Children's lives have changed greatly over the last 50 years．But do they have a happier childhood than you or I did?
It's difficult to look back on one's own childhood without some element of nostalgia（怀旧的）．I have four brothers and sisters, and my memories are all about being with them．Playing board games on the living room floor, or spending days in the street with the other neighborhood children, racing up and down on our bikes, or exploring the nearby woods．My parents scarcely appear in these memories, except as providers either of meals or of severe blame after some particularly risky adventure．
These days, in the UK at least, the nature of childhood has changed dramatically．Firstly, families are smaller, and there are far more only children．It is common for both parents to work outside the home and there is the feeling that there just isn't time to bring up a large family, or that no one could possibly afford to have more than one child．As a result, today's boys and girls spend much of their time alone．Another major change is that youngsters today tend to spend a huge amount of their free time at home, inside．More than anything this is due to the fact that parents worry far more than they used to about real or imagined dangers, so they wouldn't dream of letting their children play outside by themselves．
Finally, the kind of toys children have and the way they play is totally different．Computer and video games have replaced the board games and more interesting activities of my childhood．The irony（令人啼笑皆非的事情） is that so many ways of playing games are called "interactive”．The fact that you can play electronic games on your own further increases the sense of loneliness felt by many young people today．
Do these changes mean that children today have a less relaxing childhood than I had? I personally believe that they do, but perhaps every generation feels exactly the same．What is the purpose of the direct question given in the first paragraph?
| A．To show who the passage is written for |
| B．To gather people's opinions on childhood |
| C．To compare the childhood lives of two generations |
| D．To get people's attention and lead in the topic |
Which is NOT a reason for the changes?
| A．Families are smaller today |
| B．Toys can be played by children alone at home |
| C．It's too dangerous to play outside |
| D．Parents worried too much about their children |
What has the writer focused on in the fourth paragraph?
| A．Some games that young people play today aren't really good |
| B．Computer and video games have replaced the board games |
| C．Young people today shouldn't play electronic games |
| D．Board games are much more interesting than computer games |
The writer's attitude towards the childhood changing is _____．
| A．approving | B．objective | C．unconcerned | D．optimistic |
I left university with a good degree in English Literature, but no sense of what I wanted to do. Over the next six years, I was treading water, just trying to earn an income. I tried journalism, but I didn’t think I was any good, then finance, which I hated. Finally, I got a job as a rights assistant at a famous publisher. I loved working with books, although the job that I did was dull.
I had enough savings to take a year off work, and I decided to try to satisfy a deep-down wish to write a novel. Attending a Novel Writing MA course gave me the structure I needed to write my first 55,000 words.
It takes confidence to make a new start — there’s a dark period in-between where you’re neither one thing nor the other. You’re out for dinner and people ask what you do, and you’re too ashamed to say, “Well, I’m writing a novel, but I’m not quite sure if I’m going to get there.” My confidence dived. Believing my novel could not be published, I put it aside.
Then I met an agent（代理商）who said I should send my novel out to agents. So, I did and, to my surprise, got some wonderful feedback. I felt a little hope that I might actually become a published writer and, after signing with an agent, I finished the second half of the novel.
The next problem was finding a publisher. After two-and-a-half years of no income, just waiting and wondering, a publisher offered me a book deal — that publisher turned out to be the one I once worked for.
It feels like an unbelievable stroke of luck — of fate, really. When you set out to do something different, there’s no end in sight, so to find myself in a position where I now have my own name on a contract（合同）of the publisher — to be a published writer — is unbelievably rewarding（有回报的）.What does the underlined part in Paragraph 1 mean?
| A．I was waiting for good fortune. |
| B．I was trying to find an admirable job. |
| C．I was being aimless about a suitable job. |
| D．I was doing several jobs for more pay at a time. |
The author decided to write a novel ______ .
| A．to finish the writing course |
| B．to realize her own dream |
| C．to satisfy readers’ wish |
| D．to earn more money |
How did the writer feel halfway with the novel?
| A．Disturbed. | B．Ashamed. | C．Confident. | D．Uncertain. |
What does the author mainly want to tell readers in the last paragraph?
| A．It pays to stick to one’s goal. |
| B．Hard work can lead to success. |
| C．She feels like being unexpectedly lucky. |
| D．There is no end in sight when starting to do something. |
About twenty of us had been fortunate enough to receive invitations to a film-studio(影棚)to take part in a crowd-scene. Although our "act" would last only for a short time, we could see quite a number of interesting things.
We all stood at the far end of the studio as workmen prepared the scene, setting up trees at the edge of a winding path. Very soon, bright lights were turned on and the big movie-camera was
wheeled into position. The director shouted something to the camera operator and then went to speak to the two famous actors nearby. Since it was hot in the studio, it came as a surprise to us to see one of the actors put on a heavy overcoat and start walking along the path. A big fan began blowing tiny white feathers down on him, and soon the trees were covered in "snow". Two more fans were turned on, and a "strong wind" blew through the trees. The picture looked so real that it made us feel cold.
The next scene was a complete contrast (对比). The way it was filmed was quite unusual. Pictures in front taken on an island in the Pacific were shown on a glass screen (幕). An actor and actress stood of the scene so that they looked as if they were at the water’s edge on an island. By a simple trick like this, palm trees, sandy beaches, and blue, clear skies had been brought into the studio!
Since it was our turn next, we were left wondering what scene would be prepared for us. For a full three minutes in our lives we would be experiencing the excitement of being film "stars"!Who is the author?
| A．A cameraman. |
| B．A film director. |
| C．A crowd-scene actor. |
| D．A workman for scene setting. |
What made the author feel cold?
| A．The heavy snowfall. |
| B．The man-made scene. |
| C．The low temperature. |
| D．The film being shown. |
What would happen in the "three minutes" mentioned in the last paragraph?
| A．A new scene would be filmed. |
| B．More stars would act in the film. |
| C．The author would leave the studio. |
| D．The next scene would be prepared. |
A mouse looked through a crack(缝隙) in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package; what food might it contain? He was astonished to discover that it was a mouse trap!
Running to the farmyard, the mouse shouted, warning everyone, “There is a mouse trap in the house, there is a mouse trap in the house.”
The chicken, with her head high, glared at the mouse and said, “Shut up. Little Ugly. This is a great concern to you, but it has nothing to do with me; I can’t be troubled by it.
The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mouse trap in the house.” “I am so sorry, Mr. Mouse,” said the pig sympathetically, “but there is nothing I can do about it but pray; you are always in my prayers.”
The mouse turned to the cow, who relied, “ A mouse trap, am I in great danger, huh?”
Now the mouse had to face the farmer’s mouse trap alone.
The very night a sound was heard through the house, like that of a mouse trap catching its prey. The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a big poisonous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital. She returned home with a fever. It is said that drinking fresh chicken soup will help treat fever, so the farmer took his sharp knife to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient. His wife’s sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer killed the pig. The farmer’s wife did not get well, in fact, she died, and so many people came for her funeral. The farmer had the cow killed to provide for all of them to eat.
So next time when someone is facing a problem, don’t say that it has nothing to do with you. Remember: when the least of us is threatened, we all might be at risk.We could see from the passage that the mouse was _____.
| A．good at cheating others | B．honest |
| C．kind and warm-hearted | D．foolish |
Which of the following is False according to the passage?
| A．The others help the farmer kill the cow. |
| B．The mouse trap was very practical |
| C．The pig is more friendly than the other animals. |
| D．The farmer’s family was very poor and they had no friends |
What can we learn from the story?
| A．Better safe than sorry |
| B．Traps can always cause chain reactions |
| C．To keep the balance of nature is the duty of us all |
| D．What you think impossible to happen to you might come at you unexpectedly |
Frankenstein is one of the world’s most famous horror stories. It’s about a doctor who creates a new man from the body parts of dead people and brings it to life. But the experiment goes wrong and the monster(怪兽) kills the doctor and many others. The story has been read by millions since it was first published and in the last hundred years it has been made into dozens of movies. Many people are surprised to learn its writer was a 19-year-old woman, called Mary Shelley.
Mary was born into a rich London family in August 1797. She was educated by her parents and when she was 13 she decided to become a writer. In 1812, she met the famous writer Percy Shelley and they soon got married. Sadly for Mary, their first child died soon after birth in Italy. In her diary, Mary wrote about a dream：“I dreamt that my little baby came to life again---that it had only been cold and that we rubbed it before the fire and it lived.”
In 1816, Percy Shelley and 19-year-old Mary visited the poet Lord Byron at his home in Switzerland. Because of the bad weather they stayed indoors reading horror stories. On night, Byron asked everyone to write their own story. Mary thought of her dream and wrote the story of Frankenstein
Frankenstein was published when Mary was 21, and became a huge success. Many people didn’t think a 19-year-old woman could write so well and believed her husband was the real writer.
Although famous, Shelley’s life was full of sadness. Only one of her four children lived and in 1822 her husband died in a swimming accident. Mary was broken-hearted and decided not to marry again. She devoted herself to her child and continued to write until her death in 1851.Where was Mary Shelley when she wrote the story Frankenstein ?
| A．In England | B．In Italy | C．In Switzerland | D．In France |
In which order do the following take place?
a. Bad weather made everyone stay indoors reading horror stories.
b. The story Frankenstein was first published.
c. Mary wrote about a dream in her diary.
d. Mary met the famous writer Percy Shelley.
e. Movies based on the story of Frankenstein were made.
| A．a,c,b,e,d | B．d,c,a,b,e | C．c,a,b,d,e | D．b,a,d,c,e |
How old was Mary Shelley when she died?
| A．43 | B．48 | C．51 | D．54 |
You probably know you should say “please” and “thank you” at restaurants. You probably know the rules of a library. You know you should respect and be nice to your classmates. But do you have music manners?
Keep It Down! You have to notice the volume of your music. You should not play your music so loud that everyone around you can hear it. Some people might even get angry. Usually, when you play the music loud on an MP3 player, other people can’t hear the words of the song. They just hear a loud sound. Not one wants to listen to this. Very loud music can also be bad for your ears, so even if you are alone when listening to your MP3 player, you shouldn’t have it turned up too high.
Take Them Off! You need to know when to turn your MP3 player off and put it away. Libraries and schools don’t allow MP3 players. There are other places, like museums, that don’t have rules, but it would be rude to have your MP3 player on. Sometimes, it just doesn’t make sense to listen your MP3 player at event. Why would you listen to music at a play, a movie or a sporting event? You would miss what is going on and others would wonder why you even came.
Take One Out! Once in a while it’s okay just to take out one earphone and not other. Imagine you are listening on your MP3 player when someone asks you the way. It would not be rude to take out one earphone, tell him the way, and put back the earphone and continue listening. You can also do this when you order food at a fast-food restaurant or when you answer the telephone.
It’s Your Choice! There are times when you need to decide what is best. For example, some people can listen to music on their MP3 players when reading books, while others think it is disturbing. In cases like this, you need to do what seems right for you.The underlined word “volume” in Paragraph Two probably means “_____”.
| A．the type of music |
| B．the amount of a sound |
| C．the beat of a song |
| D．the colour of an MP3 player |
We should turn down the music when we are alone because loud music _____ .
| A．is not enjoyable | B．makes us tired |
| C．is bad for MP3 players | D．hurts our ears |
It’s all right to use our MP3 player in __________.
| A．schools | B．libraries | C．restaurants | D．museums |
What can be the best title of this passage?
| A．Music Lovers | B．Music Manners | C．MP3 Players | D．MP3 Earphones |