Success is often measured by the ability to overcome adversity（逆境）. But it is often the belief of others that gives us the courage（勇气）to try.

J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter book series, began writing at age 6. Her good friend-Sean became the first person to encourage her and help her build the confidence that one day she would be a very good writer.

“He was the first person with whom I really discussed my serious ambition（志向） to be a writer. He was also the only person who thought I was bound to（注定）be a success at it, which meant much more to me than I ever told him at the time.”

Though there were many difficulties, Rowling continued her writing, particularly fantasy stories. But it wasn't until l990 that she first came up with the idea about Harry Potter. As she recalls（回忆）, it was on a long train journey from London to Manchester that “the idea of Harry Potter simply fell into my head. To my great disappointment, I didn't have a pen with me, and I was too shy to ask anybody if I could borrow one. I think, now, that this was probably a good thing, because I simply sat and thought, for four (delayed train) hours, and all the details came up in my brain, and this thin, black-haired, bespectacled（戴眼镜的）boy who didn't know he was a wizard became more and more real to me.”

That same year, her mother died after a ten-year fight with serious diseases, which deeply affected her writing. She went on to marry and had a daughter, but separated from her husband shortly afterwards.

During this time, Rowling was diagnosed with depression（诊断患有抑郁症）. Unemployed, she finished her first novel in area cafes, where she could get her daughter to fall asleep. After being refused by l2 publishing houses, the first Harry Potter novel was sold to a small British publishing house.

Now with seven books that have sold nearly 400 million copies in 64 languages, J. K. Rowling is the highest earning novelist in history. And it all began with her friend’s encouragement as well as her ambition to write.

1. Who believed J. K. Rowling was to be a good writer?

A．Her friend Sean.                        B．Her mother.

C．Her daughter.                          D．Her husband.

2. Rowling first came up with the idea about Harry Potter________.

A．at the age of 6                          B．on a train journey

C．after her mother's death                  D．in her secondary school

3. She felt disappointed on the train because_________.

A．her train was delayed for four hours

B．she didn't have a pen with her

C．her mind suddenly went blank

D．no one would offer her help

4. It can be concluded from Paragraph 5 and 6 that Rowling is_________.

A．open-minded                          B．warm-hearted

C．good-natured                          D．strong-willed

5. The text mainly tells us_________.

A．adversity makes a good novelist

B．the courage to try is a special ability

C．you can have a wonderful idea everywhere

D．encouragement helps one succeed

It was the summer of 1965. Deluca, then 17, visited Peter Buck, a family friend. Buck asked Deluca about his plans for the future. “I’m going to college, but I need a way to pay for it,” DeLuca recalls saying. “Buck said, ‘You should open a sandwich shop.’”

That afternoon, they agreed to be partners. And they set a goal: to open 32 stores in ten years. After doing some research, buck wrote a check for $1000. DeLuca rented a storefront (店面) in Connecticut, and when they couldn’t cover their start-up costs, Buck kicked in another $1000.

But business didn’t go smoothly as they expected. DeLuca says, “After six months, we were doing poorly, but we didn’t know how badly, because we didn’t have any financial controls.” All he and Buck knew was that their sales were lower than their costs.

DeLuca was managing the store and going to the University of Bridgeport at the same time. Buck was working at his day job as a nuclear physicist in New York. They’d meet Monday evenings and brainstorm ideas for keeping the business running. “We convinced ourselves to open a second store. We figured we could tell the public, ‘We are so successful, we are opening a second store.’” And they did—in the spring of 1966. Still, it was a lot of learning by trial and error.

But the partners’ learn-as-you-go approach turned out to be their greatest strength. Every Friday, DeLuca would drive around and hand-deliver the checks to pay their suppliers. “It probably took me two and a half hours and it wasn’t necessary, but as a result, the suppliers got to know me very well, and the personal relationships established really helped out,” DeLuca says.

And having a goal was also important. “There are so many problems that can get you down. You just have to keep working toward your goal,” DeLuca adds.

DeLuca ended up founding Subway Sandwich, the multimillion-dollar restaurant chain.

DeLuca opened the first sandwich shop in order to ____.

       A．support his family

       B．pay for his college education

       C．help his partner expand business

       D．do some research

Which of the following is true of Buck?

       A．He put money into the sandwich business.

       B．He was a professor of business administration.

       C．He was studying at the University of Bridgeport.

       D．He rented a storefront for DeLuca.

What can we learn about their first shop?

       A．It stood at an unfavorable palce.

       B．It lowered the prices to promote sales.

       C．It made no profits due to poor management

       D．It lacked control over the quality of sandwiches

They decided to open a second store because they ___    .

       A．had enough money to do it.

       B．had succeeded in their business

       C．wished to meet the increasing demand of customers

       D．wanted to make believe that they were successful

What contribute most to their success according to the author?

       A．Learning by trial and error.     B．Making friends with suppliers.

       C．Finding a good partner.       D．Opening chain stores.

Whenever the sun dropped and the blue sky came up, my father and I used to climb the mountain near my house. Walking together, my father and I used to have a lot of conversations through which I learned lessons from his experiences. He always told me, “ You should have goals(目标） like climbing the mountain.” Without the mountain- climbing that we both enjoyed, we couldn’t have enough time to spend together because my father was very busy. I really got a lot from the mountain-climbing. It gave me time to talk with my father and to be in deep thought as well as develop my patience.

Once we climbed a very high mountain. It was so challenging(挑战) for me because I was only ten years old. During the first few hours of climbing, I enjoyed the flowers and trees, and the bird’s singing. But as time passed, I got a pain （痛）in both of my legs. I wanted to give up climbing, but my father said to me, “You can always see a beautiful sky at the top of the mountain, but you can’t see it before reaching the top. Only there can you see all of the nice things, which is just like your life.”

At that time, I was too young to understand his words. But later after that, I got to know the meaning of hope in life. I found myself standing at the top of the mountain, and the sky was as clear as crystal.

1.According to the passage, which advantage that the writer got from climbing the mountain with his father isn’t mentioned?

2.The underlined word “crystal” in the passage means _______.

3.Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the underlined words in the second paragraph?

4.We can infer(推断) from the last paragraph that _______.

5.The best title for this passage is ________.

They wear the latest fashions with the most up-to-date accessories(配饰)．Yet these are not girls in their teens or twenties but women in their sixties and seventies．A generation which would once only wear old-fashioned clothes is now favouring the same high street looks worn by those half their age．

Professor Julia Twigg, a social policy expert, said, “Women over 75 are now shopping for clothes more frequently than they did when they were young in the 1960s．In the 1960s buying a coat for a woman was a serious matter．It was an expensive item that they would purchase only every three or four years — now you can pick one up at the supermarket whenever you wish to．Fashion is a lot cheaper and people get tired of things more quickly．”

Professor Twigg analysed family expenditure(支出) data and found that while the percentage of spending on clothes and shoes by women had stayed around the same — at 5 or 6 percent of spending — the amount of clothes bought had risen sharply．

The professor said, “Clothes are now 70 percent cheaper than they were in the 1960s because of the huge expansion of production in the Far East．In the 1960s Leeds was the heart of the British fashion industry and that was where most of the clothes came from, but now almost all of our clothes are sourced elsewhere．Everyone is buying more clothes but in general we are not spending more money on them．”

Fashion designer Angela Barnard, who runs her own fashion business in London, said older women were much more affected celebrity(名流) style than in previous years．

She said, “When people see stars such as Judi Dench and Helen Mirren looking attractive and fashionable in their sixties, they want to follow them．Older women are much more aware of celebrities ．There’s also the boom in TV programmes showing people how they can change their look, and many of my older customers do yoga to stay in shape well in their fifties．When I started my business a few years ago, my older customers tended to be very rich, but now they are what I would call ordinary women．My own mother is 61 and she wears the latest fashions in a way she would never have done ten years ago．”

1.Professor Twigg found that, compared with the 1960s, _________．

A．the price of clothes has generally fallen by 70%

B．the spending on clothes has increased by 5% or 6%

C．people spend 30% less than they did on clothes

D．the amount of clothes bought has risen by 5% or 6%

2.What can we learn about old women in terms of fashion？

A．They are often ignored by fashion designers．

B．They are now more easily influenced by stars．

C．They are regarded as pioneers in the latest fashion．

D．They are more interested in clothes because of their old age．

3.It can be concluded that old women tend to wear the latest fashions today mainly because _________．

A．they get tired of things more quickly     B．TV shows teach them how to change their look

C．they are in much better shape now       D．clothes are much cheaper than before

4.Which is the best possible title of the passage?

A．Age Is No Barrier for Fashion Fans      B．The More Fashionable, the Less Expensive

C．Unexpected Changes in Fashion         D．Boom of the British Fashion Industry

Thousands of people living in the Chinese capital will celebrate the start of the Chinese New year by heading for the ski resorts (滑雪场). Never mind that Beijing’s dry weather seldom produces snow. It is cold enough in winter for snow-making machines to make a covering for the hills north to the capital. And the rapid growth of a pleasure-seeking middle class has formed the basis for this new craze(热潮).     

Since Beijing’s first ski resort was opened ten years ago, the sport has enjoyed astonishing increase. There are now more than a dozen resorts. Clothes markets in the city have added bright colored ski suits to their winter collections. Mr. Wei, a manager of a newly-opened ski resort in Beijing, sees the growth of an industry that could soon lead Chinese to head for the ski resorts of Europe. In recent years, ski resorts offering natural snow have opened in China. But many are in faraway areas of the country and can’t really match the equipment and services of some ski resorts in Europe.

Beijing’s skiing craze is partly a result of the recent increase in private (私有的) cars. This has led to the growth of a leisure industry in the capital’s suburbs (郊区), which until the late-1990s were unreachable to ordinary people. According to Mr. Wei, about 40% of the visitors to his resort come in their own cars. The rest are bused in by schools, businesses or government offices.  

The problem is making money. Starting ski resorts requires quite a lot of money; hiring land from the local government, preparing the hills, buying snow machines, making sure there are enough water and electricity to run them, and buying ski equipment for hiring out to customers.

The ski resort where Mr. Wei works cost nearly $4 million to set up. And as so often in China when someone comes up with a good idea, many others rush in and price wars break out. Beijing now offers some of the cheapest ski training classes in the world, though with most people rather new to the sport, expecting a few more doing the same job.

1.What does this text mainly talk about?

A．Convenience for skiers brought about by private cars.

B．Skiing as a new way of enjoying one's spare time.

C．Things to be considered when starting a ski resort.

D．A sudden increase of ski training classes in Beijing.

2.Why are some Chinese likely to go skiing in Europe?

A．To visit more ski areas.

B．To ski on natural snow.

C．For a large collection of ski suits.

D．For better services and equipment.

3.The underlined words “leisure industry” in Paragraph 3 refer to         

A．transport to ski resorts

B．production of family cars

C．business of providing spare time enjoyments

D．part-time work for people living in the suburbs

4.What is the main problem in running a ski resort?

A．Difficulty in hiring land．

B．Lack of business experience．

C．Price wars with other ski resorts

D．Shortage of water and electricity.