Usain Bolt

Usain Bolt plays an important role in our family because my foster daughter is a fast runner, and really looks up to him. When I drop her off at school, I always say, "Make like Usain and Bolt!" It's a family joke.

Usain Bolt was born on August 21, 1986, in Sherwood Content, Jamaica, and is considered the fastest sprinter of all time. That is, in short races, he can't be beat, though such things as marathons are not included. He has won Olympic gold medals eight times, won eleven World Championships, and can be considered one of the most successful athletes ever.

His parents ran a small grocery store in his rural area, but even he admits that as a child he never thought about much except how to become faster. In his rise to world dominance in sprinting, he had an injury and was involved in a car accident, but his success is more due to his singular focus on recovering and becoming faster, which got him the success that he enjoyed.

He was given the nickname "Lightning Bolt" because of his intense speed and ability. After becoming famous for his sprinting, he had time for a family, for music, and for some of his other pursuits, but nothing came close to the fame he enjoyed as the world's fastest runner.


___ 1. The article implies that Sherwood Content is:
a. a large city
b. a country near Jamaica
c. a small town in Jamaica
d. a suburb of Kingston, Jamaica's capital

___ 2. The author is reminded of Bolt:
a. when he drops his daughter off at school
b. when he attends the Olympics
c. when he runs in a Marathon
d. whenever he sees lightning

___ 3. The author implies that injuries and car accidents:
a. ruined Bolt's career
b. can ruin careers, but didn't ruin Bolt's career
c. are the reason for his success
d. are common in rural areas

Elon Musk

Elon Musk is the wealthiest man in the world; his worth is about $430 billion. He is presently playing an important role in politics, as a good friend of President-elect Donald Trump.

He was born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1971, but moved to Canada at the age of 18, and became a Canadian citizen due to the fact that his mother was Canadian. Later, he attended the University of Pennsylvania, moved to California, and started various companies, eventually changing his citizenship to American.

One of his early companies became PayPal, and through selling that, he had enough money to start SpaceX, which has as its goal the development of private space travel. But he is most famous probably for his involvement in Tesla, which makes electric cars, and is probably the most successful company to do so. He also bought Twitter, and rebranded it as X, which put him in the heart of an argument concerning freedom of speech and misinformation in social media. He is known to use X and dominate it with his own views, but it's a huge open market for all kinds of viewpoints and some have criticized its use for bullying and hate speech.

He became one of the largest contributors in Donald Trump's 2024 election campaign; Trump won the election, which has rocketed him to prominence in daily news. He is now leading a government department called DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), tasked to saving money by making things more efficient. He is likely to make some enemies doing this, but as a CEO and founder of companies he is probably qualified to do that.


___ 1. Which best describes Musk's mother?
a. a Canadian citizen living in Canada
b. a Canadian living in South Africa
c. a South African living in Canada
d. an American living in Canada

___ 2. Why would he make enemies running DOGE?
a. because he will probably have to fire many employees
b. because many people don't believe in governnment efficiency
c. because many other people wanted that job
d. because he will make a lot of money, and not have to do anything

___ 3. What can we infer about the source of his wealth?
a. he makes most of his money working for the government
b. he makes most of his money from running successful companies like Tesla
c. he makes most of his money from X (Twitter)
d. he makes most of his money from private space travel

Walt Disney

Walt Disney is one of the 20th century's most famous filmmakers, most famous for revolutionizing animation and turning our most famous folk tales into blockbuster animation movies. He also went into the theme park business, establishing Disneyland, Disney World and many others with great success.

He was born in Chicago in 1901, but his family moved to Missouri, and then Kansas City when he was growing up. He moved out to California in the early 1920's. He'd been interested in drawing from the beginning, and had taken some classes before he went. He set up the Disney Brothers Studio with his brother Roy, but it became the Walt Disney Company and eventually became one of the U.S.'s largest and most successful companies. He developed the character Mickey Mouse early on, and adapted well with the development of color and technicolor, often with animation, in movies. Snow White (1940), Dumbo (1941), Bambi (1942), and Cinderella (1950) were some of his earliest movie versions of popular folk tales, but Fantasia (1940) was the one where he really showed his skill with mixing animation, color, and music. He did non-animated movies as well; Mary Poppins (1964) received five Academy Awards.

Having made as many movies as he did, Disney had a huge influence on American culture. His movies came out at critical times while the nation moved through two world wars, a depression, and other difficult experiences. He has been accused of racism and anti-semitism because of things in his movies, but he also has many defenders who say it would be difficult to make so many movies in that era and not be accused of those things later.

He had a wife and two daughters, whose privacy he protected strongly, and his love of theme parks came from his desire to have a place where families could go to enjoy life and spend time together. Although Disney World did not open until after he died, and EPCOT Center became an attraction rather than a model city as he'd intended, the success of his parks was based on the success of his movies and thus they were ensured success in the broader cultural variety of places to go.

He was a heavy smoker all his life, and died of cancer in 1966. He ended up being involved in 81 movies, many of them blockbusters, and all of which will play an important role in American entertainment for years to come.



___ 1. Without using a dictionary, figure out whether a "blockbuster" movie is:
a. very short
b. very long
c. very fast-moving
d. very successful

___ 2. Bambi (1942) is given as an example of:
a. a movie that features an animal
b. an animated movie taken from a folk tale
c. a movie that received Academy Awards
d. an animated movie with Mickey Mouse in it

___ 3. Without using a dictionary, figure out whether "animated" means a movie:
a. has animals in it
b. is like a cartoon in nature
c. is very fast-moving
d. is about the war and depression

___ 4. Disney is most famous for his influence on:
a. American entertainment
b. American politics
c. American sports
d. American family dynamics

Bobby Fischer

Bobby Fischer was an American chess Grand Master, and became famous for not only his victories in chess but also his somewhat stubborn approach to living life his own way.

He was born in Chicago on March 9, 1943; his parents were Polish Jews, but they had separated in Moscow before his mother moved to the United States. She was homeless for a while, but she moved Bobby and his sister to Manhattan in 1949. He won his first of eight World Championships at the age of 14, with a perfect 11-0 score, and this caught the world's attention. In those days premier chess matches were part of the Cold War, with Americans and Russians feeling intense competition over who would be better. But Fischer sometimes forfeited matches if the conditions didn't meet his approval, and once disappeared from the public eye for quite a while. Finally the U.S. government warned him that he should follow the rules of citizenship with regard to playing in certain countries, and he became an emigre. Finally he was granted Icelandic citizenship and moved to Iceland.

There was a controversy over whether Hans-Gerhardt Fischer was really his father, as his mother claimed; another man, Paul Nemenyi, had had an affair with his mother just before his birth, while his supposed father had never even come to the U.S. in that time. Nemenyi was a Hungarian mathematician and physicist, while Hans-Gerhardt Fisher had been a biophysicist. The controversy was never really resolved. The FBI watched Bobby Fischer carefully, since he traveled a lot and his mother had so many connections among important Russians and Eastern Europeans. But in the end, he was probably not a spy, just a very eccentric, and genius, chess player.


___ 1. Where did Bobby Fisher live as a teenager?
a. Chicago
b. New York
c. Moscow
d. Hungary

___ 2. Why was the U.S. government mad at him?
a. He was a spy.
b. He was born in Russia.
c. He played in countries that were prohibited.
d. He let the Russians win.

___ 3. Who was Paul Nemenyi?
a. a friend of his mother's
b. a great chess player
c. a biophysicist
d. a spy

___ 4. Where did he move after his chess career was over?
a. Poland
b. Chicago
c. Iceland
d. the United States

Woody Guthrie

Woody Guthrie was born on July 14, 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma; he was named after Woodrow Wilson, who was president at the time. He would grow up to be one of the nation's most famous folk musicians, but because of his leftist leanings, it took years for Okemah to become proud of him.

He came of age just as the Dust Bowl was reducing Oklahoma and the area to a dry, unproductive and harsh living environment. Like many Oklahomans, he went west to California; he was already a prolific songwriter and played music at every opportunity. He often wrote about labor movements and socialist issues; his most famous song, This Land is Your Land, he considered to be a response to the overplaying of God Bless America during the war years. Having communist tendencies in those years was a problem and he soon had many political enemies. Although he encouraged communism, he never actually joined any Communist parties. Still, his association with communism in general was a problem for his legacy especially after the U.S. turned against communism and came to consider it its mortal enemy.

He was married three times, and had eight children altogether, one of whom, Arlo, is also famous. Musical talent ran in the family. The movie Bound for Glory was made about his life. He died in 1967.

___ 1. What does the passage imply about Okemah?
a. Okemah was a large city.
b. Okemah did not celebrate Woody Guthrie for many years.
c. Okemah was a very pleasant place to live.
d. Okemah was more communist than most places.

___ 2. During the Dust Bowl, what happened in Oklahoma?
a. A lot of people left.
b. It rained a lot.
c. It became productive.
d. Everyone played music.

___ 3. According to the passage, after the war, the U.S.
a. became more communist
b. threw most communists in jail
c. became more and more against communism
d. made the Communist Party illegal.

Woody Allen

Woody Allen was born Allan Stewart Konigsberg on November 30, 1935. He was born in New York City of Jewish immigrants from Austria and Lithuania. Through his remarkable film-making career he came to make many films about being Jewish and about the anxiety of living in New York City; he often starred in his own movies. He wrote for television in the 1950s and 1960s but is most famous for his movies.

In the 1970s he began a professional and personal relationship with Mia Farrow, another famous actress. But his personal life exploded when he fell in love with Soon-Yi Previn, Mia's adopted daughter and his stepdaughter. Many people disagreed with this relationship and Farrow accused him of abuse. He ultimately married Previn and adopted two children with her.

His most famous movies are movies like Annie Hall and Manhattan, movies that were to some degree autobiographical. But the American film audience soured on him after the abuse charges, and people even today don't accept his relationship with his stepdaughter.


___ 1. What did Woody Allen do that was most controversial?
a. he made movies about New York City
b. he had a relationship with Mia Farrow
c. he had a relationship with his step-daughter
d. he adopted two children

___ 2. Which did he not make films about, according to the passage?
a. himself
b. living in New York City
c. Soo-Yi Previn
d. being Jewish

___ 3. Why have his films lost popularity over the years?
a. People are tired of New York City
b. People did not like his personal problems
c. He stopped making them too early
d. They were all about Soon-Yi

Christo

Christo is one of the most famous of artists worldwide, though he died in 2020, because he made exhibits that were huge spectacles wherever they were, and made good photographs when seen from the air.

Toward the end of his career he made a point to say that the exhibits were done by "Christo and Jeanne Claude," thus giving credit to his wife, who did much of the work, though she died in 2009. Their exhibits were often enormous, and took a lot of planning with zoning commissions and people who didn't want rural land disturbed too greatly.

Christo was born in Bulgaria, while Jeanne Claude was born in Morocco; they met and married in Paris in the late 50's. Unlike most artists, they refused grants and public money, relying entirely on the sale of their own work. Often they would wrap a famous building in cellophane or some other material, and this would make the local fire department very nervous. Their work was almost always huge, visually impressive, and controversial. Once he placed a huge number of umbrellas along the California coast and in Japan at the same time; two people died as a result, one in each exhibit, but that was not unusual. Often his exhibits required huge amounts of fabric and expensive installation. One example was the Running Fence, which ran through California grassland and into the sea, but which was white nylon supported by steel posts and cables.

He became an American citizen in 1984, but continued with international fame and performance. One of his last projects was the wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris; this project required 30,000 square meters of recyclable polypropyline fabric. It was postponed due to happen in 2020 but was postponed due to the covid pandemic, and then due to Christo's death. But following his death, his followers and workers vowed to continue with the project and did.


___ 1. According to the article, most artists:
a. make exhibits as large as possible
b. do not like Christo and Jeanne Claude
c. live in Paris
d. rely on public aid of some kind

___ 2. Why are fire departments wary of Christo?
a. his exhibits could be a fire hazard
b. he is very critical of fire departments
c. often his exhibits include burning of materials
d. his exhibits prevent them from putting out fires

___ 3. Which is not true of the wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe?
a. it was never finished
b. Christo died before it was done
c. the pandemic upset the schedule for its wrapping
d. it required a huge amount of fabric

___ 4. What were Christo and Jeanne Claude most famous for?
a. exhibits that had bright colors
b. exhibits that were huge and visually impressive
c. exhibits that were intricate and complicated
d. exhibits that brought many people to one place

Mick Jagger

Mick Jagger was born in 1943 in Dartford, Kent, United Kingdom. He grew up to lead the Rolling Stones, a band, for over six decades, and be one of the most prominent rock stars in the world.

In the early 1960's rock 'n' roll was just coming out, led by Americans like Bo Didley and Chuck Berry. Jagger had already teamed up with childhood friend Keith Richard, and soon began making rock 'n' roll in England; he was living in Chelsea, London at the time. His band was named after a Muddy Waters tune. He wrote most songs as a collaboration with Richard, but produced music prolifically throughout the 60's, 70's, and 80's. For a while the Rolling Stones shared the spotlight with the Beatles as most popular bands in the world.

He had many tumultuous relationships over the years, though he was only married and divorced once. He had eight children, altogether, with five women, and now has grandchildren and great grandchildren. His style has been described as "like a male ballet dancer," making men uncomfortable with his fluid sexuality and being attractive in that way to both sexes. Some say he did it mostly to ensure the band's success, but in any case his influence on youth culture and the world is unmistakable.

___ 1. We can infer that a Muddy Waters tune had what words in it?
a. Dartford, Kent
b. Rolling Stone
c. Mick Jagger
d. rock 'n' roll

___ 2. According to the passage, where did rock 'n' roll really start?
a. Chelsea, London
b. Dartford, Kent
c. USA
d. United Kingdom

___ 3. For how long was he a force in the rock world?
a. twenty years
b. thirty years
c. fifty years
d. over sixty years

Elon Musk

Elon Musk is a prominent entrepreneur and probably is the wealthiest man in the world, with a net worth of $265 billion. He is outspoken about his beliefs on government and laws, and is taken seriously because he can take his companies wherever he wants.

He was born in Pretoria, South Africa, on June 28th, 1971, and grew up there, but moved to Canada when he was 17. His mother had been born in Canada, so he was able to become a Canadian citizen. But he went to the University of Pennsylvania, and then Stanford, in California, where he began to start businesses instead of finishing his advanced degree.

His two most famous enterprises are SpaceX, which focuses on space transport, and Tesla, which is developing the new electric cars. Both involve research into AI, or Artificial Intelligence, and he has also been involved in projects to integrate AI with the human brain. He started a company that eventually turned into PayPal, and has been involved in various other innovative projects over the course of his life.

He married several times, and lived mostly in California, until recently when he moved to Texas, complaining that California had become complacent with its success.


___ 1. Elon Musk is most famous for:
a. going to space
b. being against the government
c. starting innovative businesses
d. moving to Canada

___ 2. What is Tesla?
a. a company that makes spaceships
b. an electric car company
c. a friend of Elon Musk's
d. a person who develops cars

___ 3. Why did he move to Texas?
a. He felt that Califonia didn't value his residence
b. he felt that California was unsuccessful.
c. he felt that Texas had more room for spaceships
d. he felt that Texas was better for AI.

___ 4. Which could be an example of integrating AI and the human brain?
a. a self-driving car
b. having a self-driving car be controled by a person who is not in it
c. a private spaceship going to the moon by itself
d. a private spaceship helping the government

Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) on October 7, 1952. His grandfather was personal cook to both Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. He was the youngest of three children. His older brothers, born in the mid-thirties, had both died; one in infancy, the other in the seige of Leningrad during the war. He entered the KGB soon after graduating from law school and, working for them, was transferred to Moscow.

He became acting president of Russia and then president in 2004. He was prime minister from 2008 to 2012, but then became president again in 2012. His popularity as president was based partly on the fact that the Russian economy grew significantly in the times when he was president, with wages increasing and unemployment and poverty decreasing sharply. He is also known for reforming the military, winning the Second Chechen War and annexing the Crimea. He is strongly criticized for corruption and for making Russia more authoritarian - he has strengthened his own position over the years - but he has given Russians a sense of pride in resisting the forces of the west in Ukraine and other places, and is in general still popular as a leader.

___ 1. Which of the following is Putin not known for?
a. being a strong leader
b. strengthening the Russian economy
c. being hated by his people
d. having some corruption in his administration

___ 2. In the first paragraph, fourth sentence, "during the war" probably refers to:
a. the Second Chechen War
b. World War II
c. World War I
d. the annexation of the Crimea

___ 3. From the passage, what can we infer about Russians' feelings about the Ukraine?
a. They detest Putin and his military actions
b. They distrust the west and support Putin
c. They dislike Ukrainians and don't care what happens to them
d. They are eager to make Russia larger

Kinky Friedman

Richard "Kinky" Friedman was born November 1, 1944 in Chicago, but his parents moved when he was young to a ranch near Kerrville, Texas, in the heart of Hill Country. Both his parents were the children of Russian Jewish immigrants, and he always felt a strong sense of being different as he grew up in Texas.

He wanted to be a country music singer, but from the beginning he preferred satire and making fun of everyone. His songs featured political commentary and sharp-edged humor. His first band was called King Arthur and the Carrots. Finally his band Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys became well known, but it was known more for making fun of people and making people mad than anything else. His father and many other people objected to the use of "Jewboys" in the name as that had always been an insult to Jews.

He became well known in Texas and had a lot of important allies. When his music wasn't doing too well he started writing novels and using his friends and people he knew as main characters. Finally he turned his parents' ranch into a shelter for animals, the Utopia Ranch. He ran for many political offices, but never won; still, he was very popular and well known around Texas at least, if not the rest of the country.


___ 1. What does "sharp-edged humor" mean in par. 2, second sentence?
a. It was extremely funny.
b. It hurt some people.
c. There was a large number of jokes.
d. It was racist in nature.

___ 2. Why did his father object to the name "Jewboys?"
a. Because he wasn't Jewish.
b. Because he didn't want people to know he was Jewish.
c. Because "Jewboys" was a slur.
d. Because his father liked "King Arthur and the Carrots" better.

___ 3. What is a feature of his novels?
a. They are best sellers.
b. They are all about country music.
c. Somebody else actually wrote them.
d. The characters are real people who he knew.

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, and that day was celebrated as a holiday for many years after his death, as he was one of the most important presidents in American history. The 16th president, he served during the Civil War, and used the presidency to lead the North into war against the South to keep the country together.

He was born in Kentucky, but grew up for a while in Indiana and ended up in Illinois. His childhood was famously without electricity, and he was often used as an example to schoolchildren, because he read prolifically in spite of having to do his reading by firelight most of the time. In his childhood he had to cut a lot of wood, but when he had the chance he would read and thus began a career of knowing and using words very well. His most famous speech was the Gettysburg Address. When the Civil War was over, he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at a theater. He had four sons, but only one lived to maturity.

___ 1. What happened during the Civil War?
a. the North fought the South
b. the US was invaded by another country
c. it was started on February 12
d. nobody was president

___ 2. Why did they tell school children about Lincoln?
a. he was an example of someone who cut a lot of wood
b. he was an example of someone who was killed in a theater
c. he was an example of someone who read a lot because he wanted to
d. he was an example of someone who was born in Kentucky

___ 3. What did John Wilkes Booth do?
a. he gave a famous speech
b. he owned a theater
c. he killed Lincoln
d. he had four sons

___ 4. Why did Lincoln always read by firelight?
a. because he could see better that way
b. becuase his family did not have electricity
c. because he was always behind in his school work
d. because he was a poor reader

Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda was a famous actress and anti-war activist during the Vietnam War. Soldiers and pro-war activists hated "Hanoi Jane" because she allowed herself to be photographed with North Vietnamese, and advocated American withdrawal from the war.

She was born in 1937 in New York City; her father was Henry Fonda, who was also a famous actor. Her mother, however, committed suicide when she was 12. Although her father remarried, this marriage ended in divorce. Jane went into acting and was very successful especially throughout the fifties, sixties and early seventies. with movies like Cat Ballou, Barefoot in the Park, and Klute. She won awards for her acting and was considered one of the best. She is actually still working although she is in her eighties.

She is most famous for her visit to Hanoi during the Vietnam War, which many Americans considered made her a traitor. She spoke to North Vietnamese leaders at a time when no other Americans did, and the government was unwilling to have talks with them. Because the US ultimately withdrew from the war, many people consider her talking to them as signalling Americans' unwillingness to keep fighting the war.

She was married three times, but when asked later what she had learned about love, she said, "Nothing. I'm not cut out for it."


____ 1. When Jane Fonda went to Vietnam, what did she want?
a. She wanted the US to get out of the war.
b. She wanted to get a vacation from acting.
c. She wanted to make the government angry.
d. She wanted to trick them.

___ 2. What is "Klute?"
a. One of her husbands
b. One of her more successful movies
c. Her father's second wife
d. A place where she worked

___ 3. Which is not true about her acting career?
a. She never retired.
b. She won many awards and is considered a good actress.
c. Her political activism hurt her career.
d. She worked in acting for over fifty years.

___ 4. Why are her enemies mad at her?
a. Because she gave secrets to the North Vietnamese.
b. Because talking to the enemy makes her a traitor.
c. Because she got the government to give up on the war.
d. Because she insulted the government.

Tom Petty

Tom Petty was one of the best-selling music artists of all time, making music in a career that lasted from about 1970 to 2017. He was born in Florida in 1950 and had a brother seven years younger than him. He once described his father as a "wild, gambling, drinking guy" who didn't accept the fact that he was mild-mannered and interested in the arts.

He met Elvis Presley in the summer of 1961, and became an instant Presley fan; he went home and traded a slingshot for a collection of Elvis 45's. But when he saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show a few years later, that was when he decided he could be a rock star. He dropped out of high school at age 17 to start a rock band.

He played with a number of bands, but was most famous with the Heartbreakers. His final tour ended in Los Angeles, where he lived. According to friends, he seemed to be in a good mood, but he died of a drug overdose which most people considered accidental. He had apparently been suffering from pain and taking pain medications, so there was great interest in how it happened, but it was taken as a tragedy by the music world, as he was universally popular.


___ 1. Which describes his personality as a kid?
a. wild
b. addicted to drugs
c. serious about studying
d. mild-mannered

___ 2. What performance made him want to be a rock star?
a. a performance of Elvis Presley in the mid-sixties
b. a performance of the Beatles in the mid-sixties
c. a performance of the Heartbreakers
d. a perfomance of Ed Sullivan

___ 3. Why did he drop out of high school?
a. to play music
b. because he didn't get along with his father
c. his father had a rock band
d. he moved to Los Angeles

___ 4. When he traded his slingshot, what did he get in return?
a. Elvis' gun
b. records
c. drugs
d. a fan

John Glenn, Jr.

John Glenn Jr. was born in Cambridge, Ohio on July 18, 1921, but his family moved to New Concord, Ohio, soon after his birth. His father was a plumber and his mother was a teacher. He was to become the first American to orbit the earth in space; he did it in 1962, and most Americans who were alive then remember the event.

He first flew in an airplane when he was eight years old, and remained fascinated with flight for most of his life. He played football, basketball, and tennis in high school, and football again in college. He married his high school sweetheart, who he had known since he was a young child; later they were to say that they never knew a time when they didn't know each other.

He quit college to join the military during World War II, and chose to fly planes for most of his service. He also served in the Korean War. Around that time, the late 50's, was the "Space Race," and he was recruited by NASA to become an astronaut. The Russians had already orbited the earth and the U.S., with Glenn, would do it in 1962.

He won the role of Senator from Ohio in 1974 and again in 1980, and decided to run for president in 1984. His presidential campaign did not have any success, probably because of bad strategy decisions. He was already famous from his days as an astronaut, and he used this general fame and popularity to win the Senate again in 1986 and 1992.

However, his reputation was stained by what became known as the Keating scandal; he was one of five senators who had accepted large campaign donations from Charles Keating related to Savings and Loan business. The outcome was that though he could keep being re-elected, he had lost some of his general reputation. He died in 2016.H


___ 1. What two things were his father known for?
a. he orbited the earth and was a Senator
b. he fixed sinks and flew airplanes
c. he orbited the earth and fixed sinks
d. he was a teacher and flew airplanes

___ 2. When did he meet his wife?
a. in high school
b. in college
c. as a young child
d. when he ran for President

___ 3. How old was he when he died?
a. 85
b. 75
c. 95
d. 87

___ 4. How many terms did he serve in the Senate?
a. two
b. four
c. three
d. one

Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden was the founder of Al Qaeda and therefore the mastermind of the infamous 9/11 attacks against the United States in 2001. He was born on March 10, 1957 in Saudi Arabia. His father, originally from Yemen, was wealthy from a construction company; his mother was Syrian originally. He grew up in Saudi Arabia but as he became more political he was banished, and moved to first Sudan, then Pakistan and Afghanistan.

He declared war against the United States well before 9/11, but people didn't take him seriously right away. After 9/11, there was a $25 million bounty on him, and he was shot and killed on May 2, 2011 in Pakistan. The influence of 9/11 was enormous, in that it caused the United States to take much more extensive security precautions on all international flights, raising the price of everything involving international flights and transit. It could be said that his biggest legacy was making an empire spend so much money that it couldn't continue to sustain itself.


___ 1. What does the passage suggest when it says he "became more political?"
a. he declared war against Saudi Arabia
b. he actively worked toward war against the United States
c. he ran for office in his home country
d. he ran for office in the countries where he moved

___ 2. What is not true of 9/11?
a. It caused the United States to spend an enormous amount of money
b. bin Laden himself was on one of the airplanes
c. It made bin Laden famous
d. It made people take him more seriously

___ 3. Where was he living when he was shot and killed?
a. Pakistan
b. New York
c. Saudi Arabia
d. Syria

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway was a novelist, short story writer, journalist and sportsman, and his fame really came from his ability to combine those. he wrote about fishing; he covered wars and sent dispatches from the front lines to the newspapers he worked for; he was a man of his age, and that included a lot of wars.

He was born in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois, but wrote from the mid 1920's to the mid 1950's, and won the Nobel Prize in 1954. He was injured (as an ambulance driver) in World War I and wrote about other wars, so some of his writing covers these war experiences. He is famous for living in Paris for an extended period, and this was in the early 1920's; he wrote about it, and became one of the US's most famous expatriates. In later life he lived in Key West, Florida, and Cuba, and it seemed he was able to get some fame just by being associated with them. He was married four times. He is most famous for a very bold, direct writing style which was loved by some and despised or ridiculed by others. Eventually his war experiences and hard drinking caught up with him; he spent his later years in pain, and he killed himself in his last house, which was in Idaho, in 1961.

___ 1. Why was he considered an expatriate?
a. he fought in several wars
b. he lived away from his native country
c. he was a good writer
d. he didn't take sides in the war

___ 2. Which is not true about his writing style?
a. it is complicated and difficult to read
b. some people make fun of it
c. it made him very popular
d. it is very straightforward


___ 3. What does the passage infer about his death?
a. he committed suicide partly because he was in pain
b. he was killed by one of his enemies
c. he died from drinking too much
d. he was in good health when he died

Stephen King

Stephen King is one of the U.S.'s most popular and successful novel writers; he has published 62 novels, among other things, and has one many national awards. He is most famous for horror and suspense novels that leave their readers up all night trying to finish them.

He was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, and though his family moved around a lot, they came back to Maine, as did he, for his adult life. As a child once, he was walking with a friend when the friend was struck and killed by a train. He came home in shock, not remembering the event or able to say what had happened. People found out what had happened, of course, and asked him about it later, but he could never remember it, and even when people claimed it had influenced his writing, he didn't mention it, because he had blacked out the memory, and even when he wrote his memoir, he didn't include the incident.

Some people have called him "the King of Horror," in a kind of play on his name, but he is undoubtedly one of the most successful authors and is clearly a master at writing them. Many have been turned into movies. His name is probably the most easily recognized of all authors in any bookstore today, in the U.S.


___ 1. What do we know about the train incident?
a. nothing
b. someone was murdered
c. King was there at the time
d. it influenced his writing


___ 2. What are some reasons that people stay up all night when they read his novels?
a. because, as a good writer, he makes them want to keep reading
b. because his novels have suspense
c. because horror is a very popular topic
d. all of the above

___ 3. Which is true about Stephen King?
a. He has lived in Maine all his life.
b. His family does not like Maine but had to move back.
c. People in Maine do not like him.
d. He is well known in Maine.

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan was President of the United States from 1981 to 1989, so his term dominated the eighties. He was born in 1911 in Illinois, but after being a radio announcer in Iowa for a while, he moved to California in 1937. He was an actor, and starred in a few movies, but was best known for being president of the Screen Actors' Guild, a kind of union for actors. He became Governor of California in 1966.

His politics were conservative, and people generally approved of "Reaganomics," which was a name for his economic policies, which are often called "supply-side." He fought public sector unions, and made strong speeches against Gorbachev and the Soviet Union. In spite of wanting to be known as "pro-family," he had a rocky family life, with difficult relations among his children and first and second wives, though this was very rarely made public. He died in 2004.


___ 1. What was one job he did not do?
a. radio announcer
b. actor
c. economist
d. politician

___ 2. Which is the image that most people probably have of him?
a. popular conservative President in the 80's
b. one of the best actors ever
c. famous for speaking against Soviet Union
d. having public feuds among his family

___ 3. What are "Reaganomics?" a. his foreign policy
b. supply-side economic policies
c. public sector unions
d. conservative voters

Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp is considered one of the U.S.'s top film stars, with some of his major films being Nightmare on Elm Street, Edward Scissorhands, Platoon, and The Pirates of the Caribbean series. He is one of the highest paid actors, but lately has been spending his money on lawsuits against the people he worked with, and his ex-wife.

He was born in 1963 in Owensboro, Kentucky, but moved a lot in his childhood, finally ending up in Florida. At one point he dropped out of high school, in Florida, to form a rock band, and when he tried to get back into the school, the principal told him to stick to his dream. He has kept his musical activity up throughout his career, though he's much more famous for his acting. He has struggled with drugs and alcohol throughout his life, and a British judge recently said that he believed Depp's ex-wife, Amber Heard, that Depp had abused her several times. He has been involved in a number of brawls involving alcohol and drugs over the years, but his fan base is very loyal.


___ 1. What is Johnny Depp's primary occupation?
a. musician
b. actor
c. lawyer
d. drug producer

___ 2. Why did he drop out of high school?
a. they kicked him out of high school
b. because he was sleeping in class
c. because he wanted to play music
d. because of drugs and alcohol

___ 3. When he sued his wife, where did they hear the case?
a. England
b. Florida
c. Hollywood
d. Kentucky