认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入最恰当的单词。注意：每空格只填一个单词。

Ticket tax fuels Indian cinema strike

Cinemas in Mumbai, Bollywood’s homeland are striking against high taxes on ticket sales.

Owners of Mumbai’s single-screen theatres will keep their shutters (百叶窗) down until Friday to protest about taxes, which they say are driving them out of business.

More than a third of single-screen cinemas in the state of Maharashtra have closed down in the last five years. According to the Cinema and Exhibitors Association of India, just 700 are still in operation. The association blames the closing down on Maharashtra’s high rate of entertainment tax. Its president, R V Vidhani, says that cinemas must pay a tax for every ticket sold, which is 45%, and this makes it hard to break even. It’s the highest of all states across India. The majority of the states in India pay zero entertainment tax. Mr Vidhani says his members had decided to go ahead with a one-week closure after getting no response from the state government on the matter.

It is not just a high tax rate contributing to the shrinking（收缩）number of traditional cinemas, however. Large costs and declining box office takings also make times tougher.

Mr Vidhani has run the New Excelsior Theatre in South Mumbai since 1974. Last week a screening of Bollywood movie Tanu Weds Manu sold just 71 tickets despite a capacity of more than 1,000. Whether it’s a full house or an empty screening, running costs are more or less the same. “Air conditioning, regular business — every expenditure (支出) is the same, but the income has stopped.”

The cricket (板球) World Cup is not helping matters, according to Mr Vidhani. “The World Cup is creating the biggest problem,” he says. “These people are crazy so far as the cricket is concerned. When India is playing, occupancy in the theatre is just 15%.”

Mumbai’s city centre is dotted with empty cinemas.

So after remaining empty for six years, the Novelty theatre is perhaps more fortunate than its neighbours: it is to be reborn as a four-screen multiplex cinema.

Over the last decade the number of multiplexes in India has risen sharply. Despite higher ticket prices, with more choice on offer and typically newer facilities they pose fierce competition to the traditional single-screen theatres.

“Competition from the multiplexes is really tough,” Mr Vidhani says. “Then there is competition from the movie window being narrow. Movies are being released much quicker on television than they used to be so people can pretty much watch movies for free at home.

“With rising incomes, everyone’s going out and buying DVD players or VCD players. Content is available for the asking whether it is official or pirated(盗版).”

Unless single-screen theatres can become special destinations in their own right, while also offering up-to-date facilities, Jehil Thakkar thinks the decline is a trend that will continue, especially as multiplex cinemas spread to smaller towns.

“They are large corporate chains,” he says. “They have the ability to spend money on branding and advertising, so to a large extent the small cinema guys are fighting a losing battle.”

Ticket tax fuels Indian cinema strike

单词拼写 (共10小题; 每小题1分,满分10分)

1. When I saw her in the street, I stopped and smiled, but she i___________ me and walked on.

2. Judging from his accent, he is a n_________ of Ningbo.

3. Unexpected difficulties a_________ in the course of their experiment.

4. Many men were b__________ underground when the accident at the mine happened.

5. The hotel guests tried their best to e__________ from the burning building.

6. Of all the museum’s paintings, only one s___________ the fire.

7. The ship s__________ off the coast of Newfoundland during a storm.

8. They worked in their spare time as v_____________. In other words, they worked for free.

9. We decided to a___________ our new product (产品)in the local newspaper.

10. What t_________ of house would you prefer to live in?

Jonny Jones was a nice and popular boy, who everyone loved．He was so much fun, so good and so kind to everyone that they treated him wonderfully. But as everything he needed was given to him without asking, Jonny became a weed. He was so spoiled by everyone that he couldn’t stand any hardship.
One day Johnny heard a mother saying to her son “Come on, my boy, get up and stop crying. You are behaving like Johnny Jones.” That made Johnny feel very ashamed. But he was sure that he would prefer to be known as a good boy rather than a fool. Worried, he spoke to his father about all this, though he was afraid that maybe he would be laughed at for having such worries. His father, far from laughing at Johnny, told him that a teacher had taught him a secret trick to turn him into the toughest boy off all. “Eat a candy less, study a minute more, and count to five before crying.” Johnny asked, “Just that? ” “Yes, just that,” said his father, “It’s very simple, but I warn you that it won’t be easy.”
Johnny was happy like a bird, ready to follow the advice. He went to see his mother, and she noticed how happy he was when she offered him candies. “One candy less”, thought Johnny, so he only took one. That afternoon he had another chance to put it into practice by studying one minute more. The result was that he missed the first minute of his favorite program! But having achieved this gave him a great feeling of satisfaction. The same happened when he ran up against the corner of the kitchen table. He only managed to count to four before crying, but that was left deeply in his mother’s memory.
Over the following days Johnny kept using the motto in his life as his father told him. And the more he put this into practice ,the easier it got. Before long he realized that he could also do things that would seem impossible before.
【小题1】The underlined word "weed" in the first paragraph refers to ____．

Jonny Jones was a nice and popular boy, who everyone loved．He was so much fun, so good and so kind to everyone that they treated him wonderfully. But as everything he needed was given to him without asking, Jonny became a weed. He was so spoiled by everyone that he couldn’t stand any hardship.

One day Johnny heard a mother saying to her son “Come on, my boy, get up and stop crying. You are behaving like Johnny Jones.” That made Johnny feel very ashamed. But he was sure that he would prefer to be known as a good boy rather than a fool. Worried, he spoke to his father about all this, though he was afraid that maybe he would be laughed at for having such worries. His father, far from laughing at Johnny, told him that a teacher had taught him a secret trick to turn him into the toughest boy off all. “Eat a candy less, study a minute more, and count to five before crying.” Johnny asked, “Just that? ” “Yes, just that,” said his father, “It’s very simple, but I warn you that it won’t be easy.”

Johnny was happy like a bird, ready to follow the advice. He went to see his mother, and she noticed how happy he was when she offered him candies. “One candy less”, thought Johnny, so he only took one. That afternoon he had another chance to put it into practice by studying one minute more. The result was that he missed the first minute of his favorite program! But having achieved this gave him a great feeling of satisfaction. The same happened when he ran up against the corner of the kitchen table. He only managed to count to four before crying, but that was left deeply in his mother’s memory.

Over the following days Johnny kept using the motto in his life as his father told him. And the more he put this into practice ,the easier it got. Before long he realized that he could also do things that would seem impossible before.

1.The underlined word "weed" in the first paragraph refers to ____．

    A．a person with a strong v/ill

    B．a person with a weak character

    C．a person who isn't popular with everyone

    D．a person who changes his behavior according to the situation

2.What made Jonny Jones decide to change himself?

    A．A mother's words．               B．Others' attitude to him．

    C．His father's advice．            C．His teacher's warning．

3.What is the key point of the advice from Jonny's father?

    A．Eat fewer candies than before．

    B．Count to five before crying．

    C．Talk with parents and follow their advice．

    D．Learn to control oneself and keep using the motto in life．

4.What message does the writer want to convey through the story?

    A．One should be brave to face his mistakes．

    B．Nothing is difficult as long as you set your mind on it．

    C．Spoilinga child too much may result in his selfish behaviors．

    D．A strong will can be developed by small but consistent efforts．

单词拼写（10分）
【小题1】G              changes of climate may have been responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs.
【小题2】Too much salt can be h              to a young baby.
【小题3】With the d              of science, more and more new technologies are playing important roles in people’s life.
【小题4】She grew up in a w              family, which resulted in the fact that she cared little about money.
【小题5】The postman has to get up before d              every day in order to deliver the letters in time.
【小题6】The skirt is too f              for me. I prefer a plain one.
【小题7】We have found further scientific e              for his experiment.
【小题8】We left the forest hungry, so we went to Calistoga in s              of a place to eat. Unfortunately, it took us almost two hours to find one.
【小题9】The main e              to the park is on Gongyuan Road, near the City Railway Station. Admission is free for children under 12.
【小题10】After the v              quarrel, the young couple realized that their marriage had come to an end.