I wasn’t surprised when I read that actress Helen Hunt recently stated that she would never allow her young daughter to become a child star. Ms Hunt is the daughter of a Hollywood technical director, and grew up in Hollywood. Now in her late 40s, she started acting and modeling when she was eight and has probably seen a lot over those years in show business.
She has had a successful career. She earned four Golden Globes and four Emmys. She also attained the top honor of her profession when she won the Best Actress Academy Award for her role in the 1992 movie, As Good As It Gets. Given those accolades, Ms Hunt is successful. There is no doubt that her early experiences as a child star prepared her for what has been an outstanding adult career. Given those achievements, why would this star declare she’ll never allow her daughter, now at the age of six, to follow in her footsteps?
Everyone familiar with the entertainment scene is aware of the reasons for her attitude. Recent tabloid (小报) news headlines featuring the troubles of former child stars, among them Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and the late Gary Coleman, may answer the question. Although Ms Hunt managed to become a successful grown-up star, she apparently believes she’s an exception.
What Ms Hunt may be suggesting is that many very young stars go through unnatural childhoods on movie and TV sets. While they’re earning big incomes, they’re so pampered (纵容) by directors and praised by fans; they may get false impressions that their lives will always be that way. Then, within a few years, when faced with reality, they’re hurt and confused. After all the overwhelming affection, they find they can’t deal with the problems. That’s often when drugs and alcohol take over their lives.
Helen Hunt has some other reasons why she doesn’t want her daughter to be in the entertainment business. Many child stars can never make a successful transition to meaningful adulthood. However, as with many Hollywood movies, I believe there are both good and bad scenes about how it can be played out in real life.According to the passage, Ms Hunt _________.
| A．started acting and modeling when she was a little girl |
| B．has been acting for about 30 years |
| C．is the daughter of a famous actor |
| D．started singing when she was eight |
The underlined word “accolades” in Paragraph 2 probably means “_________”.
| A．difficulties | B．awards | C．salaries | D．opinions |
The author thinks Helen Hunt’s success is mainly due to _________.
| A．her hard work | B．the help of a technicaldirector |
| C．her experiences as a child star | D．her talent and good luck |
Helen Hunt wouldn’t allow her daughter to become a child star because she thinks _________.
| A．child stars often take drugs and alcohol |
| B．being a child star may ruin her future |
| C．child stars aren’t able to solve their problems |
| D．it is difficult to succeed as a child actor |
From the passage we can conclude that _________.
| A．few child stars will succeed in the future |
| B．there is no way to save the entertainment business |
| C．the author has a different opinion about child stars |
| D．meaningful adulthood only belongs to non-child stars |
Each new school year brings fresh reminders of what educators call the summer learning gap. Some call it the summer learning setback. Simply speaking, it means the longer kids are out of school, the more they forget. The only thing they might gain is weight.
Most American schools follow a traditional nine-month calendar with winter and spring breaks and about ten weeks of summer vacation. Some schools follow a year-round calendar. They hold classes for about eight weeks at a time, with a few weeks off in between. The National Association for Year-Round Education says there were fewer than 3,000 such schools at last count. They were spread among forty-six of the fifty states.
But many experts point out that the number of class days in a year-round school is generally the same as in a traditional school. Lead researcher Paul von Hippel said, “ Year-round schools don't really solve the problem of the summer learning setback. They simply spread it out across the year. ”
Across the country, research shows that students from poor families fall farther behind over the summer than other students. Experts say this can be prevented. They note that many schools and local governments offer programs that can help.
But calling them “ summer school ” could be a problem. The director of the summer learning center at Johns Hopkins, Ron Fairchild , said research with groups of different parents in Chicago and Baltimore found that almost all strongly disliked the term “ summer school”. In American culture, the idea of summer vacation is connected to beliefs about freedom and the joys of childhood. The parents welcomed other terms like “ summer camp”,“ extra time” and “hands-on learning”. According to the first paragraph, the summer learning gap __________.
| A．helps children to gain weight |
| B．leads children to work harder |
| C．improves children's memories |
| D．affects children's regular studies |
Compared to traditional schools, students in the year-round ones __________.
| A．perform better and have more learning gains |
| B．have much less time for relaxation every year |
| C．have generally the same number of class days |
| D．hold more classes with more free weeks off |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．Students from poor families often fall behind after the vacation. |
| B．Year-round schools can solve the problem of the learning gap. |
| C．There are schools in each state following a year-round calendar. |
| D．Nothing can help the students who fall behind after the vacation. |
Why did almost all parents dislike the term “summer school”？
| A．They cherish the children's rights of freedom very much. |
| B．They are worried about the quality of the “summer school". |
| C．They want their children to be forced to make up the gap. |
| D．They can't afford the further study during the vacation. |
Which of the following is the best title of this passage?
| A．Opening Summer Camps |
| B．Forbidding Summer Schools |
| C．Spreading Year-Round Education |
| D．Minding the Summer Learning Cap |
Secondhand smoke isn't just a health threat to people. It can also hurt dogs and cats, veterinarians say.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 126 million Americans who don't smoke are exposed to secondhand smoke in their homes，vehicles, workplaces，and public places. This exposure causes thousands of lung cancer and heart disease deaths among nonsmokers every year, according to the California Environmental Protection Agency.
“Making the leap from the effects of secondhand smoke on humans to their effects on pets isn't a big one,” said veterinarian Carolynn MacAliister of Oklahoma State University.
“There have been a number of scientific papers recently that have reported the significant health threat secondhand smoke poses to pets,” MacAllister said. “Secondhand smoke has been associated with oral cancer and lymphoma in cats, lung and nasal cancer in dogs, as well as lung cancer in birds. ”
Studies have also shown that dogs living in a smoking household are susceptible to cancers of the nose and sinus area ，particularly if they are a long-nosed breed, because their noses have a greater surface area that is exposed to carcinogens(致癌物质)and a greater area for them to accumulate. Dogs affected with nasal cancer normally don't survive for more than one year.
“Short and medium-nosed dogs are more susceptible to lung cancer, because their shorter nasal passage aren't as effective at ac-cumulating the inhaled secondhand smoke carcinogens,” MacAllister said. “This results in more carcinogens reaching the lungs. ”
Birds are also at risk for lung cancer, as well as pneumonia, because their respiratory systems are hypersensitive to any type of air pollutant.
“To help prevent animals from being adversely affected by smoking, pet owners who smoke should have a designated smoking area that is separated from the home or stop smoking altogether,” said MacAllister. From the passage, we can see secondhand smoke maybe not harmful to __________.
| A．smokers |
| B．non-smokers |
| C．pets |
| D．trees |
What can be suggested according to the passage?
| A．Smokers can smoke anywhere. |
| B．Smokers can smoke at any time. |
| C．Smokers should smoke in the designated place. |
| D．Smokers must give up smoking at once. |
What kind of dogs are likely to suffer from nasal cancer?
| A．Long-nosed dogs |
| B．Short-nosed dogs |
| C．Medium-nosed dogs |
| D．Dogs without noses |
The best title of the passage is __________.
| A．Secondhand Smoke Causes Cancer in People |
| B．Secondhand Smoke Causes Cancer in Birds |
| C．Secondhand Smoke Causes Cancer in Pets |
| D．Secondhand Smoke Causes Cancer in Cats |
What is the meaning of the underlined phrase “are susceptible to”?
| A．are likely to be harmed by |
| B．are hard to be influenced by |
| C．are less to be effected by |
| D．are lucky to be caught by |
A few years ago I had an “ aha ！ ” moment regarding handwriting.
I had in my hand a sheet of paper with handwritten instructions on it for some sort of editorial task. It occurred at first that I did not recognize the handwriting, and then I realized whose it must be. I finally became aware of the fact that I had been working with this colleague for at least a year, maybe two, and yet I did not recognize her handwriting at that point.
It was a very important event in the computerization of life—a sign that the informal, friendly communication of people working together in an office had changed from notes in pen to instant messages and emails. There was a time when our workdays were filled with little letters, and we recognized one another's handwriting the way we knew voices or faces.
As a child visiting my father's office, I was pleased to recognize , in little notes on the desks of his staff, the same handwriting I would see at home in the notes he would leave on the fridge—except that those notes were signed" dad" instead of "RFW".
All this has been on my mind because of the talk about The Rise and Fall of Handwriting, a book by Florey. She shows in her book a deep concern about the fall of handwriting and the failure of schools to teach children to write well, but many others argue that people in a digital age can't be expected to learn to hold a pen.
I don't buy it.
I don't want to see anyone cut off from the expressive，personal associations that a pen still promotes better than a digital keyboard does. For many a biographer, part of really getting to know their subjects is learning to read their handwriting.
What some people advocate is teaching one of the many attractive handwritings based on the handwriting of 16th-century Italy. That may sound impossibly grand—as if they want kids to learn to draw by copying classical paintings. However, they have worked in many school systems. Why was the author surprised at not recognizing his colleague's handwriting?
| A．He had worked with his colleague long enough. |
| B．His colleague's handwriting was so beautiful. |
| C．His colleague's handwriting was so terrible. |
| D．He still had a lot of work to do. |
People working together in an office used to __________.
| A．talk more about handwriting |
| B．take more notes on workdays |
| C．know better one another's handwriting |
| D．communicate better with one another |
The author's father wrote notes in pen __________.
| A．to both his family and his staff |
| B．to his family in small letters |
| C．to his family on the fridge |
| D．to his staff on the desk |
According to the author, handwritten notes __________.
| A．are harder to teach in schools |
| B．attract more attention |
| C．are used only between friends |
| D．carry more message |
We can learn from the passage that the author __________.
| A．thinks it impossible to teach handwriting |
| B．does not want to lose handwriting |
| C．puts the blame on the computer |
| D．does not agree with Florey |
Isabella Stewart was born in New York City in 1840. Her father made a great deal of money in trade. During school，her parents took her to Italy to explore the country's many cultural treasures.
One of the private art collections Isabella visited in Milan had a deep influence on her. She wrote to her friends about her dream of owning a house one day with an art collection like the one she had seen in Italy.
In Paris, Isabella became a close friend of one of her classmates, Julia Gardner, whose family was from Boston. Julia would later introduce Isabella to her brother, Jack. In 1860, Isabella Stewart married Jack Gardner.
The couple had too much art to fit inside their home. So they decided to start planning a museum. Mrs. Gardner didn't like the cold and empty spaces of many museums during her time. She wanted a warm museum filled with light. She once said that she decided years ago that the greatest need in her country was art. America was a young country developing quickly in other areas. But the country needed more chances for people to see beautiful examples of art.
After her husband's death in 1898, Isabella knew she had no time to lose in building her museum. She bought land, hired a building designer, and supervised (监督)every detail of her museum's construction.
Mrs. Gardner opened her museum on January 1,1903. The museum was then called Fenway Court. She invited her friends that night for a special musical performance. The next month, she opened the museum to the public. At first, visits were limited to twenty days out of the year. Visitors paid one dollar to enter.
Isabella Stewart Gardner died in 1924 in Boston. In her will, she left the museum a million dollars and a series of requirements about how it should be managed. One requirement is that the permanent collection cannot be changed. The text is mainly about __________.
| A．how Isabella Gardner realized her dream of being an artist |
| B．how Mr. and Mrs. Gardner added to their collection of art |
| C．how Isabella's museum was opened |
| D．Isabella Stewart Gardner and her museum |
By saying“the greatest need in her country was art” in Paragraph 4 Mrs. Gardner meant that __________.
| A．America was still a young developing country |
| B．there were no museums in America at that time |
| C．art fell far behind other fields of the American society |
| D．Americans had no chance to enjoy beautiful art |
In order to achieve her dream of owning an art museum, Mrs. Gardner __________.
| A．raised money from her friends and relatives |
| B．sold out all her land and houses |
| C．held special musical performances for money |
| D．watched over the process of building the museum |
Which statement is NOT true according to the text?
| A．Isabella and Jack were classmates when studying in Paris. |
| B．The museums at that time were not comfortable. |
| C．Isabella opened the museum about five years after Jack's death. |
| D．Great as the museum was，visitors had to wait and pay to enter. |
From the passage, we can learn that the museum __________.
| A．helps earn much money for its collections of art |
| B．is called Fenway Court by the visitors |
| C．was opened to the public on January 1st, 1903 |
| D．is still affected by Isabella Gardner in management now |
Sports account for a growing amount of income made on the sales of commercial time by television companies. Many television companies have used sports to attract viewers from particular sections of the general public，and then they have sold audiences to advertisers.
An attraction of sport programs for the major U. S. media companies is that events are often held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons—the slowest time periods of the week for general television viewing. Sport events are the most popular weekend programs, especially among male viewers who may not watch much television at other times during the week. This means the television networks are able to sell advertising time at relatively high prices during what normally would be dead time for programming.
Media corporations also use sports to attract commercial sponsors that might take their advertising dollars elsewhere if television stations did not report certain sports. The people in the advertising departments of major corporations realize that sports attract male viewers. They also realize that most business travelers are men and that many men make family decisions on the purchases of computers, cars and life insurance.
Golf and tennis are special cases for television programming. These sports attract few viewers, and the ratings (收视率)are unusually low. However, the audience for these sports is attractive to certain advertisers. It is made up of people from the highest income groups in the United States, including many lawyers and business managers. This is why television reporting of golf and tennis is sponsored by companies selling high-priced cars，business and personal computers，and holiday trips. This is also why the networks continue to carry these programs regardless of low ratings. Advertisers are willing to pay high fees to reach high-income consumers and those managers who make decisions to buy thousands of “ company cars” and computers. With such viewers，these programs don't need high ratings to stay on the air. Television sport programs on weekend afternoons __________.
| A．result in more sport events |
| B．get more viewers to play sports |
| C．make more people interested in television |
| D．bring more money to the television networks |
Why would weekend afternoons become dead time without sport programs?
| A．Because there would be few viewers. |
| B．Because the advertisers would be off work. |
| C．Because television programs would go slowly. |
| D．Because viewers would pay less for watching television. |
In many families, men make decisions on __________.
| A．holiday trips |
| B．sports viewing |
| C．television shopping |
| D．expensive purchases |
The ratings are not important for golf and tennis programs because __________.
| A．their advertisers are carmakers |
| B．their viewers are attracted by sports |
| C．their advertisers target at rich people |
| D．their viewers can afford expensive cars |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Television ratings are determined by male viewers. |
| B．Rich viewers contribute most to television companies. |
| C．Sports are gaining importance in advertising on television. |
| D．Commercial advertisers are the major sponsors of sport events. |