Published in 1896 and one of the most memorable horror stories ever written, Dracula, by Irish writer Bram Stoker,is the story of a vampire（吸血鬼）,someone who lives on human blood. Stoker wrote the book after reading stories about Central European vampires and set his novel in Transylvania. Even today,there are readers of the book who believe that Transylvania is a mythical（神话的）country,a figment（虚构）of Stoker’s imagination. Nothing could be further from the truth. Transylvania is part of modern-day Central European country Romania,and the country does indeed have a history of mythological vampires.
However,Romanians are always puzzled by the description of the novel’s central character, Count Dracula,a tall,elegant aristocrat（贵族）with impeccable（完美的）manners who also happens to speak very good English. This is a world away from the images of vampires that they have grown up with. Romanian vampires are half-human creatures who live solitary lives in the forests,not aristocrats living in castles with well-stocked libraries.
So where did Stoke get the image for his Dracula? The answer becomes clearer when one learns of his relationship with a man called Henry Irving,the greatest British stage actor of his time.
Stoker was working as a civil servant in his home city of Dublin when he first met Irving. Bored with his tedious life and work, Stoker took every opportunity to visit the theatre and for a while was the drama critic for the Dublin Evening Mail. One of the reviews he wrote was of a performance of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet,with Irving in the lead role.
Irving was so pleased with Stoker’s review of his performance that he asked to meet him. Stoker couldn’t believe his luck when one night,he was invited to a dinner party where Irving was the guest of honour. Irving entertained the assembled dinner guests with some renditions（表演）of famous poems and speeches from Shakespeare.
Stoker was already writing the first chapters of Dracula and began to base the central character on Irving,in the vain hope that if it ever became a stage play, Irving would play the central character. Sadly,Irving never did,but the two men became close friends,and in 1878 Stoker left the civil service and became Irving’s manager in London.Bram Stoker set his novel in Transylvania because .
| A．it is in modern-day Romania |
| B．Transylvania is a mythical country |
| C．he wanted to tell a true story |
| D．he had read stories about vampires from the area |
The central character of the novel .
| A．is very similar to the vampires that Romanians know about |
| B．Is completely different from the vampires Romanians know about |
| C．Has impeccable manners,like a real Romanian vampire |
| D．Is puzzled by the comparison with Romanian vampires |
What was Stoker’s hope?
| A．That the book would become a stage-play. |
| B．That Irving would play the central character in the stage play. |
| C．That he could live in London. |
| D．That Irving would work for him. |
News that Microsoft was making a $44.6 billion bid to buy Yahoo was greeted with heated discussion by many Internet users on Friday. Here are some responses:
Mark Galeassi of Kansas City, Missouri
This is the best move for both parties. Yahoo has the ideas and Microsoft has the money to finally market these ideas correctly. Microsoft and Yahoo are a perfect fit and the deal will be good for consumers.
Scott G of New Jersey
I was a Yahoo user for years along with Hotmail from Microsoft. Then Google came along: Google Earth, Google Toolbar and Gmail. Google is so innovative (创新的) with everything they do. Yahoo and Microsoft... same old story... I don’t think the merger (合并) will do anything for either company except improve the Yahoo shareholders’ bank accounts.
Michael Glosser of Estero, Florida
Right now, Yahoo offers a lot of features and tools at no cost for all different levels of Internet users. Microsoft seeks nothing but profit. Undoubtedly, they’ll do nothing other than find ways to start removing Yahoo’s formerly non-priced features. Microsoft’s greed will ruin the great thing that Yahoo currently is.
Toni Suarez of Hacienda Heights, California
Perhaps it would bring better high technology innovations to e-mail and help in researching and developing a better Internet!
Antonio Simmons of Parkville, Maryland
Microsoft purchasing Yahoo would be nothing more than an attempt from Microsoft to further impose upon the users their poor-quality software and obtain more wealth for the company. In my opinion, they will never be able to compete with Google because Yahoo and Microsoft’s current search engines are too inferior (差的) to compete. Even if combined, they still lack.Who is in favor of the merger of Microsoft and Yahoo?
| A．Antonio Simmons. | B．Michael Grosser. |
| C．Scott G. | D．Mark Galeassi. |
In the opinion of Scott G , _______.
| A．the merger will contribute to Microsoft |
| B．Yahoo and Microsoft are lacking in innovation |
| C．Google is getting short of management experience |
| D．the merger will allow Microsoft to overtake Google |
Michael Grosser is afraid that _______.
| A．the merger will cost Yahoo’s free features |
| B．the merger will lead to Microsoft’s defeating Yahoo |
| C．the increased competition will force Google out of the game |
| D．Internet users will have to buy Microsoft’s expensive software |
What is Antonio Simmons’ attitude towards Google?
| A．Doubtful. | B．Disapproval. | C．Positive. | D．Negative. |
The American book Who Moved My Cheese has been a bestseller all over the world. It teaches people how to face changes in their lives. Now its author Spence Johnson has written a book just for teens. The book tells us that when facing change in our lives, like a new school or new friends, don't be afraid. Instead, use this change to make a better life. The book gives an example of a change at school. A school is changing from having two terms to three terms because there are too many students.
Several teens are talking about this. Most of them are unhappy and worried. But Chris is not. He laughs and tells a story about two mice, two "little people" and some cheese.
The four are in a maze looking for the cheese. Here, cheese means something important in life, like moving to a new class or getting into college. But they find the cheese is gone. The mice realize that they can't change what has happened and have to find more cheese. This means finding different dreams. The little people, however, can't do this. They are afraid of change so they find no cheese.
After Chris finishes the story, the friends understand one thing: to get more cheese, move in a new direction quickly. His friends understand how this can be used in the changes all teens face, such as doing well at school or having good relationships or just feeling good about yourself.What does the text mainly discuss ______?
| A．Never change in our life | B．Change when you like to do |
| C．Change with the changes | D．Pay attention to the changes |
The underlined word "four" (paragraph 3) refers to ______.
| A．Mice and little people | B．Students | C．Cheese | D．Readers |
In our lives, we should learn from _________.
| A．mice | B．little people | C．Chris | D．Spence Johnson |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．The author is Britain. |
| B．There are three terms in every school. |
| C．Most teens don't understand Chris' story. |
| D．The book tells teens how to face changes in their lives. |
Animal experts in Croatia say a bear has learned how to trick people to let him in by knocking at the door.
They believe the 220- kilogram brown bear probably learned the trick while nudging (轻推) a door to get it to open.
Experts have a guess that the nudging was mistaken by the owners for knocking and that the bear, pleased by the result, repeated the trick.
The Loknar family from Gerovo in western Croatia said the bear had knocked at their door three times and they were now refusing to answer the door.
‘We jumped out of the window as he came in through the door and went into the kitchen to take some food for the first time.” Mum Nevenka Loknar told a reporter from a local newspaper. “I opened the door and saw him standing there and I didn’t believe my eyes at first, then I ran for it as he walked in as if it was the most normal- thing in the world.”
Bears are a common thing in the woods around here, but no one has ever heard of a bear that knocks at the door.
Mum Nevenka Loknar said, “The bear is so intelligent. It’s incredible. We’ve tried to put up lots of obstacles to stop him coming in, like a wire fence but he still gets through. I wouldn’t be surprised if he knew how to use wire cutters (钢丝剪).”According to experts in Croatia, how did the bear learn the trick?
| A．By knocking at the door several times. | B．By accident. |
| C．By learning from the owner of a family. | D．By imitation. |
What does the underlined word “it” in paragraph 5 refer to?
| A．Eating at the kitchen. | B．Knocking at the door. |
| C．Walking into the house. | D．Answering the door. |
It is ________ in Gerovo that a bear knocks at the door.
| A．unusual | B．a troubling problem |
| C．common | D．an exciting experience |
Mum Nevenka Loknar was surprised that the bear ________.
| A．didn’t attack her family |
| B．knew how to use wire cutters |
| C．jumped across her wire fence three times |
| D．was clever at getting through the obstacles |
Sport is very popular in England. In other words lots of English people like the idea of sport． A lot watch sport on TV． But the number who take part in（参加）sport is quite small． On the whole English people prefer to be fat rather than thin．
The most popular sport in England is football． Football is played on Saturday afternoon in most towns and the supporters（球迷）of a certain team will travel from one end of the country to the other to see their team play． There are four divisions（级别）of the football league．Not surprisingly the best teams are in the first division． But the best supporters are often in the fourth division． You have to be a good supporter to watch the fourth division football!
Many other sports are also played in England, such as golf, in which you try to knock a ball into a hole; basketball, in which you try to got a ball through a net（篮筐）; tennis, in which you try to hit a ball so that your opponent（对手）can not hit it． As you see, if the ball had not been invented, there would have been no sport．
Actually（其实）, that is not quite true． Athletics（田径）isn’t played with a ball; nor horseracing（赛马）． Perhaps that is why they are not so popular as football!________ is the most popular sport in England．
| A．Basketball | B．Football | C．Golf | D．Tennis |
You have to be a good supporter to watch ______division football．
| A．the first | B．the second | C．the third | D．the fourth |
Why do many English people not take part in sport?
| A．They are too busy． |
| B．They like watching sport on TV． |
| C．They would like to be fat． |
| D．They prefer to be thin． |
Why are English people interested in sport?
| A．They have their football team． |
| B．The sport games are played on Saturday afternoon． |
| C．They like the idea of sport． |
| D．They like the famous players． |
Popular music in America is what every student likes. Students carry small radios with earphones and listen to music before class, after class, and at lunch. Students with cars buy large speakers and play the music loudly as they drive on the street.
Adult drivers listen to music on the car radio as they drive to work. They also listen to the news about sports, the weather, and the life of American people. Most of the radio programmes are music.
Pop or popular music singers make much money. They make a CD or tape which radio stations use in many places. Once the popular singer is heard all over the country, young people buy his or her tape. Some of the money from these tapes goes to the singer. Wherever the singer goes, all the young people want to meet him or her. Now the singer has become a national star.
There are other kinds of music that are important to Americans. One is called folk (民间) music. It tells stories about the common life of Americans. Another is called western or country music. This was started by cowboys (牛仔) who would sing at night to the cows they were watching. Today, any music about country life and the love between a country boy and his girl is called western or country music.Which of the following is talked in this passages?
| A．pop music, folk music |
| B．popular, folk and country music |
| C．pop music and western music |
| D．folk, pop and classical music |
When pop singers _________ , they will become national stars.
| A．make much money |
| B．make a CD or tape |
| C．are loved by all the young people |
| D．are wanted to sing on the radio |
From the passage we know that country music is about the ________.
| A．common life of Americans |
| B．country life and love stories |
| C．life of cowboys |
| D．school life in America |
What would be the best title (标题) for this passage？
| A．American Music | B．Popular Music |
| C．History of Music | D．Western Music |
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