One warm May day, two eighteen – year – old students from San Francisco State College decided to cool off with a swim at Bakers’ Beach． The two students were named Robert Kogler and Shirley O’Neill． They headed out to sea for a distance of 50 metres． Robert was in front．
“Suddenly, I heard him scream,” Shirley recalls． “I looked round and saw this great grey thing going up in the air． The water seemed to be alive．”Robert screamed again． “It’s a shark! Get out of here!”
An eye – witness, Army Sergeant Leo P． Day was on guard at the nearby army post． He saw exactly what happened next． “I could see this boy struggling with the shark in the water,” he said． “The sea was red with blood． He was shouting and signalling someone to go back, go back． Then I saw the girl． She was swimming towards him． She completely ignored his warning．”Shirley reached Robert, and tried to take his hand．“When I pulled, all I could see was his arm, handing by a thread,” she said．
So she put her arm about Robert’s back, and started to swim towards the shore． She kept praying “Don't’ let it attack again!” That journey to the shore seemed to last for hours． At last, as they neared the shore, a fisherman threw them a line, and pulled them both the rest of the way．The young man had lost a lot of blood, and died two and a half hours later, From the teeth marks, experts identified the attacker as a Great White Shark．For what Sergeant Day called “the greatest exhibition of bravery I have ever seen,” the President of the US gave Shirley a medal for bravery．
【小题1】When Albert was attacked by a shark Shirley        ．

In the animal kingdom, weakness can bring about aggression in other animals. This sometimes happens with humans also. But I have found that my weakness brings out the kindness in people. I see it every day when people hold doors for me, pour cream into my coffee, or help me to put on my coat. And I have discovered that it makes them happy.
From my wheelchair experience, I see the best in people, but sometimes I feel sad because those who appear independent miss the kindness I see daily. They don’t get to see this soft side of others. Often, we try every way possible to avoid showing our weakness, which includes a lot of pretending. But only when we stop pretending we’ re brave or strong do we allow people to show the kindness that’ s in them.
Last month, when I was driving home on a busy highway, I began to feel unwell and drove more slowly than usual. People behind me began to get impatient and angry, with some speeding up alongside me, horning (按喇叭) or even shouting at me. At that moment，I decided to do something I had never done in twenty-four years of driving. I put on the car flashlights and drove on at a really low speed.
No more angry shouts and no more horns!
When I put on my flashlights, I was saying to the other drivers, “I have a problem here. I am weak and doing the best I can.” And everyone understood. Several times, I saw drivers who wanted to pass. They couldn’t get around me because of the stream of passing traffic. But instead of getting impatient and angry, they waited, knowing the driver in front of them was in some way weak.
Sometimes situations call for us to act strong and brave even when we don’t feel that way. But those are few and far between. More often, it would be better if we don’t pretend we feel strong when we feel weak or pretend that we're brave when we’re scared.
【小题1】The author has discovered that people will feel happy when ________.

Although in 1947 we were still very new to the atomic age, we knew about mushroom clouds. A huge crack (裂缝) spread across the library wall upstairs, sending teachers and __31__ screaming down the hall.
Had a new world war started? Pale­faced, our young science teacher quickly__32__us for a fire drill. We huddled (卷缩) in little groups on the beach side of the school grounds and__33__the spreading cloud darken the bright spring sky.
Rumors flew every which way，__34__two hours would pass before we got the full story. One rumor we heard was that the Texas City Monsanto Chemical plant had__35__； children whose parents__36__there began to cry.
I__37__—that was where my father was working that day.
The school bell called us back inside, and we were dismissed (解散) to__38__our way home the best way we could. I'd walked a quarter of the three­mile trip to my home__39__a car horn frightened me to__40__. My Uncle Barney__41__alongside me in his old Ford. The instant I saw him, I knew my father__42__. Otherwise, Papa would have__43__for me himself.
As if in slow motion from a great distance, Uncle Barney motioned for me to__44__. Numb with grief, I crawled into the back__45__. I barely took notice of the man sitting there, and didn't recognize him until he__46__me. When Papa put his strong arms around me, I forgot for a moment that Cherokees aren't supposed to__47__.
Many of my fellow students lost their__48__in the explosion. Tragedy would one day come to our__49__， as it inevitably (不可避免地) comes to all, but one day Texas City blew up, it miraculously (奇迹般地) passed us by. Because he lost his keys on that April morning, as he explained, my father lived for__50__32 years—we were to have a second lifetime forever.

The word “death” is a word many Chinese friends tell me I should not say aloud. They advise me to avoid the word because only speaking of it may bring ill fortune. I deeply believe, however, that to know how to live, we must also know how to die. The problem is how we talk about death.      
Like everyone in Taiwan this week, I have had “Tomb Sweeping Day”. I am proud to be part of a people whose culture sends millions of families to cemeteries on this special day to share memories and endless love.
Today, eight days after the death of Pope John Paul II, millions of people of all backgrounds still grieve(悲痛) his passing away. He was a deeply human person who knew how to laugh and show emotions, a writer with a gift for words a leader who appealed to us by the sheer light of his love for life.
On the same day and only hours before the Holy Father left us, a friend of mine named Veronica McBride died of cancer in a small Wisconsin city. My friend Veronica was 52 years old. She was an attractive, humorous young woman who, as the saying goes, “never married”. She published several humor books with her mother, Mary McBride. She enjoyed traveling, and for years sent Christmas card photos of herself standing beside monuments or odd animals. She fought cancer for five years. She joked about her treatment keeping her pretty because it kept her thin, and told me she didn’t mind losing her hair because of chemo therapy. “I get to wear nice wigs!”
The last time I saw Veronica was when I visited her family on a sunny day in August in 2003. When she burst into the front door later and saw me in the living room, she ignored me completely in her hurry to hug her newest baby nephew, leaving me shaking my head in laughter at her.
As we look to the significance of the Holy Father and his life, surely we must also keep our eyes open to see the wonder and goodness in ordinary people who show us how to live and how to die.
【小题1】The purpose of the article is ___________.

“What is the most important thing you’ve done in your life?”The question was put to me during a presentation I gave to a group of lawyers.
The answer came to me in an instant. It’s not the one I gave, because the situation was not right. As a lawyer in the entertainment industry, I knew the audience wanted to hear some amusing stories about my work with well-known people. but here’s the true answer:
The most important thing I’ve ever done occurred on October 8,1990. I began the day playing tennis with an old friend I hadn’t seen for a while. Between points we talked about what had been happening in each other’s lives. He and his wife had just had a baby boy, who was keeping them up at night.
While we were playing, a car came screaming up the road toward the courts. It was my friend’s father, who shouted to my friend that his baby had stopped breathing and was being rushed to the hospital. In a flash my friend was in the car and gone, disappearing in a cloud of dust.
For a moment I just stood there, paralyzed(呆若木鸡). Then I tried to figure out what I should do. Follow my friend to the hospital? There was nothing I could accomplish there, I convinced myself. My friend’s son was in the care of doctors and nurses, and nothing I could do or say would affect the outcome. Be there for moral support? Well, maybe. But my friend and his wife both had large families, and I knew they’d be surrounded by relatives who would provide more than enough comfort and support, whatever happened. All I could do at the hospital, I decided, was to get in the way. Also, I had planned a full day with my family, who were waiting for me to get home. So I decided to head back to my house and check in my friend later.
As I started my car, I realized that my friend had left his truck and keys at the courts. I now faced another problem. I couldn’t leave the keys in the truck. So I decided to go to the hospital and give him the keys.
When I arrived, I was directed to a room where my friend and his wife were waiting. As I had thought, the room was filled with family members silently watching my friend comfort his wife. I went in and stood by the door, trying to decide what to do next. Soon a doctor appeared. He approached my friend and his wife, and in a quiet voice told them that their son had died.
For a long time the two held each other and cried, unaware of the rest of us standing around in pained silence. After they had calmed themselves, the doctor suggested they spend a few moments with their son.
My friend and his wife stood up and walked past their families. When they reached the door, my friend saw me standing in the corner. He came over and hugged me and started to cry. My friend’s wife hugged me, too, and said , “Thanks for being here.”
For the rest of that morning, I sat in the emergency room of that hospital and watched my friend and his wife hold the body of their infant son, and say goodbye.
It’s the most important thing I have ever done.
The experience taught me two lessons.
First: The most important thing I’ve ever done happened when I was completely helpless. None of the things I had learned in university, in three years of law school or in six years of legal practice were of any use in that situation. Something terrible was happening to people I cared about, and I was powerless to change the outcome. All I could do was standing by and watching it happen. And yet it was critical that I do just that--- just be there when someone needed me.
Second: The most important thing I’ve done almost didn’t happen because of things I had learned in classroom and professional life. Law school taught me how to take a set of facts, break them down and organized them. These skills are critical for lawyers. When people come to us for help, they’re often stressed out and depend on a lawyer to think logically. But while learning to think, I almost forget how to feel. Today I have no doubt that I should have leapt into my car without hesitation and followed my friend to the hospital.
From that one experience I learned that the most important thing in life isn’t the money you make, the status you attain or the honors you achieve. The most important thing in life is the kids’ team you coach or the poem you write----or the time when you’re just somebody’s friend.
【小题1】When he was asked about the most important thing he had done in life at a presentation, the author __________.
A felt it was not an interesting question           
B. thought for a while and spoke his mind
C. gave an answer from a lawyer’s point of view   
D. didn’t give the real answer
【小题2】When he saw his friend rush to the hospital, the author could not decide whether to follow mainly because he thought _________.