Tsai Chin-chung is one of Taiwan’s most famous cartoonists， and his cartoons are enjoyed by people in many different countries in Asia. His books of cartoons have now become best sellers in Singapore， Malaysia， and even Japan.

As soon as he could hold a pencil or a brush， Tsai Chin-chung lived only for drawing. Every day he practised drawing people and things around him as well as characters and scenes from his favorite stories.

When he was only 15 years old， he left home to work for a publisher in  Taibei.  At first he was only 15 years old and he worked hard to draw pictures for books. So two years later he decided to leave his job as an artist who draws pictures for books and to work on drawing cartoon series. He made up his mind to succeed as a cartoonist even if it meant “living on instant noodles” in order to make himself famous.

Now nearly 50 years old， Tsai Chin-chung has achieved something unusual for a modern cartoonist. He has become extraordinarily successful at changing Chinese literature and philosophy  into humorous comic stories. In this way， he had made the Chinese classics known to thousands of people.

In recognition of his great achievement， several years ago Tsai Chin-chung was given a prize as one of the 10 Outstanding Young People of Taiwan. Since then， he has won many prizes and his cartoons have become popular in countries and areas throughout Asia， America and Europe. So far， he has published more than 20 comic books. Ten of these are about ancient Chinese philosophers， and the remainder are based on Chinese historical and literary classics.

Many of Tsai Chin-chung’s books of cartoons and comics have now been published in English in countries and areas like Singapore. His books have also been translated into several other languages， including Japanese， Korean and Thai. Even publishers in countries like France and Indonesia have recently signed agreements for permission to publish his cartoon series.

What job did Tsai Chin-chung do when he was fifteen years old？(No more than 5 words) (2 marks)

What does “living on instant noodles” mean in this passage？ (No more than 4 words) (3 marks)

How does he make the Chinese classics known to thousands of people？ (No more than 10 words) (2 marks)

. Why was Tsai Chin-chung nominated one of the ten outstanding young people of Taiwan？ (No more than 5 words) (3 marks)

There is an endless supply of stories about sleepwalkers (梦游者). People have been said to climb on roofs, solve mathematical problems, write music, walk through windows, and do murder in their sleep.

       In Revere, Massachusetts, a hundred policemen searched for a lost boy who left his home in his sleep and woke up five hours later on a strange sofa in a strange living room, with no idea how he had got there.

       At the University of Lowa, WWW.K**S*858$$U.COMa student was reported to have the habit of getting up in the middle of the night and walking three-quarters of a mile to the Lowa River. He would take a swim and then go back to his room to bed.

       An American expert on sleep claims (声称) that he has never seen a sleepwalker. He is said to know more about sleep than any other living man, and during the last thirty-five years he has lost a lot of sleep watching people sleep. He says, “Of course, I know that there are sleepwalkers because I have read about them in the newspapers. But none of my sleepers ever walked, and if I were to advertise for sleepwalkers for an experiment, I doubt whether I would get many takers (应征者).”

       Sleepwalking, however, is a scientific reality. It is one of those strange things that sometimes look quite fantastic (怪诞的). Doctors say that sleepwalking is much more common than is generally supposed. Many sleepwalkers do not try to find help and their sleepwalking is never recorded.

Generally speaking, sleepwalkers are people who ________.

      A. climb on roofs                                B. walk through windows

       C. do fantastic things during their sleep                      D. walk in a half-awake state

It was reported that a boy ________.

      A. was found on a strange sofa, telling how he had got there

       B. slept in his own room but woke up in a strange room

       C. lost his way five hours after he left home

       D. was searched for by policemen when he lost his way

There was a college student who got into the habit of ________.

      A. getting up in the middle of the night and walking down to the river

       B. walking three-quarters of a mile every day

       C. swimming in the Lowa River before going to bed

       D. walking about before he went to bed

Why do people think sleepwalking is nothing but a fantastic thing which doesn’t have any explanation?

      A. It is so common that it needn’t be recorded.

       B. Scientists take no interest in it.

       C. Most sleepwalkers do not seek help for their problem.

       D. No records about it have been made.

Not until he left home ______ to know _______ important the family was for him.

A   16   thing happened   17   me last Sunday. It was such a beautiful day  18  I drove to go for a look in the country.

       On the way back home, my   19   stopped. It was out of gas on a   20   road far from a town! I decided to walk   21   I found someone who could sell some gas. I had walked almost a mile   22   I finally found a house near the  23 . I was glad to see it because it was getting dark.

       I knocked at the door and a little old lady with long white hair 24  She said, “I’ve been 25 for you here for a long time. Come in.   26   is almost ready.”

       “But I only came for some gas,” I answered. I couldn’t   27   what she was talking about.

       “Oh, Alfred! Gas? You   28   tea,” said she.

I quickly   29   that my car was out of   30  , but she didn’t seem to listen to me. She just kept   31   me Alfred and talking about how long it had been   32   she had seen me. She was acting very strangely and I was   33   to leave. As soon as she went to get tea, I went out of the house as fast as I could.

      Fortunately, there was another house down the road and I was able to buy the gas I needed. When I told the man about my   34  , he said, “Oh, that’s Miss Emily. She lives by herself in that big house. She’s strange, but she wouldn’t   35   anybody. She is still waiting for the man she was going to marry thirty years ago. The day before their wedding he left home and never came back because of the war.”

A. happy          B. strange       C. common      D. bad

A. on            B. in                C. upon         D. to

A. and          B. so            C. but            D. that

A. car           B. bus          C. bike          D. truck

A. narrow        B. lonely        C. crowded       D. busy

A. when           B. so that      C. until          D. because

A. before         B. after        C. while               D. as

A. street           B. path         C. way          D. road

A. came           B. answered    C. opened         D. appeared

A. asking       B. looking      C. calling          D. waiting

A. Gas               B. Coffee            C. Tea           D. Lunch

A. consider     B. understand  C. accept          D. think

A. like          B. liked        C. used to like      D. liking

A. answered      B. explained   C. refused         D. promised

A. gas         B. tea           C. strength        D. energy

A. calling       B. call          C. to call          D. called

A. until          B. before      C. since         D. when

A. anxious      B. interested   C. glad          D. ready

A. accident     B. incident      C. experience           D. surprise

A. wound       B. injury      C. hurt          D. frighten

When I began married life more than 17 years ago, I weighed 118 pounds. After having two children, and years of ____21____ eating, I weighed 180 pounds. I was unhappy. I considered going on a ____22____, so I gathered information about it.

I ____23____ the South Beach Diet and how well it was ____24____ for some people in our area. I looked it up online and ____25____ for it. Even though I knew my husband loved me no matter how I ____26____ or how much I weighed. I decided that it would be a wonderful ____27____ for my husband to come home and see a new ____28_____, so I kept my South Beach experience a ____29____ from him. Later he left home for a two-week business trip.

I was surprised at all the ____30____ I could eat. It was great to have breakfast, ____31____ and dinner. The food was difficult to eat at first ____32____ I usually didn’t like such food. This made the daily menus hard, ____33____ I overcame (克服) the challenge.

The first two weeks there really ____34____ me change the way I thought about ____35____. It wasn’t chocolate or cheese or candy I ____36____, but fruit! Before my husband’s return, my children and I were amazed at how quickly the ____37____ was lost.

When my husband returned, I had ____38_____more than 30 pounds. When I saw my husband’s reaction at the airport I thought it was worth every minute on the diet! I have ____39_____ to lose weight and I am now less than 10 pounds from my final ____40____. I feel better than I have in years and I’m enjoying life much more!