Jean Driscoll can go faster in her wheelchair than the world’s best marathoners can run! In April, Jean finished the Boston Marathon in 1 hour 34 minutes 22 seconds. That’s about 33 minutes faster than the winning male runner! She competed on the track, too. She was second in the 800 meter wheelchair race at the 1992 Olympics. 

Jean doesn’t like to be told she’s brave. “I’m in sports because I’m a competitive person!” Jean was born with spina befida, a birth illness that damages the spine(脊椎). She began to use a wheelchair to get around in high school. Then she tried wheelchair race and was amazed.” Players banged each other and fell out of their chair,” she says, “It was fun.”

Jean tried other wheelchair sports. At the University of Illinois, her wheelchair basketball team won two national titles.

Now Jean coaches and teaches. She tries to get people to set goals. “When I sign my autograph(亲笔签名),says Jean, “I write, dream big and work hard.”

21.What made Jean take part in sports?

A.She was brave.      B.She was competitive.

C.She was strong.      D.She was disabled.

22.What kind of education did she receive?

A.High school.  B.Junior middle school.  C.High education.  D.Primary school.

23.What is Jean’s advice on how to succeed?

A.Work hard.      B.Hope for the best.

C.Dream a lot.     D.Have great wishes and work hard.

Shopping for clothes is not the same experience for a man as it is for a woman. A man goes shopping because he needs something. His purpose is settled and decided in advance. He knows what he wants, and his objective is to find it and buy it; the price is a secondary consideration. All men simply walk into a shop and ask the assistant for what they want. If the shop has it in stock, the salesman promptly produces it, and the business of trying it on follows at once. All being well, the deal can be and often is completed in less than five minutes, with hardly any chat and to everyone's satisfaction.

For a man, slight problems may begin when the shop does not have what he wants, or does not have exactly what he wants. In that case the salesman, as the name implies, tries to sell the customer something else, he offers the nearest he can to the article required. No good salesman brings out such a substitute impolitely; he does so with skill: “I know this jacket is not the style you want, sir, but would you like to try it for size? It happens to be the color you mentioned.” Few men have patience with this treatment, and the usual response is: “This is the right color and may be the right size, but I should be wasting my time and yours by trying it on.”

Now how does a woman go about buying clothes? In almost every respect she does so in the opposite way. Her shopping is not often based on need. She has never fully made up her mind what she wants, and she is only “having a look round”. She is always open to persuasion; indeed she sets great store by what the saleswoman tells her, even by what companions tell her. She will try on any number of things. Uppermost in her mind is the thought of finding something that everyone thinks suits her. Contrary to a lot of jokes, most women have an excellent sense of value when they buy clothes. They are always on the lockout for the unexpected bargain. Faced with a roomful of dresses, a woman may easily spend an hour going from one rail to another, to and fro, often retracing her steps, before selecting the dresses she wants to try on. It is a laborious process, but apparently an enjoyable one. Most dress shops provide chairs for the waiting husbands.

24. The passage mainly talks about ________.

A. differences between men and women shoppers

B. A man goes shopping because he needs something

C. How women go about buying clothes.

D. Women are better at shopping than men

25. The underlined sentence “the price is a secondary consideration” in the first paragraph means when a man is shopping ________.

A. he buys good quality things, so long as they are not too dear

B. he buys whatever he likes without considering its value

C. he does not mind how much he has to pay for the right things

D. he often buy things without giving the matter proper thought.

26. What does a man do when he can not get exactly what he wants?

A. He buys a similar thing because of the color he wants.

B. He usually does not buy anything.

C. At least two of his requirements must be met before he buys.

D. So long as the style is right, he buys the thing.

27. What is the most obvious difference between men and women shoppers?

A. Men do not try clothes on in a shop while women do.

B. Women bargain for their clothes, but men do not.

C. The time they take over buying clothes.

D. Men go shopping based on need, but women never

BRITAIN is a popular tourist place. But tours of the country have pros and cons.

Good news

Free museums. No charge for outstanding collections of art and antiquities.

Pop music. Britain is the only country to rival (与……比敌) the US on this score.

Black cabs. London taxi drivers know where they are going even if there are never enough of them at weekends or night.

Choice of food. Visitors can find everything from Ethiopian to Swedish restaurants.

Fashion. Not only do fashion followers love deeply and respect highly brand names such as Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen; street styles are justly loved, too.

Bad news

Poor service. “It’s part of the image of the place. People can dine out on the rudeness they have experienced,” says Professor Tony Seaton, of Luton University’s International Tourism Research Center.

Poor public transport. Trains and buses are promised to defeat the keenest tourists, although the over-crowded London tube is unbelievable popular.

Lack of languages. Speaking slowly and clearly may not get many foreign visitors very far, even in the tourist traps .

Rain. Still in the number one complaint.

No air-conditioning. So that even splendidly hot summers become as unbearable as the down-pours.

Overpriced hotels. The only European country with a higher rate of tax on hotel rooms is Denmark.

Licensing hours. Alcohol (酒) is in short supply after 11p.m. even in “24-hour cities.”

28. What do tourists complain most?

A. Poor service.   B. Poor public transport.   C. Rain.   D. Overpriced hotels.

29. What do we learn about pop music in Britain and the US through this passage?

A. Pop music in Britain is better than that in the US.

B. Pop music in Britain is as good as that in the US.

C. Pop music in Britain is worse than that in the US.

D. Pop music in Britain is quite different from that in the US.

30.When is alcohol not able to get easily?

A. At 9:00 p.m.  B. At 10:00 p.m.  C. At 11:00 p.m.  D. At 12:00p.m.

31. Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A. You have to pay to visit the museums. B. It’s very cheap to travel by taxi there.

C. You cannot find Chinese food there.  D. The public transport is poor there.

Violin prodigies (神童), I learned, have come in distinct waves from distinct regions. Most of the great performers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were born and brought up in Russia and Eastern Europe. I asked Isaac Stern, one of the world’s greatest violinists the reason for this phenomenon. “It is very clear,” he told me. “They were all Jews and Jews at the time were severely oppressed and ill-treated in that part of the world. They were not allowed into the professional fields, but they were allowed to achieve excellence on a concert stage.” As a result, every Jewish parent’s dream was to have a child in the music school because it was a passport to the West.

Another element in the emergence of prodigies, I found, is a society that values excellence in a certain field to nurture (培育) talent. Nowadays, the most nurturing societies seem to be in the Far East. “In Japan, a most competitive society, with stronger discipline than ours,” says Isaac Stern, children are ready to test their limits every day in many fields, including music. When Western music came to Japan after World War II, that music not only became part of their daily lives, but it became a discipline as well. The Koreans and Chinese as we know, are just as highly motivated as the Japanese.

That’s a good thing, because even prodigies must work hard. Next to hard work, biological inheritance（遗传） plays an important role in the making of a prodigy. J. S. Bach, for example, was the top of several generations of musicians, and four of his sons had significant careers in music.

32.Jewish parents in Eastern Europe longed for their children to attend music school because ________.

A. it would allow them access to a better life in the West

B. Jewish children are born with excellent musical talent

C. they wanted their children to enter into the professional field

D. it would enable the family to get better treatment in their own country

33.  Nurturing societies as mentioned in the passage refer to societies that ________.

A. are highly motivated in the education of music

B. treasure talent and provide opportunities for its full development

C. encourage people to compete with each other

D. promise talented children high positions

34. Which of the following contributes to the emergence of musical prodigies according to the passage?

A. a natural gift.                     B. extensive knowledge of music.

C. very early training.             D. a prejudice-free society.

35.  Which of the following title best summarizes the main idea of the passage?

A. Jewish Contribution to Music    B. Training of Musicians in the World

C. Music and Society                           D. The Making of Music Prodigies

I was ten when I first sat with my grandmother behind the cashier in her general 

store.  36 I quickly learned the importance of treating customers politely and saying 

“thank you.”

 At first I was paid in candy.   37   I worked every day after school, and during

 the summer and on weekends and holidays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. My father helped 

me set up a bank account.  38   By the time I was 12, my grandmother thought I had 

done such a good job that she promoted me to selling cosmetics(化妆品).

 I developed the ability to look customers directly in the eye. Even though I was 

just a kid, women would ask me such things as “ What color do you think I should 

wear?” I took a real interest in their questions and was able to translate what they 

wanted into makeup ideas.   39_

The job taught me a valuable lesson: to be a successful salesperson, you didn’t need to be a rocket scientist—you needed to be a great listener. 40  Except they are no 

longer women purchasing cosmetics from me; instead, they are kids who tell me 

which toys they would like to see designed and developed.

A. Later I received 50 cents an hour. 

B. Before long, she let me sit there by myself. 

C. I ended up selling a record amount of cosmetics. 

D. Today I still carry that lesson with me: I listen to customers.

E. My grandma’s trust taught me how to handle responsibility.

 F. Soon I found myself looking more beautiful than ever before. 

G. Watching my money grow was more rewarding than anything I could have bought.