"Gangnam Style" by singer Psy from Korea, is a popular song, but its extraordinary global success is really the result of its music video, which is a great piece of genius. On September 22nd, Guinness World Records listed "Gangnam Style" as the most-liked video in the history of YouTube. It's been performed at West Point (West-Point Style), and Google's CEO, has done the "Gangnam Style" horse dance at the company's office in Seoul. Even Samsung is trying to make Psy the new model for the latest type of fridge.
The song's global popularity is such that the vast majority of people who enjoy it don't speak Korean, and have no idea what it is about. That's fine --- part of what makes "Gangnam Style" so fun is, like international pop music, the difficulty in understanding it. When we sing along, "Hey, sexy lady", we don't really know what we're singing about.
The joy of incomprehensibleness is familiar to anyone who loves pop music from elsewhere. Anthony Lane, in his 2010 review of the Eurovision Song Contest, Only Mr. God Knows Why, used "Eurovision English" as one of its chief pleasures. It's "a complex tongue, spoken nowhere else, which raises the heartfelt poetry (诗意) but absolute nonsense to a level of what sci-fi writers could only have dreamed. " In similar ways, "Gangnam Style" is just an over-the-top video where a fat man does a funny dance and sings repetitive words that don't make sense to most of us.
But on the other, the magic of the song also lies in its funny dance, which reflects not just cultural morals specific to Korea, but cultural values easily recognizable to western viewers. This song's words may be in Korean, but its scenes are in clear American. The dance moves are simple enough to copy.
Nonsense, in other words, forces us to let down our guards. It makes us relax, and asks us to let in all sorts of feelings from which, otherwise, we might distance ourselves. "Gangnam Style" happens to be so interesting because of its incomprehensibleness.Some complex languages are used in pop music because _______.
| A．singers regard it as one of the chief pleasures at the concert |
| B．they make the music hard to understand but poetic and attractive |
| C．the music can sound more pleasant and beautiful to the audience |
| D．people like listening to the music which makes special sense to them |
What is true about the popularity of "Gangnam Style"?
| A．It was considered as the most popular video on the Internet. |
| B．It makes people amused and removes their emotional guards. |
| C．Its dance only reflects cultural and morals specific to Korea. |
| D．Psy, its singer, has been the new model for Samsung . |
What does the underlined word "incomprehensibleness" mean in Paragraph 3?
| A．Being interesting to listen to. | B．Being simple enough to copy. |
| C．Being complex and repetitive. | D．Being difficult to understand. |
The text is mainly about ________.
| A．how "Gangnam Style" becomes popular among the youths |
| B．why "Gangnam Style" is popular even if few people understand it |
| C．how Psy gains worldwide success through his talent and hard work |
| D．what emotions and cultural morals Psy wants to convey with his song |
Chelsea Clinton, the 31-year-old daughter of former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, is stepping into her own spotlight.
According to the New York Times, NBC has hired Clinton to become a full-time special correspondent（记者） for NBC News. Her feature stories will reportedly be used in the “Making a Difference” series, which runs on “NBC Nightly News”. The sections attract people who volunteer to improve the lives of others in their communities.
When Bill Clinton won the presidency in 1992, the first lady asked the press to keep Chelsea out of the public eyes. As a young adult, Chelsea continued to avoid media attention in order to attend college and quietly enter the business world. Once her mother decided to run for the presidency in 2007, however, Chelsea made hundreds of public appearances, mostly on college campuses, to support the campaign. More recently, she has worked for New York University and promoted her father’s latest book. She is currently pursuing a doctor’s degree at Oxford.
Clinton is the second daughter of a president hired by NBC News; Jenna Bush Hager, daughter of former President George W. Bush, works as a correspondent for NBC’s “Today” show. Chelsea Clinton continued to stay out of media attention to _____.
| A．improve the lives of others |
| B．help her father in the election |
| C．study and go to the business circle |
| D．support her mother for the presidency |
What does the underlined word mean in Paragraph 2?
| A．is shown | B．flows | C．is managed | D．spreads |
Which is the right order of the events?
a. Chelsea helped to sell Bill Clinton’s latest book.
b. Chelsea pursues her doctor’s degree.
c. Chelsea supported her mother’s career.
d. Chelsea was out of the public attention.
| A．d, a, c, b | B．c, d, b, a |
| C．c, b, d, a | D．d, c, a, b |
According to the text, we can conclude that _____.
| A．Chelsea Clinton is the second daughter of Bill Clinton |
| B．Chelsea Clinton is in favour of her parents’ careers |
| C．Chelsea Clinton always follows her mother’s advice |
| D．Jenna Bush Hager is a correspondent for “NBC Nightly News” |
Mini Book Excerpts (节选)
Biography
When Salinger learned that a car park was to be built on the land, the middle-aged writer was shocked and quickly bought the neighboring area to protect it… The townspeople never forgot the rescue and came to help their most famous neighbor.
J. D. Salinger: A Life by Kenneth Slawenski (Random House, $27)
Mystery (疑案小说)
"You're a smart boy. Benny's death was no accident, and you're the only who saw it happen. Do you think the murderer should get away with it?" The boy was staring stubbornly at his lap again.
A thought suddenly occurred to Annika, "Did you …You recognized the man in the car, didn't you?"
The boy hesitated, twisting his fingers, "Maybe," he said quietly.
Red Wolf by Liza Marklund (Atria Books, $25.99)
Short Stories
She wants to say to him what she has learned, none of it in class. Some women are born stupid, and some women are too smart for their own good. Some women are born to give, and some women only know how to take. Some women learn who they want to be from their mothers, some who they don't want to be. Some mothers suffer so their daughters won't. Some mothers love so their daughters won't.
You Are Free by Danzy Senna (Riverhead Books, $15)
Humor
Do your kids like to have fun? Come to Fun Times! Do you like to watch your kids having fun? Bring them to Fun Times! Fun Times!'s "amusement cycling" is the most fun you can have, legally, in the United States right now. Why spend thousands of dollars flying to Disney World when you can spend less than half of that within a day's drive of most cities?
Happy: And Other Bad Thoughts by Larry Doyle (Ecco, $14.99)If the readers want to know about the life of Salinger, they should buy the book published by ________.
| A．Ecco | B．Atria Books | C．Riverhead Books | D．Random House |
The book Happy And Other Bad Thoughts is intended for ________.
| A．young children | B．Disney World workers |
| C．middle school teachers | D．parents with young children |
Which book describes women with characters of their own?
A. Happy And Other Bad Thoughts
B. J. D. Salinger: A Life
C. You Are Free
D. Red Wolf After finishing the book Red Wolf, the readers would learn that ________.
| A．the boy helped arrest the murderer |
| B．Benny died of an accident |
| C．the murderer got away with the crime |
| D．Annika carried out the crime |
You are watching a film in which two men are having a fight. They hit one another hard. At the start they only fight with their fists（拳头）.But soon they begin hitting one another over the heads with chairs. And so it goes on until one of the men crashes through a window and falls thirty feet to the ground below. He is dead!
Of course he isn’t really dead. With any luck he isn’t even hurt. Why ? Because the men who fall out of high windows or jump from fast moving trains, who crash cars of even catching fire, are professionals（职业）.They do this for a living. These men are called stuntmen. That is to say, they perform tricks（骗局）.
There are two sides to their work. They actually do most of the things you see on the screen. For example, they fall from a high building. However, they do not fall on to hard ground but on to empty cardboard boxes covered with a mattress（床垫）. Again, when they hit one another with chairs, the chairs are made of soft wood and when they crash through windows, the glass is made of sugar!
But although their work depend on trick of this sort, it also requires a high degree of skill and training. Often a stuntman’s success depends on careful timing（计时）.For example, when he is “blown up” in a battle scene, he has to jump out of the way of the explosion（爆炸）just at the right moment.
Naturally stuntmen are well paid for their work, but they lead dangerous lives. They often get seriously injured, and sometimes killed. A Norwegian stuntman, for example, skied over the edge of a cliff a thousand feet high. His parachute（降落伞）failed to open, and he was killed.
In spite of（尽管）all the risks, this is no longer a profession for men only. Men no longer dress up as women when actresses have to perform some dangerous action. For nowadays there are stuntgirls too!Stuntmen are those who____________
| A．Often dress up as actors |
| B．prefer to lead dangerous lives |
| C．often perform seemingly dangerous actions |
| D．often fight each other for their lives |
Stuntmen earn their living by___________
| A．playing their dirty tricks |
| B．selling their special skills |
| C．jumping out of high windows |
| D．jumping from fast moving trains |
When a stuntman falls from a high building,___________
| A．he needs little protection |
| B．he will be covered with a mattress |
| C．his life is endangered |
| D．his safety is generally all right |
Which of the following is the main factor(因素) of a successful performance?
| A．Strength | B．Exactness | C．Speed | D．Carefulness |
What can be inferred from the author’s example of the Norwegian stuntman?
| A．Sometimes an accident can occur to a stuntman. |
| B．The percentage of serious accidents is high. |
| C．Parachutes must be of good quality. |
| D．The cliff is too high. |
HOW TO BOOK
Booking opens for Beckett Shorts on 8 September.
BY TELEPHONE
For credit card(信用卡) bookings. Calls are answered.
BOX OFFICE
01789 295623 9am—8pm( Mon—Sat)
0541 541051 ( 24 hours, 7 days, no booking charge,<收费> )
BY FAX
For credit card bookings. Please allow at least 48 hours for reply, if required.
BOX OFFICE
01789 261974 or 01862 387765
BY POST
Please enclose（附上）a cheque or credit card details together with an SAE or add 50p to the total amount（总额）to cover postage. Please send to the Box Office, RST , Stratford—upon—Avon, CV376BB.
Booking opens for all other plays on 19 September.
IN PERSON
BOX OFFICE
RST hall, 9:30am—8pm ( Mon—Sat ) ( 6pm when theatres are closed )
OVERSEAS BOOKING
The easiest method of payment is by credit card. You can also pay by; Eurocheque (up to £500)with your card number written on the back.
PAYING FOR YOUR TICKETS CREDIT CARDS
We accept Visa, Master Card, American Express and Diners Club. Please give the card number, name and address of card holder.
CHEQUES
Cheques and postal orders should be payable to: Royal Shakespeare Theatre.
In which of following ways of booking does one probably have pay extra money?
| A．In person. | B．By telephone. |
| C．By fax. | D．By post. |
One has to wait for 2 days or longer for a reply if he/she pays_____________
| A．in person. | B．by telephone. |
| C．by fax. | D．by post. |
What is a useful number to call at 11 am Sunday?
| A．01789 295623 | B．0541 541051 |
| C．01789 261174 | D．01862 387665 |
If you walk slowly through downtown Helsinki(赫尔辛基）during the day, taking in the splendid 19th century buildings, white boats and noise of passing trams（有轨电车）, you will start to understand why it is called a city of two colors: white and blue.
The sea is always present in Helsinki. When you take a walk over the great open space of the central square, you will hear seabirds screaming. When you take the tram ,suddenly and unexpectedly, you are faced with a calm, shining blue sea. You may notice that people in Helsinki do not rush about as in other cities. Instead ,they walk along the roads, politely letting other people by.
An usual way to see Helsinki for the first time is to start out by the boats. You will walk by the elderly women selling fish and vegetables in the market square and find yourself in front of a beautiful park. You may enjoy a pleasant walk in the park for a few hours and then take the tram. Trams are the perfect way to get around（四处走动）in Helsinki. Watching the old houses, parks, theatres, churches, shops, restaurants and people in the streets, you may have a slightly sad film feeling to it.
The pale summer nights are another wonder in the city. Following the waterfront（滨水区）of the city after sunset, you couldn’t help stopping and listening to the sweet silence, interrupted only by the screaming seabirds and leaving fishing boats.
However, in some way. Helsinki is also the most modern city in northern Europe. You will surely want to visit the white Glass Palace, the modern art museum, and all those extremely popular cafes and design stores.Helsinki is called a city of two colors mainly because of the colors of its ____________
| A．19th century buildings, boats and parks |
| B．19th century buildings, boats and seabirds |
| C．old houses, parks and trams |
| D．old buildings, boats and the sea |
The best way to see most of Helsinki is to go___________
| A．by boat | B．by bus | C．by tram | D．on foot |
The 19th century buildings, the white Glass Palace, popular cafes and design shops in Helsinki all show that Helsinki is __________
| A．both splendid and traditional | B．both quiet and noisy |
| C．both historical and modern | D．both old and new |
This passage is most likely to be found in___________
| A．a story-book | B．a geography textbook |
| C．a research report | D．a travel magazine |
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