SPECIALEVENTSTHISWEEKENDCaptai-优题课

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 the high school age, but his hometown offered no high school for blacks.
Fortunately he had a strong-willed caring mother. John remembered 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 depend on others, including his mother. “You have to earn success,” she said. “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 also knew that believing and hard work don’t mean everything. So she worked hard as a cook for two years to save enough to take her son, who was then 15, to Chicago. Chicago in 1933 was not the promised land 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 of the newspaper and yearbook at Du Sable High School. His wish was to publish a magazine for 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 for blacks.
It is natural that 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---worth $150 million.
John’s mother decided to move to Chicago because_______.

A．his father died when John was very young.

B．life was too hard for them to stay on in their hometown

C．John needed more education badly

D．there were no school for Negroes in their hometown

John’s mother________.

A．didn’t believe in or depend on others

B．thought one could be whatever one wanted to be

C．believed one would succeed without working hard

D．thought no one could succeed without working hard.

The sentence “Nothing beats a failure but a try” means _______.

A．if you try, you would succeed

B．a failure is difficult to beat, even if you try

C．a try is always followed by a failure

D．no failure can be beaten unless you try

Bolivia has a population three and a half million . About one tenth of the total population are white ; one-fourth are mixed Indians and white ; and more than half are full-blooded Indians . The government and the industries are under the control of the white people .
The Indians today live in much the same way as their ancestors . Most of them are farmers . Many work in the mines , for mining is the most important industry on Bolivia’s . Of all the mining products , tin is the most important , which makes up three-fourths of all Bolivia’s exports . The eastern slopes of the Andes , since there are very few roads there , are fertile but not highly developed . The two primary means of transportation are river boats and porters . East of the hill region are the great plains where tropical plants are grown . A serious problem for Bolivia is the transport of food from the warm regions , where it is grown to the mountainous regions , where most of the people live .
Bolivia gained its independence from Spain about a hundred years ago . It has been slow in developing , but its rich resources promise a better future in it .
The majority of the Bolivian population are .

A．full-blooded Indians

B．mixed Indian and white

C．white citizens

D．all whites and mixed-blooded people

The Indian’s way of life today is

A．quite different from that of their ancestors

B．quite interesting

C．almost the same as their ancestors’

D．very exciting

The main product Bolivia exports is

A．tropical plants

B．gold and silver

C．tin

D．food

Bolivia has been slow in developing , but it has hope for a better future because of its .

A．mining products	B．rich resources
C．independence from Spain	D．two primary means of transportation

There was a gardener who looked after his garden with great care. To water his flowers, he used two buckets. One was a shiny and new bucket. The other was a very old and dilapidated one, which had seen many years of service, but was now past its best.
Every morning, the gardener would fill up the two buckets. Then he would carry them along the path, one on each side, to the flowerbeds. The new bucket was very proud of itself. It could carry a full bucket of water without a single drop spilled (溢出). The old bucket felt very ashamed because of its holes: before it reached the flowerbeds, much water had leaked（漏水） along the path.
Sometimes the new bucket would say, “See how great I am! How good it is that the gardener has me to water the flowers every day! I don't know why he still bothers with you. What a waste of space you are!”
And all that the old bucket could say was. “I know I am not very useful, but I can only do my best. I am happy that the gardener still finds a little bit of use in me, at least.”
One day, the gardener heard that kind of conversation. After watering the flowers as usual, he said, “You both have done your work very well. Now I am going to carry you back. I want you to look carefully along the path.”
Then the two buckets did so. All along the path, they noticed, on the side where the new bucket was carried, there was just bare（光秃秃的）earth; on the other side where the old bucket was carried, there was a joyous row of wild flowers, leading all the way to the garden.
What does the underlined word “dilapidated” probably mean?

A．dirty

B．dark

C．dusk

D．broken

What was the old bucket ashamed of?

A．His leaking.

B．His aging.

C．His manner.

D．His past.

The new bucket made conversations with the old one mainly to_________.

A．show off its beautiful looks	B．feel sorry about the old one
C．laugh at the old one	D．praise the gardener’s kindness

Why was the old bucket still kept by the gardener?

A．Because it was used to keep balance（平衡）

B．Because it stayed in its best condition

C．Because it had its own value

D．Because it was treated as a treasure

It doesn’t matter when or how much a person sleeps, but everyone needs some rest to stay alive. That’s what all doctors thought, until they heard about Al Herpin. Al Herpin, it was said, never slept. Could this be true? The doctors decided to see this strange man themselves.
Al Herpin was 90 years old when the doctors came to his home in New Jersey. They thought for sure that he got some sleep of some kind. So they stayed with him and watched every movement he made. But they were surprised. Though they watched him hour after hour and day after day, they never saw Herpin sleeping. In fact, he did not even own a bed. He never needed one.
The only rest that Herpin sometimes got was sitting in a comfortable chair and reading newspapers. The doctors were puzzled by this strange continuous sleeplessness. They asked him many questions, hoping to find an answer. They found only one answer that might explain his condition. Herpin remembered some talk about his mother having been injured several days before he was born. But that was all. Was this the real reason? No one could be sure.
Herpin died at the age of 94.
The doctors came to Herpin’s home in order to ______.

A．treat him for his illness

B．find the reason why some old people didn’t need any sleep

C．get some proof to show his sleeplessness was not really true

D．help him to have a rest in some day

After watching him closely, the doctors came to believe that Al Herpin ______.

A．needed some kind of sleep	B．needed no sleep at all
C．was too old to need any sleep	D．often slept in a chair

The word “puzzled” in this passage probably refers to “______”.

A．make you think a lot because you do not understand it

B．make you worry a lot because you cannot sleep well

C．make you sad because something unusual has happened

D．make you fear because something terrible has happened

The main idea of this passage is that ______.

A．large numbers of people do not need sleep

B．everyone needs some sleep to stay alive

C．people can live longer by trying not to sleep at all

D．a person was found who actually didn’t need any sleep

As prices and building costs keep rising, the “do-it-yourself” (DIY) trend (趋势) in the U.S. continues to grow.
“We needed furniture(家具) for our living room.” Says John Ross, “and we just didn’t have enough money to afford it. So we decided to try making a few tables and chairs.” John got married six months ago, and like many young people these days, they are struggling to make a home at a time when the cost of living is very high. The Rosses took a 2-week course for $ 280 at a night school. Now they build all their furniture and make repairs around the house.
Jim Hatfield has three boys and his wife died. He has a full-time job at home as well as in a shoe making factory. Last month, he received a car repair bill for $ 420. “I was deeply upset about it. Now I’ve finished a car repair course, I should be able to fix the car by myself.”
John and Jim are not unusual people. Most families in the country are doing everything they can to save money so they can fight the high cost of living. If you want to become a “do-it-yourself”, you can go to DIY classes. And for those who don’t have time to take a course, there are books that tell you how you can do things yourself.
We can learn from the text that many newly married people _______.

A．find it hard to pay for what they need

B．have to learn to make their own furniture.

C．take DIY courses run by the government.

D．seldom go to a department store to buy things

John and his wife went to evening classes to learn how to _____

A．run a DIY shop	B．make or repair things
C．save time and money	D．improve the quality of life.

When the writer says Jim has a full-time job at home, he means Jim ____

A．makes shoes in his home	B．does extra work at night
C．does his own car and home repairs	D．keeps house and looks after his children