Benjamin Franklin only studied in school for two years. But he liked to read and write very much. Once he discussed a question with his friend in letters. His father found the letters and read them. He felt Ben did not express himself well. Nor did Ben make his meaning clear. He agreed that his father was right, From then on, he paid more attention to the style of his writing so that he could write better.
About that time he bought a copy of the British periodical(周刊) called The Spectator (《观察家》). He read it over and over. He thought the writing excellent, and wished, if possible, to write in the same style.
With this in mind, he studied some of the stories and made a note of the thought in each sentence. Then, a few days later, without looking at the magazine, he tried to write the stories. He tried to express each thought as fully as it had been expressed before. Then he compared his writing with the magazine. He found some of his faults in the compositions.
In this way he discovered he needed to know many more words. He felt that writing poetry would help him since that needed to use many different words which had the same meaning. So he turned some of the stories into poems; and after a time, he wrote them as stories again. He insisted on doing this for a long time.
He learned much from his efforts and went on to practise his writing. Then he became the first famous writer in American history.
【小题1】Benjamin liked ______ very much when he was ______ .

My grandfather worked as a carpenter. On this particular day, he was building some crates（木箱）for the clothes his church was sending to an orphanage in Brazil. On his way home, he found his glasses were gone. When he mentally replayed his earlier actions, he realized what happened. The glasses had slipped out of his pocket and fallen into one of the crates. His new glasses were heading for Brazil!

The Great Depression was at its height, and Grandpa had six children. He had spent twenty dollars for those glasses that very morning.

“It’s not fair,” he thought as he walked home angrily. “I’ve been very faithful in giving my time and money to my work, and now this.”

Several months later, the director of the orphanage came to the United States. He wanted to visit all the churches that supported him, so he came to my grandfather’s small church in Chicago.

He began by thanking the people for their kindness in supporting the orphanage. “But most of all,” he said, “ I must thank you for the glasses you sent last year. You see, some people had just come to the orphanage, destroying everything, including my glasses. I was desperate. Even if I had the money, there was simply no way of replacing those glasses. Along with not being able to see well, I experienced headaches every day, so my coworkers and I were very worried about this. Then your crates arrived. When I removed the covers, I found a pair of glasses lying on top.”

He paused long enough to let his words sink in. Then, he continued: “When I tried on the glasses, it was as though they had been made just for me!” The people listened, happy for the miraculous glasses. But they thought it was strange because there were no glasses on their list of items to be sent overseas.

Sitting quietly in the back, with tears streaming down his face, my grandfather, an ordinary carpenter realized his glasses had found a good place to go.

1.The  underlined word “miraculous”（Paragraph 6）can be replaced by          .

2. What would be the best title for the text?

A Frenchman went to a small Italian town and was staying with his wife at the best hotel there. One night, he went out for a walk alone. It was late and the small street was dark and quiet. Suddenly he felt someone behind him. He turned his head and saw an Italian young man who quickly walked past him. The man was nearly out of sight when the Frenchman suddenly found that his watch was gone. He thought that it must be the Italian who had taken his watch. He decided to follow him and get back the watch.

Soon the Frenchman caught up with the Italian. Neither of them understood the other’s language. The Frenchman frightened the Italian with his fist(拳头) and pointed at the Italian’s watch. In the end the Italian gave up his watch to the Frenchman. 

When he returned to the hotel, the Frenchman told his wife what had happened. He was greatly surprised when his wife pointed to the watch on the table. Now he realized that by mistake he had robbed the watch and it was the Italian’s. 

1.The Frenchman went to a small Italian town _______. 

A. alone            B. with his wife           C. with his friend                D. with an Italian

2.One night he went out for _______ alone. 

A. a ride            B. a walk                    C. a drink                             D. rest

3.Suddenly he found his_______ was gone. 

A. watch            B. money                             C. book                                  D. ring

4.Who was robbed of the watch?

A. The Frenchman was.                                 B. The Italian was.

C. Both of them was.                                       D. Neither of them was.

For most people, graduation is an exciting day – the culmination (顶点) of years of hard work. My graduation day... was not.
I remember that weekend two years ago, Family and friends had traveled far to watch our class walk across the stage. But like everyone else in my graduating class, I had watched the economy go from bad to worse during my senior year. We graduates had degrees, but very limited prospects (前景). I hadn’t secured a job, and I knew that the next day, when my lease (租约) ended, I would no longer have a place to call home.
The weeks ahead weren’t easy. I gathered up everything I couldn’t carry and put it into storage. Then, because I had no opportunities in my small university town, I packed up my car and drove to California to find work. But what I thought would take a week dragged into two, then four, and 100 job applications later, I found myself still jobless. The due date to begin paying back my student loans was creeping even closer.
Have you ever felt utter dread? That feeling became a constant in my life. The most frustrating part was no matter how much I tried, I just couldn’t seem to make any progress.
So what did I do to maintain my sanity? I wrote. Something about putting my words on a page made everything clearer. Something about writing gave me hope.
I channeled my frustration into a children’s book. Beyond the river was the story of an unlikely hero, a little fish who refused to give up.
And then one day, with no writing degree or contacts in the writing world – just hard work and perseverance – I was offered a publishing contract for my first book. After that, things were in place, I was offered a second book deal. Then, a few months later, I got an interview with the Walt Disney Company and was hired shortly after.
The moral of this story is… don’t give up, even if things look bleak now.  Two years ago I was drinking cold soup right out the can. Things change. All we need is the courage to push beyond the river.
【小题1】When it was time to graduate, the author felt _____.

He found his house broken into and many things stolen _______ his return from office.

A. with??????? ? B. in????????? C. at???????? ? D. on