Shakespeare, more perhaps than any other writer, made full use of the greatest resources of the English language. Most of us use about five thousand words in our normal use of English; Shakespeare in his works used about twenty-five thousand words! There is probably no better way for a foreigner to appreciate the richness and variety of the English language than by studying the various ways in which Shakespeare uses it. Such a study is well worth the effort, even though some aspects of English usage, and the meaning of many words, have changed since Shakespeare’s day.
However, it is surprising that we should know comparatively little about the life of the greatest English writer. We know that Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-on-Avon, and that he died there in 1616. He almost certainly attended the Grammar School in the town, but of this we cannot be sure. We know he was married there in 1582 to Anne Hathaway and that he had three children. We know that he spent much of his life in London writing his great works. But this is almost all that we do know.
However, what is important about Shakespeare’s life is not its other less important details but its products, the plays and the poems. For many years scholars have been trying to add a few facts about Shakespeare’s life to the small number we already possess and for an equally long time critics (评论家) have been talking about the plays. Sometimes, indeed, it seems that the poetry of Shakespeare will disappear under the great mass of comment (评论) that has been written upon it.
Luckily this is not likely to happen. Shakespeare’s people have long delighted not just the English but lovers of literature everywhere, and will continue to do so after the scholars and critics and all their works have been forgotten.According to the writer, which of the following remains uncertain about Shakespeare?
| A．His date of birth. | B．His marriage. |
| C．His life in the Grammar School. | D．His date of death. |
It can be inferred from Para.3 that ______.
| A．not all the comments on Shakespeare’s works have produced good effects |
| B．scholars have successfully collected facts about Shakespeare’s life |
| C．critics are more interested in Shakespeare’s plays than his poetry |
| D．the details of Shakespeare’s life are more important than his literary works |
What does the last sentence in Para.3 mean?
| A．People don’t think the poetry of Shakespeare good any more. |
| B．People pay more attention to the comment than the poetry of Shakespeare. |
| C．People can’t see the poetry of Shakespeare any more. |
| D．The comment is printed upon the poetry of Shakespeare. |
“Shakespeare’s people” in Para.4 refers to _______.
| A．the characters in Shakespeare’s products | B．the people whose native language is English |
| C．the people living in Shakespeare’s day | D．the readers of Shakespeare’s works |
Music comes in many forms; most countries have a style of their own. The US is well known for jazz (爵士乐), which has gained world-wide popularity.
In contrast to classical (古典的) music, which follows formal European traditions, jazz is natural and free-form. It is full of energy, expressing the moods, interests, and feelings of the people. It has a modern sound that makes people very excited. In the 1920s jazz sounded like America. And So it does today.
The origins of this music are as interesting as the music itself. Jazz was produced by American blacks, who were brought to the Southern States as slaves. They were sold to plantation owners (种植园主) and forced to work long hours in the cotton and tobacco fields. This work was hard and life was short. When a Negro died, his friends and relatives formed a group to carry the body to the cemetery.
A band often went with them. On the way to the cemetery the band played slow and sad music. But on the way home the mood changed. Spirits lifted. Everybody was happy. Death had removed one of their members, but the living were glad to be alive. The band played happy music, which made everyone want to dance. It was an early form of jazz.
Music has always been important in their lives. Coming mainly from West Africa, the black men who were brought to America already possessed a rich musical tradition. This music centered on religious ceremonies (宗教的仪式) in which dancing, singing, clapping and stamping (顿足) to the beat of a drum were important forms of musical expression. As these people settled in to their fields, they made up work songs. Singing made the hard work go faster.
Another musical form that helped to develop jazz was the blues. Blues songs always describe something sad — an unhappy love affair, a money problem, bad luck. To this day, the expression “feeling blue” means being sad.Through jazz, people can express______.
| A． their moods |
| B． their feelings |
| C． their interests |
| D． all the above |
Which of the following is true according to the text?
| A．Jazz follows European traditions. |
| B．Jazz always describes something sad. |
| C．Jazz was first produced by black slaves. |
| D．Blues made the hard work of those slaves go faster. |
The underlined sentence “Spirits lilted,” suggested that______.
| A．everybody was feeling blue |
| B．everybody was still in a sad mood |
| C．everybody became happy |
| D．people’s souls went to the heaven |
What should be the best tide for this passage?
A. A Light Music.
B. Black men’s Music.
C. The Origin of the Jazz Music.
D. The Popular Music—Jazz in the U.S.A.Why did the band play happy music on the way home from the cemetery?
| A．Because they felt happy for the dead men. |
| B．Because they were glad that they themselves were still alive. |
| C．Because they would have a big dinner after they returned home. |
| D．Because they hated that dead man |
Country music is one of the most popular kinds of music in the United States today because it is about simple but strong human feelings and events-love, sadness, good times, and bad times. It tells real-life stories and sounds the way people really talk, as life becomes more complicated (复杂的) it is good to hear music about ordinary people.
Country music, sometimes called country-western, comes from two lands of music. One is the traditional music of the people in. the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States. The other is traditional cowboy music from the west. The singers usually play guitars, and in the 1920s they started using electric guitars.
At first city people said country music was low class. It was popular mostly in the South. But during World War II, thousands of Southerners went to the northeast and Midwest to work in the factories. They took their music with them. Soldiers from the rest of the country went to army camps in the South. They learned country music. Slowly it became popular all over the country.
Today country music is also popular everywhere in the United States and Canada—in small tows and in New York City, among black and white, and among educated and uneducated people. About 1,200 radio stations broadcast country music twenty-four hours day, English stars sing it. In British English, and people in other countries sing it in their own languages. The music that started with cowboys and poor southerners is now popular all over the world.It can be learned from the passage that country music comes from_____.
| A．the northeast and Midwest |
| B．factories and army camps in the South |
| C．the Appalachian Mountains and the West |
| D．real-life stories in small towns |
During World War II many Southerners went to the Northeast and the Midwest because______.
| A．they wanted to take music with them |
| B．they wanted to make other people like country music |
| C．they wanted to work in the factories there |
| D．they wanted to make country music popular |
Country music is one of the most popular kinds of music in the world today because _______.
| A．many people said it was low class |
| B．people could sing it in different languages |
| C．it started with cowboys and poor Southerners |
| D．It is loved by different kinds of people in the world |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．Country music is sung by stars all in English. |
| B．Country music is about human feelings and events. |
| C．Country music is only popular with city people today. |
| D．The singers started using electric guitars in the 1930s. |
Americans have contributed to many art forms, but Jazz a type of music, is one that was not started in the United States. Blacks, who sang and played the music of their homeland, created jazz.
Jazz is a mixture of the music of Africa, the work songs the slaves sang and religious(宗教的) music. Improvisation is an important part of jazz. This means that musicians make the music up as they go along, or create the music on the spot. This is why a jazz song might sound a little different each time it is played
Jazz bands formed in the late 1800s. They played in bars and clubs in many towns and cities of the South, especially in New Orleans. New Orleans is an international seaport, and people from all over the world came to New Orleans to hear jazz.
Jazz became more and more popular. By the 1920s, jazz was popular all over the United States. By the 1940s, you could hear jazz not only in clubs and bars, But in concert halls as well. Today, people from all over the world play jazz. Jazz musicians from the United States, Asia, Africa, South America, and Europe meet and share their music at festivals on every continent. In this way jazz continues to grow and change.What can be the best title of the passage?
| A．American Art Forms |
| B．The Development of Jazz |
| C．The Music of Black Americans |
| D．The Birthplace of Jazz |
Which of the following is true?
| A．Jazz is now popular all over the world. |
| B．Jazz is now a kind of religious music. |
| C．Jazz is now played only in bars and clubs. |
| D．Jazz is now played in the same way as before. |
From the text it can be inferred that
| A．New Orleans is the place where jazz was first produced |
| B．the American people are all jazz lovers |
| C．jazz is merely sung by the black when working |
| D．jazz may become more popular as time goes on |
It took about _____years to make jazz popular in the United States.
| A．200 | B．120 | C．80 | D．40 |
Like the Five Olympic Rings from which they draw their color and inspiration, the Five Friendlies will serve as the Official Mascots of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, carrying a message of friendship and peace and blessings from China to children all over the world.
Designed to express the playful qualities of five little children who form an intimate circle of friends, the Five Friendlies also embody the natural characteristics of four of China’s most popular animals—the Fish, the Panda, the Tibetan Antelope, the Swallow—and the Olympic Flame.
Each of the Friendlies has a rhyming two-syllable name—a traditional way of expressing affection for children in China. Beibei is the Fish, Jingjing is the Panda, Huanhuan is the Olympic Flame, Yingying is the Tibetan Antelope and Nini is the Swallow.
When you put their names together—Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni—they say “Welcome to Beijing,” offering a warm invitation that reflects the mission of the Five Friendlies as young ambassadors for the Olympic Games.
The Five Friendlies also embody both the landscape and the dreams and aspirations of people from every part of the vast country of China. In their origins and their headpieces, you can see the five elements of nature—the sea, forest, fire, earth and sky—all stylistic rendered in ways that represent the deep traditional influences of Chinese folk art and ornamentation.The Official Mascots of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games carry the following messages EXCEPT .
| A．friendship | B．peace | C．love | D．blessing |
The Five Friendlies embody .
| A．the sea and the forest | B．the fire and the earth |
| C．the sky and the earth | D．the natural characteristics, landscape, the dreams and aspirations |
What does the Five Friendlies mean when put together?
| A．Welcome to Beijing. |
| B．They represent the five elements of nature—the sea, forest, fire, earth and sky. |
| C．They are designed to express the playful qualities of five little children. |
| D．They represent the deep traditional influences of Chinese folk art and ornamentation. |
COLUMBUS, Ohio—The heart operation taking place in the pale-green operating room at the Ohio State University Medical Center was unusual. The patient, a 62-year-old man, was made to sleep, tied with blue drapes（消毒帷帘）and lying face up on a narrow table. But no one was touching him.
Instead, the operation was being performed by a robot, whose three metal arms went through pencil-sized holes in the man’s chest. At the ends of the robot’s arms were tiny metal fingers, with turning wrists, which held a tiny instrument, a light and a camera. The robot’s arms and fingers were controlled by Dr. Randall K. Wolf, sitting at a computer in a corner of the operating room about 20 feet away.
This sort of operation, heart surgeons say, is the start of what may be the biggest change in their profession since heart bypass surgery（心脏搭桥手术）began nearly 30 years ago. “The reason we make cuts is that we have big hands,” said Dr. Wolf, the director of the surgery at Ohio State. The robot’s dainty fingers, no longer than a nail on the small finger, at the end of the long sticks could work better.
Eventually, surgeons believe, most heart surgery will be done by robots whose arms are put in through pencil-sized holes punched in patients’ chests. Instead of directly staring into a patient’s body, surgeons will view magnified images of the operation on computer screens. In theory, the doctor would not have to be in the same room, or even the same country, as the patient.In this passage, the underlined word “dainty” means ______.
| A．weak | B．small | C．fat | D．quick |
According to the passage, the reason that most operations require large cuts is that ______.
| A．patients have large organs | B．surgeons have large hands |
| C．large cuts take less time | D．large cuts cost less money |
The main idea of this passage is that heart surgery by robots ______.
| A．is quicker than surgery done by doctors | B．may replace surgery done by doctors |
| C．is a new and risky procedure | D．was developed at Ohio State University |
Based on the information in this passage, all of the following conclusions are true EXCEPT ______.
| A．Robot surgery is being developed at Ohio State |
| B．Robot surgery will be used on many patients in the near future |
| C．All doctors at Ohio Sate develop new surgical techniques |
| D．Many hospitals will eventually offer robot surgery to patients |