Joseph Conrad was one of the most important writers in English literature (文学) . He was born in Poland. His family was very poor. When he was very young,he couldn’t go to school and had to work in the port (港口) .

   Later he went to London to start his new life. When he first arrived there,he could hardly speak English. In order to get a better job,he began to learn the new language. He then fell in love with it,and thought it was so beautiful. Later Joseph Conrad decided to be a writer. However,many of his Palish friends told him that it was impossible and that he was dreaming,because English is a foreign language to him. But he didn't give up. He believed “Where there is a will,there is a way”. He began to read all kinds of English books,magazines and newspapers. He wrote small articles (文章) for the newspaper. To people's surprise,his articles were very popular. This made Joseph feel excited,and he worked harder. He finally became very successful in English writing.

1. Why did NOT Joseph go to school when he was very young?

   A. He didn't like to go to school at all.

   B. His family was very poor.

   C. He wanted to work in the port.

   D. He went to London to start a new life.

2. What does the underlined sentence “Where there is a will,there is a way." mean in Chinese?

   A. 活到老，学到老   B. 迟做总比不做好

   C. 有志者事竟成   D. 今日事今曰毕

3. Why did Joseph learn English at first?

   A. To be a writer. B. To live in London.

   C. To read more books. D. To get a better job.

4. What did Joseph's Polish friends think when he wanted to be a writer?

   A. They wanted him to have a dream.

   B. They said nothing to him.

   C. They didn't think it was possible.

   D. They were happy for him.

5. What can we learn from the passage?

   A. Joseph was successful because he went to London.

   B. Only a Polish man can learn English very well.

   C. No one can learn English well if he is not in London.

   D. One can do anything successfully if he really works hard.

   Do you know Nissan introduced the world's first “talking car” about twenty years ago? Actually,it was like a record 1 that would tell you that your door was open,and would continue talking to you 2 you closed it.

   Of course,it never became popular. Only a few people 3 the car.

   Times have changed and the talking car of the near future is quite different. You can talk to it and you’ll be able to control your radio 4 giving your voice orders,get traffic reports and directions,send and receive e-mails. To finish all these actions,you needn’t push a button (按钮) at all.

   This is good news for those who 5 more and more time of their lives in their cars. 6 the new type of cars will be more like offices on wheels with computers inside. Companies hope that time wasted in traffic can be put to better use. 7 workers are able to check their mails,faxes and meeting time on the way to work,they can spend more time at the offices doing more 8 work.

   Microsoft,of course,is hoping to have one of their operating systems (系统) in every car in the world. “It will be a great 9 ”says Brass,a leader in Microsoft. There are more than 650,000,000 cars in the world. And every year about 50 ,000,000 new cars are produced. If Brass’ wish 10,cars will become a bigger business for Microsoft than computers.

1. A. sound   B. voice   C. noise   D. cry

2. A. after   B. though   C. until   D. so

3. A. did about   B. knew about   C. thought about   D. worried about

4. A. by   B. on   C. with   D. to

5. A. take   B. pay   C. spend   D. cost

6. A. First of all   B. In fact   C. After   D. In general

7. A. If   B. Though   C. Because   D. Unless

8. A. boring   B. simple   C. important   D. relaxing

9. A. wonder   B. future   C. surprise   D. experience

10. A. comes over   B. comes up  C. comes out   D. comes true

15. —Do you know Liu Yang?

—Yes. She is China's first woman into space.

   A. fly   B. flies   C. to fly   D. flew

14. We must stop people polluting the environment.

   A. from   B. on   C. to   D. of

13. No food is left in the fridge some bread.

   A. except   B. besides

   C. except for   D. except that

12. The terrible flood thousands of houses and lives last year.

   A. took up   B. took off

   C. took away   D. took around

11. —The blue sweater is than the red one.

—Yes. But the purple one is of the three.

   A. cheaper;the most cheapest

   B. more cheaper;the cheapest

   C. cheaper;the cheapest

   D. more cheaper;the most cheapest

10. you study, scores you’ll get.

   A. The hard;the better   B. The harder;the good   C. The harder;the better   D. The hard;the good

9. a great writer,he is famous his short novels.

   A. For;as   B. As;as   C. For;for   D. As; for 

8. The doctor did all he could the boy's life.

   A. to save   B. saving   C. save   D. to saving