阅读理解I live in the land of Disney, Hollywood and

阅读理解Reading Passage 1Questionsare based on the following readingpassage.A.From the beginning of the 20th century, people abroadhave been uncomfortable with the global impact of Americanculture. More recently, globalization has been the mainenemy for academics, journalists, and political activistswho loathe what they see as the trend toward culturaluniformity. Still, they usually regard global culture andAmerican culture as synonymous. And they continue toinsist that Hollywood, McDonald’ s and Disneyland areeradicating regional and local eccentricities.B. Despite those allegations, the cultural relationshipbetween the United States, and the rest of the world overthe past l00 years has never been one-sided. On thecontrary, the United States was, and continues to be, asmuch a consumer of foreign intellectual and artisticinfluences as it has been a shaper of the world’ sentertainment and tastes.Section AC. In fact, as a nation of immigrants from the 19th to21st century, the United States has been a recipient asmuch as an exporter of global culture. Indeed, theinfluence of immigrants on the United States explains whyits culture has been so popular for so long in so manyplaces. American culture has spread throughout the worldbecause it has incorporated foreign styles and ideas. WhatAmericans have done more brilliantly than theircompetitors overseas is repackage the cultural products wereceive from abroad and then retransmit them to the restof the planet. That is why a global mass culture has cometo be identified, however simplistically, with the UnitedStates.D. Americans, after all, did not invent fast food,amusement parks, or the movies. Before the Big Mac, therewere fish and chips. Before Disneyland, there wasCopenhagen’ s Tivoli Gardens (which Walt Disney used as aprototype for his first theme park in Anaheim, Californiaa model later re-exported to Tokyo and Paris) . And in thefirst two decades of the 20th century the two largestexporters of movies around the world were France andItaly.Section BE. So, the origins of today’ s international entertainmentcannot be traced only to P. T. Barnum’ s circuses orBuffalo Bill’ s Wild West Show. The roots of the newglobal culture lie as well in the European modernistassault, in the early 20th century, on 19th-centuryliterature, music, painting, and architecture—particularly in the modernist refusal to honor thetraditional boundaries between high and low culture.Modernism in the arts was improvisational, eclectic, andirreverent. Those traits have also been characteristic ofAmerican popular culture.F. The artists of the early 20th century also challengedthe notion that culture was a means of intellectual ormoral improvement. They did so by emphasizing style andcraftsmanship at the expense of philosophy, religion, orideology. They deliberately called attention to languagein their novels, to optics in their paintings, to thematerials in and function of their architecture, to thestructure of music instead of its melodies.G. Although modernism was mainly a European affair, itinadvertently accelerated the growth of mass culture inthe U. S. Surrealism, with its dreamlike associations,easily lent itself to the wordplay and psychologicalsymbolism of advertising, cartoons, and theme parks.Dadaism ridiculed the snobbery of elite culturalinstitutions and reinforced an already-existing appetite(especially among the immigrant audiences in the UnitedStates) for “low-class, ” disreputable nickelodeons andvaudeville shows. Stravinsky’ s experiments withunorthodox, atonal music validated the rhythmicinnovations of American jazz. Modernism provided thefoundations for a genuinely new culture. But the newculture turned out to be neither modernist nor European.Instead, American artists transformed an avant-gardeProject into a global phenomenon.Section CH. It is in popular culture that the reciprocalrelationship between America and the rest of the world canbest be seen. There are many reasons for the ascendancy ofAmerican mass culture. Certainly, the ability of American-based media conglomerates to control the production anddistribution of their products has been a major stimulusfor the worldwide spread of American entertainment. Butthe power of American capitalism is not the only, or eventhe most important, explanation for the global popularityof America’ s movies and television shows.I. The effectiveness of English as a language of masscommunications has been essential to the acceptance ofAmerican culture: Unlike German, Russian, or Chinese, thesimpler structure and grammar of English, along with itstendency to use shorter, less abstract words and moreconcise sentences, are all advantageous for the composersof song lyrics, ad slogans, cartoon captions, newspaperheadlines, and movie and TV dialogue. English is thus alanguage exceptionally well suited to the demands andspread of American mass culture.J. Another factor is the international complexion of theAmerican audience. The heterogeneity of America’ spopulation—its regional, ethnic, religious, and racialdiversity—forced the media, from the early years of the20th century, to experiment with messages, images, andstory lines that had a broad multicultural appeal. TheHollywood studios, mass-circulation magazines, and thetelevision networks have had to learn how to speak to avariety of groups and classes at home. This has given themthe techniques to appeal to an equally diverse audienceabroad.K. One important way that the American media havesucceeded in transcending internal social divisions,national borders, and language barriers is by mixing upcultural styles. American musicians and composers havefollowed the example of modernist artists like Picasso andBraque in drawing on elements from high and low culture.Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, and Leonard Bernsteinincorporated folk melodies, religious hymns, blues andgospel songs, and jazz into their symphonies, concertos,operas, and ballets. Indeed, an art form asquintessentially American as jazz evolved during the 20thcentury into an amalgam of African, Caribbean, LatinAmerican, and modernist European music. This blending offorms in America’ s mass culture has enhanced its appealto multiethnic domestic and international audiences bycapturing their different experiences and tastes.Section DL. Finally, American culture has imitated not only themodernists’ visual flamboyance, but also their tendencyto be apolitical and anti-ideological. The refusal tobrowbeat an audience with a social message has accounted,more than any other factor, for the worldwide popularityof American entertainment. American movies, in particular,have customarily focused on human relationships andPrivate feelings, not on the problems of a particular timeand place. They tell tales about romance, intrigue,success, failure, moral conflicts, and survival. The mostmemorable movies of the l930s (with the exception of TheGrapes of Wrath) were comedies and musicals aboutmismatched people falling in love, not socially consciousfilms dealing with issues of poverty and unemployment.Similarly, the finest movies about World War II (likeCasablanca) or the Vietnam War (like The Deer Hunter)linger in the mind long after those conflicts have endedbecause they explore their character’ s most intimateemotions rather than dwelling on headline events.M. Such intensely personal dilemmas are what peopleeverywhere wrestle with. So Europeans, Asians, and LatinAmericans flocked to Titanic, as they once did to GoneWith the Wind, not because those films celebrated Americanvalues, but because people all over the world could seesome part of their own lives reflected in the stories oflove and loss.N. America’ s mass culture has often been crude andintrusive, as its critics have always complained. But,American culture has never felt all that foreign toforeigners. And, at its best, it has transformed what itreceived from others into a culture everyone, everywhere,could embrace —a culture that is both emotionally and, onoccasion, artistically compelling for millions of peoplethroughout the world.O. So, despite the current resurgence of anti-Americanism-not only in the Middle East but in Europe and LatinAmerica-it is important to recognize that America’ s movietelevision shows, and theme parks have been less“imperialistic” than cosmopolitan. In the end, Americanmass culture has not transformed the world into a replicaof the United States. Instead, America’ s dependence onforeign cultures has made the United States a replica ofthe worldQuestionsChoose the correct headings for the four sections A-D fromthe list of headings below. Write the correct number, i-xi, in the parentheses numbered 41—44 on your AnswerSheet.Section A ( )Section B ( )Section C ( )Section D ( )

阅读理解Directions: There are 7 passages in this section. Eachpassage is followed by some questions or unfinishedstatements. For each of them there are four choices markedA, B, C, and D. You should decide on the best choice.Passage 3It is hardly necessary for me to cite all the evidence ofthe depressing state of literacy. These figures from theDepartment of Education are sufficient: 27 millionAmericans cannot read at all, and a further 35 millionread at a level that is less than sufficient to survive inour society.But my own worry today is less that of the overwhelmingproblem of elemental literacy than it is of the slightlymore luxurious problem of the decline in the skill even ofthe middle-class reader, of his unwillingness to affordthose spaces of silence, those luxuries of domesticity andtime and concentration, that surround the image of theclassic act of reading, it has been suggested that almost80 percent of America’ s literate, educated teenagers canno longer read without an accompanying noise (music) inthe background or a television screen flickering at thecorner of their field of perception. We know very littleabout the brain and how it deals with simultaneousconflicting input, but every common-sense intuitionsuggests we should be profoundly alarmed. This violationof concentration, silence, solitude goes to the very heartof our notion of literacy; this new form. of part-reading,of part-perception against background distraction, rendersimpossible certain essential acts of apprehension andconcentration, let alone that most important tribute anyhuman being can pay to a poem or a piece of prose he orshe really loves, which is to learn it by heart. Not bybrain, by heart; the expression is vital.Under these circumstances, the question of what futurethere is for the arts of reading is a real one. Ahead ofus lie technical, psychic, and social transformationsprobably much more dramatic than those brought about byGutenberg, the German inventor in printing. The Gutenbergrevolution, as we now know it, took a long time; itseffects are still being debated. The informationrevolution will touch every fact of composition,publication, distribution, and reading. No one in the bookindustry can say with any confidence what will happen tothe book as we’ ve known it.

阅读理解Many literary detectives have pored over a

阅读理解Passage OneAnother early Native American tribe in what is now the southwestern part of the United States was the Anasazi. By A. D. 800 the Anasazi Indians were constructing multistory pueblos-massive, stone apartment compounds. Each one was virtually a stone town, which is why the Spanish would later call them pueblos, the Spanish word for towns. These pueblos represent one of the Anasazis’ supreme achievements. At least a dozen large stone houses took shape below the bluffs of Chiaco Canyon in northwest New Mexico. They were built with masonry walls more than a meter thick and adjoining apartments to accommodate dozens, even hundreds, of families. The largest, later named Pueblo Bonito (Pretty Town) by the Spanish, rose in five terraced stories, contained more than 800 rooms, and could have housed a population of 1, 000 or more.Besides living quarters, each pueblo included one or more kivas-circular underground chambers faced with stone. They functioned as sanctuaries where the elders met to plan festivals, perform ritual dances, settle pueblo affairs, and impart tribal lore to the younger generation. Some kivas were enormous. Of the 30 or so at pueblo Bonito, two measured 20 meters across. They contained niches for ceremonial objects, a central fire pit and holes in the floor for communicating with the spirits of tribal ancestors.Each pueblo represented an astonishing amount of well- organized labor. Using only stone and wood tools, and without benefit of wheels or draft animals, the builders quarried ton upon ton of sandstone from the canyon walls, cut it into small blocks, hauled the blocks to the construction site, and fitted them together with mud mortar. Roof beams of pine or fir had to be carried from logging areas in the mountain forests many kilometers away. Then, to connect the pueblos and to give access to the surrounding tableland, the architects laid out a system of public roads with stone staircases for ascending cliff faces. In time, the roads reached out to more than 80 satellite villages within a 60-kilometer radius.

阅读理解It is difficult for a man to imagine the rate at which water is consumed throughout the United Kingdom. A single industrial unit, for example, can use literally millions of gallons of water every day just for cooling purposes. This means that industry alone uses billions of gallons of water every year. The cost of this waste is significantly high.It should be apparent, therefore, that a fully sealed cooling system would lose no water, consume no water, discharge no water and would not require the application of chemical treatment. Sealed water cooling systems are available and make it possible for a teacupful of water to do a job normally requiring millions of gallons of water.Water Saver Systems is a company that has pioneered the principle of sealed industrial cooling in the UK and Europe. These sealed cooling systems, it is claimed, can actually provide payback within a matter of months because of the water and effluent cost savings and the removal of the need for a chemical treatment plant and the resultant chemical costs. In addition, it is possible to recover heat from a sealed system, allowing savings in boiler feed water and domestic hot water supplies. A further advantage is that grayish-materials build-up is prevented and rust minimized, so that the high efficiency of the sealed system is maintained and the service life in- creased. A significant merit of a sealed system, not yet fully appreciated, stems from the fact that industry can now be more mobile in terms of location. Traditionally, with some industries, a main consideration as regards a factory site would be the availability of a local high volume water supply for cooling purposes. 72. With a sealed system, it is claimed to be possible for a major user of cooling water to setup in the desert with only a small truck of water to give the sealed system its initial fill.Sealed cooling systems also reduce water-related health risks. Chemical treatment does help to reduce such risks but for various reasons, chemicals have not yet provided total protection from disease. For example, Lehionnaires Disease which can be propagated via the evaporation taking place in cooling towers. Sealed systems do not emit contaminated vapor to atmosphere and this also means that thermal pollution does not occur.Sealed industrial cooling systems were originally developed to offer efficient and cost-saving cooling alternatives to industry, giving considerable operational and financial advantages to the user. Fortunately, the development of the sealed cooling system also contributes significantly to the environment and health.

阅读理解The Chinese of 3,500 years ago believed that the earth was a chariot, and the sky like a curved canopy stretched above it. The canopy was nine layers thick, and it sloped slightly to the northwest, as a cataclysm had broken one of its supporting columns. This gentle slope explained the movement of the stars from east to west.According to these ancient Chinese beliefs, the sun spent the night on earth and ascended to the sky each morning from the luminous valley of the east by climbing the branches of an immensely tall sacred tree. To the Chinese people, the sun was the incarnation of goodness, beauty, and truth. In popular imagination, the sun was represented as a cock that little by little assumed human form. His battles with the dragons, which personified evil in their beliefs, accounted for the momentary disappearances of the sun that men now call eclipses. Many of the Chinese people worshiped the sun, but in the vast and complicated organization of the Chinese gods, the sun was of only secondary importance.Along with these unsophisticated beliefs about the sun, the Chinese evolved a science of astronomy based upon observation—though essentially religious—which enabled them to predict eclipses of the sun and the movements of the stars. Such predictions were based on calculations made by using a gnomon—an object whose shadow could be used as a measure, as with a sundial or simpler shadow pointers. Moreover, with the naked eye, the Chinese observed sunspot, a phenomenon not then known to their contemporaries.

阅读理解It is an unfortunate fact that most North

阅读理解Television—the most pervasive and persuasive of modern technologies, marked by rapid change and growth—is moving into a new era, an era of extraordinary sophistication and versatility, which promises to reshape our lives and our world. It is an electronic revolution of sorts, made possible by the marriage of television and computer technologies.The word “television” , derived from its Greek (tele: distant) and latin (vision: sight) roots, can literally be interpreted as sight from a distance. Very simply put, it works in this way: through a sophisticated system of electronics, television provides the capability of converting an image(focused on a special photoconductive plate within a camera) into electronic impulses, which can be sent through a wire or cable. These impulses, when fed into a receiver (television set) , can then be electronically reconstituted into that same image.Television is more than just an electronic system, however. It is a means of expression, as well as a vehicle for communication, and as such becomes a powerful tool for reaching other human beings.The field of television can be divided into two categories determined by its means of transmission. First, there is broadcast television, which reaches the masses through broad-based airwave transmission of television signals. Second, there is non-broadcast television, which provides for the needs of individuals or specific interest groups through controlled transmission techniques.Traditionally, television has been a medium of the masses. We are most familiar with broadcast television because it has been with us for about thirty-seven years in a form similar to what exists today. During those years, it has been controlled, for the most part, by the broadcast networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS, who have been the major purveyors of news, information, and entertainment. These giants of broadcasting have actually shaped not only television but our perception of it as well. We have come to look upon the picture tube as a source of entertainment, placing our role in this dynamic medium as the passive viewer.

阅读理解A Suitably Massive MiddlemarchE. M. Foster--whose own novels have proved good meat for those who re-cook old novels into TV miniseries and Hollywood winners-once wrote that “it is on her massiveness that George Eliot depends-she has no nicety of style. ”There is a degree of truth in the comment-its first part, anyway. Middlemarch, long considered this English Victorian novelist’ s masterpiece, is certainly no miniature.When the BBC’ s suitably massive television adaptation of Middlemarch was aired in Britain, it became compulsive viewing for millions and more than 105, 000 of them went out and bought the book (others of us already owned it and lifted it off the shelf) .It is one of the fascinations of television that, while it is more than ever held responsible for luring the world into illiteracy, it can also powerfully attract viewers to buy and even (who knows?) to read some of the great classics.Whoever reads the book after seeing the series will find it virtually impossible not to see the characters in his or her mind’ s eye exactly as the cast of actors portrays them. But half the fun of comparing the inevitably leaner TV version-cut, edited, and sometimes re-arranged-with the steady unfolding of the original novel is in assessing the pluses and minuses of turning written pages Into screen Images.In the opinion of those who know, Eliot was a potentially first-rate TV writer. In a BBC documentary about the making of the series, Andrew Davies, Who wrote the screenplay, said he thought George Eliot (or Mary Ann Evans, to use her real name) “had all the elements that you would look for now if you were looking for a very strong drama serial, I mean, she could go along and sell. . . to any TV network now. . . just update it a little bit.In practice, Davies’ s screenplay does not “update” the novel jarringly (OK, characters kiss on screen where they only held hands in the book, but who’ s fussing?) and even frequently quotes Eliot’ s dialog almost verbatim.Mr. Davies, in the same documentary, also mentions one difficulty in handing over a classic novel to actors: “They’ ve all got their copies” of the original, he says, and often ask why their particular character’ s most “wonderful bits” have been denied them. These appeals must be resisted, Davies says, because they likely will conflict with the attempt to “distill the essence of the book” .On the other hand, actors with a sensitive feel for the inner life of their character (as almost all have in this series) can flesh out or redeem what might be only hinted at in the screenplay.The television version accords Middlemarch, the community, with all its gossip and prejudice, goodness and despair, and corruption and innocence, the role of chief protagonist. It suggests the feel of the place with marvelous conviction, through scrupulous attention to details of the period, of building and prop and costume, but also because of the leisurely pace at which the story develops. The whole thing is done with taste and style.

阅读理解Directions: In this section there are reading passages followed by multiple-choice questions. Read the passages and then mark your answers on your answer sheet.Passage ASilence: A Story of Courage and HealingSome say that silence is a great healer. If you’ d said that to me two years ago, I would have agreed. “Silence, ” I would have argued, “is anything but healing. There is nothing therapeutic about keeping your feelings inside, never talking about what’ s going on in your life. ” I now believe that silence is the reward you get from great healing in addition to being the healer itself. But 1 didn’t know that then.I had never understood the value of silence. I didn’ t have to. My family was loud and happy. And why not? Nothing serious ever went wrong--not that we knew about. Sure, my siblings and I always fought noisily until our mom yelled at us to stop. Then we’ d shout and complain about injustice, but always, eventually, hug and make-up. Within the parameters of my innocent world, I knew silence as a lack of something: a lack of noise, a lack of discussion, a lack of feeling, a lack of love. Maybe I was even a little afraid of the emptiness it created--the aural darkness where forgiveness never happened; I thought I knew . . . I was very wrong.Jaime entered my life without much fanfare about two years ago. I’ll never forget the day I met him. My university required a community service stint to graduate, and I wanted to get it out of the way. I’d heard that the local YMCA was a good resource, and I liked working with little kids. I thought maybe they’d let me teach swimming. So on a cool October day in the fall of my sophomore year, I made my way to the YMCA looking for easy credits.I didn’ t have a car at school until my junior year of college, so if I needed to go anywhere, I would generally catch a ride with a friend or walk. On that particular day, no friend was available and the ten-mile walk was far beyond my dedication to public service. Consequently, I was at the mercy of public transportation. Thankfully, I’d heard the local bus system was pretty reliable. With the help of the CITA bus line map, I climbed onto Bus Route 3, paid my fifty cents, and scanned for a seat. Buses often have their own unique demographic: each crowd is unlike any other. On this bus, most everyone was either asleep or totally oblivious. Except for one kid. He wasn’t all that big-maybe thirteen years old-and he seated by himself, farther apart from the other riders than seemed possible in such a crowed space. Unlike the others, his eyes were alert. And they were glued on me.Normally, I ignore people with such awkward habits. But for some reason, I couldn’ t stop starting back. Older still, instead of avoiding him, I found myself passing an empty seat to sit on the bench beside him. Once I did, he turned to look out the window. That’ s when the strangeness of it all hit me, and I started to feel a little awkward. I wanted to get back control of the situation. Trying to be subtle, I looked him over. I noticed some scarring on his hands, and a small gash on his cheek. Suddenly, He turned and looked me in the eye. Expecting him to say something, I just waited, watching. He said nothing. After about fifteen seconds, I couldn’ t take the silence anymore.“Hi, ” I said, trying not to appear as nervous as I felt. No response. He just kept staring. “I’ m Katie. ” I added a smile. Again, I received no response. I gave it one more try.“I’ ve never used the bus system before. It seems pretty reliable. Do you use it a lot?” Silence. My cheery voice sounded out of place. Other people were starting to stare at me. This time I gave UP and tamed my head toward the front of the bus, trying to ignore the thirteen-year-old staring me down. . . again, I opened my cell phone to check the time and saw that only two minutes had passed. This was going to be the longest bus ride ever. Then a thin voice cut through the silence. “I’m Jaime. ”My heart skipped a beat. Could it be that my silence was the catalyst for this small victory? By allowing Jaime the room that silence allows to make his own decision about talking to me, I had made a connection. Suddenly, I knew that my long heed opinion of silence was forever changed.

阅读理解All societies have distinct role expectations for men and for women. In the United States these expectations have been undergoing change for many decades. Today Americans live in a world of diverse family patterns and conflicting images of ideal life styles for men and women. The conventional norms of the first half century defined a successful woman as a wife and mother who stayed home to carry out a full array of household duties. The husband and father were expected to stay away from the home most of the day, earning enough money to pay the bills. Many adults still live by these expectations, but the traditional pattern is no longer held up as an ideal to be followed by everyone. Times have changed; there is no return to yesterdayAlthough the women’ s movement and political controversies about such issues and the Equal Rights Amendment and sexual harassment suggest that changing sex roles is a recent issue, this is far from the case. Broad trends can be identified over the past hundred years. Women have increased their participation in the labor force from 18% in 1900 to over 50% today, and they give birth to fewer children than women did in the past. In 1910 the birth rate was 30 per 1, 000 populations; by the 1900s it had declined to 16 per 1, 000. These two trends-increasing participation in the labor force and decreasing family size-suggest that major long-term changes have restructured the role expectations of men and women. These changes are complex. The fact that more women are joining the labor force as full-time workers does not mean that a single sex role pattern is emerging.On the contrary, we are living in a period of diverse family patterns. According to Kathleen Gerson, “the domestic woman who builds her life around children and homemaking persists, but she now coexists with a growing number of working mothers and permanently childless women. ”Women today face hard choices as they make decisions about work, career, and motherhood. Despite women’ s liberation, women still earn less than men in the work place and are still expected to do most of the work in the home. Women work substantially more hours each week in the home and at the workplace than men do. Women are working harder than ever, yet many do not enjoy the benefits of full equality.

阅读理解“Most episodes of absent-mindedness—forgetting where you left something or wondering why you just entered a room—are caused by a simple lack of attention,” says Schacter. “You’re supposed to remember something, but you haven’t encoded it deeply”. Encoding, Schacter explains, is a special way of paying attention to an event that has a major impact on recalling it later. Failure to encode properly can create annoying situations. If you put your mobile phone in a pocket, for example, and don’t pay attention to what you did because you’re involved in a conversation, you’ll probably forget that the phone is in the jacket now hanging in your wardrobe. “Your memory itself isn’t failing you”, says Schacter. “Rather, you didn’t give your memory system the information it needed”.Lack of interest can also lead to absent-mindedness. “A man who can recite sports statistics from 30 years ago”, says Zelinski, “may not remember to drop a letter in the mailbox”. Women have slightly better memories than men, possibly because they pay more attention to their environment, and memory relies on just that. Visual cues can help prevent absent-mindedness, says Schacter. “But be sure the cue is clear and available”, he cautions. If you want to remember to take a medication with lunch, put the pill bottle on the kitchen table—don’t leave it in the medicine chest and write yourself a note that you keep in a pocket. Another common episode of absent-mindedness is walking into a room and wondering why you’re there. Most likely, you were thinking about something else. “Everyone does this from time to time” says Zelinski. The best thing to do is to return to where you were before entering the room and you’ll likely remember.

阅读理解During the 1970 season, the club played 42 matches: of these, 34 were League, and Cup games, and the remainder were friendly matches. In the League, the Club finished in third place, two points behind the champions. Out of 28 League games, 16 were won, 8 were drawn and 4 were lost, whilst the Club managed to reach the semi-final of the Challenge Cup for the first time in its history. Of the eight friendly matches, four were won, two were drawn, and two were lost, but these defeats were at the hands of visiting teams whose standards were generally much higher than those of players of this area.At the same time, the standard of play shown by our own team was markedly superior to that seen in previous years, and this success is largely due to the intensive training programme which has been supervised by the team captain. In this connection, the provision of adequate training facilities must remain a priority, and the erection of an indoor gymnasium or hall in which the players can practice on wet evenings is essential. It would do much to supplement the outdoor training being carried on, and would help the Club in the recruitment of younger players.There are now 28 players registered with the Club, and many more have asked to join but have been discouraged by the fact that the Club fields only one team. With the improvement in the financial position, concerning which the Treasurer will report in a minute, I suggest that the Committee consider entering a team in the Second Division of the League.

阅读理解In this section you will read 2 passages. Each one is followed by several questions about it. You are to choose one best answer to each question. Passage 1Before Opening Night 1 “We’ re going into rehearsal tomorrow” , an actor may say, his face showing a mixture of a certain apprehension and an anticipation close to elation. The explanation for the duality of his reaction lies in his knowledge that on the one hand, rehearsal is the crucible of creation for everyone concerned in play production, and that on the other hand, for all the blood, sweat, and tears that will be expended, the play he is in may fail or he may fail in it. 2 When you read the script of a play, all you have are words suggesting what may happen on the stage. In terms of color, sound, movement, people, and a specific environment, all is shadowy. The function of rehearsals is to transmute words into a world. 3 Many dramatists do not even trouble to write stage directions. But a stage setting has to be built out of real materials. So that people can move on it and certain actions can be conveniently performed on it; the audience, moreover, must be able to sense in looking at it what sort of theme and mood they are to dwell in and enjoy for the duration of the performance. . 4 The physical aspect of production, though most immediately striking, is not the most important. When rehearsals begin, the settings and props have already been designed and ordered, though they will not appear till the last four days of rehearsal usually out of town. What is crucial to the production is the integration of the company of actors in their individual interpretations. It is this that the director must effect so that all the elements the visual and human form a coherent and pleasurable meaning. 5The director is, to a considerable degree, the “author” of the stage play. He should always be in charge， but he may not always be in control. It is often said that the director “molds” the actors, interpretations; this is largely true and most flattering to the director but accomplished actors may themselves be creators. 6 The wise director knows and hopes for this: he tries to understand his actors and what each has to offer and can be induced to reveal. Hence the most complex and fascinating aspect of rehearsal is the give-and-take between actors and director as well as the relations between the actors themselves. 7 Some directors have the company sit and read the play together for three or four days. Other directors desire no more than a single joint reading of the play; some though very few even insist that actors know their lines before rehearsals have begun. 8 After the play is read, the company gets “on its feet” ; the process of staging commonly called “blocking” begins. This involves the placement of actors, the timing and manner of their movements on the stage in short, the setting of the mechanical or visible patterns of the production. 9 Sooner or later, the director will in some way indicate not only where the actor is to move cross, sit, rise, turn but why and how. These questions imply others. Is the play to be given a comic or a sober interpretation? What style suits the material? Is a certain character to be regarded as sympathetic or not? Does it help or harm if particular line or bit of business provokes a laugh? 10 The actor may contest interpretations or even refuse to carry out bits of action on the grounds that they are false or he does not happen to be able to enact them convincingly. Such arguments generally end by one or the other yielding a point, depending either on the authority and persuasiveness of the director of the humility, receptiveness, or status of the actor. 11 A compromise may be arrived at that will enrich the issue. It is never good counsel to make these occasions a contest of wills. The director who by force of will beats the actor at this game wins a fruitless victory. 12 Some directors prefer to communicate with their actors rather privately in odd comers of the stage or in dressing rooms. Others always pronounce themselves within the hearing of the entire company. The director may act a bit himself by way of illustration rather dangerous if his demonstration fails to be clear, and sometimes discouraging if he should be too brilliant an actor. 13 Out in front in the theater auditorium where, after the first days of blocking， the director usually sits, all is darkness; on the stage, a rather evil illumination is projected from a wan work lamp. The production’s eventual furniture is suggested by broken-down chairs, uncouth couches, dirty steps, and insecure card tables, and crockery by paper plates, cups, knives and forks. 14 The playwright and producer attend all the first rehearsals. They visit less frequently after the first five-day trial period when cast changes may be most conveniently effected and do not make their presence seriously felt until the run-throughs when the play in its entirety is given without interruption. 15 There are generally three to five run-throughs at which the director feels his company is ready to be criticized by “outsiders” . A large or small audience of friends may be invited to the last two of the run-throughs. They serve to diminish the actors’ tension before the out-of-town tryout. They may also instruct the actors where laughs may be expected or warn the company of undesirable audience reactions. 16 Still, these run-throughs are not without their pitfalls; the threat stems from the expert as well as inexpert advice of relative strangers. The chief emphasis in the talk one hears after these run-throughs is on guessing the play’ s probable success or failure an utterly futile practice. 17 A play on the stage is the most elusive of phenomena. After more than thirty years of professional experience, the writer is quite frank to admit never to have been certain of the success or failure of a play in production. Any professional who claims even a 50 percent degree of infallibility is deluding either himself or others. The script may seem unpromising. The preview audiences may seem unpromising, the preview audiences may react coldly, yet the play may turn out to be a solid hit.18 A play on the stage is not only different in nature from its point of origin in the script, but it is never exactly the same from one rehearsal or performance to another. Most plays at the tenth day of rehearsal are miserably dull. A set that look “great” may be causing a short circuit in the proceedings a fact that only the most trained observer may notice. 19 A fine actor who later will give a brilliant performance sometimes develops rather haltingly at rehearsal (or vice versa) . The theater building itself (when too large or small) may modify the impact of a play. A nervous seizure (or “freeze” ) on the part: of a star on opening night may mortally influence the quality of a production particularly a comedy thoroughly enjoyed out of town. 20 The final rehearsals with settings, lights, costumes, makeup, sound effects occupy four days before the out-of- town opening. They are often tumultuous and frightening, for the addition of any new element to a rehearsal (even a change of locale) always upsets it somewhat. Though actors have seen models and sketches of the sets at rehearsals, and have tried on their various costumes in the costumer’ s workshop, it takes several days (at least) to adjust to them on the stage. 21 Rehearsals for four hours a day continue out of town. They are especially useful for the revision of text and the necessary work attendant upon theat. This time is also valuable for bringing characterizations to maturity and for polishing scenes which may still be rough in execution or shallow in content. 22 The out-of-town tryout period is a weird island of time. The world at large has ceased to exist for everyone connected with the production. The atmosphere is intoxicating in both the happy and the forbidding sense of the word. If there is to be trouble scandalous disagreements, rancorous episodes here is where it is most likely to occur. Everyone acts as if it were zero hour, not alone for the play, but for survival. 23 Yet there is joy in creation even as there must be pain. If rehearsals are conducted as many are with love and mutual regard on all sides, a wonderful sense of community grows in a theater troupe that is hard to match in any other collective enterprise elsewhere.QuestionFind the word in the paragraph that meanssevere test (1)change from one form to another (2)of supreme importance (4)logically connected; intelligible (4)persuaded (6)

阅读理解In the last 500 years, nothing about people, their clothes, ideas, or languages has changed as much as what they eat. The original chocolate drink was made from the seeds of cocoa tree by South American Indians. The Spanish introduced it to the rest of the world during the 1500’s. and although it was very expensive, it quickly became fashionable. In London shops where chocolate drinks were served became important meeting places. Some still exist today.The potato is also from the New World. Around 1600’, the Spanish brought it from Peru to Europe, where it soon was widely grown. The potato was the main food at Irish table. Thousands of Irish people starved when the crop failed during the “Potato Famine” of 1845—1846, and thousands more were forced to move to America.There are many other foods that have traveled from South America to the old World. But some others went in the opposite direction. Brazil is now the world’s largest grower of coffee, and coffee is an important crop in Colombia and other South American countries. But it is native to Ethiopia. It was first made into a drink by Arabs during the 1400’s.According to an Arabic story, coffee was discovered when a man named Kaldi noticed that his goats were attracted to the red fruits on a coffee bush. He tried one and experienced the “wide- awake” feeling that one-third of the world’s population now starts the day with.

阅读理解Auctions are public sales of goods,

阅读理解(4)The winds of the earth behave in

阅读理解Directions: There are 7 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C, and D. You should decide on the best choice.Passage 5For years, doctors advised their patients that the only thing taking multivitamins does is give them extensive urine. After all, true vitamin deficiencies are practically unheard of in industrialized countries. Now it seems those doctors may have been wrong. The results of a growing number of studies suggest that even a modest vitamin shortfall can be harmful to your health. Although proof of the benefits of multivitamins is still far from certain, the few dollars you spend on them is probably a good investment.Or at least that’ s the argument put forward in the New England Journal of Medicine. Ideally, say Dr. Walter Willett and Dr. Meir Stampfer of Harvard, all vitamin supplements would be evaluated in scientifically rigorous clinical trials.But those studies can take a long time and often raise more questions than they answer. At some point, while researchers work on figuring out where the truth lies, it just makes sense to say the potential benefit outweighs the cost.The best evidence to date concerns folate, one of the B vitamins. It’ s been proved to limit the number of defects in embryos, and a recent trial found that folate in combination with vitamin B 12 and a form of B6 also decreases the re-blockage of arteries after surgical repair.The news on vitamin E has been more mixed. Healthy folks who take 400 international units daily for at least two years appear somewhat less likely to develop heart disease. But when doctors give vitamin E to patients who already have he art disease, the vitamin doesn’ t seem to help. It may turn out that vitamin E plays a role in prevention but cannot undo serious damage.Despite vitamin C’ s great popularity, consuming large amounts of it still has not been positively linked to any great benefit. The body quickly becomes saturated with C and simply excretes (排泄) any excess.The multivitamins question boils down to this: Do you need to wait until all the evidence is in before you take them, or are you willing to accept that there’ s enough evidence that they don’ t hurt and could help?If the latter, there’ s no need to go to extremes and buy the biggest horse pills or the most expensive bottles. Large doses can cause trouble, including excessive bleeding and nervous system problems.Multivitamins are no substitute for exercise and a balanced diet, of course.As long as you understand that any potential benefit is modest and subject to further refinement, taking a daily multivitamin makes a lot of sense.

阅读理解According to some individuals, if your house is built in the right position, this may affect your success in life, which seems strange to many people. However, to believers in Feng-Shui, or the art of geomancy, not only the position but also the choice of decorations and even the color of your home can mean the difference between good fortune and disaster. This art has been practiced for centuries in China and is still used all over South East Asia. Even the huge Hong Kong banks call in a geomant if they are planning to build new offices. They have such faith in his knowledge that if he advises them to move, they will alter their plans for even their biggest buildings.Like many Oriental beliefs the geomant’ s skill depends on the idea of harmony in nature. If there is no imbalance between the opposing forces of Yin and Yang, the building will bring luck to its inhabitants. This means that the house must be built on the right spot as well as facing the right direction, and also be painted an auspicious color. For instance, if there are mountains to the north, this will protect them from evil influences. If the house is painted red, this will bring happiness to the occupants while green symbolizes youth and will bring long life. Other factors, such as the owner’ s time and date of birth, are taken into account, too. The geomant believes that unless all these are considered when choosing a site for construction, the fortune of the people using it will be at risk.Indeed, to ignore the geomant’ s advice can have fatal results. The death of the internationally famous Kung-Fu star, Brucee Lee, has been used as an example. It is said that when Lee found out that the house he was living in was an unlucky one, he followed a geomant’ s advice and installed an eight-sided mirror outside his front door to bring him luck. Unfortunately, a storm damaged the mirror and the house was left unprotected from harmful influences. Soon afterwards Lee died in mysterious circumstances.Not only is Feng-Shui still used in South East Asia, but it has also spread right across the world. Even in modern New York a successful commercial artist called Milton Glaser has found it useful. He was so desperate after his office was broken into six times that he consulted a geomant. He was told to install a fish tank with six black fish and fix a red clock to the ceiling. Since then he has not been burglarized once. It may seem an incredible story, but no other suitable explanation has been offered.