A year after graduation, I was offered a position teaching a writing class. Teaching was a profession I had never seriously considered, though several of my stories had been published. I accepted the job without hesitation, as it would allow me to wear a tie and go by the name of Mr. Davis. My father went by the same name, and I liked to imagine people getting the two of us confused. “Wait a minute,” someone might say, “are talking about Mr. Davis the retired man, or Mr. Davis the respectable scholar?”
The position was offered at the last minute, and I was given two week to prepare, a period I spent searching for a briefcase and standing before my full-length mirror, repeating the words, “Hello, class, I’m Mr. Davis.” Sometimes I would give myself an aggressive voice. Sometimes I would sound experienced. But when the day eventually came, my nerves kicked in and the true Mr. Davis was there. I sounded not like a thoughtful professor, but rather a 12-year-old boy.
I arrived in the classroom with paper cards designed in the shape of maple leaves. I had cut them myself out of orange construction paper. I saw nine students along a long table. I handed out the cards, and the students wrote down their names and fastened them to their breast pockets as I required.
“All right then,” I said. “Okay, here we go.” Then I opened my briefcase and realized that I had never thought beyond this moment. I had been thinking that the students would be the first to talk, offering their thoughts and opinions on the events of the day. I had imagined that I would sit on the edge of the desk, overlooking a forest of raised hands. Every student would shout to be heard, and I would knock on something in order to silence them. I would yell, “Calm down, you’ll all get your turn. One at a time, one at a time!”
A terrible silence ruled the room, and seeing no other opinions, I instructed the students to pull out their notebooks and write a brief essay related to the theme of deep disappointment.
【小題1】The author took the job to teach writing because______________.

Learners of English, especially self-taught learners may have troubles in understanding speeches by native speakers. The following ways might help improve their listening ability.
First of all, do things step by step. It is not good to listen to something beyond your level. Better choose a proper course and start with the first book. Go on to the second book only after you are sure you understand the first one.
Secondly, stick to (堅持) one course of study. Don't change books often. Never let your attention be attracted (吸引) by another course just because it seems to be more "fashionable" (時髦).
Thirdly, listen to the English news program over the radio from time to time. Better go through the news stories in the Chinese-language newspaper first. That will make it easy for you to understand the English news on the radio.
Fourthly, if you have time, listen to some interesting stories in Special English from the V. O. A. or other listening materials（材料）of the same level as that of your textbook.
【小題1】This is a piece of advice to learners of English on how to ______.

Three more cattle farms in Andong，North Gyeongsang Province，were found to have been infected with the deadly foot-and-mouth disease，Nov．2 2010，Thursday．People fear that livestock farms in other parts of the country could be hit by the virus soon．
On Monday，the disease was first detected on two pig farms in Andong，about half a year after the last disease broke out in Korea．A cattle farm in the area also fell victim to the animal disease the following day．
The Ministry for Food，Agriculture，F(xiàn)orestry and Fisheries made sure that three more cases of foot-and-mouth disease appeared on Thursday and decided to kill all the animals at the farms and others at nearby places to stop the spread of the virus to other regions．Over 800 cows and pigs within a 500 meter range of the infected farms were killed and buried underground．
“Three suspected cases were reported Wednesday，near the pig farms where the first outbreak was reported．The laboratory tests today showed that all three cattle farms were infected with the disease,” a ministry official said．Two newly infected cattle farms were less than 4 kilometers away from the two pig farms，while the third one was only 2．5 kilometers away．
The ministry also said another cattle farm in Andong reported suspected cases of foot-and-mouth disease on its livestock Thursday，indicating the disease will likely continue to spread across the city and possibly beyond．
The government has culled more than 33,000 animals near the affected farms Monday alone under its disease prevention program．Additionally，all 84 livestock markets across the nation were closed Wednesday for a period to prevent spread of the disease．
No suspected cases have been reported outside of Andong，but the government Thursday decided to destroy an additional 22,000 pigs at two farms in Boryeong，South Chungcheong Province．
【小題1】Last time foot and mouth disease         ．

In 1947 a group of famous people from the art world headed by an Austrian conductor decided to hold an intemational festival of music,dance and theatre in Edinburgh. The idea was to reunite Europe after the Second World War.
At the same time, the “Fringe” appeared as a challenge to the official festival.Eight theatre groups turned up uninvited in 1947,in the belief that everyone should have the right to perform,and they did so in a public house disused for years.
Soon,groups of studentsfirstly from Edinburgh University, and later from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge,Durham and Birmingham were making the journey to the Scottish capital each summer to perform theatre by little-known writers of plays in small church halls to the people of Edinburgh.
Today the “Fringe”,once less recognized, has far outgrown the festival with around 1,500 performances of theatre,music and dance on every one of the 21 days it lasts. And yet as early as 1959,with only 19 theatre groups performing,some said it was getting too big.
A paid administrator was first employed only in 1971, and today there are eight administrators working all year round and the number rises to 150 during August itself. In 2004 there were 200 places housing 1,695 shows by over 600 different groups from 50 different countries. More than 1,25 million tickets were sold.
【小題1】Point was the purpose of Edinburgh Festival at he beginning?

On June 21, 1982, Prince (王子) William, the future King of England, was born. Since then, he has won all the hearts of the public.
When he was very small, he got a number of nicknames (綽號)：King Tot, Willys, Billy, and William the Terrible！He was often found climbing into wastebaskets, trying to flush (沖刷) Dad’s shoes down the toilet (廁所) and pressing buttons, which often made alarm ring！
Prince William has a lot of rules to follow：no drinking in public, no smoking or taking drugs, no kissing girls in public. William was especially close to Diana. However, he has been brave beyond his years since his mother’s sudden death because of the car accident.
Prince William’s fans are growing in number every day. He got more than 12, 000 fan letters a week. When he made a trip to Canada, thousands of girls went frenetic and screamed, “William, will you marry me?” His favorite drink is coke and his favorite foods are burgers, fries, pizza, and chocolate. William also loves to search the World Wide Web. So next time when you’re online, you might be chatting with the future King of England.
Want to write to him? Here it is：
HRH Prince William             
Kensington Palace  Kensington, London W8 4PN  Great Britain
【小題1】William’s mother died when he was_____.     .
A. 13                   B. 20                C. 19                  D. 15
【小題2】What does the underlined word “frenetic” mean?  
A. Angry.               B.Excited.           C. Stupid.                D. Comfortable.
【小題3】Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?
A. Prince William loves his mother very much.   
B. Prince William likes western food.
C. Prince William has two brothers.    
D. Prince William loves to use the computer.
【小題4】Where can you probably see the article?
A. In a magazine       B. In a textbook      C. In a sports report   D. On TV