Hi, everybody!
Welcome to our newly-opened Richards Cinema Bookstore!
Now let me introduce to you some of the new film books in our store.
Are you Chinese film fans? OK, here comes the latest 25 New Takes about Chinese films. It is a collection of 25 fresh readings of different Chinese films from the 1930s to the present. In recent years, Chinese films are very popular in the States, such as Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon, Hero, and Flowers of Shanghai.
Do you like French films? Well, here is The French Cinema Book. It covers French films from the 1890s to the beginning of the 21st century. It is written for all lovers of French cinema: students and teachers, specialists and fans, and so on.
Maybe you are Indian film fans and star-chasers. Then here is Encyclopedia(百科全书) of Indian Cinema. The book is complete introduction to all the best Indian films. It also offers a full list of names of the famous and successful film stars in the past ten years. You know, the Indian film industry is the largest in the world after our Hollywood.
If you like British films, we have The British Cinema Book. It is a good review of British cinema. This book contains a good many nice pictures.
In our bookstore, you can also find books about Mexican, Japanese, Australian, German and Italian films.
Well, please help yourselves to some coffee or tea, and have a good time here! The speaker of the passage is most probably ______.
| A．the author of 25 New Takes |
| B．a tourist in the cinema bookstore |
| C．the manager of the cinema bookstore |
| D．a reader of Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema |
The purpose of the speaker is ______.
| A．to satisfy the customers’ various tastes |
| B．to keep the authors in the cinema bookstore |
| C．to offer the tourists chances to meet the film stars |
| D．to turn the readers into film producers |
A new study has found some secrets of people’s understanding of large numbers.
Researchers studied a group of people who were born deaf and never learned any spoken language or a formal sign language, but they have developed a gesture system to communicate with people around them. The gestures let them express approximate amounts, but not exact numbers.
“Up to three, they’re fine,” says Elizabet Spaepen, a researcher at the University of Chicago and an author of the study. “But past three, they start to fall apart.” In one test, Spaepen would knock her fist against a study participant’s fist a certain number of times and then ask them to respond with the same number of knocks. “If I were to knock four times on their fist, they might knock on my fist five times,” she says.
The finding offers a clue to just how much language affects our understanding of numbers. That has been a big question since 2004, when other researchers published data on two tribes in the Amazon whose members also lack words for big numbers. “What they have are words that mean one and two,” Spaepen says, “and then they have a word to mean many.”
Members of the Amazonian tribes also had trouble matching numbers larger than three or four. But some scholars felt that these earlier studies failed to prove that language was the reason. They pointed out that the tribes lived in groups that didn’t use money and had no need for exact numbers.
The new research appears to answer that criticism. “It proves that the kinds of problems in understanding numbers that we found in the Amazonian tribes are not due to just the cultural or environmental circumstances,” says Peter Gordon of Columbia University, one of the researchers involved in the earlier studies.The participants of the new study ______.
| A．cannot communicate with one another |
| B．use a formal sign language to express numbers |
| C．have some physical disability |
| D．come from a distant tribe |
According to the passage, the new study _______.
| A．ignored the cultural influence on the participants |
| B．is doubted by many people |
| C．has found it is harder to learn numbers than learning a sign language |
| D．has shown that our understanding of numbers is influenced by our mastering of language. |
The tribes involved in earlier studies _________.
| A．often dealt with big numbers. |
| B．didn’t use money in their daily life |
| C．didn’t have their own language |
| D．often made trouble for the researchers |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．Peter Gordon is a researcher of the University of Chicago. |
| B．Peter Gordon thinks less of the new study than his earlier studies. |
| C．Peter Gordon believes people’s understanding of numbers has nothing to do with cultural circumstances. |
| D．Peter Gordon is in favor of the finding of the new study. |
In which part of a newspaper would you most probably find this passage?
| A．Science | B．Health |
| C．Politics | D．Lifestyle |
“Long time no see” is a very interesting sentence. When I first read this sentence from an American friend’s email, I laughed. I thought it was a perfect example of Chinglish.
Obviously, it is a word-by-word literal translation of the Chinese greetings with a ruled English grammar and structure! Later on, my friend told me that it is a standard American greeting. I was too thrilled to believe her. Her words could not convince me at all. So I did a research on google.com. To my surprise, there are over 60 thousand web pages containing “Long time no see.” This sentence has been widely used in emails, letters, newspapers, movies, books, or any other possible places. Though it is sort of informal, it is part of the language that Americans use daily. Ironically, if you type this phrase in Microsoft Word, the software will tell you that the grammar needs to be corrected.
Nobody knows the origin of this Chinglish sentence. Some people believe that it came from Charlie Chan’s movies. In the 1930s, Hollywood moviemakers successfully created a world wide famous Chinese detective named “Charlie Chan” on wide screens. Detective Chan likes to teach Americans some Chinese wisdom by quoting Confucius. “Long time no see” was his trademark. Soon after Charlie Chan, “Long time no see” became a popular phrase in the real world with thanks to the popularity of these movies.
Some scholars refer to America as a huge pot of stew. All kinds of culture are mixed in the stew together, and they change the color and taste of each other. American Chinese, though a minority ethnic(少数民族的成员) group in the United States, is also contributing some changes to the stew! Language is usually the first thing to be influenced in the mixed stew.
You can have some other examples than adoptions from Chinese, such as pizza from Italian, susi from Japanese, and déjà vu from French etc. There is a long list! Americans do not just simply borrow something from others. They will modify it and make it their own, so you would not be surprised to find a tofu and peanut butter hamburger in a restaurant, or to buy a bottle of iced Chinese green tea with honey in a grocery store. Since Americans appreciate Chinese culture more and more nowadays, I believe more Chinese words will become American English in the future. In this way the American stew keeps adding richness and flavor.The writer himself felt surprised at ______.
| A．the Chinglish expression “Long time no see” |
| B．“Long time no see” used as standard American English |
| C．so many literal translation of the expressions used in America |
| D．finding out Americans use the expression every day |
The word “stew” in the 4th paragraph probably means ______.
| A．mixed culture |
| B．Confucius’ words |
| C．a kind of cooked dish |
| D．American changing literature |
According to the passage, it can be inferred that ______.
| A．detectives translate the phrase “Long time no see” |
| B．Hollywood made “Long time no see” popular |
| C．the huge pot of stew greatly affects all kinds of languages |
| D．cultures can be changed in the huge pot of stew |
The main idea of the passage is that ______.
| A．some Chinese expressions are introduced into English |
| B．you’ll not be surprised at a tofu in a restaurant in America |
| C．some American expressions can be used in China |
| D．American English keep being enriched from different cultures |
According to the passage, which of the following statements is not true?
| A．Informal language sometimes doesn’t go with grammar and structure. |
| B．Languages are always ruled by grammar and structure. |
| C．“Long time no see” has been used in at least four media mentioned in the passage. |
| D．There are four languages mentioned to be adopted in the American stew. |
When Mary Moore began her high school in 1951, her mother told her, "Be sure and take a typing course so when this show business thing doesn't work out, you'll have something to rely on." Mary responded in typical teenage fashion. From that moment on, "The very last thing I ever thought about doing was taking a typing course," she recalls.
The show business thing worked out, of course. In her career, Mary won many awards. Only recently, when she began to write Growing Up Again, did she regret ignoring her mom," I don't know how to use a computer," she admits.
Unlike her 1995 autobiography, After All, her second book is less about life as an award-winning actress and more about living with diabetes (糖尿病). All the money from the book is intended for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), an organization she serves as international chairman. "I felt there was a need for a book like this," she says." I didn't want to lecture, but I wanted other diabetics to know that things get better when we're self-controlled and do our part in managing the disease."
But she hasn't always practiced what she teaches. In her book, she describes that awful day, almost 40 years ago, when she received two pieces of life-changing news. First, she had lost the baby she was carrying, and second, tests showed that she had diabetes. In a childlike act, she left the hospital and treated herself to a box of doughnuts (甜甜圈). Years would pass before she realized she had to grow up again and take control of her diabetes, not let it control her. Only then did she kick her three-pack-a-day cigarette habit, overcome her addiction to alcohol, and begin to follow a balanced diet.
Although her disease has affected her eyesight and forced her to the sidelines of the dance floor, she refuses to fall into self-pity. "Everybody on earth can ask, 'why me?' about something or other," she insists. "It doesn't do any good. No one is immune (免疫的) to heartache, pain, and disappointments. Sometimes we can make things better by helping others. I've come to realize the importance of that as I've grown up this second time. I want to speak out and be as helpful as I can be."Why did Mary feel regretful?
| A．She didn't achieve her ambition. |
| B．She didn't follow her mother's advice. |
| C．She didn't complete her high school. |
| D．She didn't take care of her mother. |
We can know that before 1995 Mary
| A．had two books published |
| B．received many career awards |
| C．knew how to use a computer |
| D．supported the JDRF by writing |
Mary's second book Growing Up Again is mainly about her.
| A．living with diabetes |
| B．successful show business |
| C．service for an organization |
| D．remembrance of her mother |
When Mary received the life-changing news, she.
| A．lost control of herself | B．began a balanced diet |
| C．tried to get a treatment | D．behaved in an adult way |
What can we know from the last paragraph?
| A．Mary feels pity for herself. |
| B．Mary has recovered from her disease. |
| C．Mary wants to help others as much as possible. |
| D．Mary determines to go back to the dance floor. |
I was going to die in Antarctica, I was certain．An image of my frost-covered body, pale and lifeless, filled my mind as I glanced around．In all directions the empty wilderness of Antarctica stretched away from me, the only feature on the landscape was the division between snow and sky．I gazed sadly at my team．They were rapidly disappearing over the horizon．
I was leading an expedition （探险） attempting to reach the south pole．The team was made up of ordinary women from all around the world, from Jamaica, India, Singapore and Cyprus, many of whom had never seen snow, or spent a night in a tent before we set off．Our aim was to be the most international all-female team to reach the South Pole．
As I watched, the rest of the team marched on, unaware that I was not with them．By the time I realized that my sledge was firmly trapped, the team were already a long way ahead of me．I called out to Era, my teammate, " Era! Stop !"
Getting no response I called again, but my shouts were carried away in the opposite direction by the wind．Seconds passed．Nothing．I was gradually being left alone, completely defenseless against the low temperatures of Antarctica．
My strength increased when I thought of a cold lonely death．I pulled again my sledge, which moved a little. I removed the ice with my ski-pole and boot, desperately trying to break the sledge free．The sledge shot forward, knocking me off balance．I struggled to my feet and set off after the team．
I caught up just as Reena, my teammate from India, looked behind her and noticed there was one person missing．She swung around on her skis in shock and spotted me in the near distance．
As we continued, my panic slowly faded．For the rest of the day, each of the team was glancing over their shoulder every few minutes．They were not going to risk losing me again．From the first paragraph we can safely infer that the author．
| A．disliked her team | B．got seriously ill |
| C．was in panic | D．lost her way |
What is special about the expedition team?
| A．They were all female． |
| B． They were all professional． |
| C．They made the longest expedition． |
| D．They had been strictly trained． |
What made the author get her sledge out of the ice was．
| A．the shouts from her teammates |
| B．her strong desire to live |
| C．the sudden change in wind direction |
| D．the natural beauty ahead |
At last, each of the team members kept looking back．
| A．to avoid being attacked from behind |
| B．to make sure that none fell behind |
| C．to check the distance they had covered |
| D．to keep a record of the route they took |
Which may be the best title of the passage?
| A．How to survive in Antarctic． |
| B．A mysterious trip to the South Pole． |
| C．A female expedition team． |
| D．Being left behind in the snow． |
BELJLNG — Eating at a Beijing restaurant is usually an adventure for foreigners, and particularly when they get the chance to order “chicken without sex life” or “red burned lion head”.
Sometimes excited but mostly confused, embarrassed or even terrified, many foreigners have long complained about mistranslations of Chinese dishes. And their complaints are often valid, but such an experience at Beijing’s restaurants will apparently soon be history.
Foreign visitors will no longer, hopefully, be confused by oddly worded restaurant menus in the capital if the government’s plan to correctly translate 3,000 Chinese dishes is a success and the translations are generally adopted.
The municipal（市政）office of foreign affairs has published a book to recommend English translations of Chinese dishes, which aims to help restaurants avoid bizarre translations. It provides the names of main dishes of famous Chinese cuisines in plain English, “an official with the city’s Foreign Affairs office said .” Restaurants are encouraged to use the proposed translations, but it will not be compulsory .“ It’s the city’s latest effort to bridge the culture gap for foreign travelers in China.
Coming up with precise translations is a daunting task, as some Chinese culinary（烹饪的）techniques are untranslatable and many Chinese dishes have no English-language equivalent. The translators, after conducting a study of Chinese restaurants in English-speaking countries, divided the dish names into four categories: ingredients, cooking method, taste and name of a person or a place. For some traditional dishes, pinyin, the Chinese phonetic system, is used, such as mapo tofu (previously often literally translated as “beancurd made by woman with freckles”), baozi (steamed stuffed bun ) and jiaozi (dumplings) to “reflect the Chinese cuisine culture,” according to the book.
“The book is a blessing to tourist guides like me. Having it, I don’t have to rack my brains trying to explain Chinese dishes to foreign travellers,” said Zheng Xiaodong, a 31- year – old employee with a Beijing-based travel agency.
“I will buy the book as I major in English literature and I’d like to introduce Chinese cuisine culture to more foreign friends,” said Han Yang, a postgraduate student at the University of International Business and Economics.
It is not clear if the book will be introduced to other parts of China. But on Tuesday, this was the most discussed topic on weibo.com, China’s most popular microblogging site.What’s the best title of the passage?
| A．An adventure for foreigners who eat in Beijing. |
| B．Confusing mistranslations of Chinese dishes |
| C．Chinese dishes to have “official” English names |
| D．The effort to bridge the culture gap |
“chicken without sex life” or “red burned lion head” are mentioned in the beginning of the passage to show__________.
| A．some Chinese dishes are not well received |
| B．some Chinese dishes are hard to translate |
| C．some Chinese dishes are mistranslated |
| D．some Chinese dishes are not acceptable |
What measure has the municipal office taken?
| A．Recommending a book on Chinese dishes |
| B．Advocating using precise translation for Chinese dishes |
| C．Publishing a book on China’s dietary habits |
| D．Providing the names of main Chinese dishes |
What’s the meaning of the underlined word “daunting” in paragraph 5?
| A．discouraging | B．disappointing |
| C．confusing | D．worthwhile |
What’s the attitude of most people to the book according to the passage?
| A．not clear | B．excited |
| C．favorable | D．divided |