There are still many things that Peter Cooke would like to try his hand at — paper-making and feather-work are on his list. For the moment, though, he will stick to the skill that he has been delighted to make perfect over the past ten years: making delicate and unusual objects out of shells.

As he leads me round his apartment showing me his work, he points to a pair of shell-covered ornaments(装饰品) above a fireplace. “I shan’t be at all bothered if people don’t buy them because I have got so used to them, and to me they’re lovely. I never meant to sell my work commercially. Some friends came to see me about five years ago and said, ‘You must have an exhibition — people ought to see these. We’ll talk to a man who owns an art gallery’”. The result was an exhibition in London, at which 70 per cent of the objects were sold. His second exhibition opened at the gallery yesterday. Considering the enormous prices the pieces command —around ￡2,000 for the ornaments — an empty space above the fireplace would seem a small sacrifice for Cooke to make.

There are 86 pieces in the exhibition, with prices starting at￡225 for a shell-flower in a crystal vase. Cooke insists that he has nothing to do with the prices and is cheerily open about their level: he claims there is nobody else in the world who produces work like his, and, as the gallery-owner told him, “Well, you’re going to stop one day and everybody will want your pieces because there won’t be any more.”

“I do wish, though,” says Cooke, “that I’d taken this up a lot earlier, because then I would have been able to produce really wonderful things — at least the potential would have been there. Although the ideas are still there and I’m doing the best I can now, I’m more limited physically than I was when I started.” Still, the work that he has managed to produce is a long way from the common shell constructions that can be found in seaside shops. “I have a miniature(微型的) mind,” he says, and this has resulted in boxes covered in thousands of tiny shells, little shaded pictures made from shells and baskets of astonishingly realistic flowers.?

Cooke’s quest(追求) for beautiful, and especially tiny, shells has taken him further than his Norfolk shore: to France, Thailand, Mexico, South Africa and the Philippines, to name but a few of the beaches where he has lain on his stomach and looked for beauties to bring home. He is insistent that he only collects dead shells and defends himself against people who write him letters accusing him of stripping the world’s beaches. “When I am collecting shells, I hear people’s great fat feet crunching(嘎吱嘎吱地踩) them up far faster than I can collect them; and the ones that are left, the sea breaks up. I would not dream of collecting shells with living creatures in them or diving for them, but once their occupants have left, why should I not collect them?” If one bases this argument on the amount of luggage that can be carried home by one man, the beauty of whose work is often greater than its natural parts, it becomes very convincing indeed.

What does the reader learn about Peter Cooke in the first paragraph?

A. He has produced hand-made objects in different materials.?

B. He hopes to work with other materials in the future.?

C. He has written about his love of making shell objects.?

D. He was praised for his shell objects many years ago. 

When mentioning the cost of his shell objects, Cooke ____.

       A. cleverly changes the subject.

       B. defends the prices charged for his work.

       C. says he has no idea why the level is so high.

       D. notes that his work will not always be so popular.

The “small sacrifice” in Paragraph 2 refers to _________.?

A. the loss of Cooke’s ornaments?          B. the display of Cooke’s ornaments?

C. the cost of keeping Cooke’s ornaments    D. the space required to store Cooke’s ornaments

What does Cooke regret about his work?

A. He is not as famous as he should have been.?B. He makes less money than he should make.

C. He is less imaginative than he used to be.?    D. He is not as skillful as he used to be. ?

What does the reader learn about Cooke's shell-collecting activities?

A. Not everyone approves of what he does.

B. Other methods might make his work easier.

C. Other tourists get in the way of his collecting.

D. Not all shells are the right size and shape for his work

Writing articles about films for The Front Page was my first proper job．Before then I had done bits of reviewing --- novels for other newspapers, films for a magazine and anything I was asked to do for the radio．That was how I met Tom Seaton, the first arts editor of The Front Page, who had also written for television．He hired me, but Tom was not primarily a journalist, or he would certainly have been more careful in choosing his staff．

    At first, his idea was that a team of critics should take care of the art forms that didn’t require specialized knowledge: books, TV, theatre, film and radio．There would be a weekly lunch at which we would make our choices from the artistic material that Tom had decided we should cover, though there would also be guests to make the atmosphere sociable．

   Tom’s original plan for a team of critics for the arts never took off．It was a good idea, but we didn’t get together as planned and so everything was done by phone．It turned out, too, that the general public out there preferred to associate a reviewer with a single subject area, and so I chose film．Without Tom’s initial push, though, we would hardly have come up with the present arrangement, by which I write an extended weekly piece, usually on one film．

    The space I am given allows me to broaden my argument --- or forces me, in an uninteresting week, to make something out of nothing．But what is my role in the public arena（舞台）? I suppose that people choose what films to go to on the basis of the stars, the publicity of the director．So if a film review isn’t really a consumer guide, what is it? I certainly don’t feel I have a responsibility to be ‘right’ about a movie．Nor do I think there should be a certain number of ‘great’ and ‘bad’ films each year．All I have to do is put forward an argument．I’m not a judge, and nor would I want to be．

What do we learn about Tom Seaton from the first paragraph?

       A．He encouraged Mark to become a writer．

       B．He had worked in various areas of the media．

       C．He met Mark when working for a film company．

       D．He prefers to employ people that he knows．

The weekly lunches were planned in order to ______．

       A．help the writers get to know each other

       B．provide an informal information party

       C．divide the work that had to be done

       D．entertain important visitors from the arts

What does the author mean when he says that Tom’s plan ‘never took off’ in Paragraph 3?

       A．It was unpopular．               B．It wasted too much time．

       C．It wasn’t planned properly．     D．It wasn’t put into practice．

Which of the following best describes what Mark says about his work?

       A．His success varies from year to year．   B．He prefers to write about films he likes．

       C．He can freely express his opinion．     D．He writes according to accepted rules．

I was in my third year of teaching creative writing at a high school in New York, when one of my students, 15-year-old Mikey, gave me a note from his mother. It explained his absence from class the day before.

I had seen Mikey himself writing the note at his desk. Most parental-excuse notes I received were penned by my students. If I were to deal with them, I’d be busy 24 hours a day. The forged excuse notes made a large pile, with writing that ranged from imaginative to crazy. The writers of those notes didn’t realize that honest excuse notes were usually dull: “Peter was late because the alarm clock didn’t go off.”

Isn’t it remarkable, I thought, how the students complained and said it was hard putting 200 words together on any subject? But when they produced excuse notes, they were brilliant.

So one day I typed out a dozen excuse notes and gave them to my classes. I said, “They’re supposed to be written by parents, but actually they are not. True, Mikey?” The students looked at me nervously.

“Now, this will be the first class to study the art of the excuse note --- the first class, ever, to practice writing them. You’re so lucky to have a teacher like me who has taken your best writing and turned it into a subject worthy of study. ”

Everyone smiled as I went on, “You used your imaginations. So try more now. Today I’d like you to write ‘An Excuse Note from Adam to God’ or ‘An Excuse Note from Eve to God’.” Heads went down. Pens raced across paper. For the first time ever I saw students so careful in their writing that they had to be asked to go to lunch by their friends.

The next day everyone had excuse notes. Heated discussions followed. The headmaster entered the classroom and walked up and down, looking at papers, and then said, “I’d like you to see me in my office.”

When I stepped into his office, he came to shake my hand and said, “I just want to tell you that that lesson, that task, whatever the hell you were doing, was great. Those kids were writing on the college level. Thank you. ”

1.What did the author do with the students found dishonest?

A．He reported them to the headmaster.        B．He lectured them hard on honesty.

C．He had them take notes before lunch.        D．He helped improve their writing skills.

2.The author found that compared with the true excuse notes, the produced ones by the students were usually ________.

A．less impressive     B．less convincing     C．worse written      D．more imaginative

3.The author had the students practice writing excuse notes so that the students could learn_________.

A．the importance of being honest            B．how to be creative in writing

C．the pleasure of creative writing             D．how to write excuse notes skillfully

4. The underlined word “forged” in the second paragraph means “________”.

A．false             B．copied            C．former           D．honest

5.What did the headmaster think of the author’s way of teaching?

A．Misleading.        B．Difficult           C．Effective.          D．Reasonable.

A. Agra Fort

Near the gardens of the Taj Mahal stands the important 16th-century Mughal monument known as the Red Fort of Agra. This powerful fortress of red sandstone encompasses, within its 2.5-km-long enclosure walls, the imperial city of the Mughal rulers. It comprises many fairy-tale palaces, such as the Jahangir Palace and the Khas Mahal, built by Shah Jahan; audience halls, such as the Diwan-i-Khas; and two very beautiful mosques.
B. Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal is regarded as one of the eight wonders of the world, and some Western historians have noted that its architectural beauty has never been surpassed. The Taj is the most beautiful monument built by the Mughals, the Muslim rulers of India. Taj Mahal is built entirely of white marble. It was constructed over a period of twenty-two years, employing twenty thousand workers. It was completed in 1648 C.E. at a cost of 32 Million Rupees.
C. Keoladeo National Park

This former duck-hunting reserve of the Maharajas is one of the major wintering areas for large numbers of aquatic birds from Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, China and Siberia. Some 364 species of birds, including the rare Siberian crane, have been recorded in the park.
D. Humayun's Tomb, Delhi

This tomb, built in 1570, is of particular cultural significance as it was the first garden-tomb on the Indian subcontinent. It inspired several major architectural innovations, culminating in the construction of the Taj Mahal. The gardens also contain the red-and-white sandstone and black-and-yellow marble tomb of Humayun’s wife and the tomb of Humayun’s barber.
E. Grand Canyon National Park

The Grand Canyon is perhaps the most awesome sight in the United States--and one of the wonders of the world. Much of the park's beauty is related to its geology and ecology. Schmidt explores the shape of the land, its plants and animals, and its human history. A fascinating book that everyone visiting the Grand Canyon should read. The Skywalk at Grand Canyon West is really exciting.
F.Sundarbans National Park

The Sundarbans covers 10,000 sq. km of land and water (more than half of it in India, the rest in Bangladesh) in the Ganges delta. It contains the world's largest area of mangrove forests. A number of rare or endangered species live in the park, including tigers, aquatic mammals, birds and reptiles.
请阅读以下旅游者的信息，然后匹配旅游者和他/她拟旅游的景点。
【小题1】Nancy comes from the history department. Last summer she visited the ancient markets of Agra and this year she wants to visit it again. Not long ago she said: “Arriving at the Delhi airport, we representatives were warmly received. Our tiredness flew in seconds by the traditional welcome that we got at the hotel’s reception.” The next day they visited the famous tomb.
【小题2】Sammy majors in history. He will visit it again this summer. He says it’s built entirely of white Marble and is one of the eight wonders of the world. Its beauty is beyond description, particularly at dawn and sunset. It seems to glow in the light of the full moon. On a foggy morning, the visitors experience it as if suspended when viewed from across the Jamuna river.
【小题3】Alexander is a college student of Physics. He learns that this canyon is a gift from past generations that goes beyond what we experience. He is looking forward to going there and experiencing the Skywalk in the park.
【小题4】Daisy’s major is biology. She is interested in studies of tigers in India. Before graduation, she needs to write an essay on the tiger. She hears that it is one of the largest tiger populations of any of India’s parks. And so she wants to go there to do some research.
【小题5】Carina is fond of art and likes travelling very much. In order to take part in the following exhibition, she wants to take some photos of birds from all over the world, especially the rare Siberian crane. In the meanwhile, she doesn’t want to spend too much money.

阅读下列应用文及相关信息，并按照要求匹配信息。 请在答题卡上将对应题号的相应选项字母涂黑。

以下是旅游景点的信息：

A. Agra Fort

Near the gardens of the Taj Mahal stands the important 16th-century Mughal monument known as the Red Fort of Agra. This powerful fortress of red sandstone encompasses, within its 2.5-km-long enclosure walls, the imperial city of the Mughal rulers. It comprises many fairy-tale palaces, such as the Jahangir Palace and the Khas Mahal, built by Shah Jahan; audience halls, such as the Diwan-i-Khas; and two very beautiful mosques.

B. Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal is regarded as one of the eight wonders of the world, and some Western historians have noted that its architectural beauty has never been surpassed. The Taj is the most beautiful monument built by the Mughals, the Muslim rulers of India. Taj Mahal is built entirely of white marble. It was constructed over a period of twenty-two years, employing twenty thousand workers. It was completed in 1648 C.E. at a cost of 32 Million Rupees.

C. Keoladeo National Park

This former duck-hunting reserve of the Maharajas is one of the major wintering areas for large numbers of aquatic birds from Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, China and Siberia. Some 364 species of birds, including the rare Siberian crane, have been recorded in the park.

D. Humayun's Tomb, Delhi

This tomb, built in 1570, is of particular cultural significance as it was the first garden-tomb on the Indian subcontinent. It inspired several major architectural innovations, culminating in the construction of the Taj Mahal. The gardens also contain the red-and-white sandstone and black-and-yellow marble tomb of Humayun’s wife and the tomb of Humayun’s barber.

E. Grand Canyon National Park

The Grand Canyon is perhaps the most awesome sight in the United States--and one of the wonders of the world. Much of the park's beauty is related to its geology and ecology. Schmidt explores the shape of the land, its plants and animals, and its human history. A fascinating book that everyone visiting the Grand Canyon should read. The Skywalk at Grand Canyon West is really exciting.

F.Sundarbans National Park

The Sundarbans covers 10,000 sq. km of land and water (more than half of it in India, the rest in Bangladesh) in the Ganges delta. It contains the world's largest area of mangrove forests. A number of rare or endangered species live in the park, including tigers, aquatic mammals, birds and reptiles.

请阅读以下旅游者的信息，然后匹配旅游者和他/她拟旅游的景点。

46. Carina is fond of art and likes travelling very much. In order to take part in the following exhibition, she wants to take some photos of birds from all over the world, especially the rare Siberian crane. In the meanwhile, she doesn’t want to spend too much money.

47. Daisy’s major is biology. She is interested in studies of tigers in India. Before graduation, she needs to write an essay on the tiger. She hears that it is one of the largest tiger populations of any of India’s parks. And so she wants to go there to do some research.

48. Alexander is a college student of Physics. He learns that this canyon is a gift from past generations that goes beyond what we experience. He is looking forward to going there and experiencing the Skywalk in the park.

49. Sammy majors in history. He will visit it again this summer. He says it’s built entirely of white Marble and is one of the eight wonders of the world. Its beauty is beyond description, particularly at dawn and sunset. It seems to glow in the light of the full moon. On a foggy morning, the visitors experience it as if suspended when viewed from across the Jamuna river.

50. Nancy comes from the history department. Last summer she visited the ancient markets of Agra and this year she wants to visit it again. Not long ago she said: “Arriving at the Delhi airport, we representatives were warmly received. Our tirdness flew in seconds by the traditional welcome that we got at the hotel’s reception.” The next day they visited the famous tomb.