I began working in journalism(新闻工作)when I was eight. It was my mother’s idea. She wanted me to “make something” of myself, and decided I had better start young if I was to have any chance of keeping up with the competition.

With my load of magazines I headed toward Belleville Avenue. The crowds were there. There were two gas stations on the corner of Belleville and Union. For several hours I made myself highly visible, making sure everyone could see me and the heavy black letters on the bag that said THE SATURDAY EVENING POST. When it was suppertime, I walked back home.

“ How many did you sell, my boy?” my mother asked.

“ None.”

“ Where did you go?”

“ The corner of Belleville and Union Avenues.”

“ What did you do?”

“ Stood on the corner waiting for somebody to buy a Saturday Evening Post.”

“ You just stood there?”

“ Didn’t sell a single one.”

“ My God, Russell!”

Uncle Allen put in, “ Well, I’ve decided to take the Post.” I handed him a copy and he paid me a nickle(五分镍币). It was the first nickle I earned.

Afterwards my mother taught me how to be a salesman. I would have to ring doorbells, address adults with self-confidence(自信), and persuade them by saying that no one, no matter how poor, could afford to be without the Saturday Evening Post in the home.

One day, I told my mother I’d changed my mind. I didn’t want to make a success in the magazine business.

“ If you think you can change your mind like this,” she replied, “ you’ll become a good-for-nothing.” She insisted that, as soon as school was over, I should start ringing doorbells, selling magazines. Whenever I said no, she would scold me.

My mother and I had fought this battle almost as long as I could remember. My mother, dissatisfied with my father’s plain workman’s life, determined that I would not grow up like him and his people. But never did she expect that, forty years later, such a successful journalist as me would go back to her husband’s people for true life and love.

Why did the boy start his job young?

  A. He wanted to be famous in the future.

  B. The job was quite easy for him.

  C. His mother had high hopes for him.

  D. The competiton for the job was fierce.

From the dialogue between the boy and his mother, we learn that the mother was _______.

  A. excited B. interested     C. ashamed    D. disappointed

What did the mother do when the boy wanted to give up?

  A. She forced him to continue.       B. She punished him.

  C. She gave him some money.       D. She changed her plan.

What does the underlined phrase “this battle”(last paragraph) refer to?

  A. The war between the boy’s parents.

  B. The arguing between the boy and his mother.

  C. The quarrel between the boy and his customers.

  D. The fight between the boy and his father.

What is the text mainly about?

  A. The early life of a journalist.

  B. The early success of a journalist.

  C. The happy childhood of the writer.

  D. The important role of the writer in his family.

完形填空(共20小题;每小题1分,满分20分)

阅读下面短文,从短文后所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中,选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。

I always felt sorry for people in wheelchairs.Some people,old and weak,cannot 36       by themselves.Others seem perfectly healthy, 37 in business suits,and wheel themselves around with strong determination.But whenever I saw someone in a wheelchair,I only saw a 38 ,not a person.

Then I fainted(晕倒)at Euro Disney 39 low blood pressure.This was the first time I had ever fainted,and my parents said that I must 40 for a while after First Aid.I agreed to take it easy,but 41 I stepped toward the door,I saw my dad pushing a (n) 42 in my direction!Feeling the colour burn my cheeks,I asked him to wheel that thing right back to 43 he found it.

I could not believe this was happening to me.Wheelchairs were 44 for other people but not for me.As my father wheeled me out into the main street,people 45 began to treat me differently.

Little kids ran in front of me, 46 my father to stop the wheelchair suddenly. 47     set in as I was thrown back and forth.“Stupid kids—they have perfectly good 48 .Why can’t they watch where they’re going?”I thought.People 49 down at me,pity in their eyes.Then they would look away,maybe because they thought the 50 they forgot me,the better.

“I am just like you!”I wanted to scream.“The only 51 is that you’ve got legs,and I have wheels.”

People in wheelchairs are not 52 .They can see every look and hear each word.Looking out at the faces,I finally understood: I was once just like them.I 53 people in wheelchairs exactly the way they did not 54 to be treated.I realized it is some of us with two healthy legs who are 55 disabled.

A.look around       B.care about       C.make out         D.get around

A.dressed           B.covered          C.folded           D.lost

A.beast             B.disability       C.passer-by        D.failure

A.by way of         B.as to            C.due to           D.in terms of

A.sleep             B.break            C.leave            D.rest

A.before            B.until            C.because          D.as

A.wheelchair        B.carriage          C.armchair        D.bed

A.whom              B.that              C.where           D.which

A.fine              B.sad               C.light           D.cheap

A.gradually         B.immediately       C.finally         D.rapidly

A.catching          B.making            C.preventing      D.forcing

A.Bitterness        B.lnterest          C.Regret          D.Amusement

A.space             B.manners           C.legs            D.control

A.smiled            B.stared            C.handed          D.pushed

A.happier           B.faster            C.sooner          D.harder

A.advantage         B.difference        C.choice          D.difficulty

A.healthy           B.common            C.stupid          D.violent

A.treated           B.ignored           C.greeted         D.injured

A.mean              B.need              C.enjoy           D.want

A.generally         B.truly             C.mostly          D.eventually

A newly-published study has shown that loneliness can spread from one person to another, like a disease.

Researchers used information from the Framingham Study, which began in 1948. The Framingham Study gathers information about physical and mental health, personal behavior and diet. At first, the study involved about 5,000 people in the American state of Massachusetts. Now, more than 12,000 individuals are taking part.

Information from the Framingham Study showed earlier that happiness can spread from person to person. So can behaviors like littering and the ability to stop smoking.

University of Chicago psychologist John Cacioppo led the recent study. He and other researchers attempted to show how often people felt lonely. They found that the feeling of loneliness spread through social groups.

Having a social connection with a lonely person increased the chances that another individual would feel lonely. In fact, a friend of a lonely person was 52% more likely to develop feelings of loneliness. A friend of that person was 25% more likely. The researchers say this shows that a person could indirectly be affected by someone’s loneliness.

The effect was strongest among friends. Neighbors were the second most affected group. The effect was weaker on husbands and wives, and brothers and sisters. The researchers also found that loneliness spread more easily among women than men.

The New York Times newspaper reports that, on average, people experience feelings of loneliness about 48 days a year. It also found that every additional friend can decrease loneliness by about five percent, or two and a half fewer lonely days.

Loneliness has been linked to health problems like depression and sleeping difficulties. The researchers believe that knowing the causes of loneliness could help in reducing it.

The study suggests that people can take steps to stop the spread of loneliness. They can do this by helping individuals they know who may be experiencing loneliness. The result can be helpful to the whole social group.

What is true about the Framingham Study?

A. It was only conducted in 1948.        B. It involves more than 12,000 participants.

C. It was led by John Cacioppo          D. It showed that any behavior could spread.

From the passage, we can learn that            .

A. the habit of littering doesn’t spread

B. a lonely person won’t have friends

C. everyone may be affected by others’ loneliness

D. lonely people don’t know the cause of their loneliness

Which statement about the spread of loneliness is true?

A. The spreading effect was the second strongest among friends.

B. No spreading effect was found on husbands and wives.

C. Women are more likely to be affected than men.

D. Brothers are more easily affected than neighbors.

If you make 10 more friends in a year, the days of your feeling loneliness will be reduced by            .

A. 48 days          B. 25 days      C. 20 days      D. 15 days

What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Actions should be taken to help lonely people.  B. People feel lonely for many reasons.

C. Ways to fight against loneliness.             D. Lonely people can affect others.

What makes Americans spend nearly half their food dollars on meals away from home? The answers lie in the way Americans live today. During the first few decades of the twentieth century, canned and other convenience foods freed the family cook from full-time duty at the kitchen range. Then, in the 1940s, work in the wartime defense plants took more women out of the home than ever before, setting the pattern of the working wife and mother. Today about half of the country’s married women are employed outside the home. But, unless family members pitch in with food preparation, women are not fully liberated from that housework. Instead, many have become, in a sense, prisoners of the completely cooked convenience meals. It’s easier to pick up a bucket of fried chicken on the way home from work or take the family out for pizzas or burgers than to start opening cans or heating up frozen dinners after a long , hard day. Also, the rising divorce rate means that there are more single working parents with children to feed. And many young adults and elderly people, as well as unmarried and divorced mature people, live alone rather than as part of a family unit and don’t want to bother cooking for one.

Fast food is appealing because it is fast, it doesn’t require any dressing up, it offers a “fun” break in the daily outline, and the outlay of money seems small. It can be eaten in the car--- sometimes picked up at a drive-in window without even getting out---or on the run. Even if it is brought home to eat, there will never be any dirty dishes to wash because of the handy disposable (一次性的) wrappings. Children, especially, love fast food because it’s finger food, no struggling with knives and forks, no annoying instructions from adults about table manner.

Americans enjoy fast food mainly because __________.

   A. it can be eaten in the car

   B. it is much more tasty than home-made food

   C. one only uses his fingers while eating it

   D. it is time-saving and convenient

It can be inferred that children __________.

   A. want to have more freedom at table

   B. never wash dishes after each meal

   C. are good at using forks and knives while eating

   D. take eating time as a fun break

Many Americans are eating out and not cooking at home partially because __________.

   A. they want to make a change after eating the same food for years at home

   B. the food made outside home tastes better than food cooked at home

   C. many of them live alone and don’t like taking trouble to cook

   D. American women refuse to cook at home due to women’s liberation movement

According to the text, a drive-in window is a __________.

   A. car window from which you can see the driver

   B. window in the restaurant from which you get your takeout in the car

   C. place where you check the mechanic condition of your car

   D. place where you return the used plates after eating

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