When I decided to get married, my father decided to share some wisdom. “Lori, it is just as easy to love a rich man as it is to love a poor man, “ he said. My boyfriend didn’t have much money, but I loved him. “What?” I cried. “ How can you say that? I want to marry for love, NOT for money.” “ But why not marry someone you love who has money?” he asked. “Rich men are materialistic（物質(zhì)主義的）. I’d rather marry a poor man who loves me,” I said and he gave in.

And as we went on, with my family growing, I learned why my father put such importance on money. We had to cover the rent, car, electricity, food, and medical bills. We were under lot of pressure. The worries over whether we would be asked to move out or if we had the money to wash our clothes at the Laundromat this week made me question if I did the right thing by marrying a “poor” man.

I realized that I had entered the ranks of the poor. Not that I’d ever been rich. Most of my life, I considered us in the lower middle-class rank. We had a house of our own, food on the table, cars, clothes, and money for college. But now, as I listened to an apartment neighbour talk about her monthly “Mother’s Day” gift, I realized she was talking about her welfare check（政府發(fā)放的救濟(jì)金）. And another young mother tried to “help” me out by connecting me with a friend who stole baby clothes from a department store. “ For a small cut,” she said, “ I could return my ‘purchase’(購買的東西）for cash.” It made me sick. How poor was I?

I had a college education but wasn’t using it. I insisted on not missing a minute of our children’s childhood and it came at a price. My husband was working as hard as he could and it wasn’t enough. But somehow we made it.

The kids grew. Today, we look back and see the great values gained by going through those hard years. My children are not materialistic. They never thought they were poor growing up because we always managed to give a little bit of food, money, or clothes to the “poor”. They were satisfied with the simple things in life that come free such as a beach day or a horse back ride from their dad.

We had our worries, but we still treasured our very favorite part of the day when we’d nest (棲息地）under the covers and talked about our future, the kids and how much we loved each other. Sure our financial(財政的) troubles caused a lot of fights, but we didn’t leave each other. We began to live a better life. We moved to a better community(社區(qū)）with good schools for the kids. And soon, we’ll face a new challenge with wealth. But we’ll never give up.

My father died three years ago. Before he died, he knew I made the right choice. I’m proud of my decision.

1..The writer argued with her father because _________________.

2..After getting married, the writer questioned if she had done the right thing to marry her husband because___________.

3..After their children were born, the writer_______________.

4.. Why didn’t the writer’s children think they were poor growing up?

5..What do you think is the theme(主題）of the story?

I was eight when my neighbors got a TV. It was small and expensive, but that didn’t matter. IT WAS WONDERFUL. Everyone in the building came up to the fifth floor to see this latest wonder of the modern world. That was in 1948.

Soon, a lot of people got a TV, but not us. My parents didn’t think it was good for children. Being a good son, I didn’t argue with them. But I secretly watch TV—at my friends’ homes.

By 1955, televisions weren’t so expensive and were much larger. My parents still thought they were not good for us, but my sisters insisted, saying they were the only people in the neighborhood who didn’t have one. All their friends talked about certain programs and actors, but they couldn’t. Their friends laughed at them, which made them feel very unhappy. My youngest sister cried, saying she was never going back to school and that life without a TV wasn’t worth living. Nothing my parents said made her feel better. The next morning, without telling us, they went out and got a new TV.

When we were young our parents allowed us to watch TV for two hours a night. And we couldn’t watch until our homework was finished. But after a year or two, TV wasn’t exciting or new anymore. It became just another part of our lives like shoes or soap. My parents still had fears about TV. We were going to forget how to read, and TV was going to fill our minds with violence, they said.

Today people still argue about the value of TV. Nobody can deny the power of TV, which has a powerful influence on our lives. On average, Americans spend 30 hours a week watching TV. Is this influence good or bad? This is an unanswerable question indeed: It is hard enough to measure influence; and it is even harder to decide what is good and what isn’t. What is good, I suppose, is that many people are concerned about TV’s influence and that we have the power to change what we don’t like.

The people of Monhegan Island, 18 kilometers away off the coast of Maine, don’t have electricity, and they decided; once again, that they liked that way. Electricity, they think, would make life too easy and spoil their way of life. Maybe the young people wouldn’t want to go to town dances anymore. Maybe they would be more interested in staying at home and watching TV.

1.How old was the author, when their family got a TV?

A. About 15.      B. 8.               C. 18.              D. About 10.

2.The author’s parents finally decided to buy a TV because _______.

A. they wanted to meet their daughters’ needs .

B. the children couldn’t go to school without a TV

C. the sisters would like to be like their friends

D. they had to do as the youngest daughter told them to

3.The author thinks “to judge whether a TV’s influence is good or bad” is ________.

A. concerning     B. hard             C. meaningless       D. important

4.The last paragraph is written to show ________.

A. the disadvantage of TV

B. TV influences people a great deal

C. the advantage of TV

D. we can change what we don’t like

The curtain on the 2008 US presidential election finally rose last month as John McCain and Barack Obama were formally nominated (提名) as candidates of the two major parties. This may be one of the hardest decisions voters have to make between two appealing candidates.

The big question for voters, as they face both an economic downturn and international threats, is: who will they elect? A young first-term senator promising change and new ideas, or a longtime senator with strong military experience and a reputation as a maverick (特立獨(dú)行的人)?
    American voters have never seen a candidate quite like Obama. He has a white mother from the US and a black father from Kenya who left the family when Obama was very young. He spent part of his youth in Indonesia.
    His supporters say Obama’s childhood gives him the advantage to repair the recent damage done to America’s image abroad. His opponents focus on his inexperience, noting he hasn’t finished his first term in the Senate.   

However, McCain has a very different life story.

He grew up in a Navy family and was a pilot during the Vietnam War in the 1960s. When Obama was in kindergarten in Indonesia, McCain’s plane was shot down over Vietnam and he became a prisoner of war. McCain could have been released if he disowned America but he refused and so was held for five years.

So in the end, the election may hinge on (以…為轉(zhuǎn)移) several factors that are hard to judge: Will Obama’s race matter to a significant number of voters? Will working-class whites who tended to support his primary opponent, Hillary Clinton, vote for Obama? And perhaps most important of all, will swing (搖擺) voters be more drawn to Obama’s vision (遠(yuǎn)景規(guī)劃) or to McCain’s experience?

Whatever happens, one thing is clear: Whoever walks into the White House on January 20, 2009, will find enormous challenges waiting for him in the Oval Office, both at home and abroad.

72. ______ makes the result of the election hard to predict.

A. Whether working class whites care about Obama’s inexperience

B. The economic trouble the country now faces

C. Who swing voters will finally decide to vote for

D. McCain’s being too old to govern the country

73. The appeal in Obama as a presidential candidate lies in ______.

    A. his multi-cultural background                 B. his belief in tradition

    C. his inexperience in politics                      D. his fantastic promises

74. The word “disown” in Paragraph 6 means closest to ______.

    A. run away from                                     B. turn one’s back on

    C. not keep it private                                  D. expose secrets about

75. The challenges that will face the new president are ______.

A. not mentioned in the text

B. building a strong party and a friendly image

C. the problems of immigrants and economy

D. the problems of economy and international relations

The curtain on the 2008 US presidential election finally rose last month as John McCain and Barack Obama were formally nominated (提名) as candidates of the two major parties. This may be one of the hardest decisions voters have to make between two appealing candidates.

The big question for voters, as they face both an economic downturn and international threats, is: who will they elect? A young first-term senator promising change and new ideas, or a longtime senator with strong military experience and a reputation as a maverick (特立獨(dú)行的人)?
    American voters have never seen a candidate quite like Obama. He has a white mother from the US and a black father from Kenya who left the family when Obama was very young. He spent part of his youth in Indonesia.
    His supporters say Obama’s childhood gives him the advantage to repair the recent damage done to America’s image abroad. His opponents focus on his inexperience, noting he hasn’t finished his first term in the Senate.   

However, McCain has a very different life story.

He grew up in a Navy family and was a pilot during the Vietnam War in the 1960s. When Obama was in kindergarten in Indonesia, McCain’s plane was shot down over Vietnam and he became a prisoner of war. McCain could have been released if he disowned America but he refused and so was held for five years.

So in the end, the election may hinge on (以…為轉(zhuǎn)移) several factors that are hard to judge: Will Obama’s race matter to a significant number of voters? Will working-class whites who tended to support his primary opponent, Hillary Clinton, vote for Obama? And perhaps most important of all, will swing (搖擺) voters be more drawn to Obama’s vision (遠(yuǎn)景規(guī)劃) or to McCain’s experience?

Whatever happens, one thing is clear: Whoever walks into the White House on January 20, 2009, will find enormous challenges waiting for him in the Oval Office, both at home and abroad.

49. _________ makes the result of the election hard to predict.

A. Whether working class whites care about Obama’s inexperience
B. The economic trouble the country now faces

C. Who swing voters will finally decide to vote for

D. McCain being too old to govern the country

50. The appeal in Obama as a presidential candidate lies in ______.

    A. his multi-cultural background

    B. his belief in tradition

    C. his inexperience in politicsD. his fantastic promises

51. The word “disown” in Paragraph 6 means closest to ______.

    A. flee from

    B. turn his back on

    C. not keep it private

    D. expose secrets about

52. The challenges that will face the new president _______.

 A. are not mentioned in the text

 B. include building a strong party and a friendly image

 C. refer to the problems of immigrants and economy

 D. refer to the problems of economy and international relations

The curtain on the 2008 US presidential election finally rose last month as John McCain and Barack Obama were formally nominated （提名） as candidates of the two major parties. This may be one of the hardest decisions voters have to make between two appealing candidates.

The big question for voters, as they face both an economic downturn and international threats, is: who will they elect? A young first-term senator promising change and new ideas, or a longtime senator with strong military experience and a reputation as a maverick （特立獨(dú)行的人）?

American voters have never seen a candidate quite like Obama. He has a white mother from the US and a black father from Kenya who left the family when Obama was very young. He spent part of his youth in Indonesia.

His supporters say Obama’s childhood gives him the advantage to repair the recent damage done to America’s image abroad. His opponents focus on his inexperience, noting he hasn’t finished his first term in the Senate.   

However, McCain has a very different life story.

He grew up in a Navy family and was a pilot during the Vietnam War in the 1960s. When Obama was in kindergarten in Indonesia, McCain’s plane was shot down over Vietnam and he became a prisoner of war. McCain could have been released if he disowned America but he refused and so was held for five years.

So in the end, the election may hinge on （以…為轉(zhuǎn)移） several factors that are hard to judge: Will Obama’s race matter to a significant number of voters? Will working-class whites who tended to support his primary opponent, Hillary Clinton, vote for Obama? And perhaps most important of all, will swing （搖擺） voters be more drawn to Obama’s vision （遠(yuǎn)景規(guī)劃） or to McCain’s experience?

Whatever happens, one thing is clear: Whoever walks into the White House on January 20, 2009, will find enormous challenges waiting for him in the Oval Office, both at home and abroad.

1. _________ makes the result of the election hard to predict.

A. Whether working class whites care about Obama’s inexperience
B. The economic trouble the country now faces

C. Who swing voters will finally decide to vote for

D. McCain being too old to govern the country

2. The appeal in Obama as a presidential candidate lies in ______.

    A. his multi-cultural background                             B. his belief in tradition

    C. his inexperience in politics                                  D. his fantastic promises

3. The word “disown” in Paragraph 6 means closest to ______.

    A. flee from    B. turn his back on      C. not keep it private      D. expose secrets about

4. The challenges that will face the new president _______.

 A. are not mentioned in the text

 B. include building a strong party and a friendly image

 C. refer to the problems of immigrants and economy

 D. refer to the problems of economy and international relations