Katharine Houghton Hepburn was born in Hartford in 1907. The Hepburns made sure to educate their children about important political and social subjects and sports. She rode horses, swam and played golf and tennis.

Katharine graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1928. She soon started appearing in small roles in plays. After a few successful plays, Hollywood filmmakers became interested in her. She later signed with RKO Pictures. Her first movie came out in 1932.

The next year she acted in the film Morning Glory. This gave her the chance to let her acting skills shine. This movie earned Hepburn her first Academy Award for Best Actress.

During the 1930s, critics(评论家) either loved or hated Katharine Hepburn. But Hepburn wanted to face the movie industry in her own way. She did not want to be like other actresses. She did not wear make-up on her face. She would not let photographers take sexy pictures of her.

By the late 1930s, she had become unpopular with the public. But Hepburn was not raised to quit easily. She starred in The Philadelphia Story in 1940. For this movie, Hepburn received another Academy Award nomination(提名) for Best Actress. She had taken control of her career once again.

In 1967, she starred in her last movie with Spencer Tracy. For this movie, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, she won her second Academy Award. She won her third Academy Award the next year for A Lion in Winter. And, in her mid-seventies she won her last Academy Award for On Golden Pond.

Even into her eighties, she kept working. She also wrote several books. In 2003, Katharine Hepburn died.

As part of her last wishes, she helped create the Katharine Houghton Hepburn Center to help support the things that were important to her: film and theater, women’s right, and civic(国民的) responsibility.

1. What do we learn about Katharine Hepburn from the passage?

A. As a little girl, she showed a gift for acting.

B. She was well educated when she was young.

C. She stopped working in her mid-seventies.

D. Her small roles in plays were not good for her movie career.

2. The following movies all won Katharine Hepburn an Academy Award for Best Actress EXCEPT_______.

A. Morning Glory                B. A Lion in Winter

C. The Philadelphia Story     D. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

3. Which of the following words can best describe Katharine Hepburn?

A. Humorous but mean.        B. Independent and successful.

C. Beautiful but unpopular.   D. Strict and inexperienced.

4. The passage is developed by______.

A. space order         B. comparison         C. time order        D. listening examples

 

Yawning sends out certain messages -either “Oh ，this movie is so boring” or “I probably need to get some sleep”. But did you know that a yawn can also help your brain to cool down when it is overheated?

A new study, led by a research team at Princeton University, has indicated that yawning could be the brain’s natural way of regulating temperature. People yawn more often when the temperature outdoors is lower than their body temperature but are less likely to yawn when it is hotter outdoors, according to Sciencedaily. com.

The research team did an experiment on 160 people, 80 in summer and 80 in winter, to examine how often they yawned at different air temperatures. The study found that people yawned more often in winter than in summer. Scientists say that when the air temperature is lower outside the body, there is heat exchange between the overheated brain and the cool air. But when the air temperature is higher than or equal to the body, people are less likely to yawn because the hot air they breathe in will make the brain even hotter.

When people yawn, their jaw is also stretched ，which increases blood flow and may also help cool the brain

The study showed that the amount someone yawned could be related to the amount of time they spent outside. The longer they spent outside in summer, the less they yawned. Nearly 40 percent of participants yawned within their first five minutes outside, but after that the percentage was reduced to less than 10 percent.

However, the result was the opposite in winter. The number of people who yawned increased when they spent more than five minutes outdoors. But the change was only slight compared to summertime.

According to Gallup, this is the first report to show that yawning frequencies change depending on season. This could help us to understand better the way our brains work. It may also help us understand the reason why frequent yawning can sometimes be a sign of brain disease.

1.The purpose of the experiment is ______.

A.      to prove people yawn in winter and in summer equally

B.      to indicate brain can regulate temperature naturally

C.      to find the frequency of people’s yawning

D.      to show the real reason why people yawn

2.The information we get from Paragraphs 5 and 6 is that ______.

A.      longer outdoor summertime results in more yawns

B.      yawning frequency changes with outdoor time

C.      yawning frequency increases with outdoor time

D.      longer outdoor wintertime leads to fewer yawns

3.Acorrding to the text ，people yawn more often ______.

A,      when the air temperature is lower outside the body

B.      when the hot air breathed in makes the brain hotter

C. when the air temperature is higher than the body

D. when the air temperature is equal to the body

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

A.      Yawning Is A Sign of Brain Disease

B.      Yawning Carries Some Information

C.      Yawning Benefits Your Body

D.      Yawning Cools Your Brain

 

This movie is referred to ______ a masterpiece of the famous director.

A．beyond

B．opposite

C．as

D．via

 

用所学的词组填空。5分

1. Now we can__________________(交流) each other on the radio or

by internet.

2. ____________________(不止一个)student wants to go to swim.

3.He ______________________________(经历)two World Wars.

4. We should_____________________（好好利用）every minute.

5.This movie___________________________（以....为基础） facts.

 

Robert Altman’s films were different from the usual methods of Hollywood movie storytelling. In the 1940s, he started his film career directing industrial movies in his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri. Later, he moved to Hollywood, California, to make television shows.

His first major film, MASH, was released in 1970. It tells about a group of American medical workers in an army hospital in Korea during the Korean War in the 1950s. The movie was a great success. It questioned the rules of the military in a way that was sharply funny and clever.

Robert Altman continued to make movies with strong political and social points. His next major movie, Nashville, came out in 1975. This movie provides a complex (not simple) look at changes in the country music industry.

Robert Altman’s movies have a very special style. Often, his actors speak so naturally that it is hard to believe they are performing. Altman liked his actors to be free to make up their own lines. Altman wanted to copy the way people talked and acted in real life. And he was willing to fight with movie studio businessmen to make sure that he had total creative (有创造力的) control over his work.

Even as an old man, Robert Altman continued to make movies. Many of his 33 films were nominated (提名) for Academy Awards, including The Player and Gosford Park. Robert Altman died in November in Los Angeles, California. He was 81 years old.

According to the passage, Altman was ______.

A. a writer             B. an actor         C. a director       D. a soldier

Robert Altman began to make films ______.

A. in the 1940s          B. in the 1950s      C. in 1970        D. in 1975

What is special about Altman’s films is that ______.

A. they were all industrial films

B. they were true to life

C. they were films with strong political points

D. many of them were nominated for Academy Awards

The passage mainly tells us that ______.

A. the Korean War took place in the 1950s

B. Robert Altman made his first major film in 1970

C. Robert Altman’s films have a different style

D. Robert Altman received many Academy Awards

The best title for this passage should be ______.

A. Robert Altman - Director of Special Style Movie

B. Some Famous Films from Hollywood

C. How Robert Altman Directed His Films

D. Actors in the Films of Robert Altman