Steve Jobs made technology* fun. The co-founder of Apple died on October 6^th 2011 at the age of fifty-seven. He had fought for years against cancer. Thousands of people gathered outside his house in California, and Apple stores around the world.
Steve Jobs didn’t finish his college when he was young. His parents supported his early interest in electronics*. He and his friend started Apple Computer -- now just called Apple – at the age of 21. They stayed at the company until 1985. That year, his friend returned to college and Steve Jobs left in an argument with the CEO.
Mr. Jobs then set up his own company, called NeXT Computer. He rejoined* Apple Computer in 1997 when it was in bad time and then made it to one of the most valuable* companies in the world today.
Steve Jobs stepped down as Apple's CEO in August because of his health. He died a day after the company released* the new iPhone 4S.
President Obama said in a statement*: "By building one of the world’s most successful companies from his garage*, he explained the spirit of American. By making computers personal and putting the Internet in our pockets, he made the technology not only convenient, but fun."
【小题1】When was Steve Jobs born?

阅读下列短文，从文后各题所给的四个选项中选出一个最佳答案。

Hundreds of years ago in a small town, a moneylender lent a lot of money to a poor man. The moneylender , who was old and ugly, _____ the poor man’s beautiful daughter. So he came up with an idea. He said the poor man didn’t need to return the money to him _____ he could marry his daughter. Both the man and his daughter were________.

        The moneylender then told them that he would put a small _______ stone and a small white stone into an empty bag. The girl would have to ______ one. If she took the black stone , she would become the moneylender’s _______ and her father’s debt would be let go. If she picked the white stone, she didn’t need to marry him and her father’s debt would______ be let go. Her father would be put into prison if she refused to pick a stone.

        As they talked, the moneylender picked up two stones. As he did that, the girl______that he had put two black stones in the bag. He then asked the girl to pick her stone from the bag.

        The girl thought for a while and then had an idea. She put her hand into the bag and took out a stone. ______ looking at it, she let it fall onto the path where it ______ became lost among all the other stones. “ Oh how______ I was！” She said, “But never ______. If  you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to _______ which stone I picked.” This ______ tells: Sometimes we can think about things in a _______way. Most difficult problems do have an solution.

1.A. pleased       B. attracted                     C. loved               D. saw

2.A. if               B. unless                        C. so                   D. but

3.A. bored          B. frightened                  C. relaxed              D. excited

4.A. pink             B. red                          C. black                 D. yellow

5.A. show           B. damage                     C. check      D. choose

6.A. daughter      B. cousin                   C. wife         D. friend

7.A. again           B. still                C. never                 D. hardly

8.A. said            B. feared                      C. thought              D. noticed

9.A. On   .           B. About                       C. For                  D. Without

10.A. usually         B. surprisingly       C. immediately        D. slowly

11.A. worried      B. clever                       C. careless             D. lucky

12.A. laugh        B. mind                         C. cry          D. complain

13.A. tell          B. explain                      C. ask           D. arrange

14.A. saying         B. story                         C. news                 D. man

15.A. careful                 B. funny                         C. different           D. normal

When you read an article you will understand and remember it better if you can work out how the writer has put the ideas together．Sometimes a writer puts ideas together by asking questions and then answering them．For example，if the article is about groundhogs（土拨鼠），the set of questions in the writer’s head might be：

What does a groundhog look like？

Where do groundhogs live？

What do they eat？…

In the article，the author might answer those questions．

Sometimes an author writes out her questions in the article．These questions give you signals．They tell you what the author is going to write next．Often an author has a question in her head but she doesn’t write it out for you．You have to work out her question for yourself．Here’s a sample reading for you to practice this method.

Earthworms

Do you know how many kinds of earthworms there are？There are about 1800 kinds in the world！ They can be brown，purple，green．They can be as small as 3 cm long and as large as 3 m long．

The best time to see earthworms is at night，especially a cool，damp night．That’s when they come up from their burrows（地洞）to hunt for food．Earthworms don’t like to be in the sun．That’s because they breathe through their skin，and they can’t breathe if their skin gets too dry．Earthworms must come out of the earth if it rains a lot，because they can't breathe in their flooded burrows．What a dangerous life！

Earthworms don't have eyes，so how can they tell when it's dark？ They have special places on their skin that are sensitive to light．These spots tell whether it’s light or dark．If you shine a flashlight on an earthworm at night，it will quickly disappear into the ground．

Earthworms don't have ears either，but they can hear by feeling movements in the earth．If you want to hear like an earthworm，lie on the ground with your fingers in your ears．Then have a friend stamp his or her feet near you．This is how earthworms feel birds and people walking，and moles digging，near them．

Earthworms are useful．Farmers and gardeners like having lots of earthworms in their land because the worms help to make better soil when they dig．That digging keeps the soil loose and airy（通风的）．In one year earthworms can pile up as much as 23,000 kg of castings in an area about the size of a football field．

1.What’s the purpose of reading Earthworms?

A．To show the special life facts of earthworms.

B．To explain the differences from the groundhogs.

C．To put the writer’s idea into real use.

D．To make the readers think more clearly.

2.Which question CANNOT be answered in the passage?

A．How do earthworms help with gardeners?

B．What life are earthworms living with?

C．When may people observe earthworms?

D．Why can human listen like earthworms?

3.How can you understand Earthworms better according to this passage?

A．Read, ask and answer questions in your own head while reading.

B．Read to work out all the questions in the writer’s head while reading.

C．Read and check all the things that are not clear to you again and again.

D．Read for general ideas and discuss or compare with other similar topics.

4.What’s the best title for the passage?

A．One way to help with understanding

B．One way to practice with a new idea

C．One way to learn to be a wise writer

D．One way to be clearer about worms