The speed, danger and excitement of motor racing have been with us for more than a century. For over a hundred years, drivers have pushed their machines to the limit. Everyone in motor racing has a simple dream: to go faster!

    In the early days, a small number of people raced each other driving unsafe machines on ordinary roads. Today, motor racing is a huge moneymaking industry. Thousands of people are involved. Drivers, mechanics, designers, engineers and technicians work hard in the search for extra speed.

    Cars race along twisting roads or on round tracks. They race across ice and snow, as well as sandy deserts. Mud, dust, grass and steep hills are all part of today's range of racing events. Hundreds of thousands of people turn up to watch races. Millions more people watch the events on television. Top drivers are celebrities and earn huge amounts of money.

    Of course, these drivers don't get to the top overnight. Everyone has to start somewhere. Most drivers learn to race in go-carts when they are young. All drivers must learn about their cars and their engines. They must also be familiar with race rules and what to do in an emergency. Formula Ford is one of the race classes for beginners. Many top Formula I world champions like Nigel Mansell, Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen began by Formula Ford racing.

    The Italian company Ferrari makes some of the world's best racing cars, all painted in its world-famous red colour. Ferrari is the most successful builder of Formula 1 cars. Ferrari has also had some famous Formula 1 champions such as Michael Schumacher. Ferrari prides itself on building the whole machine—the body as well as the engine. Some companies, such as Honda, only make engines for Formula 1 racing.

    Motor racing is expensive. Racing teams need huge amounts of money to keep their cars on the racetrack. Sponsorship is an important way of making money for racing teams. The logos of the sponsors are all over racing cars. The bigger the logo, the more the company will have to pay to the racing team.

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    It was December. Marie, a 13-year-old Australian girl was happy. It was Christmas, and Marie's mother was making a special cake. She put four small coins into the cake, and then she baked (烤) it.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}After dinner Marie and her family ate the cake. They found three coins in the cake and put them on the table.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}It was missing, but Marie's mother didn't notice.

    After Christmas Marie got sick. She coughed, and she couldn't speak. After six weeks she felt better, but she still couldn't speak.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Doctors at the hospital looked her over, and then said, "We are sorry, but we can't help her. " For 12 years Marie didn't speak. She grew up, she got a job, and she got married.

    But she never spoke. One day, when Marie was 25 years old, she got a sore throat at work.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}She coughed up something small and black. What was it? Marie didn't know. She took it to the hospital. A doctor at the hospital said, "This is a coin!" The doctor told Marie, "I think you can speak again.”{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A.Where was the fourth coin?

B.Marie's parents took her to hospital.

C.The four coins were for good luck.

D.The coin is difficult to find.

E.She began to cough.

F.Marie went to a special doctor, and soon she could talk.

    Popular music in America is what every student likes. Students carry small radios with earphones and listen to music before class, after class and at lunchtime. Students with cars buy the large speaker and play the music loudly as they drive in the street.

    Adult(成年的) drivers listen to music on the car radio as they drive to work. They also listen to the news about sports, the weather and the life of American people. Most of the radio programs are music.

    Pop or popular music singers make much money. They make a CD or tape and radio stations use them in many places. Once the popular singer is heard all over the country, young people will buy his or her tape. Some of the money from these tapes comes to the singer. Wherever the singer goes, all the young people want to meet him or her. Now the singer has become a national star.

    There are other kinds of music that is important to Americans. One is called folk music. It tells stories about the common (普通的) life of Americans. Another is called Western or country music. It is about country life and the love between a country boy and his girlfriend. They are very popular among young people.

    When I was a teenager growing up in a town, I felt studying very boring, I wanted to leave school and have my own life. There were only two ways for me to do this—working in the toy factory in my town, or getting married. I chose the first one. I was nervous when I told my father that I wanted to leave school. I thought he would say, "No! You are going to college." Instead, he surprised me when he said, "OK. We'll go to the toy factory."

    Two days later, he took me to the factory. I had a very romantic idea of working in a factory. I had imagined everyone to be friendly working together and having fun. I even imagined there would be music and singing. I guess I had watched too many movies as a teenager.  

    When we arrived at the factory gates, my father spoke to the guard and one minute later we went inside. My father said, "Take your time. Look around." I walked around the factory, looking at the buildings, the workers, and listening to the noise. It was terrible. I ran back to my father and said, "I want to go home."

    He asked me, "What do you think of the factory?"

    "It's terrible." I replied.

    "You have the other choice if you don't want to go back to school. But I think getting married is even worse!" he said.

    I went back to school the next day. From then on, I studied as hard as I could. Finally I got into a good college. I enjoyed studying English, so I decided to major in languages at college. Thanks to my father and our trip to the factory, now I work in a company which is a big one in a city. And my father takes pride in me. I married a very good man and my life is much better than it would have been working in the factory!

A {#blank#}1{#/blank#} to a factory with my father

The Amazing Spider Man

    Spider Man is a hero. People got to know the hero through the Spider Man movie series.

    Now, a new Spider Man movie is coming to our eyes. It has a new name called The Amazing Spider Man. A new director called Marc Webbis directed the movie and a new actor, Andrew Garfield, played Spider Man.

    The Amazing Spider Man is also about the story of Peter Parker, a high school student. His parents left him when he was a boy, and he was raised by his Uncle Ben and Aunt May. Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today.

    As Peter finds a briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins to find out why his parents disappeared. The discovery of his father's secret will shape his destiny(命运)of becoming “Spider Man.”Peter will make his choices to use his powers and become a hero.

    Unlike the former one, the new movie focuses on Spider Man developing his abilities in high school, as well as discovering the mystery(秘密)of his parents, or at least what happened to his father.

    The movie is going to come out on July 3, 2012 in 3D.

    More than one million international students are studying in the United States. Many of them find it helpful to have a smart phone and an American credit card(信用卡).

    These things make it easy to pay for many kinds of goods and services. But getting a credit card as an international student is not a simple process. Normal US lenders ask for a social security number(社会保障号码). In addition, they ask to see a person's credit history. This helps the lenders fully believe that someone is responsible and make timely payments. These are the things most international students do not have.

    But one company is trying to make the process easier and fairer for them.

    Jack Guo is from China. He now studies at a university in California. He says having an American credit card makes it easier for students to get around town. And, he says, credit cards are important for international students who hope to live in the country in the future.

    Kalpesh Kapadia came from India to study at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He faced the same difficulties that many international students face when trying to get an American credit card. He decided to open SelfScore(万事达信用卡).

    Without asking for credit history and a social security number, SelfScore looks at materials such as passports，visas, and acceptance letters to American schools. The company also considers a student's ability to pay.

    About 10, 000 international students from more than 66 countries now have credit cards through SelfScore. Kalpesh says less than one percent of SelfScore's credit card holders are late for their payments because of different kinds of reasons.