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LOS ANGELES-British singing sensation Susan Boyle’s first album quickly climbed to No. 1 on U.S. album charts on Wednesday with sales of 701,000 copies, beating new releases by Adam Lambert and Rihanna and becoming the best-selling debut(首次演出) of 2009. Boyle, 48, a frumpy Scottish singer, who became an international YouTube phenomenon after appearing on TV show “Britain’s Got Talent”, also topped the British album charts earlier this week.
Her “I Dreamed a Dream” release through Sony Music Entertainment, marked the best U.S. opening of a female artist's debut album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991, Billboard.com said. It was also the fastest selling album in Britain this year and has topped the charts in Australia and Ireland.
Billboard said only one album in SoundScan’s tracking history had seen a bigger opening week than Boyle. U.S. rapper Snoop Dogg’s album “Doggystyle” sold 803,000 copies in its first week in 1993—before traditional album sales began tumbling(falling rapidly) in the face of piracy(盗版) and a shift to digital sales.
Although Boyle finally failed to win “Britain’s Got Talent”, her April trial hearing for the show has been viewed more than 300 million times on the Internet.
In a good week for stars of TV talent shows, “American Idol” runner-up Adam Lambert’s debut album “For Your Entertainment”, also released through Sony, debuted at No.3 on the Billboard 200 with 198,000 copies sold. Lambert’s strong showing followed headline news coverage of his bad televised live performance at the American Music Awards 10 days ago in which he aroused oral sex with a dancer and kissed a male keyboard player.
R&B singer Rihanna’s “Rated R”, her first studio album since being attacked by her then-boyfriend Chris Brown in February, bowed in at No.4 with 181,000 copies—the best sales week in the 21-year-old singer’s career.
Italian singer Andrea Bocelli held onto the No.2 spot for a third week with his “My Christmas” album with 218,000 new copies sold during the week, SoundScan said.
60. According to the passage, what albums were released through Sony Music Entertainment?
A. Doggystyle and I Dreamed a Dream.
B. For Your Entertainment and I Dreamed a Dream.
C. Rated R and Doggystyle.
D. My Christmas and For Your Entertainment.
61. What do you learn from the passage?
A. Doggystyle marked the biggest opening week in SoundScan’s tracking history.
B. I Dreamed a Dream was the fastest selling album in English-speaking countries.
C. Upon its release, Boyle’s first album ranked first on album charts on Wednesday.
D. Boyle became world-famous after she won Britain’s Got Talent.
62. Who may perform crazily and leave audience a bad impression?
A. Susan Boyle. B. Andrea Bocelli. C. Rihanna. D. Adam Lambert.
63. From the passage we can conclude _______.
A. The albums could have sold better if it had not been for piracy and a shift to digital sales
B. Boyle became world-famous because she was a female artist.
C. Being attacked by her then-boyfriend might decrease the sales of Rihanna’s Rated R.
D. Andrea Bocelli’s album My Christmas only kept the No. 2 spot for two weeks.
First Day at School
It was my first day at school in London and I was half-excited and half-frightened. On my way to school I wondered, what questions the other boys would ask me and practiced all the answers: "I am nine years old. I was born here but I haven't lived here since I was two. I was living in Farley. It's about thirty miles away. I came back to London two months ago." I also wondered if it was the rule for boys to fight strangers like me, but I was tall for my age. I hoped they would decide not to risk it.
No one took any notice of me before school. I stood in the center of the playground, expecting someone to say "hello", but no one spoke to me.
My teacher was called Mr. Jones. There were 42 boys in the class, so I didn't stand out there, either, until the first lesson of the afternoon. Mr. Jones was very fond of Charles Dickens, so he asked several boys if they knew Dickens' birthplace, but no one guessed right. A boy called Brian, the biggest in the class, said: "Timbuktu” and Mr. Jones went red in the face. Then he asked me. I said: "Portsmouth” and everyone stared at me because Mr. Jones said I was right. This didn't make me very popular, of course. “He thinks he's clever," I heard Brian say.
After that, we went out to the playground to play football. I was in Brian's team, and he obviously had Dickens in mind because he told me to go in goal. No one ever wanted to be the goalkeeper.
"He's big enough and useless enough;" Brian said when someone asked him why he had chosen me.
As the boy kicked the ball hard along the ground to my right, I threw myself down quickly and saved it. All my team crowded round me. My bare knees were grazed and bleeding. Brian took out a handkerchief and offered it to me.
"Do you want to join my gang (team)?" he said.
At the end of the day, I was no longer a stranger. The writer prepared to answer all of the following questions EXCEPT "__________".
| A．How old are you? |
| B．Where are you from? |
| C．Do you want to join my gang? |
| D．When did you come back to London? |
We can learn from the passage that ___________________.
| A．boys were usually unfriendly to new students |
| B．the writer was not greeted as he expected |
| C．Brian praised the writer for his cleverness |
| D．the writer was glad to be a goalkeeper |
The underlined part "I didn't stand out" in paragraph 3 means that the writer was not ______.
| A．noticeable | B．nervous |
| C．important | D．outstanding |
The writer was offered a handkerchief because _________________.
| A．he was in Brian’s team |
| B．he was no longer a new comer |
| C．he was beginning to be accepted |
| D．he pushed a player on the other team |
Any introduction to Peking Opera would not be complete without telling of Mei Lanfang. During his stage life, he combined the traditions of the past with his own creations, shaping a style of his own and giving birth to “The Mei Lanfang School”. He was also the first artist to introduce Peking Opera to an overseas audience, making it popular to the world.
Mei Lanfang began his stage life at the age of 8. His teacher said he showed little hope because of his boring eyes. To improve this, he exercised them day after day. Thanks to his efforts, he managed to change his dull eyes into a pair of bright and expressive eyes and win national fame before the age of 20.
In over 50 years on the stage, Mei Lanfang played no less than 100 different characters in the performance. He also wrote many new plays, designing the dances himself. The many dances he created form part of the great treasure that he left to Peking Opera.
In 1930, Mei Lanfang started on a successful US tour. There his brilliant performances impressed the audience, making them realize that Peking Opera was a theatrical form of great value.Mei Lanfang was the first artist to introduce Peking Opera to ________.
| A．China | B．audience |
| C．the world | D．schools |
How long did it take Mei Lanfang to exercise his eyes into bright and expressive?
| A．About 8 years. | B．About 10 years. |
| C．About 12 years. | D．About 14 years. |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．The history of Peking Opera. |
| B．Mei Lanfang’s early stage life. |
| C．The performance of Peking Opera by Mei Lanfang. |
| D．Mei Lanfang’s great contributions to Peking Opera. |
Make Up Your Mind to Succeed
Kind-hearted parents have unknowingly left their children defenseless against failure. The generation born between 1980 and 2001 grew up playing sports where scores and performance were played down because “everyone’s winner.” And their report cards sounded more positive (正面的) than ever before. As a result, Stanford University professor Carol Dweck, PhD, calls them “the overpraised generation.”
Dweck has been studying how people deal with failure for 40 years. Her research has led her to find out two clearly different mind-sets that have a great effect on how we react to it. Here’s how they work:
A fixed mind-set is grounded in the belief that talent (才能) is genetic – you’re a born artist, point guard, or numbers person. The fixed mind-set believes he’s sure to succeed without much effort and regards failure as personal shame. When things get difficult, he’s quick to blame, lie, and even stay away from future difficulties.
On the other hand, a growth mind-set believes that no talent is entirely heaven-sent and that effort and learning make everything possible. Because the ego (自尊) isn’t on the line as much, the growth mind-set sees failure as a chance rather than shame. When faced with a difficulty, he’s quick to rethink, change and try again. In fact, he enjoys this experience.
We are all born with growth mind-sets. (Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to live in the world.) But parents, teachers, and instructors often push us into fixed mind-sets by encouraging certain actions and misdirecting praise. Dweck’s book, Mind-set: The New Psychology of Success, and online instructional program explain this in depth. But she says there are many little things you can start doing today to make sure that your children, grandchildren and even you are never defeated by failure. What does the author think about the present generation?
| A．They don’t do well at school. | B．They are often misunderstood. |
| C．They are eager to win in sports. | D．They are given too much praise. |
A fixed mind-set person is probably one who ___ .
| A．doesn’t want to work hard |
| B．cares a lot about personal safety |
| C．cannot share his ideas with others |
| D．can succeed with the help of teachers |
What does the growth mind-set believe?
| A．Admitting failure is shameful. |
| B．Talent comes with one’s birth. |
| C．Scores should be highly valued. |
| D．Getting over difficulties is enjoyable. |
What should parents do for their children based on Dweck’s study?
| A．Encourage them to learn from failures. |
| B．Prevent them from making mistakes. |
| C．Guide them in doing little things. |
| D．Help them grow with praise. |
Facial expressions carry meaning that is determined by situations and relationships. For example, in American culture (文化) the smile is in general an expression of pleasure. Yet it also has other uses. A woman’s smile at a police officer does not carry the same meaning as the smile she gives to a young child. A smile may show love or politeness. It can also hide true feelings. It often causes confusion (困惑) across cultures. For example, many people in Russia smiling at strangers in public to be unusual and even improper. Yet many Americans smile freely at strangers in public places (although this is less common in big cities). Some Russians believe that Americans smile in the wrong places; some Americans believe that Russians don’t smile enough. In Southeast Asian culture, a smile is frequently used to cover painful feelings. Vietnamese people may tell a sad story but end the story with a smile.
Our faces show emotions (情感), but we should not attempt to “read” people from another culture as we would “read” someone from our own culture. The fact that members of one culture do not express their emotions as openly as do members of another does not mean that they do not experience emotions. Rather, there are cultural differences in the amount of facial expressions permitted. For example, in public and in formal situations many Japanese do not show their emotions as freely as Americans do. When with friends, Japanese and Americans seem to show their emotions similarly.
It is difficult to generalize about Americans and facial expressiveness because of personal and cultural differences in the United States. People from certain cultural backgrounds in the United States seem to be more facially expressive than others. The key is to try not to judge people whose ways of showing emotion are different. If we judge according to our own cultural habits, we may make the mistake of “reading” the other person incorrectly. What does the smile usually mean in the U.S?
| A．Love. | B．Politeness. |
| C．Joy. | D．Thankfulness. |
The author mentions the smile of the Vietnamese to prove that smile can ___ .
| A．show friendliness to strangers |
| B．be used to hide true feelings |
| C．be used in the wrong places |
| D．show personal habits |
What should we do before attempting to “read” people?
| A．Learn about their relations with others. |
| B．Understand their cultural backgrounds. |
| C．Find out about their past experience. |
| D．Figure out what they will do next. |
What would be the best title for the test?
| A．Cultural Differences | B．Smiles and Relationship |
| C．Facial Expressiveness | D．Habits and Emotions |
You may think that sailing is a difficult sport, but it is really not hard to learn it. You do not need to be strong. But you need to be quick. And you need to understand a few basic rules about the wind.
First, you must ask yourself, “Where is the wind coming from? Is it coming from ahead or behind or from the side?” You must think about this all the time on the boat. The wind direction tells you what to do with the sail.
Let’s start with the wind blowing from the behind. This means the wind and the boat are going in the same direction. Then you must always keep the sail outside the boat. It should be at a 90° angle (角度) to the boat. Then it will catch the wind best.
If the wind is blowing from the side, it is blowing across the boat. In this case, you must keep the sail half way outside the boat. It should be at a 45° angle to the boat. It needs to be out far enough to catch the wind, but it shouldn’t flap (摆动). It shouldn’t look like on a flagpole. If it is flapping, it is probably out too far, and the boat will slow down.
Sailing into the wind is not possible. If you try, the sail will flap and the boat will stop. You may want to go in that direction. It is possible, but you can’t go in a straight line. You must go first in one direction and then in another. This is called tacking. When you are tacking, you must always keep the sail inside the boat. What should you consider first while sailing?
| A．Sailors’ strength. | B．Wave levels. |
| C．Wind directions. | D．Size of sails. |
What does the word “It” underlined in Paragraph 4 refer to?
| A．The boat. | B．The wind. |
| C．The sail. | D．The angle. |
What do you have to do when sailing against the wind?
| A．Move in a straight line. | B．Allow the sail to flap. |
| C．Lower the sail. | D．Tack the boat. |
Where can you probably find the text?
| A．In a popular magazine. | B．In a tourist guidebook. |
| C．In a physics textbook. | D．In an official report. |