If the environmental movement has a high holiday, Earth Day is it. The annual effort to raise public awareness about the environment and inspire actions to clean it up marks its 41^st anniversary on Friday, coinciding with the Christian Good Friday and Judaism’s celebration of Passover.

In an effort dubbed “A Billion Acts of Green, ” organizers are encouraging people to observe Earth Day 2011 by promising online at http://act.earthday.org/ to do something small but sustainable in their own lives to improve the planet’s health—from switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs to reducing the use of pesticides and other toxic chemicals.

“Millions of people doing small, individual acts can add up to real change,” said Chad Chitwood, a spokesman for the umbrella group coordinating efforts. There will be hundreds of gatherings, workshops and other events around the United States, where Earth Day was born, and hundreds more overseas, where it is now celebrated in 192 countries.

In the US, the activities range from the premiere of the new film from the director of Who Killed the Electric Car? (it’s called a Revenge of the Electric Car) at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York to a discussion about creating a green economy in 12 cities along the Gulf Coast, where this time last year residents were reeling from the efforts of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In the years since the first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970 the environmentalist movement made great strides with passage of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and other groundbreaking laws. But the bipartisanship (两党合作) that marked the birth of Earth Day – it was sponsored in Congress by a Wisconsin Democrat named Gaylord Nelson and a California Republican named Pete McCloskey—is often missing in discussions about environmental policy today.

Efforts to fight climate change by regulating greenhouse gases, for instance, face fierce resistance from many Republicans and members of the business community, who dispute the science supporting global warming and warn new rules to regulate emissions will kill jobs and raise energy costs.

67. What could be the possible meaning of the underlined word “high” in the first paragraph?

A. yearly.　　　　　　　 B. exclusive.

C. important.　　　　　　 D. wonderful.

68. This year, the following three out of four holidays fall on the same day EXCEPT ___.

A. Earth Day. B. Easter.

C. Good Friday.　　　　　　 D. Passover.

69. What effort is NOT mentioned to protect the environment?

A. Small things to improve the planet’s health.

B. Rallies, workshops and other events around the US.

C. A discussion about creating a green economy in 12 cities.

D. New rules to raise energy cost and job opportunities.

70. What is the main idea of the passage?

A. We can make Mother Earth a better place for us to live.

B. To pass laws to protect the earth is the only way out.

C. The public’s awareness can be raised to make a cleaner earth.

D. Many republicans and businessmen doubt the science supporting global warming.

When most people turn 21, they spend too much time partying and having fun. But when Adele turned 21, she did something completely different.
After going through a tough breakup(分手), the British singer turned her pain into glory and recorded one of the most moving albums of the year.
The album, 21, which was released in January, has already hit the charts in 14 countries, according to the Billboard magazine.
It also noted that Adele made history as the first artist since the Beatles to have two top five singles and two top five albums in the charts at the same time (Adele’s first album, 19, was released in 2008. Each album is named for her age when she wrote it).
Now, after touring around the world for almost a year, the DVD of her live concert, released on November 29, is Adele’s latest work.
Having topped the pre-order list of Amazon. com for over a month already, this one seems set to stay on top for a while.
Born in north London, Adele sang her way up honestly:  In 2006, she was signed by England’s XL Recordings on the strength of (基于)a three-song demo(样本唱片) a friend of hers had posted on MySpace;within two years she had won the BRIT Awards ‘Critics’ Choice prize and been tipped by the BBC as the “Sound of 2008”.
In 2009 she got the best new artist Grammy Award, and went on a world tour in support of the album 19 with a sold-out show in Los Angeles.
According to Adele herself, much of the inspiration of her music comes from one single breakup.
That’s probably what has made the singer’s success-that emotional certitude(确信), according to Dickins.
“The key to great singers is believing every single word they sing, ” he said. “And I think you believe every word that comes out of Adele’s mouth. You can feel her life force through her voice. ”

1. 1.

   When she wrote album 19, she is at the age of______

   1. A.
      21
   2. B.
      18
   3. C.
      20
   4. D.
      19
2. 2.

   How many awards did Adele get?

   1. A.
      One
   2. B.
      Two
   3. C.
      Three
   4. D.
      Four
3. 3.

   The underlined word “released” can be best replaced by ______

   1. A.
      recorded
   2. B.
      came out
   3. C.
      sold
   4. D.
      written
4. 4.

   In Adele’s opinion, where does her inspiration of music mainly come from?

   1. A.
      Emotional certitude
   2. B.
      One single breakup
   3. C.
      A three-song demo
   4. D.
      A world tour

Mark Twain was a great writer. He was from the USA. He was born in 1835. He was also a famous speaker. He was famous for his sense of humour. Many people liked to listen to him talk because he liked to tell some interesting stories to make people laugh all the time.

　　 One day Mark Twain was going to a small town because of his writing. Before he was going to leave, one of his friends said to him that there were always a lot of mosquitoes（蚊子） in the town and told him that he’d better not go there. Mark Twain waved (摇动) his hand and said, “It doesn’t matter. The mosquitoes are no relatives of mine. I don’t think they will come to visit me.”

After he arrived at the town, Mark Twain stayed in a small hotel near the station. He went into his room, but when he was just about to have a rest, quite a few mosquitoes flew about him. The waiters felt very sorry about that. “I’m very sorry, Mr. Mark Twain. There are too many mosquitoes in our town.” One of them said to him.

　　Mark Twain, however, made a joke, saying to the waiter, “The mosquitoes are very clever. They know my room number. They didn’t come into the wrong room.” What he said made all the people present laugh heartily.

　　But that night Mark Twain slept well. Do you know why? That was because all the waiters in the hotel were driving the mosquitoes away for him during the whole night.

1.That day Mark Twain went to the town _____.

2.The waiters felt sorry because _____.

3.All the people present laughed heartily because _____.

4.From the story we know _____.

As is known to most of us, Maodun was born in _______is now called Wuzhen.

A．what             B．that              C．which            D．where

When Frida Kahlo's paintings were on show in London, a poet described her paintings as “ a ribbon （丝带）around a bomb”. Such comments seem to suggest Kahlo had a big influence on the art world of her time. Sadly, she is actually a much bigger name today than she was during her time.

Born in 1907 in a village near Mexico City , Kahlo suffered from polio（小儿麻痹症）at the age of seven. Her spine （脊柱）become bent as she grew older. Then, in 1925, her back was broken in several places in a school-bus accident. Throughout the rest of her life, the artist had many operations, but nothing was able to cure the terrible pain in her back. However, the accident had an unexpected side effect. While lying in her bed recovering, Kahlo taught herself to paint.

In 1929, she got married to Diego Rivera, another famous Mexican artist. Rivera’s strong influences on Kahlo’s style can be seen in her early works, but her later works from the 1940s, known today as her best works, show less influence from her husband.

Unfortunately, her works did not attract much attention in the 1930s and 1940s, even in her home country. Her first one-woman show in Mexico was not held until 1953.For more than a decade after her death in 1954, Kahlo’s works remained largely unnoticed by the world, but in the 1970s her works began to gain international fame at last.

1.What does the phrase “a much bigger name” in paragraph 1 most nearly mean?

2.The terrible pain Kahlo suffered was caused by         .

3.Kahlo’s style had become increasingly independent since the           .

4.What is author’s attitude toward Kahlo?