Tang Dynasty poets sang for about three centuries in different tones. There were many famous poets living in the Tang period, such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Juyi and Li Shangyin. Poems of the Tang Dynasty edited in the Qing Dynasty is a collection of more than 48,900 poems that were written by over 2,200 poets. But it didn’t cover all the poems of the Tang Dynasty.
During the Tang Dynasty, poems were recited when lovers walked under the moonlight. Poems were also recited when soldiers fought on the battlefield. People recited them in the open air or at temple fairs.
Tang Dynasty poets wrote poems to win fame and also to develop their temperament(性情). They poured our deep feelings for their friends and criticized injustice in the world through poems.
In the Tang Dynasty scholars had to be poets. Their readers were not only people of high social position but also common people. Poets recited poems, women singers sang poems and other ranks of people, including old women and children, read Tang poems. This atmosphere affected foreigners who visited the country at that time. As a result, Tang poetry was introduced to some adjacent countries, like Japan and Vietnam.
Tang poetry is a most brilliant page in the history of ancient Chinese literature. It’s a miracle(奇迹) in the cultural history of mankind. The Tang Dynasty was a powerful empire with a vast territory. It inherited(继承) Chinese civilization that went back to ancient times, was combined with the best of other cultures and adopted the benefits of other nations in the world. Tang poetry wasn’t the only spiritual wealth created by the Tang Dynasty people. Philosophy and religion, handwriting and painting, and music and dance all gained new peaks of development. Tang poetry, however, was the jewel in the crown and its greatest achievement.We can conclude form the passage that ___ .
A.only people in the Tang Dynasty created poems |
B.in total there was four famous poets in the Tang Dynasty |
C.the Tang Dynasty probably existed for about three centuries |
D.in the Tang Dynasty most common people were poets |
Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?
A.Why the poets created poems? |
B.Some other kinds of spiritual wealth in the Tang Dynasty. |
C.The significance and influence if the Tang Dynasty. |
D.The editors of Poems of the Tang Dynasty. |
The underlined word “adjacent”probably means ___ .
A.strong |
B.neighboring |
C.poor |
D.rich |
What does the author really want to tell us in Paragraph 4?
A.Tang Dynasty poems were quite popular. |
B.In the Tang Dynasty all scholars were poets. |
C.Many foreigners came to our country during the Tang Dynasty. |
D.in the Tang Dynasty many poems were sung by women singers. |
Since the 1970s, scientists have been searching for ways to link the brain with computers. Brain-computer interface(BCI) technology could help people with disabilities send commands to machines.
Recently, two researchers, Jose Millan and Michele Tavella from the Federal Polytechnic school in Lausanne, Switzerland, demonstrated(展示)a small robotic wheelchair directed by a person's thoughts.
In the laboratory, Tavella operated the wheelchair just by thinking about moving his left or right band. He could even talk as he watched the vehicle and guided it with his thoughts.
"our brain has billions of nerve ceils. These send signals through the spinal cord (脊髓)to the muscles to give us the ability to move. But spinal cord injuries or other conditions can prevent these weak electrical signals from reaching the muscles," Tavella says. "Our system allows disabled people to communicate with external world and also to control devices."
The researchers designed a special cap for the user. This head cover picks up the signals from the scalp(头皮) and sends them to a computer. The computer interprets the signals and commands the motorized wheelchair. The wheelchair also has two cameras that identify objects in its path. They help the computer react to commands from the brain.
Prof. Millan, the team leader, says scientists keep improving the computer software that interprets brain signals and turns them into simple commands. "The practical possibilities that BCI technology offers to disabled people can be grouped in two categories: communication, and controlling devices. One example is this wheelchair."
He says his team has set two goals. One is testing with real patients, so as to prove that this is a technology they can benefit frotn. And the other is to guarantee that they can use the technology over long periods of time.
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BCI is a technology that can
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How" did Tavella operate the wheelchair in the laboratory?
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Which of the following shows the path of the signals described in Paragraph 5?
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The team will test with real patients to
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Which of the following would be the best title for the text?
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Diana Jacobs thought her family had a workable plan to pay for college for her 21-year-old twin sons: a combination of savings, income,
scholarships, and a modest amount of borrowing. Then her husband lost his job, and the plan fell apart.
"I have two kids in college, and I want to say 'come home,' but at the same time I want to provide them with a good education," says Jacobs.
The Jacobs family did work out a solution: They asked and received more aid form the schools, and each son increased his borrowing to the maximum amount through the federal loan (贷款) program. They will each graduate with $20,000 of debt, but at least they will be able to finish school.
With unemployment rising, financial aid administrators expect to hear more families like the Jacobs. More students are applying for aid, and more families expect to need student loans. College administrators are concerned that they will not have enough aid money to go around.
At the same time, tuition(学费)continues to rise. A report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education found that college tuition and fees increased 439% from 1982 to 2007, while average family income rose just 147%. Student borrowing has more than doubled in the last decade,
"If we go on this way for another 25years, we won't have an affordable system of higher education," says Patrick M. Callan, president of the center. "The middle class families have been financing it through debt. They will send kids to college whatever it takes, even if that means a huge amount of debt."
Financial aid administrators have been having a hard time as many companies decide that student loans are not profitable enough and have stopped making them. The good news, however, is that federal loans account for about three quarters of student borrowing, and the government says that money will flow uninterrupted.
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According to Paragraph 1, why did the plan of Jacobs family fail?
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How did the Jacobs manage to solve their problem?
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Financial aid administrators believe that.
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What can we learn about the middle class families from the text?
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According to the last paragraph, the government will.
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Tim Richter and his wife, Linda, had taught for over 30 years near Buffalo, New York--he in computers, she in special education. "Teaching means everything to us," Tim would say. In April1998, he learned he would need a heart operation. It was the kind of news that leads to some serious thinking about life's purpose.
Not long after the surgery, Tim saw a brochure describing Imagination Library, a program started by Dolly Parton' s foundation (基金会) that mailed a book every month to children from birth to age five in the singer's home town of Sevier, Tennessee.“I thought, maybe Linda and I could do something like this when we retire," Tim recalls. He placed the brochure on his desk, "as a reminder."
Five years later, now retired and with that brochure still on the desk, Tim clicked on imagination library .com. The program had been opened up to partners who could take advantage of book and postage discounts.
The quality of the books was of great concern to the Richters. Rather than sign up online, they went to Dollywood for a look-see. “We didn’t want to give the children rubbish,” says Linda. The books-reviewed each year by teachers, literacy specialists and Dollywood board members-included classics such as Ezra Jack Keats’s The Snowy Day and newer books like Anna Dewdney’s Llama Llama series.
Satisfied, the couple set up the Richter Family Foundation and got to work. Since 2004, they have shipped more than 12,200 books to preschoolers in their in their area. Megan Williams, a mother of four, is more than appreciative: “This program introduces us to books I’ve never heard of .”
The Richters spend about $400 a month sending books to 200 children. “Some people sit there and wait to die,” says Tim. “Others get as busy as they can in the time they have left.”
What led Tim to think seriously about the meaning of life?
A.His health problem. | B.His love for teaching. |
C.The influence of his wife. | D.The news from the Web. |
What did Tim want to do after learning about Imagination Library?
A.Give out brochures. | B.Do something similar. |
C.Write books for children | D.Retire from being a teacher. |
According to the text, Dollly Parton is .
A.a well-known surgeon | B.a mother of a four-year-old |
C.a singer born in Tennessee | D.a computer programmer |
Why did the Richters go to Dollywood?
A.To avoid signing up online. |
B.To meet Dollywood board members. |
C.To make sure the books were the newest. |
D.To see if the books were of good quality. |
What can we learn from Tim’s words in the last paragraph?
A.He needs more money to help the children. |
B.He wonders why some people are so busy. |
C.He tries to save those waiting to die. |
D.Hconsiders his efforts worthwhile. |
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 other by the"Great American Dream"However, he experienced severe financial hardship when his family business was ruined in the Great Depression of the earlv l930s.
Milles's most famous play, Death of a SaIesman, 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 double 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 sucess. 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 revews,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.
Millerl died of hear 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.
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Why did Arthur Miller' s father move to the USA?
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The play Death of a Salesman
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What can we learn about Willy Loman?
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After it was first staged, Death of a Salesman
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What is the text mainly about?
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Which are you more likely to have wath you at sny given mement—your cell phone or your wallet? Soon you may be able to throw your wallet away and pay for things with a quick wave of your smart phone over an electroue scannet.
In January, Starbucks announced that customers could start using their phones to buy coffee in 6,800 of its states. This is the first pay-by-phone practice in the U.S., but we’re likely to see more witeless payment alternatives as something called ucar field communcation(NFC)GETS IN TO America’s consumet electanies. Last Deccmbet some new smart phanes which cantain an NFC chip were introduced to the public.
Already in use in part of Asia and Europe, NFC allows shoppers to wave theie phones a few inchs above a payment terminal-a contact-free system build for speed and convenience. plan a few incees live a payment tetminal a one a few ptaht need to be worked out, like who will get to collect the profitable trunsacian(交易)fees. Although some credit card providers have been experimenting with wave and pay systems that use NFC enabled credit cards, cellphone service providers truay try to mused their way into the point of sale (POS)market. Three big cell phone service providers have formed a joinf tenture(合资企业)that will go into opention over the next 15 months. Its goal is“to lead the U.S. payments industry from cards to mobile phone.”
The other big NFC sue, apart from how paymeats will be processed, is security, For instance, what’s to stop a thief from digitally pickpocketing you? “We’re still not at the point where an attacker can just brush against yee in a crowd and steal all the money out of your phone,”says Jimmy Shah. A mobile security rescarcher, “Usera may also be able to set transaction timeits,requiring a password to be enteced for larger putchases.
Bussiness? Keep in mund you lost your smart phone, it can be located on a located on a map and remotely disabled. Plus, your phone can be password protected, Your wallet isn’t.What is predicted to happen in the U.S.?
A.The expansion of cellphone companices. |
B.The boom of pay by phone business. |
C.The dissppearanceof credit cards. |
D.The increase of Starbucks sales.s |
The NFC technology can be used to________.
A.ensure the safety of shoppers |
B.collect transaction fees easily |
C.make purchase faster and smpler |
D.improve the quality of cellphones |
Three cellphone service providers form a joint venture to__________.
A.strengthen their relationship |
B.get a share in the payments industry |
C.sell more cellphones |
D.test the NFC teehnoingy |
According to the what can users do if they lose their smart phones?
A.Stop the luneting of niet phones. |
B.Stop a passwant. |
C.Cat all the money out of their phones. |
D.Can large purchases. |