Someday,therewillbenoAmericans-优题课

阅读理解: 阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
It was the summer of 1965. DeLuca, then 17, visited Peter Buck, a family friend. Buck asked DeLuca about his plans 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 $1000. DeLuca rented a storefront (店面) in Connecticut, and when they couldn’t cover their start-up costs, Buck kicked in another $1000.
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 going 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.
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 Subway 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 palce.
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 sandwiches
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 contribute 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.

阅读理解: 阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项。
Young adult filmmakers all hope to show their works in international festivals like Sundance and Toronto. But what about really young filmmakers who aren’t in film school yet and aren’t, strictly speaking, even adults?
They are at the heart of Wingspan Arts Kids Films Festival, tomorrow, in a setting any director might envy: Lincoln Center. Complete with “red carpet” interviews and various awards, the festival has much in common with events for more experienced moviemakers, except for the age of the participants: about 8 to 18.
“What’s really exciting is that it’s film for kids by kids,” said Cori Gardner, managing director of Wingspan Arts, a nonprofit organization offering youth arts programs in the New York area. This year the festival will include films not only from Wingspan but also from other city organizations and one from a middle school in Arlington, Virginia. “We want to make this a national event,” Ms. Gardner added.
The nine shorts to be shown range from a Claymation biography of B.B. King to a science fiction adventure set in the year 3005. “A lot of the material is really mature,” Ms. Gardner said, talking about films by the New York City branch of Global Action Project, a media arts and leadership-training group. “The Choice is about the history of a family and Master Anti-Smoker is about the dangers of secondhand smoke.” Dream of the Invisibles describes young immigrants’ feelings of both belonging and not belonging in their adopted country.
The festival will end with an open reception at which other films will be shown. These include a music video and full-length film whose title is Pressures.
1. Wingspan Arts Kids Film Festival ____.
A. is organized by a middle school
B. is as famous as the Toronto Festival
C. shows films made by children
D. offers awards to film school students
2. Which of the following is true of Wingspan Arts?
A. It helps young filmmakers to make money.
B. It provides arts projects for young people.
C. It’s a media arts and leadership-training group.
D. It’s a national organization for young people.
3. The underlined word “shorts” in Paragraph 4 refers to _____.
A. short trousers B. short kids C. short films D. short stories
4. Movies to shown in the festival ____.
A. cover different subjects.
B. focus on kids’ life
C. are produced by Global Action Project
D. are directed by Ms. Gardner
5. At the end of this film festival, there will be ____.
A. various awards B. “red carpet” interviews
C. an open reception D. a concert at Lincoln Center

On May 29, 1973, Thomas Bradley, a black man, was elected mayor of Los Angeles. Los Angeles is the third largest city in the United States, with a population of three million. About sixteen percent of the city’s population are black.
News of this election appeared on the front pages of newspapers everywhere in the United States. Here is how one major newspaper reported the event:
LOS ANGELES ELECTS BRADLEY MAYOR UNSEATING YORTYBLACK WINS 56% OF VOTES
Bradley called his victory over Yorty “the fulfillment (实现) of a dream”. During his childhood and youth, people had kept telling him, “You can’t do this, you can’t go there, because you are a Negro.” Nevertheless he had won a decisive victory over a man who had been won 43.7 percent.
Los Angeles voters have had many opportunities to judge. Thomas Bradley had to form an opinion of him. The son of a poor farmer Texas, he joined the Los Angeles police force in 1940. During his twenty-one years on the police force he earned a law degree by attending school at night. He was elected to the city council (市政厅) ten years ago.
At the time of the Los Angeles election, three other American cities already had black mayors, but none of those cities had as large a population as Los Angeles. Besides, the percentage of blacks in those other cities was much larger. Cleveland, Ohio, had thirty-six percent black when Carl Stokes was elected mayor of Cleveland in 1967. In the same year Richard Hatcher was elected mayor of Cary. In Newark, New Jersey, sixty percent of the population were black when Kenneth Gibson was elected in 1970. Thus election of a black mayor in those cities was not very surprising.
In Los Angeles thousands of white citizens voted for Thomas Bradley because they believed he would be a better mayor than the white candidate(候选人). Bradley had spent forty-eight of his fifty-five years in Los Angeles. Four years ago Bradley lost mayoral election to Yorty. This time Bradley won.
In the author’s opinion, it was surprising that _______.

A．the whites would vote for a black mayor

B．a black mayor would be elected in such a large city

C．a black from a poor farmer’s family could be elected mayor of Los Angeles

D．there would be so many black mayors

From the passage we can infer that people ________.

A．voted for Bradley because of his black color

B．didn’t care much about his color when they voted

C．voted for him to give a chance to fulfill his dream

D．voted for Bradley because they trust him

Bradley hit the front page headline for _______.

A．he was the first black mayor in history

B．he was the first black mayor in the south of USA

C．he was the first black mayor of one of the largest cities in USA

D．a poor farmer’s son could also win an important election

From Bradley’s victory in the election we can see that ________.

A．blacks had equal rights as whites in the USA

B．black people’s situation began to be improving much more than before

C．one can be successful through hard work in the USA no matter what color he is

D．it is certain that someday the USA will have a black president

The Man of Many Secrets — Harry Houdini — was one of the greatest American entertainers in the theater this century. He was a man famous for his escapes — from prison cells, from wooden boxes floating in rivers, from locked tanks full of water. He appeared in theaters all over Europe and America. Crowds came to see the great Houdini and his “magic” tricks.
Of course, his secret was not magic, or supernatural powers. It was simply strength. He had the ability to move his toes as well as he moved his fingers. He could move his body into almost any position he wanted.
Houdini started working in the entertainment world when he was 17, in 1891. He and his brother Theo performed card tricks in club in New York. They called themselves the Houdini Brothers. When Harry married in 1894, he and his wife Bess worked together as magician and assistant. But for a long time they were not very successful. Then Harry performed his first prison escape, in Chicago in 1898. Harry persuaded a detective to let him try to escape from the prison, and he invited the local newspapermen to watch.
It was the publicity(宣传) that came from this that started Harry Houdini’s success. Harry had fingers trained to escape from handcuffs and toes trained to escape ankle chins. But his biggest secret was how he unlocked the prison doors. Every time he went into the prison cell, Bess gave him a kiss for good luck — and a small skeleton key, which is a key that fits many locks, pass quickly from her mouth to his.
Harry used these prison escapes to build his fame. He arranged to escape from the local prison of every town he visited. In the afternoon, the people of the town would read about it in their local newspapers, and in the evening every seat in the local theater would be full. What was the result? World-wild fame, and a name remembered today.
According to the passage, Houdini’s success in prison escapes depends on _______.

A．his special tricks and supernatural powers

B．his unusual ability and a skeleton key

C．his magic tricks and unhuman powers

D．his wisdom and magic tricks

In the fourth paragraph, the underlined word “this” refers to _______.

A．his first prison escape	B．the year 1898
C．the publicity	D．Harry Houdini’s success

It can be inferred from the passage that Houdini became famous _______.

A．in 1894	B．before he married
C．at the age of 17	D．when he was about 24

Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A．A Skeleton Key	B．A Man of Many Secrets
C．World-wild Fame	D．Great Escape

In October 1961 at Crowley Field in Cincinnati Ohio an old deaf gentleman named William E. Hoy stood up to throw the first ball of the World Series. Most people at Crowley Field on that day probably did not remember Hoy because he had retired(退休) from professional baseball 58 years earlier in 1903. However he had been an outstanding player and the deaf people still talk about him and his years in baseball.
William E. Hoy was born in Houckstown Ohio on May 23, 1862. He became deaf when he was two years old. He attended the Columbus Ohio School for the deaf. After graduation he started playing baseball while working as a shoemaker.
Hoy began playing professional baseball in 1886 for Oshkosh(Wisconsin) of the Northwestern League. In 1888 he started as an outfielder(外场手) with the old Washington Senators. His small figure and speed made him an outstanding base runner. He was very good at stealing bases during his career. In the 1888 major league season he stole 82 bases. He was also the Senators’ leading hitter in 1888. Hoy was clever and he threw right-handed and batted left-handed. On June 19,1889 he threw out three batters(击球手) at the plate from his outfield position.
The arm signals used by judges today to show balls and strikes began because of Hoy. The judge lifted his right arm to show that the pitch was a strike and his left arm to signal that it was a ball.
For many years people talked about Hoy’s last ball game in 1903. He was playing for Los Angeles of the Pacific Coast Winter League. It was a memorable game because Hoy hit a wonderful ball which won the game. It was a very foggy day and therefore very hard to see the ball. In the ninth inning(棒球的一局) with two men out, Hoy managed to catch a fly ball to make the third out in spite of the fog. Los Angeles defeated their opposition and won the game.
After he retired Hoy stayed busy. He ran a dairy farm near Cincinnati for 20 years. He also became a public speaker and traveled giving speeches. Until a few years before his death he took 4-10 mile walks several mornings a week. On December 15, 1961 William Hoy died at the age of 99.
In which order did the following things happen in Hoy’s life?
a. Hoy worked as a shoemaker.
b. Hoy began to run a diary farm.
c. Hoy played a memorable game in the heavy fog.
d. Hoy threw the first ball of the World Series.
e. Hoy became deaf.

A．d e a c b

B．e a c b d

C．d a e c b

D．e a b c d

We can infer from the last paragraph that Hoy _______ in his late years.

A．became famous	B．led a relaxed life
C．traveled around the world	D．was in good physical condition

This passage is mainly about _______.

A．a deaf player devoted to the game of baseball

B．baseball game rules and important players

C．the rise in the social position of the deaf people

D．where the baseball judge hand signals came from

What can be inferred from this passage?

A．Hoy was the greatest baseball player in his time.

B．Speaking and listening are not necessary in baseball games.

C．The judge had to study the hand signals very seriously.

D．Hoy’s family encouraged him to become a baseball player.