We’re unleashing the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart, for the week ending November 15, 2014.
We don’t get any new songs this week…but things do get shaken up a bit.
It all starts in fifth place, where Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj dip a notch with “Bang Bang.” Jessie says she wanted to assemble this lineup for a long time - she says she only met the other two after the song went to number one on iTunes. Jessie also says she wanted to use Nicki five years ago on her debut single, “Do It Like A Dude.”
Taking over fourth place is Maroon 5 with “Animals.” This band has been around for 20 years…but not always under this name. The Los Angeles group formed in 1994 as Kara’s Flowers, and released one album under that name in 1997. Four years later the members re-grouped as Maroon 5, and the rest is chart history.
Holding in third place is Tove Lo with “Habits (Stay High).” Where did that name come from? This Swedish artist’s real name is Ebba Tove Elsa Nillson. “Lo” is Swedish for lynx - a species of wildcat that Tove says she fell in love with as a little girl.
After eight weeks, Meghan Trainor falls off the Hot 100 pedestal: “All About That Bass” falls to second place. Last week, she and Miranda Lambert sang this song at the Country Music Association Awards in Nashville, and Meghan kicks off a headlining North American tour next February in Vancouver, Canada.
Taylor Swift re-takes the Hot 100 title, with "Shake It Off" - giving her three total weeks at the top - but that’s only the beginning of her phenomenal week. Taylor’s 1989 album just opened at number one by selling 1.2 million domestic copies. That’s the largest sales week since The Eminem Show sold 1.3 million copies, way back in 2002.
That’s a wrap for this week, but as you know, the chart is always changing. Come back in seven days for an all-new lineup.What is TRUE according to the passage?
A.There are many news songs this week. |
B.The article introduces from the first place song. |
C.“Do It Like A Dude” is sung by Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj. |
D.“Habits (Stay High)” is sung by a Swedish singer Ebba Tove Elsa Nillson. |
How long has the band Maroon 5 been around under this name?
A.17. | B.18 | C.20 | D.13 |
We can infer from the passage?
A.Taylor’s 1989 album created the largest sales. |
B.The chart is updated every week. |
C.Meghan kicks off a headlining North American tour next February. |
D.“All About That Bass” has never taken the Hot 100 title. |
What will people die of 100 years form now? If you think that is a simple question, you have not been paying attention to the revolution that is taking place in bio-technology. With the help of new medicine, the human body will last a very long time. Death will come mainly from accidents, murder and war. Today’s leading killers, such as heart disease, cancer, and aging itself, will become distant memories.
In discussion of technological changes, the Internet gets most of the attention of our times. How long can humans live? Human brains were known to decide the final death. Cells are the basic units of all living things, and until recently, scientists were sure that the life of cells could not go much beyond 120 years because the basic materials of cells, such as those of brain cells, would not last forever. But the upper limits will be broken by new medicine. Sometime between 2050 and 2100, medicine will have advanced to the point at which every 10 years or so, people will be able to take medicine to repair their organs. The medicine, made up of the basic building materials of life, will build new brain cells, heart cells, and so on-in much the same way our bodies make new skin cells to take the place of old ones.
It is exciting to imagine that the advance in technology may be changing the most basic condition of human existence, but many technical problems still must be cleared up on the way to this wonderful future.
61. According to the passage, human death is now mainly caused by .
A. Diseases and aging B. accidents and war
C. accidents and aging D. heart disease and war
62. in the author’s opinions, today’s most important advance in technology lies in .
A. the Internet B. medicine C. brain cells D. human organs
63. humans may live longer in the future because .
A.heart disease will be far away from us
B.human brains can decide the final death
C.the basic materials of cells will last forever
D.human organs can be repaired by new medicine
64. How long can humans live in the future?
A. Over 100 years. B. More than 120 years.
C. About 150 years. D. The passage doesn’t tell us.
65. It can be learnt form the passage that .
A.human life will not last more than 120 years in the future
B.human have to take medicine to build new skin cells now
C.much needs to the done before humans can have a longer life
D.we have already solved the technical problems in building new cells
The writing of Shakespeare are today little read by young people in Britain. His young readership is limited to those who choose to study literature at university.
Shakespeare’s work, together with most other classics, is seen as remote, and written in a 400-year-old version of English that is about as inviting as toothache.
Still,in British schools,it is compulsory to study the bard(诗人),and when something is made compulsory,usually the result is boredom,resentment(憎恨)or both.
This was my experience of the classics at school.But when I reached my late teenage years,I had a change of heart.Like every other young person since the dawn of time,the world confused me.I wanted answers,So I turned to books to find them.
I went on to take a PhD in literature and have taught it in Britain and China.I have never regretted it.There is something in literature that people want,even if they don’t read books.You see this in the popularity of TV and movie adaptations of great works,the recent film version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice being a case in point.These popular adaptations may help increase people’s interest in the classics.
Reading a simplified Romeo and Juliet may perhaps lead to a reading of Shakespeare’s actual play.If that is the case,then I welcome the trend.But do not make the mistake of thinking that it is the same thing.Shakespeare is a poet.His greatness is in his language.Reading someone else’s rewriting of his work is like peeling a banana,throwing away the fruit,and eating the skin.Take on the original.It really is worth the effort.
56.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A.The language used in classics is no longer in use today.
B.British students usually find compulsory reading dull.
C.Only those studying literature read Shakespeare’s works.
D.For British people,Shakespeare’s works are no longer classics.
57.According to the passage,the writer .
A.has liked literary classics since an early age
B.was forced to read the classics for a PhD
C.turned to literature to seek answers in his teens
D.thinks only people who read books like literature
58.The popularity of TV and movie adaptations of great works may help people .
A.1earn more about tradition
B.get a PhD in literature
C.seek their answers about the world
D.become more interested in the classics
59.The underlined phrase “a case in point” in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to “ ”.
A.a great hit B.a good example
C.a movie adaptation D.a popular phenomenon
60.What does the writer intend to tell us in the last paragraph?
A.The fruit of a banana is more useful than its skin.
B.The rewriting trend does more harm than good.
C.Readers should try to read the original works.
D.Readers need to learn the language in the classics.
第三部分阅读理解(共20小题;每小题2分,满分40分)
第一节(共15小题;每小题2分,满分30分)
阅读下面短文,从每题所给的四个选项中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡将该项涂黑。
It was a quiet village in which there was a military camp(军营).It was far from the towns and cities and there were some high mountains around. Of course it was a good place for training the new soldiers. But it was difficult for the young men to go outside. Mr. White, an officer of forty, was strict with them and he hardly let them leave the camp.
Once Mr. White was ill in bed. He couldn’t work and a young officer, Mr. Hunt began to train the new soldiers instead of him. He knew the young men well and let nine soldiers go to the nearest town to have a holiday. But night fell and none came back to the camp. He was worried about it and stood at the gate. It was five to twelve when Mr. Hunt decided to go to the town and see what was happening to the young men. He started the car quickly and set off. At that moment the nine soldiers came back. It seemed they drank wine. Of course they found the officer was angry.
“I’m sorry, sir,” said the first soldier. “I left the town on time. But something was wrong with my bus on my way here. I had to buy a horse and made it run fast. Bad luck! It died and I had to run back.”
And the other seven soldiers said they were late for the same reasons. It was the last soldier’s turn. He said, “I’m sorry, sir. I got on a bus on time, but…”
Having heard this, the officer became even angrier and stopped him at once. He called out, “If you say something was wrong with your bus, I’ll punish you at once!”
“No, no, sir,” said the young man. “My bus was all right, but the dead horses were in its way!”
51.The military camp was built in the village to .
A. stop the soldiers from going to towns
B. stop the soldiers from meeting their friends
C. train the new soldiers
D. make the young men live quietly
52.Mr Hunt let the nine soldiers have a holiday because .
A. he was kind to them B. they felt lonely
C. they had something important to do D. they were the best of all
53.The young officer was worried because .
A. a traffic accident had happened
B. he was afraid something happened to the nine soldiers
C. the nine soldiers would come back
D. the nine soldiers drank too much in the town
54.The nine soldiers returned to the camp late because .
A. something was wrong with their buses B. their horses died on the return way
C. it took them much time to run back D. they all drank much in the town
55.What can be inferred form the story?
A. Only the last soldier told the truth.
B. The officer would punish them for their lies.
C. The nine soldiers would be punished but the last one.
D. The nine soldiers were honest and believable.
Even plant can run a fever, especially when they’re under attack by insects or disease. But unlike human, plants can have their temperature taken from 3, 000 feet away straight up. A decade ago, adopting the infrared (红外线)scanning technology developed for military purposes and other satellites, physicist Stephen Paley came up with a quick way to take the temperature of crops to determine which ones are under stress. The goal was to let farmers precisely target pesticide (杀虫剂)spraying rather than rain poison on a whole field, which invariably includes plants that don’t have pest (害虫)problems.
Even better, Paley’s Remote Scanning Services Company could detect crop problems before they became visible to the eye. Mounted on a plane flown at 3, 000 feet at night, an infrared scanner measured the heat emitted by crops. The data were transformed into a color-coded map showing where plants were running“fevers”. Farmers could then spot-spray, using 50 to 70 percent less pesticide than they otherwise would.
The bad news is that Paley’s company closed down in 1984, after only three years. Farmers resisted the new technology and long - term backers were hard to find. But with the renewed concern about pesticides on produce, and refinements in infrared scanning, Paley hopes to get back into operation. Agriculture experts have no doubt the technology works. “This technique can be used on 75 percent of agricultural land in the United States, ” says George Oerther of Texas A & M. Ray Jackson , who recently retired from the Department of Agriculture, thinks remote infrared crop scanning could be adopted by the end of the decade. But only ff Paley finds the financial backing which he failed to obtain 10 years ago.
51.Plants will emit an increased amount of heat when they are______________.
A. sprayed with pesticides
B. facing an infrared scanner
C. in poor physical condition
D. exposed to excessive sun rays
52.In order to apply pesticide spraying precisely, we can use infrared scanning to____________.
A. estimate the damage to the crops
B. measure the size of the affected area
C. draw a color-coded map
D. locate the problem area
53.Farmers can save a considerable amount of pesticide by______________.
A. resorting to spot-spraying
B. consulting infrared scanning experts
C. transforming poisoned rain
D. detecting crop problems at an early stage
54.The application of infrared scanning technology to agriculture met with some difficulties
_______________.
A. the lack of official support
B. its high cost
C. the lack of financial support
D. its failure to help increase production
55.Infrared scanning technology may be brought back into operation because of_____________.
A. the desire of farmers to improve the quality of their produce
B. growing concern about the excessive use of pesticides on crops
C. the forceful promotion by the Department of Agriculture
D. full support from agricultural experts
Turning on the TV, a wonderful scene comes to your eyes — a group of men, tall, strong and handsome, and women, young, beautiful and attractive, too. Together they eat in the finest restaurants, traveling everywhere around the world by luxurious planes and pleasure ships. They are models.
Do you envy them? What sort of life are models leading? Is it a wonderful life for a young lady or a young man?
A few models are well-known actors or actresses who can make a lot of money only by showing themselves off in commercials. But the majority of them are just curious to see what it is like. They’d like to be models just because they are attracted by what they imagine — models earn a lot of money and lead a glorious life. This is true for those who are very successful. However, most models find it difficult to get work. Very few can earn enough to live on, and for all models their expenses are high. Their agents claim about 20% of the earnings, and no model will get very far without a clever agent. Besides, they have to buy good clothing. They also have to pay to travel to interviews and reach the places where the work is to be done.
Interviews for a model job are known as cattle-markets in the modeling world, and not without a good reason. A top model can choose his or her work, demand and receive high fees and has his or her expenses paid. But for most models, the situation is quite different. And agent or employer inspects each model much as a farmer inspects cattle at a market. Intelligence, qualifications and personal characteristics count for little against good looks and tight figures. For all except the very few lucky ones, the life of a model is a continual search for work, trying to sell himself or herself in the face of fierce competition and, sometimes, not particularly moral standards on the part of some employers.
Immigration officials at airport look suspiciously at a girl whose passport shows her occupation as “Model”, and these are men and women of considerable experience of the world. It comes no surprise to find that some models prefer to put “Secretary” or “Businessman” as their jobs in their passports.
Modeling is a changeable world with great rewards for a tiny minority but not for the majority.
46. For models, their good looks and tight figures are _____________, compared with their intelligence and qualifications.
A. more important B. less needed
C. less essentialD. more looked down upon
47. Which of the following can lead you to believe according to the passage?
A. A model’s traveling expenses are usually paid by his employer.
B. To be a model, good looks are the most important qualification.
C. Most models have a fairly easy way of life with high pay.
D. A model can hardly be successful without a good agent.
48. Models often put “Secretary” or “Businessman” instead of “Model” in their passports because __________________.
A. they want to avoid being stopped to sign their names by fans
B. a person with the occupation of a model is easily attacked by black societies
C. models are sometimes looked down upon
D. secretaries and businessmen are free of custom duty
49. What may be the author’s attitude towards modeling?
A. It is a worthwhile life for a young lady or a young man.
B. He is in favor of young people to try modeling.
C. Before being crazy about a model job, young people should be aware of the difficulties.
D. It is a field in which everyone has a great chance to succeed.
50. The underlined word “suspiciously” can most probably be replaced by _________________.
A. doubtfully B. excitedly C. proudly D. sadly