Everyone would like to be a millionaire , a person with a lot of money, but can you imagine having over $30 million and only being 20 years old? Britney Spears from Kentwood, a small town in Louisiana, is only 20 years old. She is a world famous film star with not only $30 million but also a $2 million house in LA. At her young age, she can look after her family financially (经济上) all her life. This year is a big year for Britney. She is now on a 31-day tour of the US and every concert is a sell-out. That means she plays in front of a crowd of around 18,000 people every time. It’s a tiring schedule but brings her a lot. When touring, she goes to bed around 1 a.m. and then has a lie-in until 1 p.m. the next day. Her philosophy (人生观) is to take care of the body and relax but always make sure you work hard and have fun.

Spears is not pleased with only touring and selling nearly 40 million records so she decided to step into the movie business and try a bit of acting. She made an appearance in “Austin Power 3” this year and she is filming a teenage light play that will come out in March 2003. In this movie, she has a starring role.

For Britney, acting is another way to express herself and she is enthusiastic (热心的) about it all. If her movies are successful, her money in the bank is sure to grow by another few million dollars but she does it for the love, not the money, as she herself tells the reporters .

1. We can infer (推断) from the text that most millionaires are __________.

2. The underlined word “you” in the first paragraph refers to __________.

3. Which of the following is not true according to the text?

4.According to Britney Spears, she works __________.

Traffic jam and cities, it seems, go hand in hand. Everyone complains about being stuck in traffic; but, like the weather, no one seems to do anything about it. In particular, traffic engineers, transportation planners, and public officials responsible for transportation systems in large cities are frequently criticized for failing to solve traffic jam.
But is traffic jam a sign of failure? Long queues at restaurants or theater box offices are seen as signs of success. Should transportation systems be viewed any differently? I think we should recognize that traffic jam is an unpreventable by-product of successful cities, and view the “traffic problem” in a different light.
Cities exist because they promote social interactions and economic transactions.
Traffic jam occurs where there are lots of people but limited spaces. Culturally and economically successful cities have the worst traffic problems, while decaying cities don’t have much traffic. New York and Los Angeles are America’s most crowded cities. But if you want access to major brokerage houses (经纪行), you will find them easier to reach in crowded New York than in any other large cities. And if your firm needs access to post-production film editors or satellite-guidance engineers, you will reach them more quickly through the crowded freeways of LA than through less crowded roads elsewhere.
Despite traffic jam, a larger number and wider variety of social interactions and economic transactions can be made perfect in large, crowded cities than elsewhere. Seen in this light, traffic jam is an unfortunate consequence of prosperity, not a cause of economic decline and urban decay.
So while we can consider traffic jam as increasing costs on the areas of big cities, the costs of inaccessibility (交通不便) in uncrowded places are almost certainly greater.
There is no doubt that traffic jam brings the terrible economic and environmental damage in places like Bangkok, Jakarta, and Lagos. But mobility is far higher and traffic jam levels are far lower here in the US, even in our most crowded cities. That’s why, for now, we don’t see people and capital streaming out of San Francisco and Chicago, heading for cities like California, and Illinois.
53. We can conclude from the first paragraph that____.
A. traffic jam and weather are the two factors preventing the development of the big city
B. traffic jam seems to be very difficult to deal with
C. if traffic engineers try their best, traffic jam can be solved
D. public officials are always criticized for misusing their power
54. According to the passage, what’s the author’s opinion towards traffic jam?
A. In cities, traffic jam is unavoidable.
B. Traffic jam is both a sign of failure and a sign of success.
C. Traffic jam is the consequence of successful cities.
D. For a successful city, traffic jam is not unpreventable.
55. By saying “decaying” (in Para. 4), the writer probably means____.
A. declining                               B. developing
C. rich and successful                    D. strong and healthy
56. According to this article, which statement about “New York” and “Los Angeles” is true?
A. The traffic jam in the two cities has been worsened.
B. New York and Los Angeles are the least successful cities in the USA.
C. It is easier to reach major brokerage houses in the two cities than in other cities.
D. Despite the traffic jam in LA, you’ll find a satellite-guidance engineer more quickly there.

ROME: The legend of Leonardo da Vinci is covered in mystery: How did he die?Are the remains buried in a French castle really those of the master? Was the "Mona Lisa" a self-portrait in disguise (伪装)?

A group of Italian scientists believe the key to solving those puzzles lies with the remains, and they say they are seeking permission to dig up the body to conduct carbon and DNA testing.

If the skull is undamaged, the scientists can go to the heart of a question that has fascinated scholars and the public for centuries: the identity of the "Mona Lisa." Recreating a virtual and then physical reconstruction of Leonardo's face, they can compare it with the smiling face in the painting.

"We don't know what we'll find if the tomb is opened. We could even just find grains and dust," says Giorgio Gruppioni, an anthropologist who is participating in the project. "But if the remains are well kept, they are a biological record of events in a person's life, and sometimes in their death." Silvano Vinceti, the leader of the group, said that he plans to press his case with the French officials in charge of the said burial site at Amboise Castle early next week.

Leonardo moved to France at the invitation of King Francis I, who named him "first painter to the king." He spent the last three years of his life there, and died in 1519 at age 67. The artist's original burial place, the palace church of Saint Florentine, was destroyed during the French Revolution and remains that are believed to be his were eventually reburied in the Saint-Hubert Chapel near the castle.

"The Amboise tomb is a symbolic tomb; it's a big question mark," said Alessandro Vezzosi, the director of a museum dedicated to Leonardo in his hometown of Vinci. Vezzosi said that investigating the tomb could help identify the artist's bones with certainty and solve other questions, such as the cause of his death. He said he asked to open the tomb in 2004 to study the remains, but the Amboise Castle turned him down.

The group of 100 experts involved in the project, called the National Committee for Historical and Artistic Heritage, was created in 2003 with the aim of "solving the great mysteries of the past," said Vinceti, who has written books on art and literature.

Arguably the world's most famous painting, the "Mona Lisa" hangs in the Louvre in Paris, where it drew some 8.5 million visitors last year. Mystery has surrounded the identity of the painting's subject for centuries, with opinions ranging from the wife of a Florentine merchant to Leonardo's own mother.

That Leonardo intended the "Mona Lisa" as a self-portrait in disguise is a possibility that has interested and divided scholars. Theories have existed: Some think that Leonardo's taste for tricks and riddles might have led him to hide his own identity behind that puzzling smile; others have guessed that the painting hid an androgynous lover.

If granted access to the grave site, the Italian experts plan to use a tiny camera and radar to confirm the presence of bones. The scientists would then exhume (挖掘) the remains and attempt to date the bones with carbon testing.

At the heart of the proposed study is the effort to discover whether the remains are actually Leonardo's, including with DNA testing.

Vezzosi questions the DNA comparison, saying he is unaware of any direct descendants (后代) of Leonardo or of tombs that could be attributed with certainty to the artist's close relatives.

Gruppioni said that DNA from the bones could also eventually be compared to DNA found elsewhere. For example, Leonardo is thought to have rubbed colors on the canvas with his thumb, possibly using saliva (唾液), meaning DNA might be found on his paintings.

Even in the absence of DNA testing, other tests could provide useful information, including whether the bones belonged to a man or a woman, and whether the person died young or old.

Even within the committee, experts are divided over the identity of the "Mona Lisa."

Vinceti believes that a tradition of considering the self-portrait to be not just a faithful imitation of one's features but a representation of one's spiritual identity may have resonated (共鸣) with Leonardo.

Vezzosi, the museum director, dismissed as "baseless and senseless" the idea that the "Mona Lisa" could be a self-portrait of Leonardo. He said most researchers believe the woman may have been either a wife of the artist's sponsor, the Florentine nobleman Giuliano de Medici, or Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a rich silk merchant, Francesco del Giocondo. The traditional view is that the name "Mona Lisa" comes from the silk merchant's wife, as well as its Italian name: "La Gioconda."  

1.   Where is this passage most probably taken from?

2.   Why does the author ask a couple of questions in the beginning?

3.   The best title of this story might be “_____”.

4.The sentence “he plans to press his case with the French officials” (underlined in Paragraph 4) suggests that Vinceti intends to _____.

5.   Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

6.   We can infer from the last two paragraphs that _____?

400-year-old plants from the Little Ice Age were brought back to life, which could help us understand how the Earth will deal with climate change.

Moss(藓类植物) found buried beneath the Teardrop glacier(冰川) on Ellesmere Island in Canada has been brought back to life. Findings suggest that these plants could help repopulate regions exposed by melting ice caps. Plants that were buried beneath thick ice in Canada more than 400 years ago and were thought to have frozen to death have been brought back to life by Canadian scientists.

Samples of the moss plant, covered by the glacier during the Little Ice Age of 1550 to 1850 AD, were replanted in a lab at the University of Alberta and grew new stems(茎). Researchers now think these findings can give indication as to how regions can recover as the ice covering them melts.

Biologist Dr. Catherine La Farge and her team at the University of Alberta were exploring the region around the Teardrop glacier on Ellesmere Island. Ice on Ellesmere Island region has been melting at around four meters each year for the past nine years. This means that many areas of land that were previously covered by ice have since been exposed. Many ecosystems that were thought to have been destroyed during the Little Ice Age between 1550 and 1850 AD can now be studied, including many species that have never been studied before.

While examining an exposed area of land, La Farge and her team discovered a small area of moss called Aulacomnium turgidum. It is a type of bryophyte(苔藓类植物) plant that mainly grows across Canada, the US and the Highlands of Scotland.

Dr La Farge noticed that the moss had small patches of green stems, suggesting it is either growing again or can be encouraged to repopulate. Dr La Farge told the BBC, “When we looked at the samples in detail and brought them to the lab, I could see some of the stems actually had new growth of green branches, suggesting that these plants are growing again, and that blew my mind. When we think of thick areas of ice covering the landscape, we’ve always thought that plants have to come from refugia(濒绝生物保护区), never considering that land plants come from underneath a glacier. It’s a whole world of what’s coming out from underneath the glacier that really needs to be studied. The ice is disappearing pretty fast. We really have not examined all the biological systems that exist in the world; we don’t know it all.”

Dr La Farge took samples of the moss and, using carbon-dating techniques, discovered that the plants date back to the Little Ice Age. Dr La Farge’s team took the samples, planted them in dishes full of nutrient-rich potting soil and fed them with water.

The samples were from four separate species including Aulacomnium turgidum, Distichium capillaceum, Encalypta procera and Syntrichia ruralis. The moss plants found by Dr La Farge are types of bryophytes. Bryophytes can survive long winters and regrow when the weather gets warmer.

However, Dr La Farge was surprised that the plants buried under ice have survived into the twenty-first century. Her findings appear in proceedings（论文集）of the National Academy of Sciences.

1.Dr La Farge’s research is of great importance to ________.

A. knowing what the plants during the Little Ice Age were like

B. understanding how ecosystems recover from glaciers.

C. regrowing many species that have been destroyed before.

D. figuring out the effects of melting ice caps on moss.

2.The underlined part “blew my mind” in Paragraph 6 can best be replaced by “________”.

A. surprised me                   B. greatly frightened me

C. put my doubt out of my mind    D. was exactly what I had in my mind

3.According to the passage, Aulacomnium turgidum ________.

A. lives better in small groups              

B. is very active in hot weather

C. is strong enough to survive coldness

D. is chosen from Canadian refugia

4.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A. Bryophyte ecology is greatly affected by climate change.

B. 400-year-old moss’s survival is a mystery to solve.

C. Moss in ancient times was discovered in Canada.

D. 400-year-old plants were brought back to life.

An epic^① love story, set against the sweeping landscapes of Wyoming and Texas, that tells the story of two young men — a ranch-hand and a rodeo cowboy — who meet in the summer of 1963 while driving cattle on a mountain range. They unexpectedly develop a lifelong connection, one whose complications^②, joys and tragedies provide a testament to the endurance and power of love.

Notes:

epic  adj. 英雄的

complication  n. 复杂化

According to the passage, Brokeback Mountain is mainly about ______.

A. language study      B. love     C. violence     D. funny story

The film Brokeback Mountain is mainly from short story by ______.

A. Ang Lee     B. Michelle Williams      C. Diana Ossana     D. E. Annie Proulx

According to the passage, the natural sights in Brokeback Mountain was filmed in ______.

A. America     B. Canada      C. China     D. Mexico

If you live in New York on Jan. 25, you’d better enjoy the film in ______.

A. Loews Dupont Circle 5           B. Pacific’s The Grove Stadium 14

C. Embarcadero                   D. BAM Rose Cinemas