48. How many points did Yao Ming win in his first game in NBA?

A. 0.　　　　　　　　 B. 2.　　　

C. 29. 　　　　　　　 D. 10.

47. What’s the direct reason for Xing Tao to join the school basketball team?

A. He watched an NBA game. 　　　　　

B. He liked basketball.

C. He hoped to play for NBA.

D. He had a dream that he would become a basketball star.

46. What will happen to the bright stars at last according to the passage?

A. They will be remembered by millions of people.

B. They will be loved by people for ever.

C. They will be the most important people in history.

D. They will lose their brightness and be little known.

D

“Someday, there’ll be no Americans left in the NBA,” said 12-year-old Xing Tao, who joined his school team two weeks ago after watching Yao Ming in a televised NBA game. “The players will all be Chinese, like Yao.”

To China, Yao is a home-grown superstar who helped make the world’s first basketball league closer to Chinese players. To the NBA, the 2.23-meter center offers an opening of a different sort into the world’s largest new market. Yao’s NBA first appearance against the Indiana Pacers in October reached 287 million families in the US. That game might have been a bit of a letdown to Yao’s fans: He played just 11 of the 48 minutes, had two rebounds (抢篮板球) and got no points. Comparing that with his performance on December 19, also against Indiana, Yao won 29 points and 10 rebounds. “This is one of the most exciting games I’ve had,” Yao said after Houston’s 95-83 victory. The NBA has to be excited about his on-count success. In all his games, he’s averaging 12.7 points and 7.7 rebounds, quite good for a new star. “Yao Ming has brought the NBA closer to the Chinese,” said NBA spokeswoman Cheong Sau Ching, “That makes the dream seem practical for other people in China and proud to be Chinese.”

Yao is not the country’s first player in the NBA, but Yao’s combination of modesty and skills makes him a favorite back home.

45. What does “boxer” in the passage mean in Chinese?

A. 盒子　　　　　　　　　 B. 装箱者

C. 拳击手　　　 　　　　 D. 制作人

44. Michael Jackson is famous for 　　　　　　.

A. his songs　　　　　　 B. his film　　

C. his sports　　 　　　　　 D. his heavy weight

43. What does this passage mainly talk about?

A. Michael Jackson　　　　　　　

B. Mohammed Ali

C. pop music and boxing　　　　　

D. bright stars

42. From the last paragraph we can see that ______.

A. Franklin not only wrote things worth reading but also did things worth writing about

B. Franklin listened to others’ advice and was remembered by the Americans

C. Franklin wrote things worth reading rather than did things worth writing about

D. many people followed his advice and succeeded at last

C

A star usually is someone who has become famous in sports, film, or pop music, someone like singer Michael Jackson. In the middle nineteen eighties, Michael Jackson successfully made a famous record, which quickly became the most popular recording in the history of music. This made Michael Jackson a bright star.

One of the famous sports bright stars in the United States is Mohammed Ali. When he was a young man, he won a gold medal in the Olympic Games as a boxer. Then, he won first place in the world heavy weight boxing match. Before long, he was known as one of the greatest and most famous boxers in sports history. Everyone knows his name.

Like the stars in the sky, a bright star will lose his brightness as time passes. He is loved by millions of people today, but will be forgotten tomorrow.

41. The underlined word in the second paragraph probably means someone 　　　　　　.

A. who owns a printing shop

B. who learns a trade by working with a skilled person

C. who is skilled at his work

D. who does business with a printing shop

40. Though Franklin did many kinds of work, he 　　　　　.

A. is mostly remembered for his experiments with electricity

B. is better known as a Founding Father

C. is best known as the oldest man who signed the Declaration

D. is remembered mostly as the author of Poor Richard’s Almanack

39. The best title of the passage might be　　　　　　 .

A. Pablo Picasso: the great artist

B. The Boyhood of Pablo Picasso

C. Father of A Great Artist

D. Father’s Influence (影响) on His Son

B

Benjamin Franklin was truly what we call a “jack of all trades”. Although best known for his experiments with electricity, Franklin was a scientist, a politician, and almost everything in between.

Franklin was born in Boston in 1706, the tenth and youngest of his father’s sons. When he was 12, Franklin worked as an apprentice. He worked in his older brother James’ printing shop. He secretly started publishing his writing under the false name of Silence Dogood. James wasn’t pleased when he found out the writer was Ben. Ben stopped his job and set out for Philadelphia.

In 1732, Franklin began publishing Poor Richard’s Almanack, where most of his sayings can be found. Many of these , such as “A penny saved is a penny earned”, remain popular today.

Franklin is known as a Founding Father. This means that he was part of the group of men who founded their nation. He was a member of the Continental Congress and also the oldest person to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Electricity and weather were especially interesting to Franklin. He proved that lightning is electricity by catching sparks from a cloud while flying a kite in a storm.

As Ben says, “If you would not be forgotten when you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing about. ”

His theory seems to work, because Ben followed both pieces of his own advice, and we still remember him centuries later!