Taiwanese singer Stefanie Sun (孙燕姿) looks just like any other young girl. She has short hair, a clear
face and a sweet smile. However, there is something about her that makes her very special: her voice. No
one else can sing like her. Now, Sun is a bright star. She has released many albums (专辑).
     Sun was born in Singapore. When she was a child, her father told her: "A person should always be good
at something in life, so they have something to do for a hobby." Sun chose to learn to play the piano when
she was only five. Then, she took up kick-boxing (搏击操) because she felt she was thin and wanted to
make herself stronger.
     She often sings about the pain and happiness of growing up. The simple but true feelings in her music
are loved by teens. "Sun may be a star, but she seems like a normal girl. She is close to us," said Zhu Liying,
15, a Beijing student. "Her songs give me courage." 
    Eventually, the star was tired because she had worked so hard. She stopped singing for a while and had
a one-year holiday to travel. "I won't give up singing. I just want a rest and to try something new. I hope to
make better music when I come back," Sun said then.
    Now she is working hard again to let her fans hear more beautiful music.

1. Which is NOT true about Sun?

A. She has short hair.
B. She always has sweet smiles.
C. Her face looks clear.
D. She is a very famous actress.

2. The underlined word "released" in the first paragraph means ______.

A. made sth. public
B. set free
C. let out
D. made up of

3. Sun learned kick-boxing when she was still a child because ______.

A. she wanted to be a dancer
B. she wanted to get stronger
C. she enjoyed dancing
D. she wanted to be famous

4. Teenagers love Sun's songs because ______.

A. her songs are about the pain of growing up
B. she looks clear and is kind to all her fans
C. the feelings in her songs are simple but true
D. her songs are about love and friends

     John H. Johnson was born in a black family in Arkansas City in 1918. His father died in an accident
when John was six. He was reaching high school age, but his hometown offered no high school for blacks.
     Fortunately (幸运地) he had a strong-willed, caring mother. John remembers that his mother told him
many times, "Son, you can be anything you really want to be if you just believe." She told him not to be
dependent on others, including his mother. "You have to earn success," said she. "All the people who work
hard don't succeed, but the only people who do succeed are those who work hard."
    These words came from a woman with less than a third-grade education.She worked hard as a cook for
two years to save enough money to take her son-then 15-to Chicago.
     Chicago in 1933 was not the promised land (乐土) that black southerners were looking for. John's
mother and stepfather could not find work. But here John could go to school, and here he learned the power
of words-as an editor (编辑) of the newspaper at Du Sable High School. His wish was to publish a magazine
for the blacks.
     While others discouraged him, John's mother offered him more words to live by: "Nothing beats a failure
but a try." She also let him pawn (典当) her furniture to get the $500 he needed to start the Negro magazine.
     It is natural the difficulties and failures followed John closely until he became very successful. He always
keeps his mother's words in mind: "Son, failure is not in your vocabulary." Now John H. Johnson is one of
the 400 richest people in America.

1. Why did John's mother decide to move to Chicago? Because           .

A. John's father died in his hometown when John was very young
B. life was too hard for them to stay on in their hometown, while life in Chicago would be better for them
    Negroes
C. there were no schools in their hometown
D. John needed more education and he could go to high school there

2. What's the best title of the passage?

A.How John H. Johnson became somebody
B.The mental (精神的) support from a great mother
C.The importance of a good education
D.The key to success for blacks

3. The underlined sentence in the fifth paragraph means           .

A. if you try, you will succeed in the end
B. a failure is difficult to beat, even if you try
C. a try is always followed by a failure
D. nothing but a try can help you out of failure

      Nate suffered a hard blow when he lost his job. His boss had spoken rudely, "Your services are no longer
needed." Nate left the building filled with despair. By the time he reached home, he was in a deep depression.
When he entered his house, he blurted out to his wife Sophia, "I lost my job. I am a complete, absolutely
failure." A tense silence followed. Then a smile crept across Sophia's face. "What great news!" she responded,
"Now you can write the book you have always wanted to write."
      "But I have no job and no prospect of a job," he objected, completely without hope. "If I struggle to be an
author, then what will we live on? Where will the money come from?" Sophia took her husband by the hand
and led him to the kitchen. Opening a drawer, she took out a box that was full of cash. "Where on earth did
you get this?" Nate gasped."To whom does it belong?" 
      "It's ours!" Sophia replied. "I always know that one day you would become a great writer only if you
were given the chance. From the money you gave me for housekeeping every week, I have saved as much
as I could so you would have your chance. Now there is enough to last us a whole year."
      What a surprise! What encouragement! What a wife! The unemployed husband did concentrate on writing
that year, and the novel he wrote became a literary masterpiece (杰作). The book is The Scarlet Letter. Sophia
had an even greater achievement, and she turned Nathaniel Hawthorne from a poor clerk into a world famous
master.

1. Which of the following can be inferred from the first paragraph?

A. Sophia was very disappointed to hear the news.
B. Nate was too sad to speak any more.
C. Sophia was thinking of how to encourage Nate.
D. Neither husband nor wife had any idea of what to do.

2. Sophia saved money because _____.

A. she knew her husband would lose his job one day
B. she knew their life would be in difficulty
C. she was very careful with money
D. she was trying to help her husband in every possible way

3. From the passage we can know that Sophia was _____.

A. kind and brave
B. careful and encouraging
C. friendly and warm-hearted
D. honest and determined

4. What would be the best title for the passage?

A. Sophia's Achievement
B. A Great Writer's Struggle to Success
C. Great Encouragement in Hard Times
D. Failure is the Mother of Success

      People fell in love with Elizabeth Taylor in 1944, when she starred in National Velvet-the story of Velvet
Brown, a young girl who wins first place in a famous horse race. At first, the producers of the movie told
Taylor that she was too small to play the part of Velvet. However, they waited for her for a few months as
she exercised and trained-and added three inches to her height in four months! Her acting in National Velvet
is still considered the best by a child actress.
      Elizabeth Taylor was born in London in 1932. Her parents, both Americans, had moved there for business
reasons. When World War II started, the Taylors moved to Beverly Hills, California, and there Elizabeth started
acting in movies. After her success as a child star, Taylor had no trouble moving into adult (成人) roles and
won twice for Best Actress: Butterfield 8 (1960) and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966).
     Taylor's fame (名声) and popularity gave her a lot of power with the movie industry, so she was able to
demand very high pay for her movies. In 1963, she received $1 million for her part in Cleopatra-the highest
pay received by any star up to that time.
      Elizabeth Taylor is a legend (传奇人物) of our time. Like Velvet Brown in National Velvet, she has been
lucky. She has beauty, fame and wealth. But she is also a hard worker. Taylor seldom acts in movies any
more. Instead, she puts her time and efforts into her businesses, and into helping others - several years ago,
she founded an organization that has raised more than $40 million for research and education.

1. The producers didn't let Taylor play the part of Velvet at first because they thought she _____.

A. was small in size
B. was too young
C. did not play well enough
D. did not show much interest

2. What Elizabeth Taylor and Velvet Brown had in common was that they were both _____.

A. popular all their lives
B. famous actresses
C. successful when very young
D. rich and kind-hearted

3. Taylor became Best Actress at the age of _____.

A. 12
B. 28
C. 31
D. 34

4. In her later life, Elizabeth Taylor buried herself in _____.

A. doing business and helping others
B. turning herself into a legend
C. collecting money for the poor
D. going about research and education work

     Robert Spring, a 19th century forger (伪造者), was so good at his profession that he was able to make
his living for 15 years by selling false signatures of Americans. Spring was born in England in 1813 and arrived
in Philadelphia in 1858 to open a bookstore. At first he became rich by selling his small but real collection of
early U.S. autographs (手稿). Discovering his ability at copying handwriting, he began imitating signatures of
George Washington and Ben Franklin and writing them on the title pages of old books. To lessen the chance
of detection (察觉), he sent his forgeries to England and Canada for sale. 　　
      Forgers have a hard time selling their products. A forger can't deal with a respectable buyer but people
who don't have much knowledge in the field. Forgers have many ways to make their work look real. For
example, they buy old books to use the aged paper of the title page, and they can treat paper and ink with
chemicals. 　　
      In Spring's time right after the Civil War, Britain was still fond of the Southern states, so Spring invented
a respectable maiden lady known as Miss Fanny Jackson, the only daughter of General "Stonewall" Jackson.
For several years Miss Fanny's financial problems forced her to sell a great number of letters and manuscripts
(手稿). Spring had to work very hard to satisfy the demand. All this activity did not prevent Spring from dying
in poverty, leaving sharp-eyed experts the difficult task of separating his forgeries from the originals.

1. Why did Spring sell his false autographs in England and Canada?

A. There was a greater demand there than in America. 　　
B. There was less chance of being detected there. 　　
C. Britain was Spring's birthplace. 　　
D. The prices were higher in England and Canada.

2. After the Civil War, there was a great demand in Britain for _____.

A. Southern money 　　
B. Signatures of George Washington and Ben Franklin 　　
C. Southern manuscripts and letters 　　
D. Civil War battle plans

3. According to the passage, forgeries are usually sold to _____.

A. sharp-eyed experts　　　　　　
B. persons who aren't experts 　　
C. book dealers　　　　　　　　　
D. owners of old books

4. Who was Miss Fanny Jackson?

A. The only daughter of General "Stonewall" Jackson. 　　
B. A little - known girl who sold her father's papers to Robert Spring. 　　
C. Robert Spring's daughter. 　　
D. An imaginary person created by Spring.

     Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago in 1954 to a Mexican American family. As the only girl in a family
of seven children, she often felt like she had "seven fathers," because her six brothers, as well as her father,
tried to control her. Feeling shy and unimportant, she retreated (躲避) into books. Despite her love of reading,
she did not do well in elementary school because she was too shy to participate.
     In high school, with the encouragement of one particular teacher, Cisneros improved her grades and
worked for the school literary magazine. Her father encouraged her to go to college because he thought it
would be a good way for her to find a husband. Cisneros did attend college, but instead of searching for a
husband, she found a teacher who helped her join the famous graduate writing program at the University of
Iowa. At the university's Writers' Workshop, however, she felt lonely-a Mexican American from a poor
neighborhood among students from wealthy families. The feeling of being so different helped Cisneros find
her "Creative voice."
     "It was not until this moment when I considered myself truly different that my writing acquired a voice.
I knew I was a Mexican woman, but I didn't think it had anything to do with why I felt so much imbalance
in my life, but it had everything to do with it! That's when I decided I would write about something my
classmates couldn't write about."
     Cisneros published her first work, The House on Mango Street, when she was twenty-nine. The book
tells about a young Mexican American girl growing up in a Spanish-speaking area in Chicago, much like the
neighborhoods in which Cisneros lived as a child. The book won an award in 1985 and has been used in
classes from high school through graduate school level. Since then, Cisneros has published several books
of poetry, a children's book, and a short-story collection.

1. Which of the following is TRUE about Cisneros in her childhood?

A. She had seven brothers.
B. She felt herself a nobody.
C. She was too shy to go to school.
D. She did not have any good teachers.

2. The graduate program gave Cisneros a chance to _____.

A. work for a school magazine
B. run away from her family
C. make a lot of friends
D. develop her writing style

3. According to Cisneros, what played the decisive (关键) role in her success?

A. Her early years in college.
B. Her training in the Workshop.
C. Her feeling of being different.
D. Her childhood experience.

4. What do we learn about The House on Mango Street?

A. It is quite popular among students.
B. It is the only book ever written by Cisneros.
C. It wasn't success as it was written in Spanish.
D. It won an award when Cisneros was twenty-nine.

     It was the summer of 1965. Deluca, then 17, visited Peter Buck, a family friend. Buck asked Deluca about
his plan for the future. "I'm going to college, but I need a way to pay for it," Deluca recalls saying. Buck said,
"you should open a sandwich shop."
     That afternoon, they agreed to be partners. And they set a goal: to open 32 stores in ten years. After doing
some research, Buck wrote a check for $ 1,000. Deluca rented a storefront (店面) in Connecticut, and when
they couldn't cover their start-up costs, Buck kicked in another $1,000.
     But business didn't go smoothly as they expected. Deluca says, "After six months, we were doing poorly,
but we didn't know how badly, because we didn't have any financial controls." All he and Buck knew was that
their sales were lower than their costs.
     Deluca was managing the store and to the University of Bridgeport at the same time. Buck was working at
his day job as a nuclear physicist in New York. They'd meet Monday evenings and brainstorm ideas for keeping
the business running. "We convinced ourselves to open a second store. We figured we could tell the public,
'We are so successful, we are opening a second store.'" And they did-in the spring of 1966. Still, it was a lot
of learning by trial and error (反复摸索).
     But the partners' learn-as-you-go approach turned out to be their greatest strength. Every Friday, Deluca
would drive around and hand-deliver the checks to pay their suppliers. "It probably took me two and a half
hours and it wasn't necessary but as a result, the suppliers got to know me very well, and the personal
relationships established really helped out," Deluca says.
     And having a goal was also important. "There are so many problems that can get you down. You just have
to keep working toward your goal," Deluca adds.
     Deluca ended up founding Subways Sandwich, the multimillion-dollar restaurant chain.

1. Deluca opened the first sandwich shop in order to _____.

A. support his family
B. pay for his college education
C. help his partner expand business
D. do some research

2. Which of the following is true of Buck?

A. He put money into the sandwich business.
B. He was a professor of business administration.
C. He was studying at the University of Bridgeport.
D. He rented a storefront for Deluca.

3. What can we learn about their first shop?

A. It stood at an unfavorable place.
B. It lowered the prices to promote sales.
C. It made no profits due to poor management.
D. It lacked control over the quality of sandwich.

4. They decided to open a second store because they _____.

A. had enough money to do it
B. had succeeded in their business
C. wished to meet the increasing demand of customers
D. wanted to make believe that they were successful

5. What contributes (做贡献) most to their success according to the author?

A. Learning by trial and error.
B. Making friends with suppliers.
C. Finding a good partner.
D. Opening chain stores.

     Bill Gates 1_____ (be) very successful and become very rich. He is very generous but 2_____ has he
got his money? He has done this by making sure that no one else will be able to compete with his software.
His software is not the best 3_____ it is used most widely in the world. When he sees what 4_____ (need),
he makes a program and produces 5_____ quicker than anybody else. That way he gets 6_____ large part
of the software market. Then he works 7_____ improving the software later. He tries hard to stop others
making better software. In 1995 the government tried 8_____ (make) things fairer for people like me. The
government wanted to make Microsoft into two companies so that neither of them was so strong 9_____
so rich. This meant that they could not stop somebody else making new software. I always wonder how he
could get so rich so quickly. Has he done it 10_____ fair means? Or has he done it by being a computer bully.

    You may think that English dictionaries have been used for many, many centuries. In fact, an English
dictionary like the kind you use today wasn't made until the time of the Qing Dynasty. Three men did most
of the important early work on dictionaries: Samuel Johnson, Noah Webster, and James Murray. These men
spent nearly all of their lives trying to collect words for their dictionaries. For them, it wasn't only a job; it
was a wonderful journey. The largest dictionary in the world is the Oxford English Dictionary, or OED for
short. The idea for this dictionary came from an important meeting in Britain in 1857. Twenty-two years later,
Oxford University asked James Murray to be the editor of its new dictionary.
    Murray had never been to college. At the age of fourteen, he left his village school in Scotland and taught
himself while working in a bank. Later he became a great teacher. After Oxford gave him the job, Murray had
a place built in the garden behind his house to do his work. Part of it was one meter underground. In winter it
felt like a barn, he had to wear a heavy coat and put his feet in a box to keep warm. Every morning, Murray
got out of bed at five o'clock and worked several hours before breakfast. Often he would work by candle light
into the evening. Murray hoped to finish the new dictionary in ten years. But after five years, he was still
adding words for the letter A! Then others went to work with Murray, including his two daughters. He worked
on the dictionary until he was very old. Forty-four years later, in 1928, other editors finished it. It included
more than 15,000 words in twelve books. And you thought your English dictionary was big!

1. The first English dictionary like we are using today _____.

A. was edited in China in the Qing Dynasty
B. has been used for many centuries
C. was completed by James Murray
D. was made in the 20th century

2. What's the meaning of the underlined sentence?

A. The editors liked their jobs very much.
B. Making dictionaries was more than their job, it took their whole lives to complete the tasks.
C. Editing dictionaries was like taking a wonderful journey.
D. It was only a job for the editors to make dictionaries.

3. Which of the following statements about the Oxford English Dictionary is NOT true?

A. It was completed by James Murray and some other people.
B. It was decided to make such a dictionary in 1857.
C. The dictionary was completed twenty-two years after it was decided to be made.
D. It took James Murray more than 5 years to add words to letter A.

4. In the last paragraph, "barn" probably is _____.

A. a hotel to live in
B. a nice house to look at
C. a place for animals to stay in
D. a room to keep cold out

5. The main purpose of writing this passage is to _____.

A. tell us why the first English dictionary was made
B. introduce who James Murray was
C. tell us how the first English dictionary was made
D. introduce us three people - Samuel Johnson, Noah Webster, and James Murray