For nearly 100 years, the heartbroken Little Mermaid has sat on a rock looking out over Copenhagen's port but now the sculpture ,based on the famous fairytale, is heading back out to sea, set for China.
The small bronze statue inspired by the tale of author Hans Christian Andersen and unveiled in 1913, is a major tourist attraction in Copenhagen. But her life has not always been easy. She has been beheaded twice, had her arm cut off, was blown off her rock in 2003 and was dressed in a Muslim headscarf two years ago in a protest - but she never left her native country.
This week she was lifted from the harbor, boxed, and shipped to Shanghai where she is the star guest in the Danish Pavilion at EXPO 2010 which runs until October 31. Details over her trip were not revealed due to security issues.
"The Little Mermaid," published in 1837, is a sad story about a mermaid who falls in love with a prince and gives up her life in the sea and her tail for legs.
The fairytale has been adapted many times into stage shows and into a Disney movie.
Copenhagen mayor Frank Jensen said in a statement that the loan of The Little Mermaid was part of a cultural exchange between Denmark and China. "I am convinced that she will be an excellent ambassador of Denmark, particularly since the Chinese already are very fond of Hans Christian Andersen and his fairytales," he said in a statement.
Her departure from Copenhagen will not leave the harbor empty. Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has created a video installation(设备/装置)to be installed at her spot.
The Little Mermaid's 165 cm (65 inches) tall sculpture, which sits on a granite block, was created in 1913 by Edvard Eriksen.The following statements are true EXCEPT________________.
A.the statue of The Little Mermaid will be given to China as a gift |
B.the statue of The Little Mermaid is a major tourist attraction in Copenhagen |
C.The Little Mermaid is a famous fairytale written by Hans Christian Andersen |
D.the story of The Little Mermaid was once adapted into a Disney movie |
The underlined word “departure” here means_______________.
A.escaping | B.retiring | C.arriving | D.leaving |
From the passage, we can infer that ________________.
A.Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has created another Little Mermaid instead |
B.the Danish people don’t like the statue of The Little Mermaid |
C.the statue of The Little Mermaid will return to Denmark in the future |
D.Edvard Eriksen wrote the story of the Little Mermaid |
Volunteers, as an essential part of a successful world exposition, are a major channel for the public to participate in, serve and share the world exposition and a means to showcase the image of the host country and city. The following information is about the volunteer for the World Exposition 2010 Shanghai China.
I.Basic Requirements for Volunteers
● Be willing to participate in voluntary services of Expo 2010;
● Age limit: Expo Site volunteers must be born before April 30, 1992 and Expo City Voluntary Service Station volunteers before April 30, 1994;
● Obey the laws and regulations of the PRC;
● Be able to participate in training and relevant activities before the opening of Expo 2010;
● Possess necessary knowledge and skills needed by the position;
● Be in good health to meet the requirements of corresponding voluntary positions.
II.Further Information for Volunteers
● Source
Residents of Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, as well as overseas Chinese, and foreigners can all apply to be the volunteers.
● Signup methods
Applicants may log in onto the official websites for online signup.They may also consult or connect with the Expo Volunteer Stations.
● Time
May 1 - December 31, 2009
Ⅲ.Volunteer Training
Volunteer training includes general training, special training and position training.General training is carried out through internet, while special training and position training are provided through classroom lectures and field practice.
IV.Volunteer Types
● Expo Site volunteers refer to those offering voluntary services to visitors and the Organizer in the Expo Site, mainly including information, visitor flow management, reception, translation and interpretation, assistance for the disabled, and assistance in media service, event and conference organization and.volunteer management.
● Information booth volunteers are stationed in the Expo's information booths at key transportation centers, commercial outlets, tourist attractions, restaurants, hotels and cultural event places outside the Expo Site.They offer services including information, translation, interpretation and even first aid.If you were born in April 1993, where can you be a volunteer?
A.In the Expo City. | B.In the host country. |
C.In the Expo Site. | D.In Chinese mainland |
Which of the training will be done on the Internet?
A.Position training. | B.General training. |
C.Classroom training. | D.Special training. |
Which of the following service is offered by information booth volunteers?
A.Assistance in media service. | B.Helping the disabled |
C.Emergency First aid. | D.Visitor flow management. |
As kids, my friends and I spent a lot of time out in the woods. “The woods” was our part-time address, destination, purpose, and excuse. If I went to a friends house and found him not at home, his mother might say, “Oh, he’s out in the woods, ” with a tone(语气) of airy acceptance. It is similar to the tone people sometimes use nowadays to tell me that someone I’m looking for is on the golf course or at the gym, or even “away from his desk.” For us ten-year-olds, “being out in the woods” was just an excuse to do whatever we feel like for a while.
We sometimes told ourselves that what we were doing in the woods was exploring(探索). Exploring was a more popular idea back then than it is today. History seemed to be mostly about explorers. Our explorations, though, seemed to have less system than the historic kind: something usually came up along the way. Say we stayed in the woods, throwing rocks, shooting frogs, picking blackberries, digging in what we were briefly persuaded was an Indian burial mound.
Often we got “lost” and had to climb a tree to find out where we were. If you read a story in which someone does that successfully, be skeptical: the topmost branches are usually too skinny to hold weight, and we could never climb high enough to see anything except other trees. There were four or five trees that we visited regularly—tall beeches, easy to climb and comfortable to sit in.
It was in a tree, too, that our days of fooling around in the woods came to an end. By then some of us had reached seventh grade and had begun the rough ride of adolescence(青春期). In March, the month when we usually took to the woods again after winter, two friends and I set out to go exploring. We climbed a tree, and all of a sudden it occurred to all three of us at the same time that we really were rather big to be up in a tree. Soon there would be the spring dances on Friday evenings in the high school cafeteria.The author and his friends were often out in the woods to _______.
A.spend their free time |
B.play golf and other sports |
C.avoid doing their schoolwork |
D.keep away from their parents |
What can we infer from Paragraph 2 ?
A.The activities in the woods were well planned. |
B.Human history is not the result of exploration. |
C.Exploration should be a systematic activity. |
D.The author explored in the woods aimlessly. |
The underlined word “skeptical” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to ______.
A.calm | B.doubtful | C.serious | D.optimistic |
How does the author feel about his childhood?
A.Happy but short. |
B.Lonely but memorable. |
C.Boring and meaningless. |
D.Long and unforgettable. |
After giving a talk at a high school, I was asked to pay a visit to a special student. An illness had kept the boy home, but he had expressed an interest in meeting me. I was told it would mean a great deal to him, so I agreed.
During the nine-mile drive to his home, I found out something about Matthew. He had muscular dystrophy (肌肉萎缩症). When he was born, the doctor told his parents that he would not live to five, and then they were told he would not make it to ten. Now he was thirteen. He wanted to meet me because I was a gold-medal power lifter, and I knew about overcoming obstacles(阻碍) and going for my dreams.
I spent over an hour talking to Matthew. Never once did he complain or ask, “Why me?” He spoke about winning and succeeding and going for his dreams. Obviously, he knew what he was talking about. He didn’t mention that his classmates had made fun of him because he was different. He just talked about his hopes for the future, and how one day he wanted to lift weights with me. When we had finished talking, I went to my briefcase and pulled out the first gold medal I had won and put it around his neck. I told him he was more of a winner and knew more about success and overcoming obstacles than I ever would. He looked at it for a moment, then took it off and handed it back to me. He said, “You are a champion(冠军). You earned that medal. Someday when I get to the Olympics and win my own medal, I will show it to you.”
Last summer I received a letter from Matthew’s parents telling me that Matthew had passed
away. They wanted me to have a letter he had written to me a few days before:
Dick,
My mum said I should send you a thank-you letter for the picture you sent me. I also want to let you know that the doctors tell me that I don’t have long to live any more, but I still smile as much as I can.
I told you someday that I would go to the Olympics and win a gold medal, but I know now I
will never get to do that. However, I know I’m a champion, and God knows that too. When I get to Heaven, God will give me my medal and when you get there, I will show it to you. Thank you for loving me.
Yours,
Matthew How old was Matthew when they met?
A.Five. | B.Ten. | C.Thirteen. | D.Eighteen. |
The underlined sentence in the third paragraph probably means that _______.
A.the boy never complained about not getting a medal |
B.the boy never complained about not being able to go to school |
C.the boy never complained why the author had never come to see him before |
D.the boy never complained about how unlucky he was to have this disease |
Matthew didn’t accept the author’s medal because _________.
A.he thought it was too expensive |
B.he was sure that he could win one in the future |
C.he thought it was of no use to him as he would die soon |
D.he would not be pitied by others |
From the passage we learn that _________.
A.Matthew was an athlete |
B.Matthew was an optimistic and strong-minded boy |
C.The author used to have the same disease as Matthew had |
D.Matthew became a champion before he died |
Too many people want others to be their friends, but they don’t give friendship back. That is why some friendships don’t last very long. To have a friend, you must learn to treat your friend the way you want your friend to treat you. Learning to be a good friend means learning three rules: be honest; be generous (宽宏大量的);be understanding.
Honesty is where a good friendship starts. Friends must be able to trust one another. If you don’t tell the truth, people usually find out. If a friend finds out that you haven’t been honest, you may lose your friend’s trust. Good friends always count on one another to speak and act honestly.
Generosity means sharing and sharing makes a friendship grow. You don’t have to give your lunch money or your clothes, or enjoy, like your hobbies and your interests. Naturally you will want to share your ideas and feelings. These can be very valuable to a friend. They tell your friend what is important to you. By sharing them you help your friend know you better.
Sooner or later everyone needs understanding and help with a problem. Something may go wrong at school. Talking about the problem can make it easier to solve . Turning to a friend can be a first step in solving the problem. So to be a friend you must listen and understand. You must try to put yourself in your friend’s place so you can understand the problem better.
No two friendships are ever exactly alike (相同). But all true friendships have three things in common. If you plan to keep your friendships, you must practice honesty, generosity and understanding.Some friendships don’t last very long because.
A.there are too many people who want to make friends. |
B.they don’t know friendship is something serious |
C.they receive others’ friendships but never give others friendships |
D.they always give other people friendships |
According to the passage , honesty is .
A.as important as money | B.more important than anything else |
C.something countable | D.the base of a friendship |
Which of the following is NOT true in the passage?
A.A friend who gives you his lunch money is a true friend. |
B.Always tell your friend the truth. |
C.Discussing your problems with your friend often helps to solve the problem. |
D.Sharing your mind with your friend is of great value. |
The best title of this passage is .
A.A Friend in Need Is a Friend Indeed | B.Honesty Is the Best Habit |
C.How to Be a Friend | D.Three Important Points in Life |
Not many years ago,a wealthy and rather strange old man named Johnson lived alone in a village in the south of England. He had made a lot of money in trading with foreign countries. When he was seventy-five, he gave £ 12,000 to the village school to buy land and equipment for a children’s playground.
As a result of his kindness, many people came to visit him. Among them was a newspaperman. During their talk,Johnson remarked that he was seventy-five and expected to live to be a hundred. The newspaperman asked him how he managed to be healthy at seventy—five. Johnson had a sense of humor. He liked whisky and drank some each day. “I have an injection (注射) in my neck each evening.” he told the newspaperman,thinking of his evening glass of whisky.
The newspaperman did not understand what Johnson meant. In his newspaper he reported that Johnson was seventy-five and had a daily injection in his neck. Within a week Johnson received thousands of letters from all over Britain,asking him for the secret of his daily injection.Johnson became a rich man through _________.
A.making whisky |
B.doing business. |
C.buying and selling land. |
D.having an injection each night |
When Johnson said he had an injection in his neck each evening, he really meant that ______.
A.he liked drinking a glass of whisky in the evening. |
B.he needed an injection in the neck. |
C.a daily injection in the evening would make him sleep well. |
D.there was something wrong with his neck. |
Which words do you think can best describe Johnson according to the passage?
A.humorous and drunk | B.wealthy and honest |
C.wealthy and humorous | D.drunk and clever |