Jack London is a famous American writer. His most widely known book is the Call of the Wild, the story of the adventure of a large dog in the frozen north.
Jack London was born on January 12, 1876, in San Francisco, California. His family was very poor, and Jack had to leave school to make money. He worked hard at many different jobs.
Later, Jack returned to school, but he didn’t stay. He wrote, “Life and pocket book were both too short.” In 1897, he went to Alaska to find gold. Instead, he found ideas there for his book stories. He returned home and started to write. His writings were successful, and he became rich and famous in his twenties.
Jack London was not a happy man, however. In poor health, he took his own life in 1916. He was then only 40 years old.
【小题1】 Jack London went to Alaska to __________________.

Do you know Henry Ford? He was the first person to build cars which were cheap，strong and fast．He was able to sell millions of models because he could produce them in large numbers at a time；that is，he made a great many cars of exactly the same kind．Ford’s father hoped that his son would become a farmer，but the young man did not like the idea and he went to Detroit where he worked as a mechanic（机械师）．By the age of 29，in 1892，he had built his first car．However，the car made in this way，the famous “Model T” did not appear until 1908—five years after Ford had started his great motor car factory．This car showed to be well-known that it remained unchanged for twenty years．Since Ford’s time，this way of producing cars in large numbers has become common in industry and has reduced the price of many goods which would otherwise be very expensive．
【小题1】Henry Ford was the man to built _____ cars．
A cheap and strong                     B. cheap and long
C. fast and expensive              D. strong and slow
【小题2】Ford was able to sell millions of cars，because_____．

C
Amelia Earhart's (1897-1937) childhood was not the typical girl’s. She liked nothing better than to explore the banks of the Missouri River, where she climbed trees and hunted rats with her rifle (步枪). She also built her own roller coaster(过山车 ).
The exciting life of the American aviation (航空)pioneer is dramatized in the movie Amelia, which is due to come out on October 23.
After Earhart paid a pilot $1 to take her up for a short fly in his plane, aviation became her love and career.
As she later explained, “Never do things others can do and will do, if there are things others cannot do or will not do.”
Earhart found herself a flying teacher and started to learn to fly. She took all sorts of jobs to pay for the lessons and to buy a second-hand plane on her 24th birthday.
In 1932, Earhart flew solo across the Atlantic. She became the first woman to make the solo crossing. She also made a flying suit for women and went on to design other clothes for women who led active lives. “Now and then women should do for themselves what men have already done —— occasionally what men have not done ——thereby establishing themselves as persons, and perhaps encouraging other women toward greater independence of thought and action.” she said.
When she was nearly 40, Earhart was ready for a final challenge—to be the first woman to fly around the world. However, in mid-flight, she and her navigator (导航员) disappeared in bad weather.
Earhart will be forever remembered as a brave pioneer for both aviation and for women.
59. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?
A. A movie about Earhart’s exciting life has come out.
B. Earhart never did things others could and would do.
C. Earhart’s love for aviation came after she flew a plane for a short time.
D. In Earhart's opinion, women should think and act more independently.
60. The underlined word in paragraph 2 means ____.
A. presented           B. adopted            C. published          D. created
61. From the passage we can know that ____.
A. Earhart showed most interest in adventure trips to the Missouri River during her childhood
B. Earhart s ambition was to fly across the Atlantic
C. Earhart challenged herself constantly
D. Besides flying, Earhart also designed planes and clothes
62. You can probably find this article in        .
A. a booklet            B. a newspaper       C. a guide book      D. an advertisement

Henry Ford was the first person to build cars which were cheap，strong and fast．He was able to sell millions of models because be could produce them in large numbers at a time；that is，he made a great many cars of exactly the same kind．Ford’s father hoped that his son would become a farmer，but the young man did not like the idea and he went to Detroit（底特律）where he worked as a mechanic（机械师）．By the age of 29，in 1892，he had built his first car．However，the car made in this way，the famous “Model T” did not appear until 1908-five years after Ford had started his great motor car factory．This car showed to be well-known that it remained unchanged for twenty years．Since Ford’s time，this way of producing cars in large numbers has become common in industry and has reduced the price of many goods which would otherwise be very expensive．

1.    Henry Ford was the man to built _____ cars．

2.    Ford was able to sell millions of cars，because_____．

3.    The young man became a mechanic，_______．

4.    The “Model T” was very famous_____．

5.    Ford built his own car factory______

One of the greatest contributors to the first Oxford English Dictionary was also one of its most unusual. In 1879, Oxford University in England asked Prof. James Murray to serve as editor for what was to be the most ambitious dictionary in the history of the English language. It would include every English word possible and would give not only the definition but also the history of the word and quotations(引文) showing how it was used.
This was a huge task, so Murray had to find volunteers from Britain, the United States, and the British colonies to search every newspaper, magazine, and book ever written in English. Hundreds of volunteers responded, including William Chester Minor. Dr. Minor was an American surgeon who had served in the Civil War and was now living in England. He gave his address as “Broadmoor, Crowthorne, Berkshire,” 50 miles from Oxford.
Minor joined the army of volunteers sending words and quotations to Murray. Over the next 17 years, he became one of the staff’s most valued contributors.
But he was also a mystery. In spite of many invitations, he would always decline to visit Oxford. So in 1897, Murray finally decided to travel to Crowthorne himself. When he arrived, he found Minor locked in a book-lined cell at the Broadmoor Asylum(精神病院) for the Criminally Insane.
Murray and Minor became friends, sharing their love of words. Minor continued contributing to the dictionary, sending in more than 10,000 submissions in 20 years. Murray continued to visit Minor regularly, sometimes taking walks with him around the asylum grounds.
In 1910, Minor left Broadmoor for an asylum in his native America. Murray was at the port to wave goodbye to his remarkable friend.
Minor died in 1920, seven years before the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was completed. The 12 volunteers defined 414,825 words, and thousands of them were contributions from a very scholarly and devoted asylum patient.
【小题1】According to the text, the first Oxford English Dictionary ____.