Armstrong’s gift was obvious from the start of his career. His earliest recordings—first with a band led by his former teacher, Joe “King” Oliver, and then with his own band-earned Armstrong international fame for technical originality （独创性）. He freed his playing from the ordinary rhythms of early jazz by creating musical phrases that seemed to oppose the pulse of a song, only to combine them in the place later. His deep and rough voice became as special as his cornet（短号）playing, especially in his scat performances. Scat is a singing style in which meaningless syllables（音节）are repeated without preparation. Armstrong’s scat was among the earliest ever recorded.

　　By 1930, Armstrong had turned to more commercial, less experimental jazz. Some musicians criticized（批评）him for this. But others insisted that the real power of Armstrong’s art lay in its grace and sensitivity, fine qualities of the heart which remained in his music.

　　In the following years, Armstrong traveled around the world as the leading “goodwill ambassador（大使）”of American jazz music. The gentleness and great attraction of “Satchmo” filled his music and made him one of the world’s most beloved performers for over forty years.

　　1．Which of the following best tells what this passage is about?

　　A．Armstrong’s personal attraction.

　　B．Armstrong’s best work.

　　C．A praise for Armstrong’s contribution to jazz.

　　D．A comparison of Armstrong’s music with that of earlier musicians.

　　2．Why was “Satchmo” criticized by some of his workmates in the 1930s?

　　A．For making fewer recordings.

　　B．For losing interest in music.

　　C．For giving up his scat performances.

　　D．For turning his attention away from making changes

　　3．Which of the following is not mentioned as one of the reasons for Armstrong’s success?

　　A．His technical originality.

　　B．His personality.

　　C．His early experiences in “King” Oliver’s band.

　　D．His recordings were the first ever made.

　　4．According to the author, what made Armstrong the “goodwill ambassador” of American jazz music?

　　A．His world travels.

　　B．His attraction and sensitivity.

　　C．His scat singing.

　　D．His preference for commercial, less experimental jazz.

　　Many students of English think that learning a new language is very difficult. Now think how difficult it is to learn English when your brain is only the size of a bird’s brain!That is what some birds can do.

　　Many different kinds of birds can copy the sounds of language. African gray parrots are the birds best known for this.

　　Every December in London,the National Cage and Aviary Bird Show tries to find the best“talking”bird in the world. One bird named Prudle stood out among the“talking birds”. She won this prize for 12 years in a row from 1965 to 1976．

　　Prudle was taken from her nest in Uganda in 1958．She was sold to Iris Frost in Seaford,England. Prudle knew almost 800 words in English.

　　Prudle was also the oldest bird in the world that lived in a cage. Ms. Frost took care of the bird until Prudle died in 1994．Prudle was 35 years old.

　　A different kind of bird,not a parrot,named Puck was tested in 1993．It turned out that Puck knew more English words than Prudle knew. Puck knew more than 1700 words.

　　If a bird can do it,anybody can do it.

　　1．What kind of birds usually speak the best?

　　A．African gray parrots.

　　B．The Aviary Bird Show.

　　C．Uganda.

　　D．English parrots.

　　2．What is Prudle?

　　A．A bird.

　　B．A cage.

　　C．A contest.

　　D．A prize.

　　3．How many years did Prudle win the speaking contest for birds?

　　A．1965.

　　B．55.

　　C．12.

　　D．800．

　　4．Why was Puck better than Prudle?

　　A．He died.

　　B．He knew more words.

　　C．He spoke fast.

　　D．He was bigger.

　　5．Who was Iris Frost?

　　A．A parrot.

　　B．An English teacher.

　　C．Prudle’s owner.

　　D．Puck’s owner.

You never see him, but they're with you every time you fly. They record where you are going, how fast you're traveling and whether everything on your airplane is functioning normally. Their ability to endure almost any disaster makes them seem like something out of a comic book. They're known as the black box.
　When planes fall from the sky, as a Yemeni airliner did on its way to Comoros Islands in the India ocean on June 30, 2009, the black box is the best bet for identifying what went wrong. So when a French submarine (潜水艇) detected the box's homing signal five days later, the discovery marked a huge step toward determining the cause of a tragedy in which 152 passengers were killed.
　In 1958, Australian scientist David Warren developed a flight-memory recorder that would track basic information like altitude and direction. That was the first mode for a black box, which became a requirement on all U.S. commercial flights by 1960. Early models often failed to withstand crashes, however, so in 1965 the box was completely redesigned and moved to the rear of the plane – the area least subject to impact – from its original position in the landing wells (起落架舱). The same year, the Federal Aviation Authority required that the boxes, which were never actually black, be painted orange or yellow to aid visibility.
　Modern airplanes have two black boxes: a voice recorder, which tracks pilots' conversations, and a flight-data recorder, which monitors fuel levels, engine noises and other operating functions that help investigators reconstruct the aircraft's final moments. Placed in an insulated (隔绝的) case and surrounded by a quarter-inch-thick panels of stainless steel, the boxes can stand massive force and temperatures up to 2,000℉. When submerged, they're also able to emit signals from depths of 20,000 ft. Experts believe the boxes from Air France Flight 447, which crashed near Brazil on June 1,2009, are in water nearly that deep, but statistics say they're still likely to turn up. In the approximately 20 deep-sea crashes over the past 30 years, only one plane's black boxes were never recovered

1. 1.

   What does the author say about the black box?

   1. A.
      It is an indispensable device on an airplane.　
   2. B.
      The idea for its design comes from a comic book
   3. C.
      Its ability to avoid disasters is incredible
   4. D.
      It ensures the normal functioning of an airplane
2. 2.

   What does the underlined word in the 3^rd paragraph mean?　

   1. A.
      witness
   2. B.
      experience
   3. C.
      resist　
   4. D.
      ensure
3. 3.

   Why was the black box redesigned in 1965?

   1. A.
      New materials became available by that time
   2. B.
      Too much space was needed for its installation
   3. C.
      The early models didn't provide the needed data
   4. D.
      The early models often got damaged in the crash
4. 4.

   What do we know about the black boxes from Air France Flight 447?

   1. A.
      There is an urgent need for them to be reconstructed
   2. B.
      There is still a good chance of their being recovered.　
   3. C.
      They have stopped sending homing signals
   4. D.
      They were destroyed somewhere near Brazil

________ electricity plays such an important part in our daily life?

[　　]