Liu Qian, a magician from Taiwan, cast his spell(魔法)over an audience of thousands on the CCTV Spring Festival Show. Die-hard fans are still trying to work out the secrets behind many of the tricks he performed.

But Liu, 32, when asked, laughed off the idea that there might be an “answer” to his magic. “The most fascinating things about magic is the puzzling process. People enjoy how magicians make the impossible come true,” said Liu.

Few people today believe in the possibility of real magic. They also often fail to consider magicians’ devotion to their art. It can take a magician years’ of practice to perfect a trick before he performs it on stage.

Part of Liu’s star appeal is his astonishing skill. However, when he began in the industry, he was embarrassingly clumsy. “I could practice thousands of times for one single act. It wasn’t much fun,” he said.

No magician’s supernatural powers on stage extend to their life off stage. Liu says his life was no easier or funnier because he was a magician.

He developed an interest in magic at a young age, but didn’t consider making a living out of it until he graduated from university. He had studied Japanese language and found himself unable to find a job. “My parents never considered being a magician as a proper job. To begin with, I had little confidence I would be doing this in the long term,” he said.

Yet Liu felt a powerful calling to become a magician. “For many people, magic somehow means a miracle, which is something we all secretly wish for no matter how hard-bitten or cynical (愤世嫉俗的)we become,” he said.

Liu may be right. A popular modern dream is of the fairy godmother, who waves her magic wand (棒) and makes our dreams come true. But according to Liu, we all have the power to create magic in our lives. As Liu puts it: it’s not the magic that makes it work；it’s the way we work that makes it magic.

1. According to the passage, we can tell that ________.

A. being a famous magician, Liu Qian leads a comfortable life

B. it is a hard job for magicians to perform magic tricks well

C. Liu Qian’s parents supported his wish of earning a living by being a magician

D. Liu Qian showed great talents in performing magic tricks when he first took it up

2. As to whether there’s real magic, Liu Qian believes ________.

A. there is no real magic and what counts in our life is the way we work

B. if we secretly wish for something, magic will turn out to be a miracle

C. the puzzling process of performing magic tricks is the answer to magic

D. there exists a fairy godmother waving her magic wand to make our dreams come true

3. Which of the following sayings is similar to the underlined sentence in meaning?

A. All roads lead to Rome.                B. Easier said than done.

C. Actions speak louder than words.       D. Where there is a will, there is a way.

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A. Magic in our lives                     B. The answer to magic

C. A popular magician from Taiwan         D. The way to become a successful magician

 

Liu Qian, a magician from Taiwan, cast his spell(魔法)over an audience of thousands on the CCTV Spring Festival Show. Die-hard fans are still trying to work out the secrets behind many of the tricks he performed.

But Liu, 32, when asked, laughed off the idea that there might be an “answer” to his magic. “The most fascinating things about magic is the puzzling process. People enjoy how magicians make the impossible come true,” said Liu.

Few people today believe in the possibility of real magic. They also often fail to consider magicians’ devotion to their art. It can take a magician years’ of practice to perfect a trick before he performs it on stage.

Part of Liu’s star appeal is his astonishing skill. However, when he began in the industry, he was embarrassingly clumsy. “I could practice thousands of times for one single act. It wasn’t much fun,” he said.

No magician’s supernatural powers on stage extend to their life off stage. Liu says his life was no easier or funnier because he was a magician.

He developed an interest in magic at a young age, but didn’t consider making a living out of it until he graduated from university. He had studied Japanese language and found himself unable to find a job. “My parents never considered being a magician as a proper job. To begin with, I had little confidence I would be doing this in the long term,” he said.

Yet Liu felt a powerful calling to become a magician. “For many people, magic somehow means a miracle, which is something we all secretly wish for no matter how hard-bitten or cynical (愤世嫉俗的)we become,” he said.

Liu may be right. A popular modern dream is of the fairy godmother, who waves her magic wand (棒) and makes our dreams come true. But according to Liu, we all have the power to create magic in our lives. As Liu puts it: it’s not the magic that makes it work；it’s the way we work that makes it magic.

1. According to the passage, we can tell that ________.

A. being a famous magician, Liu Qian leads a comfortable life

B. it is a hard job for magicians to perform magic tricks well

C. Liu Qian’s parents supported his wish of earning a living by being a magician

D. Liu Qian showed great talents in performing magic tricks when he first took it up

2. As to whether there’s real magic, Liu Qian believes ________.

A. there is no real magic and what counts in our life is the way we work

B. if we secretly wish for something, magic will turn out to be a miracle

C. the puzzling process of performing magic tricks is the answer to magic

D. there exists a fairy godmother waving her magic wand to make our dreams come true

3. Which of the following sayings is similar to the underlined sentence in meaning?

A. All roads lead to Rome.             B. Easier said than done.

C. Actions speak louder than words.     D. Where there is a will, there is a way.

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A. Magic in our lives                 B. The answer to magic

C. A popular magician from Taiwan     D. The way to become a successful magician

Since the beginning of history, man has been attracted by the idea of living forever, of winning the fight against death and disease. So far, this has only remained a dream. Many people have wondered whether it would be possible to find a way to preserve human bodies, and what would be the best way.
It has long been known that meat of fruit can be kept fresh for long periods by freezing; in ancient China, for example, food was stored with ice to keep it fresh. This method could also be useful for preserving humans.
However, most living beings that exist under warm conditions die when frozen. This is because of the harmful effects of freezing ice crystals(晶体), which not only are larger than the volume(体积) of the water originally in the cells, but also form sharp cutting shapes that harm the cells.
In the 1940s Dr B.J. Luyet and a group of scientists in England were working on the problem of freezing cells without damaging them. Since the harm caused by ice crystals was the main cause of damage, Luyet suggested removing some or all of the water from the cells before freezing them.
Using living cells form chicken, Luyet and his assistants discovered that they could partly dry the chicken cells, using a mixture of the white part of an egg and glycerin (丙三醇). Some success was obtained. The chicken cells were dried, frozen for a period of time, and then carefully unfrozen. Almost all the cells recovered when they reached normal temperatures.
Since then, the cooling of whole animals to a temperature far below freezing point for later unfreezing has become more of a possibility, and the glycerin method would probably be used to accomplish this. When this can be done completely and successfully, science will have moved much closer to its aim of freezing and storing incurable patients until the day they can be cured.
【小题1】What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．Easy but practical ways to remove water from living cells.

B．The possibility of preserving human bodies by freezing.

C．The practice of preserving food by freezing.

D．The harmful effects of freezing.

【小题2】The idea of freezing human bodies to preserve them ______________.

A．has already been realized

B．was invented in ancient China

C．has its roots in the way of storing food

D．is widely accepted by the scientific world

【小题3】According to the text, freezing _________________.

A．is harmful to living cells

B．is the best way of preserving food

C．reduces the volume of water in living cells

D．is a way of removing water from living cells

【小题4】What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．It is impossible to have whole animals frozen.

B．It remains unknown how to unfreeze frozen animals.

C．Freezing incurable patients for later treatment is still an idea.

D．The glycerin method has already been adopted to treat patients.

Since the beginning of history, man has been attracted by the idea of living forever, of winning the fight against death and disease. So far, this has only remained a dream. Many people have wondered whether it would be possible to find a way to preserve human bodies, and what would be the best way.

It has long been known that meat of fruit can be kept fresh for long periods by freezing; in ancient China, for example, food was stored with ice to keep it fresh. This method could also be useful for preserving humans.

However, most living beings that exist under warm conditions die when frozen. This is because of the harmful effects of freezing ice crystals(晶体), which not only are larger than the volume(体积) of the water originally in the cells, but also form sharp cutting shapes that harm the cells.

In the 1940s Dr B.J. Luyet and a group of scientists in England were working on the problem of freezing cells without damaging them. Since the harm caused by ice crystals was the main cause of damage, Luyet suggested removing some or all of the water from the cells before freezing them.

Using living cells form chicken, Luyet and his assistants discovered that they could partly dry the chicken cells, using a mixture of the white part of an egg and glycerin (丙三醇). Some success was obtained. The chicken cells were dried, frozen for a period of time, and then carefully unfrozen. Almost all the cells recovered when they reached normal temperatures.

Since then, the cooling of whole animals to a temperature far below freezing point for later unfreezing has become more of a possibility, and the glycerin method would probably be used to accomplish this. When this can be done completely and successfully, science will have moved much closer to its aim of freezing and storing incurable patients until the day they can be cured.

1.What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．Easy but practical ways to remove water from living cells.

B．The possibility of preserving human bodies by freezing.

C．The practice of preserving food by freezing.

D．The harmful effects of freezing.

2.The idea of freezing human bodies to preserve them ______________.

A．has already been realized

B．was invented in ancient China

C．has its roots in the way of storing food

D．is widely accepted by the scientific world

3.According to the text, freezing _________________.

A．is harmful to living cells

B．is the best way of preserving food

C．reduces the volume of water in living cells

D．is a way of removing water from living cells

4.What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．It is impossible to have whole animals frozen.

B．It remains unknown how to unfreeze frozen animals.

C．Freezing incurable patients for later treatment is still an idea.

D．The glycerin method has already been adopted to treat patients.

 

第二部分  阅读理解(共两节，满分50分)

第一节  阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。(共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分)

I grew up in a house where the TV was seldom turned on and with one wall in my bedroom entirely lined with bookshelves, most of my childhood was spent on books I could get hold of. In fact, I grew up thinking of reading as natural as breathing and books unbelievably powerful in shaping perspectives (观点) by creating worlds we could step into, take part. in. and live in.

     With this unshakable belief, I, at. fourteen, decided to become a writer. Here too, reading became useful. Every writer starts off knowing that he has something to say, but being unable to find the right ways to say it. He has to find his own voice by reading widely and discovering which parts of the writers he agrees or disagrees with, or agrees with so strongly that it reshapes his own world. He cannot write without loving to read, because only through reading other people’s writing can one discover what works, what doesn’t and, in the end, together with lots of practice, what voice he has.

Now I am in college, and have come to realize how important it is to read fiction (文学作品)．As a. law student, my reading is in fact limited to subject matter—the volume (量) of what I have to read for classes every week means there is little time to read anything else. Such reading made it all the clearer to me that I live in a very small part in this great place called life. Reading fiction reminds me that there is life beyond my own. It allows me to travel across the high seas and along the Silk Road, all from the comfort of my own armchair, to experience, though secondhand, exciting experiences that I wouldn't necessarily be able to have in my lifetime.

1. What can be inferred about the author as a child?

A.  He never watched TV.

B.  He read what he had to.

C.  He found reading unbelievable.

D.  He considered reading part of his life.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

2. The underlined word "voice" in the second paragraph most probably means “____________”.

A.  an idea      B. a sound quality  C. a way of writing    D. a world to write about

3. What effect does reading have on the author?

A.  It helps him to realize his dream.

B.  It opens up a wider world for him.

C.  It makes his college life more interesting.

D.  It increases his interest in worldwide travel.

4. Which of the following can be the best title of this text?

A.  Why do I read?  B.  How do I read?  C.  What do I read?   D.  When do I read?