When I was fifteen, I announced to my English class that I was going to write and illustrate my own books. Half the students sneered. The rest nearly fell out of their chairs laughing. “Don’t be silly, only geniuses can become writers,” the English teacher said, “And you are getting a D this term.” I was so humiliated(羞辱) that I burst into tears.
That night I wrote a short sad poem about broken dreams and mailed it to the Capri’s Weekly newspaper. To my astonishment, they published it and sent me two dollars. I was a published and paid writer. I showed it to my teacher and fellow students. They laughed. “Just plain dumb luck,” the teacher said. I tasted success. I’d sold the first thing I’d ever written. That was more than any of them had done and if it was just dumb luck, that was fine with me.
During the next two years I sold dozens of poems, letters, jokes and recipes. By the time I graduated from high school, with a C minus average, I had scrapbooks filled with my published work. I never mentioned my writing to my teachers, friends or my family again. They were dream killers and if people must choose between their friends and their dreams, they must always choose their dreams.
I had four children at the time, and the oldest was only four. While the children slept, I typed on my ancient typewriter. I wrote what I felt. It took nine months, just like a baby.
A month later Crying Wind, the title of my book, became a best seller, was translated into fifteen languages and Braille and sold worldwide. I appeared on TV talk shows. I traveled from New York to California and Canada on promotional tours. My first book also became required reading in native American schools in Canada.
People ask what college I attended, what degrees I had and what qualifications I have to be a writer. The answer is: “None.” I just write. I’m not a genius. I’m not gifted and I don’t write right. To all those who dream of writing, I’m shouting at you: “Yes, you can. Yes, you can. Don’t listen to them.” I don’t write right but I’ve beaten the odds. Writing is easy, it’s fun and anyone can do it. Of course, a little dumb luck doesn’t hurt.Why did many students laugh after hearing what the writer said?
| A．Because they didn’t like him |
| B．Because they wished he could be successful as a writer |
| C．Because their teacher laughed, too |
| D．Because they felt it impossible for him to succeed |
When the writer graduated from high school, ___________.
| A．he had become a famous writer |
| B．he had made progress in his studies |
| C．his classmates and teachers changed their attitudes towards him |
| D．he decided he wouldn’t become a writer |
What stopped him telling others about his writing?
| A．The characters in his story. | B．His teacher. |
| C．His early experience. | D．His parents. |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．It is difficult for a person, who cares about what others say, to succeed. |
| B．It is important for a person to tell others what he wants to do. |
| C．It is necessary for a person, who wants to succeed, to take others’ advice. |
| D．It is impossible for an ordinary person to be a writer in the future. |
Which of the following is the best title?
| A．A famous writer | B．I Hate My Classmates and Teachers |
| C．I Never Write Right | D．A Genius Can Be a Writer |
Why should I teach my children history? That sounds like a stupid question to even ask. But, as I hear different home schooling teachers discuss history, I get the idea that there may be different reasons for teaching history. Let me briefly explain the three good reasons for studying history and two bad reasons for studying history.
The major reason I see for studying history is that we can learn from the past. I am convinced that the world would be a much better place if more people understood the successes and failures of the past and the things that made these successes and failures. However, as the unfortunately true statement goes “the one thing we seem to learn from history is that we don’t seem to learn from history ”.Perhaps at least in teaching history, to my children I can do a small part in changing this.
A second major reason for studying history is that it is hard to understand the current political climate in the absence of an understanding of its historical context. We can not even understand who we are and where we are without history, much less try to figure out where we are going or how we should get where we want to be.
I teach my children history, for one more reason. I purchased a set of historical audio tapes for our children. My seven-year-old son listened to them over and over. It was my hope that he would become inspired by the accomplishments of people like the Wright brothers to accomplish things by himself. I think that it is good that we celebrate the accomplishments of people like Martin Luther King Jr. In doing so, young people are called on to stand for the principles that he stood for and accomplish what he accomplished. I also think that by studying people like Adolph Hitler, people can learn to stand against the things that he stood for.What message can we get from the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2?
A．Many people  aren’t clever enough to learn well from the past. |
| B．Many people fail to make good use of history and make the same mistakes. |
| C．Many people feel it hard to understand history. |
| D．Many people have no interest in studying history. |
In Paragraph 3, the author shows that history is useful because_____.
| A．it makes the current political situation go smoothly |
| B．it helps us realize the importance of historical events |
| C．it helps us understand why things are the way they are |
| D．it helps people accept the present situation where they live |
Some historical figures are mentioned in the last paragraph to show_____.
| A．people can be inspired to do good, while also learning to fight against evil |
| B．people may also learn from bad historical figures |
| C．more celebrations should be held to honor their achievements |
| D．today’s people can also achieve what they achieved |
What would be talked about in the following paragraph?
| A．How to teach history effectively. |
| B．Some negative reasons for studying history. |
| C．How to get more people to study history. |
| D．Some bad historical figures. |
I am a good mother to three children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent.
I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today.
So here’s what I wanted to tell you today：Get a life. A real life, not a desire of the next promotion, the bigger pay-check…
Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an e-mail. Write a letter. And realize that life is the best thing and that you have no business taking it for granted.
It is so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, and our minutes. It is so easy to existinstead of to live. I learned to live many years ago. Something really, really bad happened to me, and something that changed my life in ways that, if I had my choice, it would never have been changed at all. And what I learned from it is what, today, seems to be the hardest lesson of all.
I learned to love the journey, not the de
stination. I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and totally. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned.
By telling them this：Read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a deadly illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived. It can be inferred from the passage that_____.
| A．the author is a success in personal life |
| B．the author didn’t try her best to work well |
| C．the author spent all her time caring for her children |
| D．the author likes traveling very much |
How did the author form her view of life?
| A．Through social experience. | B．By  learning from her friends |
| C．Through an unfortunate experience | D．From her children and husband. |
By the underlined sentence “ It is so easy to exist instead of to live” in the fifth paragraph, the author really means that people tend to_____.
| A．make a living rather than live a real life |
| B．work rather than enjoy life |
| C．waste a lot in life |
| D．forget the most important lessons in life |
What’s the author’s attitude towards work?
| A．Do it well to serve others. |
| B．Earn enough money to make life better. |
| C．Try your best to get higher position and pay. |
| D．Don’t let it affect your real life. |
A Charlotte, N.C., man was charged with first-degree murder of a 79-year-old woman whom police said he scared to death. In an attempt to evade policemen after a bank robbery, the Associated Press reports that 20-year-old Larry Whitfield broke into the home of Mary Parnell. Police say he didn’t touch Parnell but that she died after suffering a heart attack that was caused by terror. Can the guy be held responsible for the woman’s death? Prosecutors(公诉人) said that he can under the state’s murder rule, which allows someone to be charged with murder if he or she causes another person’s death while committing or fleeing from a severe crime like robbery—even if he or she doesn’t kill someone on purpose.
But, medically speaking, can someone actually be frightened to death? We asked Martin Samuels, chairman of the neurology department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Absolutely, no question about it.
The body has a natural protective method called the fight-or-flight response(战或逃反应), which was originally described by Walter Cannon，the chairman of Harvard University’s physiology department from 1906 to 1942. If, in the wild, an animal is faced with a life-threatening situation, the autonomic nervous system responds by increasing heart rate, increasing blood flow to the muscles, and slowing digestion, among other things. All of this increases the chances of succeeding in a fight or running away from an aggressive beast. This process certainly would be of help to primitive humans. However, in the modern world there is obvious decline of the fight-or-flight response.
The autonomic nervous system uses the chemical messenger to send signals to various parts of the body t
o activate the fight-or-flight response. This chemical is toxic in large amounts; it damages the organs such as the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. It is believed that almost all sudden deaths are caused by damage to the heart. There is almost no other organ that would fail so fast as to cause sudden death. Kidney failure, liver failure, those things don’t kill you suddenly.
By the way, any strong positive or negative emotions such as happiness or sadness can cause the same result. There are people who have died in intercourse or in religious passion. There was a case of a golfer who hit a hole in one, turned to his partner and said, “I can die now”, and then he dropped dead. For about seven days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon there was an increase of sudden cardiac death among New Yorkers. Why the Charlotte, N.C., man was charged?
A. Because he threatened the policemen to kill an old woman.
B. Because he caused an old woman’s terror and she died.
C. Because he beat an old woman and caused her heart attack
D. Because he murdered an old woman while robbing a bank. Which of the following about the fight-or-flight response is true?
A. The fight-or-flight response was raised and proved by Martin A. Samuels.
B. It is a natural protective method that can’t be found in all creatures but humans.
C. The ancient humans had a superior fight-or-flight response than modern ones.
D. The fight-or-flight response is beneficial to both our actions and organs.What activity can we infer is less likely to damage the organs?
| A．Winning a big lottery. | B．Missing a dead family. |
| C．Watching a horror movie. | D．Listening to a sweet song. |
The purpose of the passage is_________.
| A．to explain why people will die of a heart attack |
| B．to offer some advice on protecting us from heart failure |
| C．to compare different kinds of feelings to cause a death |
| D．to show strong emotions can cause a sudden death |
The strong fear of high school math is lost here among the blue light of computer screens and the sounds of typing keyboard．
A fanfare （喇叭声） plays from a speaker as a student passes a chapter test．Nearby another student is watching a video lecture．Another works out a math problem in her notebook 
before clicking on a multiple-choice answer on her screen．
Their teacher at Agoura High School, US, Russell Stephans, sits at the back of the room, watching as scores pop up in real time on his computer grade sheet．One student has passed a level, the data shows; another is retaking a quiz．
"Whoever thought this up makes life so much easier," Stephans says．
This textbook-free classroom is by no means the norm（常态）, but it may be someday．Slowly, but in increasing numbers, schools across the US are replacing the heavy and expensive textbook with its lighter and cheaper cousin: the digital textbook．
A digital textbook can be downloaded, projected and printed, and can range from simple text to a course filled with multimedia and links to Internet content．Some versions （版本） must be purchased; others are "open source" —free and available online to anyone．
Some praise the technology as a way to save schools' money, replace outdated books and better engage students．Others say most schools don't have the resources to join in, or they question the quality of open-source content．
Paper books still hold the highest percentage of the US textbook market, with digital textbooks making up less than 5 percent, according to analyst Kathy Mickey of Simba Information, a market research group．
But that is changing, as grade schools follow the lead of US universities and schools in other countries, including South Korea and Turkey．
California made the largest embrace （拥抱） of digital textbooks this summer when it approved 10 free high school math and science titles developed by college professors．The state left the choice to use them up to individual schools．
"The textbooks are outdated, as far as I'm concerned, and there's no reason why our schools should have our students pull around these old-fashioned and heavy and expensive books," Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said this summer．
But some disagree with the idea that digital textbooks will improve education quality．
"Keep in mind that with open-source materials, you have to ask: 'Where are they coming from?'" said Jay Diskey, executive director of the Association of American Publishers' school division．"Is it a trusted source? Is it based on real research?"
Diskey said traditional textbooks offer a comprehensive course, while some open-source texts provide only bits and pieces．"There can be quite a difference of content and accuracy," he said．"In many cases, you get what you pay for．"The writer's purpose in writing the passage is to ____.
| A．explain how to use digital textbooks |
| B．predict the future of paper textbooks |
| C．describe the current use of digital textbooks and present arguments about it |
| D．explain the difference between paper textbooks and digital ones |
What is Schwarzenegger's opinion of traditional textbooks?
| A．He is against getting rid of them． |
| B．He wants to have them replaced with digital ones． |
| C．Soon they will no longer be used． |
| D．He believes that they are to blame for the poor quality of education in California |
Diskey holds the view that.
| A．the government shouldn't strengthen the use of open-source digital texts |
| B．digital textbooks make up for the shortcomings of traditional textbooks． |
| C．paper textbooks and digital ones both have advantages |
| D．traditional textbooks have more reliable content |
According to the text, which of the following is TRUE?
| A．Math is easier with the use of computers． |
| B．It is believed that digital books will replace traditional ones． |
| C．Textbook-free classes are the main form of teaching in the US schools． |
| D．Not all people are in favor of replacing paper textbooks with digital ones． |
Would you like to be a king or queen? To have people waiting on you hand and foot? Many Americans experience this royal treatment every day. How? By being customers. The American idea of customer service is to make each customer the center of attention. Need proof? Just listen to the commercials. Most of them sound like the McDonald’s ad: “We do it all for you.” Actually, not all stores in America roll out the red carpet for their customers. But wherever you go, good customer service means making customers feel special.
People going shopping in America can expect to be treated with respect from the very beginning. Most places don’t have a “furniture street” or a “computer road” which allow yo
u to compare prices easily. Instead, people often “let their fingers do the walking” through the store hot lines. From the first “hello”, customers receive a satisfying response to their questions. This initial contact can help them decide where to shop.
When customers get to the store, they are treated as honored guests. Customers don’t usually find store clerks sitting around watching TV or playing cards. Instead, the clerks greet them warmly and offer to help them find what they want. In most stores, the clear signs that label each department make shopping a breeze. Customers usually don’t have to ask how much items cost, since prices are clearly marked. And unless they’re at a flea market or a yard sale, they don’t bother trying to
bargain.
When customers are ready to check out, they find the nearest and shortest checkout lane. But as Murphy’s Law would have it, whichever lane they get in, all the other lanes will move faster. Good stores open new checkout lanes when the lanes get too long. Some even offer express lan
es for customers with 10 items or less. After they pay for their purchases, customers receive a smile and a warm “thank you” from the clerk. Many stores even allow customers to take their shopping carts out to the parking lot. That way, they don’t have to carry heavy bags out to the car. By quoting (引用) the McDonald’s ad: “We do it all for you”, the author intends to_______.
| A．suggest that customers believe what commercials say deeply |
| B．show readers the American idea on good customer service |
| C．express all the stores pay much attention to the customers |
| D．persuade readers to choose the stores with ads correctly |
In the USA, what may you do at first if you want to do some shopping?
| A．To visit a professional street with lots of similar stores. |
| B．To compare prices in many shops in the same street. |
| C．To make phone calls and get better shopping choices. |
| D．To receive other customers’ answers to the questions. |
The Underlined words “a breeze” in Para.3 most probably means _________.
| A．an easy job | B．a trouble | C．a funny thing | D．a boring task |
Which of the followings shows American stores offer convenience to customers in this passage?
| A．The store clerks don’t usually sit around watching TV or playing cards. |
| B．Some stores offer price bargain to the customers like a yard sale. |
| C．The clerks give customers a smile and a warm “thank you” after paying. |
| D．Some stores open new checkout lanes when the lanes are crowded. |