单选题The Westlife story really began way back in December 1996 when the three original members of Westlife were performing in a local production of the musical Grease. Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehilly were all born and bred in Sligo, a small town a few hours west of the Republic of Ireland's capital city, Dublin. During breaks the three would get together and sing covers of some of their favorite songs including Boyz II Men's I Make Love To You. The reaction to their singing was so positive that they decided to form a band as soon as they had finished their exams at school. This they duly did and on July 3 1997 they formed I.O.U. The boys organized concerts in the area and even produced their own CDs to sell locally. This local success led to an appearance on TV that was to prove extremely important. Among the viewers who saw the trio perform in a children's hospital was Boyzone's manager, Louis Walsh. Soon after Shane's mother contacted him about I.O.U. and found he had been desperately trying to get in contact with them. Louis Walsh decided to hold auditions to recruit two new members in June of 1998. This is when Nicky Byrne and Bryan McFadden, two Dublin boys and friends entered the picture. A quick name change and Westside was born. Yes, WESTSIDE. This was to be the quintet's name until they discovered another band already using the name and a final change to Westlife was called for. The final link in the chain was Ronan Keating, Boyzone's lead singer, who at Louis Walsh's request joined him to help and nurtured this raw talent. His experience proved an invaluable help. The next step was to secure a record deal. The band organized a showcase in Dublin and soon representatives of every major record label were offering the bewildered boys contracts. In October 1998 Westlife signed to RCA, a label that had a proven track record with the successful marketing of both Take That and Five. Barely had the ink on the contract dried when they headed out on tour as part of the Smash Hits Show, which led to them winning the Best New Tom" Act in December 1998 (this was an award Boyzone themselves had won in 1994 which seemed like a pretty good omen). Styled by Kenny Ho, who was responsible for The Spice Girls image, Westlife's first single Swear It Again was released in March 1999. In their native Ireland it went straight to number one and became the biggest selling debut single in the history of the Irish charts. A month later Swear It Again repeated the feat in the UK, staying at number one for two weeks and following on from Boyzone's dominance of the UK top spot. This success was soon matched all around Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. They look set to repeat their success now in the USA. A tour throughout the States has meant Swear It Again is rapidly climbing the Billboard charts. This is the good news the boys needed as Bryan McFadden recently suffered nervous exhaustion and had to miss some shows while recuperating back in Ireland with his family. Not only that but Ronan Keating's solo plans have forced him to give up his co- managing duties due to lack of time. More good news, though, is they have recently recorded with Mariah Carey and are due to begin work on their second alburn.

单选题A series of border incidents would ______ lead the two countries to war. A. inevitably B. consistently C. uniformly D. persistently

单选题Which statement is NOT true about the combined entity?

单选题From the testimony emerges a man ______ devious and honest, vulgar and gallant, scatterbrained and shrewd. A. by turn B. by turn C. in turn D. in turns

单选题He is totally________to other people's attitudes.

单选题The conquerors tried to ______ the very name of the people's national hero from their memories.[A] raze[B] ruin[C] demolish[D] wreck

单选题He did write a wonderful book, but it was just a ______ in the pan. A. flare B. gleam C. flash D. glisten

单选题 Questions 28 and 29 are based on the following news. At the end of the news item, you will be given 10 seconds to answer the questions. Now, listen to the news.

单选题 It is customary for adults to forget how hard and dull and long school is. The learning by memory of all the basic things one must know is most incredible and unending effort. Learning to read is probably the most difficult and revolutionary thing that happens to the human brain and if you don't believe that, watch an illiterate adult try to do it. School is not easy and it is not for the most part very much fun, but then, if you are very lucky, you may find a real teacher. Three real teachers in a lifetime are the very best of my luck. My first was a science and math teacher in high school, my second, a professor of creative writing at Stanford, and my third was my friend and partner, Ed Rickets. I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. It might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit. My three teachers had these things in common: They all loved what they were doing. They did not tell. They catalyzed (催化，刺激) a burning desire to know. Under their influence, the horizon sprung wide and fear went away and the unknown became knowable. But most important of all, the truth, that dangerous stuff, became beautiful and very precious. I shall only speak of my first teacher because in addition to the other things, she brought discovery. She aroused us to shouting, book-waving discussion. She had the noisiest class in school and she didn't even seem to know it. We could never stick to the subject. Our speculation ranged the world. She breathed curiosity into us so that we brought in facts or truths shielded in our hands like captured fireflies. She was fired and perhaps rightly so, for failing to teach fundamentals. Such things must be learned. But she left a passion in us for the pure knowable world and she in flamed me with a curiosity which has never left. I could not do simple arithmetic but through her I sensed that abstract mathematics was very much like music. When she was relieved, sadness came over us but the light did not go out. She left her signature on us, the literature of the teacher who writes on minds. I have had many teachers who told me soon-forgotten backs but only three who crested in me a new thing, a new attitude and a new hunger. I suppose that to a large extent I am the unsigned manuscript of the high school teacher. What deathless power lies in the hands of such a person? I can tell my son who looks forward with horror to fifteen years of drudgery (繁重而乏味的工作) that somewhere in the dusty dark a magic may happen that will light up the years if he is very lucky.

单选题She ______ half the week's housekeeping money in half an hour.A. squanderedB. salvagedC. manipulatedD. spent

单选题One of the mysteries of nature is animal communication. Creatures of the sea move through their liquid element without any hearable sound. Yet they are able to sense the silent passing or attack of others of their kind. This is because bodies moving in water create a pressure wave, something like a gust of wind produced by a passing automobile. A narrow sensor system running along each side of the shark, from eye to tail, receives and interprets these pressure waves. I have seen sharks appear swiftly, obviously drawn by the motion of a driver's hands, which had sent out strong waves. One night think it impossible to distinguish odors in water. Yet sharks, surprisingly, are able to follow a scent across miles of ocean and arrive at its exact source. A diver who spears a fish and attaches its bloody body to his belt, and then goes on with the hunt, becomes a natural prey to the shark. I have seen sharks follow a scent exactly like the dogs of a hunting pack. It is no wonder that the Greeks gave them the name "hounds of the sea." One of the most widely believed and dangerous legends about the shark is that he has poor eyesight. On the contrary, the shark is well equipped to see at a distance and to distinguish among forms. This fact was proved to me one day when I went into the water off the coast of Africa. I sighted a shark at some distance from me as ! was floating at a very shallow depth. Since ! was making no movement, the sound of bubbles from my diving apparatus would be confused with the light splashing of the water on a rock. I turned my eyes away for a few seconds, to study the design of a giant ray just beneath me. I am not sure now whether it was simple instinct or a feeling of movement, but I turned back abruptly toward the location of the shark. And, immediately, every muscle of my body tensed. He was no more than 30 feet away, launched toward me as hard and swift as a missile. The sight of a shark coming at you head on is strange. Obviously it is from this angle that he seems most frightening—the very symbol of evil, with the half-opened mouth and the three regularly spaced fin. When the shark had approached to within two feet of the rubber fins I had thrown at him as a gesture of self-defense, he turned suddenly and swam back toward the depths. There had been no sound, no scent. It appears certain that sight alone was responsible for this approach.

单选题{{I}} Questions 11 to 13 are based on the following passage. At the end of the passage, you will be given 15 seconds to answer the questions. Now, listen to the passage.{{/I}}

单选题The US military says the joint military action is aimed to _______.

单选题The decline of Rome ______ the disappearance of classical drama. A. restrained B. withheld C. restored D. witnessed

单选题Though steam engines have now passed the _________ of their usefulness, their heritage remains.

单选题He is a brilliant scholar and is everywhere recognized ______.