Lifeguard, sportscaster, movie star, governor, president——there wasn’t much Ronald Reagan didn’t do in life.
“The world was a vast opportunity for him,” Lou Cannon wrote in his biography（传记） of the former US president, who died on June 5，2004， aged 93.
Reagan’s final years saw him fight a losing battle against Alzheimer’s disease（老年痴呆症）. But his positive attitude toward life has given hope to many people.
Born in 1911 to a poor family in a small town in Illinois, his father was a failed salesman who drank too much. It was in these difficult times, though, that Reagan developed the powerful optimism（乐观） that would serve him so well. He always believed better times lying ahead, and this was reflected in his high school yearbook entry. “Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music,” he wrote.
As a teenager, Reagan spent summers working as a lifeguard at a local beach, saving 77 lives in seven years. He graduated from college in 1932 with a degree in economics and sociology. But America was still in the middle of the Great Depression, and jobs were hard to find. Reagan finally found work as a radio sports announcer and this road led him to Hollywood in 1937.
During the 20---year film career, he never became a leading star. As in his lifeguard days, Reagan loved to play the hero and only took the role of a bad guy once in more than 50 films.
A talented speaker who was always able to connect with his audience, Reagan became involved in politics in the 1950s. This popular touch led to him being elected the governor of California in 1967.
All the while Reagan was in California, he had his eye on the White House. In 1980, aged 69, he became the oldest man ever elected president.
He held office from 1981 to 1989, the first president to serve two plete terms after World War Ⅱ. When he left, aged 77, he held the highest popularity rate of any retiring president in US history.
He remained positive even when he discovered he had an illness that would destroy him. “I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal（永恒的optimism(乐观) for its future,”he wrote.
【小题1】Reagan can be best described as a man with .A．firmnessB．humourC．optimismD．talent【小题2】What didn’t Reagan do in his life time?A．Playing the role of a bad guy.B．Being a leading star of the film.C．Saving people’s lives.D．Working as a radio sports announcer.【小题3】Which is the correct order of events described in the passage?
a. Reagan fought a losing battle against Alzheimer’s disease.
b. Reagan became an actor.
c. Reagan worked as a lifeguard.
d. Reagan graduated from college.
e. Reagan was elected the governor of California.A．a, c, d, e ,bB．e, c, d, b, aC．b, a, c, d, eD．c, d, b, e, a【小题4】When the writer of Reagan’s biography says “The world was a vast opportunity for him,” he really means that .A．Reagan achieved much in his whole lifeB．Reagan could have done much betterC．Reagan did much for America and the worldD．Reagan was a very lucky manC
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(答案→)C
解析：
试题分析 本文讲述里根的生平，尤其是晚年与病魔的斗争鼓舞了许多人。
【小题1】C 细节题。从第三段 But his positive attitude toward life has given hope to many people得出C项正确，找出原名，进行仔细辨别，很容易得出正确的答案。
【小题2】B 细节题。里根在一生中没有做到哪些事。在文中第六段During the 20---year film career, he never became a leading star，得出选 B项。
【小题3】D 排序题。做此类题要比较答案，有哪些不同，四个选项中，位于第一的是哪件事，再根据文章中As a teenager, Reagan spent summers working as a lifeguard at a local beach, saving 77 lives in seven years.判断出c应该排一位。而a晚年与病魔做斗争排在最后，故选D项是正确的。
【小题4】A 推断题。从第一段得知，里根从事很多职业，故选A项。
考点 人物传记。