The Girl From the Street

The workers who brought the girl to the orphanage（孤兒院）knew little about her. The streets where they found her had been her home for many years. Her parents were unknown. They left her long ago. At the orphanage, the girl, like all the children there, was taught to read and write. While she was studying at the orphanage, she learned something else—to be independent（獨立）. At twenty-one, she left the orphanage and began working as a secretary.（秘書）And then, in 1975, while she was still working as an ordinary secretary, something special happened. She entered the Miss Hong Kong competition and won it. This was the turning point in her life. Now her name, Mary Cheung, was known to everybody.

Mary entered the competition because she wanted to show that orphanage girls could be something. Winning the competition gave her the chance to start a new life. This led her first into television and then into business as a manager. When she was working as a manager, she had trouble with her reports. “My English just wasn’t good enough.” She says. Luckily, she had a boyfriend (who later became her husband) to help her.

Mary studied management（管理）at Hong Kong and graduated in 1980, She started her own business in 1985. But she did not stop developing herself. She then studied at the University of Hong Kong. Since 1987, she had spent a lot of time on photography. She has held several exhibitions of her work in many places---China, New Zealand and Paris. She still found time, however, to work on TV, write for newspapers and bring up her family.

The girl from the street has come a long way, but her journey is not finished yet.

1.Before Mary Cheung was brought to the orphanage, ___________.

A．She had lived with her parents whose names were not known

B．She had lived in the street for many years

C．The workers knew her well

D．She had learned to write and read by herself

2.The sentence “orphanage girl could be something” means that orphanage girls could be_________.

A．popular and successful                   B．understood by others

C．Miss Hong Kong                         D．known to everybody

3.This passage is probably taken from___________.

A．a(chǎn) newspaper       B．a(chǎn) science magazine C．a(chǎn) history textbook   D．a(chǎn) novel

4.According to the passage, which of the following is true?

A．All the children at the orphanage liked Mary.  B．Mary was not happy as a secretary.

C．Mary’s boyfriend was good at English.       D．Mary’s life in the orphanage was difficult.