1 . Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the poet, publisher, painter, social activist and bookstore owner, has been San Francisco’s honored poet. He turns 100 this month, and the city is making preparations to celebrate him in style. Readings and performances and an open house will take place at City Lights, the sacred bookstore he co-founded in 1953.

On March 24, 1919, Lawrence Ferlinghetti was born in Yonkers, New York. After spending his early childhood in France, he received his BA from the University of North Carolina, an MA from Columbia University, and a PhD from the Sorbonne.

He is the author of more than thirty books of poetry, including Poetry as Insurgent Art; A Coney Island of the Mind. He has translated the works of a number of poets, including Nicanor Parra, Jacques Prevert, and Pier Paolo Pasolini. In addition to poetry, he is also the author of more than eight plays and three novels, including Little Boy: A Novel, Love in the Days of Rage and Her.

In 1953, Ferlinghetti and Peter Martin opened the City Lights bookstore in San Francisco, California. It became a nerve center for the Beats and other writers. Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and other writers from that era were Easterners who dropped into San Francisco for a spell. In 2001 it was made an official historic landmark. Now City Lights is almost certainly the best bookstore in the United States. It’s filled with serious world literature of all kinds.

If City Lights is a San Francisco institution, Ferlinghetti himself is as much of one. He has loomed over the city’s literary life. As a poet, he’s never been a critical favorite. But his flexible and plain-spoken and often powerful work — he has published more than 50 volumes — has found a wide audience. His collection “A Coney Island of the Mind” has sold more than 1 million copies, making it one of the best-selling American poetry books ever published.

1. What can we learn about Ferlinghetti from Paragraph 2?

A．He had a happy childhood.

B．He received normal education.

C．He had a gift for writing novels.

D．He had written lots of poetry.

2. Which of the following best describes Ferlinghetti according to Paragraph 3?

A．Flexible.

B．Optimistic.

C．Outspoken.

D．Productive.

3. Why is City Lights famous?

A．Because it is a nerve center for the youth.

B．Because its collections have a long history.

C．Because it is an official historic landmark.

D．Because it has many modern world literature.

4. What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A．To speak highly of a great poet.

B．To introduce some English poetry.

C．To promote values of City Lights.

D．To celebrate the birthday of Ferlinghetti.

2 . How the Elderly Are Treated Around the World

How cultures view and treat their elderly is closely linked to their most prized values and qualities.     1    

In the US and UK, Protestantism (新教) is at play. Western cultures tend to be youth-centric, stressing qualities like independence.     2     It ties a person’s value to his or her ability to work – something that becomes weaker in old age. As their health becomes worse, the elderly in these cultures often move to old people’s homes and nursing homes.

In France, parents are protected by law. It is difficult to imagine an Elderly Rights Law being a focus in the laws of many Western cultures. France did, however, pass a similar law in 2004.     3     One was a group of official statistics showing France had the highest rate of pensioner suicides in Europe, and the other was the aftermath of a heat wave that killed 15,000 people, most of whom were elderly and had been dead for weeks before they were found.

    4     Native American cultures traditionally accept death as a fact of life. In many Native American areas, elders are respected for their wisdom and life experiences. Within Native American families, it’s common for the elders to be expected to pass down their learning to younger members of the family.

The way to care for Chinese elders is changing. Chinese families traditionally view respect for one’s elders as the highest virtue, according to the Confucian tradition. Adult children are generally expected to care for their parents in their old age.     5     Nursing homes are beginning to become a more socially acceptable option for elderly care.

A．However, this tradition is beginning to break down due to rising lifetime and an aging population.

B．In the African-American area, death is seen as an opportunity to celebrate life.

C．Here’s what we can learn from other cultures about treating the elderly.

D．But China faces the unique problem of tending to an increasingly elderly population.

E．Native American elders pass down their knowledge.

F．It was only passed following two disturbing events, though.

G．This relates back to the Protestant work rules.