题目内容
Think of some of your favorite singers. When you listen, they can make you happy or sad, peaceful or angry. They can make you relax or want to get up and dance. Gifted singers have the power to affect us in many ways—emotionally, physically and mentally.
But becoming a great singer isn’t as easy as listening to one. It takes practice, devotion and strong lungs! Just ask the well-known American opera(歌剧)star Carol Vaness.
At the Metropolitan Opera in New York City where she often sings, Carol’s voice must be loud enough to be heard by four thousand people. It must reach every person in the theater, without a microphone, even when she’s singing softly. The reason Carol can project her voice that far is the way she breathes.
“When you breathe, it’s like a swimmer taking a deep breath before going underwater,” Carol explains. “You have to take a lot of air into your lungs.”
According to Carol, the main difference between pop singing and opera is “how you breathe, how much air you take in, and how you control it coming out. Regular singing is more like speaking, and it’s lot softer. When I sing for children, they’re often surprised by how the vibrations strike their ears—like waves on a beach, ”Carol says. “In opera, the air doesn’t just go out of your mouth—it vibrates in your chest,the way a guitar vibrates when it’s played.”
Ever since she started piano lessons at the age of ten, Carol has loved music. As she got older, she decided to become a music teacher. When she went to college, she took singing lessons as part of her studies. Her voice teacher discovered that nineteen-year-old Carol had an exceptionally beautiful soprano voice-the highest singing voice for women.
Carol decided to make opera her goal, not only because she loved to sing but also because she loved the drama. Opera is a play in which the characters sing the words instead of speaking them. The stories of opera can be tragic or comical. They can be personal stories about two people falling in love or grand stories about kings and queens who lived long ago. As the characters in an opera sing, the emotions(情感)expressed by words and music come to life.
Today, Carol performs throughout the United States and Europe and she has song for almost twenty years. But she has never forgotten where she started singing in the first palace.
“Put your heart into your singing and enjoy it,” says Carol, “because singing is a great joy. That’s why I sing. In fact, that’s why everybody sings.”
【小题1】According to the passage, the Metropolitan Opera in New York City .
A.is a five-story building | B.can seat 4,000 people |
C.has no microphone in it | D.can project the singer’s voice |
A.Opera Singing and Pop Singing | B.The Way an Opera Star Sings |
C.An Opera Star | D.Singing without a Microphone |
A.A pop singer’s lungs are usually stronger than those of an opera singer’s |
B.Opera singing is more like speaking. |
C.A pop singer takes in much more air than an opera singer when singing. |
D.An opera singer breathes differently from a pop singer when singing. |
A.Carol once learned to play the piano |
B.Carol worked as a music teacher |
C.Carol has been singing opera for 20 years or so |
D.Carol is popular with Americans and Europeans |
【小题1】B
【小题2】C
【小题3】D
【小题4】B
解析
The day before the deadline for this article,I had no clue what I was going to write about. I took my problem to the editor-in-chief, and.he said to me:“Don’t worry; you’re creative. ”
I’m not sure where the editor-in-chief reached the conclusion that I was “creative”. Maybe it was through the poems I wrote. Personally, I simply enjoy writing because it’s fun. There’s also the fact that I can’t draw or do anything else creatively, I’m equally sure that there are people in the boat on the other side who can make things look excellent, but can’t write a poem.
At this point you probably want to ask me what poetry and art have to do with engineering. For one, it makes you a more rounded person, making you a better engineer. More importantly, as an engineer, you will be faced with many problems every day. There are some that can be solved by consulting a textbook, but more often than not, you will need that thing in your brain to put together things in a completely original combination to solve the problem at hand.
Think of the wonderful things that creative engineers have done. Civil engineers have made the road more long-lasting so we don’t have to close them for repairs as often. Coming up with a new innovation (创新) is similar to writing a good poem. It’s not some-thing you plan to do. The critical moment comes unexpectedly in the middle of nowhere. You don’t think about what you’re doing, you simply do. After some mad struggling you take a look at the end product and say to yourself, “This is a masterpiece. ” This is perhaps the greatest personal satisfaction one can
experience.
So all you engineers out there get out and do something creative. I don’t care if it’s writing a poem or a computer program, just be natural and do something creative.
【小题1】This passage mainly deals with .
A.the creativity of engineers | B.the power of editor-in-chief |
C.engineering in general | D.a way of thinking |
A.show one is creative | B.make him happy |
C.bring him in lots of money | D.have an effect on one’s mental health |
A.find the solutions to problems | B.learn to write poetry |
C.be courageous in face of challenges | D.get along well with others |
A.logically developed | B.strictly planned |
C.experience- based | D.naturally creative |
A.planning his work successfully | B.building things quickly |
C.finishing his work innovatively | D.writing good poems naturally |
I fell in love with England because it was quaint (古雅)—all those little houses, looking terribly old-fashioned but nice, like dolls’ houses. I loved the countryside and the pubs, and I loved London. I’ve slightly changed my mind after seventeen years because I think it’s an ugly town now.
Things have changed. For everybody, England meant gentlemen, fair play, and good manners. The fair play is going, unfortunately, and so are the gentlemanly attitudes and good manners—people shut doors heavily in your face and politeness is disappearing.
I regret that there are so few comfortable meeting places. You’re forced to live indoors. In Paris I go out much more, to restaurants and nightclubs. To meet friends here it usually has to be in a pub, and it can be difficult to go there alone as a woman. The cafes are not terribly nice.
As a woman, I feel unsafe here. I spend a bomb on taxis because I will not take public transport after 10 p. m. I used to use it, but now I’m afraid.
The idea of family seems to be more or less non-existent in England. My family is well united and that’s typically French. In Middlesex I had a neighbour who is 82 now. His family only lived two miles away, but I took him to France for Christmas once because he was always alone.
【小题1】The writer doesn’t like London because she ______.
A.has lived there for seventeen years |
B.prefers to live in an old-fashioned house |
C.is not used to the life there now |
D.has to be polite to everyone she meets there |
A.In a pub. | B.In a cafe. | C.In a restaurant. | D.In a nightclub. |
A.had never been to France | B.was from a typical French family |
C.didn't like the British idea of family | D.felt lonely in England |
On hearing the words “Just do it!”,you will know there is a Nike product nearby.If it’s “Always Coca-Cola”, you can be sure someone wants to sell you a refreshing drink.
An advertising slogan(广告标语)is to a brand what eyes are to a person.The slogan helps people understand the brand better by telling them what it wants to sell to its customers.Good slogans 1eave a message inside people’sminds.It’s almost certain that every brand has a popular slogan.
Here are a few examples:
“Just do it!”一This slogan speaks out to teens.It tells them to do something,but only if they think it’s worth it.And if so,why not do it wearing Nike? “Always Coca-Cola.”一Coke’s slogans change every few years,but this one has enjoyed lasting popularity because it shows the brand’s spirit.It seems to say “coke is the only drink there is;there are no other forms of drinks.”
“Share moments,share life.”——This slogan from Kodak connects photos and beauty.It asks people to remember the happy moments in life by taking photos of them—using Kodak film of course!
【小题1】what would be the best title for the text?
A.Just Do It! |
B.Slogan And Brand |
C.Famous slogans |
D.What Is A Good slogan? |
A.A good advertising slogan should draw people’s attention. |
B.A brand should have an advertising slogan just as people have eyes. |
C.An advertising slogan is as important to a brand as eyes are to a person. |
D.An advertising slogan acts as the eyes of a brand |
A.people | B.the happy moments |
C.photos and beauty | D.Kodak film |