“Tomorrow is another day”---- this line has impressed various people at various times. It's now 70 years after it appeared in the film, but it still seems to hold its power especially during an economic downturn.
The phrase comes from a film adaptation of Margaret Mitchell's successful 1936 novel Gone With the Wind. It's set in the American South and tells the story of a strong heroine, Scarlett O' Hara, who struggles to find love during the Civil War and, afterwards, of her strength in surviving the war and its hardships.
Love story
In a moment of despair, Scarlett finally realizes that her love belongs to Rhett Butler. For many audiences, it is the theme of love and struggle that has kept the movie alive. While the burning of Atlanta might seem irrelevant to today's viewers, the timeless theme of love keeps its ability to touch people.
With a promise to her lover still in her mind, Scarlett chooses to stay in the midst of war and take care of Melanie. But her heart is broken when Rhett just walks away, leaving the woman that he once loved with cruel words, "Frankly, dear, I don' t give a damn."
Great epic
The film shows the love-hate relationship of these characters, but also American history, the fall of the Confederacy and the following period of Reconstruction in the South. The background made this film a true classic in the epic genre.
When the film opened after World War II, French viewers loved it, and it reminded them of their fight against the Nazis. In 1940 Shanghai, during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, people stood in line for hours to watch this film, and saw the same suffering they were having as well as the hope and possibility of building a new homeland from the ruins.
Each nationality could identify with the story and see it as a victory. In fact, Gone With the Wind never lost its charm and ability to inspire and amaze.
Biggest of all time
The film had five directors, 15-plus screenwriters, and an unexpected $3.9 million budget. The film brought in $ 200 million, which makes it the biggest selling film of all times in North America. It also won 10 Academy awards in 1940.The underlined "it" in the first paragraph refers to _______.
| A．the novel Gone with the Wind | B．"tomorrow is another day" |
| C．the movie Gone with the Wind | D．the Academy Award |
The text is written mainly to _______.
| A．celebrate the anniversary of Margaret Mitchell |
| B．introduce how the film was directed and filmed |
| C．throw light on the charm of the movie "Gone with the Wind" |
| D．inspire people to struggle the economic downturn |
It can be concluded that Scarlett O' Hara is _______.
| A．optimistic and lucky | B．childish and realistic |
| C．caring and stubborn | D．strong-minded and persistent |
The passage mentions Shanghai in order to _______.
| A．prove that the background of the movie touched viewers |
| B．describe how popular the movie was at that time |
| C．point out that Shanghai was a center of entertainment |
| D．tell us that Chinese were suffering the War then. |
Happy birthday! Do birthdays really make people happy? Of course they do. Birthdays celebrate the day we were born. Besides, that extra candle on the cake suggests another year of growth and maturity—or so we hope. We all like to imagine that we’re getting wiser and not just older. Most of us enjoy seeing the miracle of growth in others, as well. For instance, seeing our children develop and learn new things makes us feel proud. For Americans, like people in most cultures, growing up is a wonderful process. But growing old? That’s a different story.
Growing old is not exactly pleasant for people in youth-oriented American culture. Most Americans like to look young, act young and feel young. As the old saying goes, “You’re as young as you feel.” Older people joke about how many years young they are, rather than how many years old. People in some countries value the aged as a source of experience and wisdom. But Americans seem to favor those that are young, or at least “young at heart”.
Many older Americans find the “golden years” to be anything but golden. Economically, “senior citizens” often struggle just to get by. Retirement at age 65 brings a sharp decrease in personal income. Social security benefits usually cannot make up the difference. Older people may suffer from poor nutrition, medical care and housing. Some even experience age discrimination (歧视). In 1987, American sociologist Pat Moore dressed up like an older person and wandered city streets. She was often treated rudely—even cheated and robbed. However, dressed as a young person, she received much more respect.
Unfortunately, the elderly population in America is increasing fast. Why? People are living together. Fewer [来源:Z-x-x-k.Com]babies are being born. And middle-aged “baby boomers” are rapidly entering the groups of the elderly. America may soon be a place where wrinkles (皱纹) are “in”. Marketing experts are already noticing this group of consumers (消费者).The main idea of the third paragraph is________.
| A．the golden years can make the old earn lots of money |
| B．many old people in America are leading a hard life |
| C．the old in America have to retire at the age of 65 |
| D．American social security benefits are not good |
From the last paragraph we know that the underlined word “in” can be replaced by________.
| A．serious | B．bad |
| C．disappearing slowly | D．growing fast |
From this passage we can know________.
| A．in America, growing up is not a wonderful process |
| B．in America, growing up is as wonderful a process as growing old |
| C．in America, growing up is a wonderful process, while growing old is not |
| D．in America, growing old is a wonderful process, while growing up is not |
What should be mentioned in the following paragraph?
| A．The public will change their attitude towards old people. |
| B．People will provide more services to the old in their communities. |
| C．Companies will soon produce more goods for old Americans. |
| D．The government will pass laws to ensure the benefits of the people. |
We are looking for hard-working and open-minded English teachers to join the Nanjing (Jiangsu Province) and Hangzhou (Zhejiang Province) summer camps!
Both of the summer camps will run from the beginning of July to the end of August. You will be expected to teach spoken English to Chinese students of different ages. We encourage you to bring your own culture to the classes to make things more interesting.
The information of the Nanjing camp:
● Working hours: 40 hours per week, 5 working days per week.
● Salary: about 7,000 RMB per month.
● Accommodation: free (single room).
The information of the Hangzhou camp:
● Working hours: 5 hours per day (＝50 min./class × 6 classes), one day rest per week.
● Salary: 20,160 RMB in total (420 RMB per day ＝70 RMB/class × 6 classes).
● Accommodation: free (shared room).
The requirements of the summer camps:
● Native English speakers (US, England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand).
● A university degree.
● Teaching experience.
Please send us your resume (简历), copies of certificates and passport if you are interested in the camps.
E-mail: teacher1324@sina.com. cn
For more information you can visit our website at http: //www. Englishsummercamps. com.cn
Looking forward to hearing from you soon!How long will a teacher work for the summer camps?
| A．About five weeks. | B．About eight weeks. |
| C．Less than one month. | D．More than two months. |
Who might be accepted as a teacher at the summer camps?
A. Abhishek, an excellent teacher from India.
B. Robert, a high school student from the USA.
C. Linda, an experienced university teacher from Canada.
D. Jerry, a university student from Australia.Compared with the Nanjing camp, the Hangzhou camp ________.
| A．has longer working hours |
| B．has younger students to teach |
| C．provides better accommodation |
| D．pays a higher salary |
Some time ago, I discovered that one of my chairs had a broken leg. I didn’t think there would be any difficulty in getting it mended, as there were a whole lot of antique (古董) shops near my home. So I left home one morning carrying the chair with me. I went into the first shop expecting a friendly reception. I was quite wrong. The man wouldn’t even look at my chair.
The second shop, though slightly more polite, was just the same, and the third and the fourth—so I decided that my approach must be wrong.
I went into the fifth shop with a plan in my mind. I placed the chair on the floor and said to the shopkeeper, “Would you like to buy a chair?” He looked it over carefully and said, “Yes, not a bad chair. How much do you want for it, sir?” “Twenty pounds,” I said. “OK,” he said, “I’ll give you twenty pounds.” “It’s got a slightly broken leg,” I said. “Yes, I saw that, but it’s nothing.”
Everything was going according to the plan and I was getting excited. “What will you do with it?” I asked. “Oh, it will be easy to sell once the repair is done.” “I’ll buy it,” I said. “What do you mean? You’ve just sold it to me,” he said. “Yes, I know but I’ve changed my mind. I’m sorry; I’ll give you twenty-seven pounds for it. ” “Your must be crazy,” he said. Then, suddenly the penny dropped. “I know what you want. You want me to repair your chair. ” “You’re right,” I said. “And what would you have done if I had walked in and said would you mend this chair for me?” “I wouldn’t have agreed to do it,” he said. “We don’t do repairs, not enough money in it and too much trouble. But I’ll mend this for you, shall we say for a fiver (五镑钞票)?” He was a very nice man and was greatly amused by the whole thing.We can learn from the text that in the first shop the writer ________.
| A．was rather impolite |
| B．was warmly received |
| C．asked the shopkeeper to buy his chair |
| D．asked the shopkeeper to repair his chair |
The expression “the penny dropped” in the last paragraph means the shopkeeper ________.
| A．changed his mind |
| B．accepted the offer |
| C．saw the writer’s purpose |
| D．decided to help the writer |
How much did the writer pay?
| A．￡ 5. | B．￡ 7. | C．￡ 20. | D．￡ 27. |
From the text, we can learn that the writer was ________.
| A．smart | B．careful | C．honest | D．Funny |
Almost everyone accepts the fact that crime can never be wiped out entirely. Thus control of crime becomes the focus of police and government around the world. The question lawmakers must answer is, “Which system of criminal punishment works best for society?” Each country has developed its own ideas for solution to this question, and these solutions then determine how criminals are punished under different systems. However, none of the current system in use has proved 100 percent effective. There are many ideas about punishment of criminals. Some systems look only to (倾向于) get retribution (惩罚) against criminals. These systems work to frighten criminals away from repeating a crime in the future.
These systems also try to deter (威慑) others in society by using the criminal as an example of what can happen to a person if he or she is caught committing crimes. Rehabilitation (悔过) is another philosophy by which many systems of punishment operate. The goal of these systems is to return a former criminal to society after a required period of treatment and training, usually in prisons. The idea is to help change the person's behavior and approach so that he or she becomes a law-abiding citizen.
Capital punishment is another form of punishment which systems use in extreme criminal cases, sometimes involving such crimes as a murder, rape, and violent theft. In these cases, the person is put to death. Today, capital punishment is used in relatively few countries. Many countries have done away with it. In other words, capital punishment remains only in officially law books but is rarely used. However, capital punishment remains in use in some countries including the United States.The police around the world usually concentrate their attention on_______ .
| A．how to catch the person who commits crimes |
| B．how to punish the person who commits crimes |
| C．how to control crimes |
| D．how to determine the system of punishment of criminals |
Different purposes of the systems of criminal punishment are mentioned in the passage except_________ .
| A．to frighten criminals and stop them from committing crimes again |
| B．to warn others in society not to commit crimes |
| C．to reform criminals and help them return to society |
| D．to help criminals get some knowledge of law |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．Many countries including the USA have got rid of capital punishment. |
| B．In some countries capital punishment can only be found in law books, but it is hardly used. |
| C．Capital punishment is only used in extreme criminal cases. |
| D．Some countries including China still use capital punishment |
Every kid wishes to be an adult. But now as grown-ups, some adults find they cannot leave childhood behind. They become "kidults" (kid+adult). Being a kidult has become a lifestyle-choice among young people across Asia.
Some kidults collect toys they once played with. Hello Kitty, Garfield, and Snoopy have many adult fans around the world. It is not unusual to see a 20-something woman with a big, Garfield-shaped cushion on her sofa or a Hello Kitty mobile phone accessory.(配件)
Other kidults still enjoy children's stories and fairy tales. For example, Bloomsbury even published the Harry Potter novels with an adult cover. That way, no one else on the subway will know that an adult is actually reading a children's book!
"Kidults can be like vitamins to society. Adults who value their childhood and hold on to pure, child-like emotion may be needed in such a rough and dry society," said Lee Sojung, professor of Foreign Studies at Hankuk University(韩国外国语大学). He added that kidult culture may fill the generation gap between adults and kids. It could give children and their parents books, movies, and cartoon shows to enjoy together. He may be right.
Tim Greenhalgh, a professor , explained that some kidults just refuse to grow up. They value childhood because life in a busy and stressful city frightens them. Kidults would like to forget their age and openly show their fear of society and adulthood.We can infer from the article that _________.
| A．Kidults miss their childhood so much that they can't give up their toys |
| B．Bloomsbury knows some kidults don't want people to know that they are kidults |
| C．Kidults like to have vitamins very much |
| D．Some toys are so interesting that even adults like them very much |
According to the author, being a kidult is good in some way EXCEPT that _______.
| A．it can improve the relationship between parents and their kids |
| B．it can help kidults feel relaxed |
| C．it is helpful to solve some social problems |
| D．it can make people loyal to one's parents |
According to the writer, _______.
| A．being a kidult is nothing wrong |
| B．kidults have mental problems |
| C．our society is very dull |
| D．some people can never grow up |