For Sparky, school was all but impossible. He failed every subject in the eighth grade. He didn’t do much better in sports. Although he played for the school’s golf team, he lost the only important match of the season.

Sparky was a loser. He, his classmates…everyone knew it. Sparky never asked a classmate to go out in high school. He was too afraid of being refused.

However, one thing was important to Sparky – drawing. He was proud of his artwork. Of course, no one else appreciated it. In his senior year of high school, he sent some cartoons to the editors of the Yearbook. Although the cartoons were turned down, Sparky was so confident about his ability that he decided to become an artist.

After completing high school, he wrote a letter to Walt Disney Studios. He was told to send some samples of his artwork, and the subject for a cartoon was suggested. Sparky spent a great deal of time on it. Finally, the reply came from Disney Studios. He had been rejected（拒绝）once again. Another loss for the loser.

So Sparky decided to write his own autobiography（自传）in cartoons. He described his childhood – a little boy loser and underachiever. The cartoon character would soon become famous worldwide. For Sparky, the boy who had little success in school and whose work was rejected again and again was Charles Schulz. He created the Peanuts comic strip（连环漫画）and little cartoon character – Charlie Brown.

1.We can know that Sparky was ________ from the first paragraph.

2.Sparky never asked a classmate to go out because he ______.

3.What’s Sparky’s success according to the passage?

Mr. Smith works in an office. He is very busy and has no time to have a good rest. Every evening, when he comes from his office, he’s always tired and wants to go to bed early. But his wife often has a lot of interesting things to tell him after supper. She doesn’t stop talking until she falls asleep, but it’s usually too late and Mr Smith has to get up in time in the morning when she is asleep.

One day the man felt terrible and couldn’t go to work. He decided to go to see a doctor. And Mrs Smith went to the hospital with him. Before her husband said what was the matter with him, the woman told the doctor all and the man understood why. He wrote out a prescription. And when Mr Smith brought the medicine to the resulting-room, the doctor said to her, “The bottle of medicine is for your husband and the pills are for you.”

“For me?” the woman said in surprise, “I’m fine. I don’t need any medicine!” “I don’t think so, madam,” said the doctor, “They are sleeping pills, your husband will soon be all right if you take them.”

1.What does Mrs Smith often do after supper?

A. She watches TV B. She does the chores

C. She begins talking D.She goes to bed early

2.Why does Mr. Smith have to get up when his wife is asleep in the morning?

A.Because he can’t fall asleep.

B. Because he has to go to work.

C. Because he doesn’t want to sleep.

D. Because his wife asks him to get up.

3.What does“prescription ” mean in Chinese?

A.建议 B.方式 C.要求 D.药方

4.Why couldn’t Mr. Smith go to work one day?

A.Because he didn’t want to work

B. Because his wife didn’t let him go

C. Because he felt ill

D. Because he was too tired to go to work

5.From the story, we know that___________________.

A. Mrs Smith was ill

B. Mr Smith has to take the pills

C. Mr Smithth wasn’t ill

D. Mrs Smith has to stop talking too much at night.

A young man worked very hard on his lessons. He was too busy to have a rest. One day he found that he couldn't fall asleep at night. As he became ill, he couldn't go to sleep. When he went to bed, he closed his eyes and tried to sleep. But he always failed.
After a few days he decided to see a doctor.
"I just can't go to sleep at night. What should I do?" he asked.
"I have a suggestion," said the doctor. "You can try to count numbers. When you count to one thousand, you will be asleep. I am sure of it. "
The next day the man returned to the doctor's office.
"Well," said the doctor. "How are you today? Did you try my suggestion?"
The man still looked tired. "Yes," he said. "I tried to count one, two, three.. , up to one thousand. But when I counted to five hundred and sixty--nine, I began to feel sleepy. I had to get up and drink some tea so that I could go on counting up to one thousand. But then I still couldn't fall asleep. "
【小题1】Why couldn't the young man go to sleep at night?

Michael Jackson is one of the world’s best singers. Michael Jackson was born in the middle west of Gary, Indiana, in 1958. He began singing with his four brothers. They called the group “Jackson Five”. The group became very popular after appearing on a television progam. They started singing in 1965, became popular soon. In 1970 the group made their first record the name of “I Want You Back”. It was very popular. One of their hit records was “Never Say Goodbye”.
Michael was good at dancing as well as singing, for example, his dance moves and moon walking. He was asked to act in a film in 1978 for the first time, in the same year he made a record on his own, which sold eight million copies all over the world.
Michael nearly didn’t go out because he was too famous. Once his fans went off in a faint（晕倒） when they saw him at the concert. No one can do it by now. He lived in a large house and kept lots of animals. He never ate meat. He often raises money for charity. This made him win the Guinness World Records（吉尼斯世界纪录）in 2006. He died on June 25th, 2009, but he would live in our heart forever.
【小题1】What’s the name of their first record?

Two old men lived in a room on the third floor of an old people’s home. Both men were very old and badly ill, and they spent 24 hours a day in bed in the room.

Luckily, one of the old men had his bed by the window, and every day he spent hours telling his friend far from the window what he could see through the window. He told him about the traffic going by, the children playing in the park opposite, and the birds flying in trees. The old man far from the window got a lot of pleasure from hearing about the world outside, but after a time he began to get rather unhappy. How nice it would be, he thought, if he had the bed by the window and could see everything for him, instead of just hearing about it.

One night, the man by the window called to his friend, “Quick! Pull the alarm by your bed; I don’t think I can get through the night!” But his friends, expecting an empty bed by the window, did nothing---he just closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

The next morning, the nurse found the man dead in his bed by the window.

The old man was very excited as they moved him into the empty bed by the window. He sat up in bed, pulled back the curtain, looked out --- and saw only a wall.

1.Who do you think was kind in the story?

2.The old man didn’t pull the alarm by the bed because _________.

3.The old man by the window thought _______that night when he asked his friend for help.

4.In fact, there was ___ outside the window.

5.Which of the following is TRUE according to the story?