Before she appeared on the reality show(真人秀) Britain's Got Talent, Susan Boyle was just an ordinary middle-aged British woman. Now all this is going to change.
She lives in a house with her cat Pebbles in a tiny Scottish town. Because of learning difficulties, she doesn't have much education. But what she does have is a very good voice. As a kid, she sang in church and choirs and school plays. For a living, she sang at local pubs.
When she took the stage on April lOth, her hair was untidy and her clothes seemed just one step up from rags. The audience laughed at her.
But when she opened her mouth, the laughing audience went silent. A beautiful voice was singing I Dreamed a Dream from the musical Les Miserables. Everyone was amazed. At the end of her song, the audience jumped to their feet and applauded wildly.
Almost overnight, Susan became a household name. She won fans and millions of admirers. Her online videos have drawn over 85. 2 million hits.
Susan's story proved the truth of an old saying: "Never judge the book by its cover." Susan may look ordinary, and doesn't have much dress sense, but she can certainly sing.
Susan's fans admire her courage, as much as they do her voice. She has experienced mockery and many disappointments, but her love for music has kept her going, which is worth anyone's respect. According to the passage, Susan Boyle ________.
| A．is a famous young actress |
| B．became famous after a show |
| C．used to be a good student |
| D．is good at dancing and has millions of admirers |
The underlined phrase "just one step up from" in the third paragraph probably means "________".
| A．far from |
| B．close to |
| C．different from |
| D．the same as |
The audience jumped and applauded wildly because ______.
| A．her hair was untidy and her clothes seemed just one step up from rags |
| B．she looked very funny |
| C．she sang so well that everyone was amazed |
| D．she made a foolish mistake in the end |
Susan Boyle has many fans now because of ________.
| A．her beautiful face |
| B．her knowing how to dress |
| C．her good education |
| D．her beautiful voice and courage |
The passage is mainly about _________.
| A．how to win fans |
| B．how to sing well |
| C．a woman's sudden success |
| D．a woman's simple life |
Most people know that the United States is made up of fifty states. However, few people know a lot about all fifty of them. Sufjan Stevens is a young American musician. He wants to change this situation.
Sufjan Stevens plans to make an album about each of the fifty American states. During college he played in several musical groups and recorded an album of his own music. However, he wanted to be a writer, not a musician. So after college he moved to New York City to study writing.
In New York. Stevens had trouble writing stories. He discovered that he missed music. He also discovered that most of the stories he did write were about his home state of Michigan. So, Sufjan Stevens decided to make an album of songs about Michigan.
Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lakes State was released in 2003. The album was a big success. Many young people and music critics liked it. Before long, Stevens announced that he wanted to make an album for every state. He called it his “fifty states project”.
Stevens chose Illinois as his next state. He read many books about Illinois. He studied police documents and old newspapers. He talked to people who live in the state. The CD Illinois was released in 2005. Critics loved the album. It won many awards. Illinois became popular at colleges throughout the United States. People said the CD sounded different from anything else they had ever heard.
Sufjan Stevens is keeping his next state a secret from reporters. People have said that he is writing about Oregon, Rhode Island, or Minnesota. However, no one but Stevens knows for sure.Why does Sufian Stevens plan to make an album about each of the American states?
| A．To excite the music talent in ordinary Americans. |
| B．To record an album of his own music. |
| C．To let people know more about all the American states. |
| D．To go on writing stories. |
What did Sufjan Stevens do to make an album of songs about a state?
| A．He played in several musical groups. |
| B．He studied documents and newspapers and talked to people there. |
| C．He moved to New York City to study writing. |
| D．He kept his next state a secret from reporters. |
Which of the following can serve as the proper title for the passage?
| A．Fifty States Project |
| B．The Fifty States in America |
| C．Songs About American States |
| D．Sufjan Stevens and Michigan |
It was a winter morning, just a couple of weeks before Christmas. While most people were warming up their cars, Trevor, my husband, had to get up early to ride his bike four kilometers away from home to work. On arrival, he parked his bike outside the back door as he usually does. After putting in 10 hours of labor, he returned to find his bike gone.
The bike, a black Kona 18 speed, was our only transport. Trevor used it to get to work, putting in 60-hour weeks to support his young family. And the bike was also used to get groceries, saving us from having to walk long distances from where we live.
I was so sad that someone would steal our bike that I wrote to the newspaper and told them our story. Shortly after that, several people in our area offered to help. One wonderful stranger even bought a bike, then called my husband to pick it up. Once again my husband had a way to get to and from his job. It really is an honor that a complete stranger would go out of their way for someone they have never met before. People say that a smile can be passed from one person to another, but acts of kindness from strangers are even more so. This experience has had a spreading effect in our lives because it strengthened our faith in humanity(人性) as a whole. And it has influenced us to be more mindful of ways we, too, can share with others. No matter how big or how small, an act of kindness shows that someone cares. And the results can be everlasting.Why was the bike so important to the couple?
| A．The man’s job was bike racing. |
| B．It was their only possession. |
| C．It was a nice Kona 18 speed. |
| D．They used it for work and daily life. |
We can infer from the passage that .
| A．the couple worked 60 hours a week |
| B．people were busy before Christmas |
| C．the stranger brought over the bike |
| D．life was hard for the young family |
How did people get to know the couple’s problem?
| A．From radio broadcasts. | B．From a newspaper. |
| C．From TV news. | D．From a stranger. |
Which of the following is true?
| A．The author's husband often parked the bike outside the back door. |
| B．The author used to get to work by bike. |
| C．Several strangers offered bikes to them, but they only accepted one of them. |
| D．Somebody had stolen their bike before, but soon returned it to the author. |
“China now has 350 million smokers, accounting for one-third of the world total. Chinese smokers now become addicted to nicotine at the age of 19, five years earlier than the average starting age of 24 in 1997,” a report said a couple of years ago.
Of the 1.1 billion smokers all over the world. more than 800 million are in developing countries. And as the world's largest developing country, China also has the largest number of smokers.
Some frightening facts start to appear when we examine who China’s smokers are. Of the 350 million addicts, more than 100 million are under the age of 18, while more than 50 percent of male teachers and doctors are smokers.
Such a high rate of addicts among male teachers and doctors will certainly have a bad impact on the young generation.
Teachers are usually expected to be role models for students who tend to consider whatever they do is right and follow their example. It is very likely that the number of teenage smokers will increase in the near future unless measures are taken to forbid teachers from smoking in front of their students or designate schools as no-smoking zones.
What is truly puzzling is why so many doctors smoke. They are aware of the results of the habit, such as high blood pressure and lung cancer. Their example only helps justify the addiction of so many others.
If educated people set an example by stopping smoking at least in public places. it would be much easier to drive home the notion that it is uncivilized to smoke in public places.
In China, there should also be a national law to ban smoking in public places. These would make a massive contribution to cutting the number of people in China who are smoking themselves into early grave.Which of the following can serve as the best title for the passage?
| A．Time to Kick the Habit |
| B．China Bans Smoking in Public Places |
| C．Smokers in China |
| D．Make People Aware of Smoking |
In developing countries, China has the largest number of smokers, which covers.
| A．one-third of its total |
| B．one-eighth of its total |
| C．1ess than half its total |
| D．more than half its total |
In the writer's opinion, who have influenced young smokers, especially those under l8?
| A．Parents. | B．Teachers only. |
| C．Advertisements. | D．Teachers and doctors. |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．In China. those who get into the habit of smoking seem to be younger and younger. |
| B．More than half of the teachers and doctors are smokers in China. |
| C．The writer suggests schools should be designated as no-smoking zones. |
| D．It is of great benefit to forbid smoking in public places. |
Our need to communicate with each other has been a driving force in the development of technology. In the 20th century we have seen the invention of the radio, television, telephone and fax, and today the Internet has opened up a whole new way of communicating. We now have instant messaging services such as ICQ or China's QQ and chat rooms where people can join group discussions. They mean increasing choices for when, where and how to communicate, and more importantly, with whom.
While most people use the Internet to keep in touch with friends and family, a growing number of people use QQ and chat rooms to meet and chat with strangers. Because the Internet allows a certain amount of anonymity, users can be more open making it easier to make new friends. One user said that everyone is equal online, and age and appearance become unimportant. This makes it easier for people to communicate with each other.
Finding new friends is not the only reason people use chat rooms. The Internet can bring together like-minded people who want to discuss their favourite topics. There are chat rooms for certain sports, types of music, styles of art, in fact, just about any interest you can imagine, and many that you can't! Whatever unusual interest you might have, if you search on the Internet, there is a good chance that you will find someone, somewhere in cyberspace, willing to talk to you about it-right now.
However, there are problems with going online. It is possible for cyber-criminals to steal information such as credit card details while you are online, and there is always the chance that a new friend is not who he or she claims to be. One girl was really disappointed when she discovered that her new cyberfriend who wrote poems for her, was actually copying all the poems from magazines. But for all the problems that might come up, instant messaging services and chat rooms are here to stay, putting in touch with friends, family and strangers of similar interests.People use the Internet to.
A. chat to friends and meet family
B. meet strangers and write poems
C. chat to friends, family and strangersWhat does anonymity (para. 2) mean?
A. The state of being unknown.
B. The state of being friendly.
C. The state of being online.What types of topics will people discuss on the Internet?
A. Sports, types of music, styles of art.
B. All kinds of topics.
C. Only topics that the Internet allows.What is an example of problems with going online?
A. Some people may send you poems copied from magazines.
B. Your credit card details could be stolen.
C. There might be no one to chat with.
In many cultures white is often associated with something positive. A white-collar job, for instance, is the kind of job many people look for, working with your brain and not your hands.
White has a clean and pure image. That is why doctors, dentists, and nurses usually wear white uniforms. Babies are dressed in white at baptisms（洗礼）and brides wear white wedding gowns at weddings. White in these cases is the symbol of innocence or purity.
Sometimes white is used in expressions that are not good. “Whitewash” is one such expression. At first, “whitewash” meant to paint over something with white paint to make it look better. However, it means something different today: to hide or to cover up mistakes or failures.
A “white elephant” is another example of white used in a negative way. In ancient Thailand, a white elephant was regarded as a sacred animal, but it was very expensive to keep. The kings of those days presented a white elephant to the people they wanted to ruin. Once they received this holy, royal animal as a gift, they were not allowed to sell or kill it. Today, a “white elephant” means something that is big, useless, and unwanted. In America, when people want to get rid of their furniture or clothes, they often have a “white elephant sale”.The text is mainly about________.
| A．the history of some English idioms |
| B．the meanings of white in English culture |
| C．some interesting customs in English culture |
| D．some useful English words and expressions |
Which expression has a historical background?
| A．White elephant. | B．White-collar. |
| C．White-wash. | D．White elephant sale. |
In which statement does “white” have a negative meaning?
| A．A boy is dressed in white at baptisms. |
| B．A bride wears a white wedding gown. |
| C．A girl finds a white collar job. |
| D．A man whitewashes his crime. |
The author develops the text mainly by ______.
| A．analyzing its cause and effect |
| B．comparing different ideas |
| C．providing typical examples |
| D．following the time order |