C
English songs have been very popular for people around the world for many decades.Singers, from Elvis Presley to Ricky Martin, from the Beatles to Eminen and from Natalie Cole to Britney Spears, have all been sitting in everyone’s heart, even for people who don’t speak English. But will you have better English skills if you listen to English songs for a long time?
From my experiences, some people listen to English songs for 20－30 years but still haven’t accomplished any good English skills. Some people choose English songs to be the “main learning approach”， but most of them have failed.
Listening to English songs does not help you to speak English fluently. It does help you gain some vocabularies. Most of them are unusual ones that you don’t use in your everyday life. You won’t learn the sentence “It is a complicate project. We really need to meet the deadline.” in any English songs.
People like using English songs to practice English skills because it’s easy and enjoyable.They think that sitting in the car listening to English songs day by day can improve their English skills. It is not that actually.
You will not improve your listening skills because normal people don’t speak with melody (乐调). People don’t talk like Eminen’s songs (well, actually, some teenagers do). You can’t get yourself familiar with English pronunciation or accent just from listening to English songs. The words that they pronounce in the songs are not the words that you will hear in your everyday life.It often even confuses you more how English is pronounced.
I would fully encourage you to watch English movies, listen to radio news or other normal talks, but not music. Of course, you can consume it for fun but not the aim to improve your English skills.
What’s the main idea of the passage?_____
| A．How English songs aid people with practicing English skills. |
| B．Where people can find good English songs to practise their English skills |
| C．Why people are not willing to develop their English by listening to English songs. |
| D．Who has made English songs popular throughout the world. |
English songs are beneficial to English learners if they hope to ________.
| A．adapt to express themselves in daily life |
| B．enlarge their vocabularies |
| C．improve their listening skills |
| D．speak English fluently |
what can we conclude from the text ? ________.
| A．English songs get people familiar with English pronunciation or accent |
| B．watching English movies or listening to radio news can be great helpful to English learners |
| C．worldfamous singers have done a lot to help people learn English |
| D．most people who listen to English songs in their car speak English very well |
Last December, I performed 30 shows in 11 days. I knew it would be a tiring tour before I set off, but I just wanted to be there to support our men and women.
From the minute I walked onstage the afternoon I arrived at the army, the soldiers were cheering， singing along at the top of their voices. I had done hundreds of concerts, but it was my first time to perform for troops. Looking at the smiling faces of these soldiers—some of them only teenagers—I felt great joy moving through me. They were the loveliest fans I had ever met. Then，from out of nowhere , words came into my head. “I want to play you something new. ”a song just came in my head minutes ago. It's called Here With Me, ” I told them. Cheers rang out. As I sang, I could see the tears in some of the soldiers' eyes. I finished to thunderous applause.
At the autograph (亲笔签名)part afterward，one of the soldiers took out a picture of a high school student. “This is my girl. You know, I miss her so much,”he said. “That new song you sang meant so much to me. Those were the words I've always wanted to tell her. ”
I realized that the song wasn't about me and that it was, in fact，a gift for these men and women. I played it in every concert after that, always with the same unbelievable reaction.
On the long plane ride home I kept thinking about the soldiers I'd met. They risked their lives every day to defend our country, yet they were grateful for a simple concert. I decided to record the new song to thank our men and women in uniform (制服). Which of the following words can best take the place of the word "troops"in the second paragraph?
| A．Officials. |
| B．Teenagers. |
| C．Soldiers. |
| D．Students. |
When the author performed on the stage, he felt __________.
| A．pleased |
| B．nervous |
| C．confident |
| D．worried |
What might be the topic of the new song?
| A．The tiring army life. |
| B．The danger of being a soldier. |
| C．The excitement of going to a concert. |
| D．The family one misses. |
They baby is just one day old and has not yet left hospital. She is quiet but alert (警觉)。Twenty centimeters from her face researchers have placed a white card with two black spots On it.She stares at it carefully . A researcher removes the card and replaces it by another, this time with the spots differently spaced. As the cards change from one to the other,her gaze(凝视) starts to lose its focus - until a third, with three black spots, is presented. Her gaze returns；she looks at it for twice as long as she did at the previous card. Can she tell that the number two is different from three, just 24 hours after coming into the world?
Or do newborns simply prefer more to fewer? The same experiment,but with three spots shown before two, shows the same return of interest when the number of spots changes.Perhaps it is just the newness? When slightly older babies were shown cards with pictures of objects(a comb,a key,an orange and so on),changing the number of objects had an effect separate from changing the objects themselves.Could it be the pattern that two things make,as opposed to three? No again.Babies paid more attention to squares moving randomly on a screen when their number changed from two to three, or three to two. The effect even crosses between senses.Babies who were repeatedly shown two spots became more excited when they then heard three drumbeats than when they heard just two;likewist(同样地) when the researchers started with drumbeats and moved to spots.The experiment described in Paragraph 1 is related to the baby’s__.
| A．sense of hearing. | B．sense of sight. |
| C．sense of touch. | D．sense of smell. |
Babies are sensitive to the change in______.
| A．the size of cards. | B．the colour of pictures. |
| C．the shape of patterns. | D．the number of objects. |
Why did the researchers test the babies with drumbeats?
| A．To reduce the difficulty of the experiment. |
| B．To see how babies recognize sounds. |
| C．To carry their experiment further. |
| D．To keep the babies’ interest. |
Where does this text probably come from?
| A．Science fiction. | B．Children’s literature. |
| C．An advertisement. | D．A science report. |
In 1978, I was 18 and was working as a nurse in a small town about 270 km away from Sydney, Australia. I was looking forward to having five fays off from duty. Unfortunately, the only one train a day back to my home in Sydney had already left. So I thought I’d hitch a ride (搭便车).
I waited by the side of the highway for three hours but no one stopped for me. Finally, a man walked over and introduced himself as Gordon. He said that although he couldn’t give me a lift, I should come back to his house for lunch. He noticed me standing for hours in the November heat and thought I must be hungry. I was doubtful as a young girl but he assured （使…放心）me I was safe, and he also offered to help me find a lift home afterwards. When we arrived at his house, he made us sandwiches.
Twenty-five years later, in 2003, while I was driving to a nearby town one day, I saw an elderly man standing in the glaring heat, trying to hitch a ride. I thought it was another chance to repay someone for the favour I’d been given decades earlier. I pulled over and picked him up. I made him comfortable on the back seat and offered him some water.
After a few moments of small talk, the man said to me, “You haven’t changed a bit, even your red hair is still the same.” I couldn’t remember where I’d met him. He then told me he was the man who had given me lunch and helped me find a lift all those years ago. It was Gordon.The author had to hitch a ride one day in 1978 because .
| A．her work delayed her trip to Sydney |
| B．she was going home for her holidays |
| C．the town was far away from Sydney |
| D．she missed the only train back home |
Which of the following did Gordon do according to Paragraph 2?
| A．He helped the girl find a ride. |
| B．He gave the girl a ride back home. |
| C．He bought sandwiches for the girl. |
| D．He watched the girl for three hours. |
The reason why the author offered a lift to the elderly man was that .
| A．she realized he was Gordon |
| B．she had known him for decades |
| C．she was going to the nearby town |
| D．she wanted to repay the favour she once got |
What does the author want to tell the readers through the story?
| A．Giving sometimes produces nice results. |
| B．Those who give rides will be rapid. |
| C．Good manners bring about happiness. |
| D．People should offer free rides to others |
Who wrote the story about a little boy and a little mouse?
| A．Bill Bosworth. | B．Michelle O. Donovan. |
| C．Dr. Joseph L. Rose. | D．Gloria Coykendall. |
The ISBN for the book of poems is _______________________.
| A．9781462031795 | B．9781412027854 |
| C．9780595433582 | D．9781462058679 |
What kind of readers will probably like reading More Things in Heaven?
| A．Those who are searching for the meaning of life. |
| B．Those who are trying to be spiritual leaders. |
| C．Those who study the art of writing. |
| D．Those who like traveling abroad. |
Which of the following books explores the origin of humans?
| A．Seeking the Edge. |
| B．Creation or Evolution. |
| C．Joshua, Helmut, and Bethlehem. |
| D．More Things in Heaven. |
Honey from the African forest is not only a kind of natural sugar, it is also delicious. Most people, and many animals, like eating it. However, the only way for them to get that honey is to find a wild bees' nest and take the honey from it. Often, these nests are high up in trees, and it is difficult to find them. In parts of Africa, though, people and animals looking for honey have a strange and unexpected helper - a little bird called a honey guide.
The honey guide does not actually like honey, but it does like the wax in the beehives (蜂房). The little bird cannot reach this wax, which is deep inside the bees' nest. So, when it finds a suitable nest, it looks for someone to help it. The honey guide gives a loud cry that attracts the attention of both passing animals and people. Once it has their attention, it flies through the forest, waiting from time to time for the curious animal or person as it leads them to the nest. When they finally arrive at the nest, the follower reaches in to get at the delicious honey as the bird patiently waits and watches. Some of the honey, and the wax, always falls to the ground, and this is when the honey guide takes its share.
Scientists do not know why the honey guide likes eating the wax, but it is very determined in its efforts to get it. The birds seem to be able to smell wax from a long distance away. They will quickly arrive whenever a beekeeper is taking honey from his beehives, and will even enter churches when beeswax candles are being lit.Why is it difficult to find a wild bees' nest?
| A．It's small in size. | B．It's hidden in trees. |
| C．It's covered with wax. | D．It's hard to recognize. |
What do the words "the follower" in Paragraph 2 refer to?
| A．A bee. | B．A bird. |
| C．A honey seeker. | D．A beekeeper. |
The honey guide is special in the way _______.
| A．it gets its food | B．it goes to church |
| C．it sings in the forest | D．it reaches into bees' nests |
What can be the best title for the text?
| A．Wild Bees | B．Wax and Honey |
| C．Beekeeping in Africa | D．Honey-Lover's Helper |
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