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     Few people would even think of beginning a new job at the age of 76,   1   one of America's mos
t famous artists did just that. Anna Mary Robertson, better known as "Grandma Moses", turned to
painting   2   she was too old to work on her farm.
     Grandma Moses was crazy about painting soon after she picked it up and worked hard at it. She
painted   3   (care) and her works were nice. She first painted only to please  4  , and then began to sell
her works  5  a little money. In 1993, a collector, Louis Caldor, happened to see several of Grandma
Moses' works  6  (hang) in a shop. He liked them,   7  (buy) them at once, and set out to look for  8  .
Caldor held   9   show to introduce the works of Grandma Moses to other artists. Grandma Moses, 
  10   was world-famous, died on December 13, 1961, at the age of 101.

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     American author Mark Twain once noted that "life would be surely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18." Twain's words were only one of many complaints about aging. The ancient Greek poet Homer called old age "hateful", and William Shakespeare termed it "terrible
winter".
     Alexander the Great, who conquered most of the known world before he died around 323 B.C., may
have been looking for a river that healed the ravages of age. During the 12th century A.D., a king called
Prester John ruled a land that had a river of gold and a fountain of youth.
     But the name linked most closely to the search for a fountain of youth is 16th-century Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon. He thought it would be found in Florida. In St. Augustine, the oldest city in the U.S., there's a tourist attraction. It is said to be the fountain of youth that Ponce de Leon discovered soon after
he arrived in what is now Florida in 1513. However, elderly visitors who drink the spring's water don't
turn into teenagers.
     But the tale of the search for a fountain of youth is so appealing(有吸引力的) that it survives anyway,
says Ryan K. Smith, a professor of history. "People are more attracted by the story of looking and not
finding than they are by the idea that the fountain might be out there somewhere."
     Still, a few grains of truth have helped to support the story. Kathleen Deagan, a professor of
archaeology, says a graveyard and the remains of a Spanish mission dating back to St. Augustine's
founding in 1565 have been discovered near the so-called fountain of youth. Michelle Reyna, a spokesperson for the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park in St. Augustine, says the fountain has been a tourist
attraction since at least 1901 and may have been attracting visitors since 1860.
1. According to the passage, who searched for a fountain of youth?
A. Ponce de Leon  
B. William Shakespeare.
C. Kathleen Deagan  
D. Michelle Reyna
2. What does the underlined word "ravages" in the second paragraph probably mean?
A. Growth.
B. Limits.
C. Damages.
D. Benefits.
3. What is the attitude of people towards the fountain of youth?
A. People find much pleasure in looking for it.
B. People believe the existence of it somewhere.
C. People have no interest in searching for it.
D. People consider the idea of the fountain of youth absurd(荒謬的).
4. The passage mainly tells us _____.
A. how the fountain of youth came into being
B. why some famous people hate becoming old
C. how to remain young forever
D. whether the fountain of youth exists
5. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. The underlined words "the story" refers to Alexander the Great ruling a land that had a river of gold 
     and a fountain of youth.
B. Augustine, which is the oldest city in the U.S, lies in Florida.
C. Some elderly visitors find themselves younger after drinking the water from the fountain of youth.
D. Kathleen Deagan is the spokesperson for the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park.

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A. Smiling builds up confidence.  
B. Smiling changes mood.  
C. Smiling helps stay positive.
D. Smiling defeats diseases.
E. Smiling attracts people.
F. Smiling relieves stress.  

1. _____ 
     Like a flower with a pleasant scent, your smile can draw people close enough to see inside you.
That's Smile Power. A smile has the power to radiate the qualities that make you beautiful on the
inside - kindness, friendship, honesty, respect, patience, and self-control. So please give smiles away
like flowers. Let your smile be an invitation for others to get to know the great person behind the smile.
Then let people see that your smile doesn't stop at your mouth. It goes all the way to your heart. On the
other hand, we are drawn to people who smile and we want to know a smiling person and figure out
what is so good. Frowns, scowls and grimaces all push people away-but a smile draws them in.
2. _____ 
     Next time you are feeling down, try putting on a smile. There's a good chance you mood will change
for the better. Smiling can trick the body into helping you to have good feelings. So smile is a good state
of mind, you have a smile, then you will have better feelings. So when you are smiling you lighten up the
room, change the moods of others, and make things happier.
3._____
    The muscles we use to smile lift the face, making a person appear younger. Don't go for a face lift, just
try smiling your way through the day - you'll look younger. Then you will feel better and have more
confidence, thus are more likely to be promoted, and more likely to be approached. Put on a smile at
meetings and appointments and people will react to you differently because of your confidence.
4.  ____
    Stress can really show up in our faces. Smiling helps to prevent us from looking tired, worn down, and
overwhelmed. When you are stressed, take time to put on a smile. This is because when you smile, there
is a measurable reduction in your blood pressure. You can sit for a few minutes, take a reading. Then
smile for a minute and take another reading while still smiling. You will be happy to see your stress
disappears quickly.
5. _____ 
     Now try to think of something negative without losing the smile. It's hard. When we smile our body
is sending the rest of us a message that "Life is Good!" Stay away from depression, stress and worry by
smiling. So smile is a positive state of mind, every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift
to that person, a beautiful thing and then other people will also answer your smile.

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     Please help! I live in Germany with my wife and three kids. My parents live in the UK. I want my kids
to have as much contact with their grandparents as possible. The kids all use e-mail, Skype and SMS but my parents won't. I've bought them a laptop, paid for broadband, given them both mobile phones and a
digital camera, but they won't use them. My parents say they hate computers and new technology. What
can I do with these "technophobes"? 
                                                                                                                   Daniel, Buremburg, Germany
     Actually, the original technophobes were the Luddites, a group of cloth workers in 19th century Britain during the Industrial Revolution. The Luddite cloth workers, who traditionally made cloth by hand, were
worried that machines were going to take away their jobs and way of life. These machines could make
cloth much faster and cheaper than humans. In 1811 and 1812 the Luddites destroyed the machines that
they hated so much, but the British government supported the factory owners. Many Luddites were
arrested. Charlotte Bronte's novel Shirley will tell your parents all about it. 
                                                                                                                             Laura, Valencia, Spain
     Laura makes some interesting points, I think. Technophobes has been a common theme in science
fiction. Frankenstein, one of the first science fiction, is a warning of what could happen if humans began
to experiment with human life. 
                                                                                                                 Freda, Copenhagen, Denmark
     One thing you could try is to find hardware that is designed for older people to use. An example is the mobiles made by the US company, Jitterbug. Instead of icons and menus the Jitterbug phones ask users
simple "yes/no" questions and have larger keypads. The company realized that there are potentially 100
million older users in the US alone. 
                                                                                                                          Graham, Patras, Greece
1. The underlined part "the technophobes" in the passage refers to ______.
A. those who are ready to try new technology
B. those who are addicted to the Internet
C. those who refuse to use modern technology
D. those who are devoted to inventing new things
2. Which of the following is TRUE of the Luddites?
A. They called themselves the technophobes.
B. They got full support from their factory owners.
C. They preferred to keep their traditional working methods.
D. They were killed by the government.
3. Who has put forward a practical and useful suggestions?
A. Laura.
B. Freda.
C. Daniel.
D. Graham.
4. The passage is probably taken from _____.
A. a personal blog
B. a letter between friends
C. a personal diary
D. a speech on new technology
5. What can we infer from the passage?
A. Daniel would buy her parents a novel written by Shirley.
B. Charlotte Bronte wrote about technophobes in her novel Shirley.
C. Daniel would buy her parents cell phones with icons and menus.
D. Daniel worried about her children using e-mails.

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