①Isaac Stern was more than a great violin player. He was one of the most honored musicians in the world. He was an international cultural ambassador. He was a major supporter of the arts in America and in other countries. He was a teacher and activist.

②Issac Stern was born in 1920 in what is now Ukraine. His parents moved to San Francisco, California the following year. His mother began teaching Isaac the piano when he was six. He began taking violin lessons after hearing a friend play the instrument. Later, he began studying music at the San Francisco Conservatory (音乐学院). He progressed quickly. When he was 16, he played with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. The next year, he performed in New York City and was praised by music critics.

③During World War II, Mr Stern played for thousands of American soldiers. It was the first time many of them had heard classical music. After the war, he was the first American violinist to perform in a concert in the Soviet Union. He also supported young musicians and cultural organizations in Israel.

④In 1979, Isaac Stern visited China. He met with Chinese musicians and students. He taught them about classical Western music. His visit was made into a film, which is called From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China. It won an Academy Award for best documentary film.

⑤In 1984, Isaac Stern received the Kennedy Center Honors Award for his gifts to American culture through music. He expressed his thoughts about the part that music plays in life. He said he believed that music makes life better for everyone, especially children.

⑥Mr Stern supported and guided younger classical musicians. They include violinists Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and pianist Yefim Bronfman.

⑦Isaac Stern died in 2001 at eh age of 81. He was a major influence on music in the 20th century. He leaves the world richer with his many recordings.

1. Which of the following is the RIGHT time order for these events in Stern’s life?

a. He began learning music in an institution.

b. He received the Kennedy Center Honors Award.

c. He visited the Soviet Union.

d. He met with Chinese musicians.

e. He performed for American soldiers.

A. a,e,c,d,b     B. a,e,b,c,d     C. e,a,b,c,d     D. e,a,c,d,b

2. Paragraph 2 is mainly about ______.

A. how Stern began to learn music   B. how Stern began his musical career

C. Stern’s early education          D. Stern’s achievement in music

3. Which of the following statements about Stern is TRUE?

A. He was an activist in opposing war.

B. He was active in cultural exchanges between countries.

C. He had an interest in both playing music and making films.

D. He made a lot of money from music.

4. The Underlined word “cellist” in Paragraph 6 may refer to ________.

A. someone who supports young musicians

B. someone who wants to be a musician

C. someone who has a gift for music

D. someone who plays a certain kind of instrument

5. Which of the following shows the RIGHT structure of the text?

A.       ①                              B.       ①

↓                                         ↓

②③④⑤                                ②③④⑤⑥

↓                                         ↓

⑥⑦                                      ⑦

C. ①②③④⑤⑥                            D.    ①②③

↓                                           ↓

⑦                                      ④⑤⑥⑦

Susan Sontag (1933-2004) was one of the most noticeable figures in the world of literature. For more than 40 years she made it morally necessary to know everything － to read every book worth reading, to see every movie worth seeing. When she was still in her early 30s, publishing essays in such important magazines as Partisan Review, she appeared as the symbol of American cultural life, trying hard to follow every new development in literature, film and art. With great effort and serious judgment, Sontag walked at the latest edges of world culture.

Seriousness was one of Sontag’s lifelong watchwords (格言), but at a time when the barriers between the well-educated and the poor-educated were obvious, she argued for a true openness to the pleasure of pop culture. In “Notes on Camp”, the 1964 essay that first made her name, she explained what was then a little-known set of difficult understandings, through which she could not have been more famous. “Notes on Camp”, she wrote, represents “a victory of ‘form’ over ‘content’, ‘beauty’ over ‘morals’”.

By conviction (信念) she was a sensualist (感觉论者), but by nature she was a moralist (伦理学者), and in the works she published in the 1970s and 1980s, it was the latter side of her that came forward. In Illness as Metaphor － published in 1978, after she suffered cancer － she argued against the idea that caner was somehow a special problem of repressed personalities (被压抑的个性), a concept that effectively blamed the victim for the disease. In fact, re-examining old positions was her lifelong habit.

In America, her story of a 19th century Polish actress who set up a perfect society in California, won the National Book Award in 2000. But it was as a tireless, all-purpose cultural view that she made her lasting fame. “Sometimes,” she once said, “I feel that, in the end, all I am really defending … Is the idea of seriousness, of true seriousness.” And in the end, she made us take it seriously too.

1.The underlined sentence in Paragraph 1 means Sontag __________.

A. was a symbol of American cultural life

B. developed world literature, film and art

C. published many essays about world culture

D. kept pace with the newest development of world culture

2.She first won her name through __________.

A. her story of a Polish actress

B. her book Illness as metaphor

C. publishing essays in magazines like Partisan Review

D. her explanation of a set of difficult understandings

3.According to the passage, Susan Sontag __________.

A. was a sensualist as well as a moralist

B. looked down upon the pop culture

C. thought content was more important than form

D. blamed the victim of cancer for being repressed

4.As for Susan Sontag’s lifelong habit, she __________.

A. misunderstood the idea of seriousness

B. re-examined old positions

C. argued for an openness to pop culture

D. preferred morals to beauty

5.Susan Sontag’s lasting fame was made upon __________.

A. a tireless, all-purpose cultural view

B. her lifelong watchword: seriousness

C. publishing books on morals

D. enjoying books worth reading and movies worth seeing

Grant Wood’s American Gothic caused a stir （轰动）in 1930 when it was exhibited for the first time at the Art Institute of Chicago and awarded a prize of 300 dollars. Newspapers across the country carried the story, and the painting of a farmer and a younger woman posed before a white house brought the artist instant fame.

????????????? In 1930, Grant Wood, an American painter with European training, noticed a small white house built in the small southern Iowa town of Eldon. Wood was so fascinated by it that he decided to paint the house along with the kind of people he thought should live in that house. In the painting, the farmer is modeled on his dentist. Dr. Byron McKeeby. His younger sister Nan served as a model for the woman （imagined to be the farmer’s wife or daughter）. Wood wanted to give a description of the traditional roles of men and women as the man is holding a pitchfork symbolizing hard labor. Each element was painted separately; the models sat separately and never stood in front of the house. The Gothic style of the house inspired the painting’s title.

????????????? American Gothic remains one of the most famous paintings in the history of American art. The painting has become part of American popular culture. Some believe that Wood used it to satirize（讽刺） the narrow-mindedness that has been said to characterize Midwestern culture. The painting may also be read as a praise of the moral virtue or rural America or even as a mixture of praise and satire. American Gothic is one of the few images to reach the status of cultural symbol, along with Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

1.Which of the following is true about American Gothic?

A．It won a prize of ￡ 300.

B．The two characters in it posed before the White House.

C．It was the first painting by Grant Wood.

D．It was on show at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1930.

2.From the passage we can infer Iowa is in __________.

A．the southern town of Eldon???? ????????????? B．the Midwest of the United States

C．a European country?????????? D．the city of Chicago

3.Grant Wood chose the two models __________.

A．to describe traditional roles of men and women

B．to praise the moral virtue of rural America

C．to make his dentist and his sister famous

D．to carry the story across the country

4.The title of the painting is based on __________.

A．the name of a small town?? ????????????? B．the man and the woman

C．the Gothic style of the house???? D．the pitchfork symbolizing hard labor

BEIJING,Oct.14(Xinhua)——A total of 120 middle school students from 35 countries will attend the final of an international China language contest,to be held in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality from Oct.16 to 30.

The candidates,aged from 15 to 20,must be from foreign countries and not native Chinese speakers,said a statement issued by the Chinese language Council (CLC),the contest’s organizer,here Thursday.

All of the candidates have passed the preliminary contests(初赛)held in their own countries.

According to the organizer,the competition will have a top prize,five second prizes,10 third prizes and a dozen prizes for special talents.The organizer will also launch an online vote for“the most liked candidate.”

It was the third year China has held the contest.

“The competition not only tests the proficiency of Chinese language but also the candidates capability to communicate across different cultures.”the statement said.

All the candidates in the final will receive scholarships from the Chinese goverment.said Hu Hangyu,an official with the Education Bureau of the Chonqing Municipality,jointly organizing the contest.

They will also meet local Chinese students and live with Chinese families,Hu said.

“The competition is to meet the increasing demand for Chicese learning by foreign youngsters.”said Xu Lin.the CLC director.

The CLC has also hosted similar contest for foreign college students since 2002.

China has been working to promote Chinese language learning abroad over the past few years.According to the CLC,the.country had 282 Confucius Institutes and 272“Confucius Classrooms”in 88 countries and regions as of 2009 since the first one was established in 2004.

The text is intended to        .

A.show the popularity of Chinese language learning in the world

B.introduce an international Chinese language learning test system

C.make readers aware of the importance of Chinese language learning

D.report an international Chinese language contest to be held

The candidates must be        .

A.foreign college students                  B.non—native middle school students

C.native Chinese students                   D.students from Confucius Institutes

According to the text,the competition is        .

A.organized by the Chongqing Municipality government

B.mainly to test the candidates’Chinese language competence

C.held every three years in Chongqing Municipality

D.to provide foreign students with a chance to know China

What has China been doing to promote Chinese language learning abroad according to the text?

A.Thousands of Chinese teacher are sent abroad to teach the language.

B.282 Confucius Institutes are established in China to teach Chinese.

C.The Chinese language contests for foreign students are regularly held.

D.Many Chinese students are sent abroad for culture exchanges every year.

In which part of the newspaper is the text most likely to be found?

A.Education            B.Advertisement     C.Business        D.Entertainment

When our son, Alex, was young, he hated to travel. We endured refusals to visit one more museum, even if it was the Louvre. We coped with a child who resisted even a taste of onion soup in Paris and who insisted he would like nothing more than ordering room service at the hotel and watching TV.
Over the years, we have come up with several hard-earned but realistic strategies to help kids cope on long-distance trips.
First, we recognize that some children have trouble adjusting to new environments, food, time zones and schedules. So, in advance of a trip to England, we gave our son a taste of the new culture by making shepherd’s pie for supper. He loved the mashed potatoes, chopped meat and brown gravy（肉汁）. For Italy, we sampled homemade pesto（香蒜沙司） served over linguine（扁面条）. For Amsterdam, I cooked up a pot of comforting pea soup and baked a delicious apple pancake called pannekoeken. Then, when we traveled to these places, he ate these foods and they seemed like a taste of home.
In addition to food, we always sample the culture beforehand by reading books and renting movies from the countries we will be visiting. For Italy, the book Italian Folktales by Italo Calvino and the films Johnny Stecchino, Cinema Paradiso, and Il Postino gave our son a glimpse of the Italian way of life. For Britain, we rented Mr. Bean and Billy Elliot, and enjoyed stories by J.R.R. Tolkien and E. Nesbit. For Amsterdam, he finished The Diary of Anne Frank.
Before we leave home, we also ask Alex to go through our tour books and pick out activities that appeal to him. He was excited about visiting the London Dungeon and the Imperial War Museum, and taking a ride in the London Eye. They turned out to be big hits. Because Alex’s preferences were given equal attention, he was more tolerant of his parents’ selections, such as visiting Charters Cathedral and the Van Gogh Museum.
We’ve also learned the hard way that dragging our son out of bed early in the morning ,thus making him grumpy all day. Now that he is a teenager, we let him sleep in while we sip coffee at a café, work out at the hotel gym, or take a long walk. This makes our time together much more enjoyable
59．According to the writer, parents are advised to _______.
A. cook children’s favorite food           
B. postpone traveling until the kids are in college
C. allow their kids a ride in the London Eye
D. take children’s interest and preferences into account
60．Cinema Paradiso and Il Postino are mentioned as _______.
A. particular desires of children       B. an approach to interest the future possible visit
C. highly appreciated films for tourists  D. comfortable activities children could pick out
61．The underlined word “grumpy” in the last paragraph is similar in meaning to _______.
A. bad-tempered        B. tolerant           C. energetic           D. nervous
62．Which of the following might serve as a possible title for this passage?
A. Kids and Parents.                         B. Joys of Traveling.
C. Whether You Go or Not.                  D. How to motivate Kids to travel