8、Nicolas Sarkozy, 52, is the first French president born after World War II and he is also a man who never 1   his ambition to be president.

But  2 was not easy for the young Sarkozy. When he was still a kid, his father abandoned the  3  , leaving the three children   4  their mother. He had to support his family with his mother.   5  he is only 165cm tall, other children often made fun of his   6  . The hard times made him  7  a strong man he is today.

In 1983 , 28-year-old Sarkozy unexpectedly  8  a senior politician to become the country’s youngest mayor of Paris. He  9  the national attention in 1993 after   10  freeing some children from a crazy man with a bomb. Later in 2002, he was named as the country’s interior minister and finance minister （財(cái)政部長(zhǎng)）in 2004.

But he was never satisfied with staying11   he was. “I don’t just want to be president. I  12  be president, ” he once told a journalist. During his presidential campaign, Sarkozy won 13  with his promise to rebuild French pride  14  many plans to improve the French economy. He’s a man of   15  . His government has already  16  _a series of changes, such as 17  taxes. When visiting the US, he 18   America the greatest nation in the world and promised solidarity（團(tuán)結(jié)） between the two  19  ,which was the 20   change from France’s50-year-old tradition to operate in counterpoise（平衡）to America.

1．A．expressed            B．explained            C．hid                   D．had

2．A．life                 B．work             C．education         D．career

3．A．hometown          B．family            C．society           D．dream

4．A．close to              B．dishonest to        C．cruel to            D．dependent on

5．A．As                B．If                C．Once             D．Though

6．A．a(chǎn)ppearance         B．spirit               C．weight           D．height

7．A．for                B．a(chǎn)bout             C．into             D．of

8．A．helped               B．beat              C．got               D．hurt

9．A．drew              B．paid                C．reached          D．gave

10．A．hopefully        B．meaningfully      C．terribly          D．successfully

11．A．what            B．when            C．how             D．where

12．A．must            B．may           C．would             D．used to

13．A．balance          B．a(chǎn)chievement      C．popularity         D．prize

14．A．so              B．or               C．a(chǎn)nd              D．but

15．A．a(chǎn)ction            B．a(chǎn)ttraction         C．relaxation         D．tradition

16．A．a(chǎn)nalyzed            B．carried out       C．faced            D．mentioned

17．A．turning down     B．opening up        C．keeping up        D．cutting down

18．A．named             B．elected           C．predicted        D．called

19．A．leaders           B．a(chǎn)ctors           C．politicians         D．nations

20．A．major            B．easy              C．slow              D．careful