"When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood. The happy childhood is hardly worth your while. "Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood. And worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood." That was Frank McCourt reading the opening lines of his book Angela's Ashes, released in 1996.
This Irish American author best known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiography Angela's Ashes that recorded his poor upbringing, died of cancer on Sunday, The New York Times reported. He was 78.
Born in New York City, he was the eldest of the seven children born to Irish immigrant parents. Angela's Ashes was a memoir(回忆录)that captured an irresponsible, drunkard(酒鬼)father with a gift for story-telling. When not drunk, his father was absent, turning his back on a family so poor, McCourt wrote, that they were reduced to burning the furniture in their rented hut to keep warm. His mother struggled to raise her many children after his father left the family.
In Angela's Ashes, he wrote of hunger, a home flooded with rainwater and the unbearable humiliation(耻辱)of seeking handouts from charities in the Irish city. But he told the story in a way that is expressive, warm and light-hearted.
Frank McCourt left Ireland at the age of 19 to return to New York City where he was born. He earned a degree in English education and taught creative writing for nearly thirty years. After retiring in 1987, he decided to write about his childhood. "Angela's Ashes" became a huge success and brought McCourt a 1997 Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award and other honors. Millions of copies of the book were sold worldwide and it was adapted into a 1999 movie starring Emily Watson and Robert Carlyle.In the first paragraph, by saying "The happy childhood is hardly worth your while", the writer really means that ________.
| A．a lot of readers don't deserve happy childhood |
| B．his childhood is not worth of others' sympathy |
| C．his childhood is mixed with happiness and misery |
| D．smooth childhood surely will not draw readers' attention |
From the passage, we know Frank McCourt's father is ________.
| A．humorous and trustworthy |
| B．alcohol-addicted but loves his family |
| C．poor but warm-hearted |
| D．irresponsible but gifted in telling stories |
Which of the statements about the book “Angela’s Ashes” is right?
| A．This book is intended to show respect to McCourt’s father. |
| B．The author wrote the book in a sad and serious tone(语调). |
| C．The book enjoyed great popularity after it came out. |
| D．The author got two awards because of the book. |
What's the text mainly about?
| A．A brief introduction to Frank McCourt and one of his works. |
| B．A literary review(评论) on Frank McCourt's book. |
| C．An account of Frank McCourt's miserable childhood. |
| D．A comment on Frank McCourt's life experience. |
First Lady Michelle Obama urged students to visit China at the "100,000 Strong" China Study Abroad forum at Howard University in 2011.
President Barack Obama announced the "100,000 Strong" Initiative （倡议） during his 2009 visit to China. The program aims to increase and diversify the number of American students studying in China by making studying abroad more affordable.
During the event at Howard, Mrs. Obama spoke about the importance of studying abroad, something she never did while in college. "Studying in countries like China is about so much more than just improving your own prospects（前景） in the global market. The fact is that with every friendship you make and every bond of trust you establish you are shaping an image of America projected to the rest of the world," she said.
David Marzban from Pepperdine University recalled a time when he formed a cross-cultural bond with a complete stranger at a restaurant near Fudan University in Shanghai. He noticed a young chef signaling him to come over. "He presses the play button on his media player and starts singing 'California Dreaming' and wants me to sing along with him," Marzban said. "At this time I knew a great friendship had started during my first two weeks in China."
Nicole Baden, a senior communications major at Howard University, recalled how her time in China really helped her master the language. "You have to experience the culture while learning the language to really master it and to understand why things are how they are compared to your own culture," Baden said.
Mrs. Obama encouraged students to set aside concept that studying abroad is for rich kids only or for those attending certain schools. In addition, the first lady announced that the Chinese government is giving 10,000 "Bridge Scholarships" to cover costs for American students and teachers studying in China.
Students from several schools attended the forum. 12-year-old Sarah Davis, who studied in China last summer, said she was very excited to hear Michelle Obama talk about the country. “I love Chinese. Out of all the languages I’ve learned, Chinese is the most difficult and interesting,” she said.The examples mentioned in the passage mainly indicate that _____.
| A．the US students’ life in China is helpful and worthwhile |
| B．all students of the US are living a comfortable life in China |
| C．Chinese young people are friendly to foreigners |
| D．it isn’t realistic for some US young people to study in China |
What can we infer from the passage?
| A．Baden came to China to study the differences between English and Chinese. |
| B．Poor children from America have no opportunity to study in China. |
| C．David Marzban made a Chinese friend in an unexpected way in China. |
| D．Michelle Obama called on US students to study in China at a government meeting. |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．The US has an ambitious program for Americans studying in China. |
| B．Michelle Obama encourages American students to study in China. |
| C．More American students plan to study in China. |
| D．China is attracting more and more international students. |
It’s a natural phenomenon. The minute you think you want to buy something new, you go online to read reviews about it. Not only is this done with shopping, it’s also done for movies to see , restaurants to go to and almost everything that is worth having an opinion on. The concept of writing down a review for all to see is something that has caused the birth of reviews sites. These are sites where people post reviews on other people, services, businesses, products and more.
In some cases you have professionals do the review and in some other cases you will have the average person write it up. Review sites have a number of ways in which they can gain revenue for themselves in the form of advertising. In some cases, a business can pay his way through to a better listing spot. This does not mean that a positive review will be promoted where it is not warranted (担保).
Review sites are largely a public forum and it is not necessary for people to reveal their identity. Since people are anonymous (匿名的) and sign up access is open to all, there are chances that reviews will be planted or will be negatively written simply to discredit a particular product or service.
There is a lot of criticism towards these websites since they do nothing to control the kind of entries made or the source of these entries. On the other hand, there are professional review sites. These people are accountable for each of their reviews. Any doubts you have will be addressed personally by the one writing the review. Such sites work on much better principles allowing for a fair opinion.
Considering they have a better reputation, they are aware of some the latest products that are released worldwide. This gives you a better chance of finding reviews of the latest product. While a review site will help you narrow down your choice, it by no means should influence your final decision. That is based entirely on the way you see fit.Nowadays, before buying something, people usually ________.
| A．ask the opinion of others | B．surf famous review sites. |
| C．ignore topics of review sites. | D．read reviews on the Internet. |
The underlined word “revenue” in Paragraph 2 probably means”______”.
| A．the announcement posted by sites |
| B．the income earned from sales or services |
| C．the freedom of writing reviews |
| D．the program made by advertisement companies |
What do we know about the professional reviews sites?
| A．The reviews on the sites are written mainly by professors. |
| B．Those who write the reviews on the sites are serious sometimes. |
| C．The reviewer addresses your doubt personally for you. |
| D．The reviewers on the sites are ready to write to you if you like. |
This passage was written mainly to tell us________.
| A．to make good use of review sites |
| B．to consult something with reviewers |
| C．not to make a decision before reading reviews |
| D．not to believe some review sites |
Captain Good Fellow
Do your children enjoy interesting stories, funny games, and exciting dances? Captain Good Fellow will be ready to teach all these things to children of all ages at the City Theatre on Saturday morning at 10:00, Free.
Walking Tour of the Town
Forget your worries on Saturday morning. Take a beautiful walk and learn about local history. Meet at the front entrance of City Hall at 9:30. Wear comfortable shoes!
Films at the Museum
Two European films will be shown Saturday afternoon at the Museum Theatre. See Broken Window at 1:30. The workers will be at 3:45. For further information, call 4987898.
International Picnic
Are you tired of eating the same food every day? Come to Central Park on Saturday and enjoy food from all over the world. Delicious and not expensive. Noon to 5:00 pm.
Take Me out to the Ballgame
It’s Sunday, and tonight is your last chance to see the Redbirds this year. Get your tickets at the gate. It might be cold；don’t forget sweaters and jackets.
Do You Want to Hear “The Zoo”
“The Zoo”, a popular rock group from Australia, will give their first US concert on Sunday night at 8:00 at Rose Hall, City College.You can probably eat Chinese, Italian, and Arab food________.
| A．at the front entrance of City Hall | B．at the Ballgame |
| C．at Central Park on Saturday | D．at 5:00 pm |
You can see movies at ________.
| A．the City College | B．the Museum Theatre |
| C．the City Theatre | D．the Central Park |
If you are going on the Walking Tour, don’t forget_________.
| A．your comfortable shoes | B．your beautiful walk |
| C．your learning about local history | D．your worries |
“The Zoo” is ________.
| A．a park with lots of animals |
| B．US concert |
| C．a music group |
| D．going to give the concert at 8:00 am |
The best title of this passage is ________.
| A．Special Events This Weekend |
| B．Have Fun With Us |
| C．Come And Play With Us |
| D．How To Arrange Your Holidays |
You may know the English letters A, B and C. But do you know there are people called ABC? You may like eating bananas. But did you know there is a “banana person”? How strange! Are these people from “another Earth”? No. They are just Chinese people like you and me.
ABC means American-Born Chinese. An ABC is a Chinese, but was born in the United States. Sometimes, people call an ABC a “banana person”. A banana is yellow outside and white inside. So, when a person is a banana, he or she is white inside—thinking like a Westerner and yellow outside—looking like a Chinese.
Do you know why? Usually, ABCs know little about China or the Chinese language. Some of them don’t speak Chinese.
But if ABCs cannot speak Chinese, can we still call them Chinese people? Yes, of course. They are Chinese. They are overseas Chinese. These people may be citizens of another country like the US, Canada or Singapore. But they have Chinese blood. Their parents, grandparents or even great-grandparents were from China. They all have black eyes and black hair.
But they are not Chinese citizens. They are not the people of the People’s Republic of China. For example, we all know the famous scientist C.N. Yang(杨振宁). He got the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1957. The Chinese love him, but he is an American citizen.What’s the author’s purpose in writing this passage?
| A．He wants to tell us something about “ABC”. |
| B．He wants to show that Chinese are well respected in America. |
| C．He wants to tell us some knowledge about the English language. |
| D．He wants to introduce the American culture to us. |
Chinese in Western countries are called “banana persons” because ____.
| A．their bodies are white inside but yellow outside |
| B．they think like Westerners but look like Chinese |
| C．they were born in China but go to study in America |
| D．they like to eat bananas |
C.N. Yang is mentioned here to show that ____.
A. American Chinese are great
B. we love American Chinese
C. The Chinese can win Nobel Prizes
D. American Chinese are not Chinese citizensWhich is NOT true?
A. ABCs are Chinese people.
B. ABCs are all “banana persons”.
C. If you go to America or another country one day, you’ll really become an ABC.
D. ABCs know our country very little.What does the underlined word in the passage mean?
| A．People who born and live or work in other countries. |
| B．People who love other countries. |
| C．People who know other countries very much. |
| D．People who can speak other countries’languages. |
Several years ago， a television reporter was talking to three of the most important people in America. One was a very rich banker， another owned one of the largest companies in the world， and the third owned many buildings in the center of New York.
The reporter was talking to them about being important.
“How do we know if someone is really important？” the reporter asked the banker.
The banker thought for a few moments and then said， “I think anybody who is invited to the White House to meet the President of the United States is really important.”
The reporter then turned to the owner of the very large company. “Do you agree with that？” she asked.
The man shook his head， “No. I think the President invites a lot of people to the White House. You’d only be important if while you were visiting the President， there was a telephone call from the president of another country， and the President of the US said he was too busy to answer it.”
The reporter turned to the third man. “Do you think so？”
“No， I don’t，” he said. “I don’t think that makes the visitor important. That makes the President important.”
“Then what would make the visitor important？” the reporter and the other two men asked.
“Oh， I think if the visitor to the White House was talking to the President and the phone rang， and the President picked up the receiver， listened and then said， ‘It’s for you.’ ”There are _______ in this passage.
| A．two men and two women | B．three men and one woman |
| C．three women and one man | D．four women |
The banker thought _______.
| A．he was really important because he was a rich banker |
| B．the visitor to the White House was really important |
| C．the visitor who met the President of the United States |
| D．the reporter was really important |
The owner of the very large company thought _______.
| A．she was really important because she owned one of the largest companies |
| B．the banker was really important |
| C．the owner of many buildings in the center of New York was really important |
| D．the visitor would be really important if while he was visiting the President， the President would not answer any telephone call |
The owner of many buildings thought _______.
| A．he was really important because he owned many buildings in the center of New York |
| B．the owner of the very large company was really important |
| C．the visitor was really important if he talking to the President and the President received a telephone call for the visitor |
| D．the person who worked in the White House was really important |
The best title of the passage is ________ .
| A．Who’s more important,the President or me? |
| B．White House and the President. |
| C．The richer the more important. |
| D．How to be an important person. |
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