On a cold January morning in a Washington, DC Metro Station, a man with a violin played for about an hour. During that time about 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

       After 3 minutes a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He stopped for a few seconds and then hurried on. Four minutes later the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat without stopping and continued to walk. After 6 minutes, a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and walked away. After 10 minutes, a 3-year-old boy stopped but his mother dragged him along hurriedly. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

      Finally only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money, but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $ 32. When he finished playing, no one applauded.

       The violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate (复杂的) pieces ever written, with a violin worth $ 3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold out a theatre in Boston where the seats averaged $ 100 each.

       The program was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about understanding, taste, and people’s social position. In a common place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we appreciate beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

      If we do not take a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

The first paragraph is aimed to tell us ______.

     A. the man chose a bad place for playing      B. what background the story was set in

     C. how busy people were that morning         D. many people showed interest in music

We can infer from the passage that ______.

     A. none of the passers-by were fond of music

     B. beauty can only be enjoyed in particular places

C. in a way, the violinist was mistaken as a beggar

D. Joshua Bell first played the violin in the station

According to the writer, people should _____.

     A. listen to as many great musicians as possible

     B. try to create beautiful things for others to enjoy

     C. show kindness to anyone whether they’re rich or not

     D. notice and appreciate what’s going on in their daily life

Humans are naturally drawn to other life forms and the worlds outside of our own. We take delight in the existence of creatures and even whole societies beyond our everyday lives.

This sense of wonder is universal. Look at the efforts that scientists have made to find out whether life of some kind exists on Mars, and the popularity of fantasy literature or movies like The Lord of the Rings. This sense of wonder draws us to each other, to the world around us, and to the world of make-believe. But have we gone so far in creating worlds of fantasy that we are missing the pleasure of other worlds that already exist all around us?

Human beings, as biologists have suggested, possess an inborn desire to connect with and understand other life forms. However, people, especially in big cities, often lead rather isolated lives. In a study of British schoolchildren, it was found that children by age eight were much more familiar with characters from television shows and video games than with common wildlife. Without modem technology, a small pond could be an amazing world filled with strange and beautiful plants, insects, birds, and animals. When we lack meaningful interaction(交互) with the world around us, and sometimes even with our families and friends, we seek to understand and communicate with things that exist only in our imaginations or on a computer screen。

The world of make-believe is not necessarily bad. But when the world of fantasy becomes the only outlet(出路) for our sense of wonder, then we are really missing something. We are missing a connection with the living world. Other wonderful worlds exist all around us. But even more interesting is that if we look closely enough, we can see that these worlds, in a broad sense, are really part of our own.

1.The popularity of The Lord of the Rings proves        

A. the close connection between man and the fantasy world        

B. the wonderful achievements of fantasy literature

C. the fine taste of moviegoers around the world

D. the general existence of the sense of curiosity

2.What can we infer from the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3?

A. People are far less familiar with the world of fantasy.

B. The world around us could serve as a source of wonder.

C. The world of fantasy can be mirrored by a small and lively pond.

D. Modern technology prevents us from developing our sense of wonder.

3. If our sense of wonder relies totally on the world of make-believe, we will        

A. fail to appreciate the joy in our lives

B. be confused by the world of make-believe

C. miss the chance to recognize the fantasy world

D. be trapped by other worlds existing all around us

4. What is the main purpose of the passage?

A. To show us the hidden beauty in our world.

B. To warn us not to get lost in the fantasy world.

C. To argue against the misuse of the sense of wonder.

D. To discuss the influence of the world of make-believe.

Dear Cary,

I’m writing because I’ve understood you’ve struggled with alcoholism(酗酒)．I’ve been fighting mine ever since I went through 9-11．After that，I’ve been more or less useless professionally –I’m a lawyer–and have had to resign from my job because I was discovered passed-out drunk in front of my computer. I’ve taken some medicine and it has helped somewhat. I can manage about a month without drinking，but after that I end up having a crazy stage where nothing matters except drinking．After a week or so of heavy drinking，I start having nightmares of people jumping. After that，it’s a week of not being able to get out of bed.

   I was supposed to travel to a conference but didn’t make it because I got so drunk at the airport that I fell down on my face and spent the rest of the day in the emergency room. I have been hiding from my family since then．Fortunately they won’t be expecting me to come back for a week or so. Otherwise, they would notice the bump on my forehead and two black eyes．

I don’t really know what I’m asking you．Cary, I need a way out that doesn’t involve causing pain to my family．I’m taking medicine，but I still have these attacks every few months．If there’s alcohol in the house，I can’t stay away from it．It seems that this will never end. I’m afraid of what will happen if something bad happens，like a family member dying, or getting fired again．

  Thanks for reading．

  Yours T

1.The underlined sentence shows us all the following EXCEPT____________．

A．that the author is a lawyer by profession

B．that the author is a lawyer and he seldom gets drunk

C．the reason why the author had to resign

D．that the author was once discovered drunk as a fish

2.The author writes to Cary in order to____________．

A．offer advice                                                       B．tell a story

C．avoid nightmares                                               D．ask for help

3.What is the author worried about?

A．Losing his job                                                     B．Missing the conference

C．Bring pain to his family                                     D．Giving up drinking

4.What do we learn from the passage?

A．T’s family members don’t want to see him because of his alcoholism．

B．Getting drunk once prevented T from attending a conference．

C．T will have nightmares when he stops drinking．

D．T never attempted to give up his alcoholism．

5.We know from the passage that Cary____________．

A．likes to talk about the details of his life．

B．is an expert on treating alcoholism

C．is probably a recovered alcoholic

D．never suffered from alcoholism

OLYMPIA, March 24—Luo Xuejuan, a swimming gold medalist at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, became the first Chinese person to relay the Olympic Flame in Greece on Monday, receiving the flame from the first Olympic torchbearer(火炬手), Greek Alexandros Nikolaidis.

   Despite her previous experience as a torchbearer in the Beijing leg of the Athens 2004 torch relay, Luo felt honored and proud of being chosen as the first Chinese torchbearer, the Xihua News Agency reported Luo as saying in an interview.

   She talked about the great responsibility that she felt, as she believed she was representing every Chinese athlete and even Chinese person by running her leg of the relay.

   Regarding missing the torch lighting ceremony because she had to be in an assigned location to wait for the flame, Luo felt no regret. “Even though I couldn’t see it, I was able to feel the flame light and knew that it was happening at a place nearby,” she said.

   Luo expressed her belief that even if people couldn’t communicate with words, the Olympic Flame enables the transmission of the Olympic spirit and brings smiles wherever it might go. In Luo’s mind, the Olympic spirit represents purity, competition, friendship, enthusiasm, peace and harmony.

1.Why didn’t Luo see the torch lighting ceremony?

2. Choose the best explanation for the underlined word “leg” in Paragraph Three.

3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

4.What’s the best title of the passage?

5.This passage is most likely to be seen in a        .

   One of our biggest fears nowadays is that our kids might some day get lost in a “sea of technology” rather than experiencing the natural world. Fear-producing TV and computer games are leading to a serious disconnect between kids and the great outdoors, which will changes the wild places of the world, its creatures and human health for the worse, unless adults get working on child’s play.

   Each of us has a place in nature we go sometimes, even if it was torn down. We cannot be the last generation to have that place. At this rate, kids who miss the sense of wonder outdoors will not grow up to be protectors of natural landscapes. “If the decline in parks use continues across North America, who will defend parks against encroachment (蚕食)?” asks Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods.

   Without having a nature experience, kids, can turn out just fine, but they are missing out a huge enrichment of their lives. That applies to everything from their physical health and mental health, to stress levels, creativity and cognitive (认知的) skills. Experts predict modern kids will have poorer health than their parents―and they say a lack of outside play is surely part of it; research suggests that kids do better academically in schools with a nature component and that play in nature fosters (培养) leadership by the smartest, not by the toughest. Even a tiny outdoor experience can create wonder in a child. The three-year-old turning over his first rock realizes he is not alone in the world. A clump of trees on the roadside can be the whole universe in his eyes. We really need to value that more.

   Kids are not to blame. They are over-protected and frightened. It is dangerous out there from time to time, but repetitive stress from computers is replacing breaking an arm as a childhood rite（仪式）of passage.

   Everyone, from developers, to schools and outdoorsy citizens, should help regain for our kids some of the freedom and joy of exploring, taking friendship in fields and woods that cement (增强) love, respect and need for landscape. As parents, we should devote some of our energies to taking our kids into nature. This could yet be our greatest cause.

69. The main idea of Paragraph 2 is that __________.

   A. kids missing the sense of wonder outdoors       

B. parks are in danger of being gradually encroached

C. Richard Louv is the author of Last Child in the Woods

D. children are expected to develop into protectors of nature

70. According to the passage, children without experiencing nature will _________.

   A. keep a high sense of wonder                 B. be over-protected by their parents

   C. be less healthy both physically and mentally

   D. change wild places and creatures for the better

71. According to the author, children’s breaking an arm is ___________.

   A. the fault on the part of their parents          B. the natural experience in their growing up

   C. the result of their own carelessness in play    D. the effect of their repetitive stress from computers

72. In writing this passage, the author mainly intends to ________.

   A. blame children for getting lost in computer games

   B. encourage children to protect parks from encroachment

   C. show his concern about children’s lack of experience in nature

   D. inspire children to keep the sense of wonder about things around