Ron Meyer is the president and COO（首席运营官） of Universal Studios．As one of the most successful business leaders in Hollywood, he heads up Universal Pictures and Universal Parks & Resorts．He's the guy who oversees the production of Multimillion-dollar extravaganzas（作品） like King Kong and Cinderella Man．
Meyer’s story sounds like the plot of one of his motion pictures．He grew up in a modest home where there was little income．It was a big deal to go to a restaurant．At 15, he quit high school and spent his time hanging out with the neighborhood toughs（流氓）．He was then a kid quick with his fists who seemed to get into fights somewhat regularly．At one point, he was separated from others with an infectious disease, having no TV and nothing to do．His mother sent him two books．One was The Amboy Dukes, a novel about kids in street gangs．The other was The Flesh Peddlers, about a guy in the talent agency（星探公司）who lived a successful life．“I realized,” he says, “that I was no longer that silly kid I had been, and I wanted to change my life．”
Meyer took any job he could get．He worked as a busboy and short-order cook．He cleaned offices and sold shoes．That attitude made an impression on people．One day he received a call from Paul Kohner, a successful agent who represented stars like John Huston, Charles Bronson and Lana Turner．Their messenger and driver had quit, and they knew Ron was willing to take whatever job they offered. He started the job the next day．
Meyer was lucky to work with a good boss―and he had the brains to make the most of that experience．In nearly six years of driving for Kohner, Meyer became his right-hand man and learned a lot．By the 1970s, Meyer had built many relationships in the business．In 1975, the fate presented an opportunity and he started his own operation Creative Artists Agency, which became a huge success, representing Hollywood legends like Barbra Streisand, Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise．
Twenty years later, Meyer was appointed to run Universal Studios, a position far beyond his youthful dream．But once he saw success was possible, he was driven to achieve it．Today, colleagues regularly owe his success―and theirs―to his humility and perseverance．It’s a level of success that takes determination, personality and intelligence, whether it comes from a college education or from the street．
【小题1】What is the main idea of the passage? 

A．How a bitter childhood contributes to one’s success．

B．It’s important to choose a right career to achieve one’s life goal．

C．A talent agency helps a person to become famous．

D．It’s people’s determination, intelligence and personality that decide their success．

【小题2】What does the author mean by saying “he had the brains to make the most of that experience”?

A．He benefited a good deal from the experience．

B．He smartly took the opportunity to learn from the experience．

C．That experience made him ever smarter than ever before．

D．He used his brains to impress his boss．

【小题3】Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．A talent agency is to oversee the production of movies．

B．Ron Meyer did far more successfully than Raul Kohner．

C．Relationship is the most important thing in the film industry．

D．Meyer had never thought of being as successful as today．

Jack London is a famous American writer. His most widely known book is the Call of the Wild, the story of the adventure of a large dog in the frozen north.

Jack London was born on January 12, 1876, in San Francisco, California. His family was very poor, and Jack had to leave school to make money. He worked hard at many different jobs.

Later, Jack returned to school, but he didn’t stay. He wrote, “Life and pocket book were both too short.” In 1897, he went to Alaska to find gold. Instead, he found ideas there for his book stories. He returned home and started to write. His writings were successful, and he became rich and famous in his twenties.

Jack London was not a happy man, however. In poor health, he took his own life in 1916. He was then only 40 years old.

Jack London went to Alaska to __________________.

A. find ideas for his books   B. find gold    C. write his books and stories    D. find jobs

Jack London left school because __________________.

A. he had to work to help his family           B. he had completed his education

C. he wanted to become a writer              D. he wanted to find gold.

From what did Jack London get ideas for his books and stories?

A. His life in Alaska.                       B. His childhood friend.

C. A large dog in the north.                  D. His pocket book.

What do we know about Jack London?

A. He became famous but remained poor all his life.

B. Though he was poor, he was always happy.

C. He was not famous until he died in 1916.

D. He killed himself because of poor health.

There was one shop in the town of Mufulira which was widely known for its racial discrimination. It was a drugstore .While Europeans were served at the counter ,a long line of Africans queued at the window and often not only were kept waiting but were treated rudely by the shop assistants .One day I was determined to make a public protest （抗议）against this kind of thing ,and many of the schoolboys in my class followed me to the store.

I simply went into the shop and asked the manager politely for some medicine. As soon as he saw me standing in the place where only European customers were allowed to stand ,he shouted at me in a bastard （怪声怪气的）language which is only used by a boss when speaking to his servants .I stood at the counter and politely requested in proper English that I should be served .The manager became angry and said , “Even if you stand till Christmas ,I will never serve you .”

I went to the District Commissioner’s office .Fortunately ,he was out ,for he was one of the old school; however ,I saw a young District Officer who was a friend of mine .He was very concerned to hear my story and told me that all I had to do was come to him personally and he would buy my medicine for me .I protested that that was not good enough .I asked him to accompany me back to the store and to make a protest to the manager .This he did ,and I well remember him saying to the manager , “Here is Mr. Kaunda who is a responsible member of the Urban Advisory Council, and you treat him like a common servant .” The manager of the drugstore apologized and said , “If only he had introduced himself and explained who he was ,then ,of course ,I should have given him proper service.”

I had to explain once again that he had missed my point .Why should I have to introduce myself every time I went into a store…any more than I should have to buy my medicine by going to a European friend ? I want to prove that any man of any color ,whatever his position ,should have the right to go into any shop and buy what he wanted .After all, the money which I paid across the counter was exactly the same money as was paid by a European customer.

1.The writer was ,at the time of the story ,     .

A．a European officer	B．an African servant
C．a drugstore assistant	D．a black school teacher

2.The manager of the drugstore shouted at the writer in dirty words because     .

A．he could not speak English in a polite way

B．he thought the writer couldn’t understand English

C．that was the language he used when speaking to Africans

D．that was the only language he could speak when he was angry

3.In paragraph 3, the underlined sentence “he was one of the old school” means     .

A．he stuck to those old racial ideas

B．he graduated from an old white school

C．he was in charge of an old black school

4.Why didn’t the writer wait at the window of the drugstore like other Africans?

A．He believed his white friends would help him out .

B．He wanted to fight for equal rights of all black people.

C．He thought he was educated and should be treated differently.

D．He thought ,being an important person ,he should not be kept waiting.

 

Ron Meyer is the president and COO（首席运营官） of Universal Studios．As one of the most successful business leaders in Hollywood, he heads up Universal Pictures and Universal Parks & Resorts．He's the guy who oversees the production of Multimillion-dollar extravaganzas（作品） like King Kong and Cinderella Man．

Meyer’s story sounds like the plot of one of his motion pictures．He grew up in a modest home where there was little income．It was a big deal to go to a restaurant．At 15, he quit high school and spent his time hanging out with the neighborhood toughs（流氓）．He was then a kid quick with his fists who seemed to get into fights somewhat regularly．At one point, he was separated from others with an infectious disease, having no TV and nothing to do．His mother sent him two books．One was The Amboy Dukes, a novel about kids in street gangs．The other was The Flesh Peddlers, about a guy in the talent agency（星探公司）who lived a successful life．“I realized,” he says, “that I was no longer that silly kid I had been, and I wanted to change my life．”

Meyer took any job he could get．He worked as a busboy and short-order cook．He cleaned offices and sold shoes．That attitude made an impression on people．One day he received a call from Paul Kohner, a successful agent who represented stars like John Huston, Charles Bronson and Lana Turner．Their messenger and driver had quit, and they knew Ron was willing to take whatever job they offered. He started the job the next day．

Meyer was lucky to work with a good boss―and he had the brains to make the most of that experience．In nearly six years of driving for Kohner, Meyer became his right-hand man and learned a lot．By the 1970s, Meyer had built many relationships in the business．In 1975, the fate presented an opportunity and he started his own operation Creative Artists Agency, which became a huge success, representing Hollywood legends like Barbra Streisand, Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise．

Twenty years later, Meyer was appointed to run Universal Studios, a position far beyond his youthful dream．But once he saw success was possible, he was driven to achieve it．Today, colleagues regularly owe his success―and theirs―to his humility and perseverance．It’s a level of success that takes determination, personality and intelligence, whether it comes from a college education or from the street．

1.What is the main idea of the passage? 

A．How a bitter childhood contributes to one’s success．

B．It’s important to choose a right career to achieve one’s life goal．

C．A talent agency helps a person to become famous．

D．It’s people’s determination, intelligence and personality that decide their success．

2.What does the author mean by saying “he had the brains to make the most of that experience”?

A．He benefited a good deal from the experience．

B．He smartly took the opportunity to learn from the experience．

C．That experience made him ever smarter than ever before．

D．He used his brains to impress his boss．

3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．A talent agency is to oversee the production of movies．

B．Ron Meyer did far more successfully than Raul Kohner．

C．Relationship is the most important thing in the film industry．

D．Meyer had never thought of being as successful as today．

 

American magician David Blaine left the glass box in which he had lived for 44 days without food on October 19. 2003. Hundreds of people came to watch the end of his starvation experiment, which has become one of London’s main tourist attractions.

Looking thinner and darker, 30 year-old Blaine was taken out of his box over the River Thames（泰晤士河）and immediately went to hospital. He was then slowly reintroduced to food, a process (过程)doctors say could be life threatening. He had been drinking only water since September 5.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Blaine first became known as a street magician in the early 1990s. He soon found himself doing magic tricks in bars for the likes of American actor Leonardo DiCaprio and his super model friends.

Over the last decade Blaine has become famous with a combination of breathtaking magic and clever tricks aimed at getting a lot of attention.

In 1999, he was buried in a coffin (棺材) for one week and, in 2000, he spent 62 hours in a giant block of ice. Last year he stood on top of a 25-meter pillar(柱子) in the center of New York for 35 hours before jumping into a pile of boxes.

“I think a lot of people are unable to accept that they’re able to do what they can do,” he said. “They don’t realize we can survive. The human being is an amazing creation.”

But he seems to have suffered from spending so long in the glass box. He said that at times he was unable to see, had serious back pains and lost his sense of taste.

It is _    __ for David Blaine to eat food after such a long starvation.

A. pleasant      B. delicious       C. dangerous        D. important

Having spent such a long time in the glass box, he suffered the following EXCEPT that _   ___.

A. he had become blind             B. he had serious back pains

C. he lost his sense of taste      D. he was in weak health

Which of the following can best describe David Blaine?

A. Serious         B. Adventurous          C. Mad          D. Crazy

Which of the following is NOT true of David Blaine?

A. Blaine immediately went to hospital after he was taken out of his box.

B. Blaine was born and brought up in England.

C. In Blaine’s opinion, people can create a wonder.

D. Blaine didn’t have any food for 44 days.