At first, we didn't know about Tom. But ____, we came to know that he was an honest boy.

A．suddenly          B．luckily            C．gradually          D．slightly

 

They can be seen more frequently than ever before on college campuses, wearing thick-rimmed glasses while listening to indie(独立的) music. One might find them playing unusual musical instruments, shopping at second-hand stores or expressing themselves in other unique ways. They call themselves hipsters. Being “hip” used to mean following the latest fashion. But gradually the word has evolved into a synonym for “cool”.

Hipsters value independent thinking, progressive politics, an appreciation of creativity and intelligence. Hipsters take pains and pride in not being mainstream. However, their culture has become quite trendy. This irony is central to their culture and offers an interesting paradox.

“I do take things in the mainstream with a grain of salt,” says Ben Polson, a college student at Brown University in the US. Polson describes himself as a hipster and says he often questions what determines popularity, especially regarding music.When lesser-known bands become popular they often lose their former fan base in exchange for a new one. There is a famous hipster saying that goes: I used to like that band before it got popular.

According to Polson, bands’ music changes when they go mainstream. They become “less experimental, doing things just to save popularity and fans. The original elements that we were drawn to slowly dwindle for the sake of popularity.”

Many young adults have started to view hipsters’ outlook as cool and are adopting their counterculture mindset (心态)themselves. This has led to specialized brands, stores and music for the hipster position. Ironically, some such stores, including clothing labels Urban Outfitters and American Apparel, have gained mainstream popularity. This has seemingly diluted(冲淡) the anti-mainstream culture.

“A lot of people that are self-defined hipsters aren’t really hipsters, they’re just trying to conform to the non-conformist(不墨守成规者) to seem cooler,” says Amanda Leopold, a college student from Oberlin College, US. Although Leopold has many unconventional tastes and seems quite individualist, she refuses to classify herself as a hipster.

There is a conflict among hipsters about the very definition of the label. To some, to be a hipster is to be free from cultural constraints. To others, it means wearing a certain style and listening to a specific style of music. The former constantly strives for uniqueness, while the latter strives not to be mainstream.

And yet, the movement is gaining mainstream popularity. “It’s kind of the trend these days; everyone wants to be hip so no one’s hip,” says Leopold. “There have been hipsters since the seventies. It’s only become popular recently.”

Hipsters reject materialism and laugh at mainstream culture. But are they really beyond material comforts? Do they have any ideas of their own if they despise mainstream so much?

Christy Wampole, an associate professor of literature at Princeton University, US, is not so sure. She says the hipster is a contradiction in himself and an easy target of mockery(嘲弄). Writing in The New York Times, Wampole paints a less appreciative picture of a typical hipster.

“The hipster is a scholar of social forms, a student of cool. He studies continuously, searching for what has yet to be found by the mainstream. He is a walking citation(例证); his clothes refer to much more than themselves. He tries to negotiate the age-old problem of individuality, not with concepts, but with material things.”

1.From the passage we can know that hipsters are ____________________________.

A．a group of people who are self-denied

B．a group of students who are good at musical instruments

C．people who follow the latest trends and fashions

D．people who pay no attention to material things

2.The underlined word dwindle in the fourth paragraph may probably mean______________.

A．enlarge           B．delete            C．disappear         D．decrease

3.Leopold refuses to classify herself as a hipster because_______________________.

A．she doesn’t like her own unconventional tastes

B．there are too many specialized brands, stores and music for the hipster position

C．she thinks that a lot of people that are self-defined hipsters aren’t really hipsters

D．the hipsters’ culture has become quite trendy

4.When Leopold said “It’s kind of the trend these days; everyone wants to be hip so no one’s hip”, we can see that she felt a bit ______________.

A．happy            B．disappointed       C．excited           D．content

5.The passage mainly tells us ________________________.

A．the difficult situation of hipsters            B．the trend of fashion

C．the changes of the society                 D．the culture of hipsters

 

If we leave right away, ____we’ll arrive on time.

A.hopefully        B. curiously          C. occasionally       D. gradually

 

I never thought about the dangers of growing up during the war because I was only six then. My parents were  36  and both were busy with their work at a hospital. I was often left in the care of my grandmother. Grandma gave Aunt Tracy and I the  37  of taking lunch to my grandfather, her estranged (分居的) husband, who lived  38  in an apartment at the other side of the village.

  As usual,  39  we left, Grandma repeated, "There may be war at any time, so stay on the side of the road. Be  40  not to spill (溢出) the food." Aunt Tracy and I  41  the lunch box and hurried to Grandpa’s place.

  "Keep down and take cover!" Tracy cried out as we heard some  42 . As we squatted (蹲) at the roadside, I started to feel  43 . Grandpa preferred his food served  44 . If we couldn’t get there on time, his lunch would turn cold! Not wanting the war to slow us down, I said, "Let’s just run for it!"

  We tried all the ways we could think of to cross the road, but  45  seemed to work. Suddenly Tracy said, "Bullets travel in a straight line, so we can run in a zigzag (之字形)."Taking a deep breath, we set off again and ran wildly back and forth across the road.,  46 we managed to reach Grandpa’s apartment.

  As an adult, I now know what my young mind couldn’t understand then: it’s impossible to go through life without  47 . We may come across difficulties in our life, but we need to be brave, face the problem and carry on.

1.                A．workers        B．soldiers         C．doctors   D．patients

 

2.                A．project         B．trouble         C．job D．career

 

3.                A．sadly           B．madly          C．alone D．abroad

 

4.                A．until           B．before         C．after     D．since

 

5.                A．careful         B．still            C．proud    D．Valuable

 

6.                A．rose           B．lifted           C．touched D．prepared

 

7.

A．noises            B．Shots             C．Voices            D．Cries

8.                A．disappointed    B．scared          C．encouraged   D．worried

 

9.                A．safe           B．nice           C．hot D．quick

 

10.               A．something      B．anything        C．nothing    D．everything

 

11.               A．Suddenly       B．Finally          C．Actually   D．Gradually

 

12.               A．illnesses        B．failures         C．struggles   D．changes

 

 

When Boris left school，he could not find a job．He tried hard and pestered(纠缠)his relatives，but they had problems of their Own. He answered advertisements until he could not afford to buy any more stamps. Boris grew annoyed，then depressed，then a little hardened．Still he went on trying and still he failed．He began to think that he had no future at all.

“Why don’t you start your own business?” one of his uncles told him．“The world is a  money-locker. You’d better find a way of opening it.”

“But what can I do?”

“Get out and have a look round,” advised his uncle in a vague sort of way．“See what people want；then give it to them，and they will pay for it.”

Boris began to cycle around the town and found a suitable piece of a waste ground in the end. Then he set up his business as a cycle repairer．He worked hard，made friends with his customers and gradually managed to build up his goodwill and profit．A few months later, he found that he had more work than he could deal with by himself．He found a number of empty shops but they were all no good：in the wrong position，too expensive or with some other snag(障碍). But at long last，he managed to find an empty shop on a new estate where there were plenty of customers but no competition.

Boris and his assistant taught themselves how to repair scooters and motor-cycles．Slowly  but surely the profits increased and the business developed. At last，Boris had managed to open the money-locker and found bank notes and gold Coins inside．

1.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage ?

A．Goodwill is the key to success．

B．The world is a money-locker

C．No education, no future

D．Difficulty of starting a small business

2.Which of the following best describes Boris’ job hunting experience?

A．Surprising         B．Encouraging        C．Boring            D．Disappointing

3.Boris start his career by       . 

A．cycling around the town

B．developing a waste ground

C．repairing cycles

D．buying empty shops

4.Boris finally chose an empty shop on a new estate because      .

A．it was not so expensive

B．he had a lot of old customers there

C．he could make good use of his skills there

D．there were good opportunities there

5.We can infer from the last paragraph that Boris       .

A．still couldn’t make good profits

B．set off in a successful career

C．found a lot of gold coins by accident

D．had great difficulty running his business