English songs have been very popular for people around the world for many decades.Singers, from Elvis Presley to Ricky Martin, from the Beatles to Eminen and from Natalie Cole to Britney Spears, have all been sitting in everyone’s heart, even for people who don’t speak English. But will you have better English skills if you listen to English songs for a long time?
From my experiences, some people listen to English songs for 20－30 years but still haven’t accomplished any good English skills. Some people choose English songs to be the “main learning approach”， but most of them have failed.
Listening to English songs does not help you to speak English fluently. It does help you gain some vocabularies. Most of them are unusual ones that you don’t use in your everyday life. You won’t learn the sentence “It is a complicate project. We really need to meet the deadline.” in any English songs.
People like using English songs to practice English skills because it’s easy and enjoyable.They think that sitting in the car listening to English songs day by day can improve their English skills. It is not that actually.
You will not improve your listening skills because normal people don’t speak with melody (乐调). People don’t talk like Eminen’s songs (well, actually, some teenagers do). You can’t get yourself familiar with English pronunciation or accent just from listening to English songs. The words that they pronounce in the songs are not the words that you will hear in your everyday life.It often even confuses you more how English is pronounced.
I would fully encourage you to watch English movies, listen to radio news or other normal talks, but not music. Of course, you can consume it for fun but not the aim to improve your English skills.
【改编】What’s the main idea of the passage?_____
| A．How English songs aid people with practicing English skills. |
| B．Where people can find good English songs to practise their English skills |
| C．Why people are not willing to develop their English by listening to English songs. |
| D．Who has made English songs popular throughout the world. |
【改编】English songs are beneficial to English learners if they hope to ________.
| A．adapt to express themselves in daily life |
| B．enlarge their vocabularies |
| C．improve their listening skills |
| D．speak English fluently |
【改编】what can we conclude from the text ? ________.
| A．English songs get people familiar with English pronunciation or accent |
| B．watching English movies or listening to radio news can be great helpful to English learners |
| C．worldfamous singers have done a lot to help people learn English |
| D．most people who listen to English songs in their car speak English very well |
Our eating habits are very important for good health and a strong body. There are times when most of us would have sweets and ice-cream rather than eat meat and rice. Sweets and ice-cream are not bad for the stomach if we eat at the end of a meal. If we drink beer at meals, it may take away our appetite. It is important for us to eat our meal at the same time each day. When we feel hungry, it is a sign that our body needs food. When we feel angry or excited, we may not want to eat. A long time ago, in England, some judges used to decide whether a man was telling the truth by giving him some dry bread. If the man could not swallow the bread, it was a sign that he was not telling the truth. Although this seems very strange and rather foolish, it is indeed an excellent way of finding out the truth. A man who is worrying about something has difficulty in swallowing anything dry. Because he is worried, he loses his appetite and does not want to eat. Why do we have to form good eating habits?
| A．Because we want to eat more. |
| B．Because we enjoy our meal. |
| C．Because we want to save time. |
| D．Because we want to keep fit. |
When do you think it is good to eat sweets and ice-cream according to the passage?
| A．When we are happy |
| B．When we have a good appetite. |
| C．After a meal. |
| D．Before a meal |
The word“swallow” means______.
| A．take into the stomach through the throat |
| B．eat with difficulty |
| C．break with the teeth before taking in |
| D．drink like a fish |
When does the writer think it would be better to have our meal?.
| A．When our work is over. |
| B．At the fixed time every day. |
| C．When we feel happy. |
| D．When every family member is home. |
What could a man do if he told a lie according to some judges in old England?.
| A．He could eat a lot of food. |
| B．He could hardly need any food. |
| C．He could swallow some dry bread easily. |
| D．He could not swallow any dry bread. |
After a day of work and play, the body needs to rest. Sleep is necessary for good health. During this time, the body recovers from the activities of the previous day. The rest that you get while sleeping enables your body to prepare itself for the next day.
There are four levels of sleep, each being a little deeper than the one before. As you sleep, your muscles relax little by little. Your heart beats more slowly, and your brain slows down. After you reach the fourth level, your body shifts back and forth from one level of sleep to the other.
Although your mind slows down, from time to time you will dream. Scientists who study sleep state that when dreaming occurs your eyeballs begin to move quickly (although your eyelids are closed). This stage of sleep is called REM, which stands for rapid eye movement.
If you have trouble falling asleep, some people recommend breathing very slowly and very deeply. Other people believe that drinking warm milk will help make you drowsy. There is also an old suggestion that counting sheep will put you to sleep.A good title for this passage is _______.
| A．Sleep. | B．Good Health | C．Dreams | D．Work and Rest |
The word “drowsy” in the last paragraph means_______.
| A．sick | B．asleep | C．a little sleepy | D．noisy |
This passage suggests that not getting enough sleep might make you _______.
| A．dream more | B．have poor health | C．nervous | D．breathe quickly |
During REM ________.
| A．your eyes move quickly | B．you dream |
| C．you are restless | D．both A and B |
The average number of hours of sleep that an adult needs is_________.
| A．approximately(大约) six hours. | B．around ten hours. |
| C．about eight hours | D．not stated here. |
Miss Popular
I was awkward in middle school: bony and athletic, with a high grade in science and a low one in self-esteem. Though I had a few friends, I wasn’t popular. I was picked last in football and I sometimes ate lunch by myself.
I remember the day Brittany came to our school. Her teeth were crooked(歪斜的), and she was a little overweight. Not that this mattered though, because she walked around like she was better than all of us. She was outspoken and incredibly frightening, making people lose confidence.
Around Brittany, I tried my best to go unnoticed. Standing out or stealing her spotlight could only result in one thing: conflict. Brittany was always the first girl picked for teams; I was lucky if I was picked at all. I was thrown the ball while she stood with the quarterback, chatting about the last party she’d gone to. I had never been to a party before or kissed a boy.
One day, a classmate asked me to the school dance. I was flattered. Then Brittany told me during science class that she had persuaded him to invite me. She asked in front of everyone, “Why would anyone even want you?” I went home and cried.
Although she was seemingly perfect in everyone’s eyes, I wanted to be everything that she wasn’t and yet a million times more perfect. Brittany was so frightening and violent, but I wanted to be calm and not at all aggressive.
I found Brittany’s online profile a few weeks ago. She still had the same chubby(圆胖脸) face and mocking（嘲笑的）simile, and had posted half-naked pictures of herself. But as I read on, I realized that Brittany had died in a drunken driving accident a year ago. She had been 16 and pregnant at the time. Suddenly my view of Brittany changed from a bad influence into a struggling little girl whose life was taken before she could understand right from wrong. My experience with Brittany taught me that though we are all innocent in our youth, the choices we make will have great effects on us forever. I will always remember Brittany as that loud, overconfident girl. As part of that shy insecure person I used to be will always keep me modest.Fromthefirst three passages wecanconcludethat .
| A．the author was trying to avoid conflict with Brittany |
| B．the author secretly envied Brittany for being popular |
| C．Brittany’s appearance made her popular with boys |
| D．Brittany was puzzled at how she could be popular |
Which of the following is TRUE about Brittany?
| A．She didn’t mean to hurt the author. |
| B．She took delight in hurting others. |
| C．Her confidence came from her popularity. |
| D．Her overweight made her more outspoken. |
According to the passage we can learn that the author.
| A．was afraid of Brittany and followed her lead |
| B．saw the influence that low self-esteem can have |
| C．was determined to be better than Brittany |
| D．knew she was quietly different from Brittany |
Thelast passage is meant to .
| A．tell us the reason for Brittany’s death |
| B．present the changed attitude to Brittany |
| C．show the influences of the youth |
| D．stress the importance of behaviors |
Good news for game lovers― a tank game has come out recently. In this game you are in a tank and the screen shows your view of the landscape outside. You gain points by shooting enemy tanks, super tanks, missiles and flying saucers（飞碟）.
Expert players can gain scores of around 150,000 points at this game. To get a high score you have to destroy twenty tanks as quickly as possible. After this, the super tanks, missiles and flying saucers appear. These are worth far more points than the ordinary tanks. However, the number of tanks you have to destroy before the super tanks appear varies on different machines.
Try to get close to an enemy tank from the side or the back, so it cannot shoot at you. Then, when you get close, turn to face it, line it up in your sights and fire before it turns to shoot at you. If you miss or are too slow, quickly escape by moving out of the enemy’s line of fire. You can then move around the enemy and come in from another side.
When a super tank appears, try to destroy it as quickly as possible. Then wait safely behind an obstacle（障碍物）for a missile or flying saucer. The cubes are useful objects to hide behind as you can fire over them without exposing yourself to danger. The missiles will fly straight at you, but they are difficult to hit, so do not shoot at them until they are quite close. The saucers are much easier to hit, but do not follow them as you will be open to attack from enemy tanks.This passage is an about a game.
| A．experiment | B．invention | C．expression | D．instruction |
If you hide behind the cubes during an attack, which of the following may not happen?
| A．Avoiding being exposed to danger. | B．Being hit by a missile. |
| C．Destroying a missile. | D．Firing over missiles or flying saucers. |
If you can destroy a super tank, missile or flying saucer, you will get.
| A．a machine to play with | B．many more points |
| C．an ordinary tank | D．nothing |
From the last sentence we can see that you are likely to be attacked by tanks if you.
| A．hit a flying saucer | B．shoot at enemy tanks |
| C．fire straight at a missile | D．run after a flying saucer |
“There are no real friends or enemies in the business world”. This saying may have been on the minds of bosses at China’s main online video providers, Youku.com Inc and Tudou Holdings Ltd, when the one-time rivals（对手）agreed to merge (合并) on March 12. The deal will create the country’s largest company in the online video industry, Youku Tudou Inc.
Three months ago, the two companies were involved in a copyright dispute. On December 12, Tudou charged Youku.com with illegally airing the entertainment series, Kangxi is coming. Tudou was the only company which had rights to the series. In response, Youku filed a lawsuit（诉讼） against Tudou, claiming the company was broadcasting more than 50 Youku-owned TV series.
According to analysts, the deal came out of the market battle between the two companies. Each spent so much money buying licensed content that they ended up in the red last year. “Funding pressures are the main reason for the deal,” said Shi Jialong, a Hong Kong-based analyst with CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets. “After the merger, there might be a fall in copyright purchase prices, which is good for the industry in the short term.”
The new company will face competition from Web portals(门户网站) providing similar services. Youku owned 21.8 percent of Chin’s online video market in the last quarter of last year and Tudou 13.7 percent, but Sohu.com followed close on the heels with 13.3 percent, according to domestic research company Analysys International.
Some analysts do not feel the deal will secure the market for Youku Tudou. Shi Yu, CEO of media company KU6, said the merger was unlikely to have a “one plus one more than two” effect. In his opinion, video-hosting sites need to find new ways of generation profit to succeed in the market.The main reason for Youku.com Inc and Tudou Holdings Ltd to merge is that .
| A．the two companies were in great demand of money |
| B．they were charge with illegally airing the entertainment series |
| C．the two companies created the country’s largest company |
| D．they intended to cut down the prices of copyrights |
The underlined words “in the red” in the third paragraph mean “”.
| A．in a big fight | B．in a great trouble | C．at a loss | D．at a distance |
What do the last two paragraphs imply?
| A．Shi Yu doesn’t think it a good idea for the two companies to merge. |
| B．The merger is really a win-win deal for the companies involved. |
| C．The merger may not promise a bright future for Youku Tudou. |
| D．The new company will be more competitive after the merger. |
Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
| A．The merge will benefit the online video industry to some degree. |
| B．The two companies spent lots of money building video-hosting sites. |
| C．Youku Tudou Inc currently controls half of the online video market in China. |
| D．The new company has taken charged of all the entertainment series. |