Rising above the names

　　 I was shopping in the supermarket when I heard a young voice.

　 “Mom，come here！There's this lady here my size！”

　　 The mother rushed to her son；then she turned to me to apologize.

　　 I smiled and told her，“It's okay.”Then I talked to the boy，“Hi，I'm Darryl Kramer.How are you？”

　　 He studied me from head to toe，and asked，“Are you a little mommy？”

　 “Yes，I have a son，”I answered.

　 “Why are you so little？”he asked.

　 “It's the way I was born，”I said.“Some people are little.Some are tall.I'm just not going to grow any bigger.”After I answered his other questions，I shook the boy's hand and left.

　　 My life as a little person is filled with stories like that.I enjoy talking to children and explaining why I look different from their parents.

　　 It takes only one glance to see my uniqueness.I stand three feet nine inches tall.I was born an achondroplasia dwarf(侏儒)．Despite this，I did all the things other kids did when I was growing up.

　　 I didn't realize how short I was until I started school.Some kids picked on me，calling me names.Then I knew.I began to hate the first day of school each year.New students would always stare at me as I struggled to climb the school bus stairs.

　　 But I learned to smile and accept the fact that I was going to be noticed my whole life.I decided to make my uniqueness an advantage rather than a disadvantage.What I lacked in height，I made up for in personality.

　　 I'm 47 now，and the stares have not diminished as I've grown older.People are amazed when they see me driving.I try to keep a good attitude.When people are rude，I remind myself，“Look what else I have－a great family，nice friends.”

　　 It's the children's questions that make my life special.I enjoy answering their questions.My hope is that I will encourage them to accept their peers(a person of the same age，class，position，etc.)，whatever size and shape they come in，and treat them with respect.

1．Why did the mother apologize to the author?

A．Because the boy ran into the author.

B．Because the boy laughed at the author.

C．Because the boy said the author was fatter than him.

D．Because the mother thought the boy's words had hurt the author.

2．When did the author realize that she was too short?

A．When she grew up.

B．When she was 47 years old.

C．When she began to go to school.

D．When she met the boy in the supermarket.

3．Which of the following word can best replace the underlined word“diminished”？

A．Dismissed. 　　　　 B．Increased.

C．Decreased. 　　　　 D．Discriminated.

4．How does the author feel about people's stares?

A．Angry. 　　　　　　 B．Calm.

C．Painful. 　　　　　 D．Discouraged.

 

Mark was a student at this university from 1999 to 2003，　　　　 he studied very hard and was made chairman of the Students’ Union.

A.during which time　　 B.for which time?　　　 C.during whose time D.by that time

 

阅读理解

　　The pleasures which a movie film offers to our eyes have been paid for with the loss of sight of a man whose name is hardly known outside the annals(编年史)of science——Joseph Plateau, a Belgian professor born in Brussels in 1801.

　　He studied the mechanism of sight, beginning a series of most dangerous experiments at the age of 28 by staring into the sun for 25 seconds to see what the effect on his eyes would be. He was blind for nearly a month. But he went on experimenting, increasing the length of time during which he looked into the sun, knowing that in the end this would cost him his sight. At the age of 42 he was completely and incurably blind; the sun had destroyed the retina(视网膜)of his eyes. But he continued to work as well as he could until he died at the age of 82.

　　Science profited(获益于)enormously from this research. He studied the so-called inertia(惯性)of the eye, which makes a picture remain on the retina for about one-sixth of a second after it has disappeared from our vision. This means that, if we see a succession of individual pictures each of which appears only for a fraction of a second, they“overlap(重叠)”one another in our brain; and if they show consecutive(连续的)phases(定相)of movement, that movement will appear to us continuous.

(1)The images that we see are recorded in ________.

[　　]

A．the brain　　　　　　　　B．the eye

C．the retina of the eye　　　　D．the pupil

(2)Motion pictures ________.

[　　]

A．cause inertia of the eye

B．show a succession of unrelated movements

C．show consecutive phases of movement which appear continuous

D．show each phrase of movement for on-half of a second

(3)Scientific advancements are often the result of ________.

[　　]

A．losing individual happiness for experimentation

B．the usage of machines

C．some scientists' crazy action

D．doing dangerous work

(4)Which of the following is true?

[　　]

A．Joseph Plateau was very famous.

B．Joseph Plateau, who was born in Belgium, was a professor.

C．Seeing films will lose our sight.

D．A picture remains on the retina for about one-fourth of a second.