When he was just 19, Michael Dell started the company that would dominate the industry.

At the time, IBM personal computers sold in stores for about ＄3,000. After taking them apart and rebuilding them, Dell realized the components (零部件) could be bought for one-fourth the price. Soon he was buying components to reduce the cost. A good business decision, but it meant his room was starting to look like a mechanic’s shop.

“I was quite excited about the possibilities for personal computers and how they could change society. I had this idea to sell the products directly to the users over the phone”, he said. College plans and his parents’ expectations bothered him a lot. But Michael Dell was determined. He drove off to the University of Texas at Austin in August 1983 in a car he’d bought with earnings from selling newspapers. He was surprised that his mother wasn’t suspicious about the three computers in the backseat. By November, news reached his parents that he wasn’t attending classes. On a surprise visit to Austin, they caught their son on spot. Michael Dell told his dad that he wanted to compete with IBM.

Although Michael agreed to focus on his studies, the business chances and the timing couldn’t have been better. The public was becoming more interested in computers, but no one was producing them. In early May, a week before his final exams, Michael started Dell computer Corporation with ＄1,000. He took his exams, and then dropped out of college at the end of his freshman year. It was time to try out his direct-to-customer business model.

“Three years later”, Dell says, “we had already achieved annual sales of about ＄150 million, I was 22 years old then.”

1.What does the underlined word in paragraph 1 mean?

A. affect                      B. develop                            C. support                            D. lead

2.Which of the following is true according to paragraph 2?

A. Dell discovered a good chance to make money

B. Dell could buy a computer at one-fourth the price

C. IBM made little money from personal computers

D. Dell rebuilt computers in a mechanic’s shop

3.When Dell’s parents learned about his absence from class, they       .

A. tried to help with his business                         

B. were too suspicious to accept it

C. wanted him to go hack to class                        

D. encouraged him to compete with IBM

4.It can be inferred from the article that       .

A. Dell was tired of his college life                       

B. Dell was not devoted to his study at college

C. Dell’s college life helped him greatly     

D. Dell didn’t finish his final exams

5.Dell’s experiences show that       .

A. determination and opportunity lead to success

B. family support plays an import in one’s success

C. there’s no need for all of us to go to college

D. we should insist on whatever we are doing

 

It doesn’t matter when and how much a person sleeps , but everyone needs some rest to stay alive. That’s what all doctors thought , until they heard about Herpin. Herpin, it was said , never slept. Could this be true? The doctors decided to see this strange man themselves.

Herpin was 90 years old when the doctors came to his home in New Jersey. They thought for sure that he got some sleep of some kind. So they stayed with him and watched every movement he made. But they were surprised. Though they watched him hour after hour and day after day, they never saw him sleeping. In fact, he did not even own a bed. He never needed one.

The only rest that Herpin sometimes got was sitting in a comfortable chair and reading newspapers. The doctors were puzzled by this strange continuous sleeplessness. They asked him many questions, hoping to find an answer. They found only one answer that might explain his condition. Herpin remembered some talk about his mother having been injured several days before he was born. But that was all. Was this the real reason? No one could be sure. Herpin died at the age of 94.

1.The main idea of this passage is that_____

A．large numbers of people do not need sleep

B．a(chǎn) person was found who actually didn’t need any sleep

C．everyone needs some sleep to stay alive

D．people can live longer by trying not to sleep

2.The doctors came to visit Herpin, expecting_____

A．to cure him of his sleeplessness

B．to find that his sleeplessness was not really true

C．to find out why some old people did not need any sleep

D．to find a way to free people from the need of sleeping

3.After watching him closely, the doctors came to believe that Herpin_____

A．needed some kind of sleep

B．was too old to need any sleep

C．needed no sleep at all

D．often sleep in a chair

4.One reason that might explain Herpin’s sleeplessness was _____

A．his mother’s injury before he was born

B．that he had gradually got rid of the sleeping habit

C．his magnificent physical condition

D．that he hadn’t got a bed

5.Herpin’s condition could be regarded as ______

A．a(chǎn) common one     B．one that could be cured                  C．very healthy D．a(chǎn) rare one

 

February has long been a month of romance. With the sweet smell of roses in the air, romantic films hit cinemas and love stories fill newspapers and magazines.
On the 14th day, it is a custom for a boy to take his girlfriend out to dinner, buy her flowers and chocolates, write poems, sing to her or even spell out her name with rose petals! This is what you see on Valentine’s Day, a day named after Valentine who was a priest(牧師) in the third century Rome. When the emperor (皇帝) decided that single men could become better soldiers than those with wives, he didn’t allow marriage.
But Valentine continued to perform marriage ceremonies for young lovers in secret. When his actions were discovered, the emperor sentenced him to death. While in prison, it is said that Valentine fell in love with the daughter of his prison guard. Before his death, he wrote her a letter, which he signed “From your Valentine”, an expression that is still in use today. Valentine died for what he believed in and so he was made a Saint (圣徒), as well as becoming one of history’s most romantic characters.
Nowadays, Valentine’s Day is also popular among Chinese young people. Some students are planning to make Valentine’s cards for parents, teachers and friends. Others want to hold parties at which they will exchange small gifts and eat heart-shaped cakes. The idea is to have fun and encourage people to share in the spirit of St. Valentine.
【小題1】Why did the emperor in Rome not allow marriage in his country?

A．Because there were few women in his country at that time.

B．Because he thought men without wives could be better soldiers.

C．Because there wasn’t enough food for so many people.

D．Because he wanted to control the birth rate.

【小題2】Valentine was put into prison because ______.

A．he killed one of the soldiers

B．he stole a lot of food

C．he didn’t obey the emperor’s order

D．he didn’t want to be a soldier

【小題3】 The last paragraph mainly tells us ______.

A．students in China send cards to their teachers

B．it is a good idea to celebrate Valentine’s Day in China

C．it is interesting to celebrate Valentine’s Day in China

D．Valentine’s Day is also popular in China now

【小題4】What is the author’s feelings toward Valentine?.

A．Honor and respect.	B．Love and joy.
C．Praise and disbelief.	D．Sorrow and humor.

【小題5】Which of the following can NOT be inferred from the passage?

A．Valentine’s Day is a Festival in honor of a person.

B．Valentine is a brave priest who died for what he believed in.

C．All the young people in the 3rd Century could not get married freely.

D．People at that time in Rome lived in a hard time under the control of the emperor.

Recently I spoke to some of my students about what they wanted to do after they graduated, and what kind of job prospects they thought they had.

Given that I teach students who are training to be doctors, I was surprised to find that most thought that they would not be able to get the jobs they wanted without “outside help”. “What kind of help is that?” I asked, expecting them to tell me that they would need a relative or family friend to help them out.

“Surgery(外科手術(shù))”, one replied. I was pretty alarmed by that response. It seems that the graduates of today are increasingly willing to go under the knife to get ahead of others when it comes to getting a job. One girl told me that she was considering surgery to increase her height. “They break your legs, put in special extending screws, and slowly expand the gap between the two ends of the bone as it regrows, you can get at least 5cm taller!”

At that point, I was shocked. I am short, I can’t deny that, but I don’t think I would put myself through months of agony(痛苦) just to be a few centimeters taller. I don’t even bother to wear shoes with thick soles, as I’m not trying to hide the fact that I am just not tall! It seems to me that there is a trend toward wanting “perfection”, and that is an ideal that just does not exist in reality.

No one is born perfect, yet magazines, TV shows and movies present images of thin, tall, beautiful people as being the norm. Advertisements for slimming aids, beauty treatments and cosmetic surgery clinics fill the pages of newspapers, further creating an idea that “perfection” is a requirement, and that it must be purchased, no matter what the cost. In my opinion, skills, rather than appearance, should determine how successful a person is in his chosen career.

1.We can know from the passage that the author works as ______.

A. a doctor              B. a model              C. a teacher             D. a reporter

2.Many graduates today turn to cosmetic surgery to______.

A. marry a better man\woman

B. become a model

C. get an advantage over others in job-hunt

D. attract more admirers

3.According to the passage, the author believes that ______.

A. everyone should purchase perfection, whatever the cost

B. it’s right for graduates to ask for others to help them out in hunting for jobs

C. media are to blame for misleading young people in their seeking for surgery

D. it is one’s appearance instead of skills that really matters in one’s career

4. What does the author think of his height?

A. He hates to be called a short man.

B. He tries to increase his height through surgery.

C. He always wears shoes with thick soles to hide the fact.

D. He just accepts it as it is

 

If there is one thing I’m quite sure about, it is that in a hundred years from now we still be reading newspapers. Not those newspapers are a necessity. Even now some people get most of the news from the television or have the radio switched on in the background or in the car. Many buy a paper only on Saturday or Sunday. But for most people a newspaper has become a habit passed down from generation to generation.

The basic British character won’t change, and one of the characteristics of the British is that we don’t much like talking to each other when we get up. So what better way is there to keep yourself thinking in the morning than to wrap yourself in a newspaper?

Over the past couple of centuries, human beings have developed a close relationship with the newspaper. It has become as natural as breathing or enjoying the sun. And it is not just the British who love newspapers. On suburban trains in Calcutta, for instance, just one person in the whole car will buy a newspaper and read aloud the best bits to his fellow passengers, much to everybody’s enjoyment.

The nature of what is news may change. What essentially (本質(zhì)上) makes news is what affects our lives and the big political stories, the coverage of the wars, earthquakes and other disasters, will continue much the same. I think there will be more coverage of scientific research, though. It’s already happening in areas that may directly affect our lives, like genetic engineering. In the future I think there will be more coverage of scientific explanations of why we feel as we do, whether it’s love or depression. We develop a better understanding of how the brain operates and what our feelings really are.

It’s quite possible that in the next century newspaper will be transmitted electronically from the national equivalents of Fleet Street (倫敦的艦隊(duì)街，以報(bào)館集中而著稱) and printed out in our own homes. In fact, I’m pretty sure that that is how it will happen in future. You’ll be probably selecting from a menu, making up your own bespoke newspaper by picking out the things you want to read and say. You might even have an intelligent screening device (裝置) to do the job for you.

I think people have got it wrong when they talk about the competition between the different media. They actually have a relationship, feeding off each other. It was once predicted that television would kill off newspapers, which hasn’t happened. What is read on the printed page is more enduring (持久的) than pictures on a flickering screen or sound lost in the sky. And as for the Internet, it’s never really satisfying to read something just on a screen.

1.The author of the passage is most probably from _______________.

A．Russia            B．India             C．Britain            D．America

2.According to the passage, the future of newspapers ____________.

A．will be mainly connected with scientific research

B．will report more important political activities

C．will directly cover more on scientific research

D．will build a bridge between different people

3.The underlined part “bespoke newspaper” of the passage probably refers to _____________.

A．a(chǎn) newspaper which dares to report the truth

B．a(chǎn) newspaper edited to one’s own interest

C．a(chǎn) newspaper edited and published for the public

D．a(chǎn) newspaper which only covers the life of family members

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

A．It was centuries ago that newspapers came into being .

B．Televisions have taken the place of newspapers .

C．The Internet will gradually take the place of newspapers.

D．The nature of news may remain the same over generations.