When a group of children politely stop a conversation with you, saying: "We have to go to work now," you' re left feeling surprised and certainly uneasy. After all, this is the 1990s and the idea of children working is just unthinkable. That is, until you are told that they are all pupils of stage schools, and that the "work" they go off to is to go on the stage in a theatre.
Stage schools often act as agencies (代理机构) to supply children for stage and television work. More worthy of the name "stage school" are those few places where children attend full time, with a training for the theatre and a general education.
A visit to such schools will leave you in no doubt that the children enjoy themselves. After all , what lively children wouldn't settle for spending only half the day doing ordinary school work, and acting, singing or dancing their way through the other half of the day?
Then of course there are times for the children to make a name and make a little money in some big shows. Some stage schools give their children too much professional work at such a young age. But the law is very tight on the amount they can do. Those under 13 are limited to 40 days in the year; those over 13 to 80 days.
The schools themselves admit that not all children will be successful in the profession for which they are being trained. So what happens to those who don' t make it? While all the leading schools say they place great importance on children getting good study results, the facts seem to suggest this is not always the case.In the writer' s opinion, a good stage school should _________ .
| A．produce star performers |
| B．help pupils improve their study skills |
| C．train pupils in language and performing arts |
| D．provide a general education and stage training. |
"Professional work" as used in the text means _________ .
| A．ordinary school work | B．money-making performances |
| C．stage training at school | D．acting, singing or dancing after class |
Which of the following best describes how the writer feels about stage schools?
| A．He thinks highly of what they have to offer . |
| B．He favours an early start in the training of performing arts. |
| C．He feels uncomfortable about children putting on night shows. |
| D．He doubts the standard of ordinary education they have reached. |
As summer approaches, a lot of people will be in search of a great book to read while they are relaxing on the beach or by the pool. Here we have made a list of four e-books that we think are great summer reads.
Stark by Ben Elton--- If you have read a lot of books then you may know that Ben Elton is one of the funniest writers around the world. This book is one of his best pieces of work to date and it will certainly leave you in hysterics(狂笑). You may find yourself laughing out loud constantly when reading this book.
1984 by George Orwell---there is a big chance that some of you may have read this book ,but even if you have, it’s still well worth reading again. This is a great holiday book and it will shock you constantly due to the accuracy of the book. The book was actually written in 1948 and was written about what the author (George Orwell) fell the world would be like in 1984,and he was pretty spot-on .This book is thrilling and will probably leave you a little scared at the end of it.
The Road---This book is a fantastic read and will leave you hanging on edge all the way through it. This book is quite dark, however, and it certainly had some shocking moments throughout. The book is set in a post-apocalyptic(浩劫后的) world where modern life has been destroyed and in which there is no wildlife and a lot of humans have actually turned to cannibalism(同类相食).This book is fantastic if you enjoy a thrilling read that will leave you on the edge of your seat every few seconds. This certainly isn't a book for the faint of heart.
The Theory of Everything by Stephen Hawking---If you haven’t read this book yet then you really must .If you’re looking for a non-fiction and highly informative book for your summer then this is the book for you. This book was written by Professor Stephen Hawking and is extremely famous.What is the text mainly about?
| A．An introduction to four e-books that are great summer reads. |
| B．Advice on how to choose great e—books for summer reads. |
| C．The contents of four e-books that are famous around the world |
| D．People’s opinion on reading e-books on the beach. |
Which of the following is TRUE?
| A．Ben Elton is the funniest writer all over the world. |
| B．If you’ve read 1984, there’s no need to read it again. |
| C．The Road presents a world in which there are no humans. |
| D．The Theory of Everything is full of information that is helpful to readers. |
We can learn from the passage that____________
| A．George Orwell wrote what the world in 1948 was like in his book |
| B．Readers will surely be scared after reading 1984. |
| C．The Theory of Everything is a work of popular fiction. |
| D．Readers who are fond of comedies may like to read Stark |
If Mark likes reading thrilling and exciting stories, which of the following should he choose?
| A．Stark | B．1984 | C．The Road | D．The theory of Everything |
In which section of a magazine would you most probably read the text?
| A．Literature | B．Travel | C．Lifestyle | D．Nature. |
In 2003, Bethany Hamilton,13, lost her left arm to a shark attack while surfing off Kauai, Hawaii. A new film ,Soul Surfer, is based on the story of how she overcame that to achieve her dream of becoming a professional athlete.
Growing up on the “garden isle” of Kauai, Hamilton spent every minute she could riding the waves. She was on the verge of (即将) becoming a top competitor in professional surfing. But while she was practicing at an isolated cove (小湾)，a four-meter-long tiger shark ripped off her left arm. Though her life was saved, nobody could imagine she would ever get back on a surfboard again.
In a true test of her faith and by tremendous will power, Bethany did get back up on a surfboard only a month after the attack. Six months later, she was competing again. Bethany Hamilton won her first amateur surfing championship just two years after she lost her arm. She also established the “Friends of Bethany,” a non---profit foundation dedicated to supporting sharks attack victims.
It’s a story told in her autobiography, which is the basis for the film that stars teenager Anna Sophia Robb. “I knew Bethany’s story, of course, but I thought ‘What an incredible role’ ,”explains Robb. “I was so fascinated by all of the challenges. What would it be like to have your arm taken and what would go through your head and how would your faith be challenged?”
The filmmakers used special effects to digitally remove Robb’ s arm .However ,no tricks were necessary for the surfing scenes because Hamilton herself did the breathtaking wave riding.
Now 21, Hamilton says she hopes audiences find inspiration in the description of the sport she loves.
“Not a lot of people know that much about surfing, so I hope they’re educated about it,” Hamilton says. “And most of all if people are going through a hard time, they could be encouraged and find inspiration to push through those hard times and see that, in my case ,so much good has come out of it.”According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?.
| A．Hamilton was severely injured when surfing. |
| B．Nobody thought Hamilton could overcome the troubles. |
| C．Rob did the breathtaking wave riding in the film Soul Surfer. |
| D．Hamilton established the “Friends of Bethany” to help shark attack victims. |
Which of the following can best take the place of the underlined word “tremendous” in the third paragraph?
| A．Free. | B．Easy | C．Smart. | D．Strong. |
What can we learn from Anna Sophia Robb’s words?
| A．She was absorbed in the story. |
| B．she wasn’t sure she could play the role well. |
| C．She wants to challenge her faith. |
| D．She doesn’t believe Bethany’s story. |
How does Hamilton hope people will be affected by her story?
| A．she hopes more people will take up surfing. |
| B．she hopes people will be inspired and encouraged |
| C．She hopes more people will keep off the sharks. |
| D．She hopes people will donate something to her charity. |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．A lot of people are fond of surfing. |
| B．Good things will happen to the disabled in the end. |
| C．Faith and will power will help people go through hard times. |
| D．People can always overcome every difficulty in life. |
The Olympic Games
The ancient Olympic Games was in the year 776BC. They were held at Olympia in Greece every four years, for almost 12 centuries, until AD394.
The contemporary Olympics were first held in 1896, in Athens. It was a Frenchman, Pierre de Coubertin, who brought the Olympics back to life. He dreamt that the Olympics would make it possible for 56. 各国人民和平相处. Now people all over the world are helping to realize this dream. Among them are many well-known athletes.
57. 中国运动员为奥运会做出了重要贡献。At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the People’s Republic of China returned to the Olympics after 32 years’ absence. I am sure the whole of China must have felt proud when Xu Haifeng won the first gold medal for his country. 58. Deng Yaping is perhaps the greatest female table tennis player in the world. At the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, Liu Xiang excited people all over Asia when he became the first Asian to win the gold medal in the men’s 110-metre hurdles.
59. The Chinese led the way at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, winning 51 gold medals. For the first time in history, the Chinese women’s gymnastics team won the gold medal.
These are some of the Olympic athletes who have brought joy to people across the world with their attempts to push the boundaries of human achievement. We are looking forward to seeing more of them in future Olympic Games. 60. Join us in wishing the Olympic Movement a successful future.
“If you talk to the plants, they will grow faster and the effect is even better if you’re a woman.” Researchers at Royal Horticultural Society carried out an experiment to find that the voice of a woman gardener makes plants grow faster.
The experiment lasted a month and by the end of the study scientists managed to discover that tomato plants grew up two inches taller when women gardeners talked to them instead of male.
Sarah Darwin was the one making the plants the best growth. Her voice was the most “inspiring” for plants than those of nine other gardeners when reading a passage from The Origin of Species. The great-great-granddaughter of the famous botanist （植物学家）Charles Darwin found that her plant grew about two inches taller than the plant of the best male gardener.
Colin Crosbie, Garden Superintendent at RHS, said that the finding cannot yet be explained.He says that women have a greater range of pitch and tone（音高和音色）which might have a certain effect on the sound waves that reach the plant. “Sound waves are an environmental effect just like rain or light ,”said Mr Grosbie.
The study began in April at RHS Garden Wisley in Survey. Scientists started with open auditions(听力) for the people who were asked to record passages from John Wyndham's The Day of the Triffids, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer's Night Dream and Darwin's The Origin of Species.
Afterwards researchers selected a number of different voices and played them to 10 tomato plants during a period of a month. Each plant had headphones connected to it. Through the headphones the sound waves could hit the plants. It was discovered that plants that “listened” to female voices grew taller by an inch in comparison to plants that heard male voices.What does the passage talk about?
| A．Plants enjoy men’s voices than women’s. |
| B．A science experiment in a museum. |
| C．Voice’s influence on plant growing. |
| D．Strange findings at Royal Horticultural Society. |
What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 4 mean?
| A．Plants need sound as well as rain and light. |
| B．Sound is basic for the plant to grow. |
| C．Sound has a good effect as rain or light does. |
| D．Plants can’t live without sound, rain or light. |
What can we learn from the passage?
| A．The experiment ended in May. |
| B．Scientist can explain the findings clearly. |
| C．Plants enjoy listening to the passages from famous works. |
| D．The findings are of great importance to human beings. |
Facial expressions carry meaning that is determined by situations and relationships. For example, in American culture 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. For example, many people in Russia consider 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（尝试）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 conclude 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 |