I began working in journalism(新闻工作) when I was eight.It was my mother’s idea.She wanted me to“make something”of myself,and decided I had better start young if I was to have any chance of keeping up with the competition.

With my load of magazines I headed toward Belleville Avenue.The crowds were there.There were two gas stations on the corner of Belleville and Union.For several hours I made myself highly visible,making sure everyone could see me and the heavy black letters on the bag that said THE SATURDAY EVENING POST.When it was suppertime,I walked back home.

“How many did you sell,my boy?”my mother asked.

“None.”

“Where did you go?”

“The corner of Belleville and Union Avenues.”

“What did you do?”

“Stood on the corner waiting for somebody to buy a Saturday Evening Post.”

“You just stood there?”

“Didn’t sell a single one.”

“My God,Russell!”

Uncle Allen put in,“Well,I’ve decided to take the Post.”I handed him a copy and he paid me a nickel(五分镍币).It was the first nickel I earned.

Afterwards my mother taught me how to be a salesman.I would have to ring doorbells,address adults with self-confidence(自信),and persuade them by saying that no one,no matter how poor,could afford to be without the Saturday Evening Post in the home.

One day,I told my mother I’d changed my mind.I didn’t want to make a success in the magazine business.

“If you think you can change your mind like this,”she replied,“you’ll become a good-for-nothing.”She insisted that,as soon as school was over,I should start ringing doorbells,selling magazines.Whenever I said no,she would scold me.

My mother and I had fought this battle almost as long as I could remember.My mother,dissatisfied with my father’s plain workman’s life,determined that I would not grow up like him and his people.But never did she expect that,forty years later,such a successful journalist as me would go back to her husband’s people for true life and love.

1.Why did the boy start his job young?

2.From the dialogue between the boy and his mother,we learn that the mother was _______.

3.What did the mother do when the boy wanted to give up?

4.What does the underlined phrase “this battle”(last paragraph) refer to?

5.What is the text mainly about?

       “Dad! He took a book without paying!” I yelled .

       My father looked surprised. Before the boy could say anything, his mother grabbed his arm and shook it. “Is it true? You stole? Tell me!”

       Everyone was quiet. The boy began to cry, and he nodded his head. He pulled out the comic book (漫画书) from under his shirt. 

       “Oh, Mr. Kim. I am sorry! My Ted made a big mistake!” Mrs. Diaz told my father. She tried to take the comic book, but Ted wouldn’t let go.

       “It’s OK. He can keep it,” my father said with a smile.

       “Oh no,” Mrs. Diaz said. “Let me pay right now ...” She dug in her purse. “How much?”

       “Three seventy-five.”

       Mrs. Diaz’s eyes widened, and she dug deeper. I saw her mouth make a small line. “Three seventy-five?” she asked.  

       “It’s OK. You can pay later,” my father said.

       “No,” Mrs. Diaz said. She kept looking in her purse. “I have money here.”

       I felt bad for yelling, for I realized that Ted had tried to steal the comic book because he didn’t have the money. Maybe the boy could have a job, I thought.

       I had an idea.

       “What if he worked with me?” I asked. They turned to me.

       I said, “He can work with me to pay for the comic book.”

       “Good,” my father said smiling at me. Mrs. Diaz nodded. She turned to her son, “You hear? You will work and buy the comic book!”  

       “Yes, Mama,” Ted said, hanging his head.

       As they left, Ted looked back, and though he still seemed sad, he stuck out (伸出) his tongue at me.

       Ted has been working here for two weeks. He has paid for the comic book, but my father says he is such a good worker that he can work with me as long as he wants. We are friends now. 

1.Where did the story most probably take place? 

A. In a classroom.                       B. In a supermarket.  

C. At a bookstore.                        D. At a library. 

2.By saying “but Ted wouldn’t let go” in Paragraph 4, the author means Ted ______.

A. took the book by mistake      B. wanted to keep the book

C. didn’t want to go home        D. didn’t think he was wrong

3.From the underlined sentences in the eighth paragraph, we may infer that Mrs. Diaz ______. 

A. didn’t think her son stole the book

B. had been out of work for a long time

C. forgot to take money with her that day

D. couldn’t afford to pay for the book

4.In the last paragraph, what does the author mainly tell?

A. His idea was successful.        B. Ted didn’t like the job.

C. He liked Ted very much.        D. Ted was a naughty boy.

Most people know that Marie Curie was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize, and the first person to win it twice. However, few people know that she was also the mother of a Nobel Prize winner.

Born in September, 1987, Irene Curie was the first of the Curies’ two daughters. Along with nine other children whose parents were also famous scholars, Irene studied in their own school, and her mother was one of the teachers. She finished her high school education at the College of Sévigné in Paris.

Irene entered the University of Paris in 1914 to prepare for a degree in mathematics and physics. When World War I began, Irene went to help her mother, who was using X-ray facilities（设备） to help save the lives of wounded soldiers. Irene continued the work by developing X-ray facilities in military hospitals in France and Belgrum. Her services were recognised in the form of a Military’s Medal by the French government.

In 1918, Irene became her mother’s assistant at the Curie Institute. In December 1924, Frederic Joliot joined the Institute, and Irene taught him the techniques required for his work. They soon fell in love and were married in 1926. Their daughter Helene was born in 1927 and their son Pierre five years later.

Like her mother, Irene combined family and career. Like her mother, Irene was awarded a Nobel Prize, along with her husband, in 1935. Unfortunately, also like her mother, she developed leukemia because of her work with radioactivity（辐射能）. Irene Joliot-Curie died from leukemia on March 17, 1956.

1.Why was Irene Curie awarded a Military Medal?

2.Where did Irene Curie meet her husband Frederio joliot?

3.When was the second child of Irene Curie and Frederic Joliot born?

4.In which of the following aspects was Irene Cuire different from her mother?

第II卷非选择题满分35分

第四部分：写作（共两节，满分35分）

第一节：对话填空（共10小题：每小题1分，满分10分）请认真阅读下面对话，并根据各题所给首字幕的提示，在答题卡上标有题号的横线上，写出一个英语单词的完整、正确形式，使对话通顺。

M: How come David is always so full of (76) e______?

W: He has a strange but highly (77) e______ way of sleeping.

M: What is that?

W: He takes a short sleep for an hour every six hours and has a (78) t______ of four hours of sleep every day.

M: Where did he get that strange (79) i_______?

W: He read from a book which (80) s_______ it was the best (81) w______ for human beings, and he believed it.

M: How many hours do you sleep a day?

W: I need at least 7 hours. I once tried to follow David’s (82) e_______, but it never (83) w______ out for me.

M: If I sleep (84) d_______ the day, I can never wake up.

W: Not everyone is David, I (85) g______.

I stood outside New York’s Madison Square Garden and just stared, almost speechless. I was a farm boy from County Kilkenny, a child who some thought would never walk, let alone go as far as I had in the world.

From the day I was born, there was a problem. The doctors at the Dublin hospital told my parents I had phocomelia, a deformity that affected both legs below the knee, which were outward and shorter than normal and each foot had just three toes.

Life was tough. I couldn’t stand, much less walk. I rarely left the farmhouse—and then only in someone’s arms. Mom bundled me up whenever she took me to town, no matter the season.

“The world will see him when he can walk,” she told Dad. “And he will walk.”

Mom devoted herself to helping me. She tried everything to get me on my feet. When I was three, she and Dad took me to a clinic in Dublin.

A few weeks later we returned to Dublin with my artificial limbs (肢). Back home I practiced walking with my new limbs.

“There’s nothing anyone can do but you can’t,” Mom said. “You and I are going to walk through town.”

The next day Mom dressed me in my finest clothes. She wore a summer dress and fixed her hair and makeup. Dad drove us to the church. We stepped out of the car. Mom took my hand. “Hold your head up high, now, Ronan,” she said.

We walked 300 meters to the post office. It was the farthest I’d walked, and I was sweating from the effort. Then we left the post office and continued down the street, Mom's eyes shining with a mother's pride.

That night, back on our farm, I lay exhausted on my bed. It meant nothing, though, compared to what I’d done on my walk.

Then I began to pursue my dream of singing. And at every step Mom's words came back to me—Ronan, you can do anything anyone else can do—and the faith she had in God, who would help me do it.

I’ve sung from the grandest stages in Europe, to music played by the world’s finest musicians. That night, I stood at the Madison Square Garden, with Mom’s words chiming in my ears. Then I began singing. I couldn't feel the pulse of the music in my feet, but I felt it deep in my heart, the same place where Mom’s promise lived. 

1.What was the problem with the author as a baby?

A. He was expected unable to walk.                                        B. He was born outward in character.

C. He had a problem with listening.                                         D. He was shorter than a normal baby.

2.The underlined word “deformity” in the second paragraph most probably means _________.

A. shortcoming                  B. disadvantage                    C. disability                     D. delay

3.Why did Mom dress him and herself in finest clothes?

A. To hide their depressed feeling.                               B. To indicate it an unusual day.

C. To show off their clothes.                                    D. To celebrate his successful operation.

4.From the story we may conclude that his mother was __________.

A. determined                  B. stubborn                              C. generous                    D. distinguished

5.According to the writer, what mattered most in his success?

A. His consistent effort.                                               B. His talent for music.

C. His countless failures.                                               D. His mother’s promise.