Country music is one of the most popular kinds of music in the United States today because it is about simple but strong human feelings and events---love, sadness, good times, and bad times. It tells real-life, stories and sounds the way people really talk. As life becomes more complicated(复杂), it is good to hear music about ordinary people.
Country music, sometimes called country-western, comes from two kinds of music. One is the traditional music of the people in the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern Unite States. The other is traditional cowboy music from the west. The singers usually play guitars, and in the 1920s they started using electric guitars. At first city people said country music was low class. It was popular mostly in the South. But during World War II, thousands of Southerners went to the Northeast and Midwest to work in the factories. They took their music with them. Soldiers from the rest of the country went to army camps（军营）in the South. They learned country music. Slowly it became popular all over the country.
Today country music is also popular everywhere in the United States and Canada—in small towns and in New York City, among black and white, and among educated and uneducated people. About 1, 200 radio stations broadcast country music twenty-four hours a day. English stars sing it in British English, and people in other countries sing it in their own languages. The music that started with cowboys and poor southerners is now popular all over the world.It can be learned from the passage that country music comes from_____ .
| A．the Northeast and Midwest |
| B．factories and army camps in the South |
| C．the Appalachian Mountains and the West |
| D．real-life stories in small towns |
Before World War II country music was popular mainly in_____ .
| A．the south | B．the north |
| C．the Midwest | D．the Northeast |
During World War II many Southerners went to the Northeast and the Mid-west because _____.
| A．they wanted to take music with them |
| B．they wanted to make other people like country music |
| C．they wanted to work in the factories there |
| D．they wanted to make country music popular |
Country music is one of the most popular kinds of music in the world today because_______.
| A．city people said it was low class |
| B．people could sing it in many different languages |
| C．it started with cowboys and poor Southerners |
| D．it is loved by different kinds of people in the world |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Country music is about human feelings and events. |
| B．Country music is sung by stars all in English. |
| C．Country music is popular among city people today. |
| D．City people didn’t like country music at first. |
Scientists say they have discovered a promising treatment for sleeping sickness, a killer disease that infects(感染) about 60,000 people in Africa a year．
British and Canadian experts say drugs could attack the parasite（寄生虫） causing the illness．They say the drug could be ready for human medical test in about 18 months．
The disease, spread by the bite of a fly, is caused by a parasite attacking the central nervous system．It has similar symptoms（症状） to malaria（疟疾）, making it difficult to diagnose．Left untreated, it moves to the brain, resulting in mental confusion and final death
The "breakthrough" came at the University of Dundee in Scotland, where scientists were offered money to research diseases ignored by major drugs companies．
Professor Paul Wyatt, director of the programme, said: "This is one of the most significant findings made in recent years in terms of drug discovery and development for ignored diseases."
He said the research, published in the journal Nature, represented "significant progress" in the development of a full blown drug against the disease．
The World Health Organization said there are between 50,000 and 70,000 cases of the disease a year, with a further 60 million people at risk of infection．
The research in Dundee was backed by partners at the University of York in England and the Structural Genomics Consortium in Toronto, Canada．The two drugs currently available to treat sleeping sickness both have problems．One is with side effects that kill one in 20 patients and the other is costly, only partially effective and requires long-time hospital treatment, the scientists said．The word backedin the last paragraph probably means_____.
| A．conducted | B．supported | C．believed | D．managed |
What the World Health Organization said suggested that______.
| A．about 60000 people died of the disease each year |
| B．about 60000 people were cured of the disease each year |
| C．600 million people are likely to get infected |
| D．the disease is spreading fast in Africa |
We can read this passage______.
| A．in the journal Nature |
| B．in a newspaper of the University of Dundee |
| C．in a book about flies |
| D．in a newspaper about medicine |
We can learn from the passage that______．
| A．big drug companies play an important role in the research of the new drug |
| B．people who get infected with the disease are mentally disturbed |
| C．among 200 people infected with the disease, 5 may die because of the old drug |
| D．Professor Paul Wyatt may be a professor at the University of York |
（BBC）The "father of the personal computer" who kick-started the careers of Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen has died at the age of 68．Dr Henry Edward Roberts was the inventor of the Altair 8800, a machine that led to the home computer age．
Gates and Allen contacted Dr Roberts after seeing the machine on the front cover of a magazine and offered to write software for it．The program was known as Altair-Basic, the foundation of Microsoft's business．"Ed was willing to take a chance on us - two young guys interested in computers , and we have always been thankful to him," the Microsoft founders said in a statement.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak told technology website CNET that Dr Roberts had
taken " a critically important step that led to everything we have today"．
Dr Roberts was the founder of Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), originally set up to sell electronics parts to model rocket hobbyists．The company went on to sell electronic calculator parts, but was soon overshadowed by bigger firms．
In the mid-1970's, with the firm struggling with debt, Dr Roberts began to develop a computer kit(配套零件) for hobbyists．The result was the Altair 8800．The $395 kit (around £1,000 today) was featured on the cover of Popular Electronics in 1975, resulting in a flood of orders．
Among those interested in the machine were Paul Allen and Bill Gates．The pair contacted Dr Roberts, offering to write software that would help people program the machine．The pair finally moved to Albuquerque - the home of MITS - where they founded Micro-Soft, to develop their software．
Dr Roberts sold his company in 1977．He died in hospital on 1 April after a long period of pneumonia (肺炎
) ．
Why did Dr Roberts probably decide to sell his company?
| A．Because he was in heavy debt in the mid-1980's． |
| B．Because he wanted to take a chance on Gates and Allen. |
| C．Because he wanted to develop a computer kit for hobbyists. |
| D．Because he had difficulty competing with big companies． |
What do we know about MITS?
| A．It was set up by Steve Wozniak. |
| B．It sold electronics parts to big firms. |
| C．It is located in Albuquerque. |
| D．It is a technology website. |
We can learn that Popular Electronics is likely to be ____.
| A．a newspaper | B．a magazine |
| C．a Website | D．an organization |
What is the best title of thi
s passage?
| A．The story of the Altair 8800 |
| B．The founder of MITS |
| C．Father of the personal computer died |
| D．The story of Dr Roberts |
Funny English Errors and Insights
Laugh..．And Learn!
Welcome tothe website for Funny English Errors and Insights (2010), a new book of unconscious humour published by the National Library of Australia．
Funny English Er
rors and Insights will be launched at the National Library in Canberra on 29th, October 2010.
In the meantime, explore this website for other collections of real-life English language mistakes,including funny answers to exam questions, media misprints, and silly signs.
See Funny English Errors: The B List for more than a hundred examples of funny English gaffes（失言）．For more funny English errors, read author Troy Simpson's blog．For still more examples, join this website to download a free PDF version of English As She Is Taught, which lists our top 250 funny English language mistakes from that classic howlers book.
Join this website FREE, and you can also:
Enter member-only competitions
Contribute your comments
Download free e-Cards
Be the first to know about our much-anticipated book, Funny English Errors and Insights (2010)．.．
Features
Follows in the tradition of the runaway best-seller Howlers books of the 1920s and 1930s
Includes quotes(引文) that have never been published before in this way
Includes more than 30 carefully selected funny photos
Topics include English, science, history, geography, religion, mathematics, and more
A perfect gift for students, teachers, parents, grandparents, public speakers, doctors, lawyers, journalists, clergy and religious, and anyone with a sense of humour! The word launched in the second paragraph is closest to the meaning:
| A．sent up for the first time． | B．written for the first time． |
| C．for sale for the first time． | D．printed for the first time． |
On the website, you can do the following things except ．
| A．read some funny news |
| B．know something about this book previously |
| C．find a lot of examples about English errors |
| D．express your opinions freely |
About this book, you know that ．
| A．it only includes English, science, history |
| B．it is quite different from Howlers books |
| C．all the quotes in it are familiar with us |
| D．it is intended for people all walks of life |
The text is aimed at introducing
| A．a popular website | B．some selected funny photos |
| C．a new book | D．some funny English errors |
Maggiano is an award-winning teacher in the Social Studies Department at West Springfield High School in Virginia．He has taught in public and private schools for 25 years．In a piece on his blog called “The Classroom Post,” he calls for more males to enter the profession(职业).
Men Teach, a non-profit organization that encourages men to enter teaching, reports that in 2008, 18.8% of all elementary and middle school teachers were men．At the high school level during the same year, men comprised（构成） 44% of the work force.
Why are there so few men in teaching? Men Teach says low pay and lack of prestige（声望）, as well as a perception in our culture that teaching is for women．As a result, there is no organized effort across the country to attract men into the teaching profession.
A study in 2008 by the National Education Association showed that the number of male teachers hit a record 40-year low．Males comprised 24.5 percent of public schoolteachers．States with high percentages: Kansas (33.6 percent), Oregon (31.6 percent), Alaska (30.9 percent) and Indiana (30.5percent).States with the lowest percentage : Arkansas (16.2 percent), Virginia (17.4 percent), Mississippi (17.5 percent), Louisiana (18 percent), South Carolina (18.5 percent) and Georgia (19.7 percent)．
There is no definitive(确定) research that male students--or female students, for that matter-- learn better from a particular sex.
But as Maggiano put it, “Kids today, both boys and girls, must have the same opportunity to learn from outstanding, devoted men that I did．However, I have heard little discussion about this problem coming from our national leaders．What worries Maggiano is that_______．
| A．nobody will take his place when he retires | |
| B．male teachers are not so excellent | |
C．men are not interested in teaching |
D．there is not enough teachers in the schools |
According to the text , we can infer that______．
| A．the number of male teachers hit a record 40-year low in 2008 |
| B．it is not certain that students will learn better from male teachers |
| C．male teachers get a higher pay |
| D．organized efforts have been made to call on men into the teaching profession |
In which state are male teachers most badly needed?
| A．Alaska | B．Virginia | C．Georgia | D．Arkansas |
What does the last paragraph suggest?
| A．The government doesn’t pay much attention to the shortage．of male teachers in the school. |
| B．Students find it easy to learn from male teachers. |
| C．I’m glad to hear the discussion about the shortage of male teachers in the school. |
D．The shortage of ma le teachers in the school has no effect on students． |
After more than a year of bitter political debate, President Obama sat down in the White House East Room on March 23 and signed the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law with a pen，and then another pen，and another．Obama used 22 pens to sign the $938 billion health care bill．
The practice of using different pens to sign important 
legislation（法规）dates at least as far back as Franklin Roosevelt．The reason is fairly simple．The pen used to sign historic legislation itself becomes a historical artifact．The more pens a President uses, the more thank-you gifts he can offer to those who helped create that piece of history．The White House often give pens to supporters of the newly signed legislation．When Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, he reportedly used more than 75 pens and gave one of the first ones to Martin Luther King Jr．And in 1996, President Clinton gave the four pens he used to sign the Line-Item Veto bill to those most likely to appreciate the bill's consequence.
Once they're given away, some pens end up in museums; others are displayed proudly in recipients'(接受者) offices or homes．But they sometimes appear again, like in the 2008 presidential campaign（竞选活动）, when John Macain promised to use the same pen given to him by President Reagan to cut pork from the federal budget．
Not every President goes for the multipen signature, however．President George W．Bush preferred signing bills with only one pen and then offering several unused "gift" pens as souvenirs．We can learn from paragraph 1 that the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ．
| A．has been passed easily | B．was put forward one year ago |
| C．becomes law in the USA | D．is unimportant |
How are the pens dealt with after being used by President Obama?
| A．Supporters of the newly signed legislation are likely to get some of them. |
| B．Obama will keep them. |
| C．They will be just set aside |
| D．They will be sold to the public at a high price． |
What can we learn about John Macain?
A．He was ever President in the USA.
B．He took part in the 2008 presidential campaign.
C．He never used the pen given by Reagan.
D．He was only concerned about his own business． What does this passage mainly tell us ?
A．Obama signed the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act．
B．It is a practice to use multiple pens to sign important legislation in the USA．
C．Pens are necessary in the signature.
D．All the presidents like the multipen signature.
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