Abraham has written a custom e-commerce application on his desktop.He gives it to his

There is something special abouta personal letter. Its better than a phone call, no matter what the telephonecompany says. A phone call disappears into the air as soon as the receiver is putback on the hook. A good letter can last a lifetime.

Some of my most preciouspossessions are letters that have been written to me sometime in the past. Idont have a single memorable phone call stored in a box in my attic() or basement. Ivenever thrown away a good letter and, like any real treasure, I dont even haveto look at them to enjoy having them. I know I have them. The telephone callscome and go. They make no permanent impression on me and have no place in mymemory.

A personal letter is a good thingbecause you say things you cant say in a crowd and might not even say to theperson face to face. If you feel like it, a letter allows you to take yourselfand your thoughts more seriously than you would dare take them in conversation.And you can say things without interruption.

A good letter is, in many ways,the exact opposite of a political speech. A politician addressing a crowd hasto talk so broadly and generally about the issues in order not to offendanyone of the thousands of people listening that he usually ends up sayingnothing. A letter can be specific, and if the writer has some bias orprejudice, he can even reveal his true self by letting this show. Writing afriend, you shouldnt have to be careful. Abraham Lincolns letter to hisstep-brother telling him he wasnt going to loan him the eighty dollars heasked for tells you more about Abraham Lincoln than the Gettysburg Addressdoes.

Some of our best history has comethat way, from personal letters of famous people that scholars have dug up. Youget a better idea of what someone is really like from a personal letter theywerent expecting you to read than you get from a carefully considered publicstatement theyve made. We say real things in letters.

36.What is a shame according to the author？

A. People sometimes write letters with pen and ink.

B. People hardly carry a gold pocket watch.

C. People never receive anypersonal letters.

D. People rarely send any personal letters.

37.Whats the main idea of paragraphs 2 and 3？

A. What a good personal letter is.

B. What advantage personal letters have.

C. Why people dont write personal letters.

D. Why writing personal letters is so special.

38.What do “issues” in paragraph 5 mean？ .

A. The key points of a political speech.

B. The speakers bias and prejudice.

C. Problems that the audiences have.

D.Questions thatarise for discussion.

39.Why does the author use Abraham Lincolns example？

A. To show that a political address has to be general.

B. To show that letter writing sometimes offends people.

C. To show that people say real things in personal letters.

D. To show that even a great man has his dark side.

40.Whats the best word to describe the tone of the author？

A. Objective

B. Persuasive

C. Humorous

D. Ironic

Passage 2 Questions 1to 5 are based on the following passage:

Sometimes a book can help change history. One book that certainly did was Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was a book that spoke out against slavery.

As Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote her book, there were over3.5 million slaves in the United States. Slaves were usually in the cotton-growing states of the South. The Northern States has ended slavery. Yet most northerners were not strongly against slavery. They did not mind that slavery continued in the South.

Stowe decided to make people understand that slavery was very bad. Each night after putting r six children to bed, she worked on her book. She told the owner. She also told how the slaves tried to run away for freedom. Uncle Tom’s Cabin first came in 1852. Over 300,000 books were sold out in a year.

People had different ideas about the book. In the North, many people finally believed that slavery must be ended after they read the book. In the South, many people were very angry at the people in the North. By 1861 the two parts of the country were at war. The Civil War, which lasted until of cease, was made to happen by many things. Yet Uncle Tom’s Cabin surely played a part. Stowe met President Linclon in 1862. As Linclon took her hand, he said, “So you are the woman who starred the big war.”

1、Before Uncle Tom’s Cabin came out, most Northerners ______.

A、were slaves in the South

B、did not know how bad slavery was

C、kept slaves in their homes

D、understood that slavery was wrong

2、While many Northerners agreed with Harriet Beacher Stowe,______.

A、many southerners wanted war

B、many southerners had not read the boo

C、many southerners were angry at her

D、some slaves tried to run away from North

3、From the text, we can infer that _______.

A、Stowe was a very young woman

B、Stowe’s husband was dead when she wrote the story

C、Stowe wrote her book with stories from her six children

D、Stowe could not work on her book at all during the daytime

4、Uncle Tom’s Cabin was _______.

A、a book about Harriet Beecher Stowe

B、a history book

C、a book that helped change history

D、a book about the American Civil war

5、Harriet Beecher Stowe _______.

A、was a little woman who started the American Civil War together with Abraham Linclon

B、was strongly against the slavery

C、helped some slaves to run away from the South

D、met Abraham Lincoln before the Civil War

A.has written

B.wrote

C.had written

D.was writing

A. that

B. which

C. of which

D. from which

A、having written

B、have write

C、has written

D、has write

A．正确

B．错误

A.has been working; has written

B.is working; writes

C.has worked; has been writing

D.works; is writing