming one of the world’s best long-distance swimmers. In 1970, she swam a ten-mile marathon in Lake Ontario, setting the women’s record for the course. In 1972 she set another record by swimming 102.5 miles from an island in the Bahamas to the coast of Florida. Then she broke a third record when swimming around Manhattan Island in 1975.
Nyad attempted to swim the distance between Florida and Cuba in 1978. Though the span(跨度) of water is less than 100 miles wide, it is rough and dangerous. After battling(与---作战) the water for two days, she had to give up for the sake of her own health and safety. Even so, she impressed the world with her courage and strong desire to succeed. It did not matter that her swim came up short; she believed she had touched the other shore.
When Nyad ended her career as a swimmer, she continued to try new things---travelling the world as a reporter, writing books and giving public speeches about her life. Diana Nyad works to inspire others, just as she did when she swam the waters of the world.
【小题1】What was Nyad’s early interest?
【小题2】When did Nyad set the record for a ten-mile marathon swimming?
【小题3】According to the passage, how many times did Nyad join the long-distance swimming?
【小题4】What did Nyad do after she finished swimming?
【小题5】What can we learn from the passage?

Born into a farmer’s family, life was not easy when I was a kid. We were so poor that we often did not know where our next meal was coming from. I had to sell cabbages at the marketplace to support my family.
A storyteller once came to the marketplace, and I went to listen to him. My mother was unhappy with me for forgetting my job. But that night, while she was making clothes for us under the weak light of an oil lamp, I couldn't help retelling stories I'd heard that day. She listened impatiently at first, since in her eyes professional（职业的） storytellers were smooth-talking men—nothing good ever came out of their mouths. But slowly she was attracted by my retold stories, and from that day on, she never gave me any task on market days, unspoken agreement to enjoy new stories. As a repayment（回报）for Mother's kindness and a way to show off my memory, I'd retell the stories for her in lively detail. Soon, she wasn't the only member of my audience, which later included my elder sisters, my aunts, even my stubborn grandmother.
I knew she was worried about me. Talkative kids are not well thought of in our village, for they can bring trouble to themselves and to their families when they talk too much. Mother often reminded me not to talk so much, wanting me to be a silent and modest teenager. However, my natural desire（渴望）to talk never went away, and that is what makes my name – Mo Yan, which means ‘no speaking’. This strong wish to talk also improved my ability to express myself, which is important for writers who are also considered as storytellers.
【小题1】Mo Yan lived a/an ________ life when he was young.

Born in 1954 in Taiwan, Ang Lee（李安）has become one of today's greatest filmmakers. Ang graduated from the National Taiwan College of Arts in 1975. Later on, he went to the USA. for further study on art. And he got a Master Degree in Film Production at New York University.
During Ang’s film career, he has made a lot of successful films and honored himself with many international awards. Early in 1993, Ang’s film The Wedding Banquet (喜宴)won a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, which drew the whole world’s attention to this Chinese director. In the following years, Ang’s talent got more brilliant. At the beginning of 2000, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon（Wo Hu Cang Long）, a kongfu film directed by Ang Lee, won Best Foreign Language Film at the 73rd Academy Awards(奥斯卡金像奖). This surprised the world. However. what really takes Ang to the peak of the film world is the film Brokeback Mountain (2005). For this film, Ang Lee won the Best Director Academy Award. And he is the first Chinese director who’s ever won the golden statuette(小金人).
In 2012, Ang made a huge success again. His first 3D film Life of Pi came out. It was a story about the adventure of a brave Indian boy. This film helped him beat out Michael Haneke of "Amour", Benh Zeitlin of "Beasts of the Southern Wild", Steven Spielberg of "Lincoln" and David O. Russell of "Silver Linings Playbook". For the second time, Ang was honored as the Best Director at the 85th Academy Awards in 2013.
Along Ang Lee’s film road, we can say that he is really born for films and he is worth all the praise from the world, especially all the Chinese.
【小题1】How old was Ang Lee when he won the Best Director Academy Award for the second time?

 
Born into a farmer’s family, life was not easy when I was a kid. We were so poor that we often did not know where our next meal was coming from. I had to sell cabbages at the marketplace to support my family.
A storyteller once came to the marketplace, and I went to listen to him. My mother was unhappy with me for forgetting my job. But that night, while she was making clothes for us under the weak light of an oil lamp, I couldn't help retelling stories I'd heard that day. She listened impatiently at first, since in her eyes professional（职业的） storytellers were smooth-talking men—nothing good ever came out of their mouths. But slowly she was attracted by my retold stories, and from that day on, she never gave me any task on market days, unspoken agreement to enjoy new stories. As a repayment（回报）for Mother's kindness and a way to show off my memory, I'd retell the stories for her in lively detail. Soon, she wasn't the only member of my audience, which later included my elder sisters, my aunts, even my stubborn grandmother.
I knew she was worried about me. Talkative kids are not well thought of in our village, for they can bring trouble to themselves and to their families when they talk too much. Mother often reminded me not to talk so much, wanting me to be a silent and modest teenager. However, my natural desire（渴望）to talk never went away, and that is what makes my name – Mo Yan, which means ‘no speaking’. This strong wish to talk also improved my ability to express myself, which is important for writers who are also considered as storytellers.
【小题1】Mo Yan lived a/an ________ life when he was young.

Born as the only child in the family, I am the “king” of the family. My parents are both businessmen and they come home every two weeks. Because they don’t spend much time with me, they always feel guilty* and will buy me many expensive things and let me do whatever I want. My grandparents never let me do any chores because they want me to do my schoolwork.

?? I used to take everything for granted*. I never said “thank you” to people. As time went by, I found that my classmates didn’t like me and my best friends left me. one day, I asked Leo, who used to be one of my best friends. He said that I was selfish, rude* and bad-tempered*. “No one wants to make friends with a person who always receives but never gives anything!” he said. I was shocked* at his words. “Oh, no! Please don’t leave me. I need friends! I will be lonely and unhappy without friends!” I locked myself up in the room and cried. “I want my friends back. But how?”

?? Then I noticed that all the popular kids in the class friendly to others. They always smile and say “thank you” to others. They do whatever they can to help when others are in trouble. Other kids like them and always play with them. “I need to change! I will get my friends back,” I said to myself. From then on, I started to change myself. I learned to say “thank you” to others. I smiled and volunteered to help other kids. I tried to be as nice as I could. Gradually, I found that other kids liked to talk with me and they would ask me to play with them and even told me their secrets. My friends came back to me again.

?? Now I have more friends than I used to do and I am happier than I used to be.

1.What’s the boy’s life like at home?

A. His parents spend much time with him.????????????? ????????????? ?????????????

B. He has to do lots of housework.

C. He can do what he wants to do.?????????????

D. He does much more homework than other kids.

2.What did the boy do to change himself?

A. He learned to say “thank you”.

B. He always smiled at others.

C. He helped others as much as he could.?????????????

D. All of the above.

3.The underlined word “gradually” means ___________.

A. To begin with????????????? ????????????? B. Sometimes????????????? ????????????? C. In a word????????????? ????????????? D. Slowly

4.What can we infer(推断)from the passage?

A. To make more friends, you need to try to please them.????????????? ?????????????

B. A person who always received but never gives can still have many friends.

C. The boy lost his friends at first because he didn’t like them.

D. To be a nicer and better person, we need to make some changes.