If Confucius（孔子）were still alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake, there would be a lot of candles.  He’d need a fan or a strong wind to help him put them out.

   While many people in China will remember Confucius on his special day, few people in the United States will give him a passing thought.  It’s nothing personal.  Most Americans don’t even remember the birthdays of their own national heroes.

   But this doesn’t mean that Americans don’t care about Confucius.  In many ways he has become a bridge that foreigners must cross if they want to reach a deeper understanding of China.

   In the past two decades, the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities.  More recently, the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 80 countries.  These schools teach both Chinese language and culture.  The main courses of Chinese culture usually included Chinese art, history and philosophy（哲学）.  Some social scientists suggest that Westerners should take advantages of the ancient Chinese wisdom to make up for the drawbacks of Westerners philosophy.  Students in the United States, at the same time, are racing to learn Chinese.  So they will be ready for life in a world where China is an equal power with the United States.  Businessmen who hope to make money in China are reading books about Confucius to understand their Chinese customers. 

   So the old thinker’s ideas are still alive and well.

   Today China attracts the West more than ever, and it will need more teachers to introduce Confucius and Chinese culture to the West.

  As for the old thinker, he will not soon be forgotten by people in the West, even if his birthday is.

1.  The opening paragraph is mainly intended to ________

A. provide some key facts about Confucius     B.   attract the readers’ interest in the subject

C. show great respect for the ancient thinker    D. prove the popularity of modern birthday celebrations

2.    We can learn from Paragraph 4 that American students______

A.         have a great interest in studying Chinese     B. take an active part in Chinese competitions

C.   try to get high scores in Chinese exams      D. fight for a chance to learn Chinese

3. What is the best title for the passage?

A.   Forgotten Wisdom in America         B. Huge Fans of the Chinese Language

C.   Chinese Culture for Westerners        D. Old Thinker with a Big Future

4. The passage is likely to appear in ___________.

A. a biography             B. a history paper    C. a newspaper         D. a philosophy textbook

  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（有回报的）.

5. 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.

6. 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

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

A. Disturbed.        B. Ashamed.        C. Confident.        D. Uncertain.

8. 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.

    The teacher sat cross－legged in front of the gathering of fourth grade students. She asked them what kinds of things would __1__ world peace. Immediately they began offering such__2__ as “Get rid of all the bombs.” “There ought to be a __3__ against war.” The teacher rose to note each offering on the board. Once the list was __4__， she sat again with the children and asked them if there was anything __5__ war in their lives.

They were __6__ at first but eventually they seemed to begin to __7__ that the teacher meant “war”as a metaphor (暗喻). One student said, “My brother declares war on me when I __8__ his things.” “My dad blows up at bad drivers，” offered one girl. __9__ said she did war with one of her dishonest friends.

__10__ the thought appeared that all violence was in conflict with the idea of __11__. Through the discussion the teacher __12__ the concept that they could decrease violence and increase peace in their own lives by giving up the idea of __13__ with others. She asked them to __14__ the rest of the week keeping track of the times when they would choose to carry out peace __15__ violence.

By the end of the week the students had experienced dozens of examples __16__ violence and conflict had been avoided in their __17__ lives.

Eventually the class created a peace movement in the school. They helped rewrite school __18__ that decreased conflict. Homework became more inventive and __19__. Parent-teacher meetings always __20__ activities of the students (adance, or an art or science exhibit). Cooperation became the primary path to peace.

1．A. break                              B．ignore    C．increase                       D．witness

2．A. cases                              B．events    C．chances                       D．suggestions

3．A. law                          B．will     C．deal                        D．duty

4．A. missing                    B．necessary    C．simple                    D．complete

5．A. but                           B．like     C．against                        D．after

6．A. puzzled                     B．frightened     C．excited             D．encouraged

7．A. state                      B．prove       C．realize                     D．guess

8．A. receive                     B．bother    C．collect                         D．reserve

9．A. Each                     B．Another    C．The one                    D．The other

10．A. Luckily                   B．Suddenly    C．Hopefully          D．Finally

11．A. peace                   B．power    C．culture                      D．wealth

12．A. returned               B．passed       C．introduced                     D．moved

13．A. joking                     B．fighting     C．discussing                       D．working

14．A. waste                     B．appoint       C．spend                 D．finish

15．A. aside from           B．away from   C．regardless of           D．instead of

16．A. that                  B．where       C．whether                  D．whose

17．A. political                   B．traditional       C．personal             D．natural

18．A. rules                    B．decisions      C．records                    D．introductions

19．A. similar                  B．familiar        C．confusing          D．interesting

20．A. started with             B．belonged to     C．put up with         D．came up to

Once there lived a rich man   31   wanted to do something for the people of his town.   32   first he wanted to find out whether they deserved his help.

    In the centre of the main road into the town, he placed   33   very large stone. Then he   34  (hide ) behind a tree and waited. Soon an old man came along with his cow.

    “Who put this stone in the centre of the road?” said the old man, but he did not try to remove the stone. Instead, with some difficulty he passed around the stone and continued on his way.   35   man came along and did the same thing; then another came ,and another. All of them complained about the stone but not tried to remove  36  . Late in the afternoon a young man came along. He saw the stone,   37  (say) to himself: “The night   38  (be) very dark. Some neighbors will come along later in the dark and will fall against the stone.”                 

Then he began to move the stone. He pushed and pulled with all his   39  (strong) to move it. How great was his surprise at last!   40   the stone, he found a bag of money.

   Dear Mom,

Mother’s Day is coming. I’m sorry that I was abroad and can’t send your flowers, so I’m writing to you. Mom, I know I have never expressed my thank to you before. But on today, at this special time, I just want to tell  you loudly: I love you, Mom! Thank you so much by not only giving me life, but also teach me how to be a good person. Thank you for all you had done for me. Mom, though I may often say it, I do love you. Nobody can take your part in my heart. Whenever I am, I will always love you.              

 Hope you good health and much happiness every day!                                   Your little girl,

                                                                    Jennifer