Animation(动画) means making things which are lifeless come alive and move.
Since earliest times, people have always been surprised by movement. But not until this century have we managed to take control of movement, to record it, and in the case of animation, to retranslate it and recreate it. To do all this, we use a movie camera and a projector.
In the world of cartoon animation, nothing is impossible. You can make the characters do exactly what you want them to do.
A famous early cartoon character was Felix the Cat, created by Pat Sullivan in America in the early nineteen twenties. Felix was a wonderful cat. He could do all sorts of things no natural cat could do like taking off his tail, using it as a handle and then putting it back.
Most of the great early animators lived and worked in America, the home of the moving picture industry. The famous Walt Disney cartoon characters came to life after 1928. Popeye the Sailor and his girl friend Olive Oyo were born at Max Ficischer in 1933.
But to be an animator, you don’t have to be a professional. It is possible for anyone to make a simple animated film without using a camera at all. All you have to do is to draw directly on to an empty film and then run the film through a projector. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．People were unable to cause the movement to last or record it in the last century. |
| B．Pat Sullivan was a famous early cartoon character. |
| C．It is impossible to make cartoon characters do what they are designed to do. |
| D．In ancient times people were surprised by movement. |
According to the passage, Felix the Cat________.
| A．was created by the American cartoonist Felix |
| B．was designed by Pat Sullivan in the early twentieth century |
| C．was unable to do what natural cats could not do |
| D．was created in the United States in the nineteenth century |
It can be inferred from the passage that ________.
| A．Walt Disney’s cartoon characters were born earlier that Pat Sullivan’s |
| B．only professionals can create cartoon characters |
| C．Popeye the Sailor and Olive Oyo were famous cartoonists |
| D．the cartoon industry started in the United States |
Which of the following statements best describes the author’s attitude towards cartoon making?
| A．Cartoon making is an easy job. Anyone can do it. |
| B．Only trained people can be employed in cartoon making industry. |
| C．Anyone can make cartoons under the instructions of professionals. |
| D．Cartoon making is no easy job. You have to spend much time drawing onto the empty film. |
People in the United States honor their parents with two special days: Mother’s Day, on the second Sunday in May, and Father’s Day, on the third Sunday in June. These days are set aside to show love and respect for parents. They raise their children and educate them to be responsible citizens. They give love and care. These two days offer a chance to think about the changing roles of mothers and fathers. More mothers now work outside the home. More fathers must help with child-care.
These two special days are celebrated in many different ways. On Mother’s Day people wear carnations. A red one stands for a living mother. A white one shows that the mother is dead. Many people attend religious services(宗教仪式) to honor parents. It is also a day when people whose parents are dead visit their graves. On these days, families get together at home and in restaurants. They often have outdoor BBQs for Father’s Day. These are days of fun and good feelings and memories.
Another tradition is to give cards and gifts. Children make them in school. Many people make their own presents. These are valued more than the ones bought in stores. It is not the value of the gift that is important, but it is “the thought that counts”. Greeting card stores, florists, candy makers, bakeries, telephones companies and other stores do a lot of business during these holidays.Which is NOT a reason for children to show love and respect for parents?
| A．Parents bring children |
| B．Parents give love and care to children |
| C．Parents educate children to be good persons. |
| D．Parents pass away before children grow up |
What do you know from the passage?
| A．Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are both in May. |
| B．Fewer women worked outside the home in the past |
| C．Not all the children respect their parents |
| D．Fathers are not as important as mothers at home |
Which do you think is right about “carnation”?
| A．It only has two kinds of color. |
| B．It is a special kind of clothes people wear on Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. |
| C．It’s a kind of flower showing love and best wishes. |
| D．People can wear carnations only on the second Sunday in May. |
What do you think “florists” do?
| A．They sell flowers |
| B．They made bread or pastry |
| C．They offer enough room for having family parties. |
| D．They sell special clothes for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. |
Shopping is not as simple as you may think! There are all sorts of tricks at play each time we reach out for that particular brand (商标) of product on the shelf.
Colouring, for example, varies according to what the producers are trying to sell. Health foods are packaged (包装) in greens, yellows or browns because we think of these as healthy colours. Ice cream packets are often blue and expensive goods, like chocolates, are gold or silver.
When some kind of pain killer was brought out recently, researchers found that the colours turned the customers off because they made the product look weak and ineffective. Eventually, it came on the market in a dark blue and white package—blue because we think of it as safe, and white as calm.
The size of a product can attract a shopper. But quite often a bottle doesn’t contain as much as it appears to.
It is believed that the better-known companies spend, on average, 70 per cent of the total cost of the product itself on packaging!
The most successful producers know that it’s not enough to have a good product. The founder of Pears soap, who for 25 years has used pretty little girls to promote(推销) their goods, came to the conclusion: “Any fool can make soap, but it takes a genius (天才) to sell it.”Which of the following may trick a shopper into buying a product according to the text?
| A．The cost of its package. | B．The price of the product. |
| C．The colour of its package. | D．The brand name of the product. |
The underlined part “the colours turned the customers off”(in Para. 3 ) means that the colours _____.
| A．attracted the customers strongly |
| B．had weak effects on the customers |
| C．tricked the customers into shopping |
| D．caused the customers to lose interest |
Which of the following is the key to the success in product sales?
| A．The way to promote goods. |
| B．The discovery of a genius. |
| C．The team to produce a good product. |
| D．The brand name used by successful producers. |
Which of the following would be the best title for this text?
| A．Choice of Good Products | B．Disadvantages of Products |
| C．Effect of Packaging on Shopping | D．Brand Names and Shopping Tricks |
If the world were a village of 1,000 people， it would include:
• 584 Asians
• 124 Africans
• 95 Eastern and Western Europeans
• 84 Latin Americans
• 55 former Soviets (including Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, and other national groups)
• 52 North Americans
• 6 Australians and New Zealanders
The people of the village would speak:
• 165 Mandarin
• 86 English
• 83 Hindu/Urdu
• 64 Spanish
• 58 Russian
• 37 Arabic
The above list covers the mother tongues of only half the village.
One-third of the people in the village are children, and only 60 are over the age of 65. Just under half of the married women in the village have access to modem equipments.
This year 28 babies will be born. Ten people will die, 3 of them for lack of food, 1 from cancer. Two of the deaths will be of babies born within the year. With the 28 births and 10 deaths, the population of the village next year will be 1,018.
In this village of 1,000 persons, 200 people receive 75 percent of the income; another 200 receive only 2 percent of the income.
About one-third have access to clean, safe drinking water.
Of the 670 adults in the village, half can not read nor write.
The village has a total yearly budget , public and private, of over $3 million—$ 3 ,000 per person if it is distributed evenly. Of the total $3 million:
$ 181,000 goes to weapons and warfare
$ 159,000 to education
$ 132,000 to health care
These weapons are under the control of just 100 of the people. The other 900 are watching them with deep anxiety, wondering whether they can learn to get along together.Which of the following is true about Mandarin according to the text?
| A．Nearly one-third of Asian people speak Mandarin in the village. |
| B．About 8.25 per cent of the people speak Mandarin in the village. |
| C．About 16. 5 per cent of the people speak Mandarin in the village. |
| D．Nearly all the Mandarin-speaking people are from Asia in the village. |
Which of the following problems is NOT mentioned in the text?
| A．Poverty. | B．Education. | C．Environment. | D．Marriage. |
The underlined part “have access to” (in Para. 4) means_____.
| A．use | B．buy | C．produce | D．try |
The last sentence in the text implies that most of the people long for _____.
| A．a peaceful world | B．good education |
| C．better health care | D．a life without anxiety |
I fell in love with England because it was quaint (典雅)—all those little houses, looking terribly old-fashioned but nice, like dolls’ houses. I loved the countryside and the pubs, and I loved London. I’ve slightly changed my mind after seventeen years because I think it’s an ugly town now.
Things have changed. For everybody, England meant gentlemen, fair play, and good manners. The fair play is going, unfortunately, and so are the gentlemanly attitudes and good manners—people shut doors heavily in your face and politeness is disappearing.
I regret that there are so few comfortable meeting places. You’re forced to live indoors. In Paris I go out much more, to restaurants and nightclubs. To meet friends here it usually has to be in a pub, and it can be difficult to go there alone as a woman. The cafes are not terribly nice.
As a woman, I feel unsafe here. I spend a bomb on taxis because I will not take public transport after 10 p. m. I used to use it, but now I’m afraid.
The idea of family seems to be more or less non-existent in England. My family is well united and that’s typically French. In Middlesex I had a neighbour who is 82 now. His family only lived two miles away, but I took him to France for Christmas once because he was always alone.The writer doesn’t like London because she ______.
| A．is not used to the life there now |
| B．has lived there for seventeen years |
| C．prefers to live in an old-fashioned house |
| D．has to be polite to everyone she meets there |
Where do people usually meet their friends in England?
| A．In a cafe. | B．In a restaurant. | C．In a nightclub. | D．In a pub. |
The underlined part “it” (in Para. 4) refers to______.
| A．a taxi | B．the money | C．a bomb | D．public transport |
The writer took her neighbour to France for Christmas because he ______.
| A．felt lonely in England |
| B．had never been to France |
| C．was from a typical French family |
| D．didn't like the British idea of family |
Everybody may have seen the film “Death on the Nile (n. 尼罗河)”, but nobody can imagine that the writer of the story, Agatha Christie, saved a baby in a most unusual way.
In June 1977, a baby girl became seriously ill in Deleville. Doctors there were unable to find out the cause of her illness, so she was sent to a famous hospital in London, where there were many excellent doctors. The baby was so seriously ill that a team of doctors hurried to examine the baby without delay. The doctors, too, were puzzled by the baby’s illness and they also became discouraged. Just then a nurse asked to speak to them.
“I think the baby is suffering from thallium (n. 铊) poisoning. ” said the nurse. “A few days ago, I read a story ‘A Pale Horse’ written by Agatha Christie. Someone uses thallium poison, and all the symptoms are written in the book. They are exactly the same as the baby’s.”
“You’re very good at observing things,” said a doctor, “and you may be right. We’ll carry out some tests and find out whether the cause is thallium poisoning or not.”
The tests proved that the baby had indeed been poisoned by thallium. Once they knew the cause, the doctors were able to give her correct treatment. The baby soon got well and was sent back to Deleville A week later, it was reported that the poison might have come from an insecticide (n. 杀虫剂) used in Deleville.The baby was sent to a hospital in London because __________.
| A．her parents were living in London then |
| B．the hospitals in Deleville were full at that time |
| C．she was the daughter of a famous doctor in London |
| D．doctors in Deleville were not sure about the cause of her illness |
When the baby was first sent to the hospital in London, her illness was considered to be ____________.
| A．quite easy to treat |
| B．the result of thallium poisoning |
| C．a common one |
| D．extraordinarily serious |
From this passage it seems that the baby’s illness had something to do with __________.
| A．a dead writer |
| B．the water in Deleville |
| C．a dangerous murderer |
| D．a harmful substance (n. 物质) used to kill pests |
As far as we can tell from the story, Agatha Christie ____________.
| A．had never met this baby |
| B．had spent a long time studying the baby’s illness |
| C．visited the baby both in Deleville and London |
| D．gave the nurse some advice on the telephone |