For a 400-year-old art form, opera had a bad fame: overweight actresses singing the words whic
h were hard to understand in one of those romantic languages you were supposed to learn in high school. And with tickets costing as much as $145 a performance, operagoers also had a certain appearance in people’s mind: rich, well-dressed and old.
But now opera companies around the country are loosening their ties and kicking off their shoes in an attempt to keep opera alive and take it to a younger and not so wealthy audience.
Opera producers have found that to attract this crowd, they need to associate opera with the common people. That means no form
al suits, old-styled theatre or bank-breaking ticket prices. And because young people don’t or won’t come to the opera, companies are bringing the opera to them, giving performances in such usual places as parks, libraries and public schools.
The Houston Grand Opera’s choice is the public library, where it performs “mobile operas”, shortened versions of child-friendly operas. This summer’s production is Hansel & Gretel. By performing smaller versions o
f large prod
uctions, producers are able to make people interested while keeping costs at a reasonable level. The San Francisco Opera, which will be celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, is staging Cinderella free of charge, keeping costs down by employing students from its Young
Artists’ Training Program.Which is the main idea of this passage?
| A．Opera is famous for its long history. |
| B．Opera is only performed for rich people. |
| C．Opera companies are trying to keep opera alive. |
| D．Young people are not interested in opera. |
The underlined phrase in the second paragraph means _________.
| A．breaking up the old rules | B．changing the dresses |
| C．making the audience at ease | D．advertising themselves |
Opera companies prefer to perform short versions because _________.
| A．they can be performed in public libraries |
| B．short versions are easy to perform |
| C．it is hard to find long versions |
| D．they can make people interested |
The San Francisco Opera employs students in order to _________.
A．celebra te its 75th anniversary |
| B．reduce the cost |
| C．attract young people |
| D．make Cinderella popular |
From the passage we can infer that _________.
| A．the tickets for opera are very expensive |
B．opera is performed in a di fficult language |
| C．opera is not so popular an art form today |
| D．students enjoy performing opera very much |
A couple of years ago, I went to a lady's house to buy some vitamins. Upon entering the house, I 16 that there was an electronic keyboard on a stand, leaning 17 the wall. Being a piano music lover and 18 , I asked if the woman played. She nodded and added that she had been 19 lessons--at age 54! I told her that it was very 20 that she was pursuing (追求) her 21 to play the piano.
Then she asked me the same question.
"I have been playing for 8 years now," I answered.
"Then you must play a song for me before you leave," she requested.
I 22 she was kidding and I simply smiled. At the end of the 23 of the vitamins, she 24 me of our musical " 25 ". She then showed me to an old upright piano in the living room and asked me to play a song for her. I thought 26 and decided to play David Lanz's "Return to the Heart", since she had so much passion for 27 , and it was my soul-searching song.
I played the song to the best of my 28 , and with my emotions pouring into it as possible. She loved it. 29 I was about to step out of the door, I heard a weak voice calling out, "Young man!"
I turned around. And there was an old lady 30 one little step at a time with the help of another woman. "I wanted to come out to 31 you for the beautiful song that you played. I have been very sick, and it's very hard for me to 32 my bed, but I really wanted to thank you for the song. It made me feel good..." she said. With that, she turned around and walked 33 back to her room.
I was deeply touched by her 34 and felt a deeper understanding for the song. It served its purpose beautifully, returning to one's 35 for peace and joy.
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Children start out as natural scientists, eager to look into the world around them. Helping them enjoy science can be easy; there is no need for a lot of scientific terms or expensive lab equipment. You only have to share your children’s curiosity. Firstly, listen to their questions. I once visited a classroom of seven –year- olds to talk about science as a job. The children asked me “textbook questions” about schooling, salary and whether I liked my job. When I finished answering, we sat facing one another in science. Finally I said,” Now that we’ve finished with your lists, do you have questions of your own about science?”
After a long pause, a boy raised his hand, “have you ever seen a grasshopper eat? When I try eating leaves like that, I get a stomachache. Why?”
This began a set of questions that lasted nearly two hours.
Secondly, give them time to think. Studies over the past 30 years have shown that. After asking a question, adults typically wait only one second or less for an answer, no time for a child to think. When adults increase their “wait time” to three seconds or more, children give more logical, complete and creative answers.
Thirdly, watch your language. Once you have a child involved in a science discussion, don’t jump in with “That’s right” or “very good”. These words work well when it comes to encouraging good behavior. But in talking about science, quick praise can signal that discussion is over. Instead, keep things going by saying, “That’s interesting” or “I’d never thought of it that way before’, or coming up with more questions or ideas.
Never push a child to “think”. It doesn’t make sense; children are always thinking, without your telling them to. What’s more, this can turn a conversation into a performance. The child will try to find the answer you want, in as few words as possible, so that he will be a small target for your disagreement.
Lastly, show; don’t tell. Real-life impressions of nature are far more impressive than any lesson children can learn from a book or a television program. Let children look at their fingertips through a magnifying glass, and they’ll understand why you want them to wash before dinner. Rather than saying that water evaporates, set a pot of water to boil and let them watch the water level drop.According to the passage, children are natural scientist, and to raise their interest, the most important thing for adults to do is______________.
| A．to let them see the world around |
| B．to share the children’s curiosity |
| C．to explain difficult phrases about science |
| D．to supply the children with lab equipment |
In the last sentence of the first paragraph, the word “list” could best be replaced by ______________.
| A．any questions | B．any problems |
| C．questions from the textbooks | D．any number of questions |
According to the passage, children can answer questions in a more logical, complete and creative way if adults______________________.
| A．ask them to answer quickly |
| B．wait for one or two seconds after a question |
| C．tell them to answer the next day |
| D．wait at least for three seconds after a question |
In which of the following paragraph (s) does the author tell us what to say to encourage children in a science discussion?
| A．The 2nd and 3rd | B．The 4th and 5th | C．The 5th and 6th | D．The 7th |
The author mentions all of the following techniques for adults to share with their children’s curiosity except that adults should_____________.
| A．tell their children stories instead of reciting facts |
| B．offer their children chances to see things for themselves |
| C．be patient enough when their children answer questions |
| D．encourage their children to ask questions of their own |
There exist cruel wars, fighting and sadness in the world today, so it’s not only necessary, but also essential to have a good sense of humor just to help us go through difficult times in our lives. Putting a smile on someone’s face when you know they are feeling depressed, as the saying goes, makes me feel good and warms my heart.
How would you feel if you could not joke around with your wife, husband, child, co-worker neighbor, close friend, or even just someone that you are standing in line with at your corner store? I am always saying things that make others smile or laugh, even if I don’t know the person I’m joking around with. My Grandma always found humor in everything she did, even if it was the hardest job anyone could imagine. This not only relieves stress in any situation, but also is a common manner to speak to others that are around you.
I know of a few people that don’t have a funny bone in their bodies, as they say. Everyone around them could be rolling on the floor after hearing a great joke and they would sit there without the slightest smile on their face. They don’t get the joke that makes others laugh. I am busting a gut while they just sit there, looking at me as if I were from outer space. How can people not get a really funny joke?
Laughing is essential to keep your stress levels under control. Without humor we would find ourselves with a lot of psychological problems, or on a lot of medications to keep us from going crazy. There is too much sadness in this present world. It drives people crazy. We all need to find a way to avoid the sadness and bring a little light into our lives. Therefore, I believe our best medicine is to get together and tell some jokes and have some fun laughing together.According to the author, humor is useful in the aspect that ____________.
| A．it can pick up people’s spirits |
| B．it can help people get on well with others |
| C．it can help get rid of the cruelty in the world |
| D．it makes people more confident |
The author answers the question in the second paragraph with ___________.
| A．facts and descriptions | B．evidence and argument |
| C．examples and conclusion | D．stories and persuasion |
The underlined phrase “busting a gut” in the 3rd paragraph can be replaced by .
| A．keeping silent | B．speaking loud |
| C．laughing hard | D．explaining carefully |
In writing the passage, the author mainly intends to __________.
| A．talk about his own understanding of humor |
| B．encourage people to be humorous in daily life |
| C．introduce a practical way to get through daily life |
| D．convince people of the power of being optimistic about life |
What is the author’s attitude towards the present world?
| A．Indifferent | B．Positive | C．Satisfied | D．Critical |
Boys’ schools are the perfect place to teach young men to express their emotions and involve them in activities such as art, dance and music.
Far from the traditional image of a culture of aggressive masculinity (男子气概), the absence of girls gives boys the chance to develop without pressure to be consistent to a stereotype, a US study says.Boys at single-sex schools were said to be more likely to get involved in cultural and artistic activities that helped develop their abilities to express their emotions, rather than feeling they had to obey to the “boy code” of hiding their emotions to be a “real man”.
The findings of the study are against the received wisdom that boys do better when taught alongside girls.
Tony Little, headmaster of Eton, warned that boys were being ignored by the British education system because it had become too focused on girls. He criticized teachers for failing to recognize that boys are actually more emotional than girls.
The research argued that boys often perform badly in mixed schools because they become discouraged when their female peers do better earlier in speaking and reading skills.
But in single-sex schools teachers can adjust lessons to boys’learning style, letting them move around the classroom and getting them to compete in teams to prevent boredom, wrote the study’s author, Abigail James of the University of Virginia.
Teachers could encourage boys to enjoy reading and writing with “boy-focused” approaches such as themes and characters that appeal to them. Because boys generally have sharper vision, learn best through touch, and are physically more active, they need to be given “hands-on” lessons where they are allowed to walk around. “Boys in mixed schools view classical music as feminine (女性的) and prefer the modern type in which violence and sexism are major themes,” James wrote.
Single-sex education also made it less likely that boys would feel they had to give in to a stereotype that men should be “masterful and in charge” in relationships. “In mixed schools boys feel pressed to act like men before they understand themselves well enough to know what that means,” the study reported.The author believes that a single-sex school would ____ .
| A．force boys to hide their emotions to be “real men” |
| B．help to form masculine aggressiveness in boys |
| C．encourage boys to express their emotions more freely |
| D．naturally place emphasis on the traditional image of a man to boys |
It is commonly believed that in a mixed school boys _____ .
| A．perform relatively better | B．grow up more healthily |
| C．behave more responsibly | D．receive a better education |
What does Tony Little say about the British education system?
| A．It fails more boys than girls academically. |
| B．It focuses more on mixed school education. |
| C．It fails to give boys the attention they need. |
| D．It places more pressure on boys than on girls. |
According to Abigail James, one of the advantages of single-sex schools is _____.
| A．teaching can be adapted to suit the characteristics of boys |
| B．boys can focus on their lessons without being absent-minded |
| C．boys can choose to learn whatever they are interested in |
| D．teaching can be designed to promote boys’ team spirit |
Which of the following is the characteristic of boys according to Abigail James’ report?
| A．They enjoy being in charge. |
| B．They act the same to stereotypes. |
| C．They have sharper vision. |
| D．They are violent and sexist. |
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