Mark Twain was a great writer. He was from the USA. He was born in 1835. He was also a famous speaker. He was famous for his sense of humour. Many people liked to listen to him talk because he liked to tell some interesting stories to make people laugh all the time.
　　 One day Mark Twain was going to a small town because of his writing. Before he was going to leave, one of his friends said to him that there were always a lot of mosquitoes（蚊子） in the town and told him that he’d better not go there. Mark Twain waved (摇动) his hand and said, “It doesn’t matter. The mosquitoes are no relatives of mine. I don’t think they will come to visit me.”
After he arrived at the town, Mark Twain stayed in a small hotel near the station. He went into his room, but when he was just about to have a rest, quite a few mosquitoes flew about him. The waiters felt very sorry about that. “I’m very sorry, Mr. Mark Twain. There are too many mosquitoes in our town.” One of them said to him.
　　Mark Twain, however, made a joke, saying to the waiter, “The mosquitoes are very clever. They know my room number. They didn’t come into the wrong room.” What he said made all the people present laugh heartily.
　　But that night Mark Twain slept well. Do you know why? That was because all the waiters in the hotel were driving the mosquitoes away for him during the whole night.
【小题1】That day Mark Twain went to the town _____.

　 I shook hands with my father in the truck，and for a long time he looked straight ahead and didn’t say a word.But I knew he was going to say a little to me.“I can’t tell anything，” he finally said.“I never went to college，and none of your brothers went to college.I can’t say don’t do this and do that，because everything is different and I don’t know what is going to come up.I can’t help much with money either，but I think things will work out.”

　 He gave me a new check?book.“If things get pushing，write a small check.But when you write one，send me a letter and let me know how much.There are some things we can always sell.” In four years all the checks I wrote were less than a thousand dollars.My part?time jobs such as reading to the blind student and sitting with the teachers’ kids filled in the financial gaps.

　 “You know what you want to be，and they’ll tell you what to take，” my father went on.“When you get a job，be sure it’s honest，and work hard.” I knew that soon I would be alone in the big town，and I would be missing the cool winds and a life where your thinking was done for you.

　 Then my dad reached down beside his seat and brought the old，broken Bible that he had read so often，the one he used when he wanted to look something up in a friendly quarrel with one of the neighbours.I knew he would miss it.I knew，though，that I must take it.

　 He didn’t say read this every morning.He just said，“This can help you if you will let it.”

　 Did it help? I got through college without being a burden on the family.I have been able to make money since.

1.What is the writer’s main purpose (目的) in writing this passage?

　 A.To tell the readers his life story.

　 B.To tell people what kind of person his father was.

　 C.To let people know how poor he was.

　 D.To tell the readers what present he got from his father.

2.Why did the father not ask his son not to do this and do that?

　 A.Because he felt quite confident of him.

　 B.Because he was born from a poor family.

　 C.Because he was a man of few words.

　 D.Because he didn’t want to be much too strict with him.

3.What would you learn from this passage?

　 A.How to live by oneself.

　 B.How to stand on one’s own feet.

　 C.What a good father should do.

　 D.What the self?important is like.

4.What may be the proper Chinese for the underlined part in the passage?

　 A.闲暇时光。 　　　　　　　 B.学费。

　 C.经济不足。 　　　　　　　 D.精神空虚。

5.What kind of book did the Bible seem to be to the writer’s father?

　 A.It was a book which told you how you should get on well with others.

　 B.There were many good examples for you to copy in it.

　 C.It was a book that told you how to get a good job and a good future.

　 D.It was a good book that could help you when you were in trouble.

“To be or not to be.” Outside the Bible, these six words are the most famous in all the literature of the world. They were spoken by Hamlet when he was thinking aloud, and they are the most famous words in Shakespeare because Hamlet was speaking not only for himself but also for every thinking man and woman. To be or not to be, to live or not to live, to live richly and abundantly, or to live dully and meanly. A philosopher once wanted to know whether he was alive or not, which is a good question for everyone to put to himself occasionally. He answered it by saying: “I think, therefore I am.”

　　But the best definition of existence I ever saw was one written by another philosopher who said: “To be is to be in relations.” If this is true, then the more relations a living thing has, the more it is alive. To live abundantly means simply to increase the range and intensity(强烈) of our relations. Unfortunately we are so constituted that we get to love our routine. But other than our regular occupation, how much are we alive? If you are interested only in your regular occupation, you are alive only to that extent. So far as other things are concerned --- poetry and prose(散文), music, pictures, sports, unselfish friendships, politics, international affairs ---you are dead.

On the contrary, it is true that every time you acquire a new interest --- even more, a new accomplishment(成就) --- you increase your power of life. No one who is deeply interested in different kinds of subjects can remain unhappy. The real pessimist is the person who has lost interest.

　　Bacon said that a man dies as often as he loses a friend. But we gain new life by contacts with new friends, and new ideas and thoughts, too. Where your thoughts are, there will be your life too. If your thoughts are limited only to your business, only to your physical welfare, only to your narrow circle of the town in which you live, then you live a narrow restricted(有限的, 受约束的) life. But if you are interested in what is going on in China, then you are living in China. If you’re interested in the characters of a good novel, then you are living with those highly interesting people. If you listen intently to fine music, you are away from your immediate surroundings and living in a world of passion and imagination.

To be or not to be --- to live intensely and richly, or merely to exist, which depends on ourselves. Let us widen and intensify our relations. While we live, let us live!

1.What does the author mainly want to do by this passage?

A．Argue against an idea.

B．Explain some famous sayings.

C．Introduce some famous sayings.

D．Put forward an idea.

2.What does the underlined word most probably mean?

A．Somebody who always lives in a world of passion and imagination.

B．Somebody who is always interested in making new friends.

C．Somebody who always expects the worst to happen.

D．Somebody who likes to live a rich and abundant life.

3.Which of the following behavior is probably NOT encouraged by the author?

A．Thinking more than your own business.

B．Caring only about your physical welfare.

C．Reading good novels.

D．Listening to fine music.

4.What is the main idea of the passage?

A．To be is to be in relations.

B．I think, therefore I am.

C．To be or not to be, that is a question.

D．A man dies as often as he loses a friend.