As a solo artist, Brightman has sold 26 million albums and two million DVDs in 34 countries. Her musical styles put opera, pop and jazz together. She is popular in the States but not here(Britain) – the image of her and her second husband, Andrew Lloyd Webber (he much older, she his muse) seems for ever frozen.

The 47-year-old singer talks about the new album Symphony that came out of a “very dark time”, including her decision to give up trying to have children. “People have suggested I could adopt,” Brightman says. “But work is central to my life now. And so I am going to put it to one side. After a while not having children becomes the norm and perhaps that might sound alarming, to parents especially, but I have never known anything different. I’m not hurt by not having children. My life and career are incredibly rich.”

Talking about growing up in a large family in Berkhamsted (father a property developer who later committed suicide), she says: “I was gifted as a child, and very musical. I seemed to be good at anything to do with the arts. At 5 I understood the music I was dancing to and had an eye for costume.” She first appeared in a West End musical at 11 and hated boarding school.

Brightman led the saucy dance troupe（辣妹三人舞） Hot Gossip and had her first hit with I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper in 1978. At 18 she married a music manager called Andrew Graham Stewart. “I was probably in love but I can’t remember. Girls change such a lot between 18 and 22. It didn’t really work out.” In 1981 she was spotted by Lloyd Webber. She became his leading lady in Song and Dance, Requiem and Phantom of the Opera. They married in 1984.

Brightman says she felt hostility(敌意) “from the beginning. I haven’t tried to understand it. I’ve done very well everywhere else, especially the US, where I now live, I just accept it for what it is. The more you are away from Britain, the more you appreciate it. But I don’t miss it, although I miss my family. Our profession can be uncomfortable but I enjoy what I do. I get on with it.”

The first paragraph tells us that _____.

  A. Brightman is very popular around the world except in America

  B. Brightman’s musical style is a mixture of opera, pop and jazz

  C. the British people don’t like her for her style of music

  D. Brightman is much older than Andrew Lloyd Webber

Brightman decided to give up having children because _____.

  A. she could adopt one    B. her life and career were unbelievably rich without children

  C. she felt it normal not to have children   D. she was too busy

The following statements are true except ______.

  A. Brightman first appeared in a West End musical at 5

  B. Brightman disliked life on the campus

  C. Brightman was very gifted when she was young

  D.The saucy dance troupe made Brightman famous

The underlined word in the fourth paragraph probably means _____.

  A. located     B. admired     C. followed     D. found

What does the author try to say in the last paragraph by quoting Brightman’s words?

  A. Brightman has to accept the fact that she is liked in Britain

  B. Brightman lives in America but she loves her own country

  C. The British coldness towards Brightman led to her hatred to her homeland

  D. Brightman was at a loss why she was not welcome in Britain

As kids, my friends and I spent a lot of time out in the woods. “The woods” was our part-time address, destination, purpose, and excuse. If I went to a friend’s house and found him not at home, his mother might say, “Oh, he’s out in the woods, ” with a tone(语气) of airy acceptance. It’s similar to the tone people sometimes use nowadays to tell me that someone I’m looking for is on the golf course or at the gym, or even “away from his desk.” For us ten-year-olds, “being out in the woods” was just an excuse to do whatever we feel like for a while.

We sometimes told ourselves that what we were doing in the woods was exploring(探索). Exploring was a more popular idea back then than it is today. History seemed to be mostly about explorers. Our explorations, though, seemed to have less system than the historic kind: something usually came up along the way. Say we stayed in the woods, throwing rocks, shooting frogs, picking blackberries, digging in what we were briefly persuaded was an Italian burial mound.

Often we got “lost” and had to climb a tree to find out where we were. If you read a story in which someone does that successfully, be skeptical: the topmost branches are usually too skinny to hold weight, and we could never climb high enough to see anything except other trees. There were four or five trees that we visited regularly----tall beeches, easy to climb and comfortable to sit in.

It was in a tree, too, that our days of fooling around in the woods came to an end. By then some of us has reached seventh grade and had begun the rough ride of adolescence（青春期）. In March, the month when we usually took to the woods again after winter, two friends and I set out to go exploring. We climbed a tree, and all of a sudden it occurred to all three of us at the same time that were really were rather big to be up in a tree. Soon there would be the spring dances on Friday evenings in the high school cafeteria.

The author and his fiends were often out in the woods to _______.

   A. avoid doing their schoolwork

   B. play gold and other sports

   C. spend their free time

   D. keep away from their parents

What can we infer from Paragraph 2?

   A. The author explored in the woods aimlessly.

   B. Human history is not the result of exploration.

   C. Exploration should be a systematic activity.

   D. The activities in the woods were well planned.The author explored in the woods aimlessly.

The underlined word “skeptical” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ______.

   A. doubtful

   B. calm

   C. serious

   D. optimistic

How does the author feel about his childhood?

   A. Long and unforgettable.

   B. Lonely but memorable.

   C. Boring and meaningless.

   D. Happy but short.

As kids, my friends and I spent a lot of time out in the woods. “The woods” was our part-time address, destination, purpose, and excuse. If I went to a friend’s house and found him not at home, his mother might say, “Oh, he’s out in the woods, ” with a tone(语气) of airy acceptance. It’s similar to the tone people sometimes use nowadays to tell me that someone I’m looking for is on the golf course or at the gym, or even “away from his desk.” For us ten-year-olds, “being out in the woods” was just an excuse to do whatever we feel like for a while.

We sometimes told ourselves that what we were doing in the woods was exploring(探索). Exploring was a more popular idea back then than it is today. History seemed to be mostly about explorers. Our explorations, though, seemed to have less system than the historic kind: something usually came up along the way. Say we stayed in the woods, throwing rocks, shooting frogs, picking blackberries, digging in what we were briefly persuaded was an Italian burial mound.

Often we got “lost” and had to climb a tree to find out where we were. If you read a story in which someone does that successfully, be skeptical: the topmost branches are usually too skinny to hold weight, and we could never climb high enough to see anything except other trees. There were four or five trees that we visited regularly----tall beeches, easy to climb and comfortable to sit in.

It was in a tree, too, that our days of fooling around in the woods came to an end. By then some of us has reached seventh grade and had begun the rough ride of adolescence（青春期）. In March, the month when we usually took to the woods again after winter, two friends and I set out to go exploring. We climbed a tree, and all of a sudden it occurred to all three of us at the same time that were really were rather big to be up in a tree. Soon there would be the spring dances on Friday evenings in the high school cafeteria.

The author and his fiends were often out in the woods to _______.

   A. spend their free time                 B. play gold and other sports

   C. avoid doing their schoolwork         D. keep away from their parents

What can we infer from Paragraph 2?

   A. The activities in the woods were well planned.

   B. Human history is not the result of exploration.

   C. Exploration should be a systematic activity.

   D. The author explored in the woods aimlessly.

The underlined word “skeptical” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ______.

   A. calm      B. doubtful      C. serious        D. optimistic

How does the author feel about his childhood?

   A. Happy but short.                B. Lonely but memorable.

   C. Boring and meaningless.         D. Long and unforgettable.

As parents, we like to make sure that our children are eating well and getting all the nutrients(营养)they need. Children need two to three kinds of vegetables every day.

A simple way to get our children to eat vegetables is by eating them ourselves. Following our example, they may start eating vegetables themselves. Don't say things like, "If you eat your vegetables, you can have dessert. "These methods work for a little while but can possibly lead them to hate vegetables more. Give your children new varieties of foods which will help them develop a taste for trying new things.

Sometimes the simple things just don't work. We have to start becoming a little creative to make our children eat vegetables. By doing this in the beginning when children are small, we will help them learn to love vegetables.

Think of creative ways to make children eat vegetables. For example, cut up vegetables like carrots, cucumbers and place them in a creative way on a plate for an afternoon snack(零食). Or try using cheese sauce either by dipping(蘸) the vegetables in it or by putting the cheese right on top of cooked or raw vegetables.

If you prefer, you can also add a teaspoon (茶匙)of sugar on top of cooked green beans and peas to make them taste a little sweeter. Doing this shouldn't lead to a sweet tooth as long as you only give them a small amount.

If you have children that refuse to eat vegetables, some of these suggestions I've listed will help to turn that around. In the end, you're not only just getting them to eat vegetables, you're also helping them to live a healthier lifestyle.

65. According to the passage, all the following ways to get children to eat vegetables are creative EXCEPT________

A. preparing carrots in an attractive way           

B. adding some cheese sauce to vegetables

C. putting cheese on top of vegetables      

D. making vegetables very sweet

66. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A. Children need to eat vegetables every day for their health.

B. It is necessary to think of creative ways to make children eat vegetables.

C. Sugar can make children keep a healthy diet.

D. Parents should help children live a healthy lifestyle.

67. If you want your children lo develop the habit of eating vegetables, you should_____.

A. set an example to them          

B. be very patient with them

C. give dessert to them as an award   

D. cut vegetables into different shapes to meet their tastes

68. The best title for the passage would probably be_______.

A. Vegetables are very important to children's health

B. More and more children like eating vegetables

C. How to make children eat more vegetables

D. There are many kinds of vegetables for children

As kids, my friends and I spent a lot of time out in the woods．“The woods” was our part-time address, destination, purpose, and excuse．If I went to a friends house and found him not at home, his mother might say, “Oh, he’s out in the woods, ” with a tone（语气） of airy acceptance．It is similar to the tone people sometimes use nowadays to tell me that someone I’m looking for is on the golf course or at the gym, or even “away from his desk．” For us ten-year-olds, “being out in the woods” was just an excuse to do whatever we feel like for a while．

We sometimes told ourselves that what we were doing in the woods was exploring（探索）．Exploring was a more popular idea back then than it is today．History seemed to be mostly about explorers．Our explorations, though, seemed to have less system than the historic kind: something usually came up along the way．Say we stayed in the woods, throwing rocks, shooting frogs, picking blackberries, digging in what we were briefly persuaded was an Indian burial mound．

Often we got “lost” and had to climb a tree to find out where we were．If you read a story in which someone does that successfully, be skeptical: the topmost branches are usually too skinny to hold weight, and we could never climb high enough to see anything except other trees．There were four or five trees that we visited regularly—tall beeches, easy to climb and comfortable to sit in．

It was in a tree, too, that our days of fooling around in the woods came to an end．By then some of us had reached seventh grade and had begun the rough ride of adolescence（青春期）．In March, the month when we usually took to the woods again after winter, two friends and I set out to go exploring．We climbed a tree, and all of a sudden it occurred to all three of us at the same time that we really were rather big to be up in a tree．Soon there would be the spring dances on Friday evenings in the high school cafeteria．

The author and his friends were often out in the woods to _______．

     A．spend their free time               B．play golf and other sports

     C．avoid doing their schoolwork  D．keep away from their parents

What can we infer from Paragraph 2 ?

     A．The activities in the woods were well planned．

     B．Human history is not the result of exploration．

     C．Exploration should be a systematic activity．

     D．The author explored in the woods aimlessly．

The underlined word “skeptical” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ______．

     A．calm       B．doubtful   C．serious      D．optimistic

How does the author feel about his childhood?

     A．Happy but short．            B．Lonely but memorable．

     C．Boring and meaningless．      D．Long and unforgettable．