Science fiction is a popular kind of writing, and many people think of Jules Verne as the father of science
fiction. He was born in France in 1828. His father wanted him to become a lawyer, but from his early 20s
Verne decided to become a writer. At first he wrote plays for the theater. Then, in 1863, he wrote a story
called Five Weeks in a Balloon. The success of this book encouraged him to write more stories such as A
Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) and From the Earth to the Moon (1865).
     In the 19th century, many people were interested in science and inventions. Jules Verne wrote about
scientific subjects in his stories and, as a result, they were very popular. Verne's writing included many
predictions (預(yù)言) for the 20th century and many of them came true. He described space flight, movies,
and air conditioning, a long time before they appeared. These books were very successful and they made
Verne rich. Jules Verne's books have been the subjects for many movies. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was
a successful movie for Walt Disney. It was the first Disney movie to use real actors instead of cartoon
drawings. Around the World in Eighty Days is another famous movie based on one of Verne's books. The
main character is an Englishman called Phileas Fogg. For him, the most important thing is to be always
on time!

1. What does the phrase"the father of science fiction" mean?

A. The father who has several children.
B. The man who loves science and inventions.
C. The writer whose father wrote science fiction.
D. The man who first started writing science fiction successfully.

2. What encouraged Jules Veme to write more stories? 

A. The plays he wrote for the theater.
B. The encouragement from his father.
C. The success of Five Weeks in a Balloon.
D. The scientific subjects in his stories.

3. Why were Jule8 Verne's books very popular in the 19th century?

A. Because his books made him rich and famous.
B. Because he wrote many plays for the theater at that time.
C. Because his books have been the subjects for many movies.
D. Because many people were interested in science and inventions.

4. Which of the following has the main character called Phileas Fogg?

A. Five Weeks in a Balloon.
B. Around the World in Eighty Days.
C. A Journey to the Center of the Earth.
D. From the Earth to the Moon.

5. According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?

A. Jules Verne only wrote plays in the 19th century.
B. Many of the predictions in Verne's stories came true.
C. The main characters in Verne's books are always on time.
D. The space flight Verne described was different from others.

                                                           
     Howard Carter was a famous explorer (探險(xiǎn)家). He loved to visit new places. During his life, he discovered
many important and exciting things.
     Howard Carter did not go to school. But he was smart and wanted to learn the world outside his hometown.
In 1891, at the age of 17, he went to Egypt (埃及) by ship. By the 1920s, he had become an explorer, looking
for the tombs (墳?zāi)? of the Egyptian kings.
     He found several important ones. Inside the tombs, he found jewels, gold and 10 bodies of dead kings. These
bodies are known as mummies (木乃伊). In 1922, Howard Carter made his most important discovery of all.
When Carter's team was working at a place near a city called Luxor, they found the tomb of King Tutankhamun.
     Not long after the tomb was opened, people in Carter's team began to get ill and die strangely. Within seven
years, 21 people who had something to do with the opening of the tomb died However, Howard Carter lived on
and died at the age of 65.

(     )1. Howard Carter liked to visit new places.
(     )2. Howard Carter was born in 1877.
(     )3. Carter's team found the tomb of King Tutankhamun in 1922.
(     )4. The passage tells us Carter's school life.

     Michael Jackson is one of the world's best singers. Michael Jackson was born in the middle west of the
city of Gary, Indiana, in 1958. He began singing with his four brothers. They called the group "The Jackson
Five". The group became very popular after appearing on a television program. They started singing in 1965,
and became popular soon. In 1970 the group made their first record with the name of "I Want You Back". It
was very popular. One of their hit records was "Never Say Goodbye".
     Michael was good at dancing as well as singing, for example, his dance moves and moon walking. He was
asked to act in a film in 1978 for the first time, and in the same year he made a record on his own, which sold
eight million copies all over the world.
     Michael nearly didn't go out because he was too famous. Once his fans went off in a faint (暈倒) when
they saw him at the concert. No one can do it by now. He lived in a large house and kept lots of animals. He
never ate meat. He often raised money for Charity. This made him win the Guinness World Records (吉尼斯世界記錄) in 2006. He died on June 25th, 2009, but he would live in our heart forever.

1. How many people are there in Michael's group? ?

A. Three.
B. Five.
C. Four.
D. Six.

2. What's the name of their first record? ?

A. "Never Say Goodbye".?
B. "See You, See Me". ?
C. "I Want You Back". ?
D. "On the World".

3. The underlined word "copies" means _______ in Chinese. ?

A. 抄寫(xiě)
B. 張/份
C. 復(fù)制
D. 模仿

4. Michael was good at _______ according to the passage. ?

A. rock music
B. street dance
C. playing the piano
D. moon walking

5. Why did Michael have to stay at home most of time? ?

A. Because he was too famous. ?
B. Because he often felt lonely. ?
C. Because he had no friends.
D. Because his company asked him to do so.

         Jackie Chan was born on Apirl 7, 1954, in Hongkong,China. His parents left mainland China for Hong
Kong a short time before he was born. His parents named him "Chang Kongsang", which means "born in Hong
Kong". They wanted to celebrate a safe trip to HongKong.
         At first, Jackie's family lived in the French Embassy (大使館). His father was a cook, and his mother a
housekeeper. When Jackie was seven years old, his family moved to Australia. His father got a job in the
American Embassy. Later, back in Hong Kong Jackie's father sent him to the China Drama Academy. Jackie
studied and worked 19 hours a day. The students practised KungFu and learned how to do many stunts (特技
表演) there.
         When Jackie was seventeen years old, he began to do dangerous stunts for films. In the early 1980s,
Jackie went to Hollywood, but he wasn't very successful. He went on to make films in HongKong and had
great success. Finally, in 1995, Jackie Chan has both Chinese and American fans ,and his films make millions
of dollars.

1. When did Jackie Chan's parents move to Hong Kong?

A. They moved to Hong Kong a short time after Jackie Chan was born.
B. They moved to Hong Kong a short time before Jackie Chan was born.
C. They moved to Hong Kong after they came back from America.

2. What did Jackie Chan learn in the China Drama Academy?

A. Dramas
B. Dancing
C. Kong Fu and stunts

3. Which is true according to the passage?

A. Jackie Chan is about forty years old.
B. He wasn't very successful when he first went to Hollywood.
C. He became famous at the age of 17.

4. Which is true according to the passage?

A. Jackie Chan is about forty years old.
B. He wasn't very successful when he first went to Hollywood.
C. He became famous at the age of 17.

5. We can learn from the article that _____.

A. Jackie Chan's mother was also born in Hong Kong.
B. At first, Jackie's family lived in France.
C. the time when his family moved to Australia was around 1961.

     Disneyland is the name of the theme parks around the world. There are Disneyland Park in Anaheim,
California, Disney Orlando in Florida, Disneyland Paris in France, Tokyo Disneyland in Japan, and Hong
Kong Disneyland in Hong Kong. But do you know its history? OK! Let me tell you.
     Walt Disney was born in 1901. The Mickey Mouse created in 1927 made him very famous. He died
in 1966, but his work and his dreams did not die. Now people all over the world enjoy his Mickey Mouse
and other cartoon characters.
     Later in his life, Mr. Disney had a dream, that is, to build a new kind of amusement park. It would be
clean and beautiful. There would be rides for children and nice hotels for adults. It would be fun for people
of all ages. Mr. Disney drew a plan for this park. It was called Disneyland. The engineer told him it was an
impossible dream. His family and friends thought he was mad. But Mr. Disney did not give up his idea. In
1955, (5)Disneyland opened to the public and became the most successful amusement park in the USA.
Walt Disney's dream came true.
     The Walt Disney Company confirmed that Disney had been talking to the government in Shanghai about
opening a park that would open by 2014.

任務(wù)一：根據(jù)短文內(nèi)容回答下列問(wèn)題。
1. When did Walt Disney create Mickey Mouse?
    __________________________________________________________________
2. What was Walt Disney's dream?
     __________________________________________________________________ 
3. Whom would the amusement park be fun for?
     __________________________________________________________________
4. Where is the first Disneyland?
    __________________________________________________________________
任務(wù)二：將文中劃線的句子翻譯成漢語(yǔ)。
5. __________________________________________________________________

     Stephen Hawking was born in Oxford, England, in 1942. He went to school in St Albans. After leaving
school, Hawking went first to Oxford University where he studied physics, then he went on studying in
Cambridge University. As he himself admits (承認(rèn)), he didn't work hard. He was a lazy student, and did
very little work. However, he still got good marks.
     At the age of 20, he first noticed something was wrong with him. His mother was very worried and
took him to see a doctor. He was sent to hospital for tests. He had an incurable (不可治愈的) illness. And
the doctor said he would die before he was 23.
     At first, he became very sad and disappointed (失望的). After coming out of the hospital, he suddenly
realized that life was beautiful. Later he married, found a job and had three children. He also went on with
some of the most important scientific research.
     Today, Hawking still works at Cambridge University as a professor. He strongly believes that his story
shows that nobody, however bad their situation is, should lose hope. "Life is not fair," he once said, "You
just have to do the best you can in your own situation."

Judge the following sentences true (T) or false (F) according to the passage.
(     )1. As a university student, Stephen Hawking worked very hard.
(     )2. Stephen Hawking first noticed something was wrong with him when he was 23.
(     )3. Hawking changed his life attitude (態(tài)度) after he had come out of the hospital.
(     )4. There were three people in Hawking's family.
(     )5. From the passage, we know that we shouldn't lose hope in our bad situation.

     The greatest saleswoman in the world today doesn't mind if you call her a girl (1) This is because Markita
Andrews made more than $ 80, 000 by selling cookies when she was 13 years old.
     Andrews and her mother shared a dream of travelling around the world. (2)Once, while reading magazines,
Andrews found that the person who sold the most cookies would win a free trip for two around the world.
She decided to have a try.
     To make her dream come true, Andrews went door to door every day after school and repeated, "Hi, I
have a dream. I'm earning a trip around the world for my mom and me by selling cookies." Then she asked,
"Would you like to buy one or two dozen boxes of cookies?"
     Andrews kept asking for a whole year, no matter how heavily it was raining or snowing outside. Her hard
work paid off. She sold 42, 000 boxes of cookies that year and she won her trip around the world.
     Andrews is no smarter than thousands of other people. The key to her success is that she has found the
secret of selling: Ask. Ask. Ask! Many people fail before they even begin because they fail to ask for what
they want.  
     It takes courage to ask for what you want. And, as Andrews has discovered, the more you ask, the easier
it gets.

1. 將(1)處改為同義句。

    This is because Markita Andrews made ________ $ 80, 000 by selling coolies 
    ________ ________ ________ ________ 13.

2. 將(2)處翻譯成漢語(yǔ)。
    _________________________________________________________________

3. 根據(jù)文章內(nèi)容，完成下面的句子。

    ________ is difficult, _________ you put your heart into it.
    Andrews' hard work makes her success.