Stephen Hawkins was born in Oxford, England on 8th January, 1942. He went to school in St. Albans—a small city near London. Although he did well, he was never top of his class. After leaving school, Hawking went first to Oxford University where he studied physics, then he went to Cambridge University where he studied cosmology. As he himself admits, he didn’t work hard. He was a very lazy student, and did very little work. However, he still got good marks.
It was at the age of 20 that Hawking first noticed something was wrong with him. He started to bump（碰撞） into things. When he visited his family at Christmas time, his mother was so worried that she made him see a doctor. Hawking was sent to hospital for tests. Finally, the result came back. Doctors said they had no way to help him. He would die before he was 23.
At first, Hawking became very sad, after a while, though, he began to see his life in a different way. As he later wrote, “Before my illness was diagnosed（诊断）, I had been very bored with life. There had not seemed to be anything worth doing. But shortly after I came out of hospital, I suddenly realized that there were a lot of worthwhile things I could do.” Hawking married, found a job at Cambridge University, and had three children. He also went on to do some of the most important scientific research.
Today, Hawking still works at Cambridge University as a professor. He strongly believes that his story shows that nobody, however bad their situation is, should lose hope. “Life is not fair,” he once said. “You just have to do the best you can in your own situation.”
1. As a university student, Stephen Hawking ________.
A. worked very hard
B. studied maths and physics
C. was the best student in his class
D. was lazy and did very little work
2.Hawking first noticed something was wrong with him when ________.
A. he was sent to hospital for tests
B. his mother made him see a doctor
C. he was twenty
D. he visited his family at Christmas time one year
3.When Hawking was first diagnosed with motor neural disease, he ________.
A. made up his mind to get married
B. began to see his life in a different way
C. thought that nothing in life was worth doing
D. became very sad
4.Today, Hawking ________.
A. works at Oxford University
B. works at Cambridge University
C. carries out research into motor neural disease
D. does not rely on a machine to speak
5.What would be the best title for this passage? ________.
A. Motor Neural Disease B. Life Is Fair
C. Professor Stephen Hawking D.A Lazy Boy
You may think that English dictionaries have been used for many, many centuries. In fact, an English dictionary you today wasn't made until the Qing Dynasty(清朝).Three men did most of the important work on dictionaries. They spent nearly all their lives trying to words for their dictionaries. For them, it was a wonderful journey. The largest dictionary in the world is the Oxford English Dictionary. The for this dictionary came from an important meeting in Britain in1857.Twenty -two years later, Oxford University asked James Murray to be the editor(编者)of its new dictionary.
Murray had never been to . At the age of fourteen, he left his village school in Scotland and taught himself while working in a bank . he become a great teacher. After Oxford gave him the job, Murray had a small house in his garden to do the work. Every morning, Murray got out of bed at five o'clock and in the small house several hours before breakfast. Often he would work into the night. Murray hoped to finish the new dictionary in ten years. But after five years, he was adding（增加)words for the letter"A"! He worked on the dictionary he was very old. Forty-four years later, in1928, other editors finished the dictionary.
1.A.use B.write C.copy D.miss
2.A.easy B.boring C.early D.dangerous
3.A.spell B.invent C.collect D.make
4.A.way B.idea C.use D.prize
5.A.school B.cinema C.village D.college
6.A.Later B.Long before C.So far D.Ever since
7.A.sold B.built C.broken D.drawn
8.A.read B.wrote C.worked D.thought
9.A.already B.still C.usually D.always
10.A.if B.because C.until D.since
—When did you start to collect stamps?
—I got my ______ stamp when I was ______ years old.
A. one, seven B. one, seventh
C. first, seventh D. first, seven
_____ Henry’s mother _____ his father speaks English. They both speak Chinese.
A. Either; or B. Neither; nor
C. Both; and D. Not only; but also
—I couldn’t get any tickets for the basketball game.
—_______________
A. Good idea! B. What a pity!
C. All right. D. That’s all right.
–Excuse me, is this seat taken?
_______. That man got his books and left a few minutes ago.
A. I am afraid so. B. I don ’t think so.
C. I don ’t know. D. I hope not.
