“Get yourself up and make something of yourself，buddy！”Though my mother has passed away，her words are as clear in my head today as when I was a boy．

??? “Christ！”I said，“I have made something of myself. I want to sleep late as I like．”

??? “If there’s one thing I can’t stand，it’s a quitter．”Her voice in my head is more powerful than my will to refuse，so I pull myself from bed．

????? Before I was out of primary school，mother could see I lacked the gifts for either making millions or winning the love of crowds．So she began pushing me toward working with words．Words ran in her family．There seemed to be a word gene that passed down from her mother’s grandfather·

The greatest proof was my mother’s first cousin Edwin．He was the managing editor of the New York Times and had gained a name in his career．

??? In 1947 1 graduated from Johns Hopkins and applied for a job with the Baltimore Sun as a police reporter．It paid＄30 a week ．When I complained the wage was shameful for a learned man，mother refused to sympathize．“If you work hard at this job，”she said，“maybe you can make something of it．”

??? After a while，I was asked to cover diplomats（外交官）at various African embassies. Then，

seven years later I was arranged by the Sun to cover the White House，a task that was as close to heaven as a journalist could get．However，whatever achievement of mine only seemed insignificant in her eyes．Uncle Edwin’s success was really annoying during my early years as a reporter．What a thrill，I thought．

??? Then，out of my wildest childhood fantasy，the Times came knocking．It was sad that Uncle Edwin had passed away by this time．In 1979 I won the Pulitzer Prize．Unfortunately，my mother’s brain and health broke down the year before，leaving her in a nursing home，out of touch with life forevermore ．She never knew of my Pulitzer．

????? I can probably guess how she’d have responded．“ That’s nice，buddy．It shows if you work hand，you’11 be able to make something of yourself one day，”

1.The first three paragraphs are intended to＿＿＿＿＿＿

A．draw readers’attention to the author’s success

B．remind readers that the road to success is rough

C．serve as an introduction to the author’s mother

D．explain why the author’s mother kept blaming him

2.The underlined sentence in Paragraph 4 probably means that tier families＿＿＿＿

A. were gifted at language? B．never broke their promise

C. were fond of reading ? D. stuck to their family belief

3.What can we learn about the author

A．He got a good salary working as a police reporter．

B．He lived a rich life with his mother in his childhood．

C．It was proud of her mother to see his winning the Pulitzer Prize．

D．It was beyond his wildest dream that he could work for the Times．

4.The author regards Uncle Edwin’s success as a thrill because＿＿＿＿＿＿．

A．he himself was less smart than Uncle Edwin

B．his mother’s family thought Uncle Edwin to be a good reporter

C．few reporters can become the managing editor of the New York Times

D．Uncle Edwin spared no effort to get the Pulitzer Prize at the cost of his life

1. He is a ________ (幽默的)man who is popular with people around.

2. The lorry is overloaded because its _____________ (最大的) load is only one ton.

3. The students _______________ (成群结队而行) up on the sports ground as soon as possible.

4. The teacher’s explanation ___________ (澄清) the mystery.

5. A lawyer needs a ____________ (精确的) mind.

6. It was not easy for us to get used to the ___________ (易变的) weather in the north.

7. To my parents’ relief, my earnings are ___________ (足够的)to my needs.

8. Their motives, as will soon become ___________ (明显的), are completely selfish.

9. She made a good ___________ (适应)to her new post.

10. The rotten meat gave out a ____________(令人恶心的)smell.

If women are mercilessly exploited（剥削）year after year， they have only themselves to blame. Because they tremble at the thought of being seen in public in clothes that are out of fashion， they are always taken advantage of by the designers and the big stores. Clothes which have been worn only a few times have to be put aside because of the change of fashion. When you come to think of it， only a woman is capable of standing in front of a wardrobe（衣柜）packed full of clothes and announcing sadly that she has nothing to wear.

Changing fashions are nothing more than the intentional creation of waste. Many women spend vast sums of money each year to replace clothes that have hardly been worn. Women who cannot afford to throw away clothing in this way， waste hours of their time changing the dresses they have. Skirts are lengthened or shortened；neck-lines are lowered or raised， and so on.

No one can say that the fashion industry contributes anything really important to society. Fashion designers are rarely concerned with vital things like warmth， comfort and durability（耐用）. They are only interested in outward appearance and they take advantage of the fact that women will put up with any amount of discomfort， as long as they look right. There can hardly be a man who hasn’t at some time in his life smiled at the sight of a woman shaking in a thin dress on a winter day， or carefully picking her way through deep snow in high heeled shoes.

When comparing men and women in the matter of fashion， the conclusions to be drawn are obvious. Do the constantly changing fashions of women’s clothes， one wonders， reflect basic qualities of inconstancy（易变）and instability？Men are too clever to let themselves be cheated by fashion designers. Do their unchanging styles of dress reflect basic qualities of stability and reliability？That is for you to decide.

7l. How do designers and big stores take advantage of women?

A. By mercilessly exploiting women workers in the clothing industry.

B. By attaching great importance to quality in women’s clothing.

C. By constantly changing the fashions in women’s clothing.

D. By producing large number of new clothes.

72. To the writer， the fact that women change their old-fashioned dresses is seen as          .

A. a waste of money                           B. a waste of time

C. an expression of taste              D. an expression of creativity

73. Perhaps the writer would not be so critical           .

A. if fashion designers could pay attention to the comfort of clothing

B. if fashion industry could contribute more to society

C. if women took their safety and health in consideration

D. if women didn’t put up with any discomfort

74. By saying “the conclusions to be drawn are obvious”in Paragraph 4 the writer means that        .

A. women’s inconstancy in their choice of clothing is often laughed at

B. women are better able to put up with discomfort

C. men are also exploited greatly by fashion designers

D. men are more reasonable in the matter of fashion

75. What’s the passage mainly about?

A. Men are wiser than women in choosing clothes.

B. Women are taken advantage of because they always follow clothing fashions.

C. Women should be blamed for following clothing fashions.

D. Changing fashions have greatly contributed to social development.

The painter Georgia O’keeffe was born in Wisconsin in 1887 and grew up on her family’s farm. At seventeen she decided she wanted to be an artist and left the farm for schools in Chicago and New York, but she never lost her bond with the land. Like most painters, O’Keeffe painted the things that were most important to her, and nearly all her works are simplified portrayals of nature.
O’Keeffe became famous when her paintings were discovered and exhibited in New York by the photographer Levered Stieglitz, whom she married in 1924. During a visit to New York in 1929, O’Keeffe was so moved by the bleak（荒凉的） landscape and broad skies of the Western desert that she began to paint its images. Cows’ skulls and other bleached（变白的） bones found in the desert figured prominently（突出的） in her paintings. When her husband died in 1946, she moved to New Mexico permanently and used the horizon lines of the desert, colorful flowers, rocks, barren(贫瘠的) hills, and the sky as subjects for her paintings. Although O’Keeffe painted her best known works in the 1920’s, 1930’s and 1940’s, she continued to produce tributes（贡品、颂词） to the Western desert until her death in 1986.
O’Keeffe is widely considered to have been a pioneering American modernist painter. While most early modern American artists were strongly influenced by European art, O’Keeffe’s position was more independent. She established her own vision and preferred to view her painting as a private endeavor. Almost from the beginning, her work was more indentifiably American than that of her contemporaries in its simplified and idealized treatment of color, light, space, and natural forms.
【小题1】 Which of the following best tells what this passage is about ?

The painter Georgia O’keeffe was born in Wisconsin in 1887 and grew up on her family’s farm. At seventeen she decided she wanted to be an artist and left the farm for schools in Chicago and New York, but she never lost her bond with the land. Like most painters, O’Keeffe painted the things that were most important to her, and nearly all her works are simplified portrayals of nature.

  O’Keeffe became famous when her paintings were discovered and exhibited in New York by the photographer Levered Stieglitz, whom she married in 1924. During a visit to New York in 1929, O’Keeffe was so moved by the bleak（荒凉的） landscape and broad skies of the Western desert that she began to paint its images. Cows’ skulls and other bleached（变白的） bones found in the desert figured prominently（突出的） in her paintings. When her husband died in 1946, she moved to New Mexico permanently and used the horizon lines of the desert, colorful flowers, rocks, barren(贫瘠的) hills, and the sky as subjects for her paintings. Although O’Keeffe painted her best known works in the 1920’s, 1930’s and 1940’s, she continued to produce tributes（贡品、颂词） to the Western desert until her death in 1986.

O’Keeffe is widely considered to have been a pioneering American modernist painter. While most early modern American artists were strongly influenced by European art, O’Keeffe’s position was more independent. She established her own vision and preferred to view her painting as a private endeavor. Almost from the beginning, her work was more indentifiably American than that of her contemporaries in its simplified and idealized treatment of color, light, space, and natural forms.

Which of the following best tells what this passage is about ?

 A. O’Keeffe was a distinctive modern American painter.

 B. O’Keeffe was the best painter of her generation.

 C. O’Keeffe liked to paint only what was familiar to her.

 D. O’Keeffe used colors and shapes that are too reduced and simple.

Which of the following is NOT mentioned as an influence on O’Keeffe’s paintings ?

 A. Her rural upbringing         B. Her life in the West

 C. The works of European artists  D. The appearance of the natural landscape

Which of the following is most similar to O’Keeffe’s relationship with nature?

 A. A photoghrapher’s relationship with a model.

 B. A writer’s relationship with a publisher.

 C. A student’s relationship with a teacher

 D. A carpenter’s relationship with a hammer.

Why is O’Keeffe considered an artistic pioneer ?

 A. Her work became influential in Europe.

 B. She painted the American Southwest.

 C. Her paintings had a definite American style.

 D. She painted things that were familiar to her.