When you see the girl for the first time, you may think she is a boy. She is very outgoing (外向的).
Who is she? Wang Meng,the Chinese top skater.
    On the evening of February 26th, 2010. WangMeng first got to the finishing line in I minute and 29.
213 seconds in the women's 1, 000 meters shorttrack speed skating final (短道速滑决赛) at the
Vancouver Olympic Winter Games (温哥华冬奥会). After she succeeded in the 500-meter and
3, 000meter races,she won her third gold medal this time.With thie one China won four gold medals in
thewomen's short track speed skating.That helped China first win the team gold medal in Winter
Olympics history.
     Just before the final race, Wang Meng caught abad cold and coughed terribly.With the words of
"You can,you can do!"she won at last. She said,"I really feel these three gold medals belong to myteam,
to China. It was with the help of my team thatI won the prize. "
     Though Wang Meng is only twenty-four,she has been the most successful Chinese skater. We are
proud of her and her team. We hope she will be faster in the Sochi Olympics in 2014.

1. China won _____gold medals in the women's short track speed skating.
A. 2  
B. 3  
C. 4  
D. 5
2. It took Wang Meng I minute and 29.213 seconds to finish the_____meters short track
    speedskating final.
A. women's l, 000
B. men's l, 000
C.women's 500
D.men's 500
3. In Wang Meng's opinion,_____ made her winthe prize at last.
A. a strong body  
B. a bad cold
C. her team's help  
D. much exercise
4.Which of the following is NOT true according tothe passage?
A. Wang Mengis very outgoing like a boy.
B. Wang Meng is the most sticcessful Chinese skater.
C. Chinese peopie are proud of Wang Meng and her team.
D. China has got the team gold medal twice in Winter Olympics history.

     Maria: I'm in Grade Seven. After school I like listening to music or watching TV at home. I also go
dancing with my friends. We always have much fun.
     Jack: I'm a student in Grade Eight. I do many different things after school.  I play on the  computer,
watch a movie, play football, do homework, read or play outside with some friends.  
     Tom:   I'm in Grade Nine.  After school I love to have football practice.  It  is very  fun.  During the
weekend, I always spend time with my friends. We listen to music and watch movies together.
     Helen: I am a student of Grade Eight. After school I usually go with my friends to the park and then
we all play volleyball there. After that we like to rest by the river in the park.
     Peter: I'm a student in Grade Nine. After school, I can do a lot of things. Having fun with my friends,
riding a bike, going to the beach, watching TV, playing on the computer,  swimming or walking  around.
My favourite is going to the beach.

1. Maria likes to ______ with her friends after school.

A. watch TV  
B. listen to music  
C. dance    
D. ride

2. Jack is in Grade ______ this year.

A. Seven      
B. Eight      
C. Nine      
D. Ten

3. ______ like to play football after school.

A. Jack and Tom      
B. Jack and Helen    
C. Tom and Peter
D. Tom and Helen

4. Helen usually goes to ______ after school.

A. the cinema    
B. the park    
C. her friend's home    
D. the beach

5. Which one is TRUE?

A. Helen and her friends enjoy fishing by the river.
B. Tom and Peter are students of Grade Eight.
C. Tom and his friends like to watch movies on the weekend.
D. Peter never plays with his friends after school.

     The best teacher I have ever had was my eighth grade math teacher, Mr. Herr. (1) ________
     Mr. Herr always came into the classroom with a smile. Each lesson of his  was  interesting  and  full  of
surprises. (2) __________ I think it was the first time I had really been made to  think  in  high  school.  I
had hated math, but he taught me to love it! He was good at talking and  I could  always understand  what
he was trying to teach.
     Mr. Herr was really young so he acted (行动) like us, and this made our learning fun. He also listened
to us and was always ready with a kind word. (3) __________ He made every student  easy  and  happy
in his class. We thought he was the one person who really understood us.
     (4) __________ He has moved to Switzer-land. The last thing I have ever got from him was a CD that he made for me. He is the best person and the best teacher I know. I will miss him for ever.

A. He would always do something funny to make us laugh.
B. He knew how to ask questions to make us think.
C. It was a great time to have been with Mr. Herr.
D. He was cool and he was a good painter.

5. From this passage, we can learn that ______.

A. with Mr. Herr's help, I began to love math
B. Mr. Herr taught me art when I was in Grade Eight
C. Mr. Herr couldn't get along well with his students
D. once Mr. Herr gave me an expensive bag

     People often said Thomas Edison was the greatest of his age. There are only a few men in all of
his history who have changed the lives of other men as much as the inventor of the first useful electric
light. But Edison could never be pleased only because someone said he was a genius(天才)."There
is no such thing as genius," Edison said. He thought what people called genius was mostly hard work.
     But Edison was a dreamer as well as a worker. From his earliest days as a child he wondered
about the secrets of nature. He tried to understand them, and then he tried to learn what he could
usefully do with them.
     Edison enjoyed thinking. He knew that most people would do almost anything instead of thinking,
especially if they don't think very often. But he knew, too, that thinking could give men enjoyment
and pleasure.
     Edison could not understand why someone could not be interested in life. As he loved to think,
he also loved to work. On the day he became 75 years old, someone asked him what idea he had
about life. "Work", he answered, "discovering the secrets of nature and using them to make men
happier," He said he had enough inventions in his mind to give him another 100 years of work.

1. According to Thomas Edison, what's genius?                                      
   A. Thinking                                                                    
   B. Hard work                                                                    
   C. Useful dreams                                                                
   D. Useful inventions                                                            
2. After exploring(探索) the secrets of nature, Edison always tried to _____  .      
   A. write down what he had learnt                                                
   B. carry out a new experiment                                                  
   C. make them useful in life                                                    
   D. share them with others                                                      
3. The underlined word "wondered" in the passage means " _____ " in English.      .
   A. wanted to know                                                              
   B. invented                                                                    
   C. discovered                                                                  
   D. paid attention                                                              
4. Edison could not understand _____ .                                            
   A. How anybody enjoyed life                                                    
   B. how anybody loved working                                                    
   C. why someone could not be interested in life                                  
   D. why anybody loved thinking                                                  
5. The last sentence in the passage means that _____ .                            
   A. Edison was born to be a great inventor                                      
   B. Edison was able to live another 100 years                                    
   C. Edison was ready to make his 100th invention                                
   D. life was too short for Edison to work for human beings                      

    The nine-year-old Marc Yu is called Little Mozart. He is too short to reach the pedals  (踏板) of a
piano. Marc, from California, USA, says, "The problem is that my legs aren't straight enough, so I have
to get very close to the piano."
    Marc's 34-year-old mother played Beethoven's CDs to him when she was pregnant (怀孕的). Marc
started playing the piano at a birthday party when he was only two. While the other children were  singing "Twinkle, twinkle, little star …", he walked over to the piano and started playing the song. It  astonished
his mother, because that was the first time he'd been near a piano. Marc gave his first public performance,
playing Beethoven, at six, the same age as Mozart. After that concert, Marc won a ￡225,000 university
scholarship (奖学金).
    At present he practices the piano eight hours a day. He also studies  part-time at the famous  Colbum
Music School  in Los Angeles, and  flies once a month to China for lessons at Shanghai Music School.
Marc  says, "I like  playing  the piano  because it makes me have a  lot of different  feelings - sadness,
excitement, happiness and so on. I like playing  difficult pieces,  especially those that my teacher says I
shouldn't."

1. The nine-year-old Marc Yu is from        .

A. China
B. France
C. Canada
D. the United States

2. Marc played the piano at the age of        for the first time.

A. two        
B. five        
C. six          
D. nine

3. According to the passage, the underlined word "astonished" means "     " in Chinese.

A. 使……理解
B. 使……担心
C. 使……惊奇
D. 使……难过

4. At present Marc practices playing the piano        .

A. once a month
B. eight hours a day
C. in his free time            
D. only on weekends

5. What Marc says in the last paragraph tells us that       .

A. he likes challenges
B. he doesn't like challenges
C. he is afraid of challenges
D. he wants to give up music

     The outstanding woman physician (内科医生), Jerry Nielsen, spent a year at the Amundsen-Scott
South Pole Station as the only doctor in 1998 when she was 47.
     In early March 1999, she discovered that there was something wrong with her right breast (乳房).
She was sure it was cancer (癌症), but she wasn't able to go to a doctor for help. She couldn't leave the
station for the next seven months until the snow turned back into water. Rather than wait for the  death,
Dr. Nielsen decided to fight against the cancer. But without the proper medical help, she wouldn't live for
long. Soon a USA Air Force jet came to provide her with some help. She started her own treatments
(治疗) after getting instructions from American doctors. She finally returned home that October. Since
then, she had become helpful to cancer charities.
    Sadly, Dr. Nielsen's cancer got worse and worse. She passed away on June 23, 2009. She once
wrote to her parents, "I understand what life really is: It is not when or how you  die  but how you  truly
were ever alive."

1. 文中划线词组passed away的汉语意思是:
                                                                                        
2. 将文中划线句子翻译成汉语.
                                                                                 
3. 从文中找出与下列句子意义相近的句子.
    Dr. Nielsen decided to fight against the cancer instead of waiting for the death.  
                                                                                          
4. 根据短文内容,回答下列问题.
    How old was Dr. Jerry Nielsen when she passed away?
                                                                                               
5. 用文中两个形容词描述一下Jerry Nielsen.
    (1)                      (2)                        

     One day Einstein is walking in a street in New York. His friend meets him and says to him,
"Einstein, you should buy a new coat. Look, your coat is very old." 
     But Einstein answers, "it doesn't matter. Nobody knows me here." 
     After a few years, Einstein becomes a famous scientist (著名科学家). But he still wears the
old coat.
     His friend meets him again and asks him to buy a new one.
     But Einstein says, "I don't need to buy a new one. Everyone knows me here."

1. Einstein lived in ______.

A. England
B. China
C. America
D. Japan

2. Einstein's coat is very old. His friend ______.

A. gives him a new one
B. asks him to buy a new one
C. help him buy a new one
D. help him mend the old one

3. Einstein doesn't want to buy a new one because ______.

A. nobody knows him
B. he likes the old one
C. he has no money
D. he isn't interested in his clothes

4. Some years later Einstein ______.