Ireland has had a very difficult history. The problems started in the 16th century when English rulers tried to conquer(征服) Ireland. For hundreds of years, the Irish people fought against the English. Finally, in 1921, the British government was forced to give independence to the south of Ireland. The result is that today there are two “Irelands”. Northern Ireland, in the north, is part of the united kingdom. The Republic of Ireland, in the south, is an independent country.
In the 1840s the main crop, potatoes, was affected by disease and about 750,000 people died of hunger. This, and a shortage (短缺) of work , forced many people to leave Ireland and live in the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada. As a result of these problems, the population fell from 8.2 million in 1841 to 6.6 million in 1851.
For many years, the majority of Irish people earned their living as farmers. Today, many people still work on the land but more and more people are moving to the cities to work in factories and offices. Life in the cities is very different from life in the countryside, where things move at a quieter and slower pace.
The Irish are famous for being warm-hearted and friendly. Oscar Wilde, a famous Irish writer, once said that the Irish were “the greatest talkers since the Greeks”. Since independence, Ireland has revived(复兴) its own culture of music, language, literature and singing. Different areas have different styles of old Irish song which are sung without instruments. Other kinds of Irish music use many different instruments such as the violin, whistles, etc. What does the author tell us in paragraph 1?
| A．How the Irish fought against the English. |
| B．How Ireland gained independence. |
| C．How English rulers tried to conquer Ireland. |
| D．How two “Irelands” came into being. |
We learn from the text that in Ireland .
| A．food shortages in the 1840s led to a decline in population |
| B．people are moving to the cities for lack of work in the countryside |
| C．it is harder to make a living as a farmer than as a factory worker |
| D．different kinds of old Irish songs are all sung with instruments |
The last paragraph is mainly about .
| A．the Irish character |
| B．Irish culture |
| C．Irish musical instruments |
| D．a famous Irish writer |
What can be the best title for the text?
| A．Life in Ireland |
| B．A Very Difficult History |
| C．Ireland, Past and Present |
| D．The Independence of Ireland |
You are watching a film in which two men are having a fight. They hit one another hard. At the start they only fight with their fists. But soon they begin hitting one another over the heads with chairs. And so it goes on until one of the men crashes (撞击) through a wind and falls thirty feet to the ground below. He is dead！Of course he isn't really dead. With any luck he isn't even hurt. Why? Because the men who fall out of high windows or jump from fast moving trains, who crash cars or even catch fire, are professionals. They do this for a living. These men are called stuntmen. That is to say, they perform tricks. There are two sides to their work. They actually do most of the things you see on the screen. For example, they fall from a high building. However, they do not fall on to hard ground but on to empty cardboard boxes covered with a mattress (床垫). Again, when they hit one another with chairs, the chairs are made of soft wood and when they crash through windows, the glass is made of sugar! But although their work depends on trick of this sort, it also requires a high degree of skill and training. Often a stuntman' s success depends on careful timing. For example, when he is "blown up" in a battle scene, he has to jump out of the way of the explosion just at the right moment.
Naturally stuntmen are well paid for their work, but they lead dangerous lives. They often get seriously injured, and sometimes killed. A Norwegian stuntman, for example, skied over the edge of a cliff (悬崖) a thousand feet high. His parachute (降落伞) failed to open, and he was killed. In spite of all the risks, this is no longer a profession for men only. Men no longer dress up as women when actresses have to perform some dangerous action. For nowadays there are stuntgirls too.Stuntmen are those who ______.
| A．often dress up as actors |
| B．prefer to lead dangerous lives |
| C．often perform seemingly dangerous actions |
| D．often fight each other for their lives |
Stuntmen earn their living by ______.
| A．playing their dirty tricks |
| B．selling their special skills |
| C．jumping out of high windows |
| D．jumping from fast moving trains |
Which of the following is the main factor (因素) of a successful performance?
| A．Strength. | B．Exactness. |
| C．Speed. | D．Carefulness. |
What can be inferred from the author' s example of the Norwegian stuntman?
A.Sometimes an accident can occur to a stuntman.
B The percentage of serious accidents is high.
C. Parachutes must be of good quality.
D. The cliff is too high.
Several interesting American museums tell about health subjects. One is the Doctor Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry. It is at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. That is where the first college in the world to train dentists began. The museum tells about the history of the medical treatment of teeth.
Visitors can see some frightening devices that once were used to remove infected (受感染的) teeth. They also can see sets of teeth made of animal bone. They were made for a famous American -- the first President, George Washington. Most people do not consider a visit to the dentist their idea of a good time. However, the director of the museum says he wanted to make the museum a fun place to visit. He says he also wants to teach visitors about the importance of taking care of their teeth.
Another museum collects devices that help people hear. The Kenneth W. Berger Hearing Aid Museum is at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. The museum has more than three-thousand hearing aids from around the world. They include old and strange devices. Some hearing aids were made to look like other objects. That is because in the past many people did not want anyone to know they were wearing a hearing aid. It is common for people to think it uneasy to pay a visit to ____.
| A．the University of Maryland | B．the Museum of Dentistry |
| C．the Hearing Aid Museum | D．the dentist |
The text mainly tells about _____.
| A．museums in the US |
| B．interesting American museums |
| C．American museums with health subjects |
| D．the history of the medical treatment of teeth |
What do we learn about George Washington from the text?
| A．He once visited the National Museum of Dentistry. |
| B．He considered the Museum of Dentistry a fun place to visit |
| C．His artificial teeth were collected in the National Museum of Dentistry. |
| D．His teeth seemed to be made of animal bone. |
The underlined word “devices” in the first and last paragraph probably means _____.
| A．museums | B．strategies |
| C．hearing aids | D．tools |
Ellis Island is located in New York Harbor. Ellis Island is open daily year round from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours during summer. It is closed on December 25. There is no admission charge to Ellis Island; but donations are gratefully accepted.
At Your Fingertips
Park information (212) 363-7620
Emergencies (212) 363-3260
Ferryboat information (212) 269-5755
Lost and found (212)363-7620
Dining, gifts & audio tour 344-0996
Transportation
Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Ferry; boats leave from Battery Park, Manhattan, and from Liberty State Park, New Jersey. They run about every 30 to 45 minutes beginning at 9:15 a.m.(The time for ferry is changeable)
Hours: May vary; call the number above
Closed: December 25
Ferry fees (includes Liberty and Islands) adults, $7; senior citizens, $6; children (age 3~17), $5. (Group rates are available for 25 or more adults.)In summer, visitors will have ______ to visit Ellis Island.
| A．a limited time | B．a longer time |
| C．a shorter time | D．a wonderful time |
Which number would you call if our friend were suddenly ill? _______
| A．(212)344-0996 | B．(212)363-7620 |
| C．(212) 363-3260 | D．(212) 269-5755 |
Which of the following is NOT true?________
| A．People can visit Ellis Island free of charge. |
| B．The boats departure time from Battery Park is at 9:15 all the year round. |
| C．Ferry fees for children are cheaper than for adults. |
| D．Ferry fees for group visitors can be reduced. |
The size and location of the world’s deserts are always changing. Over millions of years, as climates change and mountains rise, new dry and wet areas appear. But within the last hundred years deserts have been increasing after frightful speed. This is partly because of natural changes, but most responsible for creating deserts are men.
Man can make deserts, but they can also prevent them from getting bigger. Algeria is planning a green belt of trees along the edge of the Sahara Desert to stop the sand. In China, too, windbreaks are being built in the northwest to keep the desert from growing.
But desert still threaten the world. Experts believe that land that is on the way to becoming deserts equals the size of Australia, Russia and US put together. Can we stop the spread of the world’s deserts and save the land that is so essential to mankind? Yes, we can, And we must.The reason for the land that turns into deserts is mostly because of _______
| A．the changing of the climates | B．man |
| C．the natural changes | D．the wind |
The word “windbreak” means _______
| A．trees planted as a belt to stop the wind |
| B．high walls as a belt to stop the wind |
| C．long and deep ditch as a belt to stop the wind |
| D．men stood side by side as a belt to stop the wind |
The deserts still threaten the world in the way ______
| A．of increasing at an unbelievable speed |
| B．of spreading in Australia , Russia, and the US |
| C．of appearing new dry and wet areas in every part of the world |
| D．that they cause the changes of the climates |
Which of the following do you think is the best method?____
| A．People move away from the land that is on the way to become deserts |
| B．To build great walls to stop the wind and sand |
| C．To plant trees and grass on the surface of the land |
| D．To irrigate the desert |
There are many kinds of sales. For example, a “back-to-school sale” is held near the beginning of the school year. Parents like the lower prices of the clothes and school supplies for their children.
A “midnight madness” event starts very late at night. An “early bird special” sale starts very early in the morning. This kind of sale is popular the day after Thanksgiving in November.
A favorite sale among many people is the “buy one, get one free” sale. You buy one thing and get a second one without cost. When people see the word “free” in an advertisement they know they are getting a good deal. As a matter of fact, it is not the case.
Another kind of sale is a “going out of business” sale. This is when a storeowner tries to sell all the goods in the store before closing the business permanently(永久地).
Let us say the store sells floor coverings. The owner lowers the prices and puts up a sign that says: “Going out of business sale. All items MUST be sold by tomorrow.”
People who buy the floor coverings think they are getting a special deal because everything must be sold in a short period of time. Then, days later they see the store did not close permanently. And they see the same sign that claims the store is going out of business. Some business owners really do not end the business. They just want to earn more money.
People also hold their own sales. They hold garage sales and yard sales outside their home. They sell things they no longer want. Groups such as religious centers or schools hold bake sales. They sell cakes, cookies and other baked goods to raise money.
In America, you can always find a good sale, no matter the day or time of year. There is the Independence Day sale, Veteran’s Day sale, clearance sale, sidewalk sale, red tag sale, white sale, blue light special, liquidation sale, half-off sale, warehouse sale, tent sale ...What does the passage mainly deal with?
| A．How to save money in shopping. |
| B．Different kinds of sales. |
| C．Shoppers’ ways to earn money. |
| D．Reasons for the popularity of sales. |
What do we call the sale if it starts before the sun rises?
| A．A “back-to-school sale”. |
| B．A “midnight madness” event. |
| C．An “early bird special” sale. |
| D．A “buy one, get one free” sale. |
Why do parents like a “back-to-school sale”?
| A．Because it has a variety of school supplies. |
| B．Because it is held at the beginning of the school year. |
| C．Because it provides plenty school uniforms. |
| D．Because they can save money. |
What’s the purpose of some owners who do “going out of business” sale repeatedly?
| A．They want to close the business permanently. |
| B．They want to give special offers to customers. |
| C．They want to sell all their goods in a short period of time. |
| D．They want to cheat the customers into buying their goods. |