They can be seen more frequently than ever before on college campuses, wearing thick-rimmed glasses while listening to indie(独立的) music. One might find them playing unusual musical instruments, shopping at second-hand stores or expressing themselves in other unique ways. They call themselves hipsters. Being “hip” used to mean following the latest fashion. But gradually the word has evolved into a synonym for “cool”.
Hipsters value independent thinking, progressive politics, an appreciation of creativity and intelligence. Hipsters take pains and pride in not being mainstream. However, their culture has become quite trendy. This irony is central to their culture and offers an interesting paradox.
“I do take things in the mainstream with a grain of salt,” says Ben Polson, a college student at Brown University in the US. Polson describes himself as a hipster and says he often questions what determines popularity, especially regarding music.When lesser-known bands become popular they often lose their former fan base in exchange for a new one. There is a famous hipster saying that goes: I used to like that band before it got popular.
According to Polson, bands’ music changes when they go mainstream. They become “less experimental, doing things just to save popularity and fans. The original elements that we were drawn to slowly dwindle for the sake of popularity.”
Many young adults have started to view hipsters’ outlook as cool and are adopting their counterculture mindset (心态)themselves. This has led to specialized brands, stores and music for the hipster position. Ironically, some such stores, including clothing labels Urban Outfitters and American Apparel, have gained mainstream popularity. This has seemingly diluted(冲淡) the anti-mainstream culture.
“A lot of people that are self-defined hipsters aren’t really hipsters, they’re just trying to conform to the non-conformist(不墨守成规者) to seem cooler,” says Amanda Leopold, a college student from Oberlin College, US. Although Leopold has many unconventional tastes and seems quite individualist, she refuses to classify herself as a hipster.
There is a conflict among hipsters about the very definition of the label. To some, to be a hipster is to be free from cultural constraints. To others, it means wearing a certain style and listening to a specific style of music. The former constantly strives for uniqueness, while the latter strives not to be mainstream.
And yet, the movement is gaining mainstream popularity. “It’s kind of the trend these days; everyone wants to be hip so no one’s hip,” says Leopold. “There have been hipsters since the seventies. It’s only become popular recently.”
Hipsters reject materialism and laugh at mainstream culture. But are they really beyond material comforts? Do they have any ideas of their own if they despise mainstream so much?
Christy Wampole, an associate professor of literature at Princeton University, US, is not so sure. She says the hipster is a contradiction in himself and an easy target of mockery(嘲弄). Writing in The New York Times, Wampole paints a less appreciative picture of a typical hipster.
“The hipster is a scholar of social forms, a student of cool. He studies continuously, searching for what has yet to be found by the mainstream. He is a walking citation(例证); his clothes refer to much more than themselves. He tries to negotiate the age-old problem of individuality, not with concepts, but with material things.”From the passage we can know that hipsters are ____________________________.
| A．a group of people who are self-denied |
| B．a group of students who are good at musical instruments |
| C．people who follow the latest trends and fashions |
| D．people who pay no attention to material things |
The underlined word dwindle in the fourth paragraph may probably mean______________.
| A．enlarge | B．delete | C．disappear | D．decrease |
Leopold refuses to classify herself as a hipster because_______________________.
| A．she doesn’t like her own unconventional tastes |
| B．there are too many specialized brands, stores and music for the hipster position |
| C．she thinks that a lot of people that are self-defined hipsters aren’t really hipsters |
| D．the hipsters’ culture has become quite trendy |
When Leopold said “It’s kind of the trend these days; everyone wants to be hip so no one’s hip”, we can see that she felt a bit ______________.
| A．happy | B．disappointed | C．excited | D．content |
The passage mainly tells us ________________________.
| A．the difficult situation of hipsters | B．the trend of fashion |
| C．the changes of the society | D．the culture of hipsters |
Sports shoes that find out whether their owner has enough exercise to warrant time in front of the television have been devised in the UK.
The shoes — named Square Eyes — contain an electronic pressure sensor and a tiny computer chip to record how many steps the wearer has taken in a day. A wireless transmitter passes the information to a receiver connected to a television, and this decides how much evening viewing time the wearer deserves, based on the day’s efforts.
The design was inspired by a desire to fight against the rapidly ballooning waistlines among British teenagers, says Gillian Swan, who developed Square Eyes as a final year design project at Brunel University to London, UK. “We looked at current issues and childhood overweight really stood out,” she says. “And I wanted to tackle that with my design.”
Once a child has used up their daily allowance gained through exercise, the television automatically switches off. And further time in front of the TV can only be earned through more steps.
Swan calculated how exercise should translate to television time using the recommended(推荐) daily amounts of both. Health experts suggest that a child take 12,000 steps each day and watch no more than two hours of television. So, every 100 steps recorded by the Square Eyes shoes equals precisely one minute of TV time.
Existing pedometers （计步器） normally clip onto a belt or slip into a pocket and keep count of steps by measuring sudden movement. Swan says these can be easily tricked into recording steps through shaking. But her shoe has been built to be harder for lazy teenagers to cheat. “It is possible, but it would be a lot of effort,” she says. “That was one of my main design considerations.”
66．According to Swan, the purpose of her design project is to ____.
A．keep a record of the steps of the wearer
B．deal with overweight among teenagers
C．prevent children from being attracted by the TV programs.
D．prevent children from being tricked by TV programs
67．Which of the following is true of Square Eyes shoes?
A．They control a child’s evening TV viewing time.
B．They determine a child’s daily pocket money.
C．They have raised the hot issue of overweight.
D．They contain information of the receiver.
68．What is emphasized by health experts in their suggestion?
A．The exact number of steps to be taken.
B．The exact number of hours spent on TV.
C．The proper amount of daily exercise and TV time.
D．The way of changing steps into TV watching time.
69．Compared with other similar products, the new design ____.
A．makes it difficult for lazy teenagers to cheat
B．counts the wearer’s steps through shaking
C．records the sudden movement of the wearer
D．sends teenagers’ health data to the receiver
70．Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
A．Smart Shoes Decide on Television Time
B．Smart Shoes Guarantee(保证) More Exercise
C．Smart Shoes Measure Time of Exercise
D．Smart Shoes Stop Childhood Overweight
For many years, scientists couldn't figure out how atoms and molecules on the Earth combined to make living things. Plants, fish, dinosaurs, and people are made of atoms and molecules, but they are put together in a more complicated way than the molecules in the primitive ocean. What's more, living things have energy and can reproduce, while the chemicals on the Earth 4 billion years ago were lifeless.
After years of study, scientists figured out that living things, including human bodies, are basically made of amino acids and nucleotide bases. These are molecules with millions of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen atoms. How could such complicated molecules have been formed in the primitive soup? Scientists were stumped.
Then, in 1953, two scientists named Harold Urey and Stanley L. Miller did a very simple experiment to find out what had happened on the Primitive Earth. They set up some tubes and bottles in a closed loop, and put in some of the same gases that were present in the atmosphere 4 billion years ago: water vapor, ammonia, carbon dioxide, methane, and hydrogen.
Then they shot an electric spark through the gases to simulate bolts of lightning on the ancient Earth, circulated the gases through some water, sent them back for more sparks, and so on. After seven days, the water that the gases had been bubbling through had turned brown. Some new chemicals were dissolved in it. When Miller and Urey analyzed the liquid, they found that it contained amino acids-the very kind of molecules found in all living things.
61. When did scientists come to realize how the atoms and molecules on the Earth combined to make living thing?
A. 4 billion years ago. B.1953. C. After seven days.D. Many years later.
62. Scientists figured out that human bodies are basically made of .
A.amino acids
B.molecules
C. hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen atoms
D. water vapor, ammonia, carbon dioxide, methane and hydrogen
63. Harold Urey and Stanley L.Miller did their experiment in order to .
A. find out what had happened on the Earth 4 billion years ago
B.simulate bolts of lightning on the ancient Earth
C. dissolve some new chemicals
D.analyze a liquid
64. At the end of the last paragraph, the underlined word "it" refers to .
A. a closed loop B. an electric spark C.water D. the liquid
65. According to the writer, living things on the Earth include .
A. atoms and molecules B.chemicals
C. plants, fish, dinosaurs and human beings D.the primitive soup
三、阅读（共两节, 满分40分）
第一节阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分, 满分30分）
阅读下列短文, 从每题所给的A、B、C和D选项中, 选出最佳选项, 并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
When John Milton , writer of “Paradise Lost” ,entered Cambridge University, in 1625, he was already skilled in Latin after seven years of studying it as his second language at St. Paul’s School, London. Like all English boys who prepared for college in grammar schools ,he had learned not only to read Latin but also to speak and write it smoothly and correctly .His pronunciation of Latin was English ,however ,and seemed to have sounded strange to his friends when he later visited Italy.
Schoolboys gained their skill in Latin in a bitter way. They kept in mind the rules to make learning by heart easier. They first made a word-for-word translation and then an idiomatic translation into English .As they increased their skill ,they translated their English back into Latin without referring to the book and then compared their translation with the original .The schoolmaster was always at hand to encourage them. All schoolmasters believed Latin should be beaten in.
After several years of study ,the boys began to write compositions in imitation of the Latin writers they read. And as they began to read Latin poems ,they began to write poems in Latin .Because Milton was already a poet at ten ,his poems were much better than those painfully put together by the other boys. During the seven years Milton spent at university ,he made regular use of his command of Latin. He wrote some excellent Latin poems ,which he published among his works in 1645.
56．What does the passage mainly tell about?
A．How John Milton wrote “Paradise Lost”.B．How John Milton studied Latin.
C．How John Milton became famous. D．How John Milton became a poet.
57．Which of the following is true of John Milton’s pronunciation of Latin?
A. It has a strong Italian accent. B. It has an uncommon accent.
C. It was natural and easy to understand. D. It was bad and difficult to understand.
58．It can be inferred from the passage that .
A．Milton’s training in Latin was similar to that of the other boys
B．Milton hadn’t learned any foreign language except Latin before going to college
C．Milton’s Italian friends helped him with Latin when talking
D．Milton’s classmates learned Latin harder but worse than Milton.
59．Which of the following is suggested in the passage?
A．The schoolmaster mainly helped those who were bad at Latin.
B．The schoolmaster usually stood beside the schoolboys with a stick in his hand.
C．The schoolboys could repeat Latin grammar rules from memory.
D．Some of the schoolboys were quick at writing compositions in Latin.
60．What is the meaning of the underlined part “Latin should be beaten in” (Para.2)?
A．Schoolboys should be punished if they were lazy to learn Latin.
B．Schoolboys should be encouraged if they had difficulty in learning Latin.
C．Schoolboys were expected to master Latin in a short time.
D．Schoolboys had to study Latin in a hard way.
SATURDAY, June 16, 2009 (Health Day News) -- Following simple safety rules can help protect children from injury while they're having fun this summer, say experts from Safe Kids East Central and the Medical College of Georgia's Children's Medical Center
Here are some safety guidelines:
● When riding in a vehicle, children aged 12 and under should be secured in the back seat in a child safety seat, or safety belt that's suitable for their age and size. Children aged 4 to 8, or those weighing more than 40 pounds, should be in a car booster. Children taller than 4 feet 9 inches may use an adult seat belt
● Teach children never to play in or around parked cars. Never leave a child alone inside a car
● Never let a child under age l0 cross a street alone. Make sure all children know when and where to cross a street. Never let children walk alone at night
● Always supervise children at the playground or in the backyard. Make sure they play on a safe surface, such as rubber or free sand. Check that playground equipment is in good shape and safe.
● Children should attend swimming lessons with a qualified instructor, but don't assume that swimming lessons make children "drown-proof". They still need to be supervised when doing water-related activities
● Children should always wear proper protective equipment when using bicycles, scooters, inline skates and skateboards. Teach children the rules of the road
72. The best title for the passage is ___________
A. Some Safety Guidelines B. Rules of the road
C. A Safe Summer Means More Fun for KidsD. Safety Is Everything
73. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT mentioned?
A. Car riding. B. Swimming. C. Climbing. D. Skating
74. The underlined word "supervise" means_______
A. watch B. advise C. direct D. command
75. To have a safe summer we should do the following EXCEPT _________
A. never leave a child alone inside a car
B. teach children the rules of the road
C. allow children aged 12 and under sit in the back seat without safety belt
D. make sure children play on a safe surface
Feel tired lately? Has a doctor said he can't find anything wrong with you? Perhaps he has sent you to a hospital, but all the advanced equipment there shows that there is nothing wrong with you
Then, consider this: you might be in a state of sub-health. Sub-health, also called the third state or gray state, is explained as a borderline state between health and disease
According to the investigation by the National Health Organization, over 45 percent of sub-healthy people are middle-aged or elderly. The percentage is even higher among people who work in management positions as well as students around exam-week
Symptoms(症状) include a lack of energy, depression, slow reactions, insomnia, anger, and poor memory. Other symptoms include shortness of breath, sweating and aching in the waist and legs
The key to preventing and recovering from sub-health, according to some medical experts, is to form good living habits, alternate work and rest, exercise regularly, and take part in open air activities
As for meals, people are advised to eat less salt and sugar. They should also eat more fresh vegetables, fruits, fish because they are rich in nutritional elements -- vitamins and other elements that are important to the body. Nutrition experts point out that it is not good to eat too much at one meal because it may cause unhealthy changes in the digestive tract. They also say that a balanced diet is very helpful in avoiding sub-health
68. When you are in a state of sub-health, you should_______.
A. stay at home and have a good rest.
B. go to see a doctor and buy some medicine
C. have yourself examined with advanced equipment
D. find out the reasons and relax yourself
69. It may be easy for middle-aged people to get sub-healthy because _______
A. they have used up their energy
B. they have lost their living hopes
C. they have more pressure in life and work
D. they begin to get older
70. We can know form the passage if you____, you can avoid falling into a state of
sub-health.
A. eat more fresh vegetables and fruits B. develop good living habits
C. sleep moreD. take more medicine
71. The underlined word "alternate" in this passage is closest in meaning to ____
A. keep oneself busy with B. cause to take place
C. arrange by turns D. get rid of