I had to knock on the taxi to get his attention. Finally, the driver, a man about 60, looked up from behind the wheel and apologized, “I’m sorry, but I was reading a letter.” He sounded as if he had a cold or a cough.
Since I was in no hurry, I told him to finish his letter. He shook his head, explaining that he had already read it several times and almost knew it by heart. Curious, I asked whether it was from a child or maybe a grandchild. “This isn’t family,” he replied. “Though he might just as well have been a regular member of the family, Old Ed and I grew up together.”
They were always friends. But since he moved away from the neighborhood 30 years ago, it’d generally just been postcards at Christmas time between them. A couple of weeks ago, Ed died. “I should have kept in touch.” He repeated this, more to himself than to me. To comfort him, I said sometimes we just didn’t seem to find the time. “But we used to find the time,” he said. “Take a look.” He handed the letter over to me.
The first sentence “I’ve been meaning to write for some time, but I’ve always delayed it.” reminded me of myself. It went on to say that he often thought about the good times they had had together. When I read the part where it said “Your friendship really means a lot to me, more than I can say because I’m not good at saying things like that”, I found myself nodding in agreement.
We had gone several kilometers and were almost at my hotel, so I read the last paragraph: “So I thought you’d like to know that I was thinking of you.” And it was ended with “Your Old Friend, Tom.”
“I thought your friend’s name was Ed,” I said.
“I’m Tom,” he explained. “It’s a letter I wrote to Ed before I knew he’d died. I never put it in the mailbox. I guess I should have written it sooner.” His face was pale as he wiped his eyes with a handkerchief.
When I got to my hotel room I didn’t unpack right away. I had to write a letter and post it.
【小题1】From Paragraph 4, we learn that the author _______.

At 7:49 a.m. local time on Wednesday, April 14th, a huge earthquake struck Yushu County in Qinghai, China, described as “end of the earth” in a famous poem of the Tang Dynasty.
The earthquake destroyed many houses, cut off power and caused over 2,000 deaths and injuries. On the night when the earthquake happened, many survivors had to sit or lie on the ground in terrible darkness. Some brought their own tents and others turned on the lights of motorcycles. It seemed that the earth was at an end. But their natural character made them get together to fight the early spring’s cold nights. Facing the disaster, they chose to be stronger and standing still and firmly like Yushu, the name of their hometown meaning “Standing like Trees”.
The disaster drew much attention both at home and abroad. Our country leaders ordered rescuers（营救人员） to value every life and never to give up. Thousands of rescuers and medical teams rushed to Yushu from many areas of China, bringing machines, medicines and something necessary to the quake-hit town. They entered every village to search for survivors. Governments, organizations and volunteers are offering money and materials to the areas.
We believe that under the leadership of the Central Government, people in the disaster areas are sure to restore production and rebuild homeland as soon as possible. And the overall victory can be achieved in the earthquake rescue work.
【小题1】
In Paragraph 2, the writer refers to the meaning of “Yushu” to show that _______.

When something goes wrong，it can be very satisfying to say，”Well, it’s so-and-so’s fault.” or “I know I’m late，but it’s not my fault；the car broke down.” It is probably not your fault，but once you form the habit of blaming somebody or something else for a bad situation，you are a loser. You have no power and could do nothing that helps change the situation. However, you can have great power over what happens to you if you stop focusing on whom to blame and start focusing on how to remedy the situation. This is the winner’s key to success.
Winners are great at overcoming problems. For example, if you were late because your car broke down, maybe you need to have your car examined more regularly. Or, you might start to carry along with you the useful phone numbers, so you could call for help when in need. For another example, if your colleague causes you problems on the job for lack of responsibility or ability, find ways of dealing with his irresponsibility or inability rather than simply blame the person. Ask to work with a different person, or don’t rely on the person. You should accept that the person is not reliable and find creative ways to work successfully regardless of how your colleague fails to do his job well.
This is what being a winner is all about—creatively using your skills and talents so that you are successful no matter what happens. Winners don’t have fewer problems in their lives; they have just as many difficult situations to face as anybody else. They are just better at seeing those problems as challenges and opportunities to develop their own talents. So, stop focusing on “whose fault it is.” Once you are confident about your power over bad situations, problems are just stepping stones for success.
【小题1】According to the passage, winners        .

A．avoid

B．accept

C． improve

D．consider

NBA commissioner David Stern was in Orlando on Thursday night, getting ready for Sunday’s All-Star Game. Of course, all he could talk about was the only player anyone wants to talk about these days: New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin.
Hours before Lin took the court against the Heat, a few hundred miles South down I-95 in Miami, Stern told reporters that Lin’s instant popularity hasn’t ever been matched in sports history, not even by Sunday’s biggest names, LeBron James or Kobe Bryant.
The Associated Press had the details.
“I haven’t done a calculation, but it’s fair to say that no player has created the interest and the craze in this short period of time, in any sport, that I’m aware of like Jeremy Lin has,” Stern said Thursday.
Lin, an undrafted(未选秀的)guard from Harvard, has become the NBA’s biggest story since coming off the Knicks’ bench earlier this month to lead them to nine wins in 11 games heading into their matchup with Miami on Thursday night.
With Lin’s popularity in Asia as the league’s first American-born player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent, and with the religious community because of his strong Christian faith, Stern says he’s “never quite seen anything like” the attention on Lin.
“It’s fascinating,” Stern said after the All-Star Jam Session opening ceremonies.
The top five videos on NBA.com since Feb. 4, when Lin joined the circulation, are all Lin or Knicks related. Lin went from 190,000 followers on Sina, China’s version of Twitter, on Feb. 2 to more than 1 million as of Feb. 16.
Indeed, Lin’s popularity is so out of this world that the NBA made a late list switch to ensure his participation in the Rising Stars Challenge on All-Star Saturday, a game that includes the NBA’s best rookies(新秀球员)and sophomores. Lin is in such high demand that all of the game’s other participants will meet with the media following a team practice on Friday while Lin will have his own, separate press conference later in the night. 
This is Jeremy’s world, folks. We’re all just living in it. Even David Stern and the rest of the league’s All-Stars, at least for the moment. 
【小题1】The following statements about Jeremy Lin’s instant popularity are true EXCEPT that ______.

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。选项中有一项为多余项．
A．Join learning communities and help each other.
B．Expect problems, never be disappointed, and gradually you’ll make it.
C．Anytime is learning time.
D．Get interested and arouse（唤起） your desire for knowledge.
E．Cover the same ground from different angles(角度).
F．Try to be a good and effective learner.
As a student, how we can learn our lessons effectively is a common problem which is always puzzling us．If you follow suggestions below, I'm sure you'll find the solution easily.
【小题1】Your interest in the subject is the essential driver of success. You can' t learn what you do not want to learn. Emotion is an important part of the learning process. If you are even moderately interested in a subject, give yourself a chance. The key is to get started. If you can create some pleasurable routines, you may find that the subject grows on you. You must always remember learning is just like eating. You don' t expect to enjoy your food without appetite（食欲）.Therefore, you should always try to arouse your interest and desire for knowledge if you want to learn well.
【小题2】Don't expect to understand things, or remember too much, the first time you study them．Think about what problem you will meet with in your study, so that you are well-prepared for it. Never be disappointed no matter what happens. Trust that things will get clearer as your brain comes to get new information. It is like a jig-saw puzzle or a cross-word puzzle（纵横填字游戏）. As you start to put the pieces together, or string the words together, the full picture becomes clearer. The brain learns all the time, but on its own schedule．Learning does not take place according to a schedule laid down by a curriculum or teacher. Keep at it, and you will gradually find that things that seem difficult at first, will become second nature with time.
【小题3】Your brain is struggling to form patterns to cope with new input from your learning activities．Sometimes, no matter how long you focus on one subject, your brain is not going to pick it up．If you are stuck, move on．Then cover the same general information from a different source, a different book, or a blog, or an online lecture or a video．Try to become a grazing learner, wandering about the countryside, rather than a feed-lot learner, just standing there in one spot, chewing the same bale of hay．The broader your base, the easier it is to learn．Just as the "rich get richer" , the more you know, the more you can learn．
【小题4】Take full advantage of the Internet, blogs, and various mobile devices, not to mention good old-fashioned books and magazines．Learn during "dead time". Listen in your car, on the train, or while jogging. Have your learning with you while waiting in the doctor's office, or listen while checking out at the supermarket. Anytime is learning time．Remember, you are learning through exposure, not by nailing things down. It is more like moisture accumulation in a cloud, rather than building a brick wall．
【小题5】The "loneliness of the distance learner" is a thing of the past．Join a learning community on the web, where members share their knowledge and experience. Search for the communities that suit your interests and learning styles. You will find encouragement, advice and stimulus from fellow learners, as well as from tutors, teachers and coaches．In these communities, you can measure your progress against your own goals, or compare your experience with that of other learners．You can even teach and help others, which is a great way to learn.