For many writers, writing stories or plays is a part-time job: to support themselves they take on other jobs, such as teaching. It is one sign of August Wilson’s success that for many years he has been able to make a living only by writing plays.

Wilson was born in Pittsburgh and dropped out of school in the ninth grade. He was a good reader, however, and continued his education by reading library books, learning about black nationalist movements of the time, and closely observing(观察) the lives of the poor people.

In the late 1960’s Wilson set up a theater company called Black Horizons and began to think of ways to describe African-American life on the stage. He had the idea of a cycle of plays, each of which was set in a different decade(十年) of the 20^th century, showing how African-American life has developed.

The first successful play of this series was Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom about black musicians in Chicago in the 1920s, who are not accepted by white society. Other plays in the series include Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, about blacks in the 1910s who had moved north to Pittsburgh in search of a new identity; Fences, which focuses on a father–son conflict(冲突) in the1950s; and The Piano Lesson, about a 1930s family that was uncertain about whether to sell the family’s treasure. For the last two of these plays Wilson was awarded Pulitzer Prizes.

Wilson has written eight plays in his cycle, the most recent being King Hedley the Second, a play set in the 1980s. His plays are enjoyed by both the blacks and the whites and engage anyone who is interested in African-American experience.

1.Wilson won Pulitzer Prizes for ________.

A．The Piano Lesson & Fences

B． Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom & Fences

C．The Piano Lesson & King Hedley the Second

D．King Hedley the Second & Joe Turner’s Come and Gone

2. It is possible that in his series of the 20^th –century plays, Wilson plans to write ________.

A．no more          B．two more          C．three more        D．four more

3.The underlined word “engage” in the last paragraph means ________.

A．award            B．benefit           C．please            D．attract

4.What’s the passage mainly about?

A．The life of August Wilson.                 B．The growth of August Wilson.

C．A cycle of plays of August Wilson.           D．August Wilson’s theater company.

As a human being you may have the choice of three basic attitudes towards life. You may treat life with the philosophy (哲学) of the vegetable, in which case your life will include being born, eating, drinking, sleeping, marrying, growing old and dying.

The second basic attitude is to look at life as if it were a business. A great many so-called successful men and women believe that life is a business. If you believe so, your first question of life, naturally, is " What do I get out of it? " " How much is this worth to me?" In a word, based on this attitude, happi??ness becomes a matter of successful competition. The great ma??jority of human beings today look at life as if it were a busi??ness.

The third attitude toward life is the way of the artist. Here the basic philosophy is "What can I put into it?". They value cooperation and contribution. This point of view has been proved by history; for history remembers best those who have contributed most richly to the interests of their fellow-men. The more we investigate(调查),the more we become certain that the artistic attitude is the only one which goes with human happiness.

5. From the passage we know people who take the second life attitude ________.

A. are mostly businessmen                 B. think of getting the interests (利益) first

C. find their happiness from hard work              D. take competition as their whole life

6. People who are best remembered by history are probably

A. those living on vegetables       B. successful men

C. artists                                    D. businessmen

7. We may infer from this passage that ________.

A. some people are living only on vegetables

B. the artistic attitude is accepted by most people

C. the writer prefers the third life attitude

D. artists do most for the society in order to be remembered longer than others

China may be the world's most populous country ,and it won the most gold medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. But its prowess at soccer is lamentable. China is ranked 84th in the sport's world standing.
Chinese are huge soccer fans, and hundreds of millions are expected to tune in to the World Cup, with all the matches broadcast live on public TV. But this time the Chinese don't have their own team to root for.
"Chinese have a reputation of being good at math, but they have trouble explaining why a population of 1.3 billion cannot produce a winning 11-member soccer team," said Xu Guoqi, a history professor at the University of Hong Kong. Journalists and soccer fans offer a number of reasons, most often money issues, politics, corruption（腐败）and culture, and sometimes a combination of the four.
Even though China now boasts wealthy companies and individuals who could sponsor（赞助） teams, there is little support as long as Chinese teams are perceived as perennial losers. "This is a very bad circle," Ma said. "No results, no money. No money, no results."
Few Chinese children are playing soccer. Some sports journalists and fans attribute the lack of interest partly to schools de-emphasizing sports in general and the lack of playing venues in the country's dense urban areas. "What can Chinese kids do?” said Fan Huiming, 61, a Chinese soccer fan who grew up watching matches at Beijing's Workers' Stadium, which was built in 1958 near his childhood home. "If they play soccer, the ball may fly directly into the glass of someone's home."
For young people, soccer has largely been eclipsed by basketball, thanks in part to Chinese NBA players who are treated like rock stars. Journalists and fans say NBA's aggressive campaign of marketing and merchandise in China has helped swell the popularity of basketball. By comparison, they noted that international soccer does not even have an office in China.
Rowan Simons, a Briton who came to China more than two decades ago and discovered he wasn't able to play weekend soccer, has been on a campaign to popularize the sport here. Simons said the main problem is that soccer elsewhere has traditionally started as a series of neighborhood clubs, but in China, "there's virtually no football at community level".
"Football in China can only succeed if it's a grass-roots activity organized by the people," he said.
【小题1】This time the Chinese don't have their own team to root for in the World Cup because__________.

Ma Wendi graduated from a veterinary(兽医的) school several years ago. And now she is used to  1  (glance) at curiously when she walks six dogs at the same time. They are not all  2 . The 25-year-old veterinary graduate is a full-time dog walker.

“I have to take care of twelve dogs at most,” said Ma. She charges 500 yuan a month per dog, and most customers leave their dogs at her house for a week. The  3  (busy) time is around the Spring Festival, because many people go back to their hometowns for family reunions  4  go traveling.

“Compared with people who have to be in their offices during the day, I don’t have to get up early to squeeze into the subway carriages in rush hour, and I still make  5  decent(体面的) salary. It seems to give me great 6  (encourage) to go on with my job. ” she said.

“But it’s still a tiring job. Whenever there are dogs at home, I can’t leave them alone. I have to work and caring them is bound to be busy,  7  means that I have no time to enjoy myself. Sometimes I want to go out for a meal or shopping, but I can’t do so because I worry about them, and it really makes me  8 (annoy) ” she said.

Most of the dogs seem to adapt  9  the life there. Ma knows all the dogs’ names, and when she calls one’s name, the dog instantly knows she  10  (refer) to it.

       I suddenly heard an elephant crying as though frightened. Looking down, I immediately recognized that something was wrong, and ran down to the edge of the near bank. There I saw Ma Shwe with her three-month-old calf struggling in the fast-rising water, and it was a life-and-death struggle. Her calf was floating and screaming with fear. Ma Shwe was as near to the far bank as she could get, holding her whole body against the rushing water, and keeping the calf pressed against her huge body. Every now and then the rushing water would sweep the calf away.

There was a sudden rise in the water and the calf was washed clean over the mother’s body and was gone. Ma Shwe turned quickly to reach it and pressed the calf with her head and trunk against the rocky bank. Then with a huge effort, she picked it up in her trunk and tried until she was able to place it on a narrow shelf of rock.

Just at this moment, she fell back into the river. If she were carried down, it would be certain death. I knew, as well as she did, that there was one spot where she could get up the bank, but it was on the other side from where she had put her calf.

While I was wondering what I could do next, I heard the sound of a mother’s love. Ma Shwe had crossed the river and got up the bank and was making her way back as fast as she could, roaring(吼叫) all the time, but to her calf it was music.

The moment the author got down to the river bank he saw ___.

 the calf was about to fall into the river

 Ma Shwe was placing the calf on the rock

 the calf was washed away by the rising water

 Ma Shwe was holding the calf against the rushing water

How did Ma Shwe manage to save her calf from the fast-flowing water?

By putting it on a safe spot.

By pressing it against her body.

By taking it away with her

By carrying it on her back.

How did the calf feel about the mother elephant's roaring?

It was a great comfort.

It was a sign of danger.

It was a call for help.

It was a musical note.

What can be the best title for the text?

A Mother's love

A Brave Act

A Deadly River

A matter of Life and Death