Here’s a movie-a sharp, sugar-rush of fun that’s guaranteed to entertain the entire family.
With some terrific computer-generated effects, a great cast and a fun-packed storyline, Robots is the best animated film(动画片) since The Incredibles. Yep, it really is that good.
Set in a world populated by robots, Ewan McGregor plays Rodney Copperbottom, a young robot who leaves his small-town home to pursue his dream of becoming an inventor.
But after arriving in Robot City, his hopes of getting a job at Bigweld Industries are destroyed when he learns the firm has been taken over by the evil Ratchet (Greg Kinnear).
Egged on by his controlling mum, Madame Gasket (Jim Broadbent), Ratchet plans to reduce half on Robot City’s citizens to scrap metal by refusing to sell the spare Pans they need to survive.
Instead, he wants to make a fortune selling expensive upgrades that few can afford. As he says, “Why be you when you can be new?”
Aided by a few misfit robots known as the Rustles-including Robin Williams as the cowardly(胆小的) Fender (“I’m made of a metal called Afraidium”)-Rodney must track down the firm’s founder, Bigweld (Mel Brooks), and convince him to save the city from Ratchet’s plans.
The first thing that’ll strike you about the movie is the thought that’s gone into creating Robot City. It’s a wondrous world full of mechanical marvels including wind-up cars and walking streetlamps.
Also terrific are the special effects. This might be animated movie but at times you’ll catch yourself thinking it’s really a live-action film.
Of course, there have been plenty of animated movies that looked the part but were let down by a weak storyline(see Shark Tale, for example).
But Robots grips(扣人心弦)right from the start thanks to a heart-warming and thoroughly engaging plot that never bores.
My only complaints are with Williams who, as usual, has a one-in-10 success rate with his jokes. Also a letdown is a romantic subplot between Rodney and a shapely robot called Cappy (Halle Berry) that doesn’t go anywhere.
Complains aside, this is a mechanical marvel that’ll have you bolted firmly to your seat.
BEST QUOTE(引述)：Fender：“Even though you had a discouraging day, just remember there’s another one coming tomorrow.
BEST BIT：Check out those amazing images.
WORST BIT：Robin Williams’ character does an unfunny Britney Spears dance routine.
IF YOU LIKED…Ice Age, The Incredibles, Toy Story…YOU’LL LIKE THIS.This piece of writing is a _____.
| A．film review | B．commercial advertisement |
| C．movie poster | D．1iterary essay |
The cast of Robots is made up of all the following actors or actresses EXCEPT ______.
| A．Ewan McGregor | B．Britney Spears |
| C．Robin Williams | D．Halle Berry |
What is Shark Tale an example of?
| A．A great cast. | B．Special effects. |
| C．A poor plot. | D．Clumsy animation. |
用方框中所给单词的适当形式填空
| connect taste research fear communicate result see truth part sense |
Everyone is aware of their five basic _____, Sight, touch, smell, hearing and
_____. What everyone is not so well aware of is their sixth sense, a
_____ to something more and greater than their physical senses that are easy to be observed. A sixth sense is the entrance to the world of the
_____ meeting, the unheard
_____, the unfelt touch of someone from the spiritual world trying to make a connection with someone in the physical body. A sixth sense is a
_____ of everyone whether or not they like it. It is a normal part of the human mind and not abnormal or reserved for special persons. Because of the media and religion, it has been misrepresented and as a
_____,people connect .the spirit world with
_____ and anxiety. But the
_____is that a sixth sense is scientific after years’
_____ on it.
用方框中所给单词的适当形式填空
| connect taste research fear communicate result see truth part sense |
Everyone is aware of their five basic _____, Sight, touch, smell, hearing and
_____. What everyone is not so well aware of is their sixth sense, a
_____ to something more and greater than their physical senses that are easy to be observed. A sixth sense is the entrance to the world of the
_____ meeting, the unheard
_____, the unfelt touch of someone from the spiritual world trying to make a connection with someone in the physical body. A sixth sense is a
_____ of everyone whether or not they like it. It is a normal part of the human mind and not abnormal or reserved for special persons. Because of the media and religion, it has been misrepresented and as a
_____,people connect .the spirit world with
_____ and anxiety. But the
_____is that a sixth sense is scientific after years’
_____ on it.
When I was growing up in America, I was ashamed of my mother’s Chinese English. Because of her English, she was often treated unfairly. People in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously ,did not give her good service ,pretended not to Understand her ,or even acted as if they did not hear her .
My mother has realized the limitations of her English as well. When I was fifteen, she used to have me call people on phone to pretend I was she . I was forced to ask for information or even to yell at people who had been rude to her. One time I had to call her stockbroker (股票经纪人).I said in an adolescent voice that was not very convincing, “This is Mrs.Tan..”And my mother was standing beside me ,whispering loudly, “Why he don’t send me cheek already two week late.”
And then , in perfect English I said : “I’m getting rather concerned .You agreed to send the check two weeks ago, but it hasn’t arrived.”
Then she talked more loudly. “What he want? I come to New York tell him front of his boss.” And so I turned to the stockbroker again, “I can’t tolerate any more excuse. If I don’t receive the check immediately , I am going to have to speak to your manager when I am in New York next week.”
The next week we ended up in New York. While I was sitting there red-faced, my mother, the real Mrs.Tan, was shouting to his boss in her broken English.
When I was a teenager, my mother’s broken English embarrassed me. But now, I see it differently. To me, my mother’s English is perfectly clear, perfectly natural. It is my mother tongue. Her language, as I hear it, is vivid, direct, and full of observation and wisdom. It was the language that helped shape the way I saw things, expressed ideas, and made sense of the world. Why was the author’s mother poorly served?
| A．She was unable to speak good English. |
| B．She was often misunderstood. |
| C．She was not clearly heard. |
| D．She was not very polite. |
From Paragraph 2, we know that the author was .
| A．good a pretending |
| B．rude to the stockbroker |
| C．ready to help her mother |
| D．unwilling to phone for her mother |
After the author made the phone call, .
| A．they forgave the stockbroker |
| B．they failed to get the check |
| C．they went to New York immediately |
| D．they spoke to their boss at once |
What does the author think of her mother’s English now?
| A．It confuses her. |
| B．It embarrasses her. |
| C．It helps her understand the world. |
| D．It helps her tolerate rude people. |
We can inter from the passage that Chinese English .
| A．is clear and natural to non-native speakers |
| B．is vivid and direct to non-native speakers |
| C．has a very bad reputation in America |
| D．may bring inconvenience in America |
You feel happiest when you create a healthy balance between giving and receiving. If you give and give without making time to fill your own needs, then it’s likely you will burn out, or feel upset. When you take and take without giving anything back, you never feel fulfilled, so you are always searching for ways to fill the void in your life.
The way to create a healthy balance between giving and receiving is to know and then live by your values. I break values up into two groups which I call being and having values. Your being values are the character traits of the ideal person you would like to be. I suggest to my clients that they choose three being values that they are willing to make a commitment to live by. An example of some being values are: kind, loving, generous, inspirational, peaceful, wise and even powerful. By acting on these values you give to others through your actions and you inspire others by being a positive role model. Mastering being these character traits becomes your life purpose.
Your having values are feelings you need to create in order to be happy. These could be companionship, achievement, support, being valued or financial security. This is what you receive. You take responsibility for filling your own needs by taking steps to create these feelings and conditions in your life.
When you make a commitment to live by being values, it becomes easier to make conscious choices rather than reactionary ones. If your usual pattern is to talk about your problems, you could choose to think and act like a calm person. A clam person might go for a walk, meditate(沉思), or set a time limit before responding. If your usual pattern is to worry, you could choose to act like a responsible or wise person. In other words, you would act like the person you choose to be-this is the key to personal power.
When you choose to act on your values, you not only feel good about yourself, you reinforce(加强)your chosen beliefs. Over time acting in this way changes how you see the world, and in turn the way other people think of you. The main purpose of this passage is to _____
A inform the readers how to be truly happy
B explain to the readers what personal values are
C persuade the readers to make a commitment
D instruct the readers how to make wise choices According to the text, living by your being values, you would_____
A gain a lot of power
B fill your own needs
C seek all human virtues
D form positive personalityThe underline word “void” in Paragraph 1 means______
A a break of continuity
B an absent of one’s mind
C a feeling of emptiness
D a state of confusion What can be inferred from the text?
A Having values are better than being values
B A calm person does not choose to complain.
C The way other people think of you decides who you are.
D A responsible person does not care about financial security
William Butler Yeats, a most famous Irish writer, was born in Dublin on June 13, 1865. His childhood lacked the harmony(和睦) that was typical of a happy family. Later, Yeats shocked his family by saying that he remembered “little of childhood but its pain”. In fact, he inherited(继承) excellent taste in art from his family—both his father and his brother were painters. But he finally settled on literature, particularly drama(戏剧) and poetry.
Yeats had strong faith in coming of new artistic movements. He set himself the fresh task in founding an Irish national theatre in the late 1890s. His early theatrical experiments, however, were not received favorably at the beginning. He didn’t lose heart, and finally enjoyed success in his poetical drama.
Compared with his dramatic works, Yeats’s poems attract much admiring notice. The subject matter includes love, nature, history, time and aging. Though Yeats generally relied on very traditional forms, he brought modern sensibility to them. As his literary life progressed, his poetry grew finer and richer, which led him to worldwide recognition.
He had not enjoyed a major public life since winning the Nobel Prize in 1923. Yet, he continued writing almost to the end of his life. Had Yeats stopped writing at age 40, he would who probably now be valued as a minor poet, for there is no other example in literary history of a poet who produces his greatest works between the ages of 50 and 75. After Yeats’s death in 1939, W.H.Auden wrote, among others, the following lines:
Earth, receive an honored guest:
William Yeats is laid to rest.
Let the Irish vessel(船) lie
Emptied of its poetry. Which of the following can describe Yeats’s family?
| A．It filled Yeats’s childhood with laughter. |
| B．It was shocked by Yeats’s choice. |
| C．It was a typically wealthy family. |
| D．It had an artistic atmosphere. |
According to the passage, what do we know about Yeats’s life?
| A．Yeats founded the first Irish theater. |
| B．Yeats stuck to modern forms in his poetry. |
| C．Yeats began to produce his best works from the 1910s. |
| D．Yeats was not favored by the public until the 1923 Noble Prize. |
What kind of feeling is expressed in W. H. Auden’s lines?
| A．Envy. |
| B．Sympathy. |
| C．Emptiness. |
| D．Admiration. |