In white shirt, blue pants, black cloth shoes and two pigtails (辫子), Jingqiu gives off an air of great “pure beauty” in Zhang Yimou’s new movie Under the Hawthom Tree.《山揸树之恋》
The film tells the story of the sad romance of Jingqiu and a handsome young man named Laosan. Set at the end of the “cultural revolution” (1966-1976), the pair manage to fall in love although they come form different political environments.
Before it was released, moviegoers speculated (推测) on just what this “pure beauty” could be. Director Zhang complained of how long it had taken him to find the right girl for the part of Jingqiu—a character so innocent that she believes simply lying on the same bed with a man will make her pregnant.
It was 18-year-old Zhou Dongyu who stood out from the crowd. According to Zhang, Zhou has “eyes that are clear like a fountain on a mountainside”. Born of an ordinary worker’s family, the Shijiazhuang girl was in her final year of high school and working hard for a place in an art college.
While some teenagers consider such “pure beauty” illusory (虚幻的), others believe that it speaks of something soulful.
Purity is all about the innocence that shines through from within, thinks 16-year-old Tan Mengxi of Nanjing.
“Being pure can be simple, not having complicated thoughts and being inexperienced. However, it doesn’t mean an ignorant or naive (天真的) person. So, a person is pure in his or her nature if he or she is always enthusiastic and able to deal with difficult matters independently. This purity doesn’t pass with time,” she said. What image does Jingqiu give to audiences in the movie Under the Hawthorn Tree?
A.A simple girl. | B.A pure girl. | C.A romantic girl. | D.A silent girl. |
What kind of girl looks pure according to the passage?
A.A girl in red shirt, blue pants, black leather shoes and two pigtails. |
B.A girl has eyes that are clear like a fountain on a mountainside. |
C.A girl who was born into an ordinary worker’s family. |
D.A girl wears accessories and make-up. |
What’s the opinion of Tan Mengxi about purity?
A.It is of whether someone is ignorant or naive. |
B.Being pure can be simple, not having complicated thoughts and being inexperienced. |
C.It is of whether someone is always enthusiastic. |
D.Purity is a matter of internal quality and doesn’t pass with time. |
Which do you think is the best title for the passage?
A.What makes a pure girl? |
B.A debate on the movie Under the Hawthorn Tree |
C.Opinions on the character Jingqiu |
D.It’s hard to find the character Jingqiu |
When did the story in the movie happen?
A.In the 1960s | B.In the 1980s |
C.In the 1970s | D.In the 1990s. |
Guide to Stockholm University Library
Our library offers different types of studying places and provides a good studying environment.
Zones
The library is divided into different zones. The upper floor is a quiet zone with over a thousand places for silent reading, and places where you can sit and work with your own computer. The reading places consist mostly of tables and chairs. The ground floor is the zone where you can talk. Here you can find sofas and armchairs for group work.
Computers
You can use your own computer to connect to the wi-fi specially prepared for notebook computers, you can also use library computers, which contain the most commonly used applications, such as Microsoft Office. They are situated in the area known as the Experimental Field on the ground floor.
Group-study places
If you want to discuss freely without disturbing others, you can book a study room or sit at a table on the ground floor. Some study rooms are for 2-3 people and others can hold up to 6-8 people. All rooms are marked on the library maps.
There are 40 group-study rooms that must be booked via the website. To book, you need an active University account and a valid University card. You can use a room three hours per day, nine hours at most per week.
Storage of Study Material
The library has lockers for students to store course literature. When you have obtained at least 40 credits(学分), you may rent a locker and pay 400 SEK for a year’s rental period.
Rules to be Followed
Mobile phone conversations are not permitted anywhere in the library. Keep your phone on silent as if you were in a lecture and exit the library if you need to receive calls.
Please note that food and fruit are forbidden in the library, but you are allowed to have drinks and sweets with you.The library’s upper floor is mainly for students to .
A.read in a quiet place |
B.have group discussions |
C.take comfortable seats |
D.get their computers fixed |
Library computers on the ground floor __________.
A.help students with their field experiments |
B.are for those who want to access the wi-fi |
C.contain software necessary for schoolwork |
D.are mostly used for filling out application forms |
What condition should be met to book a group-study room?
A.Group must consist of 8 people. |
B.One should have an active University account. |
C.Three-hour use per day is the minimum. |
D.Applicants must mark the room on the map. |
A student can rent a locker in the library if he ____________.
A.has earned the required credits |
B.attends certain course |
C.has nowhere to put his books |
D.can afford the rental fee |
What should NOT be brought into the library?
A.Mobile phones. | B.Orange juice. |
C.Candy. | D.Sandwiches. |
Another cultural aspect of nonverbal communication is one that you might not think about: space. Every person perceives himself to have a sort of invisible shield surrounding his physical body. When someone comes too close, he feels uncomfortable. When he bumps onto someone, he feels obligated to apologize. But the size of a person’s “comfort zone” depends on his cultural ethnic origin. For example, in casual conversation, many Americans stand about four feet apart. In other words, they like to keep each other “at arm’s length”, people in Latin or Arab cultures, in contrast, stand very close to each other, and touch each other often. If someone from one of those cultures stands too close to an American while in conversation, the American may feel uncomfortable and back away.
When Americans are talking, they expect others to respond to what they are saying. To Americans, polite conversationalists empathize by displaying expressions of excitement or disgust, shock or sadness. People with a “poker face”, whose emotions are hidden by a deadpan expression, are looked upon with suspicion. Americans also indicate their attentiveness in a conversation by raising their eyebrows, nodding, smiling politely and maintaining good eye contact. Whereas some cultures view direct eye contact as impolite or threatening, Americans see it as a sign of genuineness and honesty. If a person doesn’t look you in the eye, American might say, you should question his motives—or assume that he doesn’t like you. Yet with all the concern for eye contact, Americans still consider staring—especially at strangers—to be rude. What the author discussed in the previous section is most probably about __________.
A.classification of nonverbal communication |
B.the reasons why people should think about space |
C.the relationship between communication and space |
D.some other cultural aspects of nonverbal communication |
How far people keep to each other while talking is closely associated with their ______.
A.origin | B.culture | C.custom | D.nationality |
When an Italian talks to an Arabian on informal occasions, ______.
A.he stands about four feet away |
B."comfort zone" does not exist |
C.keeping close enough is preferred |
D.communication barriers may emerge |
A "poker face" (Line 3, Para. 2) refers to a face which is ______.
A.attentive | B.emotional |
C.suspicious | D.expressionless |
In a conversation between friends, Americans regard it as sincere and truthful to ______.
A.maintain direct eye contact |
B.hide emotions with a deadpan expression |
C.display excitement or disgust, shock or sadness |
D.raise their eyebrows, nod and smile politely |
The predictability of our death rates is something that has long puzzled social scientists. After all, there is no natural reason why 2,500 people should accidentally shoot themselves each year or why 7,000 should drown or 55,000 die in their cars. No one establishes a quota (定额) for each type of death. It just happens that they follow a consistent pattern year after year.
A few years ago a Canadian psychologist named Gerald Wilde became interested in this phenomenon. He noticed that mortality rates for violent and accidental deaths throughout the Western world have remained strangely static throughout the whole of the century, despite all the technological advances and increases in safety standards that have happened in that time. Wilde developed an interesting theory called “risk homeostasis”. According to this theory, people naturally live with a certain level of risk. When something is made safer, people will get around the measure in some way to get back to the original level of danger. If, for instance, they are required to wear seat belts, they will feel safer and thus will drive a little faster and a little more recklessly, thereby statistically canceling out the benefits that the seat belt offers. Other studies have shown that where a crossing is made safer, the accident rate invariably falls there but rises elsewhere along the same stretch of road as if making up for the drop. It appears, then, that we have an inborn need for danger. In all events, it is becoming clearer and clearer to scientists that the factors influencing our lifespan are far more subtle and complex than had been previously thought. It now appears that if you wish to live a long life, it isn’t simply a matter of paying attention to certain precautions such as eating the right foods, not smoking, and driving with care. You must also have the right attitude. Scientists at the Duke University Medical Center made a 15-year study of 500 persons personalities and found, somewhat to their surprise, that people with a suspicious or mistrustful nature die prematurely far more often than people with a sunny disposition. Looking on the bright side, it seems, can add years to your life span.What social scientists have long felt puzzled about is why __________.
A.the death rate can not be predicted |
B.the death toll remained stable year after year |
C.a quota for each type of death has not come into being |
D.people lost their lives every year for this or that reason |
In his research, Gerald Wilde finds that technological advances and increases in safety standards __________.
A.have helped solve the problem of so high death rate |
B.have oddly accounted for death rates in the past century |
C.have reduced death rates for violent and accidental deaths |
D.have achieved no effect in bringing down the number of deaths |
According to the theory of “risk homeostasis”, some traffic accidents result from ___________.
A.our inborn desire for risk |
B.our fast and reckless driving |
C.our ignorance of seat belt benefits |
D.our instinctive interest in speeding |
By saying “statistically canceling out the benefits that the seat belt offers” (Para. 2), the author means __________.
A.wearing seat belts does not have any benefits from the statistic point of view |
B.deaths from wearing seat belts are the same as those from not wearing them |
C.deaths from other reasons counterbalance the benefits of wearing seat belts |
D.wearing seat belts does not necessarily reduce deaths from traffic accidents |
Which of the following may contribute to a longer life span?
A.Showing adequate trust instead of suspicion of others |
B.Eating the food low in fat and driving with great care |
C.Cultivating an optimistic personality and never losing heart |
D.Looking on the bright side and developing a balanced level of risk |
It is pretty much a one-way street. While it may be common for university researchers to try their luck in the commercial world, there is very little traffic in the opposite direction. Pay has always been the biggest deterrent, as people with families often feel they cannot afford the drop in salary when moving to a university job. For some industrial scientists, however, the attractions of academia (学术界) outweigh any financial considerations.
Helen Lee took a 70% cut in salary when she moved from a senior post in Abbott Laboratories to a medical department at the University of Cambridge. Her main reason for returning to academia mid-career was to take advantage of the greater freedom to choose research questions. Some areas of inquiry have few possibilities of a commercial return, and Lee’s is one of them.
The impact of a salary cut is probably less severe for a scientist in the early stages of a career. Guy Grant, now a research associate at the Unilever Centre for Molecular Informatics at the University of Cambridge, spent two years working for a pharmaceutical (制药的) company before returning to university as a post-doctoral researcher. He took a 30% salary cut but felt it worthwhile for the greater intellectual opportunities.
Higher up the ladder, where a pay cut is usually more significant, the demand for scientists with a wealth of experience in industry is forcing universities to make the transition (转换) to academia more attractive, according to Lee. Industrial scientists tend to receive training that academics do not, such as how to build a multidisciplinary (多学科的) team, manage budgets and negotiate contracts. They are also well placed to bring something extra to the teaching side of an academic role that will help students get a job when they graduate, says Lee, perhaps experience in manufacturing practice or product development. “Only a small number of undergraduates will continue in an academic career. So someone leaving university who already has the skills needed to work in an industrial lab has far more potential in the job market than someone who has spent all their time on a narrow research project.”By “a one-way street” (Line 1, Para. 1), the author means ________.
A.university researchers know little about the commercial world |
B.there is little exchange between industry and academia |
C.few industrial scientists would quit to work in a university |
D.few university professors are willing to do industrial research |
The word “deterrent” (Line 3, Para. 1) most probably refers to something that ________.
A.keeps someone from taking action |
B.helps to move the traffic |
C.attracts people’s attention |
D.brings someone a financial burden |
What was Helen Lee’s major consideration when she changed her job in the middle of her career?
A.Flexible work hours. |
B.Her research interests. |
C.Her preference for the lifestyle on campus. |
D.Prospects of academic accomplishments. |
Guy Grant chose to work as a researcher at Cambridge in order to ________.
A.do financially more rewarding work |
B.raise his status in the academic world |
C.enrich his experience in medical research |
D.take advantage of better intellectual opportunities |
What contribution can industrial scientists make when they come to teach in a university?
A.Increase its graduates’ competitiveness in the job market |
B.Develop its students’ potential in research. |
C.Help it to obtain financial support from industry. |
D.Adapt its research to practical applications. |
Today, as in every other day of the year, more than 3,000 U.S. adolescents will smoke their first cigarette on their way to becoming regular smokers as adults. During their lifetime, it can be expected that of these 3,000 about 23 will be murdered, 30 will die in traffic accidents, and nearly 750 will be killed by a smoking-related disease. The number of deaths due to cigarette smoking outweighs all other factors, whether voluntary or involuntary, as a cause of death.
Since the late 1970s, when daily smoking among high school seniors reached 30 percent, smoking rates among youth have declined. While the decline is impressive, several important issues must be raised.
First, in the past several years, smoking rates among youth have declined very little. Second, in the late 1970s, smoking among male high school seniors beat that among female by nearly 10 percent . The statistic is reversing (完全相反的). Third, several recent studies have indicate high school dropouts have excessively high smoking rates, as much as 75 percent .
Finally, though significant declines in adolescent smoking have occurred in the past decade, no definite reasons for the decline exist. Within this context, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) began its current effort to determine the most effective measures to reduce smoking level among youth.According to the author, the deaths among youth are mainly caused by _____.
A.traffic accidents | B.smoking-related disease |
C.murder | D.all of these |
Every day there are over _____ high school students who will become regular smoker.
A.75 | B.23 | C.30 | D.3000 |
By "dropout" the author means ________
A.students who failed the examination |
B.students who left school |
C.students who lost their way |
D.students who were driven out of school |
The reason for declining adolescent smoking is that ________.
A.NCI has taken effective measures |
B.smoking is prevented among high school seniors |
C.there are many smokers who have died of cancer |
D.none of these |
What is implied by the author is that ________.
A.smoking rates among youth have declined very little |
B.there are now more female than male smokers among high school seniors |
C.high smoking rates are due to the increase in wealth |
D.smoking at high school are from low socio-economic backgrounds |