“My work is done.” Those words were some of the last penned by George Eastman. He included them in his suicide note. They mark an ignoble end to a noble life, the leave taking of a truly great man. The same words could now be said for the company he left behind. Actually, the Eastman Kodak Company is through. It has been mismanaged financially, technologically and competitively. For 20 years, its leaders have foolishly spent down the patrimony of a century’s prosperity. One of America’s bedrock brands is about to disappear, the Kodak moment has passed.
But George Eastman is not how he died, and the Eastman Kodak Company is not how it is being killed. Though the ends be needless and premature, they must not be allowed to overshadow the greatness that came before. Few companies have done so much good for so many people, or defined and lifted so profoundly the spirit of a nation and perhaps the world. It is impossible to understand the 20th Century without recognizing the role of the Eastman Kodak Company.
Kodak served mankind through entertainment, science, national defense and the stockpiling of family memories. Kodak took us to the top of Mount Suribachi and to the Sea of Tranquility. It introduced us to the merry old Land of Oz and to stars from Charlie Chaplin to John Wayne, and Elizabeth Taylor to Tom Hanks. It showed us the shot that killed President Kennedy, and his brother bleeding out on a kitchen floor, and a fallen Martin Luther King Jr. on the hard balcony of a Memphis motel. When that sailor kissed the nurse, and when the spy planes saw missiles in Cuba, Kodak was the eyes of a nation. From the deck of the Missouri to the grandeur of Monument Valley, Kodak took us there. Virtually every significant image of the 20th Century is a gift to posterity from the Eastman Kodak Company.
In an era of easy digital photography, when we can take a picture of anything at any time, we cannot imagine what life was like before George Eastman brought photography to people. Yes, there were photographers, and for relatively large sums of money they would take stilted pictures in studios and formal settings. But most people couldn’t afford photographs, and so all they had to remember distant loved ones, or earlier times of their lives, was memory. Children could not know what their parents had looked like as young people, grandparents far away might never learn what their grandchildren looked like. Eastman Kodak allowed memory to move from the uncertainty of recollection, to the permanence of a photograph. But it wasn’t just people whose features were savable; it was events, the sacred and precious times that families cherish. The Kodak moment, was humanity’s moment.
And it wasn’t just people whose features were savable; it was events, the precious times that familes cherish.  Kodak let the fleeting moments of birthdays and weddings, picnics and parties, be preserved and saved. It allowed for the creation of the most egalitarian art form. Lovers could take one another’s pictures, children were photographed walking out the door on the first day of school, the person releasing the shutter decided what was worth recording, and hundreds of millions of such decisions were made. And for centuries to come, those long dead will smile and dance and communicate to their unborn progeny. Family history will be not only names on paper, but smiles on faces.
The cash flow not just provided thousands of people with job, but also allowed the company’s founder to engage in some of the most generous philanthropy in America’s history. Not just in Kodak’s home city of Rochester, New York, but in Tuskegee and London, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He bankrolled two historically black colleges, fixed the teeth of Europe’s poor, and quietly did good wherever he could. While doing good, Kodak did very well. Over all the years, all the Kodakers over all the years are essential parts of that monumental legacy. They prospered a great company, but they – with that company – blessed the world.
That is what we should remember about the Eastman Kodak Company.
Like its founder, we should remember how it lived, not how it died.
History will forget the small men who have scuttled this company.
But history will never forget Kodak.
【小題1】According to the passage, which of the following is to blame for the fall of Kodak?

A．The invention of easy digital photography

B．The poor management of the company

C．The early death of George Eastman

D．The quick rise of its business competitors

【小題2】It can be learnt from the passage that George Eastman         .

A．died a natural death of old age.

B．happened to be on the spot when President Kennedy was shot dead.

C．set up his company in the capital of the US before setting up its branches all over the world.

D．was not only interested in commercial profits, but also in the improvement of other people’s lives.

【小題3】Before George Eastman brought photography to people,             .

A．no photos has ever been taken of people or events

B．photos were very expensive and mostly taken indoors

C．painting was the only way for people to keep a record of their ancestors.

D．grandparents never knew what their grandchildren looked like.

【小題4】The person releasing the shutter (Paragraph 5) was the one        .

A．who took the photograph

B．who wanted to have a photo taken

C．whose decisions shaped the Eastman Kodak Company

D．whose smiles could long be seen by their children

【小題5】What is the writer’s attitude towards the Eastman Kodak Company?

A．Disapproving

B．Respectful

C．Regretful

D．Critical

【小題6】Which do you think is the best title for the passage?

A．Great Contributions of Kodak	B．Unforgettable moments of Kodak
C．Kodak Is Dead	D．History of Eastman Kodak Company

After the earthquake hit northeast Japan on March 11, 2011, many touching stories that I saw with my own eyes happened around me.

I had to walk home since all the  31 had stopped after the quake. On my way home I  32 an old Japanese lady at the bakery shop who was giving out free bread, which made my heart  33 . A middle-aged Japanese man was holding a sign that said, “Please use my  34 .” He was  35 his house for people to go to the restroom.

My friend wanted to  36 others. He stood in the cold with a sign “If you are okay with a motorcycle, I will  37 you to your home.” And then I saw him take one gentleman home, all the way to a faraway place!

Then the next day I drove to  38 my car with gas. There was a  39 of gas now and many gasoline stations were either closed or had very  40 lines. I got  41 since I was behind 15 cars. Finally, when it was my  42 , the man smiled and said, “  43 the situation, we are only giving $30 worth gas per person. Is that alright?” “Of course, I’m glad that we are all able to  44 ,” I said. His smile gave me so much 45 .

I saw a man at the evacuation (疏散) centre 46 when people brought food to him. It was the first time in three days that food had been brought to their center. However, after he wiped the tears, his next  47 surprised me, “ I am very  48 that we are provided with food. But people in the city next to us haven’t  49 any food at all. Please go to that center as well.” And when hearing that, I realized there is a bright future on the other side of the 50 .

1.                A．traffic          B．rescue          C．communication     D．business

 

2.                A．missed         B．noticed         C．caught   D．heard

 

3.                A．hungry         B．soft            C．broken   D．warm

 

4.                A．house          B．hotel           C．hospital   D．toilet

 

5.                A．a(chǎn)dvertising      B．opening         C．repairing D．decorating

 

6.                A．save           B．a(chǎn)ssist           C．charge   D．encourage

 

7.                A．drive          B．follow          C．lead D．send

 

8.                A．start           B．fill             C．check    D．wash

 

9.                A．short          B．variety         C．lack  D．diversity

 

10.               A．direct          B．straight         C．short D．long

 

11.               A．worried        B．lucky           C．excited    D．a(chǎn)nnoyed

 

12.               A．time           B．turn           C．duty D．decision

 

13.               A．Apart from      B．Together with    C．Because of     D．Instead of

 

14.               A．share          B．offer           C．stand D．change

 

15.               A．pleasure        B．comfort        C．trouble    D．entertainment

 

16.               A．waiting         B．grabbing        C．sleeping   D．crying

 

17.               A．promises       B．roles           C．remarks   D．a(chǎn)ctions

 

18.               A．upset          B．grateful         C．surprised D．proud

 

19.               A．given          B．supplied        C．prepared D．received

 

20.               A．city            B．centre         C．lesson     D．disaster

 

 

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57. This is an advertisement of _________.

A. inquiring (調(diào)查) English learning          B. setting Open University

C. selling books                D. attracting students

58. As a student of the Open University, you don’t need to ________.

A. buy any course materials   B. have lessons all the time at the university

C. choose which course to learn      D. pay any money for your study

59. The Open University can supply you with _________.

A. a course for training you English          B. a classroom and a library for study

C. different kinds of free instructions      D. different jobs to choose from

60. We can learn from the text that ________.

A. OU courses are popular in Britain

B. money for learning must be paid off at one time

C. we can’t telephone the university during the night

D. people can’t be employed without finishing OU courses

 

Millions of Americans return from long-distance trips by air, but their luggage doesn’t always come home with them. Airline identification tags（標(biāo)簽） can come loose, and the bags go who-knows-where. And passengers leave all kinds of things on planes.
The airlines collect the items and, for 90 days, attempt to find their owners. They don’t keep them, since they’re not in the warehouse business. And by law, they cannot sell the bags, because the airlines might be tempted to deliberately misplace luggage.
So once insurance companies have paid for lost bags and their contents, and they no longer belong to passengers, a unique store in the little town of Scottsboro, Alabama, buys them. The “Unclaimed Baggage Center,” is so popular that the building, which is set up like a department store, is the number-one tourist attraction in all of Alabama. More than one million visitors stop in each year and take one of the store’s shopping carts on a hunt for treasures.
Each day, clerks bring out 7,000 new items, and veteran（老練的）shoppers rush to paw over them. You can find everything from precious jewels to hockey sticks, best-selling novels, leather jackets, tape recorders, surfboards, even half -used tubes of toothpaste.
The store’s own laundry washes or cleans all the clothes found in luggage, then sells them. The Unclaimed Baggage Center has found guns, illegal drugs and even a live rattlesnake.
The store has a little museum where some of its most unusual acquisitions（獲得物） have been preserved. They include highland bagpipes, a burial mask from an Egyptian pharaoh's tomb, and a medieval suit of armor.
Statistics indicate that less than one-half of one percent of luggage checked on U.S. carriers is permanently lost and available to the store.
【小題1】Paragraph1 shows that many passengers lose their luggage because______.

A．they are forgetful

B．the owners of some luggage can’t be identified

C．they are in a hurry

D．there is no lost and foundoffice in many airports

【小題2】The reason why the airlines cannot sell the bags is that ______.

A．they have to find the owners

B．they have to keep the bags as long as possible

C．some bags are expensive

D．they are likely to make a profit on the bags on purpose

【小題3】The Unclaimed Baggage Center is very popular because______.

A．visitors may purchase something undervalued.

B．a(chǎn)ll thethings there are very cheap.

C．there's a large variety of goods.

D．visitors will enjoy some amusing activities there.

【小題4】What can we infer from the passage?

A．A little museum will keep all the precious unclaimed baggage.

B．The things in the Unclaimed Baggage Center are articles for daily use.

C．The percentage of passengers who lose their baggage for ever is small.

D．People are not allowed to buy the illegal things in the store.

【小題5】What is the main purpose of the passage?

A．To introduce an attractive place to tourists.

B．To remind passengers of taking care of their baggage.

C．To advise the airlines to find the owners of the unclaimed baggage.

D．To introduce how the unclaimed baggage in the airports is handled in America.

My school makes students take one religion (宗教) class every year. But religion is really hard, especially with Mr Frank Smith for a teacher.
Mr Smith is 55 years old, with grey hair and a moustache (胡子). He always wears a blue school T-shirt, shorts and tennis shoes with long white socks. My friends say he looks like a cat.
In his class, we did yoga (瑜珈) and meditation (冥想) (actually most of the children in my class lay on the ground sleeping), tasted some strange tea, had classes outside in the garden, and watched videos and movies about Tibetan Buddhism (藏傳佛教), God, and so on.
It was fun sometimes. However, the course (課程) was quite hard when it came to tests. The girls often worked until one or two o'clock in the morning on nights before the tests, but they still got bad scores.
When our test scores were bad, he would give us some makeup assignments (補(bǔ)考作業(yè)). Once I got a B, which I thought was bad, so I asked Mr Smith for an assignment to bring up my grades.
As a matter of fact, his assignments were often worse than the tests. The tests were just a lot of multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blanks, or short essays (文章). But his assignments usually included a speech in class.
I was not afraid of public speaking, yet it took me three days to collect the information, two days to write the speech, one day to make a PowerPoint and several hours to prepare. I knew my presentation (課堂展示) was good, because I saw Mr Smith's big smile when he listened to me. He gave me an A at last.
After finishing the course, I may not remember how hard it was or the meaning of some vocabulary. But through Mr Smith, I learned a lesson that will be with me my whole life. That is: no matter what we do, we need to put our hearts into it, and then our work will pay off.
【小題1】The religion class is hard because Mr Smith _______.

A．uses strange ways to teach in his class.

B．never gives good scores, however hard you try.

C．gives difficult tests and make-up assignments.

D．likes students to make good presentations.

【小題2】 How could students get good scores in Mr. Smith’s class?

A．Work hard by studying late into the night.

B．Remember all of the vocabulary.

C．Pay attention and take notes in class.

D．Do well on the make-up assignment.

【小題3】From the course, the writer learned that ____.

A．people should always be given a second chance

B．people should always put their hearts into their work

C．it is good to do yoga and meditation

D．it is good to choose strict teacher