When students and parents are asked to rate subjects according to their importance, the arts are unavoidably at the bottom of the list. Music is nice, people seem to say, but not important. Too often it is viewed as mere entertainment, but certainly not an education priority（优先）. This view is shortsighted. In fact, music education is beneficial and important for all students.
Music tells us who we are. Because music is an expression of the beings who create it, it reflects their thinking and values, as well as the social environment it came from. Rock music represents a lifestyle just as surely as does a Schubert song. The jazz influence that George Gershwin and other musicians introduced into their music is obviously American because it came from American musical traditions. Music expresses our character and values. It gives us identity as a society.
Music provides a kind of perception（感知）that cannot be acquired any other way. Science can explain how the sun rises and sets. The arts explore the emotive（情感的）meaning of the same phenomenon. We need every possible way to discover and respond to our world for one simple but powerful reason: No one way can get it all.
The arts are forms of thought as powerful in what they communicate as mathematical and scientific symbols. They are ways we human beings “talk” to each other. They are the language of civilization through which we express our fears, our curiosities, our hungers, our discoveries, our hopes. The arts are ways we give form to our ideas and imagination so that they can be shared with others. When we do not give children access to an important way of expressing themselves such as music, we take away from them the meanings that music expresses.
Science and technology do not tell us what it means to be human. The arts do. Music is an important way we express human suffering, celebration, the meaning and value of peace and love.
So music education is far more necessary than people seem to realize.According to Paragraph 1, students _________.
| A．regard music as a way of entertainment |
| B．disagree with their parents on education |
| C．view music as an overlooked subject |
| D．prefer the arts to science |
In Paragraph 2, the author uses jazz as an example to _________.
| A．compare it with rock music |
| B．show music identifies a society |
| C．introduce American musical traditions |
| D．prove music influences people’s lifestyles |
According to the passage, the arts and science_________.
A. approach the world from different angles
B. explore different phenomena of the world
C express people’s feelings in different ways
D. explain what it means to be human differentlyWhat is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Music education deserves more attention. |
| B．Music should be of top education priority. |
| C．Music is an effective communication tool. |
| D．Music education makes students more imaginative. |
I arrived in London at last. The railway station was big, black and dark. I did not know the way to my hotel, so I asked a porter(搬运工). I not only spoke English very carefully, but very clearly as well.The porter, however, could not understand me. I repeated my question several times and at last he understood. He answered me, but he spoke neit
her slowly nor clearly. “I am a foreigner”, I said. Then he spoke slowly, but I could not understand him. My teacher never spoke English like that! The porter and I looked at each other and smiled. Then he said something and I understood it. “ You’ll soon learn English!” he said. It seems to me that in England each man speaks a different language. The Englishman understand each other, but I don’t understand them! Do they speak English? How did the write
r of the passage get to London?
A．By tra in |
B．On foot | C．By sea | D．By air |
What country did the writer of the passage come from?
| A．England | B．Ameica | C．France | D．We don’t know |
Why couldn’t the porter understand the writer when he spoke English?
| A．Because he was a foreigner. |
| B．Because the porter could only understand the London dialect (方言). |
| C．Because he spoke not British English but American English. |
| D．Because he couldn’t speak idiomtic (地道的) English. |
“In England, each man speaks a different language.” The writer thinks so because_________________.
| A．some people speak English, while others don’t. |
| B．he does not understand native(本国的) speakers of English |
| C．not every Englishman speaks English |
| D．each Englishman can speak several foreign languages |
Many years ago, in a small town, there lived a doctor. He was good and kind. At any time of the day and night, he was always ready to go to help a sick person. Everyone in the town liked him and people always went to him when there was anything wrong.
The years went past, and the doctor became old. He began to lose his memory.When people noticed this, they didn’t go to him any more.
“He may give us the wrong medicine,” they said, and they were afraid.
The good old doctor noticed that pe
ople didn’t come to him any more but didn’t understand why. So he asked, “Why does no one come to me now?”
No one wanted to tell him the real reason because they didn’t want to make the good old man unhappy, so they said, “You have helped all the sick people in the town. There is no one sick now.”
The doctor was pleased when he heard that.People always went to the doctor when they were____________.
| A．wrong | B．not right | C．not well | D．not happy |
“He began to lose his memory.”means __________.
| A．He couldn’t know his sick persons any longer. |
| B．He forgot everything in the past. |
| C．He couldn’t find anything. |
| D．He couldn’t remember things well. |
The sick people didn’t come to the doctor any more b
ecause____.
| A．there was no sick man in the town |
| B．he might give them the wrong medicine |
| C．they were afraid of him |
D．he was old and no longer a doctor |
The old doctor was _________ when he heard that there was no one sick in the town.
| A．sorry | B．angry | C．glad | D．surprised |
Camping wild is a wonderful way to experience the natural world and, at its best, it makes little environmental influence. But with increasing numbers of people wanting to escape into the wilderness, it is becoming more and more important to camp unobtrusively(不引人注目地)and leave no mark.
Wild camping is not permitted in many places, particularly in crowded lowland Britain. Wherever you are, find out about organizations responsible for managing wild spaces, and contact them to find out their policy on camping and shelter building. For e
xample, it is fine to camp wild in remote parts of Scotland, but in England you must ask the landowner’s permission, except in national parks.
Camping is about having relaxation, sleeping outdoors, experiencing bad weather, and making do without modern conveniences. A busy, fully-equipped campsite(野营地)seems to go against this, so seek out smaller, more remote places with easy access to open spaces and perhaps beaches. Better still, find a campsite with no road access: walking in makes a real adventure.
Finding the right spot to camp is the first step to guaranteeing(保证）a good night’s sleep. Choose a campsite with privacy and minimum influence on others and the environment. Try to use an area where people h
ave obviously camped before rather than creating a new spo
t. When camping in woodland, avoid standing dead trees, which may fall on a windy night. Avoid animal runs and caves, and possible homes of biting insects. Make sure you have most protection on the windward side. If you make a fire, do so downwind of your shelter. Always consider what influence you might have on the natural world. Avoid damaging plants. A good campsite is found, not made—changing it should be unnecessary. You needn’t ask for permission when camping in______________ .
| A．national parks in England | B．most parts of Scotland |
| C．crowded lowland Britain | D．most parts of England |
The author thinks that a good campsite is one_______________.
A. with easy access B. used previously
C with modern conveniences D far away from beaches The last paragraph mainly deals with_____________.
A. protecting animalsB building a campfire
C camping in woodland 
D finding a campsite with privacyThe passage is mainly about______________.
A the protection of campsites
B the importance of wild camping
C the human influence on campsites
D the dos and don’ts of wild camping
Tsai Chin Chung is one of Taiwan’s most famous cartoonists, and his cartoons are enjoyed by people in many different countries in Asia. His books of cartoons have now become best sellers in Singapore, Malaysia, and even Japan.
As soon as he could hold a pencil, Tsai Chin Chung lived only for drawing. Every day he practised drawing people and things around him and from his favorite stories.
When he was only 15 years old, he left home to work for a publisher in Taipei. He worked hard to draw pictures for books. Two years later, he left his job and started to work on drawing cartoon series, which he liked better. He made up his mind to succeed as a cartoonist.
Now Tsai Chin Chung has achieved something unusual for a modern cartoonist. He has become extremely successful at changing Chinese literature and philosophy into humorous comic stories. In this way, he has made the Chinese classics known to thousands of people.
Because of his great achievement, several years ago Tsai Chin Chung was given a prize as one of the 10 Outstanding Young People of Taiwan. Since then, he has won many prizes, and his cartoons have become popular throughout Asia, America and Europe. So far, he has published more than 20 comic books. Ten of these are about ancient Chinese philosophers based on Chinese historical and literary classics.
Many of Tsai Chin Chung’s books of cartoons and comics have now been published in English in countries like Singapore. His books have also been translated into several other languages, including Japanese, Korean and Thai. Even publishers in France and Indonesia have recently signed agreements for permission to publish his cartoon series. Tsai Chin Chung left his first job because he ________.
| A．preferred drawing cartoons | B．wanted to go back to school |
| C．enjoyed drawing pictures for books | D．wanted to be famous |
Half of the books he has published are related to _______.
| A．Chinese and foreign comics | B．countries in Asia, America and Europe |
| C．foreign languages learning | D．Chinese history and literature |
Because of his great achievements, Tsai Chin Chung _______.
| A．travelled a lot in Asia and Europe | B．went to live in Singapore |
| C．won an important prize in Taiwan | D．has become famous in Africa. |
Farming was once the chief way of life in nearly every country. People cannot live without food, and nearly all their food comes from crops and animals raised on farms. Not many people farm for a living any more, but farming remains the most important work in the world.
Before the n
ineteenth century, the typical American family lived on a small farm. They raised pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens, and planted corn, fruits, garden vegetables, and wheat. Everyone worked long and hard, but the results were often poor. Families barely harvested enough food for themselves. This situation began to change during the last half of the 1800's and it changed remarkably(明显地) in the next century.
Scientific methods and labor-saving machinery(机械）have made farming increasingly productive. The development of improved plant varieties and fertilizers（肥料）has helped double and even triple the production of some major crops. More scientific animal 
care and animal raising have helped increase the amount of meat and products that animals produce. At the same time, the use of tractors and other modern farm equipment has sharply reduced the need for farm labor.
As farming has become less important as a way of life in the United States, it has bec
ome more important as a source which offers materials to industry. Today's successful farmers are experts not just in agriculture but also in accounting, marketing, and finance. Farms that are not run in a similar way have great difficulty surviving. We are told in the first paragraph about ____.
| A．the history of farming | B．the importance of farming |
| C．the development of farming | D．the changes of farming |
Which of the following describes American farming before the 19th century?
| A．Farmers didn’t work hard on their farms. | |
| B．Farmers used tractors to help them. | |
| C．Farming was the main way of living for most people | D．Farmers could supply materials to industry. |
The passage mainly talks about_____.
| A．the advantages of American farming | B．the changes in American farming |
| C．the situation of American farms | D．how rapidly farming has developed |