Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor, scientist and businessman who invented many things that greatly influenced life around the world, such as the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. Edison has been recognized as the creator of the first industrial research laboratory. It is he who came up with the concept of providing electricity for home. His first power station was on Manhattan Island, New York.

Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, and grew up in Port Huron, Michigan. He was the seventh and last child of his family. When he was young, Edison stayed at home and was taught by his mother. Edison recalled later, “My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I felt I had someone to live for, someone I must not disappoint.” During his childhood, he suffered from scarlet fever which affected his hearing.

Young Edison sold candy and newspapers on trains running from Port Huron to Detroit, and he sold vegetables to supplement his income. These jobs, though insignificant, inspired him greatly. He realized that he had a talent for business. These talents eventually made him founder of 14 companies, including General Electric, which is still in existence and is the largest publicly traded company in the world.

Edison started as a telegraph operator and this was the field in which he came up with the first invention. The invention which first gained him fame was the phonograph in 1877. The invention seemed magical, as nothing similar had ever been thought of before. Funded by the successful sale of the telegraph at a price of $10,000, Edison built his own research laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

The laboratory expanded rapidly over the decade. In 1892, it was confirmed that Edison was the official inventor of the carbon microphones, which was used in all telephones. Although he attempted to make use of X-rays to take radiographs, he quit the project and admitted his fear of X-rays in public.

Thomas Edison died of diabetes at his home in New Jersey, on October 18, 1931 and in honor of his contributions, Life magazine (USA), in a special double issue in 1997, placed Edison first in the list of the “100 Most Important People in the Last 1000 Years”, noting that the light bulb he promoted “lit up the world”.

Title: Thomas Edison—an influential person in the American history

Edward Sims was born in 1892. He was the fifth child and only son of Herbert and Dora Sims. Herbert was a blacksmith(铁匠), and had a thriving trade making horseshoes. He was determined that his first-born son would follow him into the blacksmith. For this reason, Edward had to leave school at the age of 12,and worked with his father.
However, Edward was not cut out to be a blacksmith. Although he has an athletic body, he didn't have strong arms like his father, and he felt dizzy in the heat of the smithy.  When he tried to find alternative employment, he found it difficult because he had never learnt to read or write.
One day, he went for an interview at a solictior’s office. The job was a runner, taking documents from the office to other offices in the city. The solicitor was pleased to see that Edward was physically fit, but when he discovered that the young man couldn't read or write, he decided against employing him. "How can you deliver documents to other offices," he asked, "if you can't read the addresses on them?"
Bitterly disappointed, Edward left the building and went to wait for a tram to take him back to the suburb where his father’s smithy was. Next to the bus stop, a man was selling newspapers from a stand .
"Excuse me, son?" he said. "Would you look after my stand for a moment?"
For the next 20 minutes, Edward sold newspapers, lots of them. When the man came back, he was so delighted with his new assistant's honesty, that he offered him a job. Edward took it immediately.
In the next few months, the two men progressed from working on newspaper stands to selling newspapers, tobacco,confectionery（糖果点心）and other goods in a shop. Then they opened a second shop, and a third. Eventually, they had a chain of 25 shops in three cities.
Edward became very rich, so he employed a tutor to teach him to read and write. The tutor  was amazed at what Edward had achieved. "Imagine what you could do if you’d been able to read and write when you were younger!" he said.
“Yes!” said Edward. “I could have run myself to exhaustion delivering documents for a solicitor!”
【小题1】What would be the best title for the text?

E
“The Lord of the Rings”, one of the best sellers in the new millennium (千年), was made up of three parts —— “The Fellowship of the Ring”, “Two Towers”, and “The Return of the King”. Millions upon millions of people have read it in over 25 different languages, but fewer know about the author and the history of the composition of the creative masterwork.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in South Africa in 1892. His parents died when he was a child. Living in England with his aunt, Tolkien and his cousins made up play languages, a hobby that led to Tolkien’s becoming skilled in Welsh, Greek, Gothic, Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon.
After graduating from Oxford, Tolkien served in World War I. In 1917, while recovering from trench fever, he began composing the mythology (神话) for The Rings. As a professor of Anglo-Saxon in 1930s at Oxford, Tolkien was part of an informal discussion group called the Inklings, which included several writers. The group was soon listening to chapters of Tolkien’s imaginative work “The Hobbit”.
Hobbit was a name Tolkien created for a local people that could best be described as half-sized members of the English rural (乡村的) class. Hobbits live in hillside holes. One of them, Bilbo Baggins, looks for treasures with a group of dwarves (侏儒). On the way, he meets the twisted, pitiful creature Gollum, from whom he sees a golden ring that makes the holder invisible.
One of Tolkien’s students persuaded her employer, publisher Allen & Unwin, to look at a draft (草稿). The chairman of the firm, Stanley Unwin, thought that the best judge for a children’s book would be his ten-year-old son. The boy earned a shilling for reporting back that the adventure was exciting, and “The Hobbit” was published in 1937.
It sold so well that Unwin asked for a continuation. Over a dozen years later, in 1954, Tolkien produced “The Lord of the Rings”, a series of books so creative that they hold readers — new and old — after their publication.
57. What can we learn from the text?
A. “The Lord of the Rings” didn’t sell well in the last millennium.
B. People know better about Tolkien himself than about his works.
C. Tolkien was quite familiar with Old English.
D. Tolkien knew very well about different kinds of local languages in Africa.
58. Which of the following helped most in making “The Hobbit” published?
A. One of Tolkien’s students.     B. Stanley Unwin’s son.
C. Allen & Unwin.                  D. Bilbo Baggins.
59. What is mainly discussed in the text?
A. “The Lord of the Rings” and its writer.
B. A completely new masterwork in the new millennium.
C. A famous professor at Oxford University.  D. The power of the magic ring.
60. Which of the following shows the right order of Mr. J.R.R.Tolkien’s life experience?
a. He had his “The Hobbit” published.  b. He became a member of the Inklings.
c. He served in World WarⅠ       d. He became an undergraduate at Oxford.
e. His work “The Lord of the Rings” came to the world.
f. He moved to England to live with his aunt.
A. f-d-b-c-a-e B. f-d-c-b-a-e C. f-c-d-b-e-a D. d-f-c-a-b-e

Henry Ford was the first person to build cars which were cheap，strong and fast．He was able to se11 millions of cars because he could produce them in large numbers at a time；that is，he made many cars of the same kind．Ford’s father hoped that his son would become a farmer，but the young man did not like the idea and he went to Detroit（底特律）where he worked as a mechanic（机械师）．By the age of 29，in 1892，he had built his first car．However，the car made in this way，the famous “ Model T ” did not appear until 1908. Five years ago, Ford started his great motor car factory．This kind of car showed to be well-known that it remained unchanged for twenty year．Since Ford’s time，this way of producing cars in large numbers has become common in industry and has reduced the price of many goods which would be very expensive．

1.Henry Ford was the man to built _____ cars．

　A．cheap and strong                      B．cheap and long

　C．fast and expensive                    D．strong and slow

2.Ford was able to sell millions of cars，because_____．

　A．he made many cars                    B．his cars are many

　C．he made lots of cars of the same kind      D．both A and B

3.The young man became a mechanic，_______．

A．which was his father’s will              B．which was against his own will

C．which was against his father’s will      D．which was his teacher’s will

4.The “ Model T ” was very famous_____．

　A．before 1908                          B．between 1982 and 1908

　C．before 1892                          D．after 1908

5.Ford built his own car factory_____．

　A．in 1903         B．in 1908         C．in 1913          D．in 1897

A qualified doctor who rarely practiced but instead devoted his life to writing. He once said: “Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my lover.” Russian writer Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, was a great playwright and one of the masters of the modern short story.
When Chekhov entered the Moscow University Medical School in 1879, he started to publish hundreds of comic short stories to support his family. After he graduated, he wrote regularly for a local daily newspaper.
As a writer he was extremely fast, often producing a short story in an hour or less. Chekhov’s medical and science experience can be seen through the indifference(冷漠) many of his characters show to tragic events. In 1892, he became a full time writer and published some of his most memorable stories.
Chekhov often wrote about the sufferings of life in small town Russia. Tragic events control his characters who are filled with feelings of hopelessness and despair.
It is often said that nothing happens in Chekhov’s stories and plays. He made up for this with his exciting technique for developing drama within his characters. Chekhov’s works combined the calm attitude of a scientist and doctor with the sensitivity(敏感) of an artist.
Some of Chekhov's works were translated into Chinese as early as the 1940s. One of his famous stories, The Man in a Shell, about a school teacher’s extraordinarily orderly life, was selected as a text for Chinese senior students.
【小题1】Anton Pavlovich Chekhov ________.