Song Zuying in Vienna

Song Zuying, one of China’s most popular sopranos(女高音歌手), will give a performance at Musikverein Golden Hall in Vienna, Austria, on November, 23.

She will perform her most famous songs such as “Spice Sister(《辣妹子》)”“Flying Song of Motherland(《大地飞歌》)”“Beautiful Life(《好日子》)”，and of course, “Jasmine(《茉莉花》)”, the Chinese song most familiar to the Western world.

Led by Li Xincao, chief conductor with the China National Symphony Orchestra(中国国家交响乐团), the concert will also include erhu artist Song Fei and bamboo flutist(竹笛演奏家)Zhang Weiliang.

Inclusion of the two traditional Chinese instruments will increase the traditional Chinese flavor(特色) of the performance.

The concert marks her second overseas concert after a successful appearance at the Sydney Opera House last December, and makes her the first soprano of the traditional Chinese vocal style to give performances abroad.

Song’s concert in Sydney was part of the 30th anniversary celebration of diplomatic relations between Australia and China, and was staged with the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra.

“It’s an honor to sing at the Sydney Opera House and the Musikverein, ”Song said.

“The Australian audience impressed me greatly as I had not expected that foreigners would love Chinese traditional songs so much. They called me ‘Chinese jasmine’, ”Song recalled.

Known for her sweet, smooth voice and emotional singing style, the 37-year-old soprano has enjoyed great popularity in China for a decade(十年).

1. Which of the following songs is recomposed in many other types of music in the Western world?

A. Spice Sister.

B. Flying Song of Motherland.

C. Beautiful Life.

D. Jasmine.

2. According to the passage Song Zuying gave her first overseas concert in______.

A. Vienna, Austria

B. Vienna, Australia

C. Sydney, Austria

D. Sydney, Australia

3. The underlined word “diplomatic” in Paragraph 6 means______.

A. 友好的

B. 深厚的

C. 文凭的

D. 外交的

New York, 10 November—5: 27 p. m. , yesterday. Biggest power failure(断电)in the city’s history.

Thousands of people got stuck(被困) in lifts. Martin Saltzman spent three hours between the 21st and 22nd floors of the Empire State Building. “There were twelve of us. But no one panicked(惊慌). We passed the time telling stories and playing word games. One man wanted to smoke but we didn’t let him. Firemen finally got us out. ”

“It was the best night we’ve ever had, ”said Angela Carraro, who runs an Italian restaurant on 42nd Street. “We had lots of candles on the tables and the waiters were carrying candles on their trays(托盘). The place was full—and night, in fact, for after we had closed, we let the people stay on and spend the night here. ”

The zoos had their problems like everyone else. Keepers worked through the night. They used blankets(毛毯) to keep flying squirrels and small monkeys warm. While zoos had problems keeping warm, supermarkets had problems keeping cool. “All of our ice cream and frozen foods melted(融化), ”said the manager of a store in downtown Manhattan. “They were worth $500 000. ”

The big electric clock in the lobby(大厅) of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in downtown Manhattan started ticking(滴答)again at 5: 25 this morning. It was almost on time.

1. Throughout the period of darkness, Martin Saltzman and the eleven others were______.

A. nervous

B. excited

C. calm

D. frightened

2. In what way was the night of November 10 the best night for Angela Carraro?

A. She had a taste of adventure.

B. Burning candles brightened the place.

C. Business was better than usual.

D. Many people spent the night in her restaurant.

3. How long did the power failure last?

A. Nearly 12 hours.

B. More than 12 hours.

C. Nearly 24 hours.

D. More than 24 hours.

4. During the power failure, the supermarkets______.

A. earned more than usual

B. had their frozen food melted

C. had to stop their business

D. sold a lot of blankets

Charlie works in a post office. His father lost his job five years ago and his mother is often ill. And he has two brothers and a sister. He works hard and tries his best to buy enough food for his family.

Last month his family had to move to an old house outside the city. It’s far from the post office and he has to get up early in the morning in order to catch the 6: 30 train. The head of his office is strict and everybody has to get there on time. He knows what it’ll mean if he’s late. A friend of his had pity on(同情) him and lent his old car to him. The young man was happy and from then on he could go to work by car.

Last Saturday Charlie went to buy some medicine for his mother. Bad luck! When he came out of the shop, he couldn’t find the car. He was quite worried and began to look for it in front of the shop but he didn’t find it. Suddenly he saw a woman parked a car there and hurried into the shop. Charlie saw the car wasn’t locked. He got on it and drove it at once. He was afraid the loser would run after(追) him and drove fast. A truck hit it at a crossing and he lost consciousness.

This morning the young man came back to life(苏醒) and saw there were a few policemen standing by his bed. He asked, “Where am I? ”

“In Room 103. ”

“In hospital or in prison(监狱)？”

1. Charlie has to get to his office on time because______.

A. the head is strict with them

B. he wishes to be praised

C. he’s usually on duty

D. he’s afraid to be fired

2. ______, so he drove the woman’s car away.

A. Charlie had no money to pay for the old car

B. Charlie liked a new car very much

C. Charlie hoped to have his own car

D. Charlie hated his friend’s old car

3. Charlie was afraid______, so he drove fast.

A. to be late

B. to meet the red lights

C. to be caught by the loser

D. to miss the 6: 30 train

4. Which of the following is true?

A. Charlie couldn’t drive a car at all.

B. The policemen caught Charlie at the crossing.

C. Charlie was in prison when he came back to life.

D. Charlie didn’t know what had happened after he had lost consciousness.

Time talks. It speaks more plainly (明白地) than words. Time communicates in many ways. Consider the different parts of the day, for example. The time of the day when something is done can give a special meaning to the event. Factory managers in the United States fully realize the importance of an announcement made during the middle of the morning or afternoon that takes everyone away from his work.

In the United States, it is not customary to telephone someone very early in the morning. If you telephone him early in the day, while he is shaving or having breakfast, the time of the call shows that the matter is very urgent and requires immediate attention. It is the same with telephone calls made after 11: 00 p. m. If someone receives a call during sleeping hour, he probably thinks it is a matter of life or death. The time chosen for the call communicates its importance.

The meanings of time differ in different parts of the world. Thus, misunderstanding arises (出现)between people from cultures that treat time differently. In the United States, people tend to think of time as something fixed in nature, something from which one can not escape. As a rule, Americans think of time as a road into the future, along which one progresses. The road has many sections, which are to be kept separate...“one thing at a time”. Thus, an American may feel angry when he has made an appointment with someone and then finds a lot of other things happening at the same time.

Americans look ahead and are concerned (与……有关) almost entirely with the future. The American idea of the future is limited, however. It is the foreseeable future and not the future of involving(牵连) many centuries.

Since time has much different meanings in different cultures, communication is often difficult. We will understand each other a little if we can keep this fact in mind.

1. According to the passage an announcement made during the day in a factory must be very important because________.

A. it interrupts the work of all employees

B. it is made by the manager

C. it makes everyone lose his job

D. it communicates in many ways

2. In the United States, a phone call made after 11: 00 p. m. is considered________, in the view of the writer.

    A. as important as one made in the morning.

    B. Impolite since it disturbs the receiver’s sleep

    C. To be a threat (恐吓) to the receiver’s life

    D. Even more urgent than one made early in the morning

3. The expression “the foreseeable future” could be most suitably replaced by________.

    A. the future that will not be far away

    B. the future that one makes progress

    C. the future toward which one makes progress

    D. the future which involves centuries

4. The writer concludes that people of different countries will understand each other better if________.

    A. they know how to communicate with each other

    B. they are concerned with the future

    C. they learn the way time communicates

    D. they keep in mind that different cultures treat time differently

When Laura reached school-going age the discussions about moving became more urgent (紧迫的).The father did not want the children to go to school with the village children and for once her mother agreed with him. Not because, as he said, they ought to have a better education than they could get at Lark Rise; but because she feared they would tear their clothes and catch cold and get dirty heads going a mile and a half to and from the school in the village. So empty cottages in the market town were examined and often it seemed that the next week or the next month they would be leaving Lark Rise for ever, but again each time something would happen to prevent the removal, and gradually a new idea came up. To gain time, their father would teach the two eldest children to read and write, so that, if asked by the School Attend dance office, their mother could say they were leaving the small village shortly, and in the meantime, were being taught at home.

So their father brought home two copies of Mavor's First Reader and taught them the alphabet; but just as Laura was beginning on words of one syllable(音节), He was sent away to work on a distant job, only coming home at weekends. Laura, left at the c-a-t s-t-s stage on the m-a-t’s, then had to carry her book round after her mother as she went about her housework, asking, “Please, Mother, what does h-o-u-s-e spell?” or “W-a-l-k, Mother, what is that?”

Often when her mother was too busy or too tired to attend to her, she would sit and fix her eyes on a page that might as well have been printed in Hebrew(希伯来语) for all she could `make of it, frowning(锁眉) and studying the print as though she would make out the meaning by force of concentration(专注).

After weeks of this, there came a day when, quite suddenly, as it seemed to her, the printed characters took on a meaning. There were still many words, even in the first page of that simple edition she could not understand; but she could jump those and make sense of the whole. “I’m reading! I'm reading!” she cried aloud. “Oh, Mother! Oh, Edmund ! I’m reading!”

1. Laura’s father didn’t want his children to go to school at Lark Rise because________.

    A. it was too far away 　　　　　　　　　　   B. they couldn’t learn enough

    C. their hair would become dirty　　　　  D. they would ruin their clothes

2. The children’s father decided to teach them to read and write so that they________.

    A. had an excuse not to have to move

    B. had a reason for not attending school

    C. could write to the School Attendance Office

    D. would be educated before they left the village

3. The underlined part “left at the c-a-t s-i-t-s on the m-a-t’s stage” means that________ .

    A. Laura was working hard and learning quickly

    B. her father had no time to teach her

    C. her mother was too busy to attend to her

    D. Laura knew little fort how to read and write

4. From the passage we can infer that________ made Laura stare at a page in her book.

    A. her lack of concentration 　　　　　　   B. her inability to understand

    C. her need to understand Hebrew 　　  D. her determination to understand

5. Laura finally discovered she could read when she________.

    A. understood the main idea 　　　　　　   B. understood all the words in her book

C. recognized the printed characters    D. jumped the first pages of her book

There are two factors(因素)which determine an individual's intelligence. The first is the sort of brain he is born with. Human brains differ greatly, some being more capable than others. But no matter how good a brain he has to begin with, an individual will have a low order of intelligence unless he has opportunities to learn. So the second factor is what happens to the individual—the sort of environment in which he is reared. If an individual is handicapped(妨碍,阻碍) environmentally, it is likely that his brain will fail to develop and he will never reach the level of intelligence of which he is capable.

The importance of environment in determining an individual's intelligence can be demonstrated (证实)by the case history of the identical twins, Peter and Mark. Being identical, the twins had identical brains at birth, and their growth processes were the same. When the twins were three months old, their parents died, and they were placed in separate foster homes(寄养). Peter was raised by parents of low intelligence in a community with poor educational opportunities. Mark was raised in the home of well-to-do parents who had been to college. He was read to as a child, sent to good schools, and given every opportunity to be stimulated intellectually. This environmental difference continued until the twins were in their late teens, when they were given tests to measure their intelligence. Peter’s I. Q. was 125, twenty-five points higher than the average and fully forty points higher than his identical brother. Given equal opportunities, the twins, having identical brains, would have tested at about the same level.

1. The main idea of this passage is that_________.

    A. one human brain is quite different from another

    B. the brain a person is born with is important in determining his intelligence

    C. environment is important in determining a person’s intelligence

    D. persons having identical brains will have about the same intelligence

2. According to the passage, Mark’s I. Q. is________lower than the average.

    A.85 　　　　　　　　    B. 100 　　　　　　　　 C. 15 　　　　　　　　   D.40

3. This passage suggests that an individual’s I. Q.________.

    A. can be foretold at birth 　　　　　　　　  B. stays the same throughout his life

    C. can be increased by education 　　    D. is determined by his childhood

A story is a work of imagination. The people who write stories write them in order to give pleasure to those who read stories. Story-readers are, generally speaking, women of all ages and younger men. Readers love the start of a story, where there are new and sometimes strange people to be met for the first time. They enjoy the story itself, the gentleness and the violence (暴力), the loves and the hates, with which a good writer interests his readers. They enjoy the end of the story, whether it’s happy or sad. The readers' main purpose in all this is to escape(逃离) from ordinary life for a short time. Older men, as a rule, find their ordinary lives too pleasant to run away from.

1. A story-writer must be________.

    A. a funny man 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　    B. an interesting woman

    C. a person full of imagination 　　　　    D. a person who has much experience in life

2. As a rule, the ordinary lives of old men________.

A.　　  are enjoyable 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　  B. are not enjoyable

C. need to be changed 　　　　　　　　　　   D. don’t want changing

3. Most of the story-readers are women, for________.

    A. they are free 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　    B. stories are easier for them to understand

    C. they have a fine feeling 　　　　　　　　  D. they have no other books to read

Joe Bloggs always had a cigarette on his lips. He smoked while he read, while he looked at the television, and while he drank a cup of coffee. He smoked forty cigarettes a day, but he was happy. Joe's friend, Fred Brown, said to him, “It is very bad to smoke.”

When Joe heard this, he started to worry and became thin. So he did not buy any more cigarettes. He became so thin that he went to Fred for help.

Fred said, “You must eat more.” So Joe did not smoke, but he ate chocolate, and he became very fat. Again he went to Fred for help.

Fred said, “You must not eat chocolate.” So Joe stopped eating chocolate, but he went back to smoking cigarettes. He became thin again but he was no happy, because he still smoked.  

Sometimes Joe Bloggs wished Fred Brown was not his friend!

1. When Joe became thin first time it was because________.

    A. he smoked too much. 　　　　　　　　   B. he worried too much.

    C. he stopped smoking. 　　　　　　　　　　　　    D. he ate too little.

2. The following sentences tell what happened to Joe. Which is the right order of the events?

    A. He did not smoke; he ate chocolate; he was fat; he was unhappy.

    B. He smoked; he did not eat chocolate; he was thin; he was unhappy.

    C. He smoked: he did not eat chocolate; he was not fat; he was happy.

    A. a. b. c. 　　　　    B. c. b. a. 　　　　    C. b. a. c. 　　　　    D. c. a. b.

3. In the end Joe was unhappy about his friendship with Fred because__________.

    A. Fred’s advice had brought him no good.

    B. he never liked being told what to do.

    C. he in fact had never really trusted Fred.

    D. Fred had given him the wrong advice on purpose(故意地).

4. What is the writer trying to tell us with this story?

   A. One should think and decide for oneself  B. One should ask friends for help and advice.

   C. Smoke is bad for one’s health. 　　　　　　    D. Chocolate is bad for one’s health.

If there is something that appears most frequently on Chinese dining tables，it is doufu－beancurd. Beancurd looks like soft cakes and it’s made from dried soybeans. Beancurd used to be considered a favorite of the poor because of its low cost. Beans have high yields(产量) every year with their short growing period and suitability for various soil both dry and wet.

Historical records show beancurd was invented by Liu An, Prince of Huainan and uncle of Emperor (皇帝) Wu of Han Dynasty (206 BC～AD 220). He had a dream of finding the pill for longevity (长寿). He traveled all over the country and found soybeans, which looked much the same as gold in terms of color. He collected soybeans, put them in the water and crushed them into pulp (浆). It got solidified and became known as doufu. Although it’s not able to keep longevity, it’s really good for one’s health with high protein and low fat.

With a long history, beancurd is rooted deep in Chinese culture. People eat more meal and fish than beancurd. But they are encouraged to have beancurd every once a while for it’s really good for health. Most Chinese people still keep beancurd as one of their favorite dishes.

1. Why was beancurd considered to be liked by the poor?

A. It’s easy to make. 　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. It’s easy to cook.

    C. It’s cheap. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　  D. It’s good for health.

2. Where can beans grow well?

    A. Only in we soil. 　　　　　　　　　　　　    B. In dry soil.

    C. In soft soil. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　  D. In any soil

3. What appears more often on the dining table in poor areas?

    A. Meat. 　　　　　　  B. Fish. 　　　　　　   C. Egg. 　　　　 　　   D. Beancurd.

4. Why did Liu An travel all over the country?

    A. He had a dream.

    B. He wanted to find something that could make people live longer.

    C. He wanted to invent beancurd.

    D. He wanted to find gold.

5. How long has beancurd been invented?

    A. It’s about 1700 years. 　　　　　　　　   B. It’s less than 2000 years.

C. It’s 1500 years. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　   D. It’s more than 2000 years.

The Internet and the World Web (网) are great places to be right now. We use the word “place” because so many of the things you can do online are similar to the things you can do wherever people gather together－in homes, schools, libraries, shopping centers, or at family reunions or town meetings. The Net allows people to learn shopping, find important information, and communicate, whether they’re local, global or simply virtual (虚的).

The Web is useful. You can find old friends online. You can research and book flights, check the weather, find breaking news, andfind out information about schools and colleges. Yon can even place an order for books, CDs, computers and cars.

The Internet is also fun. You can write to old friends or check out their web pages, enjoy web-based soap operas, laugh at online jokes, join in a live Net Event, chat with other Internet surfers(漫游者), check to see if your name appears anywhere on the Web.

Millions of users log on to the Net every day, and it’s not just to do research. There’s a lot of fun there. That’s one reason why it’s called web “surfing”.

Of course, the first step to use the Web for business or for fun is learning how to work a “web browser”. If you’re new to computers, it may take a while before you are completely comfortable with your browser. Don’t worry. You don’t have to be a computer whiz. The basics of a web browser are very much like the basics of modem computers－learning how to point and click the mouse, learning how to scroll up and down a page of text, and learning how to use pull-down menus. Again, be patient. There’s no time limit on web surfing. Give yourself a chance to explore (探索) the browser itself while you explore the Web.

1. The writer compares the Web to_______.

A. places to visit　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 B. places to gather together in

C. some easy job 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　  D. things you can do online

2. We can learn from the text that the Web is not only_______ but also_______.

A. of great use; of great value 　　　　    B. of great use; of great enjoyment

C. useful; funny 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　   D. of some use; of a little interest

3. The underlined word “whiz” probably refers to a person who_______.

A. is a computer expert　　　　　　　　　　   B. is a computer fan

C. is lost in computer games 　　　　　　　　　　 D. owns a computer company

4. To use the Web, all we have to do is to learn how to_______.

A. use the computer mouse　　　　　　　　 B. scroll up and down a page of text

C. use pull-down menus 　　　　　　　　    D. all the above