Two Chinese farmers who became an overnight sensation(轰动)when their heart-rending version of a famous pop song appeared on the Internet took to the stage in front of thousands of fans in Shanghai last Saturday.

Wang Xu, 44，and Liu Gang, 29, sang “In the Spring" alongside the song's star composer Wang Feng, in front of about 80,000 people at the Shanghai Stadium.

The audience buzzed with excitement and let out deafening cheers, the moment as they were introduced on the stage and then when Liu started the first sentence of their parts of the song.

The two migrant workers became stars after singing the tearjerker(催人泪下的）song during an evening drinking session in a 6-square-meter rented room in a late August evening. A friend recorded the performance on a cell phone and posted it on the Internet.

“If someday I am dead, please bury me in the spring," they sing. Wang's penetrating chorus, delivered with his eyes closed, has moved thousands to tears.

Wang and Liu consider the song a true portrait of lower-class groups like themselves. "With no credit card, no girlfriend, or a home with hot water, but only a guitar, I am singing happily, on streets, under bridges or in wild country, though nobody pays attention to the music," they sing.

To support his wife and two sons, Wang came to Beijing in 2000 from the countryside and has worked as a boiler man, and street peddler, before becoming a medical warehouse keeper, with a monthly pay of around 1,500 yuan. Little is left after he pays 600 yuan for rent and buys food.

Liu came to Beijing in 2002. “I wanted to try my luck in the big city，，，he said. He had worked as a guard, roadside peddler, and porter, but never had a stable job. Street performing was his main income, even after he married and became a father three years ago.

Wang and Liu are still uncertain where their fame will lead. Wang has started learning to use a computer. They even have a microblog(微博）account to communicate with fans.

Wang Xu and Liu Gang first became nationally known after______.

A.  they sang the song “In the Spring" with a star composer Wang Feng

B.  the video of them singing “In the Spring" was posted on the Internet

C.  they sang on streets and under bridges

D.  they started their microblog

People like Wang and Liu's version of “In the Spring" because ______ .

A.  they sang the song better than other singers

B.  they were introduced to the public by the song writer himself

C.  it was specially composed for them two

D.  it is a heartfelt expression of the two singers as migrant workers

It can be inferred from the passage that  ______.

A.  migrant workers' conditions will be improved soon

B.  they will learn to write songs on computers

C.  a song showing people's real life and feelings is more likely to be accepted

D.  singers for migrant workers are more likely to become popular

The best possible title for the passage is______.

A.  Internet Farmer Stars Make Stage Appearance

B.  “In the Spring"—A Touching Song

C.  A Successful Internet Performance

D.  No Pains, No Gains

Many people who work in London prefer to live outside it, and to go in to their offices or schools every day by train, car or bus, even though this means they have to get up early in the morning and reach home late in the evening. 

One advantage of living outside London is that houses are cheaper. Even a small flat in London without a garden costs quite a lot to rent. With the same money, one can get a little house in the country with a garden of one’s own. 

Then, in the country one can rest from the noise and hurry of the town. Even though one has to get up earlier and spend more time in trains or buses, one can sleep better at night and during weekends and on summer evenings, one can enjoy the fresh, clean air of the country. If one likes gardens, one can spend one’s free time digging, planting, watering and doing the hundred and one other jobs which are needed in a garden. Then, when the flowers and vegetables come up, one has the reward of one who has shared the secret of Nature. 

Some people, however, take no interest in country things: for them, happiness lies in the town, with its cinemas and theatres, beautiful shops and busy streets, dance-halls and restaurants. Such people would feel that their life was not worth living if they had to live it outside London. An occasional walk in one of the parks and a fortnight’s (two weeks) visit to the sea every summer is all the country they want: the rest they are quite prepared to leave to those who are glad to get away from London every night. 

1.Which of the following statements is NOT true? 

A．People who like country things prefer to live outside the city.

B．People who work in London prefer to live in the country.

C．Because of certain disadvantages of living outside London, some people who work in London prefer to live inside London.

D．Because of certain advantages of living outside London, many people who work in London prefer to live outside London.

2.One can use the same money for ________ to buy a little house with a garden in the country.

A．getting a small flat with a garden            B．having a small flat with a garden

C．renting a small flat without a garden         D．buying a small flat without a garden

3.When the flowers and vegetables in the garden come up, those _______ have the reward of one who has shared the secret of Nature. 

A．who live in the country

B．who have spent time working in the garden

C．who have a garden of their own

D．who have been digging, planting and watering

4.People who think happiness lies in the town would feel that _______ if they had to live it outside London. 

A．their life was meaningless                 B．their life was invaluable

C．they didn’t deserve a happy life           D．they were not worthy of their happy life

5.The underlined word “rest” in the last paragraph refers to ________.

A．the rest time                           B．the rest people

C．the rest of the country                   D．the rest of the parks and of the sea

 

Suzie goes to her art class Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. She always looks forward to those days when she can do creative things all afternoon. She loves ___41___ bowls and cups out of clay. Last month she learned to put ___42___ into a hot oven, called a kiln, to make it hard and strong. After the pottery（陶器）has __43____ down from the kiln, sometimes she ___44___ it with all different colors. Bright colors are her __45____, although sometimes she likes to paint in "___46___ colors," like brown and dark green. What Suzie likes best about art is the good feeling she gets ___47___ she has finished __48____ on a piece of art. And then when she takes it home to show her parents she feels so __49____ of what she has made.

On Wednesdays Suzie does something else that she really ___50___. On Wednesday afternoons she writes articles for the school newspaper. When she first ___51___ to her school, she wrote an article about how it feels to be a new student in a new school. Her second article in the newspaper was about a teacher at her school who had just finished writing a book. On the day the newspaper comes ___52___, the first thing Suzie does is to ___53___ where her article is in the newspaper. And at the beginning of her article, are the words: By Suzanne Jefferson.

On the way home from school yesterday, Suzie ___54___ to thinking about how __55____ art and writing are the same. In art class she thinks of  __56____ things to make, and then spends a lot of time making it look just right. And when she writes articles for the school newspaper, she thinks of creative things to  __57____, and then spends a lot of time making it  __58____ just right. And when she has finished writing a really good sentence, she feels almost as if she has made a beautiful piece of art.

Suzie  __59____ home so she could write something short before dinner. She already had lots of ideas for next month's newspaper. And she wanted to make sure that none of her creative ideas  ___60___ away before she wrote them down permanently on paper.

1.A. using     B. painting                       C. drawing        D. making  

2.A. bowls      B. pottery                   C. cups              D. clay

3.A. dropped             B. cooled                   C. come             D. fallen     

4.A. rubs                   B. cleans                    C. brushes          D. paints     

5.A. bests          B. friends                 C. favorites        D. fears

6.A. bright             B. earth                    C. black             D. deep     

7. A. before              B. when                      C. that             D. until

8.A. working             B. painting               C. putting          D. taking   

9.A. worried              B. anxious                C. happy            D. proud     

10.A. promises          B. wants                 C. hates             D. enjoys    

11.A. got                  B. sent                      C. moved           D. returned

12.A. up                   B. in                         C. out                 D. about     

13.A. read                 B. search                   C. overlook               D. check     

14.A. began               B. went                    C. got                 D. started   

15.A. soon                 B. much                     C. long              D. far   

16. A. relative            B. creative                 C. productive     D. active     

17.A. tell                   B. talk                       C. speak             D. say         

18.A. feel                 B. look                     C. sound         D. appear   

19. A. rushed       B. walked          C. got                 D. went      

20. A. left               B. forgot                  C. floated           D. kept

 

In a country that defines itself by ideals, not by shared blood, who should be allowed to come to work and live here? In the wake of the Sept．11 attacks these questions have never seemed more pressing．

    On Dec．11, 2001, as part of the effort to increase homeland security, federal and local authorities in 14 states staged “Operation Safe Travel”---raids on airports to arrest employees with false identification．In Salt Lake City there were 69 arrests．But those captures were anything but terrorists, most of them illegal immigrants from Central or South America．Authorities said the undocumented workers’ illegal status made them open to blackmail（讹诈）by terrorists．

     Many immigrants in Salt Lake City were angered by the arrests and said they felt as if they were being treated like disposable goods．Mayor Anderson said those feelings were justified to a certain extent．“We’re saying we want you to work in these places, we’re going to look the other way in terms of what our laws are, and then when it’s convenient for us, or when we can try to make a point in terms of national security, especially after Sept．11, then you’re disposable．They are whole families being uprooted for all of the wrong reasons,” Anderson said．

     If Sept．11 had never happened, the airport workers would not have been arrested and could have gone on quietly living in America, probably indefinitely．Ana Castro, a manager at a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop at the airport had been working 10 years with the same false Social Security card when she was arrested in the December airport raid．Now she and her family are living under the threat of deportation（驱逐出境）．Castro’s case is currently waiting to be settled．While she awaits the outcome, the government has granted her permission to work here and she has returned to her job at Ben & Jerry’s．

How did the immigrants in Salt Lake City feel about “Operation Safe Travel”?

     A．Guilty         B．Offended            C．Disappointed         D．Discouraged

Undocumented workers became the target of “Operation Safe Travel” because ____．

     A．evidence was found that they were potential terrorists

     B．most of them worked at airports under threat of terrorists

     C．terrorists might take advantage of their illegal status

     D．they were reportedly helping hide terrorists around the airport

By saying “…we’re going to look the other way in terms of what our laws are”, Mayor Anderson means “______”．

     A．there are other ways of enforcing the law

     B．we will examine the laws in a different way

     C．we will turn a blind eye to your illegal status

     D．the existing laws must not be ignored

 

         Specialists say it is not easy to get used to life in a new culture. “Culture shock” is the term these specialists use when talking about the feelings that people have in a new environment. There are three stages of culture shock, say the specialists. In the first stage, the newcomers like their new environment. Then, when the fresh experience dies, they begin to hate the city, the country, the people, and everything else. In the last stage, the newcomers begin to adjust to their surroundings and, as a result, enjoy their life more.

There are some obvious factors（因素）in culture shock. The weather may be unpleasant. The customs may be different. The public service systems—the telephones, post office, or transportation—may be difficult to work out. The simplest things seem to be big problems. The language may be difficult.

         Who feels culture shock? Everyone does in this way or that. But culture shock surprises most people. Very often the people having the worst culture shock are those who never had any difficulties in their own community. Coming to a new country, these people find they do not have the same established positions. They find themselves without any identity. They have to build a new self-image.

         Culture shock gives rise to a feeling of disorientation（迷失方向）. This feeling may be homesickness. When homesick, people feel like staying inside all the time. They want to protect themselves from the strange environment, and create an escape inside their room for a sense of security. This escape does solve the problem of culture shock for the short term, but it does nothing to make the person familiar with the culture. Getting to know the new environment and gaining experience — these are the long-term solutions to the problem of culture shock.

76. When people move to a new country, they _______.

         A. will get used to their new surroundings with difficulty

         B. have well prepared for the new surroundings

         C. will get used to the culture of the country quickly

         D. will never be familiar with the culture of the country

77. According to the passage, factors that give rise to culture shock include all of the following except __________.

         A. language communication                                    B. weather conditions and customs

         C. public service systems                                              D. homesickness

78. According to the passage, the more successful you are at home, _______.

A. the fewer difficulties you may have abroad          

B. the more difficulties you may have abroad

          C. the more money you will earn abroad               

D. the less homesick you may feel abroad

79. When people are homesick, they tend to ______.

         A. find some people to talk to                                      B. go outside to have a walk

         C. visit their friends far away                                       D. stay indoors all the time

80. The writer tells us that the best way to overcome culture shock is to ______.

A. protect ourselves from unfamiliar environment     

B. develop a strange sense of self-protection

C. get familiar with new culture                                      

D. return to our own country