Once there was a piano player in a bar(酒吧). People came just to hear him play. But one night, a lady asked him to sing a song.

      "I don't sing," said the man.

     But the lady told the waiter, "I'm tired of listening to the piano. I want the player to sing!

     The waiter shouted across the room, "Hey, friend! If you want to get paid, sing a song!'

     So he did. He had never sung in public before. Now he was singing for the very first time! Nobody had ever heard the song Mona Lisa sung so beautifully!

     He had talent(天赋) he was sitting on! He may have lived the rest of his life as a no-name piano player in a no-name bar. But once he found, by accident, that he could sing well, he went on working hard and became one of the best-known singers in the US. His name was Nat King Cole.

     You, too, have skills and abilities. You may not feel that your talent is great, but it may be better than you think. With hard work, most skills can be improved. Besides, you may have no success at all ff you just sit on your talent.

1. The lady asked the player to sing a song because _____.

    A. she had paid him for this           B. she knew him very well

     C. she wanted to have a change       D. she enjoyed his singing

2. Nat King Cole succeeded because _____.

    A. the lady helped him a lot            B. he caught the chance

     C. he continued to play in the bar       D. he stopped playing the piano

3.The words "sit on" in the passage probably mean"

A. fail to realize          B. forget to use

C. try to develop          D. manage to show

4.From the story we know if you have some talent, you should _____.

     A. hide it and wait       B. ask others for help

    C. pay no attention to it     D. work hard to improve yourself

5. Which could be the best title (标题) for the passage?

     A. Sing in the Bar              B. Achieve Success in Life

     C. Never Lose Heart            D. Find Your Hidden Talent

1 

Once there was a piano player in a bar. People came just to hear him play. But one night, a lady asked him to sing a song.

"I don't sing," said the man.

But the lady told the waiter, "I'm tired of listening to the piano. I want the player to sing!

The waiter shouted across the room, "Hey, friend! If you want to get paid, sing a song!'

So he did. He had never sung in public before. Now he was singing for the very first time! Nobody had ever heard the song Mona Lisa sung so beautifully!

He had talent(天赋) he was sitting on! He may have lived the rest of his life as a no-name piano player in a no-name bar. But once he found, by accident, that he could sing well, he went on working hard and became one of the best-known singers in the US. His name was Nat King Cole.

You, too, have skills and abilities. You may not feel that your talent is great, but it may be better than you think. With hard work, most skills can be improved. Besides, you may have no success at all if you just sit on your talent.

1.The lady asked the player to sing a song because _____.

A. she had paid him for this

B. she knew him very well

C. she wanted to have a change

D. she enjoyed his singing

2.Nat King Cole succeeded because _____.

A. the lady helped him a lot

B. he caught the chance

C. he continued to play in the bar

D. he stopped playing the piano

3.The words "sit on" in the passage probably mean"

A.参加                 B.搁置            C. 开发                D.展示

4.Which could be the best title for the passage?

A. Sing in the Bar

B. Achieve Success in Life

C. Never Lose Heart

D. Find Your Hidden Talent

Is the art of conversation dying? The other day, my wife   16  two teenage children did something we haven’t    17  for ages. It didn’t require the Internet, a TV screen, batteries… or anything else for that matter. But we all   18  it so much we’re thinking of doing it again sometime.

We had a conversation. The kind of real, live conversation that was   19  when I was growing up, but which seems all too rare these days. Today we have chat rooms, text messages, e-mails but we seem to be losing the   20  of communicating face-to-face. We all know   21  young people are out on a date(约会）these days, they spend most of that time   22  their mobile phones. And teenagers nowadays seem to   23  communicating with their friends by sending text messages rather than actually   24  to them.

If we carry on like this，in the future, we’ll lose the use of our   25 . What do you think? E-mail me, and who knows? Maybe we could even have a real conversation about it!

Alexis Rocha is a 13-year-old boy from California, US. He weighs 147 pounds (67 kg). But six months ago, he weighed more than 202 pounds (91 kg). How did he lose all that weight in only half a year?
“One day, I was surprised to find that I weighed about 200 pounds,” Rocha says. “I thought I had to do something.”
Rocha is from a boxing (拳击) family—his father and two older brothers are professional boxers. So he decided to start boxing. He began with simple exercises, like sit-ups and push-ups (俯卧撑). Then Rocha started jogging(慢跑). “No kid likes running,” he says. “I don’t want to do it, either, but I have no choice but to keep on.”
Months later, Rocha joined a boxing club in his city. He is always the first kid at the club to begin exercising, and the last to leave with sweat (汗水) on his face. Every day he boxes for about three hours.
“Rocha works very hard,” says his coach, Hector Lopez. “It’s surprising to see him lose the pounds so quickly. I’ve never seen anything like this in my 20 years of coaching.”
Rocha is very happy with his weight now. There is a family photo in his room from 18 months ago. “Each time I look at the photo, I laugh at myself. I was so big back then,” Rocha says. “I look 100 times thinner and 1,000 times stronger now.”
【小题1】How much weight did Rocha lose in six months?
A. At least 24 pounds.     B. At least 30 pounds.　　    C. At least 55 pounds.
【小题2】 Rocha said he had no choice but to keep on running because_______.
A. he liked running very much
B. he wanted to be thin and strong
C. he wanted to be a professional boxer
【小题3】What makes Coach Hector Lopez surprised?
A. Rocha lost weight so quickly.
B. Rocha was so fat 18 months ago.
C. Rocha comes from a boxing family.
【小题4】What’s the correct order of the following sentences?
a. He did some sit-ups and push-ups.
b. He lost the pounds quickly.
c. He joined a boxing club.
d. He began running.
f. He boxed for about three hours every day.
A. a-d-c-f-b     B. d-a-f-c-b     C. a-d-f-c-b 
【小题5】The writer mainly wants to tell us _______.
A. Rocha is a hardworking boy
B. it is important to get exercise
C. everything is possible if you work hard