I left university with a good degree in English Literature, but no sense of what I wanted to do. Over the next six years, I was treading water, just trying to earn an income. I tried journalism, but I didn’t think I was any good, then finance, which I hated. Finally, I got a job as a rights assistant at a famous publisher. I loved working with books, although the job that I did was dull.

I had enough savings to take a year off work, and I decided to try to satisfy a deep-down wish to write a novel. Attending a Novel Writing MA course gave me the structure I needed to write my first 55,000 words.

It takes confidence to make a new start — there’s a dark period in-between where you’re neither one thing nor the other. You’re out for dinner and people ask what you do, and you’re too ashamed to say, “Well, I’m writing a novel, but I’m not quite sure if I’m going to get there.” My confidence dived. Believing my novel could not be published, I put it aside.

Then I met an agent（代理商）who said I should send my novel out to agents. So, I did and, to my surprise, got some wonderful feedback. I felt a little hope that I might actually become a published writer and, after signing with an agent, I finished the second half of the novel.

The next problem was finding a publisher. After two-and-a-half years of no income, just waiting and wondering, a publisher offered me a book deal — that publisher turned out to be the one I once worked for.

It feels like an unbelievable stroke of luck — of fate, really. When you set out to do something different, there’s no end in sight, so to find myself in a position where I now have my own name on a contract（合同）of the publisher — to be a published writer — is unbelievably rewarding（有回報(bào)的）.

1.What does the underlined part in Paragraph 1 mean?

A．I was waiting for good fortune.

B．I was trying to find an admirable job.

C．I was being aimless about a suitable job.

D．I was doing several jobs for more pay at a time.

2.The author decided to write a novel ______ .

A．to finish the writing course

B．to realize her own dream

C．to satisfy readers’ wish

D．to earn more money

3.How did the writer feel halfway with the novel?

A．Disturbed.

B．Ashamed.

C．Confident.

D．Uncertain.

4.What does the author mainly want to tell readers in the last paragraph?

A．It pays to stick to one’s goal.

B．Hard work can lead to success.

C．She feels like being unexpectedly lucky.

D．There is no end in sight when starting to do something.

 

(·福建龍巖質(zhì)檢一)China reported blistering growth for the last three months of 2009 ，raising expectations of interest rate increases and other measures to head_off inflation.

China has declared that it is recovering from the global economic crisis.

Ma Jiantang, head of the National Bureau of Statistics，said Thursday the country's economy grew by 10.7 percent in the last three months of 2009.

Ma says China has managed to quickly hold back what he described as “the sliding of the national economy”. He says China has become the first country，on the whole，to achieve economic recovery and stabilization.

According to previous estimates, Ma says China's  gross domestic product for 2009 rose 8.7 percent，to nearly five trillion dollars.

This goes beyond the official growth rate target of eight percent. The government has long considered eight percent growth essential to create enough jobs for the country's more than one billion people.

At the same time, Ma says some problems and contradictions are natural.

Ma says the Chinese government will  give more priority  to  restructuring  economic  and  improving peoples' livelihood.

To reduce the effects of the global economic crisis that began in 2008 ，China loosened lending practices, cut interest rates and began massive spending programs. But the government wants to make sure those measures do not contribute to inflation, which can be politically sensitive in a country where hundreds of millions of people remain poor.

Beijing resident Ms Wang says she is worried. She says she thinks prices are rising really fast. She points to the price of cabbage, which has increased more than 10 times in the past year.

The head  of the  Chinese  Banking  Regulatory Commission, this week said the government will step up monitoring of banks and rein in lending to prevent speculative bubbles(投機(jī)泡沫) in real estate(房地產(chǎn)) and other assets.

The World Bank on Thursday released a report that predicts China's economy will grow by nine percent this year. This contrasts with forecasts of 2.5 percent growth rate for the United States and one percent growth for European economies in , because of weaknesses remaining from the global financial crisis.

64．What does the underlined phrase in the first paragraph mean?

A. Prevent.         B. Begin. 

C. Continue.       D. Reduce.

65．How many measures did China take to reduce the sliding of the national economy?

A. 2.      B. 3. 

C. 4.     D. 5.

66．The global economy in  will ________.

A. increase more quickly than in 2009

B. recover immediately if proper measures are taken

C. remain weak as a result of the global financial crisis

D. remain the same standard as that in 2009

67．The passage is mainly about ________.

A. jobs created for more than one billion people

B. lending practices loosened in China in the new year

C. rapid growth of Chinese economy in last months of 2009

D. fast growth in economy leading to inflation

 

Emanuel’s father liked to declare he’d spent ages by the sea, breathing seawater. Now, away from the sea, in the hospital, his body just looked like a beached fish. His condition went from bad to worse. The doctor came from saying, “He’ll be home in a day,” “He’ll be home in a week,” to “He will be home in a month.”

When Emanuel was a teenager, if he ever seemed bored with the pier(碼頭), his father would shout, “What ? This isn’t good enough for you?” And later, when he suggested Emanuel take a job at the pier after high school, the boy almost laughed, and his father again said, “What? This isn’t good enough for you?” And before Emanuel went to war, when he talked of marrying Maggie and becoming an engineer, his father said, “What? This isn’t good enough for you?”

And now, here he was, Emanuel helped out at the pier, working evenings after his taxi job, doing his father’s labor.

Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them. They move on. They move away. It is not until much later that children understand: their stories and all their accomplishments sit on top of the stories of their mothers and fathers.

One night his father, lying in hospital, was practically too weak to speak. Others comforted him. “Your old man will pull through. He’s the toughest man we’ve ever seen.”

When the news came that his father had died, Emanuel felt heart-broken.

In the following weeks, Emanuel’s mother lived in a confused state. She spoke to her husband as if he were still there .She yelled at him to turn down the radio. She cooked enough food for two .One night, when Emanuel offered to help with the dishes, she said. “Your father will put them away.” Emanuel put a hand on her shoulder. “Ma,” he said softly, “Dad’s gone.”

“Gone where?” murmured Mum.

1.Which of the following shows the right order of the story?

a．Emanuel’s father fell ill.         

b．Emanuel helped out at pier.

c．Emanuel went to the war.

d．Emanuel wished to be an engineer.

e.  Emanuel’s mother lived in a confused state

A．bacde            B．dcabe            C．bceda            D．decba

2.In Paragraph 4, the writer inplies that       . 

A．Children can never understand how much their parents have devoted to them

B．Children wouldn’t have achieved so much without their parents’ support

C．Children often feel regretful because they leave their parents

D．Children like moving away from their parents

3.The underlined phrase “pull through” can probably be replaced by ________

A．wake up          B．give up           C．pick up           D．get up

4.The last paragraph mainly tells us that      . 

A．Emanuel’s mother was at a loss at her husband’s death.

B．Emanuel often helped his mother to wash the dishes.

C．Emanuel lived with his mother and often comforted her.

D．Emanuel’s mother doesn’t like to listen to the radio.

 

Protecting Copyright

Having finished her homework, Ma Li wants some music. As usual, she starts her computer and goes to Baidu.com to download music files. But this time she is surprised when an announcement about protecting songs’ copyright bursts onto the screen. The age of free music and movie downloads may have come to an end as Web companies like Baidu are accused of pirating copyright. Lawsuits have been filed against four websites offering free downloads. In September 2005, a Beijing court ordered Baidu to pay recording company Shanghai Push compensation for their losses. Baidu was also told to block the links to the pirated music on the website. This caused a heated discussion on Interact file sharing.

“Baidu’s defeat in the lawsuit shows it is not right to get copyrighted songs without paying. Down loaders may face lawsuits or fines,” said an official.

Like many teens, Huang Ruoru, an 18-year-old girl from Puning in Guangdong Province, doesn’t think that getting music from websites is wrong. She always shares her favourite songs downloaded from Baidu with her friends. When told about the lawsuit, she began to feel a little guilty about obtaining others’ work without paying.

However, other teenagers have different ideas. Wang Yafei, a Senior 2 girl from Jinan, Shandong Province pointed out that file sharing is a good way to promote pop singers. “If I download a song and really like it, I will buy the CD,” she said. “So what the recording companies really should concentrate on is improving their music, rather than pursuing file-sharers.”

1.Which of the following best describes the passage?

A. Downloading material can be illegal.

B. Music on the Internet is of better quality.  

C. It’s good to get free music on the Internet.

D. Baidu is a popular web company.

2.The four web companies were put to court because ________.

A. they got copyrighted songs without paying    

B. they make copyrighted files for free downloads

C. they downloaded copyrighted music for people

D. they offer free music on line

3.How do some of the teenagers feel while downloading free music after the lawsuit?

A. A bit guilty. 　                      B. A little sad.  　   

C. Extremely angry. 　                  D. Awfully sorry.

4.What’s the advantage of file sharing for recording companies?

A. Getting more money from web companies.  

B. Making pop singers more popular.

C. Helping to improve the music.           

D. Enabling people to download favorite songs.

5.It can be inferred from the text that _________.

A. Web companies are still ignoring the copyright laws.

B. Teenagers haven’t got money to buy CDs.

C. Teenagers are probably still downloading free music.

D. Teenagers prefer CDs with copyright to pirated music.

 

Emanuel’s father liked to declare he’d spent ages by the sea, breathing seawater. Now, away from the sea, in the hospital, his body just looked like a beached fish. His condition went from bad to worse. The doctor came from saying, “He’ll be home in a day,” “He’ll be home in a week,” to “He will be home in a month.”
When Emanuel was a teenager, if he ever seemed bored with the pier(碼頭), his father would shout, “What ? This isn’t good enough for you?” And later, when he suggested Emanuel take a job at the pier after high school, the boy almost laughed, and his father again said, “What? This isn’t good enough for you?” And before Emanuel went to war, when he talked of marrying Maggie and becoming an engineer, his father said, “What? This isn’t good enough for you?”
And now, here he was, Emanuel helped out at the pier, working evenings after his taxi job, doing his father’s labor.
Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them. They move on. They move away. It is not until much later that children understand: their stories and all their accomplishments sit on top of the stories of their mothers and fathers.
One night his father, lying in hospital, was practically too weak to speak. Others comforted him. “Your old man will pull through. He’s the toughest man we’ve ever seen.”
When the news came that his father had died, Emanuel felt heart-broken.
In the following weeks, Emanuel’s mother lived in a confused state. She spoke to her husband as if he were still there .She yelled at him to turn down the radio. She cooked enough food for two .One night, when Emanuel offered to help with the dishes, she said. “Your father will put them away.” Emanuel put a hand on her shoulder. “Ma,” he said softly, “Dad’s gone.”
“Gone where?” murmured Mum.
【小題1】Which of the following shows the right order of the story?
a．Emanuel’s father fell ill.         
b．Emanuel helped out at pier.
c．Emanuel went to the war.
d．Emanuel wished to be an engineer.
e.  Emanuel’s mother lived in a confused state

A．bacde

B．dcabe

C．bceda

D．decba

【小題2】In Paragraph 4, the writer inplies that       . 

A．Children can never understand how much their parents have devoted to them

B．Children wouldn’t have achieved so much without their parents’ support

C．Children often feel regretful because they leave their parents

D．Children like moving away from their parents

【小題3】The underlined phrase “pull through” can probably be replaced by ________

A．wake up

B．give up

C．pick up

D．get up

【小題4】The last paragraph mainly tells us that      . 

A．Emanuel’s mother was at a loss at her husband’s death.

B．Emanuel often helped his mother to wash the dishes.

C．Emanuel lived with his mother and often comforted her.

D．Emanuel’s mother doesn’t like to listen to the radio.