LIU Qian is a *magician from Taiwan. For the CCTV Spring Festival *Gala he put on two *magic shows. They were very successful. Now many people are mad about magic. We all want to know how to do a *trick!

Liu was a shy boy who was born in 1976. When Liu was 7, he saw a coin trick in a big store. At that moment Liu decided to learn magic. But he didn't go to any magic school. He learned all by himself. He worked really hard at it and he practiced hard to improve his skills. He spent lots of time studying how to play tricks. When he was 8 years old, he could do coin and card tricks really well. Then one day he was able to put on a show for his class. The tricks looked so difficult to his classmates, but Liu thought they didn't need many skills. Once he did one for his classmates. They were so surprised that they didn’t believe it! And then Liu told them how to do the trick. After that, all his classmates spoke highly of him. They all think he was so great. At the age of 12, Liu won an international prize for tricks. This is his first prize for magic. As a super magician, Liu still practices hard today. He may spend three years working on a new show. He wrote a book about tricks and it is one of the best sellers in China.

Many of the teenagers are in love with magic after Liu’s two shows for the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. They’re studying how Liu’s tricks work.

（    ）49. Liu became interested in magic when he _______________.

A. went to a famous magic school                       B. saw a coin trick in a big store

C. put on a show for his class                             D. did coin and card trick well

（    ）50. The phrase “spoke highly of” in the passage means______________ in Chinese.

A. 高度评价他                                                        B. 嫉妒他

C. 对他说话很大声                                                 D. 说他坏话

（    ）51. Liu won an international prize at the age of _______________.

A. 7                        B. 8               C. 10             D. 12

（    ）52. Liu Qian makes a great success because _____________.

A. he works really hard                                       B. he can play coin and card tricks

C. he put on a show for his class                         D. he went to a famous magic school

A man went out with the wrong boots, one with a thick sole（后跟）and the other with a thin one. As he began to walk, he felt uncomfortable, for one foot was higher than the other. He felt very strange and said, “ Is there anything wrong with my legs today? Why is one of my legs long, and the other short? ”
A passer-by told him that he was wearing the wrong boots. He look down and found that it was really so. At once he asked his servant(仆人) to go back home and get another pair.
After a while the servant ran back to him. There was nothing in his hand. So he was angry and shouted at him, "Why didn't you get me the right boots?" “There's no need to change them," the servant said. "The pair at home is the same, one with a thick sole and the other with a thin one."
【小题1】 Why did the man feel uncomfortable when he began to walk?

John likes     1   (read) very much. His father has a library and the boy    2    (read) most of the books in it. So he often    3    (borrow) books from the school library. He reads books when he    4    (be) free and does nothing but reading at home on Weekends. Once he even    5   (read) a novel in class because it was very interesting. Of course he couldn’t hear what the teacher    6   (say). So he    7    (fall) behind. The headmaster had a talk with him and told him    8   (not read) novels in class. At last, he realized that he was wrong and said “I’m sorry, I    9    (not do) it again.” And now he reads books after he finishes    10    (do) all his homework..

Once there was a piano player in a bar (酒吧). People came just to hear him play. But one night, a lady asked him to sing a song.
“I don’t sing,” said the man.
But the lady told the waiter, “I’m tired of listening to the piano. I want the player to sing!”
The waiter shouted across the room, “Hey, friend! If you want to get paid, sing a song!”
So he did. He had never sung in public before. Now he was singing for the very first time! Nobody had ever heard the song Mona Lisa sung so beautifully!
He had talent(天赋) he was sitting on! He may have lived the rest of his life as a no-name piano player in a no-name bar. But once he found, by accident, that he could sing well, he went on working hard and became one of the best-known singers in the US. His name was Nat King Cole.
You, too, have skills and abilities. You may not feel that your talent is great, but it may be better than you think. With hard work, most skills can be improved. Besides, you may have no success at all if you just sit on your talent.
【小题1】The lady asked the player to sing a song because ________.