The young violin player Vanessa-Mae was the first musician to use dance and rock music in classical（古典的）music. Vanessa-Mae love pop music, and she was also a very good classical violinist, and she brought these kinds of music together.
She likes lots of different kinds of music, from Beethoven to the Beatles, and she wants to play the music she likes. Not only has she played in classical concerts all over the world, but she has also played in pop concerts with pop stars.
A lot of people don’t like the way she uses modern rhythms（节奏）, noisy drums and guitars in traditional（传统的）music. But Vanessa-Mae has done one important thing: she has brought many new fans to classical music. For the first time, many young people began to listen to classical music.Vanessa-Mae was a young woman.
| A．Chinese | B．English | C．Singaporean | D．French |
The type of music Vanessa-Mae likes is .
| A．traditional music | B．different kinds of music | C．classical music | D．rock and roll |
listen to classical music because they like Vanessa-Mae.
| A．Pop stars | B．Young people | C．Classical musicians | D．Old people |
was the first instrument（乐器）she learnt to play.
| A．The violin | B．The piano | C．The drums | D．The guitar |
In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbours.
The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighbourhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbours.
It was like a race, but one could never finish his race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.
Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbours. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand’s series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.
People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Joneses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.Some people want to keep up with the Joneses because they ________.
| A．want to be as rich as their neighbours |
| B．want others to know or to think that they are rich |
| C．don’t want others to know they are rich |
| D．want to be happy |
It can be inferred (推断) from the story that rich people like to ________.
| A．live outside New York City | B．live in New York City |
| C．live in apartments | D．have many neighbours |
Arthur Momand used the name “Jones” in his series of short stories because “Jones” is ________.
| A．an important name | B．a popular name in the United States |
| C．his neighbour’s name | D．not a good name |
If a person who keeps up with the Joneses, he would _________.
| A．do as the poor persons around him do |
| B．do everything he likes to do |
| C．do as his neighbours do |
| D．do as the rich people around him do |
When we talk about stars, especially women stars, it seems that they are always young, pretty and own attractive body shapes. But recently a Britain’s Got Talent(英国达人) star Susan Boyle has changed our views completely.
Simon Cowell, one of the organizers of the talent show spoke of his surprise over Ms Boyle’s voice. “This lady came up, and I’m thinking, ‘This will take five seconds and I can go to have a cup of tea.’ That changed when she began to sing I Dreamed a Dream from Lea Miserables. She knew we were going to have that reaction(反应) and just to see that look of satisfaction on her face midway through — it was one of my favorite moments,” Cowell said.
The performance was posted online and before long, the 47-year-old Scottish woman has been famous all over the world.
Speaking from her home in Scotland, Ms Boyle said that she hadn’t thought of changing her appearance. She said that her friend helped her with make-up. “I mean, it’s meaningless.” She added.
Ms. Boyle also spoke of the reason she first began to explore her musical talents. “ I was kind of slow at school, so getting something like singing was a good way of hiding behind that and therefore it built my confidence.’’Susan Boyle had a look of satisfaction on her face when she was singing because ________.
| A．she was confident of her singing |
| B．she was satisfied with the organizers |
| C．she was pretty and in good shape |
| D．she sang the song I Dreamed a Dream from Lea Miserables |
According to the passage, which is NOT true?
| A．It was the musical talents that built Susan's confidence. |
| B．Susan Boyle was not good at her lessons when at school. |
| C．Susan Boyle became famous because of her appearance. |
| D．Simon Cowell didn't think Susan Boyle a good singer at the first sight. |
What can we learn from Susan Boyle’s success?
| A．It’s never too old to learn. |
| B．It’s easier to succeed at the age of 47. |
| C．If you have a dream, keep trying to make it come true! |
| D．If you are not able to study well, to be a singer instead. |
It’s a long-awaited day for China. The navy now has its first aircraft carrier(航空母舰), Liaoning.
It’s a unique experience to get to know the life in the carrier. The carrier is just like a small city on the sea. It has all the functions for daily life. There are 4 words to sum up its characters: big, small, much and high. The carrier Liaoning is such a huge one that the total length of the whole corridor（过道）could reach over 20 kilometers. But the living space for the sailors（水手）is quite small. That’s because the carrier is designed for researching purposes, rather than comfortable living. Over 1,000 sailors, both men and women, are living onboard. They are arranged among over 3,000 tiny rooms below the deck. For visitors, it’s so easy to get lost. So the first thing the new sailors have to learn is their way around. The number of female sailors is much less than that of the males, taking about 5 percent of the total. But they play a key role in carrying out some special missions.
Also, you will be surprised by the high level of education of today’s sailors. The captain said that over 90 percent of the sailors are college graduates. Six hold Doctor’s Degrees and 45 have a Master’s. The whole team is young but vigorous（朝气蓬勃的）. The complex work on the carrier requires high management abilities for the commanders onboard(在船上). Why do we visitors get lost easily inside the carrier?
| A．Because they don’t have a map. |
| B．Because the living space is quite small. |
| C．Because there are too many corridors for rooms. |
| D．Because the corridor inside the carrier is too long. |
What does the word “high” in Line 6 refer to（指代）？
| A．The aircraft carrier is high since it is just like a small city. |
| B．Most of the soldiers received good education. |
| C．The expense（花费）to run a carrier is high. |
| D．The high-level of their training. |
Which of the following is NOT TRUE according to the passage?
| A．Liaoning is our country’s first aircraft carrier. |
| B．Most of the sailors on the carrier are college graduates. |
| C．There are far fewer women sailors than men sailors on the carrier. |
| D．It is comfortable for the sailors to live in the carrier. |
Look at the centre circles of Diagram (图)A and Diagram B. Which of the centre circles looks larger? In fact, they are exactly the same size.
Then look at the picture on the right. What do you see? A vase? Or two faces？Does the picture change quickly from one to the other again and again? Maybe or maybe not, but you can never see them at the same time.
“What’s happening? Is something wrong with my eyes?” You may wonder at what you see. Don’t worry. Here is how it goes:
When we look at things, our eyes send messages to our brains and then our brains interpret（解读）the information. However, sometimes our brains interpret the received information in a wrong way. It seems that our eyes are playing a joke on us. This often happens and we call it “visual illusion(视觉错误)”.
Movie makers often make use of visual illusions. They make the objects around actors much smaller or bigger than usual. This makes us believe that the actors are much larger or smaller than they usually are. The movies Jurassic Park and Honey I shrunk the kids just make use of visual illusions.Why does the centre circle in Diagram A look smaller than that in Diagram B?
| A．something is wrong with our eyes |
| B．the two circles are not the same size |
| C．our brains interpret the information in a wrong way |
| D．the two pictures change quickly from one to the other |
What do movie makers make use of visual illusions for ?
| A．To help the actors look better |
| B．To make the actors much braver |
| C．To help the actors become stronger |
| D．To make the actors seem different in size |
In the picture below, it seems that Line AB is shorter than Line CD, but in fact Line AB is as long as Line CD. Which paragraph can explain what has happened to our eyes?
A. The second one. B. The third one.
C. The fourth one. D. The sixth one.What’s the right order according to the passage?
a. We look at things with our eyes.
b. Our brains interpret the messages.
c. Our brains tell us what we have seen.
d. Our eyes send messages to our brains.
| A．a d b c | B．c a b d | C．a c d b | D．b c a d |
Where may this passage be from?
| A．A letter | B．An English newspaper |
| C．A science book | D．An advertisement |
America is a mobile society. Friendships between Americans can be close and real, yet disappear soon. They don’t feel hurt. If the same two people meet again, even years later, they pick up the friendship. This can be quite difficult for us Chinese to understand. Friendships between us develop more slowly but may become lifelong feelings, extending（延伸）deeply into both families.
There is another difficult point for us to understand .Although Americans treat friends warmly in their personal everyday lives, they don’t show their politeness to them if it requires a great deal of time. But in China, we are usually generous with our time. We, as hosts, will appear at an airport even in the middle of the night to meet a friend. We may take days off from our work to act as guides to our friends: It is opposite in America, Americans can not manage the time to do a great deal with a visitor outside their daily plans. They will probably expect the visitors to get themselves from the airport to the hotels. And they expect the visitors will phone them from there. Once the visitors arrive at their homes ,the welcome will be full, warm and real.
For Americans, it is often considered more friendly to invite a friend to their homes than to restaurants, except for business matters. Americans are ready to receive us foreigners at their homes, share their holidays, and their home life. So accept their hospitality（好客）at home and enjoy your visit in America!Which of the following is the typical way of American hospitality?
| A．Treating friends at home. |
| B．Taking days off to be with friends. |
| C．Meeting friends at the airport at midnight. |
| D．Sharing everything they have. |
Which of the following statements is True according to the passage?
| A．Americans are always generous with their time. |
| B．Americans don’t feel hurt if their friendships disappear soon. |
| C．Chinese friendships develop more slowly but will never disappear. |
| D．Chinese friendships are more sincere than American friendships. |
This passage is most probably written for .
| A．American students | B．Chinese students |
| C．Chinese visitors to America | D．American visitors to China |
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