Dear readers,
I receive many letters from children and can’t answer them all — there wouldn’t be enough time in a day. I’ll try to answer some of the questions that are commonly asked.
Where did I get the idea for Stuart Little and for Charlotte's Web? Well, many years ago, I went to bed one night in a railway sleeping car, and during the night I dreamed about a tiny boy who acted rather like a mouse. That’s how the story of Stuart Littlegot started.
As for Charlotte’s Web, I like animals and my farm is a very pleasant place to be — at all hours. One day, when I was on my way to feed the pig, I began feeling sorry for the pig because, like most pigs, he was going to die. This made me sad. So I started thinking of ways to save a pig’s life. Three years after I started writing it, it was published. (I am not a fast worker, as you can see.)
Sometimes I’m asked when I started to write, and what made me want to write. I started early — as soon as I could spell. Children often find pleasure and satisfaction through trying to set their thoughts down on paper, either in words or in pictures. I was not good at drawing, so I used words instead. As I grew older, I found that writing can be a way of earning a living.
Well, here is the answer to the last question. No, they are imaginary tales, containing fantastic characters and events. In real life, a family doesn’t have a child who looks like a mouse and a spider doesn’t write words in her web. Although my stories are imaginary, I like to think that there is some truth in them, too — truth about the way people and animals feel and think and act.
Yours sincerely,
E.B. WhiteE.B. White wrote this letter to _____.
A. introduce his new books
B. introduce two funny stories
C. explain why he enjoys writing
D. answer some readers’ questionsWe can know from the passage that E.B. White is a writer who ______.
A. writes very fast
B. works on a friend’s farm
C. mainly writes stories for adults
D. writes imaginary tales for children What inspired E.B. White to write Charlotte's Web?
A. He wanted children to love animals.
B. He was deeply impressed by a clever pig.
C. He wanted to use his own way to save a pig. The reason why E.B. White started to write is to ______.
A. improve his spelling B. express his thoughts
C. show his sadness D. make a good living What is probably the last question?
| A．Are your stories true? |
| B．What is the truth in your stories? |
| C．Will you write more imaginary tales? |
| D．Do you know a child looking like a mouse? |
Health insurance can be very expensive. Some working people do not make enough money to pay for it. In the US there is a program called Healthy Families. This program offers people health insurance at a low cost.
Families are charged about ￥7.00 a month for every child, and ￥10.00 for every adult. It costs much less than any other kind of health insurance. Having health insurance is very important. With this insurance, people can see a doctor when they are sick or hurt.
The program is not expensive at all, but many people are still not enrolling in it. People say that it still costs too much money. They need all of their money to pay for things like food and rent.
It would be great if everyone could have health insurance. People are working hard to come up with ways to make this happen. One idea is to make the Healthy Families Program free for some people.
It is important for people to see a doctor when they need to. The Healthy Families Program makes it possible for more people to do this. Many ideas are being considered. Hopefully some of them will allow even more families to get health insurance.
The Healthy Families Program is made to help those who don’t have welfare (社会保障金) and cannot earn enough to pay for private health insurance. It is an important program, but officials say that too many people are signing up for it and then dropping out because of the Healthy Families Program’s cost. The aim of the Healthy Families Program is to __________.
| A．help people earn more and pay for the program |
| B．help more families get health insurance |
| C．make it free for people to see a doctor |
| D．help families pay for private health insurance |
If a couple has two children, how much would health insurance cost every month in the family?
| A．￥24. | B．￥28. | C．￥34. | D．￥40. |
Why is it very important for people to have health insurance?
| A．They can afford to see a doctor when they need to. |
| B．They can get special medical care. |
| C．They can see a doctor free of charge. |
| D．They can go to see a doctor as soon as possible. |
In the passage we can learn all of the following EXCEPT that __________.
| A．health insurance is very important for ordinary people |
| B．the program is still too expensive for many people |
| C．people should make more money to pay for private health insurance |
| D．many people don’t make enough money to pay for health insurance |
The passage is mainly about __________.
| A．health insurance at a low cost | B．the benefits of health insurance |
| C．the cost of health insurance | D．the Healthy Families Program |
Jesse Owens is recognized as a hero not just because he is fast. Some people might say that they know him for just that reason. However, there are lots of fast people who are not known. Jesse Owens is known because Chancellor Adolf Hitler did not shake the hand of Jesse Owens or even recognize his feat of winning four gold medals, because Owens was an African American.
Jesse Owens owed much of his success to his coach Charles Riley, who probably was the most important one making him have the career that he did. Owens came from a background that required him to work after school in a shoe shop. He couldn’t attend the regularly scheduled track practices organized by his school. However, Charles Riley saw the boy had both a passion(热情) and a talent for running, and so arranged for him to be able to practice before school instead.
Jesse Owens achieved this success despite(尽管) his racial background, which at the time was a huge limitation to him. He could only eat in certain restaurants and sleep in certain hotels, as could all African Americans of the time. He was also never offered a scholarship for school despite setting records for NCAA(美国全国大学生体育协会) championships.
The Berlin Olympics in 1936 is where his star rose as high as it would ever be able to. These Olympics were during the height of Hitler’s rule. It took courage to race in front of Hitler and many other racist(种族主义者). It took time, determination, and perseverance(坚持不懈) to race like him. He won four gold medals at those Olympics. It would take almost fifty years for someone else to walk away from the Olympics with four gold medals. He passed away at the age of 66 from lung cancer.The underlined word “feat” in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to “ .”
| A．chance | B．happiness | C．success | D．hope |
We know from paragraph 2 that Jesse Owens .
| A．did not need to work after school |
| B．took part in the regular track practices |
| C．did not get along well with his coach |
| D．was arranged to practice before school |
Jesse Owens was well-known around the world mainly because he .
| A．sets records for NCAA championships |
| B．was brave enough to race in front of Adolf Hitler |
| C．didn’t want to shake hands with Hitler |
| D．is recognized as a hero of the white Americans |
According to the passage, which of the following about Jesse Owens is true?
| A．Hitler recognized his feat of winning four gold medals. |
| B．He was offered a scholarship for setting records for NCAA championships. |
| C．He could only eat in certain restaurants like many other African Americans. |
| D．It took him almost fifty years to walk away from the Olympics with four gold medals. |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．Sport hero ---- Jesse Owens | B．The Berlin Olympics in 1936 |
| C．Charles Riley ---- Jesse Owens’ s coach | D．Jesse Owens’s childhood |
Paula and Rory have fives kids, three dogs, and a rabbit. When the house is very noisy, Megan, one of the children, is quietly inventing. A year ago, the 10-year-old had to design an anti-smoking poster, she came up with the idea of creating something that shows the average amount of tar(尼古丁) a smoker collects from just four packs of cigarettes.
“I like people to play with things more than read and write,” she says. So she researched her idea on the Internet, found a company in China that could make it, saved up her pocket money and got her idea made.
Paula says her daughter “think differently”: Ideas jump into her mind. After she got sunburnt on holiday, Megan invented a small plastic bracelet(手镯) that changes colors in the sun, telling you when to put on sunscreen(防晒霜). Several sunscreen companies have expressed an interest in the idea. She also came up with an idea to make a ball filled with water to stop the dog from feeling thirsty. “But we didn’t do anything with it,” says Paula.
Then she pulls out a picture of a special fishing rod(钓鱼竿) she had designed. “There is a camera on the hook(钩),” she explains, “and the screen is on the handle, and it shows if you’ve caught a fish or not.”
Megan doesn’t want to go to university. She keeps her pink-and -cream bedroom tidy. Paula is amazed and a bit confused by her daughter. “Everything has to be in a certain order,” Paula says. “Her brothers and sisters go with the flow, but with Megan, it’s ‘What time will that be happening?’ or ‘Where am I being picked up from today?’”From Paragraph 2, we can infer that Megan .
| A．is not willing to go to school | B．likes to play with her brothers and sisters |
| C．prefers making something by herself | D．is good at reading and writing |
What did Megan invent after she got sunburnt on vacation?
| A．The anti-smoking poster |
| B．The ball providing water for thirsty dogs |
| C．The fishing rod telling whether you’ve caught a fish |
| D．The bracelet telling when to put on sunscreen |
The underlined phrase “go with the flow” probably means “ .”
| A．do what the most people usually do | B．follow the fashion closely |
| C．set an example to others | D．do something differently from others |
According to the passage, which of the following about Megan is true?
| A．She has fives kids, three dogs, and a rabbit. |
| B．She designed an anti-smoking poster when she was nine. |
| C．She founded a company in China to get her idea made. |
| D．She invented a small plastic bracelet to change the color of sunscreen. |
The passage is mainly about .
| A．how Megan helps people give up smoking |
| B．a little girl’s dream to be a world-famous inventor |
| C．a 10-year-old inventor’s story |
| D．Megan’s relationship with her family members |
Healthy Diet“An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Similarly, if we drink a little more water ever day, we may find that we need to go to the doctor a lot less often. A healthy diet is made up of water and a great many different kinds of foods. We know that healthy foods like fruits, vegetables and fish, are important as they provide us with energy and fibre, without giving us too much fat and sugar. But why is water important?
The human body needs water to survive. Water is important as it carries poisons and waste out of our bodies. However, doctors advise us to drink plenty of water, much more than the small amount we need to stay alive.
Some doctors believe that water is important for our health in all kinds of ways. They believe that a great many illnesses and health problems stars as a result of dehydration—a lack(缺少) of water in the body. Most people are dehydrated at least some of time, although they probably don’t know it. It is surprising to learn that if we feel thirsty, we are already in the first stages of dehydration. In fact, we are advised to drink water before we feel thirsty.
These doctors think that health problems such as headaches, high blood pressure and asthma could be helped if people drink more water. They also believe that drinking more water can help people who are overweight. Water contains no calories so it will not make us put on weight. If we drink water, we will probably drink less sugary soft drinks such as Coca-cola. Doctors also believe that drinking more water may stop people from overeating. They say that many people think that they are hungry when they are, in fact, thirsty. Doctors suggest, therefore, that we eat less food and drink more water.
There are still many health problems that cannot be solved by drinking water, so we should not stop going to seeing the doctor completely. However, if we make a decision to drink water every day, we may find that we need to go to the doctor a lot less often.We need _____for a healthy diet.
| A．fibre | B．food | C．water | D．Water and different foods |
From the text, we know water can carry_________.
| A．energy and fibre in our bodies |
| B．fruit, vegetables and fish in our bodies |
| C．sugar and fat out of our bodies |
| D．poisons and waste out of our bodies |
Some doctors think that________.
| A．people eat too much sugar |
| B．water is not important for our health |
| C．we should go to the doctor less often |
| D．some health problems are caused by a lack of water |
Lack of water caused people to put on weight too much because_______.
| A．they think they are hungry and eat too much |
| B．they think they are thirsty and eat less |
| C．water has no calories |
| D．it makes them hungry |
On a small farm in Mexico, there are no schools. A bus is the school! The driver of the bus is the teacher! It is a school bus, but it doesn’t take children to school. It just goes round from place to place, and sometimes it comes to this farm. The bus will stay here for three months. The farmers call it a school on wheels (车轮).
Every time the bus comes, the farmers come running to it, shouting and laughing. They warmly welcome the school bus!
When the bus is on the farm, in the morning, the teacher teaches the small children. In the afternoon, the bigger children come to have their lessons because they must work in the morning. At night, the fathers and mothers come to school. They want to learn, too. How the farmers hope that some day they can have a real school on their farm! The driver of the bus is ________.
| A．the teacher | B．the student | C．the farmer | D．the school |
The bus school will ________.
| A．take children to school | B．stay there for lunch |
| C．go round from place to place | D．take the fathers and mothers to school |
When the school bus comes, the farmers________.
| A．stop working | B．warmly welcome it | C．be happy | D．Both B and C |
Which one of the following is true?
| A．A school bus is a real school for farmers’ children. |
| B．The bus school has no teacher at all. |
| C．The bus school has no students. |
| D．The children and their parents on the farm all come to the bus school to learn. |