The composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s remarkable musical talent was apparent even before most children can sing a simple nursery rhyme. Wolfgang’s older sister Maria Anna (who the family called Nannerl) was learning the clavier, an early keyboard instrument, when her three-year-old brother took an interest in playing. As Nannerl later recalled, Wolfgang “often spent much time at the clavier picking out thirds (三度音), which he was always striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good.” Their father Leopold, an assistant concertmaster at the Salzburg Court, recognized his children’s unique gifts and soon devoted himself to their musical education.
Born in Salzburg, Austria, on January 27, 1756, Wolfgang had composed his first original work by age five. Leopold planned to take Nannerl and Wolfgang on tour to play before the European courts. Their first venture was to nearby Munich where the children played for Maximillian III Joseph, elector of Bavaria. Leopold soon set his sights on the capital of the Hapsburg Empire, Vienna. On their way to Vienna, the family stopped in Linz, where Wolfgang gave his first public concert. By this time, Wolfgang was not only a skilled harpsichord player, but he had also mastered the violin. The audience at Linz was amazed by the six-year-old, and word of his genius soon traveled to Vienna. In a much attended concert, the Mozart children appeared at the Schonbrunn Palace on October 13, 1762. They completely attracted the emperor and empress.
Following this success, Leopold received a lot of invitations for the children to play, for a fee. Leopold seized the opportunity and booked as many concerts as possible at courts throughout Europe. A concert could last three hours, and the children played at least two per a day. Today, Leopold might be considered the worst kind of stage parent, but at the time, it was not uncommon for prodigies to make extensive concert tours. Even so, it was an exhausting schedule for a child who was just past the age of needing an afternoon nap.
A good title for this passage would be ________.
| A．Classical Music in the Eighteenth Century: An Overview. |
| B．Stage Parents: A Historical Point of View. |
| C．Mozart: The Early Life of a Musical Genius. |
| D．Mozart: The Short Career of a Musical Genius. |
What was the consequence of Wolfgang’s first public appearance?
| A．He attracted the emperor and empress of Hapsburg. |
| B．Word of Wolfgang’s genius spread to the capital. |
| C．Leopold set his sights on Vienna. |
| D．Invitations for the miracle children to play poured in. |
Each of the following statements about Wolfgang Mozart is directly supported by the passage except ________.
| A．Mozart’s father made full use of his children’s talent |
| B．Maria Anna was also talented in music |
| C．Wolfgang’s childhood was devoted to his musical career |
| D．Wolfgang preferred the violin to other instruments |
The word “prodigies” in the last paragraph probably means “________”.
| A．unusually talented people | B．strict parents |
| C．greatest composers | D．generous people |
How did a high school football coach build a championship dynasty by never playing to win? In Smith Center, Kansas, Roger Barta, 64, a longtime coach and former math teacher at Smith Center High School, wearing a red shirt, stood before his players．“…Guys．We don't talk about winning and losing．We talk about getting a little better every day, about be
ing a team．” Over the next four months, his team went on to beat other teams, winning another perfect season．
Barta grew up in Plainville, and when a back injury ended Barta's playing career, he wasn't sure whether he wanted to be a college student．One summer, he took a job in the Kansas oil fields．It took him a single rainy day of working in the field to realize that university was for him．“I almost froze to death,” he says．He looked around at his co-workers, who were aged beyond their years．"They were all missing fingers and teeth．I didn't want to do that for the rest of my life．"
He returned to Fort Hays State to earn a mathematics degree and went on to get a master's in math education at the University of Georgia．Today, Barta spends as much time helping players figure out what they want to do with their lives as he does coaching．
To most kids here, Barta is not just a winning coach but also a mentor（导师，顾问）．Barta insists that the members of his team be well-rounded．During last year's playoffs（附加赛）, for instance, Joe Osburn was struggling with Macbeth in English class．Barta told him that either he mastered Shakespeare or his season was finished．Barta got the captains involved, and they took turns quizzing Osburn on his lines of Shakespeare．He pulled his grades up and kept playing．
“Roger likes everything about football,” says Barta's wife, Pam．“But what he loves most is watching the boys learn a little more．”
1．What does the first paragraph mainly talk about?
A．How Barta built a championship dynasty?
B．Barta’s career as a coach．
C．How Barta taught his students football skills．
D．Barta’s attitude towards winning and losing．
2．From the the passage we know Barta．
A．hurt his back in an oil field
B．didn’t want to be a college student
C．wasn’t satisfied with being an oil worker
D．began his playing career at high school
3．Which of the following statements about Barta is TRUE??
A．He earned his master’s degree from Fort Hays State．
B．He helps his players deal with life．
C．He likes Shakespeare very much．
D．He loves football more than anything else．
4．Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A．How to Be a Good Football Coach
B．A Brief Introduction to Roger Barta
C．Coach and Math Teacher—Roger Barta
D．Life Coach—Roger Barta
第二部分阅读理解（共25小题。第一节每小题2分，第二节每小题1分；满分45分）
第一节阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
When you think of snowy winter festivals, Sapporo in J
apan probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind．In Japan, there are winter festivals every year that draw great crowds and offer lots of attractions to everybody．
The biggest one is the Sapporo Snow Festival which is held every year in February on Japan's snow covered northern island, Hokkaido（北海道）．The Sapporo Snow Festival was the first of its kind held in Japan, and it is still the biggest．Every year, 2 million snow lovers rush to Sapporo, the biggest city in Hokkaido, to enjoy the Snow Festival in the first two weeks of February．At the Festival, you can see hundreds of snow sculptures made by artists from all over the world．Some are a couple of building stories high and weigh tons．There are ice sculptures too, and ice bars where you can go inside and have a beer．
The Sapporo Snow Festival was started in the 1950's by a group of high school kids．Feeling very bored in winter, they started a snow sculptures competition．Every year, more kids took part in the competition and n
ow the festival draws snow artists from 15 different countries．There are also musical performances, light shows, and snowball fights．
Every major area has its own snow festival．One of the most popular is the Iwate Snow Festival．It's held in the small town of Shizukuishi in early or mid-February．Iwate is also famous for its yearly fireworks displays, where festival-goers can watch the colors reflected off the snow．In Iwate, you can see traditional Japanese musicians and dancers perform on floats．
If you want a truly unique winter festival experience, northern Japan is a great place to go．Just make sure you dress warmly．
1．Why is the Sapporo Snow Festival famous in Japan?
A．The snow in Hokkaido is very thick．
B．it is the first and the biggest in Japan
C．There are lots of snow sculptures there．
D．its snow sculptures are the highest．
2．When is the Sapporo Snow Festival held in Japan?
A．In late February．
B．From January to February．
C．In the first two weeks of February．
D．Two weeks before February．
3．Who started the Sapporo Snow Festival at first?
A．The government of Sapporo．
B．Artists from all over the world．
C．Kids who liked outside activities．．
D．A group of high school students．
4．The author wrote the passage to _______．
A．introduce Japan’s Sapporo Snow Festival
B．attract people to take part in northern Japan’s winter festival
C．introduce Japan’s winter festival activities
D．tell us the history of Japan’s winter festivals
第二部分阅读理解(共25小题。第一节每小题2分，第二节每小题1分；满分45分)
第一节阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Bill Clinton was born on August 19, 1946 in a town called Hope, with the birth name William Jefferson Blythe. His birth father died in a car accident just three months before his birth. When he was born, his mother sent him to live with his grandparents because she couldn’t possibly support a child by herself. He lived with his grandparents for two years while his mother was away at a nursing school in New Orleans, trying to advance her career. When Bill was four, his mother returned to Hope, where she met and married Roger Clinton Sr. A few years later, Bill and his family moved to Hot Springs, where Bill attended school. When he was nine years old, he changed schools and went to Ramble Elementary. When Bill was ten, Roger Clinton Jr. was born, and at age fifteen, Bill took his stepfather’ s last name in hopes of helping his mother’s troubled relationship.
While Bill was growing up in Hot Springs, the town was troubled by gambling (赌博), but Bill had little contact with this part of society despite his parents’ frequent participation (参与) in these illegal practices. As time went by, his mother’ s relationship with Roger Clinton Sr. became more and more unstable.His parents often separated.In high school, Bill was a member of the band, student government, honor society and many other organizations. One summer at a political summer camp called Boys State, Bill ran for delegate (代表) to Boys Nation. He won this election and was on his way to Washington to meet John F. Kennedy, the president. Bill said of his victory, “I didn’t know if I could win a race like that... ”. After that, Bill became determined to enter politics.
1 . William Jefferson Blythe moved to Hot Springs ________.
A. when he was born B. before he was nine years old
C. when his mother remarried D. when he was two
2. Bill Clinton once stayed in the following places EXCEPT ________.
A. the town of Hope B. the nursing school in New Orleans
C. Hot Springs D. Ramble Elementary
3. Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. Roger Clinton Sr. was always kind to Bill and his mother.
B. Bill Clinton was once called William Jefferson Blythe before 15.
C. Bill’ s mother and stepfather were interested in gambling.
D. Roger Clinton Jr. was Bill Clinton’ s half (同母异父) brother.
4. It can be learned from the passage that ________.
A. Bill wanted to be a president while studying at school
B. Boys Nation was a political summer camp
C. members of Boys State could see the president
D. Bill decided to enter politics after meeting John F. Kennedy
Anxiety is the proper emotion when the immediate personal terror — of a volcano, an arrow, a stab（刺伤）in the back and other disasters — is directed against one’s self–disappears.
The kind of world that produces anxiety is actually a world of relative safety, a world in which no one feels that he himself is facing sudden death. The anxiety exists as an uneasy state of mind, in which one has a feeling that something unspecified（不具体的）and indeterminable may go wrong. If the world seems to be going well, this produces anxiety — for good times may end. If the world is going badly — it may get worse. Anxiety tends to be without focus；the anxious person doesn’t know whether to blame himself or other people. He isn’t sure whether it is a change in climate or the atom bomb that is to blame for this unclear sense of unease.
It is clear that we have developed a society which depends on having the right amount of anxiety to make it work. While we agree that too much anxiety is harmful to mental health, we have come to rely on anxiety to push us into seeing a doctor about a symptom（症状）which may indicate cancer, into checking up on that old life–insurance policy which may have out–of–date provisions in it, into having a conference with Bill’s teacher even though his report card looks all right.
People who are anxious enough keep their car insurance up, have the brakes checked, and don’t take a second drink when they have to drive. People who are too anxious either refuse to go into cars at all or drive so tensely that they help cause accidents. People who aren’t anxious enough take chance after chance, which increases the terrible accidents of the roads.
1. In the world that produces anxiety, _____.
A. people have sudden uneasiness B. everything goes well
C. people are clear about their life D. danger is almost everywhere
2. The author holds that _____.
A. anxiety is a good thing
B. anxiety is a symptom of mental illness
C. some anxiety can lead to changes for the better
D. no anxiety is bad for society
3. Accidents of the road tend to be caused by _____.
A. all those who are too anxious B. all those who have anxiety
C. those who have no anxiety D. those who are not anxious enough
4. The best title for the passage would be _____.
A. Anxiety B. The Right Amount of Anxiety
C. Anxiety vs Safety D. Different Attitudes to Anxiety
In the future your automobile will run on water instead of gas! You will be able to buy a supercomputer that fits in your pocket! You might even drive a flying car!
Not all past predictions have been proved wrong. A few of them have been surprisingly accurate (正确无误). Some great thinkers predicted the arrival of the credit card, the fax machine and even the internet years before they happened. But for each prediction that has come true, some others have missed by a mile. Many of these predictions didn’t consider how people would want to use the technology or if people really needed it in their lives or not. Let’s look at some predictions from the not-too-distant past.
Robot Helpers
Where’s the robot in my kitchen? Nowhere, of course. And he’s probably not coming anytime soon. Robots do exist today, but mostly in factories and other working environments.
Back in the 1950s, however, people said that by now personal robots would be in most people’s homes.
So why hasn’t happened? Maybe because robots are still too expensive and clumsy(笨拙的). And probably the idea of robots cooking our dinners and washing our clothes is just too strange. At home we seem to be doing fine without them.
Telephones of tomorrow?
In 1964 an American company introduced the video telephone. They said by the year 2000 most people would have a video phone in their homes. But of course the idea hasn’t caught on yet.
Why? The technology worked fine, but it overlooked (忽略) something obvious: people desire for privacy. Would you want to have a video phone conversation with someone after you just stepped out of the shower?
Probably not — it could be uncomfortable! Just because technology doesn’t always mean people will want to use it.
And finally, how about that crazy prediction of the flying car? It’s not so crazy any more! But a flying car remains one of the most wonderful technology ideas to catch our imagination. Keep watching the news or perhaps the sky outside your window to see what the future will bring.
1. The passage mainly deals with______.
A. predictions that can catch our imagination
B. predictions that haven’t come true
C. new technology can benefit our life
D. predictions that have come true
2. According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. Technology doesn’t always mean people will want to use it.
B. Predictions don’t need to consider people’s practical use of the technology.
C. Not all the high-tech things people thought we’d be using by now are widely used.
D. High-tech things are not always convenient to people’s life.
3. Robot Helpers haven’t been used in most people’s homes because ______.
A. using the kind of robots at home is simply a waste of time and money
B. the kind of robots hasn’t been developed yet
C. people find it difficult to control the kind of robots
D. the kind of robots won’t bring people practical use
4. How does the writer find the flying car?
A. It is too difficult to imagine. B. It is too crazy an idea to realize.
C. It is likely to appear in the future. D. It has been the focus of the news.