For history fans, Margaret Thatcher is one of the most interesting of the British Prime Ministers. She is praised by both British and American conservatives for her firm principles and accomplishments of her term.
Being so popular, it is only appropriate that a solid movie be made to detail the life of the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The film Iron Lady focuses on Thatcher (Meryl Streep) and her dementia（痴呆症）, with certain items in her house reminding her of periods of her life, which then start series of flashbacks. Thatcher also fantasies of her husband, Denis (Jim Broadbent), and holds conversations with him throughout the film.
In a world controlled by men and where women are thought to belong to the kitchen, Thatcher struggles to break through the barriers of sex to win a seat in Parliament（国会）. Not only does she struggle with her sex, but being the daughter of a simple shopkeeper, she struggles with class barriers.
After winning a seat in Parliament in 1959, Thatcher was appointed Secretary of State for Education and Science(SES). The film details how the leadership of her party didn’t take her or her opinions seriously. Thatcher became tired of being unheard and decided to challenge the leadership of the party and run for Leader of the Opposition. Not expecting to win the position, she took off in popularity, continuing a strong campaign even after her manager was killed by the Irish Republican Army.
Thatcher, after the conservative party won a majority in Parliament, became the first woman Prime Minister of the UK. She took off in popularity until an economic decline hit the country. She regained popularity after the Falklands War.
The film, in many cases, shows archive footage（资料片）to convey the historic timeline of the movie. The film does an excellent job in recording the complex life of one of Britain’s most complex women. It examines the price that Lady Thatcher paid for power, the class and sex struggles she overcame, and the burden of dementia. The film strikes an astonishingly dear portrait of the “Iron Lady” and will be sure to stand the test of time.According to the passage, the film Iron Lady is mainly about__________.
| A．Margaret Thatcher and her dementia |
| B．Thatcher’s principles and achievements |
| C．the British Prime Ministers’ interests |
| D．Margaret Thatcher and her husband |
When Thatcher worked as Secretary of SES, _________.
| A．her party took her and her opinions seriously |
| B．she tried hard to break through the barriers of sex |
| C．she struggled to break through the class barriers |
| D．she wasn’t respected by the leaders of her party |
This passage is possibly a(n) ___________.
| A．autobiography | B．political report |
| C．film review | D．life story |
What is the author’s attitude towards the film Iron Lady?
| A．Negative | B．Positive | C． Disapproving | D．Casual |
During a recent phone interview with a mom who had just moved to Colorado, the conversation turned to disaster planning.” I am standing here looking out of the window at the smoke from wildfires,” she told me, “and have absolutely no idea what we will do if the wind shifts our way.” Fortunately, the fire was put out, saving her home.
Making a disaster plan isn’t something anyone does for fun. But being caught without one in a time of need is worse. Emergency management officials say too few families have a disaster plan ,even in areas that have been hit hard by hurricanes or flooding.
I have prepared food, water, flashlights, candles, a battery-powered radio and firewood since our family was hit years ago by a hurricane that blocked off streets and knocked out our power for more than a week. Still we lack the medications, emergency contacts, and emergency-meeting and pet-care plans we should also have .Officials in my state of Oregon have warned us that one of us is really ready for the major disaster which is very likely to hit here---- a big earthquake.
Working parents need to coordinate(协调)their disaster plans with their children’s schools or child-care centers. Many parents in the 2003 New York blackout（断电）weren’t able to get home to their children because public traffic was stopped and lights were out. After that, many parents made detailed plans with child-care providers about where to meet in emergencies, an whom to contact if unable to reach each other.
Good emergency planning and training helped teachers at a child-care center in the World Trade Center successfully move children to a safe place during the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Do you have an emergency plan for your home? If not, you know what to do.According to the first paragraph , the mom_____.
| A．lived alone in her home. |
| B．didn’t have a disaster plan |
| C．never thought her house would catch fire |
| D．was not frightened in front of the wildfires |
What can we infer from what emergency management officials said in Paragraph2?
| A．Few people have fully realized the importance of making disaster plans. |
| B．The state of Oregon has been ready for a possible earthquake. |
| C．Hurricanes and flooding cause people to make disaster plans. |
| D．Many people consider making a disaster plan is fun. |
Which of the following things has the writer NOT prepared for disasters?
| A．food | B．Candles |
| C．A radio | D．Medicine |
We can infer that the 2003 New York blackout _____.
| A．was not serious enough to attract parents’ attention |
| B．showed how careful the teachers had always been |
| C．made parents realize the importance of having a disaster plan |
| D．helped parents know the importance of teachers to their children |
The fifth paragraph is mainly written to tell us that_____.
| A．some people have disaster plans |
| B．children may be in danger any time |
| C．a good disaster plan can be helpful |
| D．child-care centers are not that safe |
At the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, the sport of canoe racing was added to the list of international competitions. The favorite team in the four-man canoe race was the Unites States team. One member of that team was Bill Havens.
As the time for the Olympics neared, it became clear that Bill’s wife would give birth to their first child about the time that the US team would be competing in the Paris games. In 1924, there were no jet airliners from Paris to the Unites States, only slow ocean-going ships. Bill found himself in a dilemma. Should he go to Paris and risk not being at his wife’s side when their baby was born? Or should he stay with his family?
Bill’s wife insisted that he go to Paris. But after much soul searching, Bill decided to stay at home, where he could support his wife when the child arrived. As it turned out , the Unites States four-man canoe team won the gold medal in Paris. And Bill’s wife was late in giving birth to their child. In fact, Bill could have competed in the event and returned home in time to be with her when she gave birth. People said ,” what a shame!”
The child finally born to Bill and his wife was a boy, whom they named Frank. Twenty-eight years later, in 1952, Bill received a telegram from Frank. It was sent from Helsinki, Finland, where the 1952 Olympics were being held. The telegram read, “Dad, I won. I am bringing home the gold medal you lost while waiting for me to be born.” Frank had just won the gold medal for the Unites States in a rowing event, a medal his father had dreamed of winning but never did. When people asked Bill about his decision he made twenty-eight years ago, he said he would make the same choice if he was in such a situation again.If we say some is in a dilemma, we probably mean he/she _____.
| A．lives a very hard life |
| B．has to make a difficult choice |
| C．has to give up all that he/she has |
| D．doesn’t know what he/she wants |
From Paragraph3 we know Bill’s wife ____.
| A．knew the baby would be born late |
| B．knew what her husband really wanted |
| C．wanted to support her husband to win the gold medal. |
| D．was not understanding enough to support her husband |
What is the main reason why people said” what a shame!”？
| A．Bill didn’t give his wife any support at home. |
| B．Bill’s decision caused the team to perform badly. |
| C．Bill didn’t know what was more important to him. |
| D．Bill could have returned home with the gold medal in time. |
What happened twenty-eight years later after the baby’s birth?
| A．Bill received a gold medal from Finland. |
| B．Bill’s son helped make his dream come true. |
| C．Bill earned the respect of all the American people. |
| D．Bill took part in the Olympic Games and won. |
After reading the passage, we infer that ____
| A．Bill thought his decision was right. |
| B．Bill trained his son to win the medal. |
| C．Bill loved fame more than his family |
| D．Bill hated his decision very much |
Hearing live music is one of the most pleasurable experiences available to human beings. The music sounds great, but it sounds greater when you get to watch the musicians as they create it. No matter what kind of music you love, try listening to it live.
This guide focuses on classical music, a tradition that originated before recordings, radio, and the Internet, back when all music was live music. In those days live human beings performed for other live human beings, with everybody together in the same room. When heard in this way, classical music can have a special excitement. Hearing classical music in a concert can leave you feeling refreshed and energized. It can be fun. It can be romantic. It can be spiritual.
Classical music concerts can seem like snobby (高傲的) affairs full of foreign terms and unusual behavior. It can be hard to understand what’s going on. It can be hard to know how to act. But don’t worry. Concerts are no stranger than any other amusement, and the rules of behavior are much simpler and easier to understand than the stock market, football, or system software upgrades.
If you haven’t been to a live concert before, or if you’ve been confused by concerts, this guide will explain, so you can relax and enjoy the music.From Paragraph 1, we can see that the author encourages us _______.
| A．to watch the musicians to compose music |
| B．to experience the spirit of classical music |
| C．to attend live concerts and enjoy live music |
| D．to obtain pleasure from different kinds of music |
Which of the following can replace the underlined word “originated” in Paragraph 2?
| A．listened | B．started |
| C．performed | D．disappeared |
The author considers that live classical music _______.
| A．is full of foreign terms |
| B．is too difficult to understand |
| C．is stranger than other amusements |
| D．is exciting to both players and listeners |
The passage is _____ which focuses on live classical music.
| A．a review | B．a conclusion |
| C．a summary | D．an introduction |
SHEFFIELD
LINCOLN COLLEGE OF ENGLISH
Classes for foreign students at all levels
3 months, 6 months, 9 months and one year course Open all year
Small class (maximum(最大限度) 12 students)
Library, language laboratory and listening center
Accommodation(膳食供应) with selected families 25 minutes from London
Course fees for English for one year are ￡1, 380, with reduction for shorter periods of study.Lincoln College of English _______.
| A．is at the centre of London |
| B．lies far away from London |
| C．takes in foreign students, from beginners to the advanced |
| D．accepts students only at the beginning of the year |
While you stay there, _______ will take care of you.
| A．the school where you study |
| B．the family you have chosen |
| C．your classmates |
| D．your own parents |
If you go there for a one-term course, you will pay _______ for it.
| A．￡1, 380 | B．over ￡1, 380 |
| C．much less than ￡1, 380 | D．nothing |
The evidence for harmony may not be obvious in some families. But it seems that four out of five young people now get on well with their parents, which is the opposite of the popularly-held image (形象) of unhappy teenagers locked in their room after endless family quarrels.
An important new study into teenage attitudes surprisingly shows that their family life is more harmonious than it had ever been in the past. “We were surprised by just how positive today‘s young people seem to be about their families,” said one member of the research team. “They’re expected to be rebellious (叛逆的) and selfish but actually they have other things on their minds: they want a car and material goods, and they worry about whether school is serving them well. There‘s more negotiation (商议) and discussion between parents and children, and children expect to take part in the family decision-making process. They don’t want to rock the boat (捣乱).”
So it seems that this generation of parents is much more likely than parents of 30 years ago to treat their children as friends. “My parents are happy to discuss things with me and willing to listen to me,” says 17-year-old Daniel Lazall. “I always tell them when I‘m going out clubbing. As long as they know what I’m doing, they‘re fine with me.” Susan Crome, who is now 21, agrees. “Looking back on the last 10 years, there was a lot of what you could call negotiation. For example, as long as I’d done all my homework, I could go out on a Saturday night. But I think my grandparents were a lot stricter with my parents than that.”
Maybe this positive view of family life should not be unexpected. It is possible that the idea of teenage rebellion is not rooted in real facts. A researcher comments (评论), “Our surprise that teenagers say they get along well with their parents comes because of a brief period in our social history when teenagers were regarded as different beings. But that idea of rebelling and breaking away from their parents really only happened during that one time in the 1960s when everyone rebelled. The normal situation throughout history has been a smooth change from helping out with the family business to taking it over. ”What is popular among the teenagers today?
| A．They worry about school. |
| B．They dislike living with their parents. |
| C．They have to be locked in to avoid troubles. |
| D．They quarrel a lot with other family members. |
The study shows that teenagers don‘t want to __________.
| A．share family responsibility |
| B．cause trouble in their families |
| C．go boating with their family |
| D．make family decisions |
Compared with parents of 30 years ago, today‘s parents ____________.
| A．go to clubs more often with their children |
| B．are much stricter with their children |
| C．care less about their children‘s life |
| D．give their children more freedom |
According to the writer, teenage rebellion __________.
| A．may be a false belief |
| B．is common nowadays |
| C．existed only in the 1960s |
| D．resulted from changes in families |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．Negotiation in family. |
| B．Education in family. |
| C．Harmony in family. |
| D．Teenage troubles in family. |