Angry survivors（幸存者）demanded answers on Sunday after a terrible accident at “Love Parade 2010”, a music festival in Germany, killed 19 people and left hundreds hurt.
The German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her shock over Saturday’s tragedy in the western city of Duisburg., “This was a very sad day,” Merkel said.
Witnesses（目击者）said that people pushed into the narrow tunnel, the only entrance to the Love Parade festival, from both sides until it was dangerously overcrowded. The panic began as festival-goers began to lose consciousness（意识）as they were crushed against the walls and each other. The dead included eight foreigners, from Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, China, Bosnia and Spain. More than 340 people were injured.
After the panic, a lot of emergency vehicles（救援交通工具）, including helicopters, could be seen carrying away the injured people. The festival itself, however, went on. Police were afraid that ending the music altogether could cause further unrest among the crowd.
“The event was a real mess,” Patrick Guenter, a 22-year-old baker, said. “Although the festival was full, they kept letting people in,” he added. “It seems the organizers didn’t plan the route. And no one knew what was going on.” said Taggart Bowen-Gaddy, 20, an American from Philadelphia.
Officials said 4,000 police officers and 1,000 security guards provided security for the event, which attracted up to 1.4 million people.
“I warned one year ago that Duisburg was not a suitable place for the Love Parade. The city is too small and narrow for such events. It is a pity that…” German police union chief Rainer Wendt said.
The chief organizer, Rainer Schaller, said the popular event would never be held again, “out of respect for the victims and their families”.How many Germans were killed in the stampede at “Love Parade 2010”?
| A．19 | B．8 | C．11 | D．15 |
How did the German Chancellor Angela Merkel feel about the tragedy?
| A．She was very disappointed. | B．She was very surprised. |
| C．She was very puzzled. | D．She was very touched. |
According to Patrick Guenter and Taggart Bowen-Gaddy, _______.
| A．the event was well-organized |
| B．the performance was wonderful |
| C．Duisburg was suitable for the Love Parade |
| D．the organization was very bad |
We can infer from the passage that _____.
| A．Rainer Wendt’s warning went unnoticed |
| B．Rainer Wendt was a chief organizer of “Love Parade 2010” |
| C．the popular event would be held in the next year |
| D．Duisburg is a suitable place for the Love Parade |
According to the passage, we learn that ______.
| A．the Love Parade has been canceled forever |
| B．the Love Parade is a very popular sport event |
| C．the festival was ended after the panic |
| D．there are many entrances to the Love Parade |
A single letter written by Albert Einstein was sold for more than $400, 000. But could an e-mail printout or an electronic file reach similar heights? That’s the question facing those who deal in the literary artifacts of public figures, as they struggle to work out how to do business in the electronic world where information can be copied and spread out more easily than ever before.
“Booksellers, collectors and libraries are already trading in digital objects,” Joan Winterkorn, a researcher told people. When Emory University Library bought author Slaman Rushdie’s archives (档案) in 2006, it received a desktop computer, three laptops, a hard drive and a smart phone along with his paper flies. And the writer John Updike, who died last month, started using computers in the 1980s, Winterkorn pointed out, so his “papers” will include a big store of electronic documents.
So far, however, digital archives have been traded as just a small part of a larger, mainly paper-based archive. Indeed, no one is quite sure how much the digital documents of a historical figure are worth.
“I don’t feel the same way about the printout of an e-mail as I do a letter,” said Gabriel Heaton, a literary manuscript specialist, adding that more tangible (有形的) digital objects were easier for auctioneers (拍卖商) to price and sell, “What about a laptop? For example, the one used by J. K. Rowling to write Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in an Edinburgh cafe has real value,” he said. “Because she used it.” Even if the hard drive had been cloned by a library, the artifact would still be valuable.
Gordon Bell, from Microsoft Research, suggested that prices will actually fall to almost nothing. “Once it’s been copied and spread out the value is gone. It’s just a piece of memory.” What is the purpose of the example mentioned in Para. 1?
| A．To introduce the topic of the passage. |
| B．To show that some written letter are of great value. |
| C．To get readers interested in electronic documents. |
| D．To tell us to pay attention to public figures, artifacts. |
According to the text, the trade in digital archives ___________.
| A．has been well developed |
| B．is still in its early stage |
| C．is enjoying a period of prosperity |
| D．is developing very rapidly |
The underlined part in Para. 4 implies that ___________.
| A．the printout of an e-mail has no value to keep |
| B．the auctioneers like to sell tangible digital objects |
| C．the printout of an e-mail is difficult to price |
| D．Gabriel Heaton likes to keep famous letters |
Who doesn’t think digital archives are of great value?
| A．Joan Winterkorn. | B．Salman Rushdie. |
| C．J. K. Rowling. | D．Gordon Bell. |
What is the author’s attitude towards the trade in electronic documents?
| A．Negative. | B．Positive. |
| C．Neutral. | D．Hopeful. |
How to improve our life? Many people think that they have to accept whatever life throws at them. They’ll say, “This is my destiny (命运). I cannot change it.”
Of course not! You don’t have to suffer needlessly. Your life depends on you, not on any other external (外部的) factor.
I know a woman who says she just accepts what life gives her because she has done everything she can to improve it. Guess what her lifestyle is? She wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes back home, relaxes, chats with people, watches TV, and then goes to sleep. Next day, the same routine cycle follows.
Huh! Is this what she calls “doing her best”? She believes she has tried her best and just accepts it in her heart that this is the life that has been intended for her, and that her luck can only change if God wills it. She hasn’t realized that we have to do our share of making the effort to live the life of our dreams.
Remember that you harvest what you sow. You have to get off the sofa, get your eyes off the TV screen, get our hands off the phone (unless it contributes to your success), and get your mind and body to work! Don’t expect your luck to change, unless you do something about it. If something goes wrong, don’t just regard it as a temporary setback; instead, learn your lesson, make the most of the situation, and do something to solve the problem. It’s not enough to think positively; you also have to act positively.
If someone’s life is in trouble, do you just hope and pray that things will turn out fine? Of course not! You get to do anything you can to save the person. So it is with your own life. It is not enough to hope for the best, but you have to do your best. In other words, don’t just stand (or sit) there, do something to improve your life. According to the woman mentioned in Para. 3, her life __________.
| A．doesn’t need improving | B．couldn’t be improved |
| C．will be better someday | D．will be worse in the future |
What does the author think of the woman’s life?
| A．Positive. | B．Passive. |
| C．Colorful. | D．Boring. |
Which of the following statements is the author’s opinion?
| A．Your temporary problem is not discouraging. |
| B．Your luck can be changed by your efforts. |
| C．You can only achieve success when God wills it. |
| D．You should treat yourself in the way you treat your friends. |
In Para. 5, the author emphasized the importance of __________.
| A．positive thinking | B．positive action |
| C．hope for the best | D．intention to succeed |
The text is mainly written to advise you to __________.
| A．understand yourself | B．improve your life |
| C．believe in yourself | D．change your normal way |
This is a story from 28 years ago. My dad was a used car salesman. Every Thursday night, he would head off to Shreveport, LA for an auction (拍卖会). Most of the time, I drove a car over there for him so he could sell it at the auction.
One day I was riding with my dad when he noticed a hitch-hiker(搭便车的人) with a backpack. Without hesitation, he pulled the car over and offered him a ride. Dad asked him his name, and proceeded to talk to him about all sorts of things. Dad asked him where he was going. The hitch-hiker told him that he was heading for the west. I can’t recall why but he told Dad a lot of things that had occurred to him and that persuaded him to make that decision. He talked about the tragic events that occurred to him several years before. He was low in spirits, but t could see that the hitch-hiker’s attitude was changing as someone was really listening to him.
We drove 45 minutes before the hitch-hiker got off. We pulled over and Dad told him to keep his head up and things would start looking up for him soon. He reached into his pocket and handed the hitch-hiker a twenty-dollar bill. The guy smiled. He nearly lit up right there on the cold, dark highway.
We drove on and my dad did not say a single thing. I was still completely amazed by what I had just witnessed. I was always told by everyone never to pick up a hitch-hiker and yet my dad did it every single time he saw one. While reflecting upon that story I came to understand that just one single kind act could change someone’s life, and I am sure that my father’s deed made that poor man’s day.The underlined words “that decision” in Para. 2 refer to “__________”.
| A．catching the car |
| B．heading for the west |
| C．talking about his experiences |
| D．driving 45 minutes |
What made the hitch-hiker become less upset?
| A．The writer’s father offering him a free ride. |
| B．The writer’s father really listening to him. |
| C．The writer’s father agreeing to drive him to his destination. |
| D．The writer’s father talking to him about all sorts of things. |
When his father helped the hitch-hiker, the writer __________.
| A．was deeply moved | B．strongly disagreed |
| C．admired his father | D．couldn’t understand |
Which of the following words CANNOT be used to describe the father?
| A．Willing to help. | B．Easy-going. |
| C．Far-sighted. | D．Full of sympathy. |
The author wrote the text mainly to __________.
| A．show his respect for his father |
| B．tell a story of his father |
| C．prove his father is the best teacher |
| D．advise people to learn from their father |
British writer John Bunyan was born at Elstow, Bedfordshire, England, in November, 1628. His father was a maker and mender of pots and kettles, and the son followed the same trade. Though he is usually called a tinker, Bunyan had a settled home and place of business. He had little schooling, and he describes his early surroundings as poor and mean. He became much interested in religions, but it was only after a tremendous spiritual conflict, lasting three or four years, that he found peace. His struggles are related with extraordinary vividness and intensity in his “Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners.” His writing began with a controversy against the Quakers (教友派), and shows from the first the command of a homely but vigorous style.
Like most working men at the time, Bunyan had a deep hatred for the corrupted, hypocritical rich who accumulated their wealth “by hook and by crook.” As a stout Puritan(清教徒), he had made a conscientious study of the Bible and firmly believed in salvation (拯救) through spiritual struggle.
Bunyan’s style was modeled after that of the English Bible. With his concrete and living language and carefully observed and vividly presented details, he made it possible for the reader of the least education to share the pleasure of reading his novel and to relive the experience of his characters.
Bunyan’s works include Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666), The Life and Death of Mr. Badman (1680), The Holy War (1682) and The Pilgrim’s Progress (1684).
The Pilgrim’s Progress is the most successful religious allegory (寓言) in the English language. Its purpose is to urge people to observe Christian doctrines and seek salvation through constant struggle with their own weaknesses and all kinds of social evils. It is not only about something spiritual but also bears much relevance to the time. Its predominant metaphor — life as a journey — is simple and familiar. The objects that Christian meets are homely and commonplace, and the scenes presented are typical English ones, but throughout the allegory a spiritual significance is added to the commonplace details. Here the strange is combined with the familiar and the trivial joined to the divine, and, a rich imagination and a natural talent for storytelling also contribute to the success of the work which is at once entertaining and morally instructive.
“The Vanity Fair,” is an excerpt from The Pilgrim’s Progress. The story starts with a dream in which the author sees Christian the Pilgrim, with a heavy burden on his back, reading the Bible. When he learns from the book that the city in which he and his family live shall be burnt down in a fire, Christian tries to convince his family and his neighbors of the oncoming disaster and asks them to go with him in search of salvation, but most of them simply ignore him. So he starts off with a friend, Pliable. Pliable turns back after they stumble into a pit, the Slough of Despond. Christian struggles on by himself. Then he is misled by Mr. Wordly Wiseman and is brought back onto the right road by Mr. Evangelist. There he joins Faithful, a neighbor who has set out later but has made better progress. The two go on together through many adventures, including the great struggle with Apollyon, who claims them to be his subjects and refuse to accept their allegiance to God. After many other adventures they come to the Vanity Fair where both are arrested as alien agitators. They are tried and Faithful is condemned to death. Christian, however manages to escape and goes on his way, assisted by a new friend, Hopeful. Tired of the hard journey, they are tempted to take pleasant path and are then captured by Giant Despair. Finally they get away and reach the Celestial City, where they enjoy eternal life in the fellowship of the blessed.According to the passage, Bunyan hated the rich people mainly because ______.
| A．his father was making and mending pots and kettles |
| B．Bunyan had poor and mean early surroundings |
| C．the rich usually got their wealth in dishonest ways |
| D．Bunyan studied the Bible to save the human souls |
What are the main characteristics of Bunyan’s works?
①The languages are concrete and living.
②The stories are carefully and vividly described.
③The plots are romantic and twisting.
④The works are easy to understand.
| A．①②③ | B．②③④ | C．①③④ | D．①②④ |
John Bunyan wrote the book The Pilgrim’s Progress in order to ______.
| A．advise people to obey religious principles for salvation |
| B．add spiritual significance to the commonplace details |
| C．to combine the strange things with the familiar things |
| D．tell people that life is a simple and familiar journey |
What moral does the story of the last paragraph convey to us?
| A．Any imaginable things might happen in a pilgrim’s dream. |
| B．Christian the Pilgrim likes reading the Bible with a burden. |
| C．People can enjoy eternal life in the fellowship of the blessed. |
| D．People can struggle against weaknesses and evils for salvation |
While residents of wealthy nations tend to have greater life satisfaction, new research shows that those living in poorer nations report having greater meaning in life.
These findings, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological science, suggest that meaning in life may be higher in poorer nations as a result of greater religiosity (笃信宗教). As countries become richer, religion becomes less central to people’s lives and they lose a sense of meaning in life.
“Thus far, the wealth of nations has been almost always associated with longevity, health, happiness or life satisfaction,” explains psychological scientist Shigehiro Oishi of the University of Virginia. “Given that meaning in life is an important aspect of overall well-being, we wanted to look more carefully at differential patterns, correlates (相关物), and predictors for meaning in life.”
Oishi and colleague Ed Diener of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign investigated life satisfaction, meaning, and well-being by examining data from the 2007 Gallup World Poll, a large-scale survey of over 140,000 participants from 132 countries. In addition to answering a basic life satisfaction question, participants were asked: “Do you feel your life has an important purpose or meaning?” and “Is religion an important part of your daily life?”
The data revealed some unexpected trends:
“Among Americans, those who are high in life satisfaction are also high in meaning in life,” says Oishi. “But when we looked at the societal level of analysis, we found a completely different pattern of the association between meaning in life and life satisfaction.”
When looking across many countries, Oishi and Diener found that people in wealthier nations were more educated, had fewer children, and expressed more individualistic attitudes compared to those in poorer countries – all factors that were associated with higher life satisfaction but a significantly lower sense of meaning in life.”
The data suggest that religiosity may play an important role: Residents of wealthier nations, where religiosity is lower, reported less meaning in life and had higher suicide rates than poorer countries.
According to the researchers, religion may provide meaning to life to the extent that it helps people to overcome personal difficulty and cope with the struggles of working to survive in poor economic conditions:
“Religion gives a system that connects daily experiences with the coherent whole (连贯的整体) and a general structure to one’s life … and plays a critical role in constructing meaning out of extreme hardship,” the researchers write.
Oishi and Diener hope to reproduce these findings using more comprehensive measures of meaning and religiosity, and are interested in following countries over time to track whether economic prosperity gives rise to less religiosity and less meaning in life.Which of the following questions couldn’t the participants have answered?
| A．Does your life have a purpose or meaning? |
| B．Do you have relatives living abroad? |
| C．Are you satisfied with your everyday life? |
| D．Is religion involved in your daily life? |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．Those who have higher life satisfaction usually have lower sense of meaning in life. |
| B．People in wealthier nations were more educated, have fewer children and express less individualistic attitudes compared to those in poorer countries. |
| C．Religion may provide meaning to life in that people can get strong support from it in face of hardship. |
| D．Wealthy people are more likely to commit suicide than poor people. |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．The poorer a country is, the more religious its people are. |
| B．Economic prosperity gives rise to less religiosity and less meaning in life. |
| C．If you want to find meaning in life, you must practice a religion. |
| D．Meaning in life doesn’t have much to do with the amount of wealth one possesses. |
The main purpose of the passage is to explain the possible reason why __________.
| A．greater life satisfaction leads to lower sense of meaning |
| B．residents of poorer nations enjoy greater meaning in life |
| C．residents of poorer nations are so religious |
| D．residents of wealthy nations have greater life satisfaction |