Most people want to know how things are made. They honestly admit, however, that they hardly know a thing when it comes to understanding how a piece of music is made. Where a composer begins, how he manages to keep going – in fact, how and when he learns his trade – all are covered in complete darkness. The composer, in short, is a man of mystery .

One of the first things the common man wants to know about is the part inspiration plays in a composer’s work. He finds it difficult to believe that composers are not much interested in that question. Writing music is as natural for the composer as eating or sleeping for all. Music is something that the composer happens to have been born for.

The composer, therefore, does not say to himself: “Do I feel inspired?” He says to himself: “Do I feel like working today?” And if he feels like working, he does. It is more or less like saying to himself: “Do I feel sleepy?” If you feel sleepy, you go to sleep. If you don’t feel sleepy, you stay up. If the composer doesn’t feel like working, he doesn’t work. It’s as simple as that.

1.What would be the best title for the text?

A．Composer: a man of mystery

B．Practice makes good music

C．Relation between sleeping and music

D．Music: product of nature

2.Most people seem to think that a composer ____.

A．finds it difficult to write music

B．considers it important to have a good rest

C．should like to talk about inspiration

D．never asks himself very simple questions

3.The author will most probably agree that composers ____.

A．are born with a gift for music

B．are people full of mystery

C．work late at night for their music

D．know a lot about eating and sleeping

Prince Charles yesterday promised to reduce the royal impact on the environment through sweeping changes to his personal lifestyle and official schedule. The prince will replace carbon-heavy private jets and helicopters with scheduled flights and train services.

The move came as Prince Charles urged business leaders to publish the environmental pact of their activities.

He said, “Few accountants and business decision-makers ask, ‘How much of our critical natural resource is left? How many miles of polar ice cap has our business helped melt this year? By how many inches have we raised sea levels? How many species have we put at risk? How many homes will be flooded, how many people will die of thirst or starvation because of our activities? ’ These are not comfortable questions, but, by God, they need to be asked. ”

He added, “At the moment these costs do not appear in anyone’s books… Yet they are real, they are incurred now and in a relatively short time, the damage being caused may be beyond remedy. ” He said the world was “running up the biggest global credit card debt in history, but with little or no thought for how the bill will ever be paid”.

Flanked by the prime minister and business and community leaders at St James’ Palace, the prince said his new “accounting for sustainability” project would give consumers the power to choose products that caused less damage to the planet.

Duchy Originals, the prince’s food company, is taking steps to work out how much carbon dioxide and other green-house gases are emitted in growing, processing and distributing its products. The changes to the prince’s travel arrangements announced yesterday are part of a wider review of the carbon footprint associated with activities at all three of his residences. Clarence House in London, Highgrove and Birkhall on the Balmorals estate(庄园), as well as the activities of his 21 personal and 105 full-time staff. Measures include a review of electricity use, commuter and other staff travel and are intended to identify further reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. The review will report in June , when Clarence House will announce annual targets to reduce carbon emission.

1.How does Prince Charles feel about business leaders in terms of environmental protection?

A. Dissatisfied.       B. Disappointed.       

C. Doubtful.            D. Impatient.

2.In response to Prince Charles’ calls, Duchy Originals will ______.

A. make as much green food as possible     

B. cut down its cost

C. figure out its greenhouse gas emission      

D. continue its greenhouse gas emission

3.The underlined phrase in paragraph 4 probably refers to ______.

A. the great amount of waste produced by industry 

B. the great damage caused to the environment

C. the great amount of debts of the royal family  

 D. the high cost of industry in their producing process

4.What would be the best title for the passage?

A. Prince Charles promised Greener Royal Lifestyle  

B. Better Late than Never

C. Prince Charles and His Concern for Environment 

D. The Royal Family Has a Role to Play in Environment Protection

Do you want to live another 100 years or more? Some experts say that scientific advances will one day enable humans to last tens of years beyond what is now seen as the natural limit of the human life span.
"I think we are knocking at the door of immortality(永生)," said Michael Zey, a Montclair State University business professor and author of two books on the future. "I think by 2075 we will see it and that’s a conservative estimate".
At the conference in San Francisco, Donald Louria, a professor at New Jersey Medical School in Newark said advances in using genes as well as nanotechnology（纳米技术）make it likely that humans will live in the future beyond what has been possible in the past. "There is a great push so that people can live from 120 to 180 years," he said. "Some have suggested that there is no limit and that people could live to 200 or 300 or 500 years."
However, many scientists who specialize in ageing are doubtful about it and say the human body is just not designed to last about 120 years. Even with healthier lifestyles and less disease, they say failure of the brain and organs will finally lead all humans to death.
Scientists also differ on what kind of life the super aged might live. "It remains to be seen if you pass 120, you know; could you be healthy enough to have good quality of life?" said Leonard Pooh, director of the University of Georgia Gerontology(老龄学) Center. "At present people who could get to that point are not in good health at all."

1. 1.

   By saying "we are knocking at the door of immortality", Michael Zey means ________

   1. A.
      they believe that there is no limit of living
   2. B.
      they are sure to find the truth about long living
   3. C.
      they have got some ideas about living forever
   4. D.
      they are able to make people live past the present life span
2. 2.

   Donald Louria's attitude towards long living is that ________

   1. A.
      people can live from 120 to 180 years
   2. B.
      it is still doubtful how long humans can live
   3. C.
      the human body is designed to last about 120 years
   4. D.
      it is possible for humans to live longer in the future
3. 3.

   The underlined "it"（paragraph 4）refers to ________

   1. A.
      a great push
   2. B.
      the idea of living beyond the present life span
   3. C.
      the idea of living from 200 to 300 years
   4. D.
      the conservative estimate
4. 4.

   What would be the best title for this text?

   1. A.
      Living Longer or Not
   2. B.
      Science, Technology and Long Living
   3. C.
      No Limit for Human Life
   4. D.
      Healthy Lifestyle and Long Living

The sun is shining when I get on No. 151 bus. We passengers sit jammed together in heavy clothes. No one speaks. That’s one of the unwritten rules of Chicago commuting. Although we see the same faces every day, we prefer to hide behind our newspapers. The phenomenon is striking: people who sit so close together are using those thin sheets of newsprint to keep their distance.

As the bus approaches the Magnificent Mile, a voice suddenly rings out: “Attention! Attention!” Papers rattle (发出细小声). Necks crane (伸长). “This is your driver speaking.”

We look at the back of the driver’s head. His voice has authority.

“All of you put your papers down.”

The papers come down, an inch at a time. The driver waits. The papers are folded and placed on our laps.

“Now, turn and face the person next to you. Go ahead.”

Amazingly, we all do it. Still, no one smiles.

I face an older woman, her head wrapped tightly in a red scarf. I see her nearly every day. Our eyes meet. We wait, unblinking, for the next order from the driver.

“Now, repeat after me…” It is a command, delivered in the tones of a drill sergeant (操练军士). “Good morning, neighbor!”

Our voices are weak and timid. For many of us, these are the first words we have spoken today. But we say them at the same time, like schoolchildren, to the strangers beside us.

We smile and can’t help it. We have said it; the barrier has been broken. Good morning, neighbor. It is not so hard after all. Some of us repeat it. Others shake hands. Many laugh.

The bus driver says nothing more. He doesn’t need to. Not a single newspaper goes back up. I hear laughter, a warm sound I have never heard before on bus No. 151. This day is starting off better than most.

1.On hearing the sudden utterance of “Attention!”, the passengers ___________.

A．stopped reading and put down their newspapers immediately

B．sat still without response

C．looked up from the newspapers to see who was speaking

D．were frightened

2.The underlined word “commuting” in Paragraph 1 most probably means ___________.

A．long-distance ride

B．daily traveling between home and work

C．communication technology

D．behavior patterns

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

A．The passengers on the crowded bus were so absorbed in reading their newspapers that no one spoke.

B．When the bus driver said nothing more, the passengers picked up and read their newspapers again.

C．The passengers didn’t follow the driver’s instruction at first.

D．The passengers were physically close together but mentally they kept each other at a terrible distance.

4.What would be the best title for the text?

A．The Warmth of Communication

B．The Exchange of Information

C．The Power of Observation

D．The Attitude to Loneliness

"We do look very different; we're older. Leo's 38, I'm 37. We were 21 and 22 when we made that film. You know, he's fatter now -- I'm thinner.". So says Kate Winslet, who is thrilled at the 3-D re-release of Titanic to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the ship's demise. “ It happens every time I get on any boat of any kind." She recalls. There are all the people who want her to walk to the front of the ship and re-create her famous pose, arms flung wide. Most people remember the tragedy: The British passenger ship -- said to be unsinkable -- hit an iceberg and sank on April 15, 1912, during its maiden voyage from England to New York City. More than 1,500 people died. But little known is what the world learned from the sinking to prevent future incidents.

Probably the greatest deficiency （不足）of the Titanic was that she was built 40 years before the widespread use of the wonderful invention radar(雷达). Her only defense against icebergs and hidden obstacles was to rely on manned lookouts. On that fateful night the eyesight of trained lookouts only provided 37 seconds of warning before the collision.

Traveling at nearly 30 miles an hour the Titanic was moving far too fast to avoid the huge iceberg. The warning did prevent a head-on collision as the officer on the bridge managed to turn the ship slightly.

The last ship to send a warning was the California. She was within ten miles of the Titanic during the disaster, but her radio operator went to bed at midnight and never received any of the SOS messages from the Titanic. That was one of the important lessons learned from the catastrophe, the need for 24-hour radio operators on all passenger liners.

Another lesson learned was the need for more lifeboats. The Titanic remained afloat(漂浮) for almost three hours and most of the passengers could have been saved with enough lifeboats.

1,500 passengers and workers died in the 28 degree waters of the Atlantic. Out of the tragedy, the sinking did produce some important maritime reforms. The winter travel routes were changed to the south and the Coast Guard began to keep an eye on the location of all icebergs. The new rules for lifeboats were obvious to all. There must be enough lifeboats for everybody on board.

The most important lesson learned was that no one would ever again consider a ship unsinkable- no matter how large or how well constructed. Never again would sailors place their faith in a ship above the power of the sea.

1.The text mainly tells us ______.

2.According to the passage, which of the following could we infer?

3.What would be the best title for the passage?

4.What’s the sailors’ attitude towards the ships after the tragedy?