Does Fame Drive You Crazy?
Although being famous might sound like a dream come true, today’s stars, feeling like zoo animals, face pressures that few of us can imagine. They are at the center of much of the world’s attention. Paparazzi (狗仔队) camp outside their homes, cameras ready. Tabloids (小报) publish thrilling stories about their personal lives. Just imagine not being able to do anything without being photographed or interrupted for a signature.
According to psychologist Christina Villarreal, celebrities — famous people — worry constantly about their public appearance. Eventually, they start to lose track of who they really are, seeing themselves the way their fans imagine them, not as the people they were before everyone knew their names. “Over time,” Villarreal says, “they feel separated and alone.”
The phenomenon of tracking celebrities has been around for ages. In the 4th century B.C., painters followed Alexander the Great into battle, hoping to picture his victories for his admirers. When Charles Dickens visited America in the 19th century, his sold-out readings attracted thousands of fans, leading him to complain (抱怨) about his lack of privacy. Tabloids of the 1920s and 1930s ran articles about film-stars in much the same way that modern tabloids and websites do.
Being a public figure today, however, is a lot more difficult than it used to be. Superstars cannot move about without worrying about photographers with modern cameras. When they say something silly or do something ridiculous, there is always the Internet to spread the news in minutes and keep their “story” alive forever.
If fame is so troublesome, why aren’t all celebrities running away from it? The answer is that there are still ways to deal with it. Some stars stay calm by surrounding themselves with trusted friends and family or by escaping to remote places away from big cities. They focus not on how famous they are but on what they love to do or whatever made them famous in the first place.
Sometimes a few celebrities can get a little justice. Still, even stars who enjoy full justice often complain about how hard their lives are. They are tired of being famous already.It can be learned from the passage that stars today________________.
| A．are often misunderstood by the public |
| B．can no longer have their privacy protected |
| C．spend too much on their public appearance |
| D．care little about how they have come into fame |
What is the main idea of Paragraph3?
| A．Great heroes of the past were generally admired. |
| B．Works of popular writers often have a lot of readers. |
| C．Well-known actors are usually targets of tabloids. |
| D．The problem faced by celebrities has a long history. |
What makes it much harder to be a celebrity today?
| A．Availability of modern media. |
| B．Inadequate social recognition. |
| C．Lack of favorable chances. |
| D．Huge population of fans. |
What is author’s attitude toward modern celebrity?
| A．Sincere. | B．Skeptical. | C．Disapproving | D．Sympathetic. |
There are three separate sources of danger in supplying energy by nuclear power(原子能).
First, the radioactive material must travel from its place of production to the power station. Although the power stations themselves are strongly built, the containers used for the transport of the materials are not. Normally, only two methods of transport are in use, namely road or rail. Unfortunately, both of these may have an effect on the general public, since they are sure to pass near, or even through, heavily populated areas.
Second, there is the problem of waste. All nuclear power stations produce wastes that in most cases will remain radioactive for thousands of years. It is impossible to make these wastes nonradioactive, and so they must be stored in one of the inconvenient ways that scientists have invented. For example, they may be buried under the ground, or dropped into deserted mines, or sunk in the sea. However, these methods do not solve the problem, since an earthquake could easily break the containers.
Third, there may occur the danger of a leak(泄漏) or an explosion at the power station. As with the other two dangers, this is not very likely, so it does not provide a serious objection to the nuclear program. However, it can happen.Separately, these three types of dangers are not a great cause for worry. Taken together, though, the probability of disaster(灾难) is extremely high.
1.Which of the following is FALSE?
A.It is possible that a leak or an explosion occurs at a power station.
B.It is unusual for radioactive materials to be transported across land.
C.The containers are likely to be broken by an earthquake.
D.Nuclear wastes remain dangerous in most cases for many years.
2.The author thinks that the ways to store nuclear wastes are ________.
A.easy B.impossible C.reasonable D.ineffective
3.What do we learn from the last paragraph?
A.The power station is a safe place.
B.The dangers of nuclear energy can be prevented.
C.The general public are strongly against the nuclear program.
By itself, none of the three dangers is very likely to cause much worry.
4.What is this passage about?
A.Uses of nuclear power. B.Dangers from nuclear power.
C.Public anger at nuclear power. D.Accidents caused by nuclear power.
When a group of children politely stop a conversation with you, saying，“We have to go to work now.” you're left feeling surprised and certainly uneasy. After all, this is the 1990s and the idea of children working is just unthinkable. That is , until you are told that they are all pupils of stage schools, and that the “work” they go off to is to go on the stage in a theatre.
Stage schools often act as agencies (代理机构) to supply children for stage and television work. More worthy of the name “stage school” are those few places where children attend full time, with a training for the theatre and a general education.
A visit to such schools will leave you in no doubt that the children enjoy themselves. After all, what lively children wouldn't settle for spending only hal
f the day doing ordinary school work, and acting, singing or dancing their way through the other half of the day?
Then of course there are times for the children to make a name and make a little money in some big shows. Some stage schools give their children too much professional work at such a young age. But the law is very tight on the amount they can do. Those under 13 are limited to 40 days in the year; those over 13 do 80 days.
The schools themselves admit that not all children will be successful in the profession for which they are being trained. So what happens to those who don't make it? While all the leading schools say they place great importance on children getting good study results, the facts seem to suggest this is not always the case.
1.People would stop feeling uneasy when realising that the children they're talking to ________.
A. attend a stage school
B. are going to the theatre
C. have got some work to do
D. love singing and dancing
2.In the writer's opinion, a good stage school should ________ .
A. produce star performers
B. help pupils improve their study skills
C. train pupils in language and performing arts
D. provide a general education and stage training
3.“Professional work” as used in the text means ________ .
A. ordinary school work
B. moneymaking performances
C. stage training at school
D. acting, singing or dancing after class
4.Which of the following best describes how the writer feels about stage schools?
A. He thinks highly of what they have to offer.
B. He favours an early start in the training of performing arts.
C. He feels uncomfortable about children putting on night shows.
D. He doubts the standard of ordinary education they have reached.
If you dream of going someplace warm to escape the cold winter weather,a trip to a recently discovered planet would certainly warm you right up.The planet,named
OGLE-TR-56b,has temperatures of more than 3,000°F.“This is the hottest planet we know about,”says Dr Dimitar Sasselov,a scientist who led the discovery team.“It is hot enough to have an iron fog and to rain hot iron droplets(细沫).”
The new planet is 30 times farther away than any planet discovered by scientists
before.It is in the Milky Way(银河)but it is not in our solar(太阳的)system.The new planet moves around a star much like our sun,however scientists discovered the planet by using a new planetsearching method called transit technique.They were able to catch sight of the planet when it moved in front of its star,causing the star's light to dim(变暗).Scientists compare the method to discovering the shadow of a bee flying in front of a searchlight 200 miles away.“We believe the door has been opened wide to go and discover planets like the Earth,”says Sasselov.
1.We can infer from the passage that_________.
A.there is iron on the new planet
B.we could go to the new planet in winter
C.the star could block our view of the new planet
D.scientists are studying the weather
2.The “transit technique”can_____________.
A.help dim the light of a star
B.help scientists with a searchlight
C.help discover a bee on a planet
D.help find a planet moving before its star
3.Which is the best title for the passage?
A.New Planet searching Technique
B.New Distant Discovery
C.Space Searching
D.Dream Planet
If you ask people to name the one person who had the greatest effect on the English language,you will get answers like “Shakespeare”,“Samuel Johnson”and“Webster”,but none of these men had any effect at all compared to a man who didn't even speak English—William the Conqueror.
Before 1066,in the land we now call Great Britain lived peoples belonging to two major language groups.In the westcentral region lived the Welsh,who spoke a Celtic language,and in the north lived the Scots,whose language,though not the same as Welsh, was also Celtic.In the rest of the country lived the Saxons,actually a mixture of Anglos,Saxons,and other Germanic and Nordic peoples,who spoke what we now call AngloSaxon(or Old English),a Germanic language.If this state of affairs had lasted,English today would be close to German.
But this state of affairs did not last.In 1066 the Normans led by William defeated the Saxons and began their rule over England.For about a century,French became the official language of England while Old English became the language of peasants. As a result,English words of politics and the law come from French rather than German.In some cases,modern English even shows a distinction (区别) between upper class French and lowerclass AngloSaxon in its words. We even have different words for some foods,meat in particular,depending on whether it is still out in the fields or at home ready to be cooked,which shows the fact that the Saxon peasants were doing the farming,while the upperclass Normans were doing most of the eating.
When Americans visit Europe for the first time,they usually find Germany more“foreign” than France because the German they see on signs and advertisements seems much more different from English than French does. Few realize that the English language is actually Germanic in its beginning and that the French influences are all the result of one man's ambition.
1.The two major languages spoken in what is now called Great Britain before 1066 were_________.
A.Welsh and Scottish B.Nordic and Germanic
C.Celtic and Old EnglishD.Anglo Saxon and Germanic
2.Which of the following groups of words are,by inference,rooted in French?
A.president,lawyer,beef B.president,bread,water
C.bread,field,sheep D.folk,field,cow
3.Why does France appear less foreign than Germany to Americans on their first visit to Europe?
A.Most advertisements in France appear in English.
B.They know little of the history of the English language.
C.Many French words are similar to English ones.
D.They know French better than German.
4.What is the subject discussed in the text?
A. The history of Great Britain.
B. The similarity between English and French.
C. The rule of England by William the Conqueror.
D. The French influences on the English language.
| McGill Comedy Club Important meeting today. Discussions on putting on Blazing Saddles. Union room 302, 3-4 pm. New members (both actors and nonactors, living and dead) are welcome. |
History Students' Association Prof. Michael Cross of Dalhousie University will be speaking on “Unskilled Labours on Rivers and Canals in Upper Canada, 1820-1850: The Beginnings of Class Struggle,"at 10 am in Leacock 230. |
Design Mirror Sale All types and sizes of design mirrors priced to please. Sale today in Union room 108. |
| McGill Teaching Assistants' Association A general meeting, for all the TAs, will be held at 4 pm in Leacock 116. |
Women's Union Important. General Meeting at 6 pm, Union room 423. Speaker on “Importance of d eciding basic goals of the Women's Union".Everyone, old, new and those intere sted, please attend. |
|
| Film Society Last meeting of the term for all members.All managers are required to be present. 6:00 sharp, Union room 434. |
Canadian University Students Overseas CUSO presents “Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast" at 7 pm. Newman Centre, 3484 Peel. Find out about CUSO here and overseas. Everyone welcome. |
1.Where can you probably find this text?
A. In a school magazine. B. In a national paper.
C. In a guide book.D. In a university daily newspaper.
2.If you are interested in arts, where would you go for a visit?
A. Leacock 116. B. Union room 423.
C. Union room 108. D. Newman Centre, 3484 Peel.
3.Which of the following is the name of a play?
A. Blazing Saddles.
B. Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast.
C. Importance of deciding basic goals of the Women's Union.
D. Unskilled Labours on Rivers and Canals in Upper Canada, 1820-1850.