At the moment when looking round the world, all kinds of dance performances are being offered. There are competitions that claim to be a World Cup or World Championship, and the young dancer or the dance teacher who wants to enter his students might be quite confused. Which is which? Which is of high standard and good quality, and which is not worth going to? First of all it has clearly got to be distinguished between the different styles of dance and the purpose of such competitions. When a person wants to learn classical ballet, he or she would never dream of going to a ballroom teacher. Such a teacher might even have been world champion in his ballroom dancing, but he would definitely not be qualified in teaching proper classical ballet.
People in Britain and the USA are taking more interest in modern dance. Dance classes of all kinds are popular; the audiences going to watch modern dance companies are also larger. And perhaps the most popular modern dance company in Britain is the Ballet Rambert.
The Ballet Rambert is Britains’ oldest established dance company which began in 1926. In the 60 s the company lacked the money to go on staging big productions. The directors wanted to encourage new talent and to keep up their high standards. A chan
ge of direction was necessary. They decided to give the ballet a ‘new look” in 1966. The aim was to provide a chance for new talent – for musicians and designers as well as dancers – and to show dance as a contemporary art form. And although some of the company’s previous fans dislike the change, new audiences came to see the productions.
The modern dance pieces and modern music found unexpected popularity. In the 21 st century the Ballet Rambert was a great success in L
ondon’s West End. The company becam
e a focus for new, progressive talent in the art.
Then, the Ballet Ramvert started to introduce young people to modern dance by giving performances at schools, which again, was a success.
The Ballet Rambert has managed to make modern dance popular while creating original and often avant – garde (标新立异) productions. It can claim to be the oldest dance company in Britain and at the same time one of the most modern!If a person wants to learn classical ballet, he or she will go to .
| A．the Ballet Rambert | B．a ballroom teacher |
| C．a world champion | D．a qualified school |
The underlined phrase “new talent” in Para. 3 probably means .
| A．new programs | B．new audiences |
| C．avant – garde productions | D．skilled young dancers |
From the passage we know that the Ballet Rambert .
| A．has succeeded in making modern dance popular |
| B．wanted to become the oldest dance company |
| C．was once a popular dance company |
| D．changed old dance into new ones |
This passage is mainly about .
| A．the popularity of modern dance |
| B．the introduction to new modern dancers |
| C．the development of the Ballet Rambert |
| D．the high standard of dance performances |
When traveling, it's important to learn about the customs and etiquette （礼节）of the global village, What we consider polite behavior at home isn't always accepted outside our borders．Don't be regarded rude or disrespectful on your travels．
Gift giving should be a happy, positive experience．When selecting a present for someone in the Netherlands, don't purchase fancy kitchen knives or scissors．Giving sharp, pointy objects as gifts is considered unlucky．Be careful when presenting flowers to a friend or business partner in Russia．Yellow blooms suggest cheat or a relationship break-up． Traditionally, red carnations are placed on the tombs of the dead．Writing cards or notes while visiting South Korea, be mindful of your pen's ink color．Writing a person's name in red ink traditionally suggests that the person has passed away－an important point to remember when giving a birthday card．
Being early or on time is viewed as being rude, too eager or even greedy in Venezuela．If you are invited over to someone's home for a meal, it's recommended that you arrive 10 to 15 minutes later than the requested time．When having a meal in Egypt, don't use the saltshaker（调味瓶）． It's insulting to your host to spread salt on your food, which means that you find the meal terrible．Japan is a very polite nation, and their fondness for etiquette extends to the mealtime use of chopsticks．According to Japanese custom, it's considered ill-mannered to point, play with, or stab（戳） food with chopsticks．If you’re in the middle of eating, use the opposite end of your chopsticks to secure food from a shared plate．Using the end that touches your mouth is extremely offensive （冒犯的）, not to mention unhygienic（不卫生的）．When sending a gift to your friend in Netherlands, you should avoid ．
| A．sharp knives | B．red carnations |
| C．yellow flowers | D．long chopsticks |
In South Korea, writing a person's name in red is not accepted because ．
| A．red often stands for violence |
| B．it shows that you're not friendly |
| C．it means that the person is dead |
| D．red is not a favorite color there |
What does the underlined word "insulting" in Paragraph 3 refer to?
| A．Admirable． | B．Challenging． |
| C．Rude． | D．Respectful． |
Where does this passage probably come from?
| A．a news report． | B．a tourist guide． |
| C．a museum guide． | D．a science book． |
Pierre is a 25-year-old penguin at the California Academy of Sciences．Due to his old age，he was going bald，which made him feel too cold to swim in the pool．Therefore，biologists at the academy had a wetsuit created for this penguin to help him get back in the swimming pool．
Unlike marine(海生的) mammals，which have a layer of blubber(鲸脂) to keep them warm，penguins depend on their waterproof feathers．Without them，Pierre was unwilling to jump into the swimming pool and ended up trembling on the side of the pool while his 19 peers played in the water．
“He was cold：he would shake，”said Pam Schaller，a senior biologist．Schaller first tried a heat lamp to keep Pierre warm．Then she got another idea：if wetsuits keep humans warm in the cold Pacific，why not make one for Pierre?
Schaller designed the suit，which covered Pierre’s body and had small openings for his flippers．
“I would walk behind him and look at where there were any gaps．and cut and refit until it looked like it was extremely suitable．”she said．
One concern was that the other penguins would reject Pierre in his new suit，but in fact，they accepted his new look．He swam freely and got along with others well，although he was the only penguin with a black stomach．
Schaller couldn’t say for sure whether the wetsuit allowed Pierre to recover his fine feathers，but” certainly we were able to keep him comfortable during a period of time that would have been very difficult for him to stay comfortable”．
Pierre will take off his suit after his new feathers grow back．Pierre felt too cold to swim in the pool because of____．
| A．not having a layer of blubber |
| B．having few feathers due to old age |
| C．having no wetsuit |
| D．others penguins rejecting him |
The idea of making a wetsuit for Pierre came from__________.
| A．total invention | B．the use of wetsuit on humans |
| C．the use of heat lamp | D．waterproof feathers． |
Schaller followed Pierre in order to see____________________．
| A．whether other penguins would reject him |
| B．if anywhere of wetsuit needed to be cut and refit |
| C．if the wetsuit kept warm |
| D．whether the wetsuit would keep the feathers from recovering |
The best title of the passage is____．
| A．Wetsuit for An old Penguin | B．Old Penguin Getting Bald |
| C．Unwilling to Swim | D．Strange Look of Pierre |
If you were to walk up to Arthur Bonner and say, “Hey, Butterfly Man,” his face would break into a smile. The title suits him.，and he loves it.
Arthur Bonner works with the Palos Verdes blue butterfly, once thought to have died out. Today the butterfly is coming back — thanks to him. But years ago if you’d told him this was what he’d be doing someday, he would have laughed, “You’re crazy.” As a boy, he used to be “a little tough guy on the streets”. At age thirteen, he was caught by police stealing. At eighteen, he landed in prison for shooting a man.
“I knew it had worried my mom,” Bonner said after he got out of prison. “So I told myself I would not put my mom through that pain again.”
One day he met Professor Mattoni, who was working to rebuild the habitat(栖息地) for an endangered butterfly called El Segundo blue.
“I saw the sign ‘Butterfly Habitat’ and asked, ‘How can you have a habitat when the butterflies can just fly away?’” Bonner recalls. “Dr. Mattoni laughed and handed me a magnifying glass (放大镜), ‘Look at the leaves.’ I could see all these caterpillars(蝴蝶的幼虫) on the plant. Dr Mattoni explained, ‘Without the plant, there are no butterflies.’”
Weeks later, Bonner received a call from Dr. Mattoni, who told him there was a butterfly that needed help. That was how he met the Palos Verdes blue. Since then he’s been working for four years to help bring the butterfly back. He grows astragalus, the only plant the butterfly eats. He collects butterflies and brings them into a lab to lay eggs. Then he puts new butterflies into the habitat.
The butterfly’s population, once almost zero, is now up to 900. For their work, Bonner and Dr. Mattoni received lots of awards. But for Bonner, he earned something more: he turned his life around.
For six years now Bonner has kept his promise to stay out of prison. While he’s bringing back the Palos Verdes blue, the butterfly has helped bring him back, too.When he was young, Arthur Bonner _______.
| A．broke the law and ended up in prison |
| B．was fond of shooting and hurt his mom |
| C．often laughed at people on the streets |
| D．often caught butterflies and took them home |
Bonner came to know the Palos Verdes blue after he _______.
| A．found the butterfly had died out |
| B．won many prizes from his professor |
| C．met Dr. Mattoni, a professor of biology |
| D．collected butterflies and put them into a lab |
From the last sentence of the text, we learn that raising butterflies has _______.
| A．made Bonner famous | B．changed Bonner’s life |
| C．brought Bonner wealth | D．enriched Bonner’s knowledge |
The world itself is becoming much smaller by using modern traffic and modern communication means. Life today is much easier than it was hundreds of years ago, but it has brought new problems. One of the biggest problems is pollution. To pollute means to make things dirty. Pollution comes in many ways. We see it, smell it, drink it and even hear it.
Man has been polluting the earth. The more people, the more pollution. Many years ago, the problem was not so serious because there were not so many people. When the land was used up or the river was dirty in one place, man moved to another place. But this is no longer true.
Man is now slowly polluting the whole world.
Air pollution is still the most serious. It’s bad for all living things in the world, but it is not the only one kind of pollution. Water pollution kills our fish and pollutes our drinking water. Noise pollution makes us angry more easily.
Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. They stop people from burning coal in houses and factories in the city, and from putting dirty smoke into the air. Pollution by SO2 is now the most dangerous kind of air pollution. It is caused by heavy traffic. We are sure that if there are fewer people driving, there will be less air pollution.
The earth is our home. We must take care of it. That means keeping the land, water and air clean. And we must take care of the rise in pollution at the same time._______, our world is becoming much smaller.
| A．Because of the rise in pollution |
| B．Thanks to science development |
| C．Because the earth is being polluted day and night |
| D．Because the earth is blown away by the wind every year |
Hundreds of years ago, life was __________ it is today.
| A．much easier than | B．as easy as |
| C．much harder than | D．as hard as |
Pollution comes in many ways. We can even hear it. Here “it” means _______.
| A．rubbish(垃圾) | B．noise pollution |
| C．air pollution | D．water pollution |
Air pollution is the most serious kind of pollution because _______.
| A．it makes much noise |
| B．it makes us angry more easily |
| C．it makes our rivers and lakes dirty |
| D．it’s bad for all living things in the world |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. |
| B．The pollution of the earth grows as fast as the world population does. |
| C．The problem of pollution is not so serious because there are not so many people living on the earth. |
| D．If people could go to work by bus or bike instead of car or motorbike, it would be helpful in fighting against the problem of SO2. |
Popeye the Sailor first became a popular cartoon in the 1930s.The sailor in that cartoon ate lots of spinach to make him strong. People watched him, and they began to buy and eat a lot more spinach. Popeye helped sell 33 percent more spinach than before! Spinach became a necessary part of many people’s diets. Even some children who hated the taste began to eat the vegetable.
Many people thought that the iron in spinach made Popeye strong, but this is not true. Spinach does not have any more iron than any other green vegetable.
People only thought spinach had a lot of iron because the people who studied the food made a mistake. In the 1890s, a group of people studied what was inside vegetables. This group said that spinach had ten times more iron than it did. The group wrote the number wrong, and everyone accepted it.
Today, we know that the little iron there is in spinach cannot make a difference in how strong a person is. However, spinach does have something else which the body needs—folic acid.
It is interesting to point out that folic acid can help make a person strong. Maybe it was really the folic acid that made Popeye strong all along.A good title for this reading passage is______.
| A．Popeye the Sailor | B．The Truth About Spinach |
| C．A Mistake with Numbers | D．Folic Acid Makes You Strong |
Why did many people eat spinach after they saw Popeye the Sailor?
| A．They thought spinach made them strong. |
| B．They thought Popeye was funny. |
| C．Spinach had a lot of iron. |
| D．People liked folic acid. |
A research group told people that spinach______.
| A．made Popeye strong |
| B．was a green vegetable |
| C．had less iron than other green vegetables |
| D．had more iron than other green vegetables |
The reading passage says that perhaps Popeye got his strength from______.
| A．iron | B．folic acid | C．spinach | D．exercise |
Folic acid is ______.
| A．something in food | B．a vegetable |
| C．dangerous | D．a certain kind of spinach |
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