A spiraling (呈螺旋形的) tower made from thousands of books in dozens of languages is the later landmark in Buenos Ares, named the World Bok Capital this year.
Called the Tower of Babel, the 25-metrehigh tower by Argentine artist Marta Minujin is made from 30,000books, donated by readers, libraries and more than 50embassies.
Climbing up its seven floors, visitors to the tower hear music composed by Minujin and the voice of the artist repeating the word “book” in scores of languages.
“Building this tower is really a wonder,”Minujin said, standing before the structure as curious passers-by looked at a downtown city square. “A hundred years from now, Peple will say 'there was a Tower of Babel in Argentina... and it didn't need translation because art needs no translation'.”
Minujin, who worked with US artist Andy Warhol, built a full-scale mode of the Parthenon in Buenos Aires in1983, using books banned by the military dictatorship(专政) that ended that year.
This year's book tower marks Buenos Aires' naming as the 2011 · World Book Capital by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
“We've been laying books for 10 days straight,” said Sebastian Atienza, 26, who works for the company that built the tower under Minujin's command. “But it's worth it. It's where all languages come together.”
When the exhibit ends later this month, Minujin said literature lovers will be allowed to come and pick one book each. The rest will be brought down to start a new archive (档案馆) that has already been named The Library of Babel, the name of a story by Argentina's most famous author, Jorge Luis Borges.According to the passage, the Tower of Babel _____.
| A．is made from 30,000 books from nearly 50 countries |
| B．is designed by American artist Marta Minujin |
| C．will hold the book exhibition for 10 days |
| D．has a height of twenty-five metres |
After the book exhibition, most books will be _____.
| A．handed out among visitors |
| B．donated to UNESCO |
| C．sent to Argentina’s new archive |
| D．bought by Jorge Luis Borges |
The passage is probably taken from a(n) _____.
| A．advertisement |
| B．tourism guide |
| C．textbook |
| D．newpapers |
A
Orphans (孤儿) whose parents died of AIDS in Henan Province have been given new hope. Last week the provincial government answered the children’s cries by promising 60 million yuan to improve schools, orphanages (孤儿院) and living conditions. But without the efforts of Dr. Gao Yaojie, these cries may never have been heard.
“I’m a doctor and it’s my duty to cure diseases and save live,” said the 77-year- old grandmother. Gao was named one of the 2003 People of Year on February 20 by CCTV after millions of people took part in an online poll. But in 1996, when she started to promote AIDS awareness, using money from her own pocket, her actions were widely misunderstood.
“Although some of the children were born with HIV, 90 percent of them were not infected (被感染),” Gao said. “But people still reject them. Many orphans change their names after finding a foster family (领养家庭).”
The horror of Henan’s AIDS problem became known in 1996. Frequent and unsafe bloodselling by poor farmers in the late 1980s and early1990s had caused HIV to spread through dirty needles and infected blood use. As a doctor, Gao believed she should help: over the last eight years she has visited over 1 000 AIDS and HIV patients and published thousands of pamphlets on AIDS awareness. With her help, hundreds of orphans have returned to school or found foster families.
“It’s a disaster for the whole nation, not only for those innocent (无辜的) patients and their families,” she explained. Gao is delighted that so many childless families offer to foster orphans. But there is still much that can be done to support these children. “I hope that warm-hearted high school students will also reach out and offer a helping hand,” she said.
1. The passage mainly talks about _______.
A. the dangers of AIDS
B. how the government help those orphans
C. how Gao Yaojie helped the orphans
D. the serious AIDS problem in Henan
2. Gao Yaojie was named one of the 2003 People of Year because ________.
A. the government would not answer the children’s cry without her
B. she used her own money to start to promote AIDS
C. she is a doctor
D. she visited over 1 000 AIDS and HIV patients
3. The government promised 60 million yuan _______.
A. to reward Gao Yaojie
B. to help to treat HIV and AIDS patients
C. to help the children whose parents died of AIDS
D. to build new hospitals
根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
Invitation
A woman came out of her house and saw three old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She thought they were hungry and invited them in to have something to eat.
They refused because her husband was out.
71 “Go to tell them I am home and invite them in!” The woman went out and invited them in. “We do not go into a House together,” they replied. “Why is that?” she wanted to know.
One of the old men explained: “His name is Wealth,” he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, “He is Success, and I am Love.” Then he added, “Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home.”
The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. He said “ 72 Let him come and fill in our home with wealth!”
His wife disagreed. “My dear, why don’t we invite Success?” Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: “Would it not be better to invite Love? 73 ”
The woman went out and asked the three old men, “Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest.”
Love got up and started walking toward the house. 74 Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: “I only invited Love. Why are you coming in?”
The old men replied together: “If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would’ve stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever he goes, we go with him. 75 ”
| A．The other two also got up and followed him. |
| B．Our home will then be filled with love! |
| C．In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened. |
| D．They were very happy to be invited. |
E. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!
F. He loved money badly.
G. Let us invite Wealth.
It seems that the Englishman just cannot live without sports of some kind. A famous French humourist once said that this is because the English insist on behaving like children all their lives. Wherever you go in this country you will see both children and grown-ups knocking a ball about with a stick or something, as if in Britain men shall always remain boys and women girls! Still, it can never be bad to get exercise, can it?
Taking all amateur（业余）and professional sports in Britain into consideration, there can be no doubt that football is at the top of the list. It is called soccer in the United States. The game originated in Britain and was played in the Middle Ages or even earlier, though as an organized game, or “association football”, it dates only from the beginning of the 19th century.
The next is rugby, which is called “football” in the United States. It is a kind of football played by two teams of fifteen players rather than eleven. The rugby, in which an oval-shaped ball is used can be handled as well as kicked. It is a pretty rough game.
In summer, cricket is the most popular sport. In fact, it has sometimes been called the English national game. Most foreigners find the game rather slow or even boring, but it enjoys great popularity among the British.
Tennis rates high on the list, too. It was introduced into England from France in the 15th century, but it was from England that it spread to practically every country in the world.
Table-tennis or “ping-pong” surely is not played on a great scale as it is in China or in Japan. Basketball and volleyball were introduced into Britain during the late 19th century from America and are gaining popularity. Horse-back riding, swimming, rowing and golf all attract a lot of people.The main purpose of paragraph one is to tell us that the English_______.
| A．are all sports lovers | B．behave like children |
| C．like to kick a ball around | D．can remain young all their lives |
According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true about football and rugby?
| A．They differ in the shape of the ball |
| B．They are played by different numbers of players |
| C．They both can be handled |
| D．They both can be kicked |
From the second and the third paragraph, we know that_____.
| A．Americans love football most of all |
| B．British people love rugby most of all |
| C．Americans and British people may call the same thing differently |
| D．football originated in Britain in the 18th century |
How clean are the nation’s homes?
According to a survey by CIF, there’s room for improvement all over Britain.
Love or hate it — cleaning your home is one job you simply can’t ignore（忽视）. But that’s not to say everyone spends the same amount of time or effort on making their places spotless. A new survey by CIF— experts on making tough cleaning jobs easier—— shows that when it comes to washing windows or cleaning the oven（烤箱）,where you live in the UK it may show how much effort you put into the task.
BATHROOM
25% of men have never cleaned the toilet — but those in Wales are the worst. Nearly four in 10 Welsh men said they never cleaned anywhere in the house. Hate cleaning the shower head? You’re not alone — a quarter of a million Brits say the same. 20% of Scots regard window-cleaning as their most hated job.
KITCHEN
36% of people in the south-east say cleaning the cooker is their hated task. 68% of those in the north-east spend more than six hours a week cleaning their homes — especially the kitchen — in sharp contrast to the 49% of Welsh and West Country folk, who put their hands up to cleaning for under an hour.
BEDROOM
18% believe cleaning starts here: that’s the percentage of women who clean wearing their dressing gowns. 51% of women in the north-west may be staying in bed and giving their husband a cuddle（拥抱）—as a thank-you for helping them clean. In other places, there are far fewer helpful men.
LIVING ROOM
32% of women in the north-east turn up the stereo to help make the dusting more fun. Almost six in 10 women agree, however, that cleaning is seriously energetic exercise.
SHIFT THE DIRT WITH CIF
It’s no secret that the right cleaning products will cut cleaning time and effort in half— and no one knows that better than How Clean Is Your house? Presenters Aggie Mackenzie and Kim Woodburn. For solutions（解决办法）to all your cleaning needs, here are some of CIF’s top tips:
·Stop a lot of build-up on your shower head—give it a quick squirt（喷洒）with CIF bathroom spray once a week.
·Stainless steel（不锈钢）tools seem to need endless cleaning. The CIF Wild Qrchid Qxy-Gel-it lifts dirt easily and leaves the kitchen smelling fresh and clean.
·Cooking outside? CIF cream will get your barbecue （烤架）spotlessly clean, ready for those long, lazy summer evenings. Perfect!The main purpose of this passage is to ______.
| A．tell us the results of a certain survey |
| B．advertise a certain product |
| C．advise men to do more cleaning housework |
| D．tell us which is the hardest job at home |
It can be concluded from the survey that people in different parts of Britain______.
| A．have different views on house cleaning |
| B．spend different amounts of time and effort on house cleaning |
| C．like to do different kinds of housework |
| D．have different ways to do housework |
According to the survey,______ spend the most time cleaning their homes.
| A．the Welsh | B．people in the north-west |
| C．people in the south-east | D．people in the north-east |
CIF in the passage probably refers to ______.
| A．an organization doing research on housework |
| B．a group of experts who give advice on doing housework |
| C．a company providing advice and products on cleaning |
| D．a company providing cleaning services |
Have you ever posted letters to your friends or parents? If so, you must have put stamps on the letters before you sent them. But, how did people receive letters before stamps were invented, and who came up with the idea of using stamps?
In the past, stamps and envelopes were not used. When people wanted to send a letter, they would close the paper with a seal（封印）. The person who got the letter had to pay for it. Because costs at that time were very high, most people refused to accept letters. In fact, the sender would often place secret marks on the outside of the letter. The person who was sent the letter would read the secret message. Then, they would refuse to accept the letter and did not have to pay for it.
In Britain, Sir Rowland Hill introduced the “Post Office Reforms” in 1837. He decided that letters could go to any place in the country for a penny even if the letter had to go far away. The cost was to be paid by the sender of the letter. Payment was recorded by placing a small piece of coloured paper on the letter, the stamp! On May 6,1840, the first stamp called the “Penny Black” was born. Because the stamp was printed in black, the stamp became known as the “Penny Black”. This is now the world’s most famous stamp. This new system spread fast. The best title for this passage should be______
| A．The First Stamp. | B．How Stamp Was First Made |
| C．Why the First Stamp Was Made | D．When Was Stamp First Made |
Before stamps were used,______ would pay for the letter.
| A．the sender | B．the receiver | C．the government | D．no one |
The first stamp was made______.
| A．more than 160 years ago | B．more than two centuries ago |
| C．less than 100 years ago | D．about 100 years ago |
Which of the following is true about the first stamp of China?
| A．It was made much earlier than the first stamp of the US |
| B．The stamp had a snake on it |
| C．The stamp couldn’t be found now |
| D．The stamp had a picture of a dragon on it |
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