Ireland has had a very difficult history. The problems started in the 16th century when English ruler tried to conquer Ireland. For hundreds of years, the Irish people fought against the English, Finally, in 1921, the British government was forced to give independence to the south of Ireland. The result is that today there are two "Irelands". Northern Ireland, in the north, is part of the United Kingdom. The Republic of Ireland, in the south, is an independent country.
In the 1840s the main crop, potatoes, was affected by disease and about 750,000 people died of hunger. This, and a shortage (短缺) of work, forced many people to leave Ireland and live in the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada. As a result of these problems, the population fell from 8.2 million in 1841 to 6.6 million in 1851.
For many years, the majority of Irish people earned their living as farmers. Today, many people will work on the land but more and more people are moving to the cities to work in factories and offices. Life in the cities is very different from life in the countryside, where things move at a quieter and slower pace.
The Irish are famous for being warm-hearted and friendly. Oscar Wilde, a famous Irish writer, once said that the Irish were "the greatest talkers since the Creeks". Since independence, Ireland has revived (复兴) its own culture of music, language, literature and singing. Different areas have different styles of old Irish songs which are sung without instruments. Other kinds of Irish music use many different instruments such as the violin, whistles, etc. What does the author tell us in paragraph 1?
| A．How the Irish fought against the English. |
| B．How Ireland gained independence. |
| C．How English rulers tried to conquer Ireland. |
| D．How two “Irelands” came into being. |
We learn from the text that in Ireland________.
| A．food shortages in the 1840s led to a decline in population |
| B．people are moving to the cities for lack of work in the countryside |
| C．it is harder to make a living as a farmer than as a factory worker |
| D．different kinds of old Irish songs are all sung with instruments |
The last paragraph is mainly about________.
| A．the Irish character |
| B．Irish culture |
| C．Irish musical instruments |
| D．a famous Irish writer |
What can be the best title for the text?
| A．Life in Ireland | B．A very difficult history |
| C．Ireland, past and present | D．the independence of Ireland |
Susan Sontag（1933-2004）was one of the most outstanding figures in the world of literature·For more than 40 years she made it morally necessary to know everything，to read every book worth reading，and to see every movie worth seeing. When she was still in her early 30s，she published essays in important magazines like Partisan Review.She appeared as the symbol of American culture life，trying hard to follow every new development in literature，film and art. With great effort and serious judgment，Sontag walked at the latest edges of world culture.
Seriousness was one of Sontag’s lifelong mottos,but at a time when the barriers between the well-educated and the poor-educated were obvious, she argued for a true openness to the pleasure of pop culture. In Notes on Camp, the 1964 essay that first made her name, she explained what was then a little-known set of difficult understandings, through which she could not have been more famous. “Notes on Camp”, she wrote, represents “ a victory of ‘form’ over ‘content’, ‘beauty’ over ‘morals’”.
By belief she was a sensualist（感觉论者）, but by nature she was a moralist, In Illness as Metaphor —published in 1978, after she suffered cancer—she argued against the idea that cancer was somehow a special problem of repressed personalities, a concept that effectively blamed the victim for the disease. In fact, re-examining old positions was her lifelong habit.
In America, her story of a19thcentury Polish actress who set up a perfect society in California, won the National Book Award in 2000.But it was as a all-purpose cultural view that she made her lasting fame. “Sometimes,” she once said, “I feel that, in the end, all I am really defending …is the idea of seriousness, of true seriousness.” And in the end, she made us take it seriously too.The underlined sentence in paragraph 1 means Sontag_________.
| A．was a symbol of American cultural life |
| B．developed world literature, film and art |
| C．published many essays about world culture |
| D．kept pace with the newest development of world culture |
Sontag first won her name through ___________.
| A．her story of a Polish actress |
| B．her book Illness as Metaphor |
| C．her explanation of a set of difficult understandings |
| D．publishing essays in magazines like partisan Review |
Which of the following statements is TRUE？
| A．Sontag looked down upon the pop culture· |
| B．Sontag was a sensualist as well as a moralist. |
| C．Sontag blamed the victim of cancer for the disease. |
| D．Sontag thought content was more important than form. |
What would be the best title of the text？
| A．Susan Sontag，a Leading Figure in Culture |
| B．Susan Sontag，a Productive and Tireless Writer |
| C．Susan Sontag，an Examiner of the Old Concepts |
| D．Susan Sontag，a Writer Defending Seriousness |
There is a technology that may someday be widely used as way to identify people.An American doctor can plant a computer chip under his skin which can send personal information to a scanner.The chip gives off information which will be scanned by a hand-held reader.
The chip is similar to that planted in more than 1 million dogs,cats and other pets in recent years to track and identify them. The doctor decided to test the chip himself after the World Trade Center disaster.He though the dead in the disaster could have been identified if their names and other important information had been chipped .
Officials of the company said they hope to sell the chips to patients with man-made arms or legs. The idea is that the chip will provide immediate and correct medical information when it is needed.
The information can contain name,telephone number and other information.Or it can send out a message that ,when connected to a computer can call up records.The scanner can read it through clothes from over a meter away .The new product also could be used to control prisoners .Workplaces of great importance may want to use the chips for employees,too.Some parents may consider planting chips in young children or elderly relatives who may be unable to say their names,addresses or telephone numbers.
Some medical and technology specialists said the product raises new questions about the relationship between humans and computer technology and could cause problems if it is used against someone's wishes,or if your personal information is read by those who should not see it.In the text,computer chips have already been used to
| A．catch escaped prisoners | B．find missing children |
| C．treat sick people | D．follow lost animals |
The doctor decided to test the chips himself because
| A．nobody would dare to try it |
| B．the chip could be used for identification purposes |
| C．the chip had been proved successful on animals |
| D．his patients expected him to experience it first |
We can learn from the passage that
| A．the chip has been proven to be very successful. |
| B．The use of this chip will be favored by everybody |
| C．doctors will make a lot of money by using chips. |
| D．There will be a great market for chip planting in humans. |
What problem may be caused by planting chips in the human bodies?
| A．Personal information may be used improperly |
| B．Chips can be the cause of diseases |
| C．Computers could send out wrong information |
| D．Sick people will be controlled by computers. |
Though problems are a part of our lives, it certainly doesn’t mean that we let them rule our lives forever. One day or the other, you’ll have to stand up and say, “Problem, I don’t want you in my life.”
Of course, we’ve been fighting troubles ever since we were born. Problems with friends, parents, girl friends, husbands, and children---- the list goes on. Apart from these, the inner conflicts within ourselves work, too. These keep adding to our problems. Problems come in different shapes and colors and feelings.
But good news is that problems can be dealt with. Now read on to know how to solve your problems.
Talk, it really helps. What most of us think is that our problem can be understood only by us and that no talking is going to help. But the truth is that when you talk about it, you are setting free the negative energy that’s been gathering within you. Talking helps you move on and let go.
Write your problems. Having a personal diary can also be of huge help if you don’t want a real person to talk with. When you write down your problems, you are setting free all your tension from your system. You can try throwing away the paper in which you wrote your problems. By doing this, imagine yourself throwing away the problems from your life.
Don’t lose faith and hope. No matter what you lose in life, don’t lose faith and hope. Even if you lose all your money, family…, you should still have faith. With faith and hope, you can rebuild everything you lose.
Your problems aren’t the worst. No matter what problem you get in life, there is another one million people whose problems are huger than yours. Tell yourself: when they can deal with them, why can’t I? Your problems might just seem big and worse, but in reality they can be removed.
Go about and solve your problems because every problem, however big or small, always has a way out.According to the passage, the first paragraph is trying to ______.
| A．upset the readers. | B．encourage the readers. |
| C．laugh at the readers. | D．please the readers. |
What is the main idea of Paragraph 2?
| A．There are different kinds of problems. |
| B．Problems are too difficult to deal with. |
| C．We have to fight problems in the whole life. |
| D．We have more and more problems. |
According to the passage, when you talk your problems to others,________.
| A．you will be completely understood by others. |
| B．you can find a way out from others. |
| C．you will create another problem |
| D．you can live on easily. |
Throwing away the paper with your problems means________.
| A．you have solved your problems. |
| B．you don’t need anyone to talk with. |
| C．you are throwing away your problems |
| D．you’ll have no problems any longer. |
Alibaba started taking the lead in China by connecting big Chinese manufacturers(制造商) with big buyers across the world. Its business-to-business site, Alibaba.com allowed business to buy almost everything. Alibaba’s advantage wasn’t hard to judge: size. Alibaba is just big, even by Chinese standards. Its market attracts 231 million active buyers, 8 million sellers, 11.3 billion orders a year — and Alibaba is just the middleman. It encourages people to use its markets — not charging small sellers a percentage of the sale.
If you want a quick look into the influence of Alibaba on daily Chinese life, take my experience. I moved to Beijing a year ago and quickly got tired of visiting small stores across the crowded, polluted city of 20 million people in search of new electronics, bathroom furnishings, and anything else my wife wanted. “You’re looking for what exactly? Why not try it? ” my Chinese teacher asked me one day. With that, my wonderful new relationship with Alibaba began.
Alibaba’s original business-to-business model now is second to consumer buying. Chinese retail(零售) buying makes up 80% of Alibaba’s profit, and leading that group is Taobao, with 800 million items for sale and the most unbelievable selection of things you’ll ever find. TMall.com is Alibaba’s other big site, where you can find brand name goods from Nike and Unilever near the lowest prices.
What I have a hard time explaining to friends and family back in the U.S. is how China has gone beyond traditional shopping — big-box retailers especially —in favor of online purchases on Taobao and a few other sites. In smaller towns than Beijing, where big retailers have not yet traveled, shopping online is shopping, and shopping is Taobao.
I have a list of some of my recent purchases on Taobao for a sense of how wide the marketplace is. Almost everything arrived a day or two after ordering with free shipping. I’m not even a big buyer, because I need friends to help me search the Chinese-language site. When I was searching my purchase history on my Chinese teacher’s iPad, which helps me buy goods, I looked through with great difficulty about 10 of her purchases for every one of mine.Alibaba’s advantage mainly lies in .
| A．its low price |
| B．its big size |
| C．its not charging small sellers |
| D．its business-to-business service |
What can we learn from the underlined sentence in the passage?
| A．Alibaba will continue to develop. |
| B．Alibaba stands out as the best online site. |
| C．Alibaba acts as a bridge between the buyers and sellers. |
| D．Alibaba is of middle size among all the online sites. |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．TMall.com provides more profit than Taobao. |
| B．The author’s Chinese teacher is also an online purchase lover. |
| C．Taobao has no obvious advantage over other similar online sites. |
| D．Alibaba’s business-to-business service earns more money than retail. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Shopping online in China is TaoBao. |
| B．How the author purchases online in China. |
| C．Shopping online goes beyond traditional shopping. |
| D．Alibaba influences people’s daily purchase in China. |
BRITAIN is a popular tourist place. But tours of the country have pros and cons.
Good news
Free museums. No charge for outstanding collections of art and antiquities.
Pop music. Britain is the only country to rival (与……比敌) the US on this score.
Black cabs. London taxi drivers know where they are going even if there are never enough of them at weekends or night.
Choice of food. Visitors can find everything from Ethiopian to Swedish restaurants.
Fashion. Not only do fashion followers love deeply and respect highly brand names such as Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen; street styles are justly loved, too.
Bad news
Poor service. “It’s part of the image of the place. People can dine out on the rudeness they have experienced,” says Professor Tony Seaton, of Luton University’s International Tourism Research Center.
Poor public transport. Trains and buses are promised to defeat the keenest tourists, although the over-crowded London tube is unbelievable popular.
Lack of languages. Speaking slowly and clearly may not get many foreign visitors very far, even in the tourist traps .
Rain. Still in the number one complaint.
No air-conditioning. So that even splendidly hot summers become as unbearable as the down-pours.
Overpriced hotels. The only European country with a higher rate of tax on hotel rooms is Denmark.
Licensing hours. Alcohol is in short supply after 11p.m. even in “24-hour cities.”What do tourists complain most?
| A．Poor service. | B．Poor public transport. |
| C．Rain. | D．Overpriced hotels. |
What do we learn about pop music in Britain and the US through this passage?
| A．Pop music in Britain is better than that in the US. |
| B．Pop music in Britain is as good as that in the US. |
| C．Pop music in Britain is worse than that in the US. |
| D．Pop music in Britain is quite different from that in the US. |
When is alcohol not able to get easily?
| A．At 12:00p.m. | B．At 9:00 p.m. |
| C．At 10:00 p.m. | D．At 11:00 p.m. |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．You have to pay to visit the museums. |
| B．It’s very cheap to travel by taxi there. |
| C．You cannot find Chinese food there. |
| D．The public transport is poor there. |