A trip to the library can change your life.That is the idea of the Get It Loud in Libraries project，which challenges the habit of speaking in a low voice.The sweet tones of singer Diana Vickers rang out recently，surrounded by books as well as fans，at Lancaster Library.Plan B，Adele，Florence and the Machine，Speech Debelle，and the Thrills have also performed for the project.

This five­year project aims to increase access(进入) to libraries while developing youth talent and has attracted more than 8,500 visitors,5,000 of whom are first­time library users.

“I think it’s wonderful，”Vickers says.“I’ve been playing in front of big crowds and I’m excited about close environments where you can be close to your fans.”

As a child growing up in nearby Blackburn，she says that her school library was a “second home”to her.When she was young she loved PeterRabbit and Mr.Men books，and later her favorites included LittleWomen and TheLovelyBones.

Attracted by the stage，the young who would once never have been to a library have been returning to borrow books and CDs.The project’s founder，Stewart Parsons，has worked in libraries for 25 years.He feels that the concerts have made libraries something that the young want to be part of.A mother，Lauren Zawadzki，sent him a text message after a concert：“Your work is great！！！Both Izaak and Dom have been reading in the library for the last half hour...You should be proud.They would never have suggested that before the concerts.”

Parsons hopes that the activity is changing the way people view libraries.“My big worry is that libraries trail(拖拉)behind slightly；they shouldn’t.This is about bringing libraries up to date.The beautiful thing is that people are reconnecting with the library in a way they haven’t done before.”

1.The Get It Loud in Libraries project aims to ________.

2.According to the passage，Vickers’s attitude towards Libraries project is that of ________.

3.What can we know about Diana Vickers from the passage?

4.According to the passage，Zawadzki ________.

.Everybody likes a winner, and there are always people ready to cheer for a good winner. But who has ever heard a song for the man who comes in second？ So this is in praise of the almost winner, the nearly champion（冠军）, the next to the biggest, the second best. This is the song of Mister Two.

You hear unflattering（不讨好人的）names for Mister Two. “Alsoran”, they call him, and “runner­up”, names that make you think of a fellow who couldn’t quite make it. Don’t let that fool you. Ask the winner of any race how good a man Mister Two is. He will tell you it’s Mister Two who made him run so fast, Mister Two is always threatening to overtake and pass him.

Ask the salesman who won the contest and what kept him looking for extra order. Ask the directors of the big company why they keep changing their product, seeking the new equipment, the added advantage. What drives them？ What keeps them going？ It’s the salesman with nearly as many orders. It is the company with the product almost as good. It’s Mister Two.

In this country, we’re proud of the quality of our champions. Our big men come very big. Our fast men run very fast. Our wise men are the wisest and our greatest men are the greatest that a country could hope to be blessed with. And why is that？ It is Mister Two that makes the race always open and everybody can run. So this is for you, Mister Two. This is your song. This is for all the days you tried for first, and came in second. It’s for the nights when you wonder if you ought to go on trying, since nobody seems to notice.

We notice, Mister Two. We know the score. Winner or not, you’re a natural champion. There couldn’t be a race without you, Mister Two.

1.People usually call Mister Two unflattering names to　　　　him.

A. praise  B. encourage      C. laugh at      D. respect

2.According to the author, Mister Two is mentioned in connection with the following except　　　　.

A. business   B. sports       C. greatness    D. failure

3.It is implied in this story that　　　　.

A. Mister Two is as important as the winner

B. every leader needs someone to help him

C. the second today must be the first tomorrow

D. second place is always praised

4.The person who wins needs to understand that　　　　.

A. winning is everything

B. being Mister Two is wonderful

C. without Mister Two he would do better

D. without strong competition he wouldn’t have worked so hard

　　Russian President Putin named Time magazine’s“Person of the Year”
　　Russian President Vladimir Putin was named Time magazine’s“Person of the Year”on December 19th.2007 for strengthening stability（稳定）that made Russia a world power again.
　　The magazine recognized Putin’s“extraordinary feat（技艺）of leadership in taking a country that was in a mess and bringing it stability，”said Richard Stengel，Time’s managing editor.
　　The magazine noted that“Person of the Year”is not an honor or an endorsement（认可）but a recognition of leadership that shapes the world.
　　Putin，who is 56 years old，is very popular in Russia，making a great effort to cause economy to come to life on revenue（收入）from oil and natural gas.
　　Putin recently supported vice-PM Dmitry Medvedev’s presidential bid，and said he would accept Medvedev’s offer to serve as prime minister if Medvedev is elected on March 2.
　　The Kremlin said Wednesday the Time recognition was seen there as an acknowledgement of Putin’s role in helping Russia pull out of its social and economic troubles in the 1990s.
　　Others considered for“Person of the Year”included Nobel Prize-winner Al Gore and author J.K. Rowling.
　　This year’s choice was a return to the magazine’s tradition of picking an individual rather than last year’s choice of“You”，which refers to anyone creating or using content on the World Wide Web.
　　Putin is the fifth Russian（or Soviet）leader to be named Person of the Year：Gorbachev，Andropov，Khrushchev and Stalin，who was named twice.
55．How did Putin try to make Russia a world power again？
A．By performing arms race.
B．By making war.
C．By strengthening stability.
D．By getting foreign help.
56．Which of the following is Not True according to the passage？
A．Russia used to be in a mess.
B．Time always picks an individual to be the“Person of the Year”.
C．Oil and natural gas caused Russia’s economy to come to life.
D．Putin will leave office on March 2,2007.
57．What does the underlined word“acknowledgement”mean？
A．Praise. 　　　　　　　　　　　B．Support.
C．Scold. 　　　　　　　　　　　 D．Recognition.
58．How many times have Russian leaders been named“Person of the Year”so far？
A．Five times. 　　　　　　　　　B．Six times.
C．Seven times. 　　　　　　　　 D．Eight times.

What makes one person more intelligent than another? What makes one person a genius, like the brilliant Albert Einstein, and another person a fool? Are people born intelligent or stupid, or is intelligence the result of where and how you live? These are very old questions and the answers to them are still not clear.

We know, however, that just being born with a good mind is not enough. In some ways, the mind is like a leg or an arm muscle. It needs exercise. Mental (done with the mind) exercise is particularly important for young children. Many child psychologists (心理学家) think that parents should play with their children more often and give them problems to think about. The children are then more likely to grow up bright and intelligent. If, on the other hand, children are left alone a great deal with nothing to do, they are more likely to become dull and unintelligent.

Parents should also be careful with what they say to young children. According to some psychologists, if parents are always telling a child that he or she is a fool or an idiot, then the child is more likely to keep doing silly and foolish things. So it is probably better for parents to say very positive (helpful) things to their children, such as “That was a very clever thing you did.” or “You are such a smart child.”

The words “intelligent” and “brilliant” in the first paragraph probably mean _______ while “dull” in the second paragraph means ________.

A. bright and splendid; slow in thinking and understanding  B. pretty and handsome; ordinary-looking

C. great and important; common                       D. hopeful and helpful; careless　

According to the context we can guess that a genius is ________ while an idiot is ________.

A. a normal person; a funny person                        B. a strong person; a weak person

C. a highly intelligent person; a foolish or weak-minded person  D. a famous person; an ordinary person　

A person ________ is more likely to become a genius.

A. whose parents are clever              B. often thinking about difficult problems

C. often helped by his parents and teachers  D. born with a good brain and putting it into active use　

It is better for parents ________.

A. to praise and encourage their children more often  B. to be hard on their children

C. to leave their children alone with nothing to do    D. to give their children as much help as possible　

Which of the following is NOT true according to the article?

A. Parents play an important part in their children’s growth.

B. The less you use your mind the duller you may become.

C. Intelligence is obviously the result of where and how you live.

D. What makes a person bright or stupid is still under discussion.

You never see him, but they're with you every time you fly. They record where you are going, how fast you're traveling and whether everything on your airplane is functioning normally. Their ability to endure almost any disaster makes them seem like something out of a comic book. They're known as the black box.
　When planes fall from the sky, as a Yemeni airliner did on its way to Comoros Islands in the India ocean on June 30, 2009, the black box is the best bet for identifying what went wrong. So when a French submarine (潜水艇) detected the box's homing signal five days later, the discovery marked a huge step toward determining the cause of a tragedy in which 152 passengers were killed.
　In 1958, Australian scientist David Warren developed a flight-memory recorder that would track basic information like altitude and direction. That was the first mode for a black box, which became a requirement on all U.S. commercial flights by 1960. Early models often failed to withstand crashes, however, so in 1965 the box was completely redesigned and moved to the rear of the plane – the area least subject to impact – from its original position in the landing wells (起落架舱). The same year, the Federal Aviation Authority required that the boxes, which were never actually black, be painted orange or yellow to aid visibility.
　Modern airplanes have two black boxes: a voice recorder, which tracks pilots' conversations, and a flight-data recorder, which monitors fuel levels, engine noises and other operating functions that help investigators reconstruct the aircraft's final moments. Placed in an insulated (隔绝的) case and surrounded by a quarter-inch-thick panels of stainless steel, the boxes can stand massive force and temperatures up to 2,000℉. When submerged, they're also able to emit signals from depths of 20,000 ft. Experts believe the boxes from Air France Flight 447, which crashed near Brazil on June 1,2009, are in water nearly that deep, but statistics say they're still likely to turn up. In the approximately 20 deep-sea crashes over the past 30 years, only one plane's black boxes were never recovered.
【小题1】What does the author say about the black box?