1 . Bloggers (写博客的人) are sometimes accused of being egomaniacs (after all, what could make one more proud than to assume that the whole world is interested in your thoughts?) and some are the source of ridicule. With more than half of all blogs on the Internet written by under-19s, parents are increasingly worried that their youngsters are putting their personal safety at risk.

Perhaps parents should focus on the positive. For a lucky few, blogging has led to fame and fortune on a scale that most people can only dream of. One of the best-known of these is Maisie Lim, whose fashion blog Style Cookie is read by such famous people as Miuccia Prada, Anna Wintour and Lady Gaga. Maisie is regularly invited to top fashion shows around the world and has thousands of fans.

Due to the fact that Maisie is only 15 years old, her parents have received a lot of criticism for letting her achieve so much at such a young age. Some people think it is inappropriate for a teen to become so heavily involved in the “adult” world. Maisie, though, is just one example of a growing phenomenon: the teen blogger businessperson.

“I was shopping at discount shops, taking photos of my clothes and writing down my thoughts. Starting a style blog seemed like the next logical step because it was a way to share things that inspired me jellyfish with a global audience. I started when I was 11, which was before blogs became big. I never dreamed it would take off.” says Maisie.

Besides updating her blog, Maisie spends time running a web magazine for teenage girls and employs four editors as well as numerous writers, illustrators and photographers.

For more inspiration, look at Suke Smith’s lifestyle blog Pay it Forward. Due to the success followers on Twitter. At 16, Suke is considered experienced on the blogging scene.

Despite the success of the teenage bloggers like Maisie and Suke, it can be tough for teens to be taken seriously because of their age. “But if you’re offering something a bit different, and you’re passionate about what you do, people will notice you,” explains Maisie.

1. The word “egomaniacs” (paragraph 1) most probably refers to bloggers who ________.

A．like to	B．worry about their parents
C．spend too much time online	D．have too much self-importance

2. When Maisie’s blog became successful, she felt ________.

A．concerned

B．surprised

C．uncomfortable

D．grateful

3. One reason Maisie gives for her success as a blogger is that ________.

A．she employs a team of helpers

B．she is often invited to top fashion shows

C．she takes a tough attitude toward criticism

D．she shares things with great enthusiasm

4. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A．Inspirational Teen Blogging	B．An Issue of Parental Concern
C．Different Views on Teenagers	D．Professional Fashion Bloggers

2 . Hetty Robinson learnt all about money when very young. As a child, she read the financial pages of the newspaper to her rich father. Her father died when Hetty was 30, and she inherited $1 million. When she herself died in 1916, she left almost $100 million to her two children.

Hetty made her money on the New York stock exchange. She was a financial genius. She made money so easily that people called her the Witch of Wall Street. But although she was one of the richest women in the world, she counted every cent and spent as little as possible. She didn’t own a house, because she didn’t want to pay property taxes. So she and her children lived in cheap hotels.

She spent almost nothing on clothes, and always wore the same long black dress. She washed it herself, but to save soap she only washed the bottom of the dress, where it touched the ground. Other people had their own offices, but Hetty used a desk in the bank where she kept her money, because it didn’t cost anything. She sat in the bank and ate her sandwiches while she bought and sold stocks and shares. If the bank complained, she just moved all her money to another bank.

Hetty’s family paid the price for her meanness. When she was 33 she married a millionaire, Edward Green, and they had two children. But Green lost all his money, so she left him. When her son, Ned, injured his knee, Hetty didn’t want to pay for a doctor, so she took him to a free hospital for poor people. Unfortunately the doctor knew Hetty was rich and he asked for money. Hetty refused and took the boy away. His leg got worse and two years later doctors removed it.

But eventually Ned got his revenge. At the age of 81 Hetty had an argument with a shop assistant about the price of a bottle of milk. She became so angry that she had a heart attack and died. So Hetty’s meanness finally killed her. Ned inherited half his mother’s fortune, and he spent it all on parties, holidays and expensive jewellery.

1. What fact can be learned about Hetty Robinson from the passage?

A．She came from a poor family.	B．She worked for a bank.
C．She was nice to her son.	D．She died from extreme anger.

2. Hetty Robinson was called the Witch of Wall Street mainly because ________.

A．she was fond of reading financial pages of the newspaper

B．she made a huge fortune easily through stocks and shares

C．she liked wearing the same long black dress every day

D．she turned out to be the richest woman in New York

3. Which of the following best describes Hetty Robinson?

A．Talented but not generous.	B．Wealthy and kind.
C．Aggressive but not diligent.	D．Curious and lucky.

3 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Start with the end and work backwards

When Jason Hoelscher was an undergraduate of fine art studies, there weren’t any professional development classes. So ambition and the timely realization     1     he would have to determine “what’s next” on his own urged Jason to engage his future self to find direction. It was 1996, and he was finishing his BFA (Bachelor of Fine Art) in Denver. He was faced with the choice of sitting back to wait for something     2     (happen), or pursuing a path into the unknown. He chose the latter.

Jason set up a plan that in five years he     3     (show) his work in the top gallery in that area of the country. This five-year goal gave him a starting point     4     which to work backwards.

By setting the goal, all of Jason’s efforts     5     (point) in the same direction. He showed up at different art show openings, and researched as best he could to make     6     familiar with the market environment.

As a result of showing up, Jason took opportunities     7     got him closer to his goal. He sent work to a student show and was accepted by Robin Rule, the owner of Rule Gallery.     8     (inspire), Jason spent the next month making new work.

In April of 1997, Jason went back to Rule Gallery with his new work.     9     scared to death, he looked confident at the gallery meeting. When he left, he left as the newest addition to the rule gallery roster (花名册). He had his first exhibition there one year later.

Jason could have stopped with the show selection, but what he really wanted was gallery representation. He struck while the iron was hot, and in     10     (do) so, shortened his five-year plan into a year-and-a-half.