The French word renaissance means rebirth. It was first used in 1855 by the historian Jules Michelet in his History of France, and then adopted by historians of culture, by art historians, and eventually by music historians, all of whom applied it to European culture during the 150 years spanning 1450-1600. The concept of rebirth was appropriate to this period of European history because of the renewed interest in ancient Greek and Roman culture that began in Italy and then spread throughout Europe. Scholars and artists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries wanted to restore the learning and ideals of the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome. To these scholars this meant a return to human—as opposed to spiritual-values. Fulfillment in life—as opposed to concern about an afterlife—became a desirable goal, and expressing the entire range of human emotions and enjoying the pleasures of the senses were no longer frowned on (不赞同). Artists and writers now turned to secular (非宗教的) as well as religious subject matter and sought to make their works understandable and appealing.
These changes in outlook deeply affected the musical culture of the Renaissance period—how people thought about music as well as the way music was composed, experienced, discussed, and disseminated. They could see the architectural monuments, sculptures, plays, and poems that were being rediscovered, but they could not actually hear ancient music—although they could read the writings of classical philosophers, poets, essayists, and music theorists that were becoming available in translation. They learned about the power of ancient music to move the listener and wondered why modern music did not have the same effect. For example, the influential religious leader Bernardino Cirillo expressed disappointment with the learned music of his time. He urged musicians to follow the example of the sculptors, painters, architects, and scholars who had rediscovered ancient art and literature. The musical Renaissance in Europe was more a general cultural movement and state of mind than a specific set of musical techniques. Furthermore, music changed so rapidly during this century and a half—though at different rates in different countries—that we cannot define a single Renaissance style.What is the passage mainly about?
| A．The musical compositions that best illustrate the developments during the European Renaissance. |
| B．The musical techniques that were in use during the European Renaissance. |
| C．The European Renaissance as a cultural development that included changes in musical style. |
| D．The ancient Greek and Roman musical practices used during the European Renaissance. |
According to the passage, Renaissance artists and writers had all of the following intentions EXCEPT _______.
| A．to use religious themes |
| B．to express only the pleasant parts of human experience |
| C．to produce art that people would find attractive |
| D．to create works that were easily understood |
The word "disseminated" in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to _______.
| A．played | B．documented | C．spread | D．ignored |
What can be inferred about the music of ancient Greece and Rome?
| A．It expressed different ideals than classical sculpture, painting and poetry. |
| B．It was played on instruments that are familiar to modern audiences. |
| C．It had the same effect on Renaissance audiences as it had when originally performed. |
| D．Its effect on listeners was described in a number of classical texts. |
When someone says, "Well, I guess I’ll have to go to face the music", it does not mean he is planning to go to a concert. It is something far less pleasant, like being called in by your boss to explain why you did this or that, and why you did not do this or that. Sour（剌耳的; 拙劣的）music, indeed, but it has to be faced.
The phrase “to face the music” is familiar to every American, young and old. It is at least 100 years old. Where did the expression come from?
The first information comes from the American writer James Fennimore Cooper. He said in 1851 that the expression was first used by actors while waiting in the wings to go on stage. After they got their cue（提示，暗示） to go on, they often said, "It’s time to go to face the music." And that is exactly what they did--- face the orchestra (管弦乐队) which was just below the stage.
An actor might be frightened or nervous as he moved on to the stage in front of the audience that might be friendly or perhaps unfriendly especially if he forgot his lines. But he had to go out. So, “to face the music" came to mean having to go through something, no matter how unpleasant the experience might be, because you knew you had no choice.
The other explanation comes from the army. Men had to face inspection(视察)by their leader. The soldiers worried about how well they looked. Was their equipment clean--shiny enough to pass inspection? Still, the men had to go out, and face the music of the band, as well as the inspection. What else could they do? According to the passage, the word “music" means________.
| A．your boss’s criticism(批评) | B．your leader’s inspection |
| C．something unpleasant to be experienced | D．sour pop music |
The phrase ‘to face the music" was first used by _______.
| A．all the Americans | B．the American writer James Fennimore cooper |
| C．some American actors | D．the American orchestra |
An actor might feel frightened or nervous when going on stage. One of the reasons is that ______.
| A．his performance was not good at all |
| B．he might not remember what he should say on stage |
| C．he had to face the unfriendly audience |
| D．most of the audience might be his friends |
to face the music" is also used to mean that soldiers were not willing _______.
| A．to be examined about their equipment | B．to be found weak |
| C．to show themselves up in public | D．to be inspected by their leader |
The passage is mainly about_______.
| A．the meaning of the phrase ‘to face the music" | B．how to deal with something unpleasant |
| C．how to learn English phrase | D．how to go through difficulty |
Pet owners are being encouraged to take their animals to work，a move scientists say can be good for productivity，workplace morale（士气），and the well-being (安宁, 幸福)of animals.
A study found that 25% of Australian women would like to keep an office pet. Sue Chaseling of Pet care Information Service said the practice of keeping office pets was good both for the people and the pets.“On the pets’ side，they are not left on their own and won’t feel lonely and unhappy，”she said. A study of major US companies showed that 73% found office pets beneficial（有益的），while 27% experienced a drop in absenteeism（缺勤）.
Xarni Riggs has two cats walking around her Global Hair Salon in Paddington.“My customers love them. They are their favorites，”she said.“They are not troublesome. They know when to go and have a sleep in the sun.”
Little black BJ has spent nearly all his two years “working” at Punch Gallery in Balmain. Owner Iain Powell said he had had cats at the gallery for 15 years.“BJ often lies in the shop window and people walking past tap on the glass，”he said.
Ms Chaseling said cats were popular in service industries because they enabled a point of conversation. But she said owners had to make sure both their co－workers and the cats were comfortable.The percentage of American companies that are in favor of keeping office pets is ________.
| A．73% | B．27% | C．25% | D．15% |
We know from the text that “BJ” ________.
| A．works in the Global Hair Salon | B．often greets the passers－by |
| C．likes to sleep in the sun | D．is a two－year－old cat |
The best title for this text would be ________.
| A．Pets Help Attract Customers | B．Your Favorite Office Pets |
| C．Pets Join the Workforce | D．Busy Life for Pets |
We have two daughters：Kristen is seven years old and Kelly is four. Last Sunday evening，we invited some people home for dinner. I dressed them nicely for the party，and told them that their job was to join Mommy in answering the door when the bell rang. Mommy would introduce them to the guests，and then they would take the guests’coats upstairs and put them on the bed in the second bedroom.
The guests arrived. I introduced my two daughters to each of them. The adults were nice and kind and said how lucky we were to have such good kids.
Each of the guests made a particular fuss over Kelly，the younger one，admiring her dress，her hair and her smile. They said she was a remarkable girl to be carrying coats upstairs at her age.
I thought to myself that we adults usually make a big “to do” over the younger one because she’s the one who seems more easily hurt. We do it with the best of intentions.
But we seldom think of how it might affect the other child. I was a little worried that Kristen would feel she was being outshined. I was about to serve dinner when I realized that she had been missing for twenty minutes. I ran upstairs and found her in the bedroom，crying. I said，“What are you doing，my dear?”
She turned to me with a sad expression and said，“Mommy，why don’t people like me the way they like my sister? Is it because I’m not pretty? Is that why they don’t say nice things about me as much?”
I tried to explain to her，kissing and hugging her to make her feel better.
Now whenever I visit a friend’s home，I make it a point to speak to the elder child first.The underlined expression“make a big‘to do’over”（Paragraph 4） means________.
| A．show much concern about | B．have a special effect on |
| C．list jobs to be done for | D．do good things for |
The guests praised Kelly for carrying coats upstairs because of her________.
| A．beautiful hair | B．pretty clothes |
| C．lovely smile | D．young age |
Kristen felt sad and cried because________.
| A．the guest gave her more coats to carry |
| B．she didn’t look as pretty as Kelly |
| C．the guests praised her sister more than her |
| D．her mother didn’t introduce her to the guests |
We can conclude from the passage that________.
| A．parents should pay more attention to the elder children |
| B．the younger children are usually more easily hurt |
| C．people usually like the younger children more |
| D．adults should treat children equally |
Greece today is a small country in southeastern Europe. The population is about nine million, and the capital city is Athens.
High mountains with rich, fertile land between them cover northern Greece. The hilly southern part is a peninsula called the Peloponnesus. Hundreds of islands surround the mainland. The largest island is Crete.
No part of the nation is far from water. The Ionian Sea and the Aegean Sea carved deep bays and gulfs into the long coastline. Greece has been a seafaring nation for centuries, and Greece is very well known for its shipping industry.
More than three thousand years ago, the Greek people developed a very sophisticated society. They have a great civilization, one of the greatest that the Western would have ever seen. Greek architecture, thinking and art influenced other languages, including English. For example, the English words alphabet, democracy, and arithmetic come from Greek.
Today Greece is one of the most popular nations with the tourists who visit Europe. Thousands of people are attracted to the country because of its beautiful scenery, magnificent ancient buildings, and its excellent summer weather.A good title for this reading passage is _______
| A．The Earliest Civilizations | B．The Influence of the Sea on Greece. |
| C．The Small but Important Nation of Greece | D．The Ionian Sea |
The underlined word “carved” means _______
| A．cut, made | B．said, told | C．lost, wasted | D．attracted |
We may conclude that most of the food is grown in the _______.
| A．north | B．east | C．south | D．west |
Hills can be found _______.
| A．in the southern part | B．on the Peloponnesus |
| C．both A and B | D．in the Aegean Sea |
The Greeks had a great civilization around _______
A. 5000B.C. B. 3000B.C. C.1000B.C. D.2000B.C.
Though England was on the whole prosperous and hopeful, though by comparison with her neighbors she enjoyed internal peace, she could not evade the fact that the world of which she formed a part was torn by hatred and strife as fierce as any in human history. Men were still for from recognizing that two religions could exist side by side in the same society; they believed that the toleration of another religion different from their own. And hence necessarily false, must inevitably destroy such a society and bring the souls of all its members into danger of hell. So the struggle went on with increasing fury within each nation to impose a single creed upon every subject, and within the general society of Christendom to impose it upon every nation. In England the Reformers, or Protestants, aided by the power of the Crown, had at this stage triumphed, but over Europe as a whole Rome was beginning to recover some of the ground it had lost after Martin Luther’s revolt in the earlier part of the century. It did this in two ways, by the activities of its missionaries, as in parts of Germany, or by the military might of the Catholic Powers, as in the Low Countries, where the Dutch provinces were sometimes near their last extremity under the pressure of Spanish arms. Against England, the most important of all the Protestant nations to reconquer, military might was not yet possible because the Catholic Powers were too occupied and divided: and so, in the 1570’s Rome bent her efforts, as she had done a thousand years before in the days of Saint Augustine, to win England back by means of her missionaries.
These were young Englishmen who had either never given up the old faith, or having done so, had returned to it and felt called to become priests. There being, of course, no Catholic seminaries left in England, they went abroad, at first quite easily, later with difficulty and danger, to study in the English colleges at Douai or Rome: the former established for the training of ordinary or secular clergy, the other for the member of the Society of Jesus, commonly known as Jesuits, a new Order established by St, Ignatius Loyola same thirty years before. The seculars came first; they achieved a success which even the most eager could hardly have expected. Cool-minded and well-informed men, like Cecil, had long surmised that the conversion of the English people to Protestantism was for from complete; many—Cecil thought even the majority—had conformed out of fear, self-interest or—possibly the commonest reason of all—sheer bewilderment at the rapid changes in doctrine and forms of worship imposed on them in so short a time. Thus it happened that the missionaries found a welcome, not only with the families who had secretly offered them hospitality if they came, but with many others whom their first hosts invited to meet them or passed them on to. They would land at the ports in disguise, as merchants, courtiers or what not, professing some plausible business in the country, and make by devious may for their first house of refuge. There they would administer the Sacraments and preach to the house holds and to such of the neighbors as their hosts trusted and presently go on to some other locality to which they were directed or from which they received a call. The main idea of this passage is
[A]. The continuity of the religious struggle in Britain in new ways.
[B]. The conversion of religion in Britain.
[C]. The victory of the New religion in Britain.
[D]. England became prosperous. What was Martin Luther’s religions?
[A]. Buddhism. [B]. Protestantism. [C]. Catholicism. [D]. Orthodox. Through what way did the Rome recover some of the lost land?
[A]. Civil and military ways. [B]. Propaganda and attack.
[C]. Persuasion and criticism. [D]. Religious and military ways.What did the second paragraph mainly describe?
[A]. The activities of missionaries in Britain.
[B]. The conversion of English people to Protestantism was far from complete.
[C]. The young in Britain began to convert to Catholicism
[D]. Most families offered hospitality to missionaries.