For a song to become popular, people need to hear it. In order for people to hear it, the program directors at radio stations have to play it on the air. A song’s popularity is directly related to how often it is played. That is a big responsibility for program directors. How do they decide what gets played and what doesn’t?
In the past, disc jockeys(音乐节目支持人) decided what music was played on the radio. These DJs had an ear for music and an understanding of what their audience wanted to hear. Today, that is all changing. Most major radio stations are owned by a few large national businesses. The decision of what gets played on the radio is made by executives(主管) who have little or no interest in music. They do, however, know how to run a business, and they know what sells. So, the music industry designs and creates pop entertainers, and executives in the radio industry make sure that their music is played on the radio. This explains why you do not often hear anything new and fresh on the radio. The executives do not want to give air time to music that has not been tested on the market. It is too risky. They prefer to go with music that they already know will sell. They know it will sell because it sold last week and last month and last year. They just have to change it a little.
One of the most criticized(批评)practices in the music industry is the practice of “payola”. This is when record companies pay radio stations to play the music of a given artist. This practice makes many people lose trust in the music industry and is therefore against the law. A radio station can accept money in exchange for air time of a song, but they have to make clear that the song is being played because its air time was paid for. They cannot present the song as if it were part of the normal play schedule.
Payola affects both artists and audiences. The artists who work with small record companies that cannot pay a lot of money to radio stations have a much harder time getting exposure. It creates an unfair playing field. Music lovers suffer because they are not able to hear all the music that is available.
67. According to the passage, most major radio stations belong to _______.
A. national businesses B. program directors C. pop entertainers D. record companies
68. “Payola” is the practice of ________.
A. artists paying radio stations to play their songs
B. record companies buying air time for certain music
C. radio station paying record company for new songs
D. program directors deciding what music gets played
69. Who can make the largest profits from payola?
A. Disc Jockeys. B. The given artists. C. Business executives. D. Program directors.
70. It can be concluded from the passage that the author _______.
A. has a positive attitude towards the practice of “payola”
B. is dissatisfied with the present situation in music industry
C. is calling for a change in the normal play schedule
D. thinks that the radio stations are doing the right thing
Negative thinking appears to be more prevalent than positive thinking. It seems that with most people positive thinking requires some effort, while negative thinking comes easily and uninvited. This has much to do with education and the environment one has been living in.
If you have been brought up in a happy and positive atmosphere, where people value success and self-improvement, then it will be easier for you to think positively and expect success. If you have been brought up under poor or difficult situations, you will probably go on expecting difficulties and failure.
We all view everything through our main mental attitude. If our thoughts are positive, that is fine, but if they are negative, our lives and circumstances will probably mirror these thoughts.
If you believe that you are going to fail, you will unconsciously destroy every opportunity to succeed. If you are afraid of meeting new people or having close relationships, you will do everything to avoid people and relationships, and then complain that you are lonely and nobody loves you.
Do you often think about difficulties, failure and disasters? Do you keep thinking about the negative news you have seen on the TV or read in the newspapers?
Do you see yourself stuck and unable to improve your life or your health? Do you frequently think that you do not deserve happiness or money, or that it is too difficult to get them? If you do, then you will close your mind, see no opportunities, and behave and react in such ways, as to turn away from people and opportunities.
The mind does not usually judge or examine thoughts and opinions before accepting them. If what it hears, sees and reads is always negative, it accepts this as the standard way of thinking and behavior.
Open your mind to positive attitude, happenings and events. Expect them and think about them, and soon your life will change for the better.According to the author, happy and positive situations cause people to________.
| A．turn away from people and opportunities |
| B．expect difficulties and failure |
| C．viewing everything by negative thinking |
| D．think positively and expect success |
Some people think that they have few friends in their lives perhaps because________.
| A．their thoughts are positive |
| B．their thoughts are negative |
| C．they avoid people and relationships |
| D．destroy every opportunity to make friends |
What does the author want to tell us in the fifth and sixth paragraphs?
| A．one has no reasons for his negative thinking and behavior |
| B．one mustn’t always think about difficulties, failure and disasters |
| C．one’s living environment has the decisive function upon his thinking |
| D．one should never think of things happily and positively |
From the passage we can learn that________.
| A．positive thinking has much to do with education and the environment one has been living in |
| B．thinking negatively is much easier than thinking positively |
| C．the moment you see something sad, you will feel sad too |
| D．the positively we think and behave, the happier we will be |
Picture an everyday scene. You’re in a high street coffee shop. All around you people are drinking coffee. Some people are chatting with friends and others are using their mobile phones. In a corner of the coffee shop an internet café has been set up. At one table a couple of teenagers are laughing at a message in a chat room, while at another table an old man searches the Web for something.
Now imagine this scene through the eyes of a technologist from 100 years ago. This is someone who has thought carefully about how technology and society might develop during the twentieth century.
Surprising may be the realization that some of the people here are working in an easy way. Most surprising perhaps will be the technological tools most people seem to be using. The technologist is aware of the telephone, which was invented about 30 years earlier. But most of these twenty-first century people seem to have wireless pocket-size personal communicators they can use to send messages or speak to anyone anywhere in the world.
Some are using a handheld machine that contains thousands of pieces of information that can be accessed instantly, and can do calculations in a fraction of a second that would have taken a team of operators with mechanical calculators hours or even days. And these machines, like the only slightly larger versions in the corner, can be connected to a global brain from which the people can call up almost any information, news, idea, opinion or gossip that exists anywhere on the planet.
Most of the changes in technology, compared to 100 years ago, are due to the continual inventive activity of a large number of people. Most of us don’t do anything other than maybe form a vague idea about how a product or process might be improved. In some people, however, this inventive drive is so strong that they act on it.The author tries to tell us in the first paragraph that__________.
people around you all like drinking coffee
people chat with each other by mobile phone
we are living in a modern society
we are making use of the InternetThe author uses the word “communicators” to mean __________.
| A．telephone | B．mobile phone |
| C．vision phone | D．computer |
The author is describing________ in the fourth paragraph.
| A．a mechanical calculator |
| B．a machine held in one hand |
| C．a pocket-size communicator |
| D．a laptop computer |
It can be inferred from the text that_____________.
| A．with an computer, you can access almost any information that exists anywhere on the planet |
| B．in any internet café you can search the Web for how technology and society may develop in 2000 years |
| C．the continual inventive activity of a large number of people will cause more innovations |
| D．act on a vague idea and you are sure to be able to make a surprising invention in the future. |
Several overseas trips with the family have taught us that they can be rewarding, but you always have to be careful of pickpockets.
On a lovely visit to Paris an encounter with a pickpocket gave the would-be thief a little more than he bargained for!
While walking down the famous Champs Elysee, I was astonished to feel someone unzip my handbag and remove my purse. I turned to glimpse a young man turning away and pretending to be absorbed in the mouth-watering contents on display in a bakery window.
Being only a teenager at the time, I had no idea what to do. So I tapped the young man in question on the shoulder and said.
“Excuse me can you please give me back my purse?”
Of course the pickpocket had no idea what I was saying (and didn’t want to know) and proceeded to shrug his shoulders and basically say (in French) “I don’t speak English”?
Meanwhile my Mother (a Scotswoman with a bad temper), came to see why I had stopped walking and what was going on. When I informed her of the situation she lost control and started yelling at the thief who still stood there making gestures in French while a crazy Scotswoman harangued(指责) him. At this stage we were starting to attract onlookers, and when my Mother started hitting the young man with her handbag the would-be thief decided it was time to get away.
Luckily, amid all the disorder the thief lost his control of my purse, and as he made a break-for-it, my purse dropped to the ground! I quickly snatched it up and for the rest of vacation we walked around with our handbags clutched against our chests!This passage is a story about_________________.
| A．several overseas trips | B．Champs Elysee |
| C．a lovely visit to Paris | D．pickpockets |
The underlined phrase ‘bargained for’ in Paragraph 2 most probably means ______.
| A．exchanged for | B．wished for |
| C．asked for | D．answered for |
The author discovered the pickpocket because__________.
| A．his handbag was specially made to stop pickpocketing |
| B．the author was old enough and experienced there |
| C．the pickpocket was too inexperienced to steal his purse |
| D．his purse was very heavy so that he felt it was removed |
Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?
| A．The pickpocket didn’t know English and had no idea what I was saying. |
| B．His Mother tried to beat the thief so that he ran away immediately. |
| C．It was the bad tempered mother that caused the thief to lose control of the purse. |
| D．The author was old enough to deal with the case independently at the time. |
阅读理解（共15小题;每小题2分，满分30分）
Loulan, an ancient city in the Lop Nur, was first “discovered” by Swedish explorer Sven Hedin in 1900. The finding of Loulan brought about new and unexpected fame for the ancient history of the Central Asia and thus began the exploration of the Taklamakan Desert.
The City of Loulan is known both in China and throughout the world as the Middle Kingdom’s ‘Pompeii’ in the desert and one of the cradles of the civilization. It wasn’t hard to imagine how excited Sven Hedin must have been when he was awarded the Victoria Medal by the Royal Geography Association. From that point forward, the mysterious covering of Loulan was gradually lowered and was no more a silent unknown hero but became an immediate worldwide sensation (引起轰动的事). Adventurers from America, Britain, Japan and Sweden, including Huntington, Stein, Otani Kozui and Bergman set foot here for several times. In the 1930s, Chinese archaeologist Huang Wenbi came here for the first time and made a survey of this area, which was found even then in terrible conditions due to uncontrolled digging with many wonderful cultural historic relics taken away to distant foreign lands.
In 1979, a group of tombs called Sun Tombs, known for their unique and attractive burial forms, were unearthed in the Gumugou Graveyard, the public graveyard of the Lop Nur citizens in the Bronze Age. In early 1980s, in the Tiebanhe River Delta area of the lower reaches of the Peafowl River in Lop Nur, a female mummy dating back some 3,800 years was unearthed and was considered by the Japanese as the “Loulan Beauty”. This set off a wave of current exploration of the Silk Road.
The archaeological unearthing being currently conducted in the Xiaohe (Small River) Graveyard is now the focus of the world’s most important academic event. The Xiaohe Graveyard, 175km west of the City of Loulan, is located in the lower reaches of the Peafowl River in the Lop Nur. When the Graveyard was found, it is said that there were some 1,000 coffins. It is large in scale with sand dunes(沙丘) as high as eight metres, on which about 140 wooden stakes(树桩) in various shapes were closely arranged. These burial customs are, to say the least, unusual… with the unearthed relics dated back to China’s most ancient days.Which of following statements shows the correct position of the City of Loulan?
A. It lies in the Tiebanhe River Delta
It lies in the lower reaches of the Peafowl River
It lies south of the Gumugou Graveyard.
It lies 175 km east of the Xiaohe Graveyard.Which of the following is the closest in meaning to the word ‘Pompeii’?
| A．A city as world famous as the Middle Kingdom’s “Pompeii”. |
| B．A buried city in the desert with great historical value. |
| C．A buried city to be unearthed like the Italian city “Pompeii”. |
| D．A city visited by many archaeologists all over the world like “Pompeii”. |
From the passage, it can be inferred that_____________.
| A．it was a Chinese archaeologist that first discovered the City of Loulan |
| B．it is of the greatest importance and value to be unearthing the Xiaohe Graveyard |
| C．foreign adventurers did much damage to the exploration and relics of the City of Loulan |
| D．one after another important discovery about Loulan was made, causing worldwide sensation |
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."
You probably heard those lines in grammar school, but do you really agree that harsh (严厉的) or negative words do not harm us? Words have power. Surely we all have had our feelings hurt by something someone said.
We may not say words to hurt others, but the way we interpret (解释) them and how we say them may cause great harm. Here’s an example:
An ancient king dreamed all his teeth had fallen out. He sent for a wise man to explain his dream to him: the dream means that all your relatives will die and you will be left alone!
The king was very angry and threw the interpreter into prison. He then sent for another interpreter who said, "Congratulations! King! You will live many more years. In fact, you will survive all your relatives. Long Live the King!"
Both interpreters gave the same interpretation, but there was a huge difference in the way they said it.
Our speech must be understood by those who hear our words, but the way we say things and the intention behind them have as much power as the words themselves. Words can cause anger or appreciation. Which would you rather receive?
People who say harsh and negative things may not mean to harm, but have you ever known anyone who is a naysayer? They often look at the dark sides of things. They always see the glass as half empty rather than half full. How do you feel when you are around this type of person? Remember: words have power. Use them wisely.The author mentions the story of the ancient king to show that _____.
| A．one dream sometimes has different explanations |
| B．good words can bring good luck to people |
| C．people should be careful when talking to a king |
| D．different ways of saying things have different effects |
The underlined word "naysayer" in the last paragraph refers to a person who always _____.
| A．has a negative attitude |
| B．likes to be praised |
| C．talks big |
| D．likes to repeat what others say |
According to the text, how can people understand each other better?
| A．By sharing different life experiences. |
| B．By accepting different habits. |
| C．By properly using words. |
| D．By recognizing different values. |
The author wrote the last paragraph to ______.
| A．show how the dark sides of things affect people |
| B．advise people to see and say things positively |
| C．show how harsh and negative words hurt people |
| D．advise people to stay away from negative people |
The passage mainly talks about ______.
| A．the power of words |
| B．the cruelty of the king |
| C．how to understand others |
| D．how to build good relationships |
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