It is official: Jim Parsons is the new poster child for geekdom.
The actor, who recently won his first Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series for his portrayal of Sheldon Cooper on the hit television show The Big Bang Theory, is the hotness right now.
Parsons is a big hit on the Web as a trending topic on Twitter and has a devoted fan base who spread their adoration via Facebook and fan sites.
Parsons is considered by many to be a central part of the sleeper success that has been The Big Bang Theory. The sitcom about two brilliant physicists and their group of friends started out slowly building buzz when it first appeared on CBS in 2007.
Since then, the show has grown into a big success for the network, even raking in fans abroad with its international distribution. In May, The New York Times reported that Warner Bros., which produces and distributes the show, had entered into “what is believed to be one of the most profitable TV deals ever” with TBS and local Fox stations.
Audiences just can’t seem to get enough of the character of Sheldon Cooper, who is as socially dysfunctional as he is bright. Admirers take to Facebook fan pages to post their favorite Sheldon quotes, including: “I’m not insane (crazy), my mother had me tested!” and “They were threatened by my intelligence and too stupid to know that’s why they hated me.”
Fans can visit Jim Parsons Online, and there is even a site, SheldonShirts.com, dedicated to the many shirts worn by the character, complete with links to where to buy them. Mary Waring created the site because of her husband’s interest in Sheldon Cooper’s shirts. And with his character’s nerdy character and addiction to all things “Star Trek,” Parsons is also a hit with fan boys and fan girls. The underlined phrase “raking in” means ___________.
| A．earning the support of |
| B．making fun of |
| C．classifying |
| D．comforting |
Where are you most likely to find this passage?
| A．In a biography. |
| B．In a magazine. |
| C．In a talk-show program. |
| D．In a textbook. |
What we can infer from the passage?
| A．Parsons was dreaming about the success before the comedy. |
| B．Mary Waring was interested in Sheldon Cooper’s shirts so she set up a website. |
| C．Before The Big Bang Theory, Parsons was not very popular. |
| D．Sheldon Cooper is a character who is intelligent as well as sociable. |
What is the suitable title of the passage?
| A．The Big Bang Theory Catching our Eyes |
| B．Sheldon Cooper Adored by Vast Audiences |
| C．Jim Parsons: Hot on Web |
| D．“Star Trek” loved by boys and girls |
Coketown was a town of red brick, or of brick that would have been red if the smoke and ashes had allowed it; but in fact it was a town of unnatural red and black like the painted face of savage（野人）. It was a town of machinery and tall chimney, out of which smoke trailed themselves for ever and ever. It had a black canal in it, and a river that ran purple with ill smelling color, and large piles of building full of windows where there was a rattling and a trembling all day long, and where the steam-engine worked up and down like the head of an elephant in a state of madness. The town contained several large streets all very like one another, and many small streets still more like one another, inhabited by people equally like one another.
A sunny midsummer day. There was such a thing sometimes even in Coketown. Seen from a distance in such weather, Coketown lay covered in a smoke of its own. You only knew the town was there, because you knew there could have been no such a place upon the view without a town.
The streets were hot and dusty on the summer day, and the sun was so bright that it even shone through the smoke over Coketown, and could not be looked at steadily. Workers appeared from low underground doorways into factory yards, and sat on steps, wiping their face sand looking at coals. The whole town seemed to be frying in oil. There was a smell of hot oil everywhere. The atmosphere of those places was like the breath of hell（地狱）, and their inhabitants wasting with heat, walked lazily in the desert. But no temperature made the mad elephants more mad or more sane（理智的）. Their tiresome heads went up and down at the sane rate, in hot weather and in cold, wet weather and dry. The measured movement of their shadows of wood; while for the summer noise of insects, it could offer all the year round, from the dawn of Monday to the night of Saturday.
67. Which of the following words is NOT properly used to describe Coketown ?
A. unpleasant B. dirty C. noisy D. deserted
68. From the passage we know that Coketown was mainly a（n）_____town.
A. industrial B. agricultural C. historical D. cultural
69. Only _____ were not affected by weather.
A. the workmen B. the habitants C. the steam-engines D. the woods
70. Which is the author’s opinion of Coketown?
A. Coketown should be replaced by woods B. The town had too much oil in it
C. The town was seriously polluted D. The town’s atmosphere was unchanged
Washington — The largest ozone (臭氧)hole ever observed has opened up over Antarctica, according to the scientists of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). They believe it is a sign that ozone — destroying gases produced years ago are just now causing the largest quantities of ozone to disappear.
This year’s South Pole ozone hole spreads over about 28.5 million square kilometers, an area three times larger than the landmass of the United States.
Pictures of the hole have been offered by NASA. The hole appears as a giant blue mass, totally covering Antarctica and stretching to the southern tip of South America.
“The last time the ozone hole was close to this size was in 1998, when it spread over about 27.2 million square kilometers,” NASA said.
Paul Newman, who works with NASA’s Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) instrument on a NASA satellite, said ozone watchers had expected a big hole this year, but not this big.
The Antarctica ozone hole, first observed in 1985, is caused by the depletion (损耗) of Earth protecting ozone by human-made chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons, known as CFCs.
“Even though these chemicals were not allowed to use from the beginning of 1987, they remain in the atmosphere and will continue to do so for years,” Newman said.
“This year’s large hole may have been caused by a change in a swirling high-level air current over Antarctica, which circles the area and contains the zone hole,” Newman said.
56. The text is mainly about ____ .
A. the discovery of the largest ozone hole B. the discovery of the Antarctica ozone hole
C. the history of the Antarctica ozone hole D. the size of the largest ozone hole
57. The time 1985 was talked about in the text because it was when the Antarctica ozone hole ____ .
A. was watched by Newman B. was first closed C. disappeared D. was first watched
58. There is a giant ozone hole over Antarctica because ____ over there.
A. human-made chemicals have protected ozone B. ozone has protected the earth
C. human-made chemicals have destroyed ozone D. human-made chemicals have increased ozone
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56. Sept. 20, 2009
Dear Madam,
My husband and I want to take our four kids and a dog with us on holiday, and we are now trying to find the hotel which allows animals staying with the owners and some discount for children. I wonder if your hotel offers such services. Here is my address:
Independence Ave at 6th St SW·Washington, DC 20560
Yours sincerely,
Jane Turner
57. 100 Aquarium Way
Long Beach, CA, 90802
Nov. 8, 2009
Dear Sir or Madam,
I’d like to give my fiancee a big surprise to find a peaceful cottage inn so that we can spend a comfortable weekend without being disturbed by anyone. We just want to have romance together, and take walks with our pet dog or go for a drink at night. We’ll follow any of your requirements if you have the services we need.
Truly yours,
Paul Smith
58. Sept. 26, 2009
Dear Sir,
My wife and I are both retired form our working posts. We are longing to take a holiday in a quiet seaside country to relax ourselves and enjoy the sights of nature, walking along the beach or going fishing in the bay together. I hope to book a double room in advance. Please give me a reply as soon as possible. Here is my address:
Jefferson Drive at 12th Street SW, 95216
Sincerely,
Charlie Green
59. Dec. 20, 2009
Dear Madam,
My family is planning to go on a holiday together before Christmas, and we are looking in your town for a hotel with marvelous sea view, nice furniture and good utensils. Please send me your reply to the following address:
401 N. Carson Street·Carson City NV 89701
Faithfully yours,
I. W. Nelson
60. 326 Glenneyre Street
Laguna Beech CA 96182
Jan. 2, 2010
Dear Sir or Madam,
We are glad to be offered a chance to go and do some explorations in the countryside nearby your town. At night, we’d like to have a good swim in the hotel pool and relax. It’d be wonderful if some other relaxation items are provided. Your reply can be sent to us at your earliest convenience.
Truly yours,
D. Pounds
Nowadays people are troubled by the violence that spreads throughout the media. Movies, television and video games are full of gunplay and bloodshed, and one might reasonably ask what’s wrong with a society that presents videos of violence as entertainment.
Viewing large amounts of violent television and video games may well contribute to violent behavior in certain individuals. The trouble comes when researchers downplay uncertainties in their studies or overstate the case for causality（因果关系）. Skeptics were dismayed several years ago when a group of societies including the American Medical Association tried to end the debate by issuing a joint statement: “At this time, well over 1,000 studies… point to a causal connection between media violence and aggressive behavior in some children.”
Freedom-of-speech advocates accused the societies of catering to politicians, and even disputed the number of studies (most were review articles and essays, they said). When Jonathan Freedman, a social psychologist at the University of Toronto, reviewed the literature, he found only 200 or so studies of television-watching and aggression. And when he weeded out “the most doubtful measures of aggression”, only 28% supported a connection.
The critical point here is causality. The alarmists say they have proved that violent media cause aggression. But the assumptions behind their observations need to be examined. When labeling games as violent or non-violent, should a hero eating a ghost really be counted as a violent event? And when experimenters record the time it takes game players to read “aggressive” or “non-aggressive” words from a list, can we be sure what they are actually measuring? The intention of the new Harvard Center on Media and Child Health to collect and standardize studies of media violence in order to compare their methodologies, assumptions and conclusions is an important step in the right direction.
Another appropriate step would be to tone down the criticism until we know more. Several researchers write, speak and testify quite a lot on the threat posed by violence in the media. That is, of course, their privilege. But when doing so, they often come out with statements that the matter has now been settled, drawing criticism from colleagues. In response, the alarmists accuse critics and news reporters of being deceived by the entertainment industry. Such clashes help neither science nor society.Why is there so much violence shown in movies, TV and video games?
| A．Showing violence is thought to be entertaining. |
| B．Something has gone wrong with today’s society |
| C．Many people are fond of gunplay and bloodshed. |
| D．There is a lot of violence in the real world today. |
What is the skeptics’ view of media violence?
| A．Violence on television is fairly accurate reflection of real-world life. |
| B．Most studies exaggerate (夸大) the effect of media violence on the viewers. |
| C．A causal relationship exists between media and real-world violence. |
| D．The influence of media violence on children has been underestimated. |
The author uses the term “alarmists” to refer to those who _________.
| A．use standardized measurements in the studies of media violence |
| B．initiated the debate over the influence of violent media on reality |
| C．insist on a direct link between violent media and aggressive behavior |
| D．use appropriate methodology in examining aggressive behavior |
The underlined phrase “weeded out” in Paragraph 3 most probably means _________.
| A．got rid of things that are not good | B．removed unwanted parts from something |
| C．picked out things that are useful | D．took away unnecessary details of a report |
What does the writer think of the debate concerning the relationship between the media and violence?
| A．He more than agrees with the views held by the alarmists. |
| B．It should come to an end since the matter has now been settled. |
| C．The past studies in this field have proved to be misleading. |
| D．More studies should be conducted before conclusions are drawn. |
Individuality is the particular character, or aggregate (total) of qualities that distinguishes one person or thing from others. Many artists late in the last century were in search of a means to express their individuality. Modern dance was one of the ways some of these people sought to free their creative spirit. At the beginning there was no exacting technique, no foundation from which to build. In later years, trial, error and genius founded the techniques and the principles of the movement. Eventually, innovators (改革者) even drew from what they considered the dread ballet, but first they had to get rid of all that was academic so that the new could be discovered. The beginnings of modern dance were happening before Isadora Duncan, but she was the first person to bring the new dance to general audiences and see it accepted and acclaimed (称赞).
Her search for a natural movement form sent her to nature. She believed movement should be as natural as the swaying of the trees and the rolling waves of the sea, and should be in harmony with the movements of the Earth. Her great contributions are in three areas.
First, she began the expansion of the kinds of movement that could be used in dance. Before Duncan danced, ballet was the only type of dance performed in concert. In the ballet the feet and legs were emphasized, with virtuosity (高超技巧) shown by complex, codified positions and movements. Duncan performed dance by using her body in the freest possible way. Her dance stemmed from her soul and spirit. She was one of the pioneers who broke tradition so others might be able to develop the art.
Her second contribution lies in dance costume. She rejected ballet shoes and stiff costumes. These were replaced with flowing Grecian (希腊式的) tunes, bare feet, and unbound hair. She believed in the natural body being allowed to move freely, and her dress displayed this ideal.
Her third contribution was in the use of music. In her performances she used the symphonies of great masters including Beethoven and Wagner, which was not the usual custom.
She was as exciting and eccentric (怪异) in her personal life as in her dance.According to the passage, what did nature represent to Isadora Duncan?
| A．Something to conquer. | B．A model for movement. |
| C．A place to find peace. | D．A symbol of disorder. |
Compared to those of the ballet, Isadora Duncan’s costumes were less _________.
| A．costly | B．colorful | C．graceful | D．restrictive |
Which of the following is not mentioned as an area of dance that Duncan worked to change?
| A．The stage set. | B．The music. | C．Costumes. | D．Movements. |
We can infer from the passage that the author _________.
| A．appreciates modern dance very much | B．dislikes Isadora Duncan’s dance |
| C．thinks highly of individuality | D．knows a lot about modern arts |
Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
| A．Artists of the Last Century | B．Evolution of Dance in the 20th Century |
| C．Natural Movement in Dance | D．A Pioneer in Modern Dance |
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