THE BRONTE FAMILY
Yorkshire, England was the setting for two great novels (小说) of the 19th century. These were Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. The youngest sister, Anne, was also a gifted novelist, and her books have the same extraordinary quality as her sisters’.
Their father was Patrick Bronte, born in Ireland. He moved with his wife, Maria Bronte, and their six small children to Haworth in Yorkshire in 1820. Soon after, Mrs. Bronte and the two eldest children died, leaving the father to care of the remaining three girls and a boy.
Charlotte was born in 1816. Emily was born in 1818 and Anne in 1820. Their brother Branwell was born in 1817. Left to themselves, the children wrote and told stories and walked over the hills. They grew up largely self-educated. Branwell showed a great interest in drawing. The girls were determined to earn money for his art education. They took positions as teachers or taught children in their homes.
As children they had all written many stories. Charlotte, as a young girl, alone wrote 22 books, each with 60 to 100 pages of small handwriting. Therefore, they turned to writing for income. By 1847, Charlotte had written The Professor; Emily, Wuthering Heights; and Anne, Agnes Grey. After much difficulty Anne and Emily found a publisher(出版商), but there was no interest shown in Charlotte’s book. (It was not published until 1859.) However, one publisher expressed an interest in seeing more of her works. Jane Eyre was already started, and she hurriedly finished it. It was accepted at once; thus each of the sisters had a book published in 1847.
Jane Eyre was immediately successful; the other two, however, did not do so well. People did not like Wuthering Heights. They said it was too wild, too animal-like. But gradually it came to be considered one of the finest novels in the English language. Emily lived only a short while after the publication of the book, and Anne died in 1849.
Charlotte published Shirley in 1849, and Villette in 1853. In 1854 she married Arthur Bell Nicholls. But only a year later, she died of tuberculosis(肺结核) as her sisters had.
【小题1】We know from the text that      .

A.Jane Eyre was published in 1847
B.Charlotte Bronte wrote 22 books in all
C.the Bronte sisters received good education
D.Patrick Bronte helped his daughters with their writing
【小题2】The underlined words “the other two” in the 5 th paragraph refer to      .
A.Shirley and VilletteB.The Professor and Agnes Grey
C.Agnes Grey and Wutheriing HeightsD.The Professor and wuthering Heights
【小题3】 What do we know about the Bronte sisters from the text?
A.Their novels interested few publishers.
B.None of them had more than two books published.
C.None of them lived longer than 40 years old.
D.Emily was the least successful of the three.

 

 
NANJING, June 13,2009 (Xinhua) – China will see the longest total solar eclipse (日食) in 500 years on July 22, a scientist said Saturday.

The most important time of the total eclipse was expected to
begin from 9:00 a.m. to 9:38 a. m. (Beijing Time), said Wang
Sichao, a research fellow with the Nanjing – based Purple
Mountain Observatory under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
“The total eclipse will l ast up to six minutes, which is the longest
one that can be seen in China in almost 500 years from 1814 to 2309,” Wang said.
He said viewers in parts of eleven provinces in China's southwestern, central-southern and eastern areas, such as Tibet, Hunan and Jiangsu, will be able to witness the total solar eclipse, while in most parts of Shanghai, viewers can see the spectacular phenomenon. For viewers in other provinces, including Beijing, they can observe a partial eclipse, he said.
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon is caught between the sun and the earth while each of them moves along their fixed orbits. In a total solar eclipse, the sun, the moon and the earth are directly aligned as the sun swings into the cone of shadow cast by the moon.
Wang said the next total solar eclipse that can be seen in China will fall on March 20 th, 2034.     "But it can only be seen remote provinces, such as Tibet and Qinghai. It cannot not be compared with the upcoming one -- in terms of duration and number of cities that can see the eclipse," he added. The last total solar eclipse visible in China took place on Aug. 1 last year. It was observed in northwest China and lasted two minutes in Yiwu County of northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the best place to see the phenomenon.
72.According to the report, the total eclipse on July the 22 nd will last         .
A.over a month                                                    B.about 38 minutes
C.about 6 minutes                                              D.less than 30 minutes
73.Viewers can possibly witness the total solar eclipse in            .
A.Liaoning                   B.Sichuan                    C.Beijing                      D.Xinjiang
74.When a total solar eclipse happens,          .
A.the moon goes into the shadow cast by the sun
B.the earth stays between the sun and the moon
C.the sun temporarily moves into the moon’s orbit
D.the sun is in a line with the moon and the earth
75.Which is the best title for this report?           .
A.China to witness longest total solar eclipse in 500 years
B.The most important total solar eclipse will favor China
C.The beginning time of the total solar eclipse is expected
D.China has been the best place to witness the solar eclipse

College graduation brings both the satisfaction of academic achievement and the expectation of a well-paid job. But for 6,000 graduates at San Jose State this year, there’s uncertainty as they enter one of the worst job markets in decades. Ryan Stewart has a freshly-minted(新兴的) degree in religious studies, but no job prospects.

“You look at everybody’s parents and neighbors, and they’re getting laid off and don’t have jobs,” said Stewart, “then you look at the young people just coming into the workforce… it’s just scary.”

When the class of 2003 entered college, the future never looked brighter. But in the four years they’ve been here, the world outside has changed greatly.

“Those were the exciting times, lots of dot-com opportunities, exploding offers, students getting top dollar with lots of benefits,” said Cheryl Allmen-Vinnidge of the San Jose State Career Center. “Times have changed. It’s a mew market.”

Cheryl Allmen-Vinnidge ought to know. She runs the San Jose State Career Center, sort of a crossroad between college and the real world. Allmen-Vinnidge says students who do find jobs after college have done their homework.

“The typical graduate who does have a job offer started working on it two years ago. They’ve postured(定位) themselves well during the summer. They’ve had several internships(实习)”, she said. And they’ve majored in one of the few fields that are still hot, like chemical engineering, accounting, or nursing, where average starting salaries  have actually increased over last year. Other popular fields have seen big declines in starting salaries.

Ryan Stewart may just end up going back to school. “I’d like to teach college some day and that requires more schooling, which would be great in a bad economy,” he said.

To some students, a degree may not be a ticket to instant wealth. For now, they can only hope its value will increase overtime.

 

49. The underlined expression “dot-com” in the 4 th paragraph probably means _____.

A. a company making dots

B. the Internet

C. teaching on the Internet

D. a well-known website

50. The purpose of a college career center is probably to _____.

A. help students do their homework

B. find jobs for students while they are in school

C. prepare students to find jobs after they graduate

D. help high school students get accepted to college

51. Ryan Stewart is probably going to _____.

A. get a teaching job

B. become a religious leader

C. change his major

D. go back to school

52. What does the underlined sentence “To some students, a degree may not be a ticket to instant wealth.” mean?

A. Having a college degree does not provide travel discounts.

B. A college degree doesn’t promise a person a high-paying job.

C. Most students with degrees will be able to find jobs.

D. The best way to get rich is to get a college degree.

Read the following text and choose the most suitable heading from the list A – F for each paragraph. There is one extra heading which you do not need.

 

A.How many people have participated in the well – received competition?

B.Does the well – received competition of tall tales have an origin?

C.Who was the constant winner of the annual competition of tall tales?

D.Is there any secret to win the competition?

E.Does the competition win the hearts of the people all over the world?

F.Who is the annual competition of tall tales given to honour?

1.

 

John Graham won the annual competition of tall tales, which is held at the Bridge. Inn in Santon Bridge, in Britain’s Lake District. The “world’s biggest liar” has been crowned, after telling a tale about a German World War II submarine invading Britain to get digital television decoders. The 69 – year – old Graham, who has won the title five times before, insisted to BBC radio that “it was a true story”.

2.

The annual World’s Biggest Liar Competition, which now draws tourists and competitors from around the world, dates back to the 19 th century when it was founded to honor a famous man called Will Ritson (1808 – 1890).

3.

The contest is always held at the Bridge Inn. Ritson was a popular pub owner who lived in the western Lake District. He always kept his customers interested with his funny stories. Of course, Ritson was a very honest and sincere man, who insisted that all his tales were true.

4.

Each year, a contest is held to award the title of “The Biggest Liar in the World” to the person who is worthy of following in Ritson’s footsteps. More than 120 people from across the country, and from as far away as Sweden and South Africa, have taken part in this interesting competition.

5.

Competitiors have five minutes to tell the biggest lie. Last year’s winner Sue told the truth of “telling a successful lie”, “I think you have got to keep that element of truth and then add some mad and fantastical elements. If you start off in a spaceship then you’ve lost people straight away.”

“Politicians and lawyers are banned from entering as they are judged to be too skilled at telling lies.”

For my grandmother's 70th birthday, my family and I visited South Korea. While there, I was attentive to Korean high schools and students.

I was surprised by how different Korea's public high schools are from America's. Korean high schools can be all-girls, all-boys or co-ed (男女同校的)unlike our standard co-ed high schools. There are three grades: “go 1(10th) ”, “go 2” (1l th) and “go 3” (12th). “Go”is the first syllable of the word “go-deung –hakkyo”, which, simply translated, is “high school”.

In America, unless you want to go to a private school, you don't have to take an entrance exam. In Korea, however, students must take a test to get in because of the many choices of schools.

Another difference I couldn't help but notice was the students' appearance. With very few exceptions, all wear uniforms. A name tag (标牌)with the student's name, grade and homeroom number must also be worn. Girl's skirts can't be above the upper part of the knee, and it is forbidden to dye (染)your hair or wear accessories (装饰品)except small earrings. There are strict regulations for appearance to achieve neatness, and it seems the only freedom students have is with their choices of hair style, socks and shoes.

The final difference was the setup of the classes. There may be 40 students in a classroom, but the number can be less or even more, depending on the population of the town or city. Although there are many students per classroom, they are very close, which I think is a result of not changing classrooms for different subjects. There are no levels in the subjects and the teachers are the ones who switch classrooms. They just have ten-minute breaks between subjects. In each class, students are ranked by their grades. This causes strict competition, and Korean students do a lot of studying. To help them, all schools have extra study classes after school. One other fact that helped me appreciate living in America is that Koreans have school on Saturdays. Although it's only a half day, I think I speak for most Americans when I say we could never imagine ourselves in school on a Saturday.

Korea's public high schools are clearly different from America's. I had imagined them to be just like our schools, but now I have a clear picture of how different they are.

59. How many main differences are mentioned between Korea's public high school and America’s?

A. 3.                               B. 4.                   C. 5.                   D. 6.

60. It seems that the writer  _______ .

A. is familiar with the education system of high schools in Korea

B. is fond of Korean students' appearance

C. prefers the high school life of America to the one of Korea

D. feels it common to have lessons on weekends

61. What does the underlined word "setup" in paragraph 5 probably mean?

A. Arrangement.        B. Size.               C. Number.         D. Outline.

62. According to the rules, the students of Korea can _______  .

A. go to different high schools without exams  B. wear any clothes except uniforms at school

C. attend different classes as they like               D. have different hair styles

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