Mark Twain left school when he was twelve. He had little school education. In spite of this, he became the most famous writer of his time. He made millions of dollars by writing. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, but he is better known all over the world as Mark Twain, his penname.
Mark Twain was born in 1835 and he was not a healthy baby. In fact, he was not expected to live through the first winter. But with his mother’s care, he managed to survive. As a boy, he caused much trouble for his parents. He used to play jokes on all his friends and neighbors. He didn’t like to go to school, and he often ran away from home. He always went in the direction of the nearby Mississippi(密西西比河). He was nearly drowned nine times.
After his father’s death, Mark Twain began to work for a printer, who only provided him with food and clothing. Then, he worked as a printer, a river-boat pilot and later joined the army. But shortly after that he became a miner. During this period, he started to write short stories. Afterwards he became a full time writer.
In 1870, Mark Twain got married. In the years that followed he wrote many books including Tom Sawyer in 1876, and Huckleberry Finn in 1884, which made him famous, and brought him great fortune.
Unfortunately, Mark Twain got into debts in bad investments(投资) and he had to write large numbers of stories to pay these debts. In 1904, his wife died, and then three of his children passed away.
At the age of 70, his hair was completely white. He bought many white suits and neckties. He wore nothing but white from head to foot until his death on April 21, 1910.
1.In his childhood, Mark Twain, ________.
A. learned a lot at school
B. he often went swimming with other boys
C. his mother often worried about his safety
D. he often played games with other boys
2.Which of the following shows the right order about Mark Twain?
a. He became a miner. b. He worked as a printer.
c. He got into debts. d. His father died.
e. He became a full-time writer. F. He joined the army.
A. a—d—b—c—e—f B. d—b—f—a—e—c
C. d—a—f—e—b—c D. c—b—d—f—e—a
3.In order to make a living, Mark Twain _______.
A. first worked as a printer
B. did many kinds of work
C. wrote stories in the beginning
D. joined the army after he worked in a mine
4.From the passage we can see that Mark Twain _______.
A. had a happy childhood
B. was a good boy and always did what he was asked
C. was very naughty when he was young
D. lived a pleasant life
The Taj Mahal (泰姬陵) is a love story, a sad and beautiful one. If it didn’t exist, we would easily imagine that the story of its construction was simply a fairy tale. Three hundred years ago, there lived an Indian emperor called Shah Jahan. His wife was a beautiful and bright woman whom he loved greatly. Her title was Mumtazl Mahal: its shortened form Taj Mahal, means “pride of the palace”. In the year 1630 this beloved wife of the emperor died. He was so brokenhearted that he thought of giving up his throne. He decided out of his love for his wife, to build her the most beautiful tomb that had ever been seen.
He summoned the best artists and architects from India, Turkey, Persia and Arabia and finally, the design was complete. It took more than twenty thousand men working over a period of 18 years to build the Taj Mahal, one of the most beautiful buildings in the world.
The building itself stands on a marble platform 29 meters square and 6-7 meters high. Towers rise from each of the four corners. The Mahal itself soars another 61 meters into the air. It is an eight-sided building made of white marble.
The emperor planned to build an identical tomb of black marble for himself on the other side of the river connected by a silver bridge. However, his son put him into a prison in the palace before he could finish, and for the rest of his life, he could only gaze across the river at the tomb of his beloved wife.
1. The whole passage tells us about ______.
A. a beautiful fairy tale
B. the story of the Taj Mahal
C. white and black marble tombs made for two emperors
D. the love story of Emperor Shah Jahan and his wife
2.Which of the following statements is NOT true about the Taj Mahal?
A. It was completed quickly owing to the efforts of the best artists and workers.
B. A lot of people took part in the building work.
C. It is a magnificent building.
D. It is a tomb for the emperor’s beloved wife.
3. The emperor’s own tomb was designed to be ____________.
A. 61 meters high B. eight-sided C. black-colored D. white-colored
4.The emperor _____________.
A. died soon after Taj Mahal died
B. was killed by his son
C. was beloved by his people
D. died after 1648
完成句子:(20空,1空1分,共20分)
1.教授走进了大厅,其身后跟着两位助手。
The professor entered the hall, ______________ _____ two assistants .
2.杰克对足球很狂热,而艾米喜欢弹钢琴。
Jack is crazy about football,while Amy is the piano.
3.尽管那个年轻人被打倒在地,但是他挣扎着站了起来。
Though the young man was beaten to the ground, he to his feet.
4.你可能习惯了熬夜看电视或者上网。
You might staying up late, watching TV or .
5.我很遗憾地通知你,你被公司解雇了。
I you that you are fired by our company.
6. 他每天一到办公室就投身工作。
at the office, he work everyday.
句型转换:(20空,1空0.5分,共10分)
1.It took me seven hours to make such a nice kite.
I ____________ seven hours ___________ such a nice kite.
2.My father finds it hard that he finishes the work on time.
My father finds _______ ______________ __________ finish the work on time.
3.We got those flowers without having to pay for them
We got those flowers _____________ _______ ______________.
4. Eight more classrooms are able to be used for different classes.
Eight more classrooms _________ ______________ ___________ different classes.
5.I am in charge of the radio as the oldest student member.
I am older than __________ _____________ student member and the club is _____________________ ______________. .
6.It wasn`t quiet enough in the classroom and I couldn`t hear what the teacher said.
It was ________ noisy in the classroom ____________ I couldn`t hear what the teacher said.
7. The office is too dirty .It requires cleaning.
The office is too dirty . It requires _______ _______ __________.
用动词的正确形式填空:(10空,1空1分,共10分)
1.To everyone`s _______________ (satisfy), he was admitted into Beijing University.
2.John had an ________________ (enjoy) time when he was in the village.
3.She is a strong and _________________ (depend) woman who needs no help from others.
4.The job isn`t ____________ (challenge) enough for me . I want to do something more difficult.
5.He practises playing football everyday in ____________ (prepare) for the coming examination.
6.Mother`s ________________ (encourage) drove him to write better poems.
7.What are you going to do after _________________ (graduate)?
8.He has been teaching for twenty years.He is an ________________ (experience) teacher.
9.Excuse me ,where is the ______________ (enter) to the exhibition hall?
10.He gave me some _________________ (explain)of what he had seen .
根据首字母或中文注释拼写单词:(10空,1空1分,共10分)
1.Why is everything my fault? Can I d_____________ for myself?.
2.Bob! Shall I e______________ seats with you?
3.The huge windows of the hotel gave us a s________________ view of the beautiful park.
4.As a good g______________ from a key university,they had no difficulty in finding jobs.
5.How amazing! The boy is f________________ in both Japanese and English
6.The students in China usually return to school for the start of the new _________ (学业的)year.
7.The young man knows how to ______________(处理)his own problems.
8.After one year in hospital,he is back to his_______________(以前的)self again.
9.Last year he __________________(捐赠)much money to the research center.
10.My _________________ (一代) behaves differently from my father`s and grandfather`s.