Misery and setbacks are not always as terrible as one imagines. Hard times can offer new ways of looking at life that would otherwise never be known. And, if you are a writer, this can be the source of much of your success.
Popular British author, Charles Dickens' （1812-1870）family could hardly make ends meet. They could only afford to send one of their six children to school. Dickens was not that child. His parents chose to send a daughter, who had a talent for music, to an academy. Then at the age of 12, Dickens' life took another turn for the worse.
His father, a clerk, was placed in prison for unpaid debts. And, being the oldest male left at home, Dickens took up work at a factory. His horrible experience there became the fuel for his future writing. His father was freed three months later and inherited a small amount of money. Dickens was then sent to school.
From 1836 to 1837, he wrote a monthly series of stories. Thus the Pickwick Papers, came into being, which brought fame to the 23-year-old man.
Throughout his career, Dickens covers various situations in his novels. He wrote about the miserable lives of the poor in Oliver Twist, the French Revolution in Tale of Two Cities, and social reform in Hard Times. He also wrote David Copperfield, a book thought to be modeled on his own life.
“I do not write bitterly or angrily: for I know all these things have worked together to make me what I am,” he once said. His difficult childhood did indeed shape the person he became, as well as his writing career. There are shades of young Dickens in many of his most beloved characters, including David Copperfield and Oliver Twist.
Like the author, all these characters come from poor beginnings and are able to rise above their setbacks and achieve success. “Minds, like bodies, will often fall into an ill-conditioned state from too much comfort,” he once wrote. On June 9th, 1870, aged 58, Dickens died, leaving one unfinished work．The words on his tombstone read: “He was a sympathizer to the poor, the suffering and the oppressed, and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world.”
【小题1】The book that first called public attention to Dickens was ______.

A．the Pickwick Papers	B．Oliver Twist
C．Tale of Two Cities	D．David Copperfield

【小题2】The phrase “shades of” in bold means “_____”.

A．various shapes of	B．situations of
C．different experiences of	D．reminders of

【小题3】How did Dickens see his childhood?

A．He felt grateful for it．

B．He felt it a pity that things weren’t in his favor．

C．He loved writing about it．

D．He chose to forget the bitterness about it．

【小题4】From the story, we can see Dickens’ attitude towards an easy life is ______．

A．to enjoy it	B．to hate it
C．not to abandon yourself to it	D．to work hard for it

Dear College Dean

It is my understanding that this college has received a large donation to be used to improve the quality of life for students: expand the bookstore or add computers to the computer lad. It is the tradition of his school to promote education and to be the pioneer of new technology. That is why I strongly argue in favor of the addition of more computers to the computer lab.

Although expanding the campus bookstore to include CDs, gifts, and a snack bar will give a nicer look to the college, we have to think about a greater goal and a more practical way to enhance the quality of life for students. What do we want for our students and our college? Do we want our college to be known as a place with a great bookstore where you can find CDs and gifts, or as a place where the students can explore and research in their field using the best tools provided by technology? In addition, there are already several snack bars on campus, and there are music stores nearby, so students do not depend on the college bookstore for these things.

We live in a highly technological world and computers play an increasingly important role in how we live. As a learning institution, this college has the responsibility to offer its students the best technology to help them prepare for their future. Many students will be expected to be familiar with the latest software and other tools when they go on to work or to graduate school.

While they are in college, students find they are expected to use computers. Many professors expect students to use computers to do homework or to complete projects. Students are asked to create PowerPoint presentations and use spreadsheets and database programs, as well as to research many topics on the Internet. Since students are competing for good grades, those who have limited access to computers are at a great disadvantage. Furthermore, being able to do projects using the computer enhances the process of learning, giving students the opportunity to find information that without a computer would be much more difficult to find.

If there are more computers, students will also be able to complete their work more efficiently. No more will they have to wait in line, paper and disk in hand, while scanning the room for an empty chair and computer. No longer will they have to sit and wait while an outdated computer struggles to follow their commands. Having more new and faster computers available will enable students to finish their work more quickly.

The more computers are used in society the more colleges will depend on them as a tool of teaching and learning. Making computers more available to students facilitates their learning process by making the process easier, more interesting, more engaging, and in the process enhancing their quality of life

The purpose of the author in writing the passage is         .

A．to describe the problems caused by lack of computers

B．to explain why students are in great need of computers

C．to tell us what benefits students can gain from computers

D．to persuade the Dean to purchase more advanced computers

From the passage we can infer that          .

A．present computers in the college cannot meet the demands of the students

B．computers in the college will be updated to meet the student's demands soon

C．the college has the responsibility to help the students to prepare for their future

D．it is also necessary to expand the college bookstore by using part of the donation

In paragraph 4, the author mainly wants to tell us that         .

A．computers are beneficial to students' academic success

B．computers are helpful to student's competition for success

C．students find it convenient to do assignments by using computers

D．students wish to use the money to buy more advanced computers

Which of the following shows the organization of the passage?

It seems that the Great Wall is the place to rock(摇滚). There will be two parties held on the Great Wall this month.
Great Wall Ⅰ
The latest Great Wall party is sponsored(主办) by the Club and Elektrobeat and held at Jinshanling. Local DJ Mark, as well as guests Slab from Australia, Usami and Bobby from Hong Kong will sing at the party. All drinks are priced at 20 yuan($ 2.4).
Tickets: 200yuan($ 24), including bus ride there and back plus entrance fee to the Great Wall. T/D: 8p.m. to 2 a.m., Sept. 20.
Pre-sale tickets are to be booked at: Public Space: 6416－0759; Neo Lounge: 6416－1077.
Buses: Leave at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20 from Neo Lounge, 99 Xinfuncun Zhonglu,
Sanlitun, Chaoyang District.
For more info: www. elektrobeat. com
Great wall Ⅱ
The other party at the end of this month at Jinshanling will be started with live performances by Askar, Brain Failure, Longkuan, Supermarket, Mr. Zhou, Beijing Talking and the Yi band.
Dance till dawn to the wonderful sounds of DJs Ben, Mickey Zhang, Will, Cheese, Gao Hu and Huang Weiwei.
T/D: 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., Sept. 27.
Tickets: 350 yuan ($ 42) or 300 yuan ($ 36) for groups of 10 or more, 500 yuan ($ 60) at the door and VIP tickets 800 yuan ($ 72), transportation included.
Buses: Depart from the north gate of Wbrkers’ Stadium at noon, 2 p.m., 4 p.m., Sept. 27.
For more info: contact Li Zhenhua at lah@msgp. Org or call 133－2119－1731.
【小题1】If you want to book tickets for Great Wall Ⅰ in advance, you can phone _________.

A．6146－0759	B．6146－1077
C．6416－0759	D．133－2119－1731

【小题2】What day of the week is September 27?

A．Saturday.

B．Sunday.

C．Weekday.

D．It can’t be known.

【小题3】A dozen people want to attend Great Wall Ⅱ. They should pay at least _______ for the tickets.

A．$ 504

B．$ 432

C．$ 720

D．$ 864

One day, when old Jacob and little Jacoble were walking home, the sun began to go down. Old Jacob was thinking of his house and little Jacoble didn’t know what to think. Then he thought of a wonderful idea, and he cried, “Jacob! Do you know what I saw yesterday? I saw a green rabbit. It was flying in the air and it was so big, even bigger than an elephant!”
“You saw that with your own eyes?” asked old Jacob. “Of course I did,” said Jacoble proudly. “It’s a good thing that you really saw that big, flying, green rabbit,” said old Jacob, “because that old bridge we are going to walk over is a very strange one. As soon as anyone who hasn’t told the truth comes on it, the bridge breaks in two.” They continued walking.
“Jacob,” said Jacoble a little later, “you know that big, green, flying rabbit I saw yesterday ... Well, it wasn’t really flying, and ... it wasn’t quite as big as an elephant ... but it was very big, about the size of a horse!” “Big as a horse?” asked Jacob as they got closer to the bridge and little Jacoble began not to feel so well.
“Jacob,” said Jacoble. “That big, green rabbit I saw yesterday, well, I had something in my eye and so I couldn’t see that well. It wasn’t a very big rabbit but it was green. Yes, that’s what it was — all green!”
Old Jacob didn’t say a word. He just walked over the bridge. But Jacoble didn’t go after him because he was afraid and he knew why he was afraid. He stood at the bridge and said, “Oh, Jacob! You know that rabbit I saw yesterday. It wasn’t green. No. It was just a little, brown rabbit.”
Then he was not afraid of anything any more and he ran happily over the bridge.
【小题1】We know from the text that the story happened ______.

A．in the morning

B．in the afternoon

C．at dusk (黄昏)

D．at midnight

【小题2】Jacob considered Jacoble’s story ______.

A．humorous

B．interesting

C．frightening

D．unbelievable

【小题3】Why did little Jacoble change his story again and again?

A．Because he was afraid of falling into the river.

B．Because he tried to persuade Jacob to believe it.

C．Because he wanted to frighten Jacob.

D．Because he didn’t remember the story clearly.

【小题4】What lesson can we learn from the text?

A．A lie will never be known.

B．True friends don’t cheat each other.

C．Telling lies makes one suffer from fears.

D．Making up a story is lying.

Recently there was a major discovery in the scientific research—the mapping of all DNA in a human gene（基因）is complete. Couple of years ago, this seems an impossible task for scientist to accomplish. All this progress in science leads us to believe that the day, when the human being will be cloned, is not far away. Human cloning has always been a topic of argument，in terms of morality or religion.
Taking a look at why cloning might be beneficial, among many cases, it is arguable that parents who are known to be at risk of passing a genetic limitation to a child could make use of cloning. If the clone was free of genetic limitations. Then the other clone would be as well. The latter could foe inserted in the woman and allowed to ripen to term. Moreover，cloning would enable women, who can’t get pregnant, to have children of their own.
Cloning humans would also mean that organs could be cloned, so it would be a source of perfect transfer organs. This, surely would be greatly beneficial to millions of unfortunate people around the world that are expected to lose their lives due to failure of single(or more) organ(s）.It is also arguable that a ban on cloning may be unlawful and would rob people of the right to reproduce and limit the freedom of scientists.
Arguments against cloning are also on a perfectly practical side. Primarily, I believe that cloning would step in the normal “cycle”of life. There would be a large number of same genes., which reduce the chances of improvement，and, in turn, development-the fundamental reason how living things naturally adapt to the ever-changing environment. Life processes failing to do so might result in untimely disappearance. Furthermore, cloning would make the uniqueness that each one of us possesses disappea. Thus, leading to creation of genetically engineered groups of people for specific purposes and, chances are, that those individuals would be regarded as “objects” rather than people in the society.
Scientists haven’t 100 percent. guaranteed that the first cloned will be normal. Thus this could result in introduction of additional limitations in the human “gene-pool”.
Regarding such arguable topics in “black or white” approach seems very innocent to me personally. We should rather try to look at all “shades: of it. I believe that cloning is only legal if its purpose is for cloning organs, not humans. Then we could regard this as for “saving life” instead of “creating life”. I believe cloning humans is morally and socially unacceptable.
【小题1】Which of the following is true according to the passage？

A．Genetic limitation will be beneficial for some women

B．A large number of genes will prevent us from developing

C．Prohibition of cloning might limit the freedom of scientists

D．First cloned humans might be normal according to scientists

【小题2】What’s the author’s opinion on cloning?

A．Cloning should be entirely banned

B．Cloning should be used in creating life

C．Cloning will take away the right to reproduce

D．Cloning is acceptable if it is used for cloning organs

【小题3】Where can you read this article?

A．In a story book.

B．In a magazine.

C．In a science fiction

D．In a brochure

【小题4】   Which of the following shows the structure of the passage