5 . 1956: went to Mexico to organize Cuba revolution
6 . December 1959: returned to Cuba
7 . January 1960: overthrew Batista
Explanation: The paragraph did not contain a word or phrase we would use for thetopic; therefore，we had to choose our own phrase: “ Fidel Castro??scareer. ”Since there was no topic sentence in the paragraph，nor was amain idea suggested，we did not fill in the second blank. We did,however，list all the events given in the paragraph，and，mostimportant，we listed them in the order in which they were presented.
( 1)
Langston Hughes was born at the turn of the century in 1902. Shortly after hisbirth in Joplin，Missouri，Hughes??s father，James Nathaniel Hughes，moved toMexico in an effort to escape racial prejudice，but his mother，Carrier MercerLangston，could not bear the idea of settling in a foreign country. She stayed in theUnited States but was forced to move constantly in order to stay employed and supporther family. Despite the continual moving，Hughes developed a strong interest inpoetry，and，at fourteen，he was good enough to be elected class poet when the familysettled for a time in Lincoln，Illinois. Upon entering high school in 1916，Hughes wasstill interested in poetry，and he began his work on the school newspaper . Aftergraduation，he enrolled at Columbia University in 1921 but was still not sure what hewanted to do. Anxious for adventure，he signed on with a cargo vessel and，in 1923,sailed for Africa. After his return to the States in 1924 ，Hughes got a job as a busboyin the Waldman Park Hotel. As luck would have it，poet Vachel Lindsay visited theWaldman in 1925 and sat at Hughes??s table. The young poet-busboy was able to slipseveral poems under Lindsay??s plate. The next day Lindsay announced that he haddiscovered a poetic genius，and less than three years later，Langston Hughes waspublishing his work in Vanity Fair，Poetry，and The New Republic.Topic:
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( 2)
The son of a rector ，architect Christopher Wren was born in 1632 in Wiltshire,England. Early in life he displayed an interest in science，and by 1653，when hereceived his master??s degree from Oxford，he had produced more than fifty differentinventions，theories，and experiments. Becoming a professor of astronomy in 1657,Wren was among the founders of the Royal Society，and he seems to have come toarchitecture almost by accident. After the Great Fire of 1666 ，he prepared a plan forthe reconstruction of London and was invited to join the Royal Commission for therebuilding of the city. In his position as surveyor-general of works，Wren was incharge of all royal and government buildings in London. Soon he found himself withcommissions to design the city??s new churches，and it was this chance that securedhim his place in St. Paul??s Cathedral. Walking tours of Wren??s churches are stillpopular in today??s London.
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Ⅲ. Reading Task
A. Pr e-r eading act ivity
1. Based on the title，guess in what order the text is organized.
2. Do you know who Isaac Bashevis Singer is? What do you know about him and hisaccomplishments?
B. Reading
Amer ican Master : I saac Bashevis SingerIsaac Bashevis Singer was one of the great storytellers of the twentieth century.
His writing is a unique blend of religious morality and social awareness combined withan investigation of personal desires. Though his work often took the form of parablesor tales based on a nineteenth century tradition，he was deeply concerned with theevents of his time and the future of his people and their culture.
Isaac Bashevis Singer was born on July 24 ，1904 in Radzymin，Poland. Hisparents were religious Jews and pushed him towards a career as a religious scholar. In1921 he enrolled in Rabbinical School，but left only two years later to work for aYiddish literary magazine. Though his rabbinical studies would remain a stronginfluence on him，he longed to be a part of a literary community. Working as ajournalist，translator，and proofreader，Singer began to write short stories on the side.By 1935 he had published his first book，SATAN IN GORAY ( 1935) .
That same year，Singer followed his brother，Isaac Joshua Singer to America.Isaac Joshua Singer is considered one of the major Yiddish writers of the twentiethcentury，and was the first and greatest literary influence on his younger brother Isaac.In New York，Isaac Bashevis Singer began working for THE JEWISH DAILYFORWARD，a Yiddish newspaper dedicated to issues of interest to its newlyimmigrated readership. During the 1940s Singer published his work in a number ofjournals as well as serially in THE FORWARD. Throughout his career，Singer wouldcontinue to be a contributor and supporter of THE FORWARD，which remains inexistence today as a weekly.
Throughout the 1940s，Singer??s reputation began to grow among the manyYiddish-speaking immigrants. After World War Ⅱ and the near destruction of theYiddish-speaking peoples，Yiddish seemed a dead language. Though Singer hadmoved to the United States，he believed in the power of his native language and knewthat there was still a large audience that longed for new work，work that would addressthe lives and issues of their own. In 1950 Singer produced his first major work，THEFAMILY MOSKAT - the story of a twentieth century Polish Jewish family before thewar. He followed this novel with a series of well-received short stories，including hismost famous,“Gimpel，The Fool. ”
