Nearly two decades has passed, I still remember my favourite professor, James Sehwartz. Whenever he smiles, it’s as if you’d just been told the funniest joke on earth. Almost all his students are his friends, and almost all his students know his life story.
When James was a teenager, his father   36  him to a fur factory where he worked . This was during the Great Depression. The   37  was to get James a job.
James entered the factory, and immediately felt as if the   38  had closed in around him. The room was dark and hot, the windows covered with dust, and the   39  were packed tightly together, running like trains. The fur hairs were flying,   40  a thickened air, and the workers,   41  the pieces of fur together, were bent over their needles   42  the boss marched up and down the rows, searching for them to go faster .James could hardly   43 . He stood next to his father, frozen with fear, hoping the boss wouldn’t   44  at him, too.
During lunch break, his father took James to the boss and pushed him in front of him,   45 if there was any work for his son. But   46  there was hardly enough   47  for the adult labours, for no one would give it up once he took a job.
Thus, for James, it was a   48 . He hated the place. He made a   49  that he kept to the end of his life: he would never do any work that brought   50  to someone else, and he would never allow himself to   51  money off the seat of others.
“What will you do?” his mother, Eva, would ask him.
“I don’t know,” he   52  say. He ruled out law, because he didn’t like   53 , and he ruled out medicine, because he couldn’t take the   54  of blood.
“What will you do?”
  55 , my best professor I ever had became—he thought it was the job not to hurt anybody.

     Paula Radcliffe, chasing (角逐) a third London marathon title(冠军), says she has became a stronger person after her terrible experience at the 2004 Athens Games.

     Radcliffe, who failed to complete the Olympic marathon and the 10,000m last August, said: "Athens made me a stronger person and it made me care less about criticism (批评)"

    "In the past I wanted to please everyone, but now I am going to listen even more to the people around me."

    She didn't care about criticism made at the weekend by Liz McColgan, who felt Radcliffe should have rested and let her body recover after her failure in Athens.

    "Liz is someone I look up to but she hasn't spoken to me since last year and if she really cared for me, I'm sure she would have contacted (联系) me."

    Instead Radcliffe won the New York City marathon just 11 weeks after Athens.

    "In New York I wasn't in my best state but I did know I was good enough to win the race. "      

     Radcliffe insisted her only goal in Sunday's race would be winning a third title and not chasing world records.

     However, Radcliffe has not ruled out(排除) in the future chasing her "final" world record time and questioned sayings that marathon runners have the ability in their career to produce only four or five world-class times.

     "I don't think that -- although I can't put a number on it," said. Radcliffe. "That changes from person to person."

      Radcliffe is sure she can better her winning London 2003 performance at some point in the future. Following a successful three-month training period in the United States, the 31-year-old will chase a third title on Sunday after her first victory in 2002 and again 12 months later.

     Radcliffe clocked a time of 2:18:56 in her first 42.2-kilometre race three years ago.

     Afterwards she set a "mixed course" mark of 2:17:18 five months later in Chicago before lowering that to a time of 2:15:25 in the 2003 London event.

63. Radcliffe's failure in Athens made her ________.

     A. develop respect for Liz      B. love people around her more

     C. rest for five months          D. face criticism calmly     

64. Which of the following is true according to the passage?

     A. Radcliffe broke the world record in the New York City marathon.

     B. Radcliffe didn't fully recover before the New York City marathon.

     C. Radcliffe won her first marathon title in the New York City marathon.

     D. Radcliffe had a 3-month training before the New York City marathon.

65. By saying "I can't put a number on it," Radcliffe means she's not sure _____ .

     A. if she has the ability to set a new world record

     B. if she can win another race though she has won many times

     C. how many times a marathon runner can set the world record

     D. if she has the ability to produce four or five world-class times      

66. According to the text, Radcliffe has won ____ London marathon title(s).

      A. four         B. three         C. two         D. one     

67. What can we learn from Radcliffe's story?

      A. Practice makes perfect.                 B. Well begun is half done.

      C. A friend in need is a friend indeed.  D. Where there is a will there is a way.

                                  C

    The world’s first plastic magnet (磁性) to work at room temperature has passed the elementary test of magnetism. Its creators at the University of Durham in the UK have used it to pick iron filings (铁屑) from a laboratory bench.

    In 2001, chemists from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln claimed to have created the world’s first plastic magnet, but it only worked below 10 Kelvin (开氏温度). Other researchers have made plastic magnets, but generally they only function at extremely low temperatures, or their magnetism at room temperature is too weak to be business use.

    So the Durham team can claim to have made the first plastic magnet that could be used in everyday products. One of the most likely applications is in the magnetic coating of computer hard discs, which could lead to a new generation of high-capacity discs.

    Jerry Torrance, a material scientist who is an adviser to some of the world’s largest electronics and engineering companies, including IBM, describes the work as “a great scientific breakthrough”. However, he says that practical applications are probably still a long way off.

    At first the new polymer (聚合物) showed little sign of magnetism, and after three months the researchers had reached the point where they felt that trying to induce (诱发) magnetism in this polymer was a waste of time. “Just as we were about to give up and try a different way, we decided to check the samples for a last time,” says Sean Giblin.

    It was a fortunate decision, because over the months the original polymer had developed magnetic characteristics. Further groups of polymer proved its magnetism and ruled out the possibility that the magnetism had been caused by pollution. In addition, X-ray diffraction data (衍射数据) showed an increase in the straight line of the polymer chains over three months, which probably accounts for the increase in magnetism.

    Although the polymer’s magnetism is weak compared with metal magnets, the researchers are confident that they can improve it. And in addition to computer hard discs, the team thinks that plastic magnets could have important medical applications because organic magnetic materials are less likely to be rejected by the body.

64. The plastic magnets made by the chemists from University of Nebraska-Lincoln and other researchers couldn’t be used in everyday products because        .

    A. they didn’t pass the elementary test of magnetism

    B. they couldn’t pick up iron filings from a laboratory bench

    C. they wouldn’t work at room temperature

    D. they could only be used at high temperature

65. The increase in magnetism over the months is probably caused by        .

    A. checking the samples             B. a wise decision

    C. pollution

    D. the increase in the straight line of the polymer chains

66. The plastic magnets could be used        .

    A. to compare with the metal magnets

    B. to coat computer hard discs

    C. to produce medicine

    D. to lower the temperature

67. What would be the best title for the passage?

    A. The Birth of Practical Plastic Magnet

    B. The World’s First Plastic Magnet

    C. A Fortunate Decision

    D. The Applications of Plastic Magnets

MEGADIM, Israel (AP)-The worst forest fire in Israel's history on Thursday destroyed one of the country's few forested areas, killing at least 36 guards on their way to rescue prisoners there, destroying homes and forcing the evacuation (疏散) of thousands. The fire ran through the Carmel forest in Israel's Galilee, reaching the coastal city of Haifa, jumping from place to place in the forest. The fire broke out around midday and quickly spread and was still burning out of control as midnight approached. Investigators (调查者) supposed that the fire could have been set accidentally, or it might have been a criminal act, but pretty much ruled out (排除) some sort of attack by a Palestinian group. “This is a huge disaster，” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. “The government is using all means to control the fire.” He said some countries such as Cyprus, Italy, Russia and Greece agreed to provide backup. Most of the dead were Prison Service guards racing through the fire toward a prison to evacuate the prisoners, most of them Palestinians. A tree fell across the road, blocking their bus. Some guards were burned alive inside, while others died as they tried to escape. Fourteen bodies were found near the burnt bus 10 hours after the fire started. The fire heavily damaged one of Israel's few large forests, made up of natural growth and planted areas, a favorite place for camping and a home for dozens of species of wildlife. Forestry workers tried to evacuate animals from the fire. The forest recovered slowly from a fire in 1989, but experts said Thursday's big fire was many times worse.
【小题1】Some Prison Service guards died when they tried to ________.

WELLINGTON, September 19 (Xinhua) -- If your teenage son won't get out of bed in the morning, then take comfort from the fact that he might be sleeping his way to a healthier future, according to a new research from New Zealand.

Researchers in human nutrition at the University of Otago have found that teenage boys who sleep less have more body fat when compared to girls, for whom lack of sleep has no noticeable effect on their body fat ratios.

The study of 386 boys and 299 girls aged 15 to 18 found that average-sized 16-year-old boy weighing 69.5 kg and 176 cm tall, who slept for eight hours a day, had a waist size l.8 cm bigger and l.6 kg, or 9 percent, more body fat than the average-sized boy who slept 10 hours a day.

"The boys who slept eight hours a day would also have l.8 kg more lean (bone and muscle) mass compared to the boys who slept 10 hours, but that's only a 1.4-percent increase, compared to the 9- percent increase seen in body fat," said lead researcher from the Department of Human Nutrition, Dr. Paula Skidmore.

"Our results suggest that for older teenage boys, making sure that they get enough sleep may help to maintain a healthier body. It seems to be that, within reason, the more sleep the better for boys," Skidmore said in a statement Thursday.

"It was unexpected that we did not find the same result in girls, who may actually be more aware of their diet and more in tune with a healthier lifestyle."

The researchers ruled out the effects of food choice and number of screens, such as televisions, games and consoles, which the teenagers had in their bedrooms.

1.What's the research really about?

A. Boys and girls.      B. Food and weight.           C. Sleep and health.          D. Screens and fat.

2.What's the result of less sleep for teenage boys?

A. Bigger waist and more fat in the body.

B. An increase in weight and height.

C. More concerned with their diet.

D. A decrease in bone and muscle.

3.From the sixth paragraph we can infer that ______.

A. girls usually sleep less and have healthier lifestyles than boys

B. the researchers expected to see the same result in girls

C. peoples' diet has a great effect on their health

D. boys are usually lazier than girls

4.Who would be the most pleased to hear the news?

A. Teachers.    B. Girls.         C. Parents. .            D. Boys.