阅读理解

　　When Carmen was a small boy, his father died．So Carmen and his mother were very poor．One day Carmen returned home from school and found his mother making some cloth．It was very beautiful and expensive．

　　“How much of your book have you read today?”Carmen's mother asked him．Carmen threw down his book．“I haven't read any of it,”he replied．“I played with some friends of mine in the fields．”

　　When his mother heard this, she picked up a pair of scissors(剪刀)and cut the cloth．

　　“Why have you cut your cloth?”Carmen asked．“It was so beautiful and now you have wasted it．”“You have wasted your time,”his mother said．“Now I have wasted mine．Look at the terrible thing we have done．”

　　Carmen learnt a lot from this lesson．After that, he always studied hard．

阅读理解

　　Bill Gates was born on October 28,1955．He grew up in Seattle, Washington．Bill Gates was named William Henry after his father and grandfather．He was a very clever boy．His favourite subjects at school were science and maths．When people asked him what he wanted to be in the future, he always said,“A scientist．”

　　When he was 13 years old, Bill started to play with computers．At that time, computers were very large machines．Once he was interested in a very old computer．He and some of his friends spent lots of time doing unusual things with it．In the end, they worked out a software program(电脑软件程序)with the old machine．Bill sold it for, 200 dollars when he was only 17．

　　In 1973, Bill went to Harvard University．At Harvard, he developed the BASIC language for the first microcomputer(微型计算机)．In his third year, he left Harvard to work for a company called Microsoft(微软公司)．Bill began this company in 1975 with his friend Paul Allen．They thought that the computer would be a very important tool in every office and in every home, so they began developing software for personal computers．They improved the software to make it easier for people to use computers．

　　In 1999, Bill wrote a book called Business@ the Speed of Thought．In the book he told people how computer technology(技术)could solve business problems in new ways．It was one of the bestsellers of the New York Times list．

　　Bill married Melinda French on January 1,1994．They have two children：a daughter and a son．Bill enjoys reading very much．He also enjoys playing golf and bridge．