All of my childhood and early adult life, my mom weighed over 220 pounds (one pound = 0.454
kilograms). I could feel the pain that my mom experienced with her fatness.
I was never uncomfortable about my mother, but I think she was uncomfortable about herself, and that
feeling was painful for all of us. And she began to lose weight.
     After more than twenty years of battling obesity(肥胖), my mother completed a forceful
eighteen-month diet that left her ninety pounds lighter than before. A new woman was born! At age
twenty-eight, I got a new mom! For the first time, I met the woman my mother truly was, the beautiful
little lady under the fatness. It wasn't so much her new body that was the surprise, but rather her new
spirit.
    To celebrate her new size and to devote herself to dancing again, my mother joined a "Mrs. Forty-Plus" competition, where she would have to model, give a speech and provide a dance performance. She told
our family that she did not care if she won - she simply had always wanted to perform on stage.
    She told each one of us, "I'm not doing it to win; I'm doing it to dance!"
    The competition was exciting! I prayed that my mom would win, but while watching her on stage I was
simply overjoyed just by her effort. To me, she had already won. She posed to perfection, her speech
brought tears to everyone's eyes, and her performance was wonderful.
    That night, at age fifty-three, my mother was crowned (為......加冕) "Mrs. Forty-Plus". She was the
first person in our family to ever win such a title.

1. The first two paragraphs mainly show that the author's mom was ______.

A. experienced     
B. painful          
C. comfortable        
D. fat

2. After the author's mom completed a forceful eighteen-month diet, she was about ______.

A. 85 kilograms    
B. 41 kilograms      
C. 130 pounds        
D. 90 pounds

3. In order to join in the "Mrs. Forty-Plus" Competition, the author's mom has to do the
    following EXCEPT______.

A. providing a dance performance            
B. telling a funny story about herself
C. giving a speech to a large number of people  
D. wearing special clothes to show to people

4. The underlined part in Paragraph 6 means that ______. 

A. the author's mom succeeded in modeling and speaking
B. the author's mom's performance was very wonderful
C. the author's mom was not successful in modeling
D. the author's mom succeeded in making a speech

     [1] Ashley Power's mother bought a computer for her when she was eight. When she was thirteen,
she was surfing the Internet regularly, but she couldn't find anywhere for teenagers to meet and talk. And
one day she thought, "If I had my own website, I'd make it a really interesting site for teenagers."
     [2]So, when Ashley was sixteen, she launched her own website, called Goosehead. She had no idea
how big a success it would be, but three years later, the site was the most successful teen site in the USA! It was getting 100,000 hits every day, and Ashley had about 30 employees.
     [3] After a few years, the website closed down. Then Ashley, who lives in Los Angeles, was asked
to write a book called The Goosehead Guide to Life. The book is about how to design a website and
start a business. It begins with a section called "All About Ashley," where Ashley tells readers what it is
like to be the boss of a company when you are only sixteen. " I was so happy. But it was crazy in a lot
of ways. I got very stressed. I mean, I was only sixteen - I didn't even have a car! If you were sixteen
and you had your own company, you'd be stressed, too!"
     [4] In an interview Ashley gave advice to teenagers who wanted to start their own business, "Just be
strong and have your dreams and work hard at them. And don't listen when _______, because I
heard 'no' a lot. Just keep going until you hear 'yes'!"

1. For what purpose did Ashley create GooseHead?(no more than 10 words)  
_________________________________________________________________________
2. What is the main idea of Paragraph 2? (no more than 6 words)
_________________________________________________________________________
3. According to paragraph 3, what did Ashley do after GooseHead closed down?(no more than 10 words)
________________________________________________________________________
4. How did Ashley feel as a young boss of a company?(no more than 5 words)
________________________________________________________________________
5. Fill in the blank in Paragraph 4 with proper words.
________________________________________________________________________

     One of my wonderful memories is about a Christmas gift. Unlike other gifts, it came without wrap
(包裝).
     On September 11,1958, Mum gave birth to Richard. After she brought him home from hospital,
she put him in my lap, saying," I promised you a gift, and here it is ." What an honor! I turned four a
month earlier and none of my friends had such a baby doll of their own. I played with it day and night.
I sang to it. I told it stories. I told it over and over how much I loved it!
    One morning, however, I found its bed empty. My doll was gone! I cried for it. Mun  wept and told
me that the poor little thing had been sent to a hospital. It had a fever. For several days, I head mum and
Dad whispering such words as "hopeless","pitiful",and "dying", which sounded ominous.
   Christmas was coming, don't expect any presents this year "Dad said, pointing at the socks I hung in the
living room. I'd never seen him cry before.
  The phone rang early on Christmas morning. Dad jumped out of bed to answer it. From my bedroom
I heard him say." what? he's all right?" he hung up and shouted upstairs." The hospital said we can bring
Richard home! "
    "thank god!" I heard Mum cry.
     From the upstairs window. I watched my parents rush out to the car. I had never seen them so happy. And I was also full of joy. What a wonderful day! My baby doll would be home. I ran downstairs. My
socks still hung there flat. But I knew they was not empty: they were filled with love!

1. what happened to the author on September 11 1958 ?

A.  He got a baby brother
B.  He got a C hristmas  gift
C.  He became four yesrs old
D.  He received a doll

2. What does the underlined word"ominous"in Paragraph 3 probably mean?

A. Impossible.
B. Boring
C. Difficult
D. Fearful

3. Which word can best describe the feeling of the father when Christmas was coming?

A. Excitement.
B. Happiness.
C. Sadness.
D. Disappointment.

4.What is the passage mainly about ?

A.  A sad Christmas  day  
B.  Life with a lovely baby
C. A special Christmas gift.
D. Memories of a happy family

     This Saturday morning I was having a walk around, enjoying the quiet morning, beautiful weather and lovely life, with my dog Jett running   _1_  (enjoy) beside me.  
     At one home I passed, I noticed a newspaper that    2__ (lie) by the roadside instead of near the door. Thinking I would make someone else's life a little   _3__(easy), I picked up the paper and gently threw it towards their door.   _4__  instead of landing on the doorstep, the paper sailed    _5__   the wrong direction because of the strong wind and landed on the roof of a big truck in the driveway.  
     No one saw the funny scene but me and I burst out laughing. It was very quiet and they were probably still sleeping. It was too early to knock on the door and tell the homeowner  __6__ their newspaper was.   __7_  , instead I walked home, got dressed and went to the store to make it right.  
     I returned a little later with a new newspaper and a basket of strawberries freshly  _8__(pick) from my garden. I found the homeowner in the driveway with some of his friends. With a deep breath I came up to him and said, "I hope you have a great sense of humour." I explained what had happened to    _9__  newspaper.  
     Hearing this they all laughed loudly and I couldn't help but smile all day. I've heard it said. "Character is what you do  _10 _  nobody is looking." I should be a man of character!

     I began working in journalism when I was eight. It was my mother's idea. She wanted me to "make
something" of myself, and decided I had better start young if I was to have any chance of keeping up with
the competition.
     With my load of magazines I headed toward Belleville Avenue. The crowds were there. There were
two gas stations on the corner of Belleville and Union. For several hours I made myself highly visible,
making sure everyone could see me and the heavy black letters on the bag that said THE SATURDAY
EVENING POST. When it was suppertime, I walked back home.
     " How many did you sell, my boy?" my mother asked.
     " None."
     " Where did you go?"
     " The corner of Belleville and Union Avenues."
     " What did you do?"
     " Stood on the corner waiting for somebody to buy a Saturday Evening Post."
     " You just stood there?"
     " Didn't sell a single one."
     " My God, Russell!"
     Uncle Allen put in, " Well, I've decided to take the Post." I handed him a copy and he paid me a
nickel. It was the first nickel I earned.
     Afterwards my mother taught me how to be a salesman. I would have to ring doorbells, address
adults with self-confidence, and persuade them by saying that no one, no matter how poor, could afford
to be without the Saturday Evening Post in the home.
     One day, I told my mother I'd changed my mind. I didn't want to make a success in the magazine
business.
     " If you think you can change your mind like this," she replied, " you'll become a good-for-nothing."
She insisted that, as soon as school was over, I should start ringing doorbells, selling magazines.
Whenever I said no, she would scold me.
     My mother and I had fought this battle almost as long as I could remember. My mother, dissatisfied
with my father's plain workman's life, determined that I would not grow up like him and his people. But
never did she expect that, forty years later, such a successful journalist as me would go back to her
husband's people for true life and love.

1. Why did the boy start his job young?

A. He wanted to be famous in the future.      
B. The job was quite easy for him.
C. His mother had high hopes for him.        
D. The competition for the job was fierce.

2. From the dialogue between the boy and his mother, we learn that the mother was _______. 

A. excited          
B. interested          
C. ashamed            
D. disappointed

3. What did the mother do when the boy wanted to give up?

A. She forced him to continue.                
B. She punished him.
C. She gave him some money.                  
D. She changed her plan.

4. What does the underlined phrase "this battle"(last paragraph) refer to?

A. The war between the boy's parents.      
B. The arguing between the boy and his mother.
C. The quarrel between the boy and his customers.
D. The fight between the boy and his father.

5. What is the text mainly about? 

A. The early life of a journalist.          
B. The early success of a journalist.
C. The happy childhood of the writer.    
D. The important role of the writer in his family.