Working up a credit score for Walter Cavanagh has got to be a mathematical nightmare ﹣ the man has nearly 1，500 valid credit cards to his name and holds the Guinness Record for the most credit cards． Mr． Plastic Fantastic ﹣ a title given to him by Guinness World Records ﹣ is also the proud owner of the world's longest wallet， which can hold about 800 cards． But he uses it only to carry a few cards， while the rest are safely kept in bank safedeposit boxes．
Cavanagh started collecting credit cards in the late 1960s． "One of my best friends and I made a silly bet： the guy who could collect the most credit cards by the end of the year would win dinner，" he said． " I got 143 cards by the end of the year， and my friend gathered 138．" After winning that bet， Cavanagh decided to simply keep going with his unusual collection． He got credit cards from gas stations， airlines， bars， and even ice cream stores．
If there's one card missing from Cavanagh's collection， it's that from the Newberry Company． They repulsed his application for a card in the early 1970s， even though he'd collected over 100 by then． They said he had too much credit． Therefore， so far he hasn't had a Newberry card in his collection．
Cavanagh hasn't stopped applying for new cards ﹣ he's held the Guinness Record since 1971 and has no intention of letting go of it． He copies whole pages from a U．S． directory of businesses and keeps sending applications． If he receives a rejection， he writes back to the company explaining his goal and ambition． But he doesn't count useless cards in his total collection．
Thanks to all the cards to his name， Cavanagh has access to about ＄1.7 million at any moment． Despite this privilege， he has managed to maintain an excellent credit score．
The 72﹣year﹣old retired financial planner and credit expert has only one piece of advice to share： "Never use a card to buy anything you can't pay off in a couple of months． If you don't have the discipline， you shouldn't have the cards．"
1.Cavanagh began to collect credit cards when he ．
A. owned a very long wallet
B. made a bet with his friend
C. wanted to create a Guinness Record
D. was treated to dinner by his friend．
2.What does the underlined word "repulsed" in Paragraph 3 probably mean？
A. Rejected．
B. Recalled．
C. Repeated．
D. Recognized．
3.What do the underlined words "the discipline" in the last paragraph probably refer to？
A. Having many cards to your own name．
B. Buying things by card and paying off in time．
C. Managing to own more privileges for your card．
D. Using a card to buy things as many times as possible．
4.What do we know about Cavanagh's cards？
A. Some of them are useless．
B. They are safely kept in his long wallet．
C. They have brought him fame and privilege．
D. Fewer new cards are added to his collections．
Dear Alcohol,
You’ve been around forever. I can remember all the pain you’ve caused me.
Do you remember the night when you almost took my father’s life? I do. He loves you. Sometimes I think he loves you more than he loves me. He’s addicted to you, to the way you promise to rid him of his problems only to cause more of them. You just sat back and laughed as his car went turning through the street, crashing into two other cars. He wasn’t the only one badly hurt by you that night.
Do you remember the night of my first high school party? My friends were intrigued by you. They treated you as if they were never going to see you again, drinking all of you that they could. I spent two hours that night helping my friends who had fallen head over heels for you. “I’m so embarrassed,” they said as I held their hair back so that they could throw up. “I’m sorry,” they said when I called taxis for them, walking them out and paying the driver in advance. “This won’t happen again,” they said as they were sent to the hospital to have their stomachs pumped. Two 15-year-old girls slept in hospital beds that night due to you.
Do you remember the night when you took advantage of my 17-year-old neighbor who had to drive to pick up his sister from her dance lesson? Do you know how we all felt when he hit another car head-on and killed two people in the other car? He died the next morning, too. His sister walked home from her dance lesson, and passed police cars and a crowd of people gathering on the sidewalk just two blocks away from the dance studio. She didn’t realize her brother was among them at all. She never saw him again. And it was all your fault.
I wish you’d walk out of my life forever. I don’t want anything to do with you. Look at all the pain you’ve caused. Sure, you’ve made people happy too from time to time. But the damage you’ve caused in the lives of millions is not excusable. Stop attracting the people I love! Stop hurting me, please!
Sincerely,
Me
1.What did Alcohol do to the author’s father that night?
A. It made him drunken and took his life away.
B. It made him kill two other people when driving.
C. It got him into a car accident and badly injured.
D. It got him into trouble and got his stomach pumped.
2.What does the underlined phrase “were intrigued by” probably mean in the letter?
A. were interested in
B. were satisfied with
C. were familiar with
D. were disappointed by
3.What is the author’s purpose in writing this letter?
A. To warn people not to drive after drinking.
B. To persuade people to get away from alcohol.
C. To tell people three sad stories about alcohol.
D. To warn people against the pain caused by alcohol.
4.How was the author feeling while writing this letter?
A. Shocked. B. Responsible.
C. Disappointed. D. Sorrowful.
Life experiences can show one's "grit"（坚韧）． Complex challenges early in life helped the following people develop skills that got them to the top of their professions．
Ursula Burns， Chairwoman， VEON； Former CEO， Xerox
Her family was so poor that her single mother traded office cleaning for health care． But Burns' early gift for math won her a scholarship and an internship at Xerox， where she would compete her way to the top． "I'm a black lady from the Lower East Side，" she says． "Not a lot scares me．"
Howard Schultz， Executive Chairman， Starbucks
Schultz grew up in public housing in Brooklyn， surrounded by poverty， and was the first in his family to go to college （on a football scholarship）． After training in sales， he set up the company that would later buy Starbucks． "In the course of the year I spent trying to raise money， I spoke to 242 people， and 217 of them said no．" he said．
Sean Combs， CEO， Sean John
Combs began a generation of hip﹣hop talent and made a lasting influence on fashion． But his story could have turned out much differently： his drug dealer father was killed when he was 3． "It made me work even harder．" he recently said．
Geisha Williams， CEO， PG&E
Her parents fled Cuba when Williams was 5． By 7， she was her parents' main translator in talks with lawyers and accountants at grocery stores they owned in New Jersey． The experience did help her． "I went from thinking I could be a manager to thinking I could do something much bigger．" she told Fortune．
1.Who did best in math at school？
A. Combs．
B. Burns．
C. Schultz．
D. Williams．
2.How did the death of Combs' father influence him？
A. It made him a failure．
B. He became a drug dealer．
C. It made him even stronger．
D. He became a hip﹣hopper．
3.What can we learn from the passage？
A. Cuba is a good place to do business．
B. No one wanted to help Schultz at first．
C. Poor family kids can be successful easily．
D. Difficulty in life pushed Williams forward．
假设你是红星中学高三（1）班的学生李华。请根据以下四幅图的先后顺序，给校刊“英语角”写一篇英文稿件，记述你在小区发现并救助流浪狗的全过程。
注意：词数不少于60。
提示词：流浪狗stray dog
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假定你是李华，为帮助我市外国朋友了解中国文化，你所在的英语沙龙将举办元宵晚会。请发一封电子邮件给你的好友Jim，简要介绍相关情况并邀请他参加，内容包括：
1. 时间：下周二晚6点到8点；
2. 地点：俱乐部101室；
3. 内容：唱中国歌、比赛用筷子、包元宵等。
注意：1．词数100 左右，信的开头已给出，不计入总词数。
2．可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：筷子(chopsticks); 元宵(sweet dumplings)
Dear Jim,
How are you? _____________________________________________________________________
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Dream is strength. The strength can bring us wherever we want to get to and it can bring us a lot of wonders on our way to the place in our dreams.
Dream is beauty. Maybe you can see the things full of magic and maybe you will be moved by your own dream.1.. But should we have our life without dreams? Of course not.
Everyone has his dreams and dreams are especially important to teenagers. As teenagers, you have many dreams. These dreams can be very big, such as winning the Nobel Prize. Or they can be small,for example, you may just want to become one of the ten best students in your class. 2., what do you do with it?Do you ever try to make your dream come true?
Andrew Matthews, an Australian writer, tells us that making our dreams come true is the biggest challenge in our life. 3., or that it is impossible for you to become a writer.4.. In fact, everyone can fulfill his dream. The first thing you must do is remember what your dream is.Don’t let it leave your heart.Keep telling yourself what you want. Do this step by step and your dream will come true earlier because a big dream is made up of many small dreams.
You must never give up your dreams.5.. But the biggest one comes from yourself. You need to decide what is the most important and face all these difficulties bravely.
A. These kinds of thoughts stop you realizing your dream
B. There will be many difficulties on the road to your dreams
C. Once you find a dream
D. You may think you’re not very good at some school subjects
E. Both big dreams and small ones are very important to our lives
F. The world is so real that the dreams seem weak
G. Your talent is one of the most important factors in living your dreams
