groups turned up uninvited in 1947, in the belief that everyone should have the right to perform, and they did so in a public house disused for years.

Soon, groups of students firstly from Edinburgh University, and later from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Durham and Birmingham were making the journey to the Scottish capital each summer to perform theatre by little­known writers of plays in small church halls to the people of Edinburgh.

Today the "Fringe"， once less recognized, has far outgrown the festival with around 1,500 performances of theatre, music and dance on every one of the 21 days it lasts. And yet as early as 1959, with only 19 theatre groups performing, some said it was getting too big.

A paid administrator was first employed only in 1971, and today there are eight administrators working all year round and the number rises to 150 during August itself. In 2004 there were 200 places housing 1,695 shows by over 600 different groups from 50 different countries. More than 1. 25 million tickets were sold.

5．What was the purpose of Edinburgh Festival at the beginning?

A．To bring Europe together again.

B．To honor heroes of World War Ⅱ.

C．To introduce young theatre groups.

D．To attract great artists from Europe.

6．Who joined the "Fringe" after it appeared?

A．Popular writers.

B．University students.

C．Artists from around the world.

D．Performers of music and dance.

7．We may learn from the text that Edinburgh Festival .

A．has become a non­official event

B．has gone beyond an art festival

C．gives shows all year round

D．keeps growing rapidly

C

Around four years ago, I received a call from the principal of our school as to the "Parents' View" talk the next morning. He asked me to speak to the group. After the call, my whole body became feverish and panicky. The time from his call to the next morning seemed like years. The whole night, I could not sleep with many ominous apprehensions in mind. One of them was to call the principal with regret and tell him that I could not come. Finally, I gathered some courage. I thought, "If I miss this opportunity, surely the school will never invite me again to any of their programe. "