In the past, going to a piano teacher was the most popular way to learn how to play the piano. You could get one-to-one teaching and have the opportunity to learn as much as the teacher knew. If you didn’t have private lessons, you could still learn the piano, but you would have to teach yourself. This was easy for some, but very difficult for most. However, with technology developing today, there is at last another way that you can take piano lessons. You can take an online course.
An online course is much cheaper than a private lesson. If a private lesson costs 30-40 dollars per week, just think about how quickly that adds up. You can take a whole online course in piano for just a fraction(小部分) of the money that you would spend on weeks of private lessons. Also, private lessons are usually only one hour per week. So you would have to wait for your next lesson to continue your learning. However, online piano courses are quite different.
With an online piano course, you can work at your own pace. You can also take as many lessons per week as you want, or go back and listen to your last lesson if you have forgotten anything. Most adults who want to learn how to play the piano enjoy being able to go back and listen to the lessons again.
Of course if you need someone to sit beside you and offer you immediate feedback(反馈) as you are playing, you might not get that from an online piano course. However, the lessons online can be viewed（观看） at any time, or as often as you’d like, which means that you can get your own type of feedback from an online piano course.This passage mainly tells us ______.
| A．the disadvantages of the traditional ways of learning to play the piano |
| B．the differences between traditional piano courses and online courses |
| C．why people prefer online piano courses to traditional piano courses |
| D．the advantages of learning to play the piano through an online course |
What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 want to tell us?
| A．That private piano lessons shouldn’t be that expensive. |
| B．That taking private piano lessons really costs a lot. |
| C．That not everyone can afford to take piano lessons. |
| D．That the price for private piano lessons has increased greatly. |
How did the writer make his points clear?
| A．By giving detailed data. | B．By giving many examples |
| C．By writing about his own experiences | D．By comparing with the old ways. |
He has lived through various dangers but time may be running out for the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat.
On September
11, Israel announced its decision to remove him, following several Palestinian suicide bomb attacks on Israel. “He should be punished for the killings,” an Israeli official said, “He has done nothing to stop the terrorist groups.”
But the decision has angered many other countries. China said that Arafat is the true leader, elected by the Palestinian people, and removing him would harm the peace in the Middle East. Other governments share this idea.
Arafat himself said: “They can kill me, but never get me out of my country.” He has spent most of his life in danger as the most important aim of Israel. But, just like a cat with nine lives, Arafat escaped every time.
For years he has made a practice of sleeping in a different bed each night, thinking a moving person is harder to hit. In 1985, Israel sent fighter planes to kill Arafat. The wild bombing destroyed his office in Tunis but Arafat himself was unhurt. In 1992, the aircraft in which he was flying over North Africa broke in two during a crash landing. The pilot was killed but he managed to remain alive.
What is so unbelievable is that he always remains calm in great danger. Israeli tanks and planes attacked his office building in Ram Allah in December 2001. When they saw the attackers coming, Arafat’s bodyguards took no notice of his orders to stay still and carried him to safety underground. Seconds later, several bombs were dropped nearby. Though safe, his bodyguards were so frightened that they were wet in sweat.
But, Arafat, with Israeli tanks onl
y 200 meters away, showed no fear at all. He stayed in the damaged office, talking by phone with foreign leaders in hope of preventing further attacks from Israel.
All these experiences have made him a beloved leader to his people and an enemy to some others.
But has he used up the last of his nine lives? Only time will tell.. According to the passage, which statement is true?
| A．In 1992, Arafat’s plane crashed in South Africa. |
| B．Israeli officers thought Arafat himself sent the terrorist groups to Israel. |
| C．China is the only country against Israel’s decision of removing Arafat. |
| D．Being Palestinian leader, Arafat would rather die in his own country than be driven away |
from his people.. . What did the author mean by saying “just like a cat has nine lives” when he talked about Arafat?
| A．Arafat is as clever as a cat. |
| B．Arafat can live as long as a cat. |
| C．Arafat can stay alive after accidents or disasters as if he has nine lives. |
| D．Arafat should have died for at least 8 times. |
. The underlined phrase “took no notice of” can be replaced by __________.
| A．obeyed | B．ignored | C．disagreed | D．dissatisfied |
. . What’s the writer’s attitude towards Arafat’s future, judging from the last sentence of the passage?
| A．Hopeful. | B．Interesting. | C．Satisfactory. | D．Doubtful. |
Time spent in a bookshop can be most enjoyable, whether you are a
book-lover or merely you are there to buy a book as a present. You may even have entered the shop just to find shelter from a sudden shower. Whatever the reason, you can soon become totally unaware of your surroundings. You soon become engrossed in some book or other, and usually it is only much later that you realise you have spent far too much time there and must dash off to keep some forgotten appointment—without buying a book, of course.
This opportunity to escape the realities of everyday life is, I think, the main attraction of a bookshop. There are not many places where it is possible to do this. You can wander round such places to your heart's content. If it is a good shop, no assistant will disturb you with usual greetings, "Can I help you, sir?" Of course you may want to find out where a particular section is. Then, and only then, are his services necessary. However, when he has led you there, the assistant should retire carefully and look as if he is not interested in selling a single book.
You have to be careful not to be attracted by the variety of books in a bookshop. It is very easy to enter the shop looking for a book on ancient coins and to come out carrying a copy of the latest best-selling novel. This sort of thing can be very dangerous. Apart from running up a huge account, you can waste a great deal of time wandering from section to section..
. Which may not be included in the writer's experiences while he is in a bookshop?
A．Getting relaxed without buying a bo ok. |
| B．Quarrelling with the shop assistant. |
| C．Buying other books instead of those he wanted. |
| D．Forgetting some important appointment. |
.
. What does the writer mean by saying "time spent in a bookshop can be most enjoyable"?
| A．You may free yourself from the real life. |
| B．Reading is free of charge there. |
| C．There is nobody disturbing you there. |
| D．You can enter without any certain reason. |
.
What does the underlined wordengrossed most probably mean in the first paragraph?
| A．Lost. | B．Forbidden. | C．Puzzled. | D．Impressed. |
.
. The writer wrote the passage in order to ________.
| A．suggest a good way of running a bookshop |
| B．encourage people to do some reading in bookshops |
| C．share his experience in bookshops |
| D．give some advice on buying books in a bookshop |
One Saturday afternoon in February, 1943, a farmer in Mexico stopped working for a moment and looked across his fields of corn. Suddenly he saw a thin line of white smoke curling up out of his field, about 200 feet from where he stood. As he went toward the smoke to see what it was, he heard a strange noise. The line of smoke became bigger. It looked as if some great force were pushing it up into the sky.
The farmer rushed home to get his wife. While he was urging his wife to hurry from the house, the earth shook violently. When he stood up after the earth stopped shaking, he looked across the field and saw that great flames were rising from his cornfield. A volcano was being born!
They hurried across the shaking earth to the village of Particutin, which was toward their farm. They found the village was seriously destroyed and the road from the village was filled with frightened people hurrying to safety.
Particutin did not become dark that night. The volcano lighted up the sky for miles around. Flames rushed out of the ground. The volcano threw hot stones a thousand feet through the air. Great explosion shook the earth and heavy black ashes fell from the sky, covering the roofs in Mexico city, 180 miles away.
But that was not all. On 
the third evening a float of lava（火山岩）began to boil up from the centre of the volcano. It came over the edge in a heavy flow, 2,000 feet wide, and travelled slowly across the valley, bringing certain death to everything that could not move from its path..
. From the passage we can conclude EXCEPT that .
| A．the volcano threw out a lot of ashes and hot stones |
| B．the volcano lasted several days |
| C．many people had to escape from the village |
| D．it caused many deaths and great loss |
.
. You can find the passage in a .
| A．newspaper | B．government report |
| C．leaflet for travellers | D．handbook |
.
. Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．At the beginning the farmer heard a strange cry. |
| B．The farmer was working in the field when the disaster happened. |
| C．The farmer’s wife was working in the field at that moment. |
| D．The village was badly damaged. |
.
What does the passage mainly tell us?
| A．The damage of a volcano. | B．A terrible volcano. |
| C．An unforgettable memory. | D．A farmer’s experience. |
One of the qualities that most people admire in others is the willingness to admit one's mistakes. It is extremely hard sometimes to say a simple thing like "I was wrong about that," and it is even harder to say, "I was wrong, and you were right about that."
I had an experience recently with someone admitting to me that he had made a mistake fifteen years ago. He told me he had been the manager of a certain grocery store in the neighbourhood where I grew up, and he asked me if I remembered the egg boxes. Then he related an incident and I began to remember vaguely the incident he was describing.
I was about eight years old at the time, and I had gone into the store with my mother to do the weekly grocery shopping. On that particular day, I must have found my way to the dairy food department where the incident took place.
There must have been a special sale on eggs that day because there was an impressive display of eggs in dozen and half-dozen boxes. The boxes were stacked three or four feet high. I must have stopped in front of a display to admire the stacks. Just then a woman came by pushing her grocery cart and knocked off the stacks of boxes. For some reason, I decided it was up to me to put the display back together, so I went to work.
The manager heard the noise and came rushing over to see what had happened. When he appeared, I was on my knees inspecting some of the boxes to see if any of the eggs were broken, but to him it looked as if I was the culprit (做错事的人). He severely scolded me and wanted me to pay for any broken eggs. I tried to explain it wasn’t me who had broken them, but it did no good. Even though I quickly forgot all about the incident, obviously the manager did not..
. How old was the author when he wrote this article?
| A．About 8. | B．About 18. | C．About 23. | D．About 15. |
.
Who was to blame for knocking off the stacks of boxes?
| A．The author. | B．The man ager. |
C．A woman. | D．The author's mother. |
.
. Which of the following statements is not true?
| A．The woman who knocked off the stacks of boxes was seriously criticized by the manager. |
| B．The author was severely criticized by the manager. |
| C．A woman carelessly knocked off the stacks of boxes. |
| D．It was the author who put the display back together. |
.
. The tone of the article expresses the author's .
A．regret for the mistake he made in th e store |
| B．admiration for the manager's willingness to admit mistakes |
| C．anger against the woman who knocked off the stacks of boxes |
| D．anger to the manager for his wrong accusation |
Word Power
Author(s): Kaplan $13.95
You’ll never be at a loss for words again. Energize your vocabulary with must-know everyday words that are the essentials of a good vocabulary, engaging lessons to help you use words in text, hot words often found on tests, tips to help you figure out new words, roots, and more.
Grades: 8 & up Ages: 13 & up
Word Smart Junior
Author(s): Russell Stauffer $ 17.95
Now this is the way to add new words to your vocabulary! Word Smart Junior will make you laugh so much. You’ll be amazed that you’ve just learned more than 120 fascinating and very useful words! Parents, teachers, and friends will marvel at your eloquence (口才)!
Grades: 3-5 Ages: 8-10
Grammar Smart Junior
Author(s): Marcia Reynolds $ 16.85
Do you quake when your teacher says, “Now it’s time for grammar”? Do your verbs agree with your subjects?
Fear no more! A big Hollywood producer and a famous movie star will help you learn all those nasty (讨厌的) elements of grammar. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you learn, and how much fun it can be. You’ll finally know your grammar backwards and forwards, and you’ll never have to worry about it again.
Grades: 7-9 Ages: 12-14
Grammar Smart: An Audio Guide to Perfect Usage
Author(s): Julian Fleisher $ 12.68
The words you use say a lot about you … but the way you put them together says even more. Your grammar makes an immediate and lasting impression on your teachers, and even your friends. So don’t make the mistake of thinking that grammar is too complicated. We’ve created Grammar Smart to help you write and speak with clarity and confidence.
Grades: 6-8 Ages: 11-13 .
If a ten-year-old boy wants himself to be admired because of his speech ability, he may buy .
| A．Word Power | B．Word Smart Junior |
| C．Grammar Smart Junior | D．Grammar Smart: An Audio Guide to Perfect Usage |
.
By saying “You’ll finally know your grammar backwards and forwards”, the writer means “ ”.
| A．You will be clearly familiar with grammar |
| B．You will know the history of grammar |
| C．You will know the make-up of grammar |
| D．You will learn about the future of grammar |
.
The four books are all about .
| A．fiction and mysteries | B．parenting and teaching |
| C．literature and arts | D．language study |
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