One of the best-loved American writers was William Sydney Porter, or O.Henry. From 1893 he lived with his family in a house in Austin, Texas, which is now a museum. Visitors to Austin can see the house. It was saved from destruction (破坏) and turned into a museum in1934. The museum is a good way to learn about the interesting life of the American writer.

William Porter rented this house in Austin and lived there with his wife Athol and daughter Margaret for about two years. Many objects in the museum belonged to the Porters. Others did not. An important piece in the room is the original photograph over here. It was taken there in the house about 1895. The piano there goes back to the 1860s. His wife took lessons on it when she first moved to Austin.

Porter did not start his career as a successful writer. He worked at a farm, land office and bank. He also loved words and writing. The museum has a special proof of Porter’s love of language --- his dictionary. It is said that he had read every word in that dictionary.

Later William Porter was forced to leave Austin because he was charged with financial wrongdoing at the bank and lost his job. Because he was afraid of a trail (审判), he left the country secretly. But he returned because his wife was dying. After her death, he faced the trial and became a criminal. He served three and a half years in a prison in Ohio.

William Porter would keep his time in prison a secret. But there was one good thing about it. It provided him with time to write. By the time he was freed, he had published 14 stories and became well known as O.Henry.

Porter later moved to New York City and found great success there. He published over 180 stories in the last eight years of his life.

1.O.Henry’s house in Austin has been well kept up till now so that ____.

A. Americans can explore their history

B more visitors will be attracted to Austin

C. visitors can learn about O.Henry’s life

D. it can show the way of life in the 1860s

2.What do we know about the piano in the house?

3.How does the museum prove (证明) Porter was fond of language?

4.Why did Porter escape from Austin?

5.From the last two paragraphs we know that _______.

I needed to get some money so, after Christmas, I took a job in the clothes department at Graham's for the first fortnight of the January sale．I can't say that I enjoyed it, but it was an experience I'll never forget．

       I could never understand why there were so many things in the sales, where did they all come from? Now I know the secret! Firstly, there is the special winter stock （货物） and the stock that people buy all the year round;  some of these things are slightly reduced．Secondly, there are the summer clothes they couldn't sell last year; these are heavily reduced to clear them．Thirdly, there are cheap clothes bought in specially for the sales; these are put out at high prices ten days before the sale begins and then are reduced by 60% in the sale．Clever! Lastly, they buy in “seconds”（clothes not in perfect condition） for the sale and they are sold very cheaply．

       When I arrived half an hour before opening on the first day of the sale, there was already a queue around three sides of the building．This made me very nervous．

       When the big moment arrived to open the doors, the security guards looking less confident than usual, came up to them, keys in hand．The moment they had unlocked the doors, they hid behind the doors for protection as the noisy crowd charged in．I couldn't believe my eyes; this wasn't shopping, it was a battlefield! One poor lady couldn't keep her feet and was knocked over by people pushing from behind．

       Clothes were flying in all directions as people searched for the sizes, colours and styles they wanted．Quarrels broke out．Mothers were using their small children to crawl through people's legs and get hold of things they couldn't get near themselves．

       Within minutes I had half a dozen people pushing clothes under my nose; each wanting to be the first served．Where had the famous English queue gone? The whole day continued like that, but I kept my temper81 was taking money hand over fist and began to realize why twice a year, Graham's were happy to turn their expensive store into a battlefield like this．

       In the sale fever; people were spending money like water without thinking whether they needed what they were buying．As long as it was a bargain it was OK．You won't believe this．But as soon as I got home I crashed out for four hours．Then I had dinner and went back to bed, fearing the sound of the alarm which would tell me to get ready for the second day of the sale.

What kind of clothes is likely to be s0ld 5% cheaper?

A．Last summer's clothes,     

B．Clothes not in perfect condition．

C．Clothes bought in specially for the sales．

D．Clothes for winter．

Which of the following statements is true?

A．The customers gave up the queuing, for which the English are famous．

B．The customers kept their temper while looking for clothes they wanted．

C．Small children enjoyed crawling though people's legs．

D．The security guards were fearless of the crowd．

In the author's opinion, why were Gradhani's happy to make, their expensive store into a "battlefield"?                

A．There were too many clothes and they wanted to clear them in the sales．

B．They were eager to show that they were clever at doing business．

C．They could take the chance to raise the prices of all their clothes．

D．They wanted to make more money by having sales．

The expression "crashed out" means _____．

A．chatted with her friends       B．slept soundly

C．broke down                 D．dined out

What would be the best title for the passage?

A．The Best Bargain．       B．Hunting for a Job．

C．Sale Fever．               D．A Pleasant Fortnight．

— Tod hadn’t passed the exam and was afraid of being scolded.

— _____.

A. So it was with Jim

B. So was Jim, his classmate

C. It’s the same with Jim

D. Neither had Jim, his classmate

My sister and I grew up in a little village in England. Our father was a struggling  36, but I always knew he was  37  . He never criticized us, but used  38  to bring out our best. He’d say,” If you pout water on flowers, they flourish. If you don’t give them water, they die.” I 39  as a child I said something  40  about somebody, and my father said, “  41  time you say something unpleasant about somebody else, it’s a reflection of you.” He explained that if I looked for the best  42  people, I would  get the best  43  . From then on I’ve always tried to   44  the principle in my life and later in running my company.

   Dad’s also always been very  45  . At 15, I started a magazine. It was  46  a great deal of my time, and the headmaster of my school gave me a  47  : stay in school or leave to work on my magazine.

   I decided to leave, and Dad tried to sway me from my decision,   48  any good father would. When he realized I Had made up my mind, he said, “Richard, when I was 23, my dad   49  me to go into law. And I’ve  50  regretted it. I wanted to be a biologist,   51  I didn’t pursue my   52  . You know what you want. Go fulfill it.”

   As  53  turned out, my little publication went on to become Student, a national  54  for young people in the U.K. My wife and I have two children, and I’ d like to think we are bringing them up in the same way Dad  55  me.

Writing articles about films for The Front Page was my first proper job．Before then I had done bits of reviewing --- novels for other newspapers, films for a magazine and anything I was asked to do for the radio．That was how I met Tom Seaton, the first arts editor of The Front Page, who had also written for television．He hired me, but Tom was not primarily a journalist, or he would certainly have been more careful in choosing his staff．

    At first, his idea was that a team of critics should take care of the art forms that didn’t require specialized knowledge: books, TV, theatre, film and radio．There would be a weekly lunch at which we would make our choices from the artistic material that Tom had decided we should cover, though there would also be guests to make the atmosphere sociable．

   Tom’s original plan for a team of critics for the arts never took off．It was a good idea, but we didn’t get together as planned and so everything was done by phone．It turned out, too, that the general public out there preferred to associate a reviewer with a single subject area, and so I chose film．Without Tom’s initial push, though, we would hardly have come up with the present arrangement, by which I write an extended weekly piece, usually on one film．

    The space I am given allows me to broaden my argument --- or forces me, in an uninteresting week, to make something out of nothing．But what is my role in the public arena（舞台）? I suppose that people choose what films to go to on the basis of the stars, the publicity of the director．So if a film review isn’t really a consumer guide, what is it? I certainly don’t feel I have a responsibility to be ‘right’ about a movie．Nor do I think there should be a certain number of ‘great’ and ‘bad’ films each year．All I have to do is put forward an argument．I’m not a judge, and nor would I want to be．

What do we learn about Tom Seaton from the first paragraph?

       A．He encouraged Mark to become a writer．

       B．He had worked in various areas of the media．

       C．He met Mark when working for a film company．

       D．He prefers to employ people that he knows．

The weekly lunches were planned in order to ______．

       A．help the writers get to know each other

       B．provide an informal information party

       C．divide the work that had to be done

       D．entertain important visitors from the arts

What does the author mean when he says that Tom’s plan ‘never took off’ in Paragraph 3?

       A．It was unpopular．               B．It wasted too much time．

       C．It wasn’t planned properly．     D．It wasn’t put into practice．

Which of the following best describes what Mark says about his work?

       A．His success varies from year to year．   B．He prefers to write about films he likes．

       C．He can freely express his opinion．     D．He writes according to accepted rules．