Mini Book Excerpts（节选）
Biography
When Salinger learned that a car park was to be built on the land, the middle-aged writer was shocked and quickly bought the neighboring area to protect it… The townspeople never forgot the rescue and came to help their most famous neighbor.
J. D. Salinger：A Life by Kenneth Slawenski（Random House,$27）Mystery（疑案小说）
“You’re a smart boy. Benny’s death was no accident, and you’re the only who saw it happen. Do you think the murderer should get away with it ? ”The boy was staring stubbornly at his lap again.
A thought suddenly occurred to Ammika,“ Did you …You recognized the man in the car, didn’t you?”
The boy hesitated, twisting his fingers,“ Maybe,” he said quietly.
Red Wolf by Liza Marklund（Atria Books, $25. 99）
Short Stories
She wants to say to him what she has learned, none of it in class：Some women are born stupid, and some women are too smart for their own good. Some women are born to give ,and some women only know how to take. Some women learn who they want to be from their mothers, some who they don’t want to be. Some mothers suffer so their daughters won’t. Some mothers love so their daughters won’t.
You Are Free by Danzy Senna （Riverhead Books,$15）
Humor
Do your kids like to have fun? Come to Fun Times! Do you like to watch your kids having fun? Bring them to Fun Times! Fun Times!’s “amusement cycling”is the most fun you can have, legally, in the United States right now. Why spend thousands of dollars flying to Disney World when you can spend less than half to that within a day’s drive of most cities?
Happy And Other Bad Thoughts by Larry Doyle（Ecco,$14. 99）. If the readers want to know about the life of Salinger , they should buy the book published by .
| A．Ecco | B．Atria Books | C．Riverhead Books | D．Random House |
. The book Happy And Other Bad Thoughts is intended for .
| A．young children | B．Disney World workers |
| C．middle school teachers | D．parents with young children |
. Which book describes women with characters of their own?
A. Happy And Other Bad Thoughts
B. J. D. Salinger: A Life
C. You Are Free
D. Red Wolf After finishing the book Red Wolf, the readers would learn that .
| A．the boy helped arrest the murderer |
| B．Benny died of an accident |
| C．the murderer got away with the crime |
| D．Ammika carried out the crime |
In New York, Ma Yun witnessed the Alibaba Group opening on the New York stock exchange with the largest initial public offering (IPO, 新股发行) in American history. “Alibaba, the world’s largest Internet commerce company makes China equal to the US in the rapidly increasing global competition for technological innovation (创新) and economic transformation ” commented the South China Morning Post.
It has also made Ma Yun China’s richest man with a fortune of around $25 billion (153 billion yuan), reported Reuters.
It’s reported that Ma’s rags-to-riches journey is just as spectacular as his Internet empire. Ma failed the national college entrance exams twice before he was finally in Hangzhou Normal University on his third attempt and failed in finding a suitable job several times. Also, Mr. Ma is a big believer in perseverance, which was proved in his English study experience.
However, it was his vision and goals that launched his career.
During a short trip to the US as an interpreter in 1995, Ma first experienced the Internet. He believed in the Internet’s business potential when few other Chinese people did. He started Alibaba in his Hangzhou apartment, with 17 friends and $60,000 of funds. At the time, when e-commerce was unheard of in China, “I called myself a blind man riding on the back of blind tigers,” he once said, according to The Guardian. His unusual ideas earned him the nickname “Crazy Jack Ma”.
Indeed, Ma is different. Although he is very thin and about 160cm tall, “Ma is yet animated and forceful, said The Guardian. “He is funny, creative, and a compelling (引人注目的) speaker.
Ma told Time magazine that he was “old for the Internet”. He started to slow down and looked around. According to The Wall Street Journal, Ma “plans to open a tai chi club with the actor Jet Li, build an entrepreneur (企业家) university in Hangzhou and continue to work on several environmental projects.”What made him into e-commerce industry?
| A．His English learning experience. |
| B．His foresight and ambitions. |
| C．His belief in perseverance. |
| D．His 17 friends and $60,000 funds. |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 5 mean?
| A．Ma is a blind man riding on a blind tiger. |
| B．Ma had no confidence in his business future. |
| C．Ma knew little about e-commerce. |
| D．Ma had not enough money at that time. |
What’s the personality of Ma Yun according to the passage?
| A．Funny and competitive. | B．Determined and creative. |
| C．Rich and different. | D．Attractive and believable. |
What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．The Development of Alibaba Group. |
| B．Ma Yun’s Personal Life. |
| C．Ma Yun’s Crazy Success. |
| D．E-commerce in China. |
NEWS BRIEF
●New labels to show calories
The US government ruled that all food establishments(场所) should put the calorie information of their foods on their menus. Within a year chain restaurants, like fast food KFC, will have to say clearly on their menus how many calories their fried chicken wings, fries, and other items contain. Amusement parks, movie theaters and supermarkets will also have to follow the rules. The move is designed to fight against the problem of obesity(肥胖) in the US.
● Antibiotics leading to world problem
The entire world is facing this problem: antibiotic resistance. And the resistance will lead to the deaths of 10 million people across the world by 2025, predicted a new report released by the UK government. Antibiotics are used to destroy or slow the growth of harmful bacteria in our bodies. But overuse and misuse of them can encourage bacteria to develop new ways of overcoming antibiotics, which makes it increasingly difficult for humans to fight diseases.
●___________________________________
Australia is the world's most expensive destination for international students, according to a study done by Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC). They have to spend an average of $ 42,000 ( about 258 ,000 yuan) a year to study at Australian universities. Singapore is not far behind, with an average yearly cost of $ 39,229, followed by the US at $ 36,564 and the UK at 35,045. However, Australia's education quality only ranks joint fourth with Canada, well below the US, the UK, and Germany. In addition, international students studying in Germany only have to pay about one-sixth the cost of studying in Australia.
● New Games sports may be added
The International Olympic Committee has canceled the 28-sportcap for future summer Olympics But each summer Games will still only be allowed 10, 500 athletes and 310 events. Countries that could host the games will discuss plans with the committee during a new invitation stage before bidding. They are also allowed to hold events outside their own countries and get financial support from the committee. No changes will be introduced for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The news brief covers ______________.
| A．medicine, disaster, finance, events |
| B．business, medicine, economy, sports |
| C．service, health, education, events |
| D．health, medicine, education, sports |
The underlined word “antibiotics” in Line 7 refers to ___________.
| A．serious diseases | B．medical drugs |
| C．harmful bacteria | D．varieties of resistance |
Which of the following fits in the blank best in the news brief?
| A．The cost of studying overseas |
| B．Australian study most expensive |
| C．International students in Australia |
| D．Australia's education quality |
Which of the following statements is best supported by the news brief?
| A．Some events may be held outside the host country in future summer Olympics |
| B．It is Australia's best education quality that will cause students to make a wise choice. |
| C．It is necessary for the UK government to try hard to encourage using lots of antibiotics. |
| D．Popcorn sold in cinemas in the world will soon have calorie information labels. |
I work in a nursing home and my job is to take care of the elderly.
This year, a very sweet old lady that I cared for，Alice, had gone through a difficult time .She got dementia and so she had been in the hospital twice .In November I was finally able to get her back to her “home”.
Alice had thought her daughter was coming to visit her on Christmas day and that they were going to have the whole family together like the old days. When she finally realized that that happy moment was not going to happen, she was very sad. Knowing that her daughter was coming after Christmas was not enough to make her feel happy, I hated the idea of her being alone on the holiday!
On Christmas Eve, I gave her a surprise by asking if she could like to go to a candlelight service at church that night.
Instead of taking her to my church, I took her to her old neighborhood church where all her friends were. We got there early and I got her a seat where her friends could see her as they came in. Then soon some of her friends came to the church and they rushed over to greet her and sit with her.
The candlelight service was beautiful and Alice got a lot of love from her old and new friends there. The truth of the story is that I am the one who got the best gift: the smile on Alice’s face. The underlined word “dementia” in Paragraph 2 probably is_______.
| A．a house | B．a letter |
| C．an illness | D．a plan |
Where did Alice spend her Christmas Eve according to the story?
| A．In her old neighborhood church. | B．In her old house. |
| C．In the nursing home. | D．In the hospital. |
What was the best gift that the author got on Christmas Eve?
| A．The candlelight service. |
| B．Alice’s happiness. |
| C．Praise from Alice’s friends. |
| D．Thanks from Alice’s daughter. |
What is the best title for this passage?
| A．My special job. |
| B．The dream of all old lonely lady. |
| C．A special candlelight Christmas Eve. |
| D．The true love. |
There are many ways of defining success. It is accurate to say that each of us has our own ideas of success to the extent that each of us is responsible for setting our own goals and determining whether we have met these goals satisfactorily. Because each of us possesses unique differences in genetic ability and favorable environments in which to express these abilities, it is necessarily true that we must define success broadly.
For some people，simply being able to live their life with the least misery and sufferings is considered a success. Think of the peace of mind of the poor shepherd who tends his sheep, enjoys his simple life with his family in the beauty of nature, and who is respected because he does a good job of achieving the goals expected of him and accepted by his family and his society. On the other hand, it seems that even though some people appear to be rich in material possessions, many of them seem to be miserable and consider themselves unsuccessful when judged by their own standards of success. Because not all ventures can be successful, one should not set unrealistic goals for achieving success, but if one has self-confidence it would be unfortunate to set one's goals at too low a level of achievement.
A wise man once said to a young man who was experiencing frustration(挫折）with his own professional success, “You do not have to set your goal to reach the moon in order to have success in traveling. Sometimes one can be very successful merely by taking a walk in the park or riding the subway downtown,” The man added, "You have not really failed and spoiled your chances for success until you have been unsuccessful at something you really like，and to which you have given your best effort. ”According to the first paragraph, what is implied as basic in achieving success?
| A．Ability and goals. | B．Goals and determination. |
| C．Ability and environment. | D．Goals and environment. |
Some rich people consider themselves unsuccessful because______.
| A．they haven't reached their own standards |
| B．their life is busy and miserable |
| C．they set their goals at too low a level |
| D．they are not rich in material possessions |
From the last paragraph we can tell that______.
| A．success means achieving great goals |
| B．success comes from great goal setting |
| C．success has nothing to do with the distance of your travel |
| D．success means efforts and favorites pay off |
The purpose of the passage is______.
| A．to talk about how to achieve success |
| B．to give us a clear definition of what success is |
| C．to state what our life goal is |
| D．to discuss the importance of goals |
Three Yale University professors agreed in a discussion that the automobile was what one of them called “Public Health Enemy No. 1 in this century”. Besides polluting the air and overcrowding the cities, cars are involved in more than half the disastrous accidents, and they contribute to heart disease “because we won’t walk anywhere any more,” said Richard Weeinaman, professor of medicine and public health.
Speaking of many of those man-made dangers of the automobile, Arthur W. Galson, professor of biology, said it was possible to make a kerosene-burning turbine car that would “lessensmog by a very large factor”. But he expressed doubt whether Americans were willing to give up moving about the countryside at 90 miles per hour in a large vehicle. “America seems wedded to the motor car—every family has to have at least two, and one has to be a convertible (敞篷汽车) with 300 horsepower,” professor Galson continued. “Is this the way of life that we choose because we treasure these values?”
For professor Sears, part of the blame lies with “a society that regards profit as a supreme value, under the illusion that anything that’s technically possible is, therefore, morally justified”. Professor Sears also called the country’s dependence on its modern automobiles “terrible economics” because of the large horsepower used simply “moving one individual to work”. But he admitted that Americans have painted themselves into a corner by allowing the national economy to become so dependent on the automobile industry.
“The solution,” Dr Weeinerman said, “is not finding a less dangerous fuel but a different system of inner city transportation. Because of the increasing use of cars, public transportation has been allowed to wither (衰弱) and grow worse, so that if you can’t walk to where you want to go, you have to have a car in most cities,” he declared. This, in turn, Dr Weeinerman contended, is responsible for the “arteriosclerosis (动脉硬化)” of public roads, for the pollution of the inner city and for the middle-class movement to the suburbs.The main idea of the passage is that_______.
| A．Americans are used to traveling by cars |
| B．American public transportation is growing worse |
| C．American people’s health is threatened by automobiles |
| D．American car industry caused disastrous road accidents |
It can be inferred from the passage that.
| A．Americans prefer cars to anything else |
| B．Americans are interested in fast automobiles |
| C．kerosene-burning engines cause more problems |
| D．kerosene-burning engines are green transportation |
In Paragraph 3, Professor Sears implies that.
| A．more attention should be paid to social effects |
| B．technology is always good for people |
| C．technology is a sword with two sides |
| D．US doesn’t care about the environment at all |
According to Dr Weeinerman, the best solution is.
| A．to look for a fuel alternative |
| B．to walk to where people want to go |
| C．to control the production of the automobile |
| D．to improve public transportation |