The opening scene of The King’s Speech was, in a word, terrifying. The moment King George VI—wonderfully played by Colin Firth—stepped up to the microphone at Wembley Stadium, a rush of nervousness came over me. It took me back to my school days, standing at my desk, having to read aloud to the class. I whispered to my wife, Jill, “A stutterer（口吃者）wrote this screenplay（剧本）.

I grew up with a stutter, really afraid of trying to get through simple sentences—knowing that I would then, or later, be laughed at. I still remember the reading when I was in 7^th grade at St. Helena’s: “Sir Walter Raleigh was a gentleman…” I remember reciting, “Sir Walter Raleigh was a gentleman.” The school teacher said, “Master B-B-B-Biden! What’s that word?” She wanted me to say gentlemen. But by then, I had learned to put my sentences into bite-size pieces and I was reading it: “gentle”｜breath｜“man”.[

Ninety-nine percent of the time, the teachers were great. I never had professional treatment but a couple of teachers taught me to put a regular rise and fall in my tone of speaking, and that’s why I spent so much time reading poetry. But even in my small, boys’ prep school, I got nailed in my class with the nickname Joe Stutterer. You get so desperate, you’re so embarrassed. I actually went and stood by the side of my house once, with a small round stone in my mouth, and tried to talk. Jill always thought I was kidding until she saw the movie and saw King George did the same thing.

King George relied on the support his wife and the help of Lionel Longue, who, in describing working with other stutterers, said, “My job was to give them confidence in their voices and let them know that a friend was listening.” I was lucky enough to have more than a couple of Lionels in my life. Nobody in my family ever—ever—made fun of me or tried to finish my sentences. My mother would say, “Joey, you cannot let stuttering define you.” And because of her and others, I made sure it didn’t.

Through hard work and determination, I beat my stutter in high school. I even spoke briefly at my graduation ceremony in 1961—the most difficult speech of my life. My fight against shyness and embarrassment at my early age has developed my ability to understand others’ feelings as Vice President of the country in public life. I still mark up all of my speeches the same way Firth’s character does in the movie, pencil-marking every line to remind myself to stop, to breathe, to pause—to beat back my stuttering as best as I can. I don’t stutter anymore, and most people who know me only late in my life are shocked that I ever did.

By capturing exactly how a stutter feels, The King’s Speech has shown millions of people how much courage it takes for a stutterer to stand up and speak. Equally important, it has shown millions who suffer from the pain that it can be overcome, we are not alone, and with the support of those around us, our deepest fears can be conquered.

55．The writer whispered to his wife, “A stutterer wrote this screenplay”, because            .

A．he desired to release his secret to his wife

B．he was reminded how it was as a stutterer on such occasions

C．he thought Colin Firth had a wonderful performance in the film

D．he wanted to make his wife realize why the film was so popular

56．What can we learn from the example in Paragraph 2?

A．Kids with a stutterer could be made fun of at schools

B．“Gentleman” was very difficult for a 7^th grader to pronounce

C．It was impossible for a stutterer to pronounce even very simple words

D．The teacher had a clever way to teach how to pronounce the word

57．Which word can best replace “nailed” in Paragraph 3?

58．What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 imply?

A．The writer would have a good fortune to get help from many people

B．The writer should realize he had to stand up from his pain and defeat it

C．The writer could get enough confidence under his mother’s help

D．The writer must be happy that everyone in his family did not laugh at him

59．To give a speech as well as he can, the writer, reveals the fact that            .

A．he tried to talk with a small round stone in his mouth.

B．his wife keeps encouraging him to practice

C．he still marks up all his speeches

D．his teacher helps him to put a rise and fall in his tone

60．What message is conveyed in the passage?

A．Whatever pain and fear we have, we can defeat them if we try hard.

B．The similar stories of the writer and King George VI gains great admiration.

C．The suffer we had at our early age will have a heavy influence on our future life.

D．Stuttering is such a pain for children that we should give help and encourage them. [

The opening scene of The King’s Speech was, in a word, terrifying. The moment King George VI—wonderfully played by Colin Firth—stepped up to the microphone at Wembley Stadium, a rush of nervousness came over me. It took me back to my school days, standing at my desk, having to read aloud to the class. I whispered to my wife, Jill, “A stutterer（口吃者）wrote this screenplay（剧本）.

I grew up with a stutter, really afraid of trying to get through simple sentences—knowing that I would then, or later, be laughed at. I still remember the reading when I was in 7^th grade at St. Helena’s: “Sir Walter Raleigh was a gentleman…” I remember reciting, “Sir Walter Raleigh was a gentleman.” The school teacher said, “Master B-B-B-Biden! What’s that word?” She wanted me to say gentlemen. But by then, I had learned to put my sentences into bite-size pieces and I was reading it: “gentle”｜breath｜“man”.[

Ninety-nine percent of the time, the teachers were great. I never had professional treatment but a couple of teachers taught me to put a regular rise and fall in my tone of speaking, and that’s why I spent so much time reading poetry. But even in my small, boys’ prep school, I got nailed in my class with the nickname Joe Stutterer. You get so desperate, you’re so embarrassed. I actually went and stood by the side of my house once, with a small round stone in my mouth, and tried to talk. Jill always thought I was kidding until she saw the movie and saw King George did the same thing.

King George relied on the support his wife and the help of Lionel Longue, who, in describing working with other stutterers, said, “My job was to give them confidence in their voices and let them know that a friend was listening.” I was lucky enough to have more than a couple of Lionels in my life. Nobody in my family ever—ever—made fun of me or tried to finish my sentences. My mother would say, “Joey, you cannot let stuttering define you.” And because of her and others, I made sure it didn’t.

Through hard work and determination, I beat my stutter in high school. I even spoke briefly at my graduation ceremony in 1961—the most difficult speech of my life. My fight against shyness and embarrassment at my early age has developed my ability to understand others’ feelings as Vice President of the country in public life. I still mark up all of my speeches the same way Firth’s character does in the movie, pencil-marking every line to remind myself to stop, to breathe, to pause—to beat back my stuttering as best as I can. I don’t stutter anymore, and most people who know me only late in my life are shocked that I ever did.

By capturing exactly how a stutter feels, The King’s Speech has shown millions of people how much courage it takes for a stutterer to stand up and speak. Equally important, it has shown millions who suffer from the pain that it can be overcome, we are not alone, and with the support of those around us, our deepest fears can be conquered.

55．The writer whispered to his wife, “A stutterer wrote this screenplay”, because            .

A．he desired to release his secret to his wife

B．he was reminded how it was as a stutterer on such occasions

C．he thought Colin Firth had a wonderful performance in the film

D．he wanted to make his wife realize why the film was so popular

56．What can we learn from the example in Paragraph 2?

A．Kids with a stutterer could be made fun of at schools

B．“Gentleman” was very difficult for a 7^th grader to pronounce

C．It was impossible for a stutterer to pronounce even very simple words

D．The teacher had a clever way to teach how to pronounce the word

57．Which word can best replace “nailed” in Paragraph 3?

58．What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 imply?

A．The writer would have a good fortune to get help from many people

B．The writer should realize he had to stand up from his pain and defeat it

C．The writer could get enough confidence under his mother’s help

D．The writer must be happy that everyone in his family did not laugh at him

59．To give a speech as well as he can, the writer, reveals the fact that            .

A．he tried to talk with a small round stone in his mouth.

B．his wife keeps encouraging him to practice

C．he still marks up all his speeches

D．his teacher helps him to put a rise and fall in his tone

60．What message is conveyed in the passage?

A．Whatever pain and fear we have, we can defeat them if we try hard.

B．The similar stories of the writer and King George VI gains great admiration.

C．The suffer we had at our early age will have a heavy influence on our future life.

D．Stuttering is such a pain for children that we should give help and encourage them. [

Good evening. I have come to Jerusalem today as a novelist, which is to say as a professional

spinner of lies.

Today, however, I have no intention of lying. I will try to be as honest as I can. There are only a few days in the year when I do not engage in telling lies, and today happens to be one of them.

So let me tell you the truth. In Japan a fair number of people advised me not to come here to accept the Jerusalem Prize. Some even warned me they would instigate a boycott of my books if I came. The reason for this, of course, was the fierce fighting that was raging in Gaza.

Finally, however, after careful consideration, I made up my mind to come here. One reason for my decision was that all too many people advised me not to do it. Perhaps, like many other novelists, I tend to do the exact opposite of what I am told. If people are telling me-- and especially if they are warning me-- “Don’t go there,” “Don’t do that,” I tend to want to “go there” and “do that”. It’s in my nature, you might say, as a novelist. Novelists are a special breed. They cannot genuinely trust anything they have not seen with their own eyes or touched with their own hands.

And that is why I am here. I chose to come here rather than stay away. I chose to see for myself rather than not to see. I chose to speak to you rather than to say nothing.

Please do allow me to deliver a message, one very personal message. It is something that I always keep in mind while I am writing fiction. I have never gone so far as to write it on a piece of paper and paste it to the wall: rather, it is carved into the wall of my mind, and it goes something like this:

 “Between a high, solid wall and an egg that breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg.”

I have only one reason to write novels, and that is to bring the dignity of the individual soul to the surface and shine a light upon it. The purpose of a story is to sound an alarm, to keep a light trained on the System in order to prevent it from tangling our souls in its web and demeaning them. I truly believe it is the novelist’s job to keep trying to clarify the uniqueness of each individual soul by writing stories--stories of life and death, stories of love, stories that make people cry and quake with fear and shake with laughter. This is why we go on, day after day, concocting fictions with utter seriousness.

46．What made the writer decide to come to Jerusalem?

       A．He wanted to accept the Jerusalem Prize.

       B．A fair number of people advised him to.

       C．too many people advised me not to do it and he chose to some here rather than stay away.

       D．He wanted to write novels in Jerusalem.

47．From the passage, we can know the writer is man who_____________

       A．is afraid of others’ opinions.

       B．braves to express his opinions.

       C．trusts anything others talk.

       D．hates anything and writes to the pubic.

48．Which of the following statements is NOT true?

       A．the purpose of writing for the writer is to bring the dignity of the individual soul to the

surface and shine a light upon it.

       B．Novelists hardly trust anything they have not seen with their own eyes or touched with

their own hands.

       C．The writer’s writing stories just wanted to make people cry and quake with fear and shake

with laughter.

       D．The writer comes from Japan and chose to speak to the public.

49．What did the writer mean by saying : “I always stand on the edge of the egg?”

       A．He thought he was so weak.

       B．He wanted to be an egg.

       C．He didn’t like the wall.

       D．He wanted to fight with the strong society for his dream.

50．Where does this passage come from?

       A．a speech from awarding meeting

       B．a discussion from a novelist

       C．a debate from Japanese

       D．a warning from a meeting