Chaplin, one of the greatest and funniest actors, was born in London in 1889. When a poor boy, he was often seen waiting outside the London theatres, hoping to get work in show business. He could sing and dance, and above all, he knew how to make people laugh. But he couldn’t get work and therefore wandered about the city streets.

   Charlie Chaplin first acted when he was five. He broke into show business because his mother, a music-hall performer, lost her voice during the performance and had to leave the stage, and Charlie went on and sang a well-known song. Halfway through the song, a shower of money poured onto the stage. Charlie stopped singing and told audiences he would pick the money first and then finish the song. The audiences laughed. This was the first of millions of laughs in Charlie Chaplin’s fabulous(神话) career.

    Twenty years later the same Chaplin became the greatest and best loved comedian in the world. His dream came true in the world. His dream came true in the end. Chaplin became world-famous and almost a king in the world of the film.

    Even people who don’t understand English can enjoy Chaplin’s films because they are mostly silent. The equipment for adding sound to films had not yet been developed. The development of films with sound became a problem for Chaplin, as he was uncertain about making films with dialogues. Instead, he coninued to make films without dialogue, but he added music, which he wrote himself. It isn’t what he says that makes us laugh. His comedy doesn’t depend on words. It depends on little actions which mean the same thing to people the world over.

    Chaplin lived most of his life in America and the last years in Switzerland, where he was buried at Christmas 1977, at the age of eighty-eight. There was sadness all over the world at the news of his death.

    In his book, Chaplin tells us how to succeed in life. He says, “You have to believe in yourself. That’s the secret.”

1.Chaplin is regarded as king of comedy mainly because______.

A. lots of people have seen his films

B. he could sing and dance well

C. he knew how to make people laugh

D. he acted out the common human situations best in his comedy

2.What makes people laugh in Chaplin’s films?

A. It isn’t his words but his actions.               B. Neither his words nor actions.

C. Either his words or his actions.                D. Not only his words but also his actions.

3.The only secret of Charles Chaplin’s huge success is that______.

A. he can make all people, men and women, old and young laugh

B. he has full trust in himself

C. he is always active and hard-working all his life

D. though he is always in trouble, he never loses heart

4.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A. He was too shy to meet the managers of the theatres.

B. People won’t stop laughing until tears run down Chaplin’s face.

C. People all over the world can enjoy Chaplin’s films without translation because most of them are silent.

D. He wouldn’t like to work at the theatre.    

 

My grandparents were married for over half a century, and played their own special game from the time they met each other. The goal of their game was to write the word “shmily” in a surprise place for the other to find.

“Shmily” was written in the steam left on the mirror after a hot shower, where it would reappear bath after bath. At one point, my grandmother even opened an entire roll of toilet paper to leave “shmily” on the very last sheet. Little notes with “shmily” scribbled (潦草地写) hurriedly were found on dashboards (仪表板) and car seats, or taped to steering wheels.

It took me a long time before I was able to fully appreciate my grandparents’ game. Skepticism (怀疑态度) had kept me from believing in true love — one that is pure and lasting. However, I never doubted my grandparents’ relationship. They had love down pat. It was more than their flirtatious (爱调戏的) little games; it was a way of life. Their relationship was based on devotion and passionate love.

Grandma and Grandpa held hands every chance they could. They stole kisses as they bumped into each other in their tiny kitchen. They finished each other’s sentences and shared the daily crossword puzzle and word jumble. My grandma whispered to me about how cute my grandpa was, how handsome and old he had grown to be. She claimed that she really knew “how to pick ‘em.”

But there came a dark cloud into my grandparents’ life: when my grandmother got breast cancer. Gradually it took over the whole of her body. One day, what we all dreaded finally happened. Grandma was gone.

“Shmily.” It was scrawled in yellow on the pink ribbons of my grandmother’s funeral bouquet (花束). The family came forward and gathered around Grandma one last time. Grandpa stepped up to my grandmother’s casket (棺) and, taking a shaky breath, he began to sing to her. Through his tears and sadness, the song came, a deep and throaty lullaby (催眠曲,). Shaking with my own sorrow, I would never forget that moment.

S-h-m-i-l-y: See How Much I Love You.

1.The point of the article is to ________.

A. give advice on how to keep love fresh  

B. explain to readers the meaning of “shmily”

C. show the true love between the writer’s grandparents

D. express how much the writer loved her grandparents

2.What is the function of the second paragraph?

A. To support the first paragraph.                  B. To introduce the next paragraph.

C. To give the main idea of the article.     D. To make the article more interesting.

3.The author’s grandmother ________.

A. used to kiss her grandfather in secret

B. died from breast cancer, which spread all over

C. played crossword puzzle daily with her grandfather

D. considered her grandfather old and careless

4.What is the author’s attitude toward her grandparents’ love?

A. She doubts whether it was true love.

B. She finds their way of expressing love strange.

C. She admires their romantic and passionate love.

D. She thinks she will never be able to love like that.

 

 

The song is about a couple forced to separate _________, but they valued the memories of their love all their lives.

         A. casually        B. permanently        C. temporarily          D. frequently

 

By now you may be thinking, “Enough with the sad songs, already!” Ok, then how about a cowboy song? Gene Autry was one of America’s most famous singing cowboys. He recorded When It’s Springtime in the Rockies in 1937.
And finally, we’ll leave you with a sunny song called Up Jumped Spring. Freddie Hubbard wrote this jazz song in 1977 and Billy Taylor Trio performs it.
【小题1】If you are in a bad mood, you’d better listen to _____.

A．Up Jumped Spring	B．I Dream of Spring
C．Spring Is Here	D．Spring Will be a Little Late This Year

【小题2】It Might as Well Be Spring is a song that ______.

A．is also called State Fair	B．is sung by Ella Fitzgerald
C．has a lonely feeling	D．was written by two people

【小题3】According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
A. Most songs about spring are written by Italian composers.
B. K.D. Lang was good at writing happy songs.
C. Sarah Vaughn sang the song Up Jumped Spring first.
D. Gene Autry was a famous cowboy singer before K.D. Lang.
【小题4】Which of the following songs was first written or recorded?

A．Spring.

B．I Dream of Spring.

C．When It’s Springtime in the Rockies.

D．Spring Will be a Little Late This Year.

【小题5】 What’s the purpose of the author to write the passage?

A．Introduce some songs about spring.

B．Introduce some wonderful music.

C．Introduce some famous singers.

D．Express his/ her love to spring

Watching some children trying to catch butterflies one hot August afternoon, I was reminded of an incident in my own childhooD．When I was a boy of 12 in South Carolina, something happened to me that cured me forever of wanting to put any wild creature in a cage.

We lived on the edge of a wood, and every evening at dusk the mockingbirds would come and rest in the trees and sing. There isn’t a musical instrument made by man that can produce a more beautiful sound than the song of the mockingbird.

I decided that I would catch a young bird and keep it in a cage and in that way would have my own private musician.

I finally succeeded in catching one and put it in a cage. At first, in its fright at being captured, the bird fluttered about the cage, but eventually it settled down in its new home. I felt very pleased with myself and looked forward to some beautiful singing from my tiny musician.

I had left the cage out on our back porch, and on the second day of the bird’s captivity my new pet’s mother flew to the cage with food in her mouth. The baby bird ate everything she brought to it. I was pleased to see this. Certainly the mother knew better than I how to feed her baby.

The following morning when I went to see how my captive was doing, I discovered it on the floor of the cage, dead. I was shocked! What had happened! I had taken excellent care of my little bird, or so I thought.

Arthur Wayne, the famous ornithologist, happened to be visiting my father at the time, hearing me crying over the death of my bird, explained what had occurred. “A mother mockingbird, finding her young in a cage, will sometimes bring it poison berries. She thinks it better for her young to die than to live in captivity.”

Never since then have I caught any living creature and put it in a cage. All living creatures have a right to live free.

64．Why did the writer catch a mockingbird when he was a boy of 12?

A．He had just got a new cage.         B．He liked its beautiful feather.

C．He wanted it to sing for him.         D．He wanted a pet for a companion.

65．The mockingbird died because it ______.

A．was frightened to death          B．ate the poisonous food its mother gave it

C．refused to eat anything            D．drank the poisonous water by mistake

66．An ornithologist probably means ______.

A．a religious person                 B．a kind person

C．a schoolmaster                   D．a expert in birds

67．What is the most important lesson the writer learned from the incident?

A．Freedom is very valuable to all creatures.

B．All birds put in a cage won’t live long.

C．You should keep the birds from their mother.

D．Be careful about food you give to baby birds.