Dear Mr Rupp, The day I met you was the first day of high school. We liked each other immediately. You gave me a lot of advice over the next four years, like how I should get my ass to Berkeley where I belonged. I'm still there, by the way. I wish you were still around, too. I remember your laugh, which would start with a rough guffaw  and end with a hacking smoker's cough that would make even the most rebellious   teenager swear to lay off the cigarettes. I remember the way you didn't lower your standards, yet still refused to give up on us. You were tough on us, and we were tough on you. Love is tough sometimes. The last time I wrote you a letter, it was 2005---four years after I graduated. I had just become a teacher, like you, and it had given me a new appreciation for the work you did with countless high school students over the years. It's hard to say what I'll miss the most about you. There are simply too many memories to sort through those four years, and it hurts to think you'll never read this letter. I want to believe that you knew how much you meant to your family, your students, your community, and your colleagues, but that would be a lot of realization to handle, even for you. You changed the lives of everyone around you. Even now, you are reminding me to cherish life and its brevity and beauty, and to tell the people I love how much they mean to me before it is too late. Dear teacher, dear mentor, and dear friend----I miss you and all that is about you. God bless you in Heaven.                                                        To infinity and beyond,                                                        Teresea When did the author meet her teacher---Mr Rupp? A) In 1997 B) In 2001 C) In 2005 D) In 2009
A
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Teenage boys, regardless of race, are more likely to die from gunshot wounds than from all natural causes combined. By the time the average American child leaves primary school, he or she will witness 8,000 murders and more than 100,000 acts of violence on television.  Youth are becoming involved in violence at an alarming rate. In fact, the young arrest rate for murder doubled, from 6 arrests per 100,000 youth aged from 10 to 17 to over 12 per 100,000.  For the many youth who have not been directly exposed to violence in their own communities, the entertainment media (television, movies, music and video games) provides many opportunities for children to see and hear violent exchanges. Research shows that there are about 5~6 violent acts per hour on prime time and 20~25 violent acts on Saturday morning  children's programming. In its report, the American Psychological Association (APA) reported that viewing violence on television hurts children in many ways. In particular, the APA  concludes that children may become less sensitive to the pain and suffering of others, be more  fearful of the world around them, be more likely to behave in aggressive or harmful ways to- ward others, and gradually accept violence as a way to solve problems. Another form of violence involving youth is physical punishment in the schools. This form of discipline   still remains legally supported in 23 nations in America. The Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Education reported that 555,000 students were physically punished in the schools during this school year. Although such punishment has been regarded as an effective method of discipline by those who apply it, the findings are obvious that physical punishment does not work and that children who are victims of physical punishment are subject to potential long-term physical and emotional damage. According to the passage, the American teenage boys' lives are most threatened by  _  . A) gun murders B) natural diseases C) TV violence D) physical punishment
A
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"Dr. Papaderos, what is the meaning of life?" The usual laughter followed, and people stirred to go. Papaderos held up his hand and stilled the room and looked at me for a long time, asking with his eyes if I was serious and seeing from my eyes that I was.  "I will answer your question." Taking his wallet out of his hip pocket, he fished into a leather billfold and brought out a very small round mirror, about the size of a quarter. And what he said went like this:  "When I was a small child, during the war, we were very poor and we lived in a remote village. One day, on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror. A German motorcycle had been wrecked in that place.   I tried to find all the pieces and put them together, but it was not possible, so I kept only the largest piece. This one, and, by scratching it on a stone, I made it round. I began to play with it as a toy and became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun would never shine--in deep holes and crevices and dark closets. It became a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible places I could find.   I kept the little mirror, and, as I went about my growing up, I would take it out in idle moments and continue the challenge of the game. As I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child's game but a  _ for what I might do with my life. I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of light. But light--truth, understanding, knowledge--is there, and it will shine in many dark places only if I reflect it. I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world--into the black places in the hearts of men--and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life." Why did Dr. Papaderos like the small round mirror so much as a child? A) Because he was too poor to afford other toys. B) Because it could shine the places where the sun couldn't reach. C) Because he believed it would bring good luck to him. D) Because it told him a lot about what life really meant to him.
B
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Frank W. Woolworth was born in Rodman, New York, in 1852. His family was very poor farmers, and there was never enough to eat. Frank decided he did not want to be a farmer. He took a short business course, and went to work as a salesman in a large city. Woolworth realized he had a natural skill for displaying goods to arouse people's interest, but he soon learned something more important. One day his boss told him to sell some odds and ends   for as much as he could get. Frank put all these things on one table with a sign which said: FIVE CENTS EACH. People fought and pushed to buy the things and the table was soon cleared. Soon afterwards, Woolworth opened his own store, selling goods at five and ten cents. But he had another lesson to learn before he became successful. That is, if you want to make money by selling low-price goods, you have to buy them in large quantities directly from the factories. Once, for example, Woolworth went to Germany and placed an order for knives. The order was so large that the factory had to keep running 24 hours a day for a whole year. In this way, the price of the knives was cut down by half. By 1919, Woolworth had over 1,000 stores in the USA and Canada, and opened his first store in London. He made many millions and his name became famous throughout the world. He always ran his business according to strict rules, of which the most important was: "THE CUSTOMER   IS ALWAYS RIGHT." _   made Woolworth a world-famous man. A) His business skills and his wealth B) The low price of the goods he sold C) His trip to Germany and his huge order of knives D) His natural skill for displaying things

A
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