War Horse author Michael Morpurgo is being interviewed:
Reporter:How did War Horse become so successful?
Michael:War Horse was published in 1982,and it did not sell very well.But my publishers kept it in print,along with all my books.I am very grateful to Egmont and I’m sure now they are very grateful to themselves.
The book was discovered 21 years later,by accident.I was on Desert Island Discs on Radio 4 in 2003 when my work was becoming better known.One of the listeners was the mother of a director called Tom Morris,and after reading War Horse herself she told her son to read it.Two years later the play came out,and it was a huge hit that went to the West End,Broadway and now Canada and Australia,then a nationwide American tour in June this year.
In 2009 kathy kennedy,the producer who worked with Steven Spielberg,walked into the New London Theatre to see the play because her daughter liked it very much.She then phoned Spielberg and told him this would be his next film!The way it all happened is better than any of my stories.War Horse has now sold over 1 million copies.
Reporter:Has War Horse changed your life?
Michael:It has made all the difference in the world.The most important gift it has given us is not to have to worry about money,because there has always been a slight anxiety.It has allowed us to ensure our grandchildren’s education.There is a disadvantage to it as well,which is an assumption that I am super rich.I’m not,actually.It is very nice and completely unexpected but I have got to go on writing.If I were younger,I think,it would go to my head.Now I am too old for anything to go to my head.It is not the same as winning the lottery(彩票)。Why are Michael’s publishers grateful to themselves too?
| A．Because they never stopped printing it and it finally proved successful. |
| B．Because they earned a lot thanks to books of high quality they printed. |
| C．Because they have the ability to enlarge their company. |
| D．Because they have the potential to film the story. |
War Horse got the first huge success thanks to____.
| A．Steven Spielberg and his daughter |
| B．Tom Morris and his listeners |
| C．Kathy Kennedy’s daughter |
| D．Tom Morris’ mother |
Why did Kathy Kennedy watch the play of War Horse?
| A．Because she knew that the film was very popular. |
| B．Because her daughter was mad on the play. |
| C．Because her friend,Steven Spielberg,advised her to see it. |
| D．Because she was looking for a story with an animal in her mind. |
What change made Michael feel most valuable because of War Horse?
| A．He could stay at home looking after his grandchildren. |
| B．He can make friends with famous film directors. |
| C．He needn’t worry about his financial problems. |
| D．He needn’t spend time writing another book. |
What is the attitude of Michael to his great success?
| A．Calm. | B．Unbelievable. | C．Confused | D．Excited. |
A research shows that humans switch from selfish to unselfish behaviour when they are watched. Do you? A picture of a set of eyes on a computer screen can cause a change in the way people act. Even images of eyes on a charity donation collection box encourage people to be unselfish, because people put more money in a collection box that has a picture of eyes on it than they do when a flower symbol is on the box.
Manfred Milinski from the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany and Bettina Rockenbach of the University of Berlin, the authors of a new study, found that people act better when they are being watched because they feel they will be rewarded for good behaviour. Their report also referred to other researches showing that this response of behaving well when watched is somehow coded into humans, and people respond this way unconsciously, or without realising it.
It is not just humans that act unselfishly when they are being watched. A fish called the grooming fish cleans other fish. When other fish are around, it is gentler. When no other fish are around, however, the grooming fish bites chunks from the fish it is supposed to be cleaning.
The researchers suggest that the best way to get people to behave in the correct way is to make them feel watched. This could be the reason for the success of a famous American army poster. On it was a picture of an elderly man staring fiercely and pointing, it appeared, to the person who was looking at the poster. Under the picture was the caption “I Want You”. It encouraged hundreds of thousands of young American men to join the army during the Second World War to fight the Germans and Japanese.The underlined word “coded” (paragraph 2) is closest in meaning to.
| A．hidden | B．programmed | C．forgotten | D．learned |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．It describes changed behaviour when observed. |
| B．It details ways to control people's behaviour. |
| C．It tells how to make people work harder. |
| D．It discusses different advertising methods. |
According to the text, which of the following statements is true?
| A．People pretend to behave better when they are watched. |
| B．Fish bite other fish in a fish tank when they are alone. |
| C．People donate more money when they feel they are watched. |
| D．Soldiers fought better during World War II because of a poster. |
Where would the study described in the text most likely be found?
| A．In a newspaper. | B．In a scientific journal. |
| C．In an advertising magazine. | D．In a science textbook. |
Michael Fish may soon be replaced as a weather forecaster by something truly fishier---the shark(鲨鱼).
Research by a British biology student suggests that sharks could be used to predict storms.
Lauren Smith, 24, is close to completing her study on shark’s ability to sense pressure. If her studies prove the theory, scientists may be able to monitor the behavior of sharks to predict bad weather.
Miss Smith had previously studied the behaviour of lemon sharks in the Bahamas.
She then used their close relatives, lesser spotted dogfish, for further research at Aberdeen University. Her work---thought to be the first of its kind to test the pressure theory ---- resulted from the observation that juvenile blacktip sharks off Florida moved into deeper water ahead of a violent storm in 2001.
Miss Smith said: “I’ve always been crazy about traveling and diving and this led me to an interest in sharks.”
“I was delighted to have been able to research in the area for my degree. I know there’s so much more we need to understand ---- but it certainly opens the way to more research.”
It has been discovered that a shark senses pressure using hair cells in its balance system.
At the Bimini Shark Lab in the Bahamas, Miss Smith fixed hi-tech sensors to sharks to record pressure and temperature, while also tracking them using GPS (Global Positioning System) technology.
In Aberdeen, she was able to study the effects of tidal(潮汐的) and temperature changes on dogfish----none of which were harmed. She also used a special lab which can mimic(模拟) oceanic pressure changes caused by weather fronts.
She is due to complete her study and graduate later this year. She says she will be looking for a job which will give her the chance to enrich her experience of shark research.The passage is most probably taken from _____.
| A．a short-story collection | B．a popular science magazine |
| C．a research paper | D．a personal diary |
What do we learn from the first four paragraph of the passage?
| A．Sharks may be used to predict bad weather . |
| B．Sharks’ behaviour can be controlled. |
| C．Michael Fish is not qualified for his job. |
| D．Lauren Smith will become a weather forecaster. |
Lauren Smith conducted her research by _______.
| A．removing hair cells from a shark’s balance system |
| B．measuring the air pressure of weather fronts |
| C．recording sharks’ body temperature |
| D．monitoring sharks’ reaction to weather changes |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．A popular way of forecasting weather. |
| B．A new research effort in predicting storms. |
| C．Biologists’ interest in the secrets of sharks. |
| D．Lauren Smith’s devotion to scientific research. |
Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago in 1954 to a Mexican American family. As the only girl in a family of seven children, she often felt like she had “seven fathers,” because her six brothers, as well as her father, tried to control her. Feeling shy and unimportant, she retreated(躲避) into books. Despite her love of reading, she did not do well in elementary school because she was too shy to participate.
In high school, with the encouragement of one particular teacher, Cisneros improved her grades and worked for the school literary magazine. Her father encouraged her to go to college because he thought it would be a good way for her to find a husband. Cisneros did attend college, but instead of searching for a husband, she found a teacher who helped her join the famous graduate writing program at the University of Iowa. At the university’s Writers’ Workshop, however, she felt lonely----a Mexican American from a poor neighborhood among students from wealthy families. The feeling of being so different helped Cisneros find her “Creative voice.”
“It was not until this moment when I considered myself truly different that my writing acquired a voice. I knew I was a Mexican woman, but I didn’t think it had anything to do with why I felt so much imbalance in my life, but it had everything to do with it! That’s when I decided I would write about something my classmates couldn’t write about.”
Cisneros published her first work, The House on Mango Street, when she was twenty-nine. The book tells about a young Mexican American girl growing up in a Spanish-speaking area in Chicago, much like the neighborhoods in which Cisneros lived as a child. The book won an award in 1985 and has been used in classes from high school through graduate school level. Since then, Cisneros has published several books of poetry, a children’s book, and a short-story collection.Which of the following is TRUE about Cisneros in her childhood?
| A．She had seven brothers. | B．She felt herself a nobody. |
| C．She was too shy to go to school. | D．She did not have any good teachers. |
The graduate program gave Cisneros a chance to _____.
| A．work for a school magazine | B．run away from her family |
| C．make a lot of friends | D．develop her writing style |
According to Cisneros, what played the decisive role in her success?
| A．Her early years in college. | B．Her training in the Workshop. |
| C．Her feeling of being different. | D．Her childhood experience. |
What do we learn about The House on Mango Street?
| A．It is quite popular among students. |
| B．It is the only book ever written by Cisneros. |
| C．It wasn’t success as it was written in Spanish. |
| D．It won an award when Cisneros was twenty-nine. |
Mrs. Keller had a big family .Her husband had a factory in the town .One of her sons was a lawyer and the other two were drivers .And her two daughters worked in the post office .The old woman stayed at home and could do all housework and wouldn’t employ anybody .
One evening ,the telephone rang while the old woman was preparing supper .She went to answer it .She was told that one of her sons died in a traffic accident .She heard this and fell in a faint .When she came back to life ,she was in hospital .And she needed to be helped after that .
Several months later she was told on the telephone her daughter died while she was being operated on .The old woman was so sad that she had to be in hospital again .From then on she was afraid to answer any telephones and sometimes she was afraid to hear the bell .Of course it brought them some trouble and some important business was held up .So her husband advised her to see a psychiatrist .The man examined her carefully and then asked her some questions.
“You will soon be all right if you follow my advice ,Mrs. Keller” said the psychiatrist.
The old woman took the medicine the doctor gave on time and tried to forget her dead son and daughter .And two months later she went to see the psychiatrist again .
“You have saved me, Doctor ,”the old woman said ,as soon as she saw him .
“Are you afraid to answer the telephone now?”
“No,” answered Keller .
“I dare answer it whether it rings or not ”Mrs Keller could do all housework because ______.
| A．she had no money to employ a helper. | B．she was strong enough to do all at home |
| C．she didn’t believe anybody | D．only she was free at home |
The old woman fell in a faint because _____
| A．she went to answer the telephone. | B．she was very ill that evening |
| C．she walked in the room carelessly | D．she heard the news about her son’s death. |
After she came out of hospital , Mrs Keller wasn’t ___as before .
| A．strong | B．able | C．clever | D．sad |
"I've changed my mind．I wanted to have a telescope, but now I want my daddy back．" Lucien Lawrence's letter to Father Christmas, written after his schoolteacher father had been knifed to death outside his school gale, must have touched every heart．Lucien went on to say that without his father he couldn't see the stars in the sky．When those whom we love depart from us, we cannot see the stare for a while．
But Lucien, the stars are still there, and one day, when you are older and your tears have gone, you will see them again．And, in a strange way, I expect that you will find your father is there too, in your mind and in your heart．I find that my parents, long dead now, still figure in many of my dreams and that I think of them perhaps more than 1 ever did when they were alive．I still live to please them and I'm still surprised by their reactions．I remember that when I became a professor,! was so proud, or rather so pleased with myself, that I couldn't wait to call my parents．The reply was a long time in coming, but when it did, all Mother said was "I hope this means that now you will have more time for the children!" I haven't forgotten．The values of my parents still live on．
It makes me pause and think about how I will live on in the hearts and minds of my children and of those for whom I care．Would I have been as ready as Philip Lawrence have been to face the aggressors （挑衅者）, and to lay down my life for those in my care? How many people would want me back for Christmas'' It's a serious thought, one to give me pause．
I pray silently, sometimes, in the dead of night, that ancient cry of a poet " Deliver my soul from the sword（剑）, and my darling from the power of the dog．" Yet I know the death comes to us all,
and sometimes comes suddenly．We must therefore plan to live forever, but live as if we will die
tomorrow．We live on, I'm sure, in the lives of those we loved．and therefore we ought to have a care
for what they will remember and what they will treasure．If more parents knew this in their hearts to
be true, there might be fewer knives on our streets today．According to the whole text we can see that the first paragraph ______．
| A．puts forward the subject of the text |
| B．shows the author's pity on the kid |
| C．acts as an introduction to the discussion |
| D．makes a clear statement of the author's views |
In the second paragraph the author mainly wants to explain to us ______．
| A．how much he misses his parents now |
| B．why his parents often appear in his dream |
| C．when Lucien will get over all his sadness |
| D．how proud he was when he succeeded in life |
What feeling did the author's mother express in her reply?
| A．Proud． | B．Happy． | C．Disappointed． | D．Worried |
In the author's opinion, the value of a person's life is ______．
| A．to leave behind a precious memory to the people related |
| B．to have a high sense of duty to the whole society |
| C．to care what others will remember and treasure |
| D．to share happiness and sadness with his family |
What does the writer mean by the sentence taken from an old poem?
| A．Call on criminals and murderers to lay down their guns． |
| B．Advise parents stay with their children safely at home． |
| C．Spend every day meaningfully in memory of the death． |
| D．Try to keep violence and murder far away from society． |