阅读下列短文,从每小题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中选出一个最佳选项。

    The idea for the book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone came to Joanne Kathleen Rowling in 1990. It took her seven years to finish writing it. During those seven years she had a number of jobs, including one job as an English teacher.

    Rowling sent the book to four publishers (出版社) before one of them bought it. She was very happy to sell her book because it was her life's dream to be a published writer. Before she sold her book, Rowling was living in a small apartment with her daughter and was so poor that she could not afford heat in the winter.

    Harry Potter became very successful with children and adults in England. The book also really took off in the United States. After her second and third books were published, the three Harry Potter books filled the top three places on many newspapers' lists of best-sellers. Then the books were made into popular movies. Without question, Rowling's life had completely changed, in just three years.

    Harry Potter books have now sold more than 30 million books around the world and have been translated into more than thirty-five languages. In 1997, Rowling was earning ￡70 a week.

    By the end of 2001, she had earned over ￡150 million, making her one of the most successful female writers of all time.

    John Smith is an old porter. He works at the railway station. Every day he is busy carrying heavy things for passengers（乘客）. He is kind to everyone and always ready to help others.

    One morning, John stood in the station. A train was coming. He was waiting for it. Just then he saw a man running in the station with a big bag in his hand.

    “No train is starting. Why is he in such a hurry?” the old man thought to himself.

    John went up to the man and asked, “May I help you?”

    As soon as the man saw the old porter, he stopped running.

    “Can I catch the 10:35 train to London?” the man asked. He looked worried.

    John looked at him for a few seconds and said, “Well, sir. I'd like to help you, but I can't answer your question because I don't know how fast you can run.” Then he continued, “The 10:35 train to London left five minutes ago. Can you run fast enough to catch it?”

I went home one Saturday afternoon in the autumn of 1993 to get some work done in the garden. While sweeping leaves on the ground, my five-year-old son Nick came over and asked me to write something on a piece of paper to make a sign for him.

    "What for?" I asked.

    "I'm going to sell some of my stones," he answered.

    Nick was fascinated with stones and had collected many stones from all over. "I'm too busy to do that for you. Go and ask your mum for help," I said.

    A short time later, Nick, returned with a sign, reading, "Stones, One Dollar Each". He took the sign, a small chair and 4 of his best stones and walked to the road in front of our garden. There he put the stones in a line and sat down on the chair.

    After half an hour, nobody passed by. I walked to him and asked him to go back, but he didn't. Another half hour later, a small car came down the road. I watched as Nick stood up, holding his sign up. A woman rolled down a window and read the sign. I couldn't hear their talk, but I saw the woman turn to the driver and the man reach for his pocket.

    I sat in the yard, as Nick ran to me. Waving the dollar, he shouted, "I told you I could sell one stone for a dollar—if you believe in yourself, you can do anything."

    The lion says that he is________So he asks all the animals to come and listen to his last wishes.

    The cat comes to the lion's cave(洞穴). He stands there and goes in. Then a sheep goes in. Before she comes out, a rabbit goes in to hear the last wishes of the king of animals.

    But soon the lion looks well again, and goes out of his cave. He sees a fox(狐狸) waiting outside. “Why don't you come in?” asks the lion to the fox.

    “I beg your pardon,” says the fox, “I see many animals go into your cave, but nobody comes out. Before they come out again, I will wait outside.”

    My friend, Victor, is a zoo keeper in the National Zoo. His work is very interesting but it is hard. Sometimes it is dangerous, too. Every morning the zoo keepers have to get up at five to prepare the food for the animals. Each kind of animal is given special food. For example, the lions must be given meat; the deer must be given grass and leaves; and the parrots must be given fruit and nuts. Sometimes some animals won't let the others eat their food. If this happens,  each of them must be fed separately (分离地).

    Every morning each cage must be washed by the zoo keepers. This can be dangerous, especially with lions and tigers. To make the work easier, the animals are locked in the sleeping compartments (隔间) while the cages are being washed. When the animals are sick, the zoo keepers must look after them. Each sick animal is kept in a separate cage and given medicine. Sometimes they must be given injections. It is not easy to inject a sick lion!

    All the keepers live near the zoo. Each of them has a small house. There he lives with his family. They do not have holidays on Sundays and public holidays. Instead, each of them has a day off during the week. Each keeper has a holiday on a different day from that of the other keepers.

    The most important job of the keepers is to look after the safety of the visitors. People must be prevented from doing dangerous things. Many people have been injured because they did careless things, like putting their hands into the lion's cage.

根据以上短文内容，然后从每题所给的四个选项中选择最佳选项。

    Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, died on Decembr5, 2013 at 95.

    Mandela was born on July 18, 1918. He grew up in a poor village in South Africa. At school, Mandela learned about African history and the fight against racism(种族歧视).He wanted to help his countrymen. Later Mandela studied law at a university. He also joined a group that fought against apartheid(种族隔离).At that time, in South Africa, blacks were not allowed to use the same public toilets or chairs as whites, and they couldn't travel on the same buses as whites, either. Mandela hated this and he traveled all over South Africa and fought to end apartheid. As a result, he was put into prison(监狱) and stayed about 27 years there.

    On February 10, 1990, South African President F.W. de Klerk released(释放)Mandela from prison, and the two worked together to end apartheid. Three years later, they won the Nobel Peace Prize,

    In1994, Mandela became President of South Africa. One year later, he created the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, a charity that helps poor South African children." Children are the future of our country," he said in an interview in2002. "They must be given love."

    Mandela served as President until 1999. He worked to improve housing and education for the country's large black population.