Arthur Miller(1915-2005)is universally recognized as one of the greatest dramatists of the 20th century. Miller` s father had moved to the USA from Austria Hungary,drawn like so many others by the“ Great American Dream”. However, he experienced severe financial hardship when his family business was ruined in the Great Depression of the early l930s.
Millers' s most famous play, Death of a Salesman , is a powerful attack on the American system ,with its aggressive way of doing business and its insistence on money and social status as indicators of worth. In Willy Loman , the hero of the play, we see a man who has got into trouble with his worth. Willy is “burnt out” and in the cruel world of business there is no room for sentiment : if he can't do the work, then he is no good to his employer, the Wagner Company, and he must go. Willy is painfully aware of this, and at loss as to what to do with his lack of success. He refuses to face the fact that he has failed and kills himself in the end.
When it was first staged in 1949 ,the play was greeted with enthusiastic reviews ,and it won the Tony Award for Best Play, the New York Drama Critics` Circle Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was the first play to win all three of these major awards.
Miller died of heart failure at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut ,on the evening of February 10,2005,the 56th anniversary of the first performance of Death of a Salesman on Broadway.The play Death of a Salesman
| A．exposes the cruelty of the American business world |
| B．discusses the ways to get promoted in a company |
| C．talks about the business career of Arthur Miller |
| D．focuses on the skills in doing business |
What can we learn about Willy Loman?
| A．He treats his employer badly. |
| B．He runs the Wagner Company. |
| C．He is a victim of the American system. |
| D．He is regarded as a hero by his colleagues. |
After it was first staged, Death of a Salesman
| A．achieved huge success |
| B．won the first Tony Award |
| C．was warmly welcomed by salesmen |
| D．was severely attacked by dramatists |
What is the text mainly about?
| A．Arthur Miller and his family. |
| B．The awards Arthur Miller won. |
| C．The hardship Arthur Miller experienced. |
| D．Arthur Miller and his best-known play. |
What does it mean to say that we live in a world of persuasion? It means that we live among competing interests. Your roommate’s need to study for an exam may take priority（优先）over pizza. Your instructor may have good reasons not to change your grade. And the object of your romantic interest may have other choices.
In such a world, persuasion is the art of getting others to give fair and favorable consideration to our point of view. When we persuade, we want to influence how others believe and behave. We may not always prevail— other points of view may be more persuasive, depending on the listener, the situation, and the merits of the case. But when we practice the art of persuasion, we try to ensure that our position receives the attention it deserves.
Some people, however, object to the very idea of persuasion. They may regard it as an unwelcome interruption into their lives. Just the opposite, we believe that persuasion is unavoidable — to live is to persuade. Persuasion may be ethical（合乎道义的）or unethical, selfless or selfish, inspiring or degrading. Persuaders may enlighten our minds or catch our vulnerability(弱点). Ethical persuasion, however, calls on sound reasoning and is sensitive to the feelings and needs of listeners. Such persuasion can help us apply the wisdom of the past to the decisions we now must make. Therefore, the most basic part of education is learning to resist the one kind of persuasion and to encourage and practice the other.
Beyond its personal importance to us, persuasion is necessary to society. The right to persuade and be persuaded is the bedrock of the American political system, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution（美国宪法）.According to the passage, persuasion means ________.
| A．changing others’ point of view |
| B．exercising power over other people |
| C．getting other people to consider your point of view |
| D．getting people to agree with you and do what you want |
The underlined word in the second paragraph “prevail” means“________”.
| A．win | B．fail | C．speak | D．listen |
The passage states that some people object to persuasion because they think it is ________.
| A．a danger to society | B．difficult to do well |
| C．unwelcome behavior | D．never successful |
The passage mainly discusses ________.
| A．people’s different opinions towards persuasion |
| B．the reasons why people persuade |
| C．that persuasion is both good and bad |
| D．that persuasion is important and it is all around us |
Every pet owner loves his pet. There is no argument here.
But when we asked our readers whether they would clone （克隆， 复制）their beloved animals, the responses（反应） were split almost down the middle. Of the 228 readers who answered it, 108 would clone, 111 would not and nine weighed each side without offering an opinion.
Clearly, from readers’ response, this is an issue that reaches deeply into both the joy and final sadness of owning a pet. It speaks, as well, to people’s widely differing expectations over the developing scientific procedure.
Most of the respondents who favored the idea strongly believed it would produce at least a close copy of the original; many felt the process would actually return an exact copy. Those on the other side, however, held little hope a clone could never truly recreate a pet, many simply didn’t wish to go against the natural law of life and death.
Both sides expressed equal love for their animals. More than a few respondents owned “the best dog/cat in the world”. They thought of their pets as their “best friend”, “a member of the family,”“the light of my life.” They told moving stories of pets’ heroism, intelligence and selfless devotion.
Then the loss is so disturbing---and the cloning so attractive. “People become very close to their animals, and the loss can be just as hard to bear as when a friend or family member dies,” says Gary Kowalski, author of Goodbye, Friend: Healing Wisdom for Anyone Who Has Ever Lost a Pet. “For me, cloning feels like an attempt to turn death away…It’s understandable. Death is always painful. It’s difficult to deal with. It’s hard to accept.”
But would cloning reduce the blow? This question seemed to be at the heart of this problem.So far as the cloning of pets is concerned, a recent survey shows that, of all pet owners, ____.
| A．a lot more of them are for it |
| B．a lot more of them are against it |
| C．very few of them are willing to tell their opinions |
| D．about half of them are for it and the other half against it |
While talking about the respondents from the readers, the expression “final sadness of owning a pet” refers to ____.
| A．the death of one’s pet |
| B．the high cost of owning a pet |
| C．the troubles one has to deal with in keeping a pet |
| D．the dangers about the cloning of a pet |
From what Gary Kowalski says, we can know that he ____.
| A．has never thought about the problem of cloning |
| B．is going to write another book on pets |
| C．is in favor of the idea of cloning pets |
| D．is all against the cloning of pets |
What is the key question at the heart of the problem of cloning pets?
| A．Can cloning make the pain one suffers less when a pet dies? |
| B．Can pet owners afford the cost of cloning? |
| C．Does cloning go against the law of nature? |
| D．How reliably does cloning produce an exact copy of one’s pet? |
When I was an official of a school in Palo Alto, California, Polly Tyner, the president of our board, wrote a letter that was printed in the Palo Alto Times. Polly’s son, Jim, had great difficulty in school. He was classified as the educationally handicapped and required a great deal of patience on the part of his parents and teachers. But Jim was a happy kid with a great smile that lit up the room. His parents knew his difficulties, but they always tried to help him see his strengths so that he could walk with pride. Shortly after Jim finished high school, he was killed in a motorcycle accident. After his death, his mother submitted this letter to the newspaper.
“Today we buried our 20-year-old son. He was killed in a motorcycle accident on Friday night. How I wish I had known that the last time I had talked to him would be the last time. If I had only known that, I would have said to him, ‘Jim, I love you and I’m always so proud of you.’ I would have taken the time to count the many blessings he had brought to the lives of the people who loved him. I would have taken the time to appreciate his beautiful smile, his laughter, and his genuine love to other people.
“When I put all the good things on the scale and try to balance them with all the irritating (恼人的) things such as the radio that was always too loud, the haircut that wasn’t to our liking, the dirty socks under the bed, etc., I find that the irritations really don’t amount to much.
“I won’t get another chance to tell my son all that I would have wanted him to hear, but, other parents, do have a chance. Tell your young people what you would want them to hear as if it may be your last conversation. The last time I talked to Jim was the morning of the day when he died. He called me to say, ‘Hi, Mom! I just called to say I love you. You have to go to work now. Bye.’ That day, he gave me something to treasure forever. ”
If there is any purpose at all for Jim’s death, maybe it is to make others appreciate life more and to tell people, especially family members, that they should take the time to let each other know just how much they care. You may never have another chance. Do it today! Who was Jim?
| A．The child of the Tyners’. | B．The writer’s relative. |
| C．The president of a school board. | D．An official of a school. |
What’s the meaning of the underlined phrase “the educationally handicapped”?
| A．The learning difficulty. | B．The physical problems. |
| C．The psychological problems. | D．The communication difficulty. |
According to the writer, which of the following about Jim is TRUE？
| A．He was always sad about his school marks. |
| B．His parents always scolded him about his bad school marks. |
| C．His study needed more attention from his parents and teachers. |
| D．He was killed in a car accident. |
The purpose of Polly’s letter is to .
| A．memorize her son |
| B．teach parents to appreciate their children |
| C．teach children how to be good boys |
| D．give some advice on how to deal with children’s problems |
The first reality TV show in the world was called Expedition Robinson and it was shown in Sweden in 1997. Half the population of the country watched the final event and a new kind of TV program was born. Two years later in Holland , the first series of Big Brother was filmed. Again, it was a great success and the final program was watched by 15 million people. Now more than 20 countries around the world have Big Brother or Expedition Robinson on their TV screens. The ordinary people who take part in the programs are known by millions of people in their own countries and reality TV has become big, big business.
For the TV producers, reality TV is a dream which comes true because many of the
programs cost nothing to make. At some point, the television viewers are asked to telephone the program to vote or to apply to take part in the show. It is the cost of these telephone calls that pays for the shows. One of the most popular shows is Pop Idol. In the show a group of attractive young people are made into pop stars. TV viewers vote for their favorite person on the show. The winner makes a record and millions of copies of the record are sold. His or her pictures are published on the covers of magazines or on the front pages of newspapers, and then, they are quickly forgotten.
But not everyone is happy about reality TV. In Portugal, two TV channels got into trouble because they showed too much of the personal lives of the people in the shows. In France, reality TV is called “rubbish TV” and the TV studios of Big Brother were attacked three times in one week. In Greece, Big Brother was described as “ against human rights and civilization”. Those who take part in the reality TV shows are usually _____.
| A．successful people | B．pop TV stars | C．attractive people | D．famous film stars |
Who would pay for the cost of the reality TV shows according to the passage?
| A．TV producers who make reality TV shows |
| B．TV actors who take part in reality TV shows. |
| C．TV viewers who telephone reality TV shows |
| D．TV companies which broadcast reality TV shows |
It can be concluded from the passage that ______.
| A．everyone is happy about reality TV. |
| B．reality TV will do well in many countries. |
| C．all the people in Europe are in favor of reality TV |
| D．reality TV will not be broadcast in any countries. |
The website “FarmersOnly.com” calls itself an online dating and friendship finder. The idea started in the mind of a man, Jerry Miller in Ohio. He wondered how farmers could meet new people who understand the life of a farmer. Jerry Miller is not a farmer but he represents a lot of farmers.
As he tells it, the idea for the site was planted when a farmer told him one day that she was recently divorced and would like to date. But someone would invite her to meet for coffee at nine o’clock at night, when she had to start her day at five the next morning.
So, in 2005, Jerry Miller launched his website. “You don’t have to be a farmer to be on FarmersOnly.com, but you do have to have the good old-fashioned traditional values of America’s Heartland.”
You also have to live in the United States or Canada to be a member of the site. Some services are free, but a full membership costs fifty dollars for a year. As of last week the site listed more than 58,000 members. Many of them are farmers in the United States. Others are students or workers involved in some way with agriculture. Jerry Miller tells us about thirty marriages in the last year have resulted from his website.
Some farmers have also found love through a group, Singles in Agriculture, which was formed as a nonprofit organization in 1986. It organizes gatherings that usually end with a dance, but is not a dating service. The purpose is to support educational and social activities that offer people a chance for friendsh
ip. Its website, singlesinag.org, says there are more than 1,000 members across the nation and as far away as France. Jerry Miller started singlesinag.org in order to .
| A．help farmers | B．represent farmers |
| C．support traditions | D．understand farmers |
Which of the following is true of singlesinag.org?
| A．It provides dating services. |
| B．Only farmers can become its members. |
| C．Its services are free. |
| D．Farmers in France can’t benefit from it. |
The author of the text intends to .
| A．advertise for the two websites |
| B．urge readers to help farmers |
| C．intro duce two websites |
| D．encourage social activities |
It can be inferred from the text that .
| A．farmers are easy to meet new people |
| B．the Internet helps improve farmers’ social life |
| C．all farmers desire marriage |
| D．more farmers get divorced in the USA |