New Year’s Eve is a time to celebrate and enter the new year with a smile on your face. This year, there’re plenty of local activities for all ages and interests, so the smiles will come easily.

BLUE CONCERT

Blues band the Coyotes is playing at the Dance Barn，at 8 Barn View in Sudden Valley, The show will start at 9 p. m. and benefit the charity Bikers Fighting Cancer. Tickets cost $10 in advance and $15 at the door. Call 224-2308 for more information.

NEW YEAR’S LAUGHS

Ring in the New Year and laugh out the old one at the Upfront Theatre Comic improvisers will hit on all the highlights of the year with The Last Laugh of 2008. The 9 p. m. show will cost $15 and is open to all ages. The 11 P. m. show is to 21 and older and costs $18, which includes a champagne (香槟酒) toast. Call 733-8855 for more information.

MAZE

For a fun activity earlier in the evening，walk the labyrinth (迷宫) at the Leopold Crystal Bellroom. Wander through the maze, based on the French Chartres Cathedral, for free from 4 to 9 P. m. Call 752-0048 for more information.

COUNTRY DANCING

At the Bellingham Eagles Hall, live local music will help get the dance started at 8 p. m. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students and free for kids 12 and younger. For more information, call 676-1554.

1. In what way do these activities have in common?

A. They’re all held in the same day.                            B. They’re all held by the same organization.

C. They’re all organized for children.               D. They’re all about the dancing and music.

2. Which of the following activities may be free for Tom aged 16?

A. COUNTRY DANCING.                                   B. NEW YEAR'S LAUGHS.

C. MAZE.                                                       D. BLUE CONCERT.

3. If you want to know something about the Coyotes at 8 Barn view, you'd better call        .

A. 676-1554         B. 733-8855  C. 752-0048       D. 224-2308

4. Which of the followings will be the highlights of NEW YEAR'S LAUGHS?

A. Wander through the maze.                               B. The champagne toast.

C. Its live music.                                                    D. The Last Laugh of 2008.

5. It can be inferred from the text that            .

A. $10 is enough to book a ticket to Blue Concert   B. you can read the text on a telephone book

C. all these activities are international ones    D. New Year’s Laughs will hold shows three times

 

Today, we complete our story about the influential English writer William Shakespeare. He wrote plays and poems during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, which remain very popular today.

During earlier times, people would probably have learned several ancient Roman and Greek plays. It was not unusual for writers to produce more current versions of these works. For example, in Shakespeare's play "The Comedy of Errors"（《错误的喜剧》）Shakespeare borrowed certain details from the ancient Roman writer Plautus. For his play "Macbeth"（《麦克白》）, Shakespeare most likely used a work on Scottish history by Raphael Holinshed for information. Shakespeare might have borrowed from other writers, but the intensity（强度）of his imagination and language made the plays his own. While many plays by other writers of his time have been forgotten, Shakespeare and his art live on.

Shakespeare was also influenced by the world around him. He described the sights and sounds of London in his plays. His works include observations about political struggles, the fear of diseases, and the popular language of the city’s tradesmen. Shakespeare's knowledge of the English countryside is also clear. His works include descriptions of deep forests, local flowers, and the ancient popular traditions of rural people.

It would be impossible to list all of the ways in which Shakespeare’s works have influenced the world culture. But the first and greatest example would be his great influence on the English language. During his time, the English language was changing. Many new words from other languages were being added. Shakespeare used his sharp mind and poetic inventiveness to create hundreds of new words and rework old ones. For example, he created the noun forms of "critic", "mountaineer” and "eyeball". Many common expressions in English come from his plays, including "pomp and circumstance（装腔作势）"from "Othello"（《奥赛罗》）, "full circle（绕圈子地）" from "King Lear"（《李尔王》）, etc. The list of cultural creations influenced by Shakespeare is almost endless. From paintings to television to music and dance, Shakespeare was well represented. Shakespeare's plays have been translated into every major language in the world.

Shakespeare became a well-known writer during a golden age of theater. His years of hard work paid off.

1.What can we infer from the passage？

   A. Many of Shakespeare's works were influenced by earlier writings.

   B. Shakespeare was hard­working when he was a student.

   C. The experience of living in London helped a lot with Shakespeare's works.

   D. Shakespeare became rich later because of the popularity of his works.

2.Shakespeare might have learnt some information from ancient Roman works in 　　　　 .

   A."King Lear"     B."The Comedy of Errors"   C. "Macbeth"    D."Othello"

3.Shakespeare's greatest influence should be on　　　　.

A. the English language  B. paintings       C. television    D. music and dance

4.The passage is mainly about 　　　　.

   A. an introduction to Shakespeare’s life and his works

   B. the main features and styles of Shakespeare's plays

   C. how culture influenced Shakespeare and he influenced culture.

   D. Shakespeare’s greatest influence on the world culture.

 

Beijing: The highly anticipated Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway will begin operation next year, and is expected to cut travel time to four hours, railway officials said.

The high-speed railway between China's two most important metropolises was scheduled to open in 2012 but will now open one year ahead of time, said Zheng Jian, chief planner with the Ministry of Railways.

Wang Zhiguo, vice-minister of railways, said that it would be a four-hour journey from Beijing to Shanghai, and only three hours from Beijing to Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu province.

At present, it takes about 10 hours to travel from Beijing to Shanghai and Nanjing by train. A new-generation bullet train that will travel up to 380 kilometers per hour (kph) is now under development for the high-speed rail link.

It will be rigorously tested this year, and engineers want the train to run at a top speed of 420 kph to guarantee a safe operational speed of 380 kph, Huang Qiang, chief researcher with the China Academy of Railway Sciences told the Beijing News.

Vice-Minister Wang Zhiguo said it was expected that high-speed trains would one day take passengers from Beijing to most capital cities within eight hours, except for Haikou, Urumqi, Lhasa and Taipei.

It is expected that an 110,000-km railway network will be completed by 2012, including 13,000 km of high-speed rail, he said.

China already has 6,552 km of rail track in operation --- the longest amount of high-speed rail track in the world.

At present, at least 10,000 km of high-speed rail line is under construction in China. About 3,676 km of new track for running trains at speeds up to 350 kph have already been laid and put into operation. Another 2,876 km of old tracks have been upgraded to run trains of 200 to 250 kph. .

Ultimately, China plans to construct a 120,000-km railway network, including 50,000-km of high-speed rail track, by 2020.

The Ministry of Railways wants to export China's high-speed railway technology to North America, Europe and Latin America.

Wang said, “State-owned Chinese companies are already building high-speed lines in Turkey and Venezuela. Many countries, including the United States, Russia, Brazil and Saudi Arabia, have also expressed interest.”

56.When will the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway come into use?

A. In 2012.                   B. In 2013.                   C. In 2011.           D. In 2010

57. How much time will a passenger save by train from Beijing to Shanghai after the high-speed railway is open? 

A. 4 hours.                          B. 6 hours.                   C. 10 hours.          D. 3 hours.

58. Which of the following countries owns the longest railway in the world ?

A. China.                            B. America.                 C. Canada.            D. Russia.

59. Which city, in the opinion of vice-minister Wang Zhiguo, can passengers from Beijing reach  in high-speed trains within 8 hours ?

A. Haikou.                          B. Urumqi.                   C. Lhasa .             D. Changsha.

60. What can we learn from the last two paragraphs?

A. The Ministry of Railways wants to increase GDP by exporting railway technology.

B. China’s railway technology is superior to that of many other countries.

C. Countries in North America have already imported the railway technology of China.

D. The United States also wants to build high-speed railways in Turkey and Venezuela.

 

B

The resounding film Avatar has been very popular in the UK and around the world, becoming the fastest film ever to earn $1bn(7bn yuan) in ticket sales.  

But as well as being an entertaining feast for the eyes, the sci-fi epic（叙事诗）also introduces the audience to a brand new language invented especially for the film.

The movie is set on an alien planet called Pandora which is inhabited by many strange species. The most humanoid of the planet’s inhabitants are the Na’vi, and it is the struggle between the Na’vi  and human invader that forms the main story of the film.

The film has been released in 2D and 3D versions.

In order to add a sense of reality to his vision of an alien race the film’s director James Cameron asked a professor of language form the University of Southern California to invent a language for the Na’vi.

Professor Paul Frommer worked with James Cameron for four years to build upon the original 30 words or so that the director had already come up with for the language.

According to Professor Frommer, the most important aspect of the Na’  vi language was that it could be pronounced.

“This is an alien language but obviously it has to be spoken by human actors,” Professor Frommer told the BBC, “it has to be sounds that human beings are comfortable producing.”

The language currently has around 1,000 words but Professor Frommer hopes to expand it in possible sequels（续集）to the film and in video games.

The professor hopes that one day his creation will have a high level of the Klingon alien language from the Star Trek films.

“There’s a translation of Hamlet into Klingon,” says Professor Frommer.

“If anything happened like this with Na’vi I’d be delight.”

60. The underlined word “resounding” in Paragraph 1 mean_________.

A. later   B. scientific    C. hit      D. surprising

61. Which of the following is Right according to the passage?

A. A kind of new language was invented especially for the film

B. The film Avatar is as good as a film as the Star Trek

C. The creation in Alien Language is different from that in human beings.

D. Avatar is one of an excellent films invented by Pandora.

62. The most challenging part in the creation of the language is_________.

A. that Professor Frommer needs to create 1,000 words for the film Avatar by himself.

B. that the language is based on that of the Alien planet called Pandora

C. that James Cameron introduces a new style of language to the audience

D. that an Alien language is created to be spoken by human beings.

63. We can infer from the passage that_________.

A. the film Avatar has been released in 2D and 3D versions.

B. the most important aspect of the Na’vi language was that it could be pronounced.

C. Professor Paul Frommer believe his language creation in the film Avatar is very successful.

D. Professor Paul Frommer worked with James Cameron for four years for a sense of reality of the film.

 

 

第二节：完形填空（共20小题；每小题1.5分，满分30分）

    It is difficult for you to get up in the morning? Do you sometime oversleep? Are you often late for work or school? Yes? Then Hiroyuki Sugiyama of Japan has a(n)  36  bed for you. Hiroyuki’s bed will  37  you up in the morning! Here is how it  38  .

    The bed  39  an alarm clock. First, the alarm clock rings. You have a few minutes to wake up. Next, a tape recorder in the bed plays  40  music or other pleasant sounds. The tape recorder in Hiroyuki’s bed plays a recording of his girlfriend. She whispers in a sweet  41  , “Wake up, darling, please.” A few minutes later, a second recording  42  . The sound recording can be loud music or  43  sounds. Hiroyuki hears a recording of his boss  44  , “Wake up immediately,  45  you’ll be late!”

    If you don’t get up  46  the second recording, you  47  be sorry! A mechanical “foot” is in the bed. The mechanical foot kicks you in the head. Then the bed waits a few  48  minutes. What! You’re  49  in bed! Slowly the  50  of the bed rises higher and higher. The foot of the bed goes lower and lower.  51  , the bed is vertical (垂直的). You slide off the bed and onto the floor. You are out of bed and  52  .

    Hiroyuki made his bed because he wanted to  53  a contest. He works for Honda Motor Company. Once every two years Honda has a contest for its 200,000 employees—“All-Honda Idea Contest”. The employees think of new  54  . If their ideas win, the employees win  55  . Hiroyuki Sugiyama won one of the top prizes for his bed.

36. A. expensive      B. special        C. valuable       D. comfortable

37. A. get            B. catch          C. make           D. let

38. A. works          B. runs           C. happens        D. moves

39. A. is separated from                B. is made up of

    C. is connected to                  D. is made into

40. A. loud           B. classical      C. pop            D. soft

41. A. sound          B. voice          C. noise          D. way

42. A. sends          B. turns          C. plays          D. appears

43. A. pleasant       B. interesting    C. unpleasant     D. funny

44. A. shouts         B. calls          C. whispers       D. persuades

45. A. and            B. but            C. so             D. or

46. A. before         B. until          C. since          D. after

47. A. can            B. will           C. may            D. would

48. A. other          B. another        C. more           D. one

49. A. still          B. yet            C. already        D. even

50. A. end            B. middle         C. body           D. top

51. A. However        B. Finally        C. Therefore      D. Otherwise

52. A. angry          B. work           C. happy          D. awake

53. A. achieve        B. win            C. gain           D. defeat

54. A. ideas          B. thoughts       C. facts          D. ways

55. A. praises        B. contests       C. prizes         D. medals