Beethoven (贝多芬) was born in a small city near the Rhine in Germany. His father always drank and his mother was a maid (女仆). They lived a poor life.

    Beethoven was a talented (有天赋的) child in music. People at that time thought he was as clever as Mozart. His father wanted to make money from his talent, so he told him to practice and play all the time. If he didn't do that, his father would be angry with him and beat him.

    Beethoven was very short and ugly. He couldn't hear well from the age of 22 and later he heard nothing, but all these unhappy things didn't make him dislike music. He began to write sonatas (奏鸣曲) at 12, and later he became a great musician.

    His life was so short that he didn't leave many works. But people think he was one of the best musicians in the world.

    This story is about a young man. He worked very hard at his lessons, so he was too busy to have a rest. At last, he couldn't go to sleep every night. When he went to bed, he closed his eyes and tried to sleep.But the more he tried, the more he stayed awake.

    After a while, he decided to visit the doctor."I just can't go to sleep at night. What should I do?" "I have a suggestion,"said the doctor, "try counting numbers. By the time you reach one thousand, you'll be asleep. I'm sure of it. The next day the man returned to the doctor's office."well," said the doctor, "How are you today? Did you try my suggestion?"

    The man still looked tired, "Yes,"he said, " I tried counting one, two, three…up to one thousand. But when I reached five thousand and sixty-nine, I began to feel sleepy. I had to get up and drink some tea so that I could go on counting up to one thousand, but then I still couldn't fall asleep.

    One day an old man is on his way home. Just then a stranger(陌生人)stops him and asks, "Excuse me, how long will it take to walk to the next village?"

    The old man looks at the stranger but he doesn't answer. The stranger says to himself. "This old man can't hear me clearly. I will ask him again." Then he asks the old man loudly. The old man thinks for a while, but he still doesn't answer.

    At this time, this stranger is very angry and shouts at the old man." How long will it take me to walk to the next village? ''But the old man doesn't give him any answer. So the stranger begins to walk quickly to the village.

    The old man calls after him, "My friend, it will take you only fifteen minutes." The stranger says, "Well, why do you tell me now?" The old man says, "How could I tell you just now? I don't know how fast you can walk."

   Phil White has just returned from an 18,000-mile, around-the-world bicycle trip. White had two reasons for making thisepic journey. First of all, he wanted to use the trip to raise money for charity, which he did. He raised £70,000 for the British charity, Oxfam. White's second reason for making the trip was to break the world record and become the fastest person to cycle around the world. He is still waiting to find out whether he has broken the record or not.

   White set off from Trafalgar Square, in London, on 19th June, 2004 and was back 299 days later. He spent more than 1,300 hours in the saddle (车座) and destroyed four sets of tyres and three bike chains. He had the adventure of his life crossing Europe first, and then the Middle East, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and finally the Americas. Amazingly, he did all of this with absolutely no support team. No jeep carrying food, water and medicine. No doctor. Nothing! Just a bike and a very, very long road.

   The journey was lonely and desperate at times. He also had to fight his way across deserts, through jungles and over mountains. He cycled through heavy rains and temperatures of up to 45 degrees, all to help people in need. There were other dangers along the road. In Iran, he was chased by armed robbers and was lucky to get away with the little money he had. The worst thing that had happened to him was having to cycle into a headwind on a road that crosses the south of Australia. For 1,000 kilometers he battled against the wind that was constantly pushing him. This part of the trip was slow, hard and depressing, but he made it in the end. Now Mr. White is back and wants to write a book about his adventures.

Please read the passage carefully. Choose five proper sentences from the six to fill in the gaps. Make sure that the passage is coherent (连贯).

In the 1950s, car culture was very popular across the US. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} This led people to create new businesses that depended on cars-gas stations, auto shops, and not least of all drive-in restaurants. 

{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Instead, you would drive your car to an outdoor "booth"—a parking spot with a menu shown next to it. A waitress would come over (usually on roller skates) and take your order. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Eating in your car is seen as something to be done only when you're in a hurry these days. But back then, it was new experience. Sitting in your brand-new vehicle, drinking delicious milkshakes and eating burgers became a trend. Like all trends, it died out eventually—most drive-ins have been replaced by drive-thrus (驾车通过的快餐厅). 

{#blank#}4{#/blank#} They are McDonald's and KFC． They became popular as the pace of modern life in increased in the 1970s and 1980s. They are not known for the experience that drive-ins once offered. Rather, they offer up speed and convenience, especially for parents and other busy people. 

I remember eating McDonald's for launch in the back seat of my mom's car as we did something on the weekend. The convenience of drive-thrus is nice. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A．These restaurants didn't have any indoor seating.

B．Drive-in restaurants are part of American history.

C．You already know two of the biggest drive-thru restaurant chains.

D．She would then bring you your food and you would eat it in your car.

E．But I wish I could have experienced the drive-in restaurants of years past.

F．Nearly every family could afford a car with the development of the country.