The iPhone has become one of the most popular mobile phones in the United States. An 18-year-o1d student in California has used his knowledge of the device to create his own business,gaining national recognition for his work.
Vincent Quigg is the CEO of TechWorld. His company is kind of like a hospital for iPhones,specializing in customizing and repairing iPhones. Vincent Quigg launched TechWorld while in high school. “My mom became single a couple of years ago and I had to grow up. And in order to keep my lifestyle, I had to find different ways to keep my phone, keep a car, transportation and all that stuff. So I had to find ways to be entrepreneurial.” An organization cal1ed the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship. or NFTE, helped the young man get started. His mother, Carla Quigg: “He quit the class, which made me very disappointed.”
“It was extremely hard for myself to find a business to start and run with it. But once I had that ‘aha moment’or what I knew I wanted to go with, it was really easy and extremely fun.”
At the time, Vincent worked for the electronics store BestBuy. He says people always came into the store with broken electronic devices. He decided that repairing those devices was what he wanted to do. He not only re-registered for the NFTE class, but he also won the organization’s national competition for best young entrepreneur.His business has grown through word-of-mouth. Vincent says he now fixes up to l0 phones per week. He earns about $l,500 each month in sales. TechWorld has two other employees. Kacee Wheeler is one of them. He works on the technical side of the business while Vincent Quigg now deals with finances and planning. He says he wants to continue to grow his business.
【小题1】What is Vincent Quigg’s company specialized in?

Yesterday was my stepmother’s birthday. I haven’t been home for a long time, so I wanted to stop by the house to see her on this special day.

    I have been struggling on a low income so I was afraid that I couldn’t afford the long trip. Gas is so expensive nowadays! Anyway, I filled my tank with gas and set off. 

    I stopped at a shopping mall and found a present. It was the perfect gift and I knew she would love it. But when I got to the cashier, my card was declined! I didn’t have enough money in my account to pay for the gift!

So I pondered the issue for a few minutes. I could put it back and get something cheaper, but I knew there was nothing else in the store she would have liked as much. So, I got to my smart-phone and transferred some money from my saving account and was able to buy the gift. It took a big part of my savings but I wanted her to have something special.

    It turned out that she loved the gift and I felt that even though I had spent almost all my money, my stepmother deserved the best. I was glad I gave her the best I could.

    Before I left my parents’ house, my dad took me to one side and, with our secret handshake, he gave me some money. I hadn’t said anything to him about my financial condition, but I guessed my dad just knew it. When I got to the car, I saw the amount he gave me was three times what I had spent on the gas and the gift!

It goes to show that doing the right thing always comes with great rewards.

1. Why was the writer unwilling to have a long trip?

A. Because gas was hardly available.

B. Because the writer was short of money.

C. Because the writer didn’t like driving.  

D. Because the road was difficult to drive on.

2.The underlined word “pondered” in Paragraph 4 probably means ________.           

A. thought about       B. tried on         C. depended on         D. got through

3.From the passage, we can infer that ________.

A. the writer loves his stepmother very much

B. the gift the writer bought was loved by his father very much

C. the writer spend all his savings buying the gift for his stepmother

D. the gift the writer bought was the most expensive one in the shop

4.Why did the writer’s father shake hands with the writer in secret?

A. Because he wanted to ask the writer for something special.

B. Because he wanted to give the writer some money.

C. Because he knew the writer had been struggling financially.

D. Because he didn’t want others to copy their handshake.

I receive many letters from children and can’t answer them all – there wouldn’t be enough time in a day. I’ll try to answer some of the questions that are commonly asked.
Where did I get the idea for Stuart Little and for Charlotte’s Web? Well, many years ago, I went to bed one night in a railway sleeping car, and during the night I dreamed about a tiny boy who acted rather like a mouse. That’s how the story of Stuart Little got started.
As for Charlotte’s Web, I like animals and my farm is very pleasant place to be – at all hours. One day, when I was on my way to feed the pig, I began feeling sorry for the pig because, like most pigs, he was going to die. This made me sad. So I started thinking of ways to save his life. Three years after I started writing it, it was published. (I am not a fast worker, as you can see.)
Sometimes I’m asked when I started to write, and what made me want to write. I started early – as soon as I could spell. Children often find pleasure through trying to set their thoughts down on paper, either in words or in pictures. I was not good at drawing, so I used words instead. As I grew older, I found that writing could be a way of earning a living.
Well, here is the answer to the last question. No, they are imaginary (虚构的) tales. In real life, a family doesn’t have a child who looks like a mouse and a spider doesn’t write words in her web. Although my stories are imaginary, I like to think that there is some truth in them, too – truth about the way people and animals feel, think and act.
【小题1】E.B. White wrote this passage to ______.
A. introduce his new books
B. introduce two funny stories
C. explain why he enjoys writing
D. answer some readers’ questions
【小题2】We can know from the passage that E.B. White is a writer who ______.
A. writes very fast
B. works on a friends’ farm
C. mainly writes stories for adults
D. writes imaginary tales for children
【小题3】What inspired E.B. White to write Charlotte’s Web?
A. That he wanted children to love animals.
B. That he was deeply impressed by a clever pig.
C. That he wanted to use his own way to save a pig.
D. That he wanted to save the animals on a farm.
【小题4】 E.B. White started to write because he wanted to ______.
A. improve his spelling
B. express his thoughts
C. show his sadness
D. make a good living
【小题5】What is probably the last question?

Cars are an important part of life in the United States. Without a car most people feel that they are poor. And even if a person is poor , he doesn’t feel really poor when he has a car.
Henry Ford was the man who first started making cars in large numbers. He probably didn’t know how much the car was going to change American culture. The car made the United States a nation on wheels. And it helped make the United States what it is today.
There are three main reasons why the car became so popular in the United States. First of all, the country is a big one and Americans like to move around it. The car makes the travel the most comfortable and cheapest. With a car people can go to any place without spending a lot of money.
The second reason cars are popular is the fact that the United States never really developed a practical and cheap public travel system. Long distance trains have never been as common in the United States as they are in other parts of the world. Now there is a good system of air-service provided by planes. But it is too expensive to be used often.
The third reason is the most important one, though. The American spirit of independence is what really made cars popular. Americans don’t like waiting for a bus, or a train or even a plane. They don’t like to have to follow an exact timetable. A car gives them the freedom to plan their own time. And this is the freedom that Americans want most to have.
Less oil has caused a big problem for Americans. But the answer will not be a bigger system of public transportation. The real answer will have to be a new kind of car, one that does not use so much oil.
【小题1】We can learn from this passage that Americans ______.

短文改错（共10题，每小题1分；满分10分）
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写上该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（∕）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写上修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改仅限一词；2.只允许修改10处,多者(从第11处起)不计分。
Dear Diana,
Thank you for the lovely day we have with you. It was so kind for you to let us bring Anne’s friend, Ginna. Unfortunate, the only problem was the journey home. There had been a terrible  accident on the highway and, for a result, there was a long time of traffic for at least six mile. In the end, we drove to a service station and waited there unless the road was clear. In the car park here, Ginna nearly got knocked over as car drove out far too quickly from behind a lorry. They finally dropped Ginna off at her parents’ and made our own way to home”.