He's an old cobbler (修鞋匠) with a shop in the Marais, a historic area in Paris. When I took him my shoes, he at first told me: “I haven't time. Take them to the other fellow on the main street ; he'll fix them for you right away.”
But I'd had my eye on his shop for a long time. Just looking at his bench loaded with tools and pieces of leather, I knew he was a skilled craftsman (手艺人). “No,” I replied, “the other fellow can't do it well.”
“The other fellow” was one of those shopkeepers who fix shoes and make keys “while-U-wait” -- without knowing much about mending shoes or making keys. They work carelessly, and when they have finished sewing back a sandal strap (鞋带) you might as well just throw away the pair.
My man saw I wouldn't give in, and he smiled. He wiped his hands on his blue apron ( 围裙), looked at my shoes, had me write my name on one shoe with a piece of chalk and said, “Come back in a week.”
I was about to leave when he took a pair of soft leather boots off a shelf.
“See what I can do?” he said with pride. “Only three of us in Paris can do this kind of work. ”
When I got back out into the street, the world seemed brand-new to me. He was something out of an ancient legend, this old craftsman with his way of speaking familiarly, his very strange, dusty felt hat, his funny accent from who-knows-where and, above all, his pride in his craft.
These are times when nothing is important but the bottom line, when you can do things any old way as long as it “pays”, when, in short, people look on work as a path to ever-increasing consumption (消费) rather than a way to realize their own abilities. In such a period it is a rare comfort to find a cobbler who gets his greatest satisfaction from pride in a job well done.
1.
Which of the following is true about the old cobbler.'?
A. He was equipped with the best repairing tools. B. He was the only cobbler in the Marais.
C. He was proud of his skills. D. He was a native Parisian.
2.
The sentence “He was something out of an ancient legend.” ( paragraph 7 ) implies that
A. nowadays you can hardly find anyone like him
B. it was difficult to communicate with this man
C. the man was very strange
D. the man was too old
3.
According to the author, many people work just to .
A. realize their abilities B. gain happiness C. make money D. gain respect
4.
This story wants to tell us that ________ .
A. craftsmen make a lot of money B. whatever you do, do it well
C. craftsmen need self-respect D. people are born equal
Seattle International Film Festival ：Future Wave Shorts Program
Seattle Washington
May/June annually
Deadline：March
A presentation of original short films created by youth aged 18 and under. Entries must be no longer than 10 minutes（including end titles）.The juried Future Wave winner receives a $500 each prize！
http://www.siff.net
Contact：Dustin Kasper 【dustin.Kasper @siff.Net 】
Entry fee：$20
University if Toronto Film and Video Festival
Toronto
February
Deadline：January
Annual Festival accepting all lengths and genres（流派），with an emphasis on student work.Submission （提交）form on festival website.
http://www.uoftfilmandvideofestival.ca
Contact: Steven Hoffner 【uoftfilmfest@harthousetheatre.ca】
Entry fee：$15 (early) $20（final）
Young Cuts Film Festival
Toronto Ontario
August 23th-27th
Deadline：April 30th
The Young Cuts Film Festival is one of the world’s most important film festivals for film makers under the age of 25 and is for student film makers and non-student film makers alike. It’s important because we not only evaluate young film makers’ short films for our own Festival competition，but we can also evaluate your film with an eye to establishing its market potential. For more information please go to our website at www.youngcuts.com or email us at info@youngcut.Com
Contact：Peter Bailey 【info@youngcut.Com】
Entry fee：$60.00—$90.00
Scene First Student Film Festival
Wilmington North California
June 14th-16th
Deadline：May
The 3-day national film competition provides student film makers with an opportunity to show their short films， network with industry professionals， and learn from academic and industry leadership ——all in a relaxed social environment.
http://www.scenefirstfestival.com
Contact： Sam Connelly 【samc@campusentertainment.net】
Entry fee：$12
1.
If you want to enter Seattle International Film Festival，you have to ______.
A. be above 18 years of age
B. apply before May
C. make a film no more than 10 minutes in length
D. make a film with end titles
2.
Those who enter Young Cuts Film Festival can _______.
A. win some prize money
B. have their films sold at the film market
C. meet very professional film makers
D. know whether it is possible for their films to go into market
3.
If a student film maker want to ask famous film makers for advice，he should go to ________.
A. Seattle International Film Festival
B. University if Toronto Film and Video Festival
C. Young Cuts Film Festival
D. Scene First Student Film Festival
How many people have I met who have told me about the book they have been planning to write but have never yet found the time ? Far too many.
This is Life, all right, but we do treat it like a rehearsal (排演) and, unhappily, we do miss so many of its best moments.
We take jobs to stay alive and provide homes for our families always making ourselves believe that this style of life is merely a temporary state of affairs along the road to what we really want to do. Then, at 60 or 65, we are suddenly presented with a clock and several grandchildren and we look back and realize that all those years waiting for Real Life to come along were in fact real life.
In America they have a saying much laughed at by the English：“Have a nice day” they speak slowly and seriously in their shops, hotels and sandwich bars. I think it is a wonderful phrase, reminding us, in effect, to enjoy the moment: to value this very day.
How often do we say to ourselves, "I'll take up horse-riding (or golf, or sailing) as soon as I get a higher position," only to do none of those things when I do get the higher position.
When I first became a reporter I knew a man who gave up a very well paid respectable job at the Daily Telegraph to go and edit a small weekly newspaper. At the time I was astonished by what appeared to me to be his completely abnormal (反常的) mental state. How could anyone turn his back on Fleet Street in central London for a small local area？I wanted to know.
Now I am a little older and possibly wiser, I see the sense in it. In Fleet Street the man was under continual pressure. He lived in an unattractive London suburb and he spent much of his life sitting on Southern Region trains.
1.
The first paragraph of the passage tells us that .
A. we always try to find some time to write a book
B. we always make plans but seldom fulfill them
C. we always enjoy many of life's best moments
D. we always do what we really want to do
2.
The underlined phrase "turn his back on" (paragraph 6) most probably means .
A. leave for B. return to C. give up D. rely on
3.
The man ( paragraph 6) left his first job partly because he was .
A. in an abnormal mental state B. under too much pressure
C. not well paid D. not respected
4.
What is probably the best title for the passage?
A. Provide Homes For Our Family B. Take Up Horse-riding
C. Value This Very Day D. Stay Alive
The iPhone, the iPad, the iPod, each of apple's products sounds cool and has become a pad (一时的风尚). Apple has cleverly taken advantage of the power of the letter “i”，-- and many other brands are following suit. The BBC’s iPlayer —which allows Web users to watch TV programs on the internet—adopted the title in 2008. A lovely bear—popular in the US and UK—that plays music and video is called “iTeddy”.A slimmed-down version of London’s Independent newspaper，was launched last week under the name “i”.
In general，single-letter prefix have been popular since the 1990s，when terms such as e-mail and e-commerce first came into use.
Most “i”products are targeted at young people and considering the major readers of the Independent’s “i”，it’s no surprise that they’ve selected this fashionable name.
But it’s hard to see what’s so special about the letter “i”.Why not use “a”，“b”or “c”instead？According to Tony Thorne，head of Language Center at King’s College，London，“i”works because its meaning has become ambiguous .When Apple uses “i”，no one knows whether it means internet，information，individual or interactive，Thorne told BBC magazines “even when Apple created the iPod，it seems it didn’t have one clear definition，”he says.
“However，thanks to Apple，the term is now associated with portability （轻便）， ”adds Thorne.
Clearly the letter “i”also agrees with the idea that the Western World is centered on the individual. Each person believes they have their own needs，and we love personalized products for this reason.
Along with “Google”and “blog”，readers of BBC magazines voted “i”as one of the top 20 words that have come to define the last decade.
But as history shows，people grow tired of fads. From the 1900s to the 1990s，products with “2000”in their names became fashionable as the year was associated with all things advanced and modern. However，as we entered the new century，the trend inevitably disappeared.
1.
We can infer that the Independent’s “i”is aimed at _______.
A. young readers B. old readers C. fashionable women D. engineers
2.
“So teach him to close the door”, my daughter Emma responded after listening to me 36 , again, about the dog coming in from the back door, bringing with him a blast of Buffalo January 37 air.
Teach a dog to close a door behind him? That has got to be a really, really 38 thing to do．But then she took a step 39 . “Come on, Kolby”, she said, grabbing some treats（犒劳物） and 40 him in front of the open door. “Touch.” And “touch” he did, which moved the door to a 41 position. She 42 him with a treat, smiled, looked at me, and said “see!” And I saw and became 43 . Over the last few days I have been with Kolby. Each time he comes in I bring him back to the 44 door and ask him to close. There have been 45 in the beginning, but lately more and more successes.
However, there remains much work to be done. I have to get him to follow my hand signal again and again 46 he will close the door from a distance. But, I now realize, 47 you keep to the focus, the 48 will be completed.
What a 49 treat to have a dog that can close the door after himself! Even more wonder can be found in the 50 I learned so clearly from both Emma and Kolby.
A wish is just a wish until you decide to take 51 . Once you 52 the belief that it is “too hard”, then it remains “too hard ” and out of 53 . Once you want to accomplish a goal, and 54 that it is “easy”, then it becomes “easy” to do what needs to be done．Just 55 doing it.
1. A．complain B．scream C．worry D．scare
2. A．thin B．fresh C．dirty D．cold
3. A．interesting B．funny C．tough D．possible
4. A．again B．further C．deeper D．backward
5. A．pushing B．catching C.driving D．positioning
6. A．stopped B．fixed C．closed D．checked
7. A．rewarded B．provided C．offered D．thanked
8. A．moved B．convinced C．concerned D．puzzled
9. A．open B．closed C．broken D．perfect
10.A．pleasures B．experiments C．failures D．pauses
11. A．in case B．even if C．as if D．so that
12. A．even if B．as long as C．in that D．unless
13. A．interest B．task C．profit D．harmony
14. A．wonderful B．small C．different D．simple
15. A．knowledge B．skills C．lessons D．experience
16. A．patience B．part C．delight D．action
17. A．hold on to B．pay attention to C．come up with D．live up to
18. A．date B．touch C．reach D．power
19. A．prove B．decide C．approve D．realize
20. A．imagine B．start C．keep D．enjoy
One day I _____ a newspaper article about the retirement of an English professor at a nearby state college.
A. came across B. came about C. came out D. came to
