Jim Carrey is one of the most recognized faces in the world—and certainly because of his rubbery face.

    Born in Ontario, Canada on January 17th, 1962 to a poor family, young Jim Carrey led a tough life, yet one good thing came out of it: He developed a great sense of humor to cope with life. At 15, he started performing at a Toronto comedy club. later he moved to LA and soon came to the attention of Rodney and went on his tour.

    Jim Carrey got his big break in 1990 oil the comedy show la Living Color. There Carrey perfected many characters, most widely-known one "Fire Marshal Bill", who always went up in flames. The show stopped when critics claimed that it encouraged kids to play with fire. This argument put Carrey' s name in the headlines for the first time.

He broke into feature films in one single successful year, 1994, making it the Year of the Funny Face. First there was Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, a surprise hit showing Carrey’s wacky (古怪) style. Next came The Mask, tailor-made for him and a hit with audiences. There was still Dumb and Dumber, which ended up on top of the box office.

    Carrey has slowed down, but his films have continued to make waves if not quite of the previous quality. There was Batman Forever, then a sequel to Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, which didn’t quite retake the sparkle (光彩) of the earlier one. Next came Liar, Liar, a terrific success everywhere, putting him back on top. Then came The Truman Show, a film which proved Jim Carrey was more than just a funny face. Snubbed (冷落) by the Oscars, he was clearly considered golden by the fans.

44. All of the following films are considered of excellent quality EXCEPT______.

    A. Liar, Liar

    B. Dumb and Dumber

    C. The Truman Show

    D. Ace Ventura : When Nature Calls

45. Which of the following statements about Jim Carrey is TRUE?

    A. He has achieved his fame completely due to his face.

    B. His hard early life helped develop his style of humor.

    C. He received universal praises for his part in In Living Color.

    D. Not many people like his performing style.

46. The underline word "sequel" in Paragrah 5 probably refers to_______.

    A. an adapted film of the original

    B. a film that continues a story

    C. a comedy show of a strange style

    D. a comment on a funny film

47. What can be the best title of the passage?

    A. Jim Carrey—More Than a Funny Face

    B. Jim Carrey—Famous "Fire Marshal Bill"

    C. Jim Carrey’s Great Films

D. Jim Carrey’s Acting Career

Ten Chinese PhD students are demanding that Beijing Normal University Professor Yu Dan be away from her television show on CCTV10. They argue that her on-air explanations of Confucius’s Analects (孔子《论语》) are “incorrect and misleading”. Yu is known for explaining Confucius’s Analects to a TV audience. But some complain that her explanations are unfaithful to Chinese tradition. But Yu doesn’t seem to worry too much about her critics, saying, “It’s a matter of personal choice. Some like KFC, while others like McDonalds.”

STEALING some online gamer’s password might seem less harmful than credit card theft. It does keep the victim from wearing himself out all night playing. But it is not all that nice, says 19-year-old Zhang Qiwen, in Shanghai.    Last August, Zhang accidentally downloaded a Trojan while playing Warcraft. The Trojan is a type of virus used by hackers to steal people’s passwords. Overnight the Trojan transferred all the “gold” (game credits) from Zhang’s private account to an unknown account. Zhang hopes the police will find and punish the thief, who can also pocket some cash since the stolen “gold” can go on sale online.

New England’s largest indoor public garden has opened here in a historic park, and officials expect it to become a center for learning about plants as well as a top attraction for visitors.    The glass-walled Roger Williams Park Botanical Center, which opened on March 2, offers a tropical garden, an orchid garden, and a Mediterranean room with a collection of citrus trees. The center also has two classrooms and will offer gardening classes provided by the University of Rhode Island.    Roger Williams Park, named for the city’s 17th-century founder, also has a zoo. The park already attracts more than 2 million visitors a year, and Providence Mayor David Cicilline said that he expects the new center will attract more and more visitors to Providence.

Which of the following statements is true?

A. Confucius’s Analects is like KFC or McDonalds in China now.

B. 19-year-old Zhang was angry because a hacker stole his “gold”.

C. The Trojan is a new online game.           

D. The garden is run by a university.

We can learn from the passage that ______.

A. there are four gardens in Roger Williams Park Botanical Center.

B. No one likes Yu Dan’s explanation of Confucius’s Analects.

C. Yu Dan won’t show up on CCTV any more for explanations of Confucius’s Analects.

D. Some people make money by stealing online gamers’ game credits and selling them.

Where is Roger Williams Park?

A. It’s in England.                      B. It’s in Providence.    

C. It’s in a botanical center.               D. It’s in a famous zoo.

You are very likely to read the passage in ______.

A. a biology textbook    B. a fashion magazine    C. a newspaper       D. a book review

Being a mother is apparently not like it was in the good old days.

　　Today’s parents yearn for the golden age that their own mothers enjoyed in the 1970s and 1980s, researchers found. Mothers have less time to themselves and feel under greater pressure to handle work and family life than the previous generation. As a result, 88 per cent said they felt guilty about the lack of time they spent with their children.

The survey of 1,000 mothers also found that more than a third said they had less time to themselves than their mothers did – just three hours a week or 26 minutes a day. And 64 per cent said this was because they felt they ‘had’ to go out to work, while nearly a third (29 per cent) said they were under constant pressure to be the ‘perfect mother’, the report found.

Other findings showed social networking and parenting websites, as well as technology such as Skype, were important in providing help and support among female communities. Kate Fox, a member of the Social Issues Research Centre, which conducted the survey for Procter & Gamble, said: ‘With increasing pressure on mothers to work a “double shift” — to be the perfect mother as well as a wage-earner — support networks are more important than ever.

It comes as a separate report examining childcare in the leading industrialised nations found that working mothers in Britain spend just 81 minutes a day caring for their children as a ‘primary activity’. Mothers who stay at home, on the other hand, manage twice as much time – more than two and a half hours – looking after their offspring, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

　　Critics say the pressure on women to work long hours, and leave their offspring in the hands of nurseries or childminders, is putting the well-being of their children at risk.

　　The study also reveals that, despite the fact that more and more modern mothers go out to work, the burden of childcare still falls on them - even if their husband is not in work. A father who is not in work tends to spend just 63 minutes a day looking after his child - 18 minutes less than a mother who goes out to work. Working fathers spare less than three quarters of an hour with their children.

1.. What does the passage mainly talk about?

   A. The good old days of mothers in the 1970s and 1980s.

   B. The great sufferings of today’s children.

   C. The statistics of working mothers and full-time mothers.

   D. The big problems that today’s working mothers face.

2.. What does the underlined phrase “yearn for” probably means ___________.

A. hate            B. miss           C. abandon         D. control

3. Which of the following problems is NOT mentioned in the passage?

A. Today’s mothers have less time left for their children and themselves.

B. The working mothers can hardly strike the balance between work and family.

C. Most of the mothers can not control their husbands nowadays.

D. Modern fathers do not spend enough time with their children.

4. From para. 4, we can infer that ___________.

   A. working mothers can seek help on line

   B. Skype is a very famous expert in studying social issues

   C. working mothers’ double shift is to be a wife and a mother

   D. Kate Fox has opened a website offering help to working mothers

5.. What critics say means that _____________.

   A. it is wise for working mothers to put their kids in nurseries or childminders

   B. too much time in nurseries or childminders is bad for kids’ mental and physical health

   C. nurseries or childminders are dangerous places for children

   D. children do not like nurseries or childminders at all

 

 

One of the founding fathers of the internet has predicted the end of traditional television. Vint Serf, who helped to build the internet while working as a researcher in America, said that television was approaching its “iPod moment.”

In the same way that people now download their favorite music onto their iPods, he said that viewers would soon be downloading most of their favorite programmers onto their computers. “85 percent of all video we watch is pre-recorded, so you can set your system to download it at any time,”said Mr. Cerf, who is now the vice-president of Goggle.

“You’re still going to need live television for certain things--like news, sporting events and emergencies--but increasingly it will be almost like iPod, where you download content to look at later.”

Although television-on-demand has not yet become a main activity in the UK, the BBC, 1TV and Channel 4 have all invested a lot of money in technology which Mr. Cerf think will enable viewers to watch their favorite shows on their computers.

However, some critics(批评家)have warned that the Internet will collapse(崩溃)if millions of people try to download programmers at the same time.

Over the next four years, scientists think the number of videos watched over the Internet will double, with people moving from short chips to hour-long programmes.

Broadband companies claim that the service will cause“traffic jams”,which will cost millions of pounds to solve. Mr. Cerf dismissed these warnings, saying that critics had predicted 20 years ago that the net would collapse when people all around the world started to use it at the same time, “We’re far from exhausting (用尽)the capacity,” he said.“I want every one of the six billion people in the planet to be able to connect to the Internet.”

61.Vint Cerf is all the following EXCEPT that ___________.

A. a researcher in the United States

B. the vice-president of Goggle

C. one of the founders of the Internet

D. a manager of a broadband company

62. Which of the following is NOT something Vint Cerf has predicted?

A. Traditional television will soon have its iPod moment.

B. The number of videos watched over the Internet will double.

C. Viewers will be able to download TV programmers onto their iPods.

D. Viewers will be able to watch their favorite TV shows on the Internet.

63. According to the passage, people can always do all the following EXCEPT ____________.

A. watch short clips over the Internet

B. download live TV over the Internet

C. download per-recorded videos over the Internet

D. listen to their favorite music on their computers

64. Some critics are now predicting __________.

A. the Internet will collapse if millions of people use it at the same time

B. people all over the world will be able to connect to the Internet

C. the Internet will crash if  too many people download TV programmes at the same time

D. the videos people watch over the Internet

65. This passage mainly tells us __________.

A. a Goggle expert is predicting the end of traditional television

B. the Internet will never be used to download people's favourite shows

C. the Internet will become more popular

D. something about Vint Cerf

 

Americans are thinking about national education standards recently developed by teachers and other education experts. The National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) led the effort.
　　The United States, unlike other nations, has never had the same school standards across the country. What is the reason? Education is not discussed in the Constitution. That document limits the responsibilities of the federal government. Other responsibilities, like education, fall to each state.
Local control of education probably was a good idea two hundred years ago. People stayed in the same place and schools knew what students needed to learn. But today, people move to different cities. And some people work at jobs that did not exist even twenty years ago.
Many American educators say that getting a good education should not depend on where you live. They say that some states have lowered their standards in order to increase student scores on tests required by the No Child Left behind Act.
　　Kara Schlosser is communications director for the CCSSO. She says the new standards clearly state what a student should be able to do to be successful in college and work.
　　Forty--eight states have already shown approval for the standards. Two states refuse to accept the idea. Critics say that working toward the same standards in every state will not guarantee excellence for all. Some educators in Massachusetts say adopting the national standards will hurt their students because the state standards are even higher. Others say the change will be too costly, requiring new textbooks and different kinds of training for teachers. Still others fear federal control.
　　Supporters say the standards are goals and do not tell states or teachers how to teach. They also say the federal government is not forcing acceptance. However, approving the standards will help states qualify (取得资格) for some federal grant money.
【小题1】What would be the best title for the passage?

A．Local Control of Education Standards out of Date

B．American National Education Standards under Consideration

C．Education Standards in Each State--Good or Bad.

D．Acceptance of the New Standards in the United States

【小题2】Why is local control of education no 1onger a good idea today?

A．Because local standards are limited.

B．Because it is required by the federal government.

C．Because people today moves among states more often than before.

D．Because America has never had the same school standards throughout the country.

【小题3】Some people are against the nationa1 education standards because__________

A．the standards are higher than those of each state

B．they are not yet prepared for the new standards

C．the standards may prevent some students gaining excellence

D．they don't want the federal government to train their teachers

【小题4】If a state agrees to accept the national standards, it will probably get ________.

A．more students	B．advice on how to improve teaching
C．better textbooks	D．money from the federal government