Ask any student to say one thing they know about Charles Dickens, and it is very likely they will say Oliver Twist. His classic tale of a poor orphan boy strikes at the heart of all those who have ever wanted "more", as Oliver did.
And now, Dickens' classic scenes of the lives of the Victorian British poor will appear in a big screen movie, "Oliver Twist," an adaptation of his classic tale directed by Roman Polanski.
The new film is not meant for younger viewers, and is meant for children over 13. For those old enough to enjoy it, however, the film shows just how long people have been enjoying Dickens' remarkable literature. His short stories and essays began appearing in magazines in 1833. "Oliver Twist" was published in 1837 - more than 165 years ago.
"Oliver Twist" tells the story of an orphan forced to live in a workhouse headed by the awful Mr Bumble, who cheats the boys who work there out of their already low pay. Oliver decides to escape to the streets of London, where he meets a thief called Fagin, played by Sir Ben Kingsley, who leads him into a world of crime. Several of Dickens' books have been made into films and television series, including 2002's "Nicholas Nickleby" and 2000's "David Copperfield." And several versions of "A Christmas Carol" have entertained audiences for years.
In his novels, Dickens wrote about several important issues. He talked about the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1824 in "Oliver Twist"; the French Revolution in "A Tale of Two Cities"; and helping the poor in "Hard Times.” One of Dickens' best-known books is the first Christmas book he wrote - "A Christmas Carol" (1843), about a mean man.
We thought this would be a good time to take a look at the man behind the words and see what kind of experiences helped shape and affect one of the best — known writers of all time.The “workhouse” in paragraph 4 should be ___
| A．a building where people are kept as a punishment for a crime they have committed |
| B．a place where dancing is taught or trained for international performance |
| C．a building where very poor people were sent to live and given work to do |
| D．a place where films are made or music is recorded |
How many works are mentioned in the passage?
A. 3 B. 4 C 5 D. 6The passage show many things about Oliver except that____
| A．he is forced to live in a workhouse by Roman Polanski |
| B．he meets a thief, Fagin, in the streets of London |
| C．he lives a hard life in his childhood |
| D．Fagin trains and forces Oliver to do some crimes |
The fifth paragraph mainly tells us ___
| A．Dickens’s birth and schooling |
| B．Dickens’s work experience |
| C．Dickens’s works and themes |
| D．Dickens’s influence and contribution |
“In only six days I lost seven pounds of weight.”
“Two full inches in the first three days!”
These are the kinds of statements used in magazine, newspaper, radio and television ads, promising new shapes and new looks to those who buy the medicine or the device. The promoters of products say they can shape the legs, slim the face, smooth wrinkles, or in some other way to beauty or desirability.
Often such products are nothing more than money-making things for their promoter. The re they produce are questionable, and some are dangerous to health.
To understand how these products can be legally promoted to the public, it is necessary? Understand something of the laws covering their regulation. If the product is a drug, FDA（Food Drug Administration）can require proof （证明）under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that safe and effective before it is put on the market . But if the product is a device, FDA. has no author to require premarketing proof of safety or effectiveness. If a product already on the marker danger to health, FDA. can request the producer or distributor to remove it from the a voluntarily, or it can take legal action ,including seizure （查封） of the product.
One notable case a few years ago involved an electrical device called the Relaxacisor, had been sold for reducing the waistline. The Relaxacisor produced electrical shocks to the ## through contact pads. FDA. took legal action against the distributor to stop the sale of the ## the grounds that it was dangerous to health and life.
Olwionsly, most of the devices on the maker never been the subject of court proceedings （法律诉讼）,and new devices appear continually, Before buying, it is up to the consumer to the safety or effectiveness of such items.It can be inferred that ads mentioned in the text are ______.
| A．objective | B．costly | C．unreliable | D．illegal |
Which of the following is true according to the text?
A. The court is in charge of removing dangerous product.
B. New products are more likely to be questionable.
C. The production of a device must be approved by FDA.
D. The promoters usually just care about profits.FDA. can ask for the proof of safety and effectiveness of a product ________.
A. if it is a drug
B. if it is a device
C. if its consumers make complaints
D. if its distributors challenge FDA’s authorityThe Relaxacisor is mentioned as_______.
| A．a product which was designed to produce electricity |
| B．a product whose distributor was involved in a legal case |
| C．a successful advertisement of a beauty product |
| D．an example of a quality beauty product |
The author intends to __________
A. make consumers aware of the promoters’ false promises
B. show the weakness of the law on product safety
C. give advice on how to keep young and beautiful
D. introduce the organization of FDA.
NEW YORK- One in five U.S．workers regularly attends after-work drinks with coworkers, where the most common mishaps range from badmouthing another worker to drinking too much, according to a study released on Tuesday．
Most workers attend so-called happy hours to bond with colleagues, although 15 percent go to hear the latest office gossip and 13 percent go because they feel necessary, said the survey conducted for CareerBuilder.com, an online job site．As to what happens when the after-work drinks flow, 16 percent reported bad-mouthing a colleague, 10 percent shared a secret about a colleague and 8 percent said they drank too much and acted unprofessionally．Five percent said they had shared a secret about the company, and 4 percent confessed to singing karaoke．While 21 percent of those who attended said happy hours were good for networking, 85 percent said attending had not helped them get closer to someone higher up or get a better position．An equal number of men and women said they attended happy hours with co-workers, with younger workers aged 25 to 34 most likely and workers over 55 least likely to attend．Overall, 21 percent of workers attend happy hours with co-workers and; of those nearly a quarter go at least once a month.
The survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 6,987 full-time employees between February 11 and March 13．Harris Interactive said the results had a sampling error of plus or minus 1.2 percentage points.
56．Harris Interactive made the survey to find out ________.
A．how U.S．workers spend their after-work time
B．what U.S．workers do at after-work drinks
C．the relationships between U.S．workers
D．who are most likely to attend after-work drinks
57．________ of workers who attend after-work drinks speak ill of a colleague.
A．4 percent B．8 percent C．16 percent D．10 percent
58．According to the passage, most of those surveyed believed attending after-work drinks ________．
A．benefited them a lot B．could provide information
C．only made them relaxed D．was of no help to them
59．We can learn from the text that _________.
A．workers over 55 don’t like to attend happy hours at all
B．about 75% of workers go more than once a month
C．10.5% of male workers attend happy hours with co-workers
D．about 700 workers surveyed shared a secret about a co-worker
60．After the survey, it can be inferred that_________.
A．all the workers oppose after-work drinks
B．the workers may change their attitudes towards after-work drinks
C．all the workers support after-work drinks
D．all the workers are suggested going to attend after-work drinks
Gu Changwei was the first Chinese cinematographer to be nominated (提名) for an Oscar, and he is regarded by Zhang Yimou as the best cinematographer in China．Gu was behind the camera for many of Zhang Yimou’s famous films including the one that rocketed Zhang to fame: "Red Sorghum (高粱)"．And now this master of the visual has taken on his first directing role with the film "Peacock"．So Gu Changwei has come out from behind the camera into the spotlight (聚光灯).
Gu Changwei is very serious about his directing "Peacock"．To get the authentic atmosphere, Gu took his film crew to the city of Anyang in central China’s Henan province where the story took place, to shoot the film．He chose all new actors because he didn’t want "stars" appeal to weaken the power of the story, and he also had his actors trained in the local dialect．For this film Gu has been able to get out from behind the camera to manage every aspect of the film, and to realize his own ideals in movie-making.
"Peacock" is about the life of an average family in a small town in Henan province in the late 1970s and early 1980s．Gu chose this story for his first movie because he grew up during this same period and it struck a chord with him.
“Peacock” wrapped up production in June, 2004．It’s aimed at the foreign film market and will be entered in February’s Berlin Film Festival, and released in China at the same time．But at the end of last October, Gu took “Peacock” to his Alma Mater, the Beijing Film Academy, one of the most famous film colleges in China, to hold a preview．The film was warmly received by both teachers and students.
61．The underlined word “cinematographer” refers to a person who ________.
A．has been nominated for an Oscar B．uses a camera to shoot films
C．directs first-class films D．arranges for cinema shows
62．Gu didn’t employ “stars” in his film because ________.
A．stars usually stick to their own acting styles
B．the stars may not be able to speak the local dialect
C．the stars may share the audience’s attention with the story
D．it was not easy for him, a fresh hand, to invite stars to join him
63．Gu chose such a story for his first movie because ________.
A．he was born in the early 1970s B．he grew up in Henan province
C．he was popular in Henan province D．the story had something to do with his own experience
64．From the passage we can learn that "Peacock"________.
A．is the film for which Gu is likely to win an Oscar prize
B．has already become popular both at home and abroad
C．has its production started last summer D．will be publicly shown in spring, 2005
65．Please choose a proper title for this passage.
A．From behind the camera into the spotlight
B．Chinese cinematographer to be nominated for Oscar
C．New faces to appear in “Peacock”
D．"Peacock" to enter foreign film market
Did you know that women’s brains are smaller than men’s? The average women’s brain weighs 10% less than men’s．Since research has shown that the bigger the brain, the cleverer the animal, men must be more intelligent（聪明的） than women．Right? Wrong．Men and women always score similarly on intelligence tests, despite the difference in brain size．Why? After years of study, researchers have concluded that it’s what’s inside that matters, not just the size of the brain．The brain consists of “grey matter” and “white matter”．While men have more of the latter, the amount of “thinking” brain is almost exactly the same in both sexes．
It has been suggested that smaller brain appears to work faster, perhaps because the two sides of the brain are better connected in women．This means that little girls tend to learn to speak earlier, and that women can understand sorts of information from different sources at the same time．When it comes to talking to the boss on the phone, cooking dinner and keeping an eye on the baby all at the same time, it’s women who come out on top every time．
There are other important differences between two sexes．As white matter is the key to spatial（空间的） tasks, men know better where things are in relation to other things．“A great footballer always knows where he is in relation to the other players, and he knows where to go,” says one researcher．That may explain one of life’s great mysteries: why men refuse to ask for directions…and women often need to!
The differences begin when fetuses（胎儿） are about nine weeks old, which can be seen in the action of children as young as one．A boy would try to climb a barrier （障碍物） before him or push it down while a girl would attract help from others．These brain differences also explain the fact that more men take up jobs that require good spatial skills, while more women speech skills．It may all go back to our ancestors（祖先）, among whom women needed speech skills to take care of their babies and men needed spatial skills to hunt, according to one research．
If all this disappoints you, it shouldn’t．“The brain changes throughout our lives according to what we do with it．” says a biologist．
56．The passage mainly tells us ________．
A．the difference between men’s and women’s brains
B．the changes in brain throughout our lives
C．that men are better at spatial tasks
D．that brain differences are related to our ancestors
57．Which of the following is true according to the first paragraph?
A．Women’s brain is 10% less than men’s
B．Grey matter plays the same role as white matter．
C．Grey matter controls thinking in the brain．
D．Both sexes have the same amount of white matter．
58．What can we infer from the second and third paragraphs?
A．Women prefer doing many things at a time．
B．Men do better dealing with one job at a time．
C．Women do not need to tell directions．
D．Men have weaker spatial abilities．
59．Which of the following do you agree with according to the fourth paragraph?
A．Young boys may be stronger than young girls．
B．More women take up jobs requiring speech skills
C．Women may have stronger feelings than men．
D．Our ancestors needed more spatial skills．
60．What is the writer’s attitude in writing this passage?
A．Defensive． B．Persuasive． C．Supportive． D．Objective．
Runners in a relay（接力） race pass a stick in one direction．However, merchants passed silk, gold, fruit, and glass along the Silk Road in more than one direction．They earned their living by traveling the famous Silk Road．
The Silk Road was not a simple trading network．It passed through thousands of cities and towns．It started from eastern China, across Central Asia and the Middle East, and ended in the Mediterranean Sea．It was used from about 200 B．C．to about 1300 A．D．, when sea travel offered new routes（路线）．It was sometimes called the world’s longest highway．However, the Silk Road was made up of many routes, not one smooth path．They passed through what are now 18 countries．The routes crossed mountains and deserts and had many dangers of hot sun, deep snow and even battles．Only experienced traders could return safe．
The Silk Road got its name from its most prized product．Silk could be used like money to pay taxes or buy goods．But the traders carried more than just silk．Gold, silver, and glass from Europe were much found in the Middle East and Asia．Horses traded from other areas changed farming practices in China．Indian merchants traded salt and other valuable goods．Chinese merchants traded paper, which produced an immediate effect on the West．Apples traveled from central Asia to Rome．The Chinese had learned to graft（嫁接） different trees together to make new kinds of fruit．They passed this science on to others, including the Romans．The Romans used grafting to grow the apple．Trading along the Silk Road led to world-wide business 2,000 years before the World Wide Web．
The people along the Silk Road did not share just goods．They also shared their beliefs．The Silk Road provided pathways for learning, diplomacy（外交）, and religion （宗教）．
61．It’s probable that traders along the Silk Road needed ．
A．to remember the entire trade route B．to know the making of products
C．to receive certain special training D．to deal with a lot of difficulties
62．The Silk Road became less important because ．
A．it was made up of different routes B．silk trading became less popular
C．sea travel provided easier routes D．people needed fewer foreign goods
63．What does the underlined part in Paragraph 3 refer to?
A．Silk． B．A trading network．
C．The world’s longest highway． D．Goods．k.s.5.u
64．New technologies could travel along the Silk Road because people ．
A．learned from one another B．shared each other’s beliefs
C．traded goods along the route D．earned their living by traveling
65．What is the best title for the passage?
A．The Silk Road: Past and Present B．The Silk Road: East Meets West
C．The Silk Road: Routes Full of Dangers D．The Silk Road: Pathways for Learning
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