Singing had always been an important part of Gloria Estefan’s life. “Since I was three years old, I sang. I sang everything,” Gloria said. “Cubans,” she added, “are a musical people”.
Gloria was born in Cuba in 1957. Her family left the country just before Fidel Castro came to power. In Miami, where the family settled, many people did not accept Cuban immigrants. In first grade, she spoke little English, but she worked hard to learn the language. Six months after she entered school, she won an award for reading in English!
When Gloria was ten, her father returned from the Vietnam War. Soon, the family realized he wasn’t well. They soon found out that he was badly ill. Her mother went back to teaching at school to support the family. Gloria cared for her father and her younger sister.
She still made the honor roll, and she still had her music, but Gloria was lonely. However, when the band leader Emilio Estefan came to speak at her high school, Gloria sang for him. He asked her to join his band. It was the beginning of the Miami Sound Machine.
Within a few months, the Miami Sound Machine was the top band in Miami. In 1978 Gloria and Emilio married.
At first, the Miami Sound Machine was known only in Miami. Then the band signed with CBS Records. Estefan and his band became stars.
Since then, the Miami Sound Machine has sold millions of records. Gloria has done more than just singing when Hurricane Andrew hit central Florida in 1992. She used only two weeks to organize an all-star concert that raised $2 million for the people who suffered in the hurricane. “We needed a party after that disaster,” she said.
Gloria said, “You have to stay true to the music you really love to do. There will always be people who will tell you, ‘that won’t work.’ You’ve got to be firm in spite of difficulties. Stick to it—that’s the main thing.”
【小题1】Gloria’s father was ill        .

根据短文内容，从下框的A—F选项中选出能概括每一段主题的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该选项涂黑。选项中有一项为多余选项。

I made a promise to myself on the way down to the vacation beach cottage. For two weeks I would try to be a loving husband and father. Totally loving. No ifs, ands or buts.

The idea had come to me as I listened to a talk on my car radio. The speaker was quoting a Biblical passage about husbands and their wives. Then he went on to say, “Love is an act of will. A person can choose to love.” To myself, I had to admit that I had been a selfish husband. Well, for two weeks that would change.

And it did. On arriving at the beach cottage, I kissed Evelyn meeting me at the door and said, “That new yellow sweater looks great on you.” “Oh, Tom, you noticed”, she said, surprised and pleased. Maybe a little puzzled. After the long drive, I wanted to sit and read. Evelyn suggested a walk on the beach. I started to refuse, but then I thought, “Evelyn’s been alone here with the kids all week and now she wants to be alone with me.” We walked on the beach while the children flew their kites.

So it went. Two weeks of not calling the Wall Street firm where I am a director; a visit to the shell museum though I usually hate museums. Relaxed and happy, that’s how the whole vacation passed. I made a new promise to keep on remembering to choose love.

There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment, however. Evelyn and I still laugh about it today. On the last night at our cottage, preparing for bed, Evelyn stared at me with the saddest expression.

“What’s the matter?” I asked her.

“Tom,” she said in a voice filled with distress, “ I don’t?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…that checkup I had several weeks ago…our doctor…did he tell you something about me? Tom, you’ve been so good to me…am I dying?”

It took a moment for it all to be understood. Then I burst out laughing.

“No, honey,” I said, wrapping her in my arms. “You’re not dying; I’m just starting to live.”

From the story we may infer that Tom drove to the beach cottage ______.

A. with his family     B. with Evelyn    C. alone      D. with his children

During the two weeks on the beach, Tom showed more love to his wife because ______.

A. he was determined to be a good husband

B. he had made a lot of money in his Wall Street firm

C. she looked lovely in her new clothes

D. the doctor said his wife was seriously ill

The author says, “There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment.” What does “one thing” refer to?

A. He praised her sweater, which puzzled her.

B. She insisted on visiting a museum, which he hated.

C. He knew something about her illness but didn’t tell her.

D. He was so good to her that she thought she must be dying.

By saying “I’m just starting to live,” Tom means that ______.

A. he is just beginning to understand the real meaning of life

B. he is just beginning to enjoy life as a loving husband

C. he lived an unhappy life before and is now starting to change

D. he is beginning to feel regret for what he did to his wife before

For more than two decades, Oprah Winfrey has been the change-your-life champion who ruled over daytime television much like Johnny Caron once ruled late night.
However, now she’s ready to say goodbye, Wimfrey told viewers Friday that The Oprah Winfrey Show would close in September 2011 after 25 years on the air.
“I love this show. This show has been my life. And I love it enough to know when it’s time to say goodbye,” Winfrey said, holding back tears.
Winfrey’s show “is one of daytime television’s very foundations,” said Larry Gerbrandt an analyst for the firm Media Valuation Partners in Los Angeles. “Stations build their schedules around her. They gave it the best time period and used it to promote other shows.”
Winfrey offered no specific plans for the future, except to say that she intended to produce the best possible shows during the final two years.
“I just wanted to say whether you’ve been here with me from the beginning or you joined me last week, I want you all to know that my relationship with you is one that I hold very dear,” she said. “Your trust in me and the sharing of your precious time every day with me have brought me the greatest joy I have ever known.”
The Oprah Winfrey Show’s open atmosphere and frank conversation determined the talk show style and made Winfrey one of the most influential women in the US as well as the wealthiest black woman in the world.
“She has had great effects on today’s society. She’s just part of every one’s life,” said Yasmeen Elhaj, a 19-year-old student from Chicago.
1. Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
A. Winfrey’s Contributions to TV Show
B. Winfrey’s Show to Close in the Year 2011
C. Winfiey’s Great Influence in the USA
D. Winfrey’s Support for Black People
2. Winfrey’s talk show has lasted________.
A. nearly 25 years                     B. less than 20 years
C. no more than 20 years                D. more than 25 years
3. What can be inferred from the passage?
A. Winfred will change her show style in the coming years.
B. Winfrey will have some other specific plan for the future.
C. Winfred does promote some other shows after her retirement.
D. Winfrey appreciates every moment she has with her viewers.
4. Which of the following can best describe Oprah Winfred?
A. Energetic and funny.                 B. Friendly and clever.
C. Frank and influential.                 D. Active and changeable.

Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was one of the most private women in the world, yet when she went to work as an editor in the last two decades of her life, she revealed (展现) herself as she did nowhere else.
After the death of her second husband, Greek shipping magnate(巨头) Aristotie Onassis Jacqueline’s close friend and former White House secretary Letitia Baldrige made a suggestion that she consider a career in publishing. After consideration, Jacqueline accepted it. Perhaps she hoped to find there some ideas about how to live her own life .She became not less but more interested in reading. For the last 20 years of her life, Jacqueline worked as a publisher’s editor, first at Viking, then at Doubleday, pursuing（追求）a late-life career longer than her two marriages combined. During her time in publishing, she was responsible for managing and editing more than 100 successfully marketed books. Among the first books were In the Russian Style and Inventive Paris Clothes. She also succeeded in persuading TV hosts Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell to transform their popular television conversations into a book ,The Power of Myth. The book went on to become an international best-seller. She dealt, too, with Michael Jackson as he prepared his autobiography(自传)，Moonwalk.
Jaequeliner may have been hired for her name and for her social relations, but she soon proved her worth. Her choices, suggestions and widespread social relations were of benefit both to the publishing firms and to Jacqueline herself. In the books she selected for publication, she built on a lifetime of spending time by herself as a reader and left a record of the growth of her mind. Her books are the autobiography she never wrote. Her role as First lady, in the end, was overshadowed by her performance as an editor. However, few knew that she had achieved so much.
【小题1】We can learn from the passage that Jacqueline ______.

A．became fond of reading after working as an editor

B．was in charge of publishing 100 books

C．promoted her books through social relations

D．gained a lot from her career as an editor