Edward Sims was born in 1892. He was the fifth child and only son of Herbert and Dora Sims. Herbert was a blacksmith(铁匠), and had a thriving trade making horseshoes. He was determined that his first-born son would follow him into the blacksmith. For this reason, Edward had to leave school at the age of 12,and worked with his father.
However, Edward was not cut out to be a blacksmith. Although he has an athletic body, he didn't have strong arms like his father, and he felt dizzy in the heat of the smithy. When he tried to find alternative employment, he found it difficult because he had never learnt to read or write.
One day, he went for an interview at a solictior’s office. The job was a runner, taking documents from the office to other offices in the city. The solicitor was pleased to see that Edward was physically fit, but when he discovered that the young man couldn't read or write, he decided against employing him. "How can you deliver documents to other offices," he asked, "if you can't read the addresses on them?"
Bitterly disappointed, Edward left the building and went to wait for a tram to take him back to the suburb where his father’s smithy was. Next to the bus stop, a man was selling newspapers from a stand .
"Excuse me, son?" he said. "Would you look after my stand for a moment?"
For the next 20 minutes, Edward sold newspapers, lots of them. When the man came back, he was so delighted with his new assistant's honesty, that he offered him a job. Edward took it immediately.
In the next few months, the two men progressed from working on newspaper stands to selling newspapers, tobacco,confectionery（糖果点心）and other goods in a shop. Then they opened a second shop, and a third. Eventually, they had a chain of 25 shops in three cities.
Edward became very rich, so he employed a tutor to teach him to read and write. The tutor was amazed at what Edward had achieved. "Imagine what you could do if you’d been able to read and write when you were younger!" he said.
“Yes!” said Edward. “I could have run myself to exhaustion delivering documents for a solicitor!”What would be the best title for the text?
| A．Success of illiterate newsboy |
| B．Local blacksmith becomes famous |
| C．The thriving trade of the blacksmith |
| D．Reading and writing-the road to success |
What can you infer from the underlined expression “not cut out to be” in the second paragraph?
| A．Edward Sims did not like being a blacksmith. |
| B．Edward Sims did not like working with his father. |
| C．Edward Sims was not strong enough and it made him feel ill. |
| D．Edward Sims was good at it but wanted to do another job. |
When Edward applied for the job as a runner for a solicitor, .
| A．the solicitor turned him down because he wasn’t intelligent enough |
| B．the solicitor offered him the job because he was so fit |
| C．the solicitor gave him the job but told him he had to learn to read |
| D．the solicitor didn’t offer him the job because he couldn’t read |
Which of the following is NOT ture about Edward Sims?
| A．He was such a good salesman that he went on to own 25 newsagent shops with another man. |
| B．The newspaperman liked him so much he gave him a job. |
| C．He ran himself into exhaustion delivering papers. |
| D．He learnt to read and write. |
A large number of women in Western European countries wish that they were born men. The number is said as high as 60% in West Germany.
“Women often wish that they had the same chance as men have, and believe it is still men’s world,” said Dr James Holden, one of the scientists who did the study.
Anne Harper has a very good job for an international oil company. She also believes in “Women’ s Liberation(解放)”.
“I don’t wish that I were a man,” she says, “and I don’t think many women do. But I do wish that people would stop looking down upon us women. At work, for example, we often do the work that men do but get paid less. There are still a lot of jobs that are usually the best ones and open only to men. If you’re a man, you have a much better chance of leading an exciting life. How many women pilots are there ... or engineers or scientists?”What can we learn from the first paragraph?
| A．60% women in West Germany wish that they were born men. |
| B．Most women in Western European countries wish that their babies were all boys. |
| C．60% Western European women wish that they were born men. |
| D．60% Western European women who wish that they were born men are from West Germany. |
“It is still men’s world.” means “______.”
| A．There’re more men than women in the world |
| B．There’re more men scientists or engineers than women scientists or engineers in the world |
| C．Women have not been given the same chance as men |
| D．Women cannot live without men |
Anne Harper considers that women should ______.
| A．be well paid | B．live a better life than men |
| C．be really liberated | D．get better jobs than men |
Which is not true about Anne Harper?
| A．Anne Harper has a very good job for an international oil company |
| B．she is one of the scientists who did the study. |
| C．She believes in “Women’ s Liberation.” |
| D．She doesn’t want to be a man. |
STEVE EMBER: And I'm Steve Ember with People In America in VOA Special English. Today we remember the singer and actress Lena Horne. During her sixty-year career performing, Lena Horne entertained people with her beauty and rich, emotional voice. She used her fame to fight social injustices toward African-Americans.
Lena Horne was born in New York. At sixteen, Lena became a dancer at the famous club in New York City in 1933. After taking voice lessons, she soon became a singer. In 1940, Lena Horne became the first African-American to perform with an all-white jazz hand. After performing at a club in Hollywood, California, she caught the attention of filmmakers. She soon began making movies. Her films became very popular. In the 1940s, Lena Horne was the first African-American in Hollywood to sing a long -term contract with a major movie studio. Her deal with MGM stated that she would never play the role of a servant. She refused to play roles that represented African-Americans disrespectfully.
Lena Horne once said that World War II helped make her a star. She was popular with both black and white soldiers. She sang on army radio programs and traveled to perform for the troops. These experiences led to Lena Horne's work in the civil rights movement.
Lena Horne sang at rights gatherings. She took part in the march on Washington protest in 1963. It was during this event that Martin Luther King gave his "I have a dream" speech. She protested racial separation at the hotels where she performed. She took action so that she and her musicians would be allowed to stay in those hotels. B1ack musicians at the time generally stayed in black neighborhoods.
At the age of eighty, she said she did not have to act like a white woman that Hollywood hoped she would become. She said: "I'm me, and I'm like nobody else."
Lena Horne died in New York in 2010. How old was Lena Horne when she died?
| A．93 years old. | B．98 years old. |
| C．86 years old. | D．88 years old. |
We can infer from the passage that_____
| A．black women were forbidden to perform in the film in the 1940s |
| B．Lena Horne didn't make any films in the 1960s |
| C．Lena Horne liked staying at hotel very much |
| D．black actresses often played roles of servants in the film in the 1940s |
Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Lena Home became the first African-American in Hollywood in her forties. |
| B．Dena Horne was a friend of Martin Luther King. |
| C．Lena Horne was involved in civil rights activities in the 1960s. |
| D．Lena Horne took an active part in sports activities. |
This text is developed
| A．by space | B．by time |
| C．by process | D．by comparison |
We know that cigarette smoking kills． So, producers made electronic cigarettes as a safer smoking choice - safer than tobacco． Although e-cigarettes contain the drug nicotine like cigarettes, they do not use tobacco and you do not light them． They are powered by battery （电池）．
However, if e-cigarettes are so safe, why has the United States Center for Disease Control（CDC） seen an increase in telephone calls about e-cigarette poisonings?
The answer is children． Most of the calls are from people worried about children who have played with the devices, In the period of one month this year, the Center said 215 people called the Center with e-cigarette concerns． More than half of these calls were for children aged five and younger． The devices had made them sick．
Tim McAfee is director of the Center's Office on Smoking and Health, He says the problem is regulation． Meaning, the U．S． federal government does not control e-cigarettes even though they contain liquid nicotine． Mr．McAfee adds that liquid nicotine is a well-known danger． Mr．McAfee explains that nicotine poisoning happens when it gets into the skin, gets into the eyes or is swallowed． It can cause stomach pain or a sense of unbalance． And too much nicotine can kill,
Tim McAfee says e-cigarettes do not create the level of risk to people that tobacco products do．He notes that almost 500,000 Americans die each year from cigarettes． "So, cigarettes are the winner in that contest．" E-cigarettes do not contain hundreds of harmful chemicals that are found in real cigarettes． So, the U．S．Surgeon General Boris D． Lushniak has suggested that e-cigarettes may be a useful tool for adults trying to end their tobacco use．
But McAfee worries that teenagers may think electronic cigarettes are harmless． They could become addicted to the nicotine and then start smoking real cigarettes． In other words, he fears that for young people fake e-cigarettes could be a "gateway" to the real thing．It can be inferred from the passage that______．
A． the CDC wants to develop a better type of e-cigarettes
B． the government is in favor of the use of e-cigarettes
C． Surgeon General Boris D． Lushniak is a heavy smoker
D． smokers most probably can't quit smoking using e-cigarettesWhat is Tim McAfee's opinion about smoking?
| A．Adults should use harmless e-cigarettes． |
| B．Smoking e-cigarettes can make a person sick． |
| C．He claims that regulations should be made to ban smoking． |
| D．He is concerned about the teens using e-cigarettes． |
One of the latest trends（趋势） in American Childcare is Chinese au pairs. Au Pair in Stamford, Conn, for example, has got increasing numbers of request for Chinese au pairs from aero to around 4, 000 since 2004. And that’s true all across the country.
“I thought it would be useful for him to learn Chinese at an early age” Joseph Stocke, the managing director of a company, says of his 2-year old son. “I would at least like to give him the chance to use the language in the future, ” After only six months of being cared by 25-year-old woman from China, the boy can already understand basic Chinese daily expressions, his dad says.
Li Drake, a Chinese native raising two children in Minnesota with an American husband, had another reason for looking for an au pair from China. She didn’t want her children to miss out on their roots. ” Because I am Chinese, my husband and I wanted the children to keep exposed to(接触) the language and culture. ” she says.
“Staying with a native speaker is better for children than simply sitting in a classroom, ” says Suzanne Flynn, a professor in language education of Children. ”But parents must understand that just one year with au pair is unlikely to produce wonders. Complete mastery demands continued learning until the age of 10 or 12. ”
The popularity if au pairs from China has been strengthened by the increasing numbers of American parents who want their children who want their children to learn Chinese. It is expected that American demand for au pairs will continue to rise in the next few years.What does the term” au pair” in the text mean?
| A．A mother raising her children on her own |
| B．A child learning a foreign language at home |
| C．A professor in language education of children |
| D．A young foreign woman taking care of children. |
What can we infer from the text?
| A．Learning Chinese is becoming popular In America |
| B．Educated woman do better in looking after children |
| C．Chinese au pairs need to improve their English Skills. |
| D．Children can learn a foreign language well in six months. |
People aren’t walking any more--- if they can figure out a way to avoid it.
I felt superior about this matter until the other day I took my car to mail a small parcel. The journey is a matter of 281 steps. But I used the car. And I wasn’t in any hurry, either, I had merely become one more victim of a national sickness: motorosis.
It is an illness to which I had thought myself immune, for I was bred in the tradition of going to places on my own two legs. At that time, we regarded 25 miles as good day’s walk and the ability to cover such a distance in ten hours as a sign of strength and skill. It did not occur to us that walking was a hardship. And the effect was lasting. When I was 45 years old I raced –and beat—a teenage football player the 168 steps up the Stature of Liberty.
Such enterprises today are regarded by many middle-aged persons as bad for the heart. But a well-known British physician, Sir Adolphe Abrhams, pointed out recently that hearts and bodies need proper exercise. A person who avoids exercise is more likely to have illnesses than one who exercises regularly. And walking is an ideal form of exercise--- the most familiar and natural of all. It was Henry Thoreau who showed mankind the richness of going on foot. The man walking can learn the trees, flower, insects, birds and animals, the significance of seasons, the very feel of himself as a living creature in a living world. He cannot learn in a car.
The car is a convenient means of transport, but we have made it our way of life. Many people don’t dare to approach Nature any more; to them the world they were born to enjoy is all threat. To them security is a steel river thundering on a concrete road. And much of their thinking takes place while waiting for the traffic light to turn green.
I say that the green of forests is the mind’s best light. And none but the man on foot can evaluate what is basic and everlasting.What was life like when the author was young?
| A．people often walked 25 miles a day |
| B．People usually went around on foot. |
| C．People used to climb the Statue of Liberty. |
| D．people considered a ten-hour walk as a hardship. |
The author mentions Henry Thoreau to prove that ________.
| A．middle-aged people like getting back to nature |
| B．people need regular exercise to keep fit |
| C．walking in nature helps enrich one’s mind |
| D．going on foot prevents heart disease |
What is compared to “a steel river” in Paragraph6?
| A．A ray of traffic light | B．A queue of cars |
| C．A flash of lightning | D．A stream of people |