Rock and roll music developed in the United States in the early nineteen-fifties. It was based on the music called rhythm and blues that was performed by African American musicians.
Early rock and roll singers developed their own kinds of music. Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, the Beach Boys, and Bob Dylan were the most popular rock and roll musicians in the early 1960’s. All were American. Then, in 1964, a new rock and roll group from England invaded America: the Beatles.
Some people say the Beatles’ music shook America like an earthquake. The Beatles changed rock and roll forever. Their early songs were influenced by American rock and roll musicians, including Chuck Berry. But the Beatles looked different and sounded different from any musical group before them.
The Beatles released their first album in the United States in 1964, when all of the top five records in America were by the Beatles. In 1967, they released an album called “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” It was one of the first “concept” albums. That is, all the songs were linked by a common story or idea.
The popularity of the Beatles led the way for more rock and roll bands from England to become popular in America. The Rolling Stones was the most important of these bands. The Rolling Stones is one of the few groups from the 1960’s that is still performing and recording today. In 1965, the group recorded one of its most famous songs, “Satisfaction”.
The musical instrument most linked to rock and roll is the guitar. Experts say Jimi Hendrix was one of the most influential guitar players in rock and roll during the late 1960’s. His “Purple Haze” was liked by many people.
By the 1970’s, rock and roll music became known as rock music. It expanded into many new forms. For example, there was country rock, hard rock, acid rock, and heavy metal rock. Punk rock, jazz rock, and glitter rock.
In the middle 1970’s, experts say rock music regained some of the energy of early rock and roll. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band became popular with their album “Born to Run”. Springsteen’s music was like the lively rock and roll music of the early nineteen-sixties. Many of his songs were about social issues. He sang about the effects of unemployment and the war in Vietnam. The main topic of this passage is _______.
| A.the history of American music |
| B.the famous rock and roll groups |
| C.the new forms of rock and roll music |
| D.the development of rock and roll music |
Which of the following matches is NOT true?
| A.the Beatles — Chuck Berry |
| B.the Rolling Stones — Satisfaction |
| C.Jimi Hendrix — Purple Haze |
| D.Bruce Springsteen — Born to Run |
Whose songs were mainly about social problems like unemployment and war?
| A.Elvis Presley’s. | B.Bob Dylan’s. |
| C.Jimi Hendrix’s. | D.Springsteen’s. |
From the passage, we can know that _______.
| A.one of the Rolling Stones’ albums was called “concept” |
| B.rock and roll music had many different forms at the beginning |
| C.rock and roll music probably came from African American music |
| D.the Beatles and the Rolling Stones became popular at the same time |
How much do you want to pay for a CD by your favorite singer Jay Chou? Five Yuan for a pirated(盗版的) one, or more for a real one? Wang Ye, 14, said she would like the real one although the pirated one is cheaper.” A real one is worth keeping for years.” said the girl from No.1 middle school in Wu Han, Anhui. “Real CDs always sound better to me.”
What can we do? People want to do more to help those like Wang to get real CDs.
This week the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry asked many countries to act against piracy(盗版行为).
In many places in China, the government is checking audio and video products. Pirated ones are broken into pieces.
Piracy is in your daily life. Don’t believe it? A study by 21st Century Teens found that more than 75 percent of juniors had listened to pirated music. They say this is because pirated products are usually much cheaper than the real ones.
Why are real CDs so expensive? When a music company makes music, it needs to pay the song writers and singers. It costs a lot of money! This makes the price of the CDs go up. Piracy like stealing. People who make pirated copies of CDs take away the writers’ and singers’ work without paying them. They even don’t ask them if they can.
So next time you’d better keep your eyes brightened when you see cheap CDs. Remember you’re helping someone to do something wrong if you buy them.
How do you know what’s real.
Already made up your mind to buy real ones? Well, you should get to know what real CDs look like. A real CD has the name and trademark(商标) of the music company on the cover. The company’s address, telephone number and fax number are on it.
If you open the CD box you'll see the singer's name and the album title. Most important of all, a real CD has a number from the IFPI on it.
But people who make pirated CDs only need the real CD and disks to copy them. That’s why some CDs are only five Yuan, but some many sell for 150 Yuan.Real CDs are more expensive because ______.
| A.it takes longer to make them |
| B.more people are needed to make them |
| C.a lot of money is paid to singers and writers. |
| D.better ways are used to make them |
Buying pirated CDs is just like _______.
| A.stealing |
| B.robbing |
| C.helping someone to do something wrong |
| D.helping someone |
From the passage we get to know that some pirated company are_______.
| A.moved away | B.doing something wrong | C.broken | D.made smaller |
Kites have been around for a long time.The Chinese invented kites over 2000 years ago. A determined man named Mo Zi had an idea as he watched hawks(鹰) fly. He spent three years making a wooden hawk“kite”. It broke after one flight! Mo Zi and his Chinese friends did not give up. Soon they perfected the art of creating kites.
Kites became part of many Chinese festivals. Pictures of kites were also on vases and in paintings. But kites were meant to fly in places other than China! Marco Polo visited China in the 13th century and brought kites back to Europe with him. Europeans loved them, and the art of kiting“took off”!
Many kites have stories behind them. One Chinese novel, called Journey to the West, was written around 1400 AD. In the story, a priest(僧侣) traveled with three students. One student was a monkey. The second student was a man with pig ears. The third student was a former river monster. These characters often appear on Chinese kites. Another splendid Chinese kite is the dragon kite. A dragon kite is made of many round discs strung together. Often the dragon is bright red, with fat horns and white teeth. The dragon is the king of beasts in Chinese myths. It represents goodness, even though it looks scary. Two kinds of kites have pictures of birds on them. One kite is called the phoenix(凤凰) bird kite. The phoenix bird symbolizes peace. Another kite shows the red-headed crane. The crane represents happiness, good fortune, and a long life.
Kites come in all shapes and sizes. Flat or bowed kites have a simple shape, such as a diamond or a rectangle(长方形). Delta(三角形) kites are triangular. Rokkaku kites are six sided and often bear a striking image. Sometimes these kites“flight”each other until one kite drops from the sky. The other kite then wins the“battle”.Who introduced Chinese kites to Europe?
| A.A foreigner from Europe. |
| B.Three students in Journey to the West. |
| C.The priest in Journey to the West. |
| D.A Chinese artist. |
Which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A.The novel Journey to the West mainly talks about the art of kiting. |
| B.The characters in the novel Journey to the West are often painted on kites. |
| C.The dragon kite represents happiness, good fortune and a long life. |
| D.A phoenix bird is a main character in the novel Journey to the West. |
Which statement expresses an opinion rather than a fact?
| A.Kites became part of many Chinese festivals. |
| B.There are many different kinds of kites. |
| C.The dragon kite is the most splendid Chinese kite. |
| D.Kites were invented 2000 years ago. |
Which kind of kite is NOT used to fight“battles”in the air?
| A.Flat. | B.Delta. | C.Dragon. | D.Rokkaku. |
It is difficult for doctors to help a person with a damaged brain. Without enough blood, the brain lives for only three to five minutes. More often the doctors can’t fix the damage.Sometimes they are afraid to try something to help because it is dangerous to work on the brain. The doctors might make the person worse if he operates on the brain.
Dr.Robert White, a famous professor and doctor, thinks he knows a way to help. He thinks doctors should make the brain very cold. If it is very cold, the brain can live without blood for 30 minutes. This gives the doctor a longer time to do something for the brain.
Dr.White tried his idea on 13 monkeys. First he taught them to do different jobs, then he operated on them. He made the monkeys’ blood go through a machine. The machine cooled the blood. Then the machine sent the blood back to the monkeys’ brains. When the brain’s temperature was 10 ℃, Dr.White stopped the blood to the brain. After 30 minutes he turned the blood back on. He warmed the blood again. After their operations the monkeys were like they had been before. They were healthy and busy. Each one could still do the jobs the doctor had taught them.The biggest difficulty in operating on the damaged brain is that____ .
| A.the time is too short for doctors |
| B.the patients are often too nervous |
| C.the damage is extremely hard to fix |
| D.the blood-cooling machine might break down |
The brain operation was made possible mainly by____ .
| A.taking the blood out of the brain |
| B.trying the operation on monkeys first |
| C.having the blood go through a machine |
| D.lowering the brain’s temperature |
With Dr. White’s new idea, the operation on the damaged brain____ .
| A.can last as long as 30 minutes |
| B.can keep the brain’s blood warm |
| C.can keep the patient’s brain healthy |
| D.can help monkeys do different jobs |
What is the right order of the steps in the operation?
a.send the cooled blood back to the brain b.stop the blood to the brain
c.have the blood cooled down d.operate on the brain
| A.a,b,c,d | B.c,a,b,d | C.c,b,d,a | D.b,c,d,a |
There was a story many years ago of a school teacher--- Mrs. Thompson. She told the children on the first day that she loved them all the same. But that was a lie. There in the front row was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard. He didn’t play well with the other children and he always needed a bath. She did not like him.
Then Mrs. Thompson got to know that Teddy was actually a very good boy before the death of his mother. Mrs. Thompson was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when, like all her other students, Teddy brought her a Christmas present too. It was his mother’s perfume(香水)。
Teddy said, “Mrs. Thompson, today you smell just like my Mom used to.” After the children left she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she stopped teaching reading, writing and math. Instead, she began to teach children.
Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. The boy’s mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he improved. By the end of the sixth grade, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class.
Six years went by before she got a note from Teddy. He wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life. He went to college. Mrs. Thompson got two more letters from him with the last one signed: Theodore F. Stoddard, M. D.(医学博士).
The story doesn’t end there. On his wedding day, Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson’s ear, “Thank you, Mrs. Thompson, for believing in me. You made me feel important and showed me that I could make a difference.”
Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back, “Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn’t know how to teach until I met you.”What did Mrs. Thompson do on the first day of school?
| A.She made Teddy feel ashamed. |
| B.She asked the children to play with Teddy. |
| C.She changed Teddy's seat to the front row. |
| D.She told the class something untrue about herself. |
What did Mrs. Thompson find out about Teddy?
| A.He often told lies. |
| B.He was good at math. |
| C.He needed motherly care. |
| D.He enjoyed playing with others. |
In what way did Mrs. Thompson change?
| A.She taught fewer school subjects. |
| B.She became stricter with her students. |
| C.She no longer liked her job as a teacher. |
| D.She cared more about educating students. |
Why did Teddy thank Mrs. Thompson at his wedding?
| A.She had kept in touch with him. |
| B.She had given him encouragement. |
| C.She had sent him Christmas presents. |
| D.She had taught him how to judge people. |
Angry survivors demanded answers on Sunday after a terrible stampede(踩踏)at “Love Parade 2010”, a music festival in Germany, killed 19 people and left hundreds hurt.
The German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her shock over Saturday’s tragedy in the western city of Duisburg. “This was a very sad day,” Merkel said. “We must do everything we can to ensure that something like this never happens again.”
Witnesses said that people pushed into the narrow tunnel, the only entrance to the Love Parade festival, from both sides until it was dangerously overcrowded. The panic began as festival-goers began to lose consciousness as they were crushed against the walls and each other. The dead included eight foreigners, from Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, China, Bosnia and Spain. More than 340 people were injured.
After the panic, a lot of emergency vehicles, including helicopters, could be seen parked on the highway leading to helicopters, could be seen parked on the highway leading to the festival site, carrying away the injured people. The festival itself, however, went on. Police were afraid that ending the music altogether could cause further unrest among the crowd.
“The event was a real mess,” Patrick Guenter, a 22-year-old baker, said. “Although the festival was full, they kept letting people in.” he added. “It seems the organizers didn’t plan the route. The road was very narrow, and no one knew what was going on.” Said Taggart Bowen-Gaddy,20,an American from Philadelphia.
Officials said 4,000 police officers and 1,000 security guards provided security for the event, which attracted up to 1.4 million people. The authorities had only given organizers permission for 250,000 people to attend.
“I warned one year ago that Duisburg was not a suitable place for the Love Parade. The city is too small and narrow for such events. It is a pity that…” German police union chief Rainer Wendt told the Bild.
The chief organizer, Rainer Schaller, said the popular event would never be held again, “out of respect for the victims and their families”.
First held in Berlin in 1989 just months before the fall of the Wall, the Love Parade is one of the biggest music festivals in Europe. It left Berlin from 2007 onwards after disagreements with the city authorities over security and has been held in several other German cities in recent years.How did the German Chancellor Angela Merkel feel about the tragedy?
| A.Very disappointed. | B.Angry and surprised. |
| C.Very puzzled. | D.Touched. |
According to Patrick Gunter and Taggart Bowen-Gaddy, ________.
| A.the event was well-organized |
| B.the performance was wonderful |
| C.Duisburg was suitable for the Love Parade |
| D.the organization was very bad |
We can infer that __________.
| A.Rainer Wendt’s warning went unnoticed |
| B.Rainer Wendt was a chief organizer of Love Parade 2010 |
| C.Rainer Wendt is a music lover |
| D.Duisburg is a famous holiday destination |
We can learn from the passage that ________.
| A.the Love Parade has been canceled forever |
| B.the Love Parade is a very popular sport event |
| C.the festival was ended shortly after the panic |
| D.the Love Parade has a history of over 30 years |