Protecting Copyright

Having finished her homework, Ma Li wants some music. As usual, she starts her computer and goes to Baidu.com to download music files. But this time she is surprised when an announcement about protecting songs’ copyright bursts onto the screen. The age of free music and movie downloads may have come to an end as Web companies like Baidu are accused of pirating copyright. Lawsuits have been filed against four websites offering free downloads. In September 2005, a Beijing court ordered Baidu to pay recording company Shanghai Push compensation for their losses. Baidu was also told to block the links to the pirated music on the website. This caused a heated discussion on Interact file sharing.

“Baidu’s defeat in the lawsuit shows it is not right to get copyrighted songs without paying. Down loaders may face lawsuits or fines,” said an official.

Like many teens, Huang Ruoru, an 18-year-old girl from Puning in Guangdong Province, doesn’t think that getting music from websites is wrong. She always shares her favourite songs downloaded from Baidu with her friends. When told about the lawsuit, she began to feel a little guilty about obtaining others’ work without paying.

However, other teenagers have different ideas. Wang Yafei, a Senior 2 girl from Jinan, Shandong Province pointed out that file sharing is a good way to promote pop singers. “If I download a song and really like it, I will buy the CD,” she said. “So what the recording companies really should concentrate on is improving their music, rather than pursuing file-sharers.”

1.Which of the following best describes the passage?

A. Downloading material can be illegal.

B. Music on the Internet is of better quality.  

C. It’s good to get free music on the Internet.

D. Baidu is a popular web company.

2.The four web companies were put to court because ________.

A. they got copyrighted songs without paying    

B. they make copyrighted files for free downloads

C. they downloaded copyrighted music for people

D. they offer free music on line

3.How do some of the teenagers feel while downloading free music after the lawsuit?

A. A bit guilty. 　                      B. A little sad.  　   

C. Extremely angry. 　                  D. Awfully sorry.

4.What’s the advantage of file sharing for recording companies?

A. Getting more money from web companies.  

B. Making pop singers more popular.

C. Helping to improve the music.           

D. Enabling people to download favorite songs.

5.It can be inferred from the text that _________.

A. Web companies are still ignoring the copyright laws.

B. Teenagers haven’t got money to buy CDs.

C. Teenagers are probably still downloading free music.

D. Teenagers prefer CDs with copyright to pirated music.

 

On the evening of June 21, 1992, a tall man with brown hair and blue eyes entered the beautiful hall of the Bell Tower Hotel in Xi’an with his bicycle. The hotel workers received him and telephoned the manager, for they had never seen a bicycle in the hotel ball before though they lived in “the kingdom of bicycles.”

    Robert Friedlander, an American, arrived in Xi’an on his bicycle trip across Asia which started last December in New Delhi, India.

    When he was 11, he read the book Ma-rco Polo and made up his mind to visit the Silk Road. Now, after 44 years , he was on the Silk Road in Xi’an and his early dreams were coming true.

    Robert Friedlander’s next destinations (目的地) were Lanzhou, Dunhuang, Urumqi, etc. He will complete his trip in Pakistan.

1.The best headline(标题) for this newspaper article would be      .

A. The Kingdom of Bicycles            B. A Beautiful Hotel in Xi’an

C. Marco Polo and the Silk Road         D. An American Achieving His Aims

2.The hotel workers told the manager about Friedlander coming to the hotel because

A. he asked to see the manager

B. he entered the hall with a bike

C. the manager had to know about all foreign guests

D. the manager knew about his trip and was expecting him

3.Friedlander is visiting the three countries in the following order,        .

A. China, Pakistan, and India               B. Pakistan, China, and India

C. India, China, and Pakistan            D. China, India, and Pakistan

4.What made Friedlander want to come to China?

A. The stories about Marco Polo .     B. The famous sights in Xi’an .

C. His interest in Chinese silk.                D. His childhood dreams about bicycles .

5.Friedlander can be said to be       .

A. determined        B. friendly                C. hardworking     D. open-minded

 

Happy birthday

The China Nation Opera (CNO)will give a concert to celebrate its 50th birthday.

Different generations of CNO vocalists(歌手), like Li Guangxi, Yao Hong and Ma Mei, will present the concert which will feature both songs from famous Chinese operas like “The White-haired GM “and “The Hundredth Bride”, as well as, arias (咏叹调) of such Western opera classics as “Madame Butterfly”, “La Traviata” and “Rigoletto”.

Time/date : 7:30 pm, September 7, 8

Location : Tianqiao Theatre

Tel : 6551-4787, 8315-6170

Tickets : 60—50 yuan (US $7.2-60.2)

Folk music

A concert will be held to feature some recently-composed traditional Chinese music works.

The concert, given by the Folk Orchestra of the China Opera and Ballet Theatre, will include such pieces as “Memory of Childhood”, “Memorial Ceremony for God” and “Wine Song”.

Time/date : 7:30 pm, September 13

Location: Concert hall at the National Library of China

Tel: 6848-5462, 6841-9220

Tickets : 30-200 yuan (US $ 3.6—24.1)

Moon music

A concert of traditional Chinese music will be given on the eve of the Moon Festival which falls on September 21st this year.

The concert will feature a number of famous pieces centered on this theme of the moon, such as “Moonlight”, “Spring Night on a Moonlit River” and “Lofty Mountain and Flowing River.”

A number of established traditional Chinese music performers, like Zhou Yaokun and Fan Weiqing, will play solos（独奏）as well as collaborate（合奏）with the folk music orchestra.

Time/ date: 7:30 pm, September 21st

Location: Grand Theatre of the Cultural Palace of Nationalities

Tel: 6606-8888, 6606-9999

1. If you want to buy tickets for listening to the music “Memory of Childhood”, you will dial       .

A. 6551-4787

B. 6848-5462

C. 8315-6170

D. 6606-9999

2. “Madame Butterfly” is       .      

A. a Chinese opera

B. a song

C. a piece of music

D. a Western opera

3. The passage will most probably appear in the column “      ”of a newspaper.   

A. Animals

B. People

C. Entertainment

D. Sports

 

 

I suddenly heard an elephant crying as though frightened. Looking down, I immediately recognized that something was wrong, and ran down to the edge of the near bank. There I saw Ma Shwe with her three-month-old calf struggling in the fast-rising water, and it was a life-and-death struggle. Her calf was floating and screaming with fear. Ma Shwe was as near to the far bank as she could get, holding her whole body against the rushing water, and keeping the calf pressed against her huge body. Every now and then the rushing water would sweep the calf away.

There was a sudden rise in the water and the calf was washed clean over the mother’s body and was gone. Ma Shwe turned quickly to reach it and pressed the calf with her head and trunk (象鼻) against the rocky bank. Then with a huge effort, she picked it up in her trunk and tried until she was able to place it on a narrow shelf of rock.

Just at this moment she fell back into the river. If she were carried down, it would be certain death. I knew, as well as she did, that there was one spot(地点) where she could get up the bank, but it was on the other side from where she had put her calf.

While I was wondering what I could do next, I heard the sound of a mother’s love. Ma Shwe had crossed the river and got up the bank and was making her way back as fast as she could, roaring (吼叫) all the time, but to her calf it was music.

1.The moment the author got down to the river bank he saw _____,

A. the calf was about to fall into the river

B. Ma Shwe was placing the calf on the rock

C. the calf was washed away by the rising water

D. Ma Shwe was holding the calf against the rushing water

2.How did Ma Shwe manage to save her calf from the fast-flowing water?

A. By putting it on a safe spot.        B. By pressing it against her body.

C. By taking it away with her.       D. By carrying it on her back.

3.How did the calf feel about the mother elephant’s roaring?

A. It was a great comfort.          B. It was a sign of danger.

C. It was a call for help.           D. It was a musical note.

4.What can be the best title for the text?

A. A Mother’s Love            B. A Brave Act

C. A Deadly River              D. A Matter of Life and Death

 

阅读理解

　　Greenwich is on River Thames, five miles from the center of London, and its history is two thousand years old. The first English people were fishermen there, and named the place Greenwich, meaning “green village”. Later the English kings and queens lived at Greenwich in their beautiful palaces.

　　The name of the earliest palace was Placentia. Its windows were made of glass－the first in England. Henry Ⅷ lived there. He knew that English must be strong at sea. So he started two big ship yards at Greenwich, and for 350 years the ships which were made there were the best in the world.

　　But trouble was coming to Greenwich. In 1649, a war started in England and for eleven years there was no king. The men who had worked for him at Placentia decided to live in the place themselves. They sold all its beautiful things, and bought small pieces of the palace garden with money. Finally, the war ended and the King Charles II came back. But Placentia was falling down. So King Charles built a new and bigger palace, which is now open to public.

　　At this time Charles was worried about losing so many of his ships at sea：their sailors did not know how to tell exactly where they were. So in 1675, Charles made John Flamsteed, the first astronomer in England, try to find the answer. Flamsteed worked in a new building on the high ground in Greenwich Park. From it, with a telescope which he made himself, Flamsteed could look all around the sky. And he did night after night, for twenty years. Carrying on Flamsteed's work a hundred years later, an astronomer called Harrison finally made a clock which told the time at sea, and helped sailors to know where they were. You can see Harrison's clock, still working, in Greenwich's museum of the sea. Because of Flamsteed's work, every country in the world now tells its time by Greenwich time.

1．What kind of trouble came to Greenwich in 1649?

[　　]

A．A war started in England.

B．Placentia was destroyed.

C．Ship yards were built.

D．King Henry died.

2．Charles made John Flamsteed try to find ________.

[　　]

A．how to tell the time

B．how to build ships

C．a way for sailors to tell their position at sea

D．a place to set up a telescope

3．Who made the first clock which could tell the time at sea?

[　　]