2 . Recently I’ve had two good roles on television. But when I was just getting started in theater work 17 years ago, I never thought I’d make it. Back then I was recovering from surgery and had been off work for six months. Even worse, as a single mother with three youngsters, I had no place to live in. I felt hopeless.

One Sunday morning I saw actor Robert Young on the television talking about his faith: Believe yourself! If we confidently take that first step, well take the next, until we reach our goal.

The first step was scary. After I went working part-time, I looked for an apartment. The ones I saw were either too expensive, or I couldn’t raise my children in them. I knew a house, not an apartment, was more suitable for me. However, after seeing several houses, my confidence was shaken. I found two seemed right, but when I was about to make an offer, someone else had ordered.

I remembered a saying, “When one door closes, a better one opens.” I wouldn’t just sit staring at the closed one but got up and struggled on. In a real estate (房地产) agent, I found a small house with proper price. To buy it, I had to borrow $ 3,000 for a down payment and get a mortgage (按揭). Common sense argued that a mortgage for a single mother working part-time was impossible. But I had enough self-confidence without following common sense.

After getting the house, my new self-confidence grew. Later , when I began filling small parts in television productions, that self-confidence showed. I'd always played the role as the director wanted. Now I find myself freer to interpret (演绎) it.

Self-confidence has made it through life. Trouble can be scary at first, but each time I take that step, I believe I will win the next.

1. How did the author feel when entering television industry at first?

A．Hopeful.

B．Embarrassed.

C．Pessimistic.

D．Aggressive.

2. Why does the author mention her experience of finding a house?

A．To show the value of self-confidence.

B．To share her different life experiences.

C．To introduce her toughest part of life.

D．To tell us her ways to get over difficulty.

3. What mainly helped the author perform well in her later acting?

A．Her sense of confidence.	B．The difficulty in her life.
C．The director’s good direction.	D．Her success in her first attempt.

4. What may be the best title for the text?

A．Appear on the Stage	B．Struggle with Life
C．Stick to Your Plan	D．Believe in Yourself

3 . When I was in my first year of high school, I had a terrible time when every area of my life was a disaster. I felt so hopeless and alone that I thought everything was impossible.

On one such day, I was walking from class across the school to catch the school bus home, with my head down, fighting tears of total hopelessness, when a young man came down the sidewalk toward me. Though I had never seen him before, I did not want him to see that I was in such low spirits, so I turned my head away and hoped to hurry past. I thought he'd walk on by, but he moved until he was directly in front of me, waited until I looked up, and then smiled.

Looking into my eyes, this stranger spoke in a quiet voice："Whatever is wrong will pass. You're going to be OK, just hang on." He then smiled again and walked away.

I can't explain the effect of that man's unexpected kindness and caring! He gave me the one thing that I'd lost completely—hope. I looked for him in our school to thank him, but never saw him again.

That was thirty years ago. And I've never forgotten that moment. Over the years, whenever I see someone who is in trouble, I will always think of that young man and try to give a flash of hope in the dark wherever I can. I carry things for people when they are too heavy for them, sit with naughty babies in the waiting room while their mothers are busy, or talk to tired couples at the checkout line or it could be anything.

If you keep your head up, your heart will show you the place that needs hope.
1. Where did the writer meet with the young man？

A．In the school.

B．In the school bus.

C．In the classroom.

D．In the library.

2. From the passage we may infer that the author ________．

A．had known the young man for a long time

B．made friends with the young man afterwards

C．was grateful to that young man very much

D．avoided meeting the young man since then

3. The author has given a lot of help to others in order to ________．

A．show his sympathy to those who are badly ill

B．give others hope of life when they are in trouble

C．realize his promise made to the young man

D．get respect from those who were helped by him

4. It can be known from the passage that ________．

A．the young man always tried his best to help those who were in trouble

B．it was the young man's smile and words that made the author feel hopeful

C．the author had never been praised by others before he met with the young man

D．the author traveled to a lot of places to look for the young man but failed

4 . Najib is an Afghan who grew up in Iran. He led a tough life. When he found his children would be in the same situation, his family initially returned to Afghanistan. But with the country filled with conflicts, they decided to leave for Indonesia.

“When we first came here, we were in a bad situation. Its language, culture and even weather were different. We had moved away from friends and family,” says Najib. “I was in a tough position but I acted strong because there were no other choices.”

Refugees (难民) cannot work in Indonesia and there are limited choices for refugee children to attend local schools. Determined to avoid such a fate, a group of refugees in Puncak took action and scraped together (东拼西凑) their resources to set up a school—the Refugee Learning Center (RLC).

“Our only goal and task is to provide basic education, and prepare the refugee children for their future,” says Abdullah Sarwari. “We’re also trying to provide a normal life as much as possible for them.”

The RLC has also started offering Bahasa Indonesia classes to the refugee community. “Between the refugee and the local community, I feel like there’s a language barrier which stops the refugee from having an honest and open interaction with Indonesians,” says Abdullah.

“If you try your best, to learn the language of a particular place or country, it really helps make things easier,” says Najib. He is among those who signed up for classes, although he admits progress has been slow. But life has improved in some ways for him and his family.

Najib says, “The centre is an opportunity for refugee to show that they are not a burden. If they have the opportunity, they can accomplish big and great things like this.”

1. Why did Najib decide to leave for Indonesia?

A．To escape the conflict in Afghanistan.

B．To experience Indonesian culture.

C．To help refugees in Indonesia.

D．To get equal rights to vote.

2. What’s the main purpose of founding the RLC for refugee children?

A．To help them learn English.

B．To make them stay away from bad luck.

C．To provide them with chances to live in Indonesia.

D．To make them have access to receiving basic education.

3. What can we learn about Najib according to the text?

A．He is the leader of refugees.

B．He founded the RLC himself.

C．He studies Indonesian in the RLC.

D．He lives a wealthy life in Indonesia.

4. What’s the best title for this text?

A．The Goal of Founding a School

B．A School for Refugees by Refugees

C．A Reason for Leaving for Indonesia

D．The Benefit of Learning a New Language

5 . Before he sailed round the world alone, Francis Chichester had already surprised his friends several times. He had tried to fly round the world but failed. That was in 1931.

The years passed. He gave up flying and began sailing. He enjoyed it greatly. Chichester was already 58 years old when he won the first solo transatlantic sailing race. His old dream of going round the world came back, but this time he would sail.His friends and doctors did not think he could do it, as he had lung cancer. But Chichester was determined to carry out his plan. In August 1966, at the age of nearly 65, an age when many men retire, he began the greatest voyage of his life.

Chichester covered 14100 miles before stopping in Sydney, Australia. This was more than twice the distance anyone had previously sailed alone. He arrived in Australia on 12 December, just 107 days out from England. He received a warm welcome from the Australians and from his family who had flown there to meet him. On shore, Chichester could not walk without help. Everybody said the same thing: he had done enough; he must not go any further. But he did not listen.

After resting in Sydney for a few weeks, Chichester set off once more in spite of his friends' attempts to dissuade him. The second half of his voyage was by far the more dangerous part, during which he sailed round the treacherous Cape Horn.After succeeding in sailing round Cape Horn, Chichester sent the following radio message to London: "I feel as if I had wakened from a nightmare. Wild horses could not drag me down to Cape Horn and that sinister Southern Ocean again."

Just before 9 o'clock on Sunday evening 28 May 1967, he arrived back in England, where a quarter of a million people were waiting to welcome him.Queen Elizabeth II knighted(授以爵位) him with the very sword that Queen Elizabeth I had used almost 400 years earlier to knight Sir Francis Drake after he had sailed round the world for the first time.The whole voyage from England and back had covered 28,500 miles. It had taken him nine months, of which the sailing time was 226 days. He had done what he wanted to accomplish.

1. What can we learn about Chichester?

A．He failed the solo transatlantic sailing race in 1959.

B．He was a brave and determined man.

C．The second half of his voyage was not as dangerous as the first half.

D．The radio message expressed his concern about the sailing.

2. What did Queen Elizabeth II do after Chichester arrived back in England?

A．She called on the English to learn form him.

B．She was waiting to congratulate on his success in sailing.

C．She thought poorly of his achievements.

D．She knighted him for praising him.

3. We can infer from the text that ____

A．Anyone who had sailed alone traveled less than 7050miles before 1966

B．Chichester sailed round the Atlantic in 1931

C．Most of the English retire at the age of 65

D．Chichester died of lung cancer in 1967 after he went back to England

6 . Larry Ritsema was out for an early morning jog around his neighborhood on one weekend. On a quiet street, he began to feel weak. Suddenly, everything went black. Larry fell to the ground.

Less than a minute later, Tom Alguire passed by on his bicycle. He caught sight of a man lying on the roadside, so he jumped off his bike and ran over. He recognized Larry immediately, because he had been Larry's doctor for nearly 20 years.

Dr Tom felt for a pulse at first. Finding none, he began to give Larry first aid. It wouldn^ restart Larry's heart, but it would keep the blood flowing until someone else arrived. Tom could only hope someone would come by soon, around six o'clock in the morning on a holiday weekend. Tom couldn⁹t stop pressing Larry's chest to run for help—Larry's brain cells would die without the blood. And Tom didn't have a mobile phone with him.

Soon, a car did drive by. But the driver ignored Tom's appeal for help. What was he going to do? Tom was very worried. Finally, another car came down the road, driven by Michael Salidt, a US Coast Guard Officer. Michael wasn't one to pass up a chance to help a person in need. He quickly dialed 911.

Doctors then found that Larry had suffered a heart attack and there were severe blockages in two of Larry^ major arteries (动脉）.       only the timely arrival of Dr Tom saved his life.

How did Dr Tom happen to be bicycling that morning down that quiet street? It turned out that as Tom rode, his bike chain fell off. He spent about eight minutes fitting it back ； otherwise, he would have seen nothing of Larry's problem.

1. Doctor Tom gave Larry first aid in order to______.

A．wake up Larry	B．restart Larry;s pulse
C．keep Larry's blood flowing	D．stop Larry from bleeding

2. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Michael Saliot was a man always ready to help others.

B．Tom Alguire saw Larry when Larry feirto the ground.

C．Larry Ritsema went to work early on foot that morning.

D．Tom filled his bike chain back after Larry was sent to hospital.

3. We can infer that _______.

A．only Tom can save Larry

B．it's not good to run in the early morning

C．Larry's neighbors were selfish

D．Larry took Tom as his doctor twenty years ago

4. What's the best title for the text?

A．A kind-hearted doctor	B．Saved by the coincidence
C．How to save a patient?	D．A lucky runner

7 . When I was in fourth grade, I worked part-time as a paperboy. Mrs. Stanley was one of my customers. She’d watch me coming down her street, and by the time I’d biked up to her doorstep, there’d be a cold drink waiting. I’d sit and drink while she talked.

Mrs. Stanley talked mostly about her dead husband, “Mr. Stanley and I went shopping this morning.” she’d say. The first time she said that, soda(汽水) went up my nose.

I told my father how Mrs. Stanley talked as if Mr. Stanley were still alive. Dad said she was probably lonely, and that I ought to sit and listen and nod my head and smile, and maybe she’d work it out of her system. So that’s what I did, and it turned out Dad was right. After a while she seemed content to leave her husband over at the cemetery(墓地).

I finally quit delivering newspapers and didn’t see Mrs. Stanley for several years. Then we crossed paths at a church fund-raiser(募捐活动). She was spooning mashed potatoes and looking happy. Four years before, she’d had to offer her paperboy a drink to have someone to talk with. Now she had friends. Her husband was gone, but life went on.

I live in the city now, and my paperboy is a lady named Edna with three kids. She asks me how I’m doing. When I don’t say “fine”, she sticks around to hear my problems. She’s lived in the city most of her life, but she knows about community. Community isn’t so much a place as it is a state of mind. You find it whenever people ask how you’re doing because they care, and not because they’re getting paid to do so. Sometimes it’s good to just smile, nod your head and listen.

1. Why did soda go up the author’s nose one time?

A．He was talking fast.	B．He was shocked.
C．He was in a hurry.	D．He was absent-minded.

2. Why did the author sit and listen to Mrs. Stanley according to Paragraph 3?

A．He enjoyed the drink.	B．He wanted to be helpful.
C．He took the chance to rest.	D．He tried to please his dad.

3. Which of the following can replace the underlined phrase “work it out of her system”?

A．recover from her sadness	B．move out of the neighborhood
C．turn to her old friends	D．speak out about her past

4. What does the author think people in a community should do?

A．Open up to others.	B．Depend on each other.
C．Pay for other’s help	D．Care about one another.

8 . Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One night I went to pick up a passenger at 2:30 AM. When I arrived to collect, I found the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window.
I walked to the door and knocked. “Just a minute,” answered a weak, elderly voice.
After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her eighties stood before me. By her side was a small suitcase.
I took the suitcase to the car, and then returned to help the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the car.
She kept thanking me for my kindness. “It’s nothing,” I told her. “I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated.”
“Oh, you’re such a good man,” she said. When we got into the taxi, she gave me an address, and then asked, “Could you drive through downtown?”
“It’s not the shortest way,” I answered quickly.
“Oh, I’m in no hurry,” she said. “I’m on my way to a hospice (临终医院). I don’t have any family left. The doctor says I don’t have very long.”
I quietly reached over and shut off the meter (计价器).
For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked, the neighborhood where she had lived, and the furniture shop that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.
Sometimes she’d ask me to slow down in front of a particular building and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.
At dawn, she suddenly said, “I’m tired. Let’s go now.”
We drove in silence to the address she had given me.
“How much do I owe you?” she asked.
“Nothing,” I said.
“You have to make a living,” she answered. “Oh, there are other passengers,” I answered.
Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly. Our hug ended with her remark, “You gave an old woman a little moment of joy.”
1. The old woman chose to ride through the city in order to ________.

A．show she was familiar with the city

B．see some places for the last time

C．let the driver earn more money

D．reach the destination on time

2. The taxi driver did not charge the old woman because he ________.

A．wanted to do her a favor

B．shut off the meter by mistake

C．had received her payment in advance

D．was in a hurry to take other passengers

3. What can we learn from the story?

A．Giving is always a pleasure.

B．People should respect each other.

C．An act of kindness can bring people great joy.

D．People should learn to appreciate others’ concern.

9 . He was the baby with no name. Found and taken from the north Atlantic 6 days after the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, his tiny body so moved the salvage（救援）workers that they called him “our baby. ” In their home port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, people collected money for a headstone in front of the baby's grave, carved with the words: “To the memory of an unknown child. ” He has rested there ever since.

But history has a way of uncovering its secrets. On Nov. 5, this year, three members of a family from Finland arrived at Halifax and laid fresh flowers at the grave. “This is our baby,” says Magda Schleifer, 68, a banker. She grew up hearing stories about a great-aunt named Maria Panula, 42, who had sailed on the Titanic for America to be reunited with her husband. According to the information Mrs. Schleifer had gathered, Panula gave up her seat on a lifeboat to search for her five children -- including a 13-month-old boy named Eino from whom she had become separated during the final minutes of the crossing. "We thought they were all lost in the sea," says Schleifer.

Now, using teeth and bone pieces taken from the baby's grave, scientists have compared the DNA from the Unknown Child with those collected from members of five families who lost relatives on the Titanic and never recovered the bodies. The result of the test points only to one possible person: young Eino. Now, the family sees: no need for a new grave. "He belongs to the people of Halifax," says Schleifer. "They've taken care of him for 90 years. "

Adapted from People, November 25, 2002
1. The baby travelled on the Titanic with his___________.

A．mother

B．parents

C．aunt

D．relatives

2. What is probably the boy's last name?

A．Schleiferi

B．Eino.

C．Magda.

D．Panula.

3. Some members of the family went to Halifax and put flowers at the child's grave on
Nov. 5__     .

A．1912

B．1954

C．2002

D．2004

4. This text is mainly about how______________.

A．the unknown baby's body was taken from the north Atlantic

B．the unknown baby was buried in Halifax, Nova Scotia

C．people found out who the unknown baby was

D．people took care of the unknown baby for 90 years