"Mark Twain" was the name used by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835~1910) when he wrote books.His father was a lawyer,but a poor one,who lived in Florida,Missouri.The family was so poor that Samuel did not receive much teaching.He had to learn all that he could from the people whom he met.His father died when he was very young,and then there was even less money than before. Many of the men in this part of America worked in the ships on the great Mississippi River,and he did this himself at one time (1857). Where did he find the name "Mark Twain"? It came from the great river itself.It was part of one of the cries used by men who worked in the ships.When a man called "By the mark twain!" he meant that the river was "two marks deep" there,that is to say,six feet deep ( "Twain" is an old form of the word "Two".) Samuel Clemens often heard these words when he was young,and he used them as a pen name all his life. During his work on the Mississippi he met travelers of all kinds,and this helped him a great deal when he started to write.But the number of travelers became smaller when war started in America in 1861.Many of the great ships on the river stopped work.Samuel left then and went to Nevada with his brother,who was at that time Governor of Nevada.There,near the town of Carson,Samuel became a gold miner,but he never made much money at the time.He soon saw that life in the gold mines was not for him.He also tried writing for the newspapers in Nevada,and this seemed more hopeful.He found that he could write. He went to Europe in 1867 and visited France and Italy.In 1870 he married Olivia Langdon,and two years later he was spending nearly all his time writing.Among his books is his own story (1908). He is now always known as Mark Twain,and many people do not even know that his family name was Clemens.He traveled in America and in England,and went to Oxford in 1907.He was one of the great American writers of the time,and could make his readers laugh--a thing which few writers can do.He died in 1910. According to the writer of the passage,a good writer could _ . A) write a lot for his readers B) make a lot of money for his family C) cause his readers to laugh D) travel everywhere he wanted
C
Sea turtles come in many different sizes, shapes and colors. The shell of each sea turtle species is different in length, color, shape and the arrangement of the scales . Sea turtles do not have teeth but use their jaws to eat. Their sense of smell is excellent. Their eyesight underwater is good, but they have _ out of water. Their special bodies make them adapt to life at sea. However, sea turtles maintain close ties to land. Female sea turtles have to go to the seaside to lay their eggs in the sand; therefore, all baby sea turtles begin their lives on land. Most research on sea turtles has been focused on female turtles nesting and the baby sea turtles in the nest, largely because they can be found most easily. After decades of studying sea turtles, much has been learned about. However, many mysteries still remain. Researchers do not yet know how long baby turtles spend in the open sea, or exactly where they go. People believe they spend their earliest years floating in the sea, where they do little more than eat and grow. Once turtles reach dinner-plate size, they appear at feeding grounds in waters near the shore. They grow slowly and take between 15 and 50 years to grow old enough to bear baby sea turtles, depending on the species. There is no way to know the age of a sea turtle from its physical appearance. It is believed that some species can live for over 100 years. Which of the following statements is NOT true about sea turtles? A) They don't use teeth to eat. B) They have a good sense of smell. C) Sea turtles are more adaptable to life at sea. D) Different species have different shells.
C
Q: A recent report says we spend an average of two hours and 40 minutes each day looking at a smartphone. That doesn't mean making calls, but using apps and browsing the Web. Spend that amount of time staring at anything. Checked our email in a restaurant, shared a picture of the food when it arrived, or checked a fact during a conversation only to be drawn into reading more instead of contributing verbally. It's no secret our lives are being affected by our obsession with smartphones. However, never before has this phenomenon been displayed so vividly as in the short YouTube film I Forgot My Phone. Despite only being online for a few days, it's already been viewed more than 10. 5 million times. Ironically, YouTube's statistics show that the site gets a billion views per day from mobile devices, so a lot of those people watched it on their phone. The short film, written by and starring actress Charlene deGuzrnan, shows groups of people in various social situations, the majority of which are completely attracted by their phones instead of the world around them. It's depressing because we' ve all seen it, and sad because to a certain extent, we all do it. Staring at smart phones for a long time, we may_. A) communicate less with the people around us B) chat more with the people online C) enrich more knowledge D) .see more films online
A: A
Q: "Everything happens for the best," my mother said whenever I faced disappointment. "If you carry on, one day something good will happen. And you'll realize that it wouldn't have happened if not for that previous disappointment." Mother was right, as I discovered after graduating from college in 1932. I had decided to try for a job in radio, then work my way up to sports announcer. I hitchhiked to Chicago and knocked on the door of every station and got turned down every time. In one studio, a kind lady told me that big stations couldn't risk hiring an inexperienced person. "Go out in the sticks and find a small station that'll give you a chance," she said. I thumbed home to Dixon, Illinois. While there was no radio-announcing job in Dixon, my father said Montgomery Ward had opened a store and wanted a local athlete to manage its sports department. Since Dixon was where I had played high school football, I applied. The job sounded just right for me. But I wasn't hired. My disappointment must have shown. "Everything happens for the best," Mom reminded me. Dad offered me the car to job hunt. I tried WOC Radio in Davenport, Iowa. The program director, a wonderful Scotsman named Peter MacArthur, told me they had already hired an announcer. As I left his office, my frustration boiled over. I asked aloud, "How can a fellow get to be a sports announcer if he can't get a job in a radio station?" I was waiting for the elevator when I heard MacArthur calling, "What was that you said about sports? Do you know anything about football?" Then he put me before a microphone and asked me to broadcast an imaginary game. On my way home, as I have many times since, I thought of my mother's words: "If you carry on, one day something good will happen. Something wouldn't have happened if not for that previous disappointment." I often wonder what direction my life might have taken if I'd gotten the job at Montgomery Ward. What's the best title for the passage? A) How to find a job B) Peter MacArthur gave me a chance C) Mother's words D) A lesson of life
A: D