American novelist Margaret Mitchell was the author of one of the most famous novels ever written,Gone with the Wind (19S6) ,for which she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. An Ameri?can film adaptation, in 1939 received a record-breaking number of Academy Awards.

  Margaret Mitchell was born on November 8 , 1900 in Atlanta,Georgia.

  Her father was president of the local historical society and her mother was president of one of the South's suffragette(鼓吹妇女参政) groups. She was also a strict woman who did not want to spoil(溺爱) her daughter. Apparently? Mitchell grew up listening to stories about the battles the Confederate Army had fought there during the American Civil War. At the same time the awareness of women's rights formed in her mind at a young age. Later, she used these tales as inspiration for her famous novel.

  At the age of 22 ,Mitchell began a career as a journalist, but an ankle injury forced her to rest at home. By that time she had married and started to work on her novel, which took ten years to complete. When a traveling book editor visited Atlanta in search of new material, she unwillingly let him have a look at her manuscript(手稿) .Gone with the Wind was published when Mitchell was 36.

  Gone with the Wind is a clearly drawn tale of the American Southern life during and after the Civil War,which is told through the lives of two families,their relatives,friends and slaves. It centers on Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler. It has been praised as the first novel to tell the story of the Civil War from a Southern woman's point of view. The effect Gone with the Wind had and still has on the world is immeasurable. With Gone With the Wind Margaret brought a promising message to all people "Tomorrow is another day". 

(   ) 1. We learn from the first paragraph that Gone with the Wind        .

   A.wasn't much of a success until the film adaptation was released

   B.was a great success both as a novel and a film

   C.was widely read only after 1939

   D.wasn't an immediate success as a film

(   ) 2. What do we know about Margaret Mitchell's mother?

   A.She held a position in the government office.

   B.She had a good knowledge of history.

   C.She was very strict with Margaret Mitchell.

   D.She had no interest in politics.

(   ) 3. It can be inferred from the second paragraph that Margaret Mitchell        .

   A.was positively influenced by her family background

   B.didn't have a happy childhood

   C.had the idea of writing a great novel at a young age

   D.was taught at home by her parents

(   ) 4. What can we infer from the passage?

   A.Gone with the Wind didn't attract the traveling book editor.

   B.Mitchell had always wanted her novel to be published.

   C.Mitchell began to write novels before she got married.

   D.Gone with the Wind was published thanks to the traveling book editor.

 Learning to play a musical instrument can change your brain. A US review has found that musical training can improve speech and foreign language skills.

  Although it was suggested in the past that listening to Mozart's music or other classical mu?sic make you smarter, there has been little evidence to show that music can boost brain power.

  But a data-driven review by Northwestern University has pulled research together that links between musical training and learning can affect skills including language,speech,memory,at?tention and even vocal emotion.

  Researcher Nina Kraus said the data strongly suggested that the neural(神经中枢的) connec?tions made during musical training also prepared the brain for other aspects of human communi?cation.

  "The effect of musical training suggests that music is a resource that tones(增强) the brain for auditory(听觉的) fitness and thus requires society to re-examine the role of music in encoura?ging individual development.”the researchers said in their study.

  Kraus said learning musical sounds could improve the brain's ability to adapt and change and also enable the nervous system to provide constructive patterns that are important to learn?ing.

  The study,published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, showed the improvement of re?search in recent years focusing on the effect of musical training on the nervous system which could have strong impact on education.

  The study found that playing an instrument prepares the brain to choose what is related in the complex process that may involve reading or remembering a score,timing issues and coordi?nation(协 调) with other musicians.

  "A musician's brain selectively enhances information -bearing elements in sound," Kraus said in a statement. The study also reviewed literature showing, for example, that musicians are more successful than " non-musicians in learning to connect sound patterns for a new language with words.

(   ) 1. The passage is mainly about        .

   A.researches on musical instruments

   B.the study of music

   C.the effect of classical music

   D.the benefit of musical training

(   ) 2. It was believed but hasn't been proved that listening to classical music could

   A.boost your intelligence

   B.improve your speech abilities

   C.develop the ability to learn languages well

   D.make you feel happy

(   ) 3. According to the study,musicians are better at learning a foreign language because

   A.they are better at remembering a score.

   B.they are more sensitive to changes

   C.they are better at connecting sounds with words in a foreign language D,they can cooperate better with others

(   ) 4. Which field might the study have a great effect on?

A. Arts   B. Education   C. Music   D. Medicine

 One of my Chinadialogue colleagues in Beijing recently bought a Philips energy-saving light bulb to replace a standard one. He was happy with his choice. It may have cost 30yuan (just under US $4. 50) ―ten times the price of a filament(灯丝) bulb―but he wanted to save energy as part of his low-carbon lifestyle. And according to the shopkeeper, he would save,in the long run,much more than the 30yuan he was spending.

  Yet only one month later,his expensive light bulb blew up,before he had saved even a small part of the purchase price. Will he stick to his high-cost, low-carbon lifestyle?

China's environmental organizations have started to advocate low-carbon lifestyles and the decrease of carbon footprints to help fight against climate change. But they have overlooked one fact;in China, low-carbon living comes at a high cost.

  It means buying energy-saving bulbs and appliances, and environmentally friendly building materials and daily goods. Cost can no longer be the only standard for purchases. An energy-saving and environmentally friendly product is more expensive than a standard alternative― whether it's a simple light bulb or the house it shines. For average consumers, even buying an ordinary bulb is a huge burden. How can we persuade ordinary people to choose an energy-saving residence? This is not a trend they can afford to follow;perhaps this fashion is only for the rich.

  Most consumers today do not cause huge carbon dioxide (C02) emissions. Their responsi?bility lies not in choosing a low-carbon lifestyle today, but in avoiding a high-carbon life in the future. The principle of "common but differentiated responsibility"―a basis of sustainable de?velopment―can be applied here as well.

  In China, low-carbon living still is resisted by a lack of social infrastructure(基础设施) .E-ven if your salary allows you to make that choice,nobody is there to help you accomplish it.

  Consider energy-saving homes. You need to find out whether or not the developer has used natural materials wherever possible;how effective the insulation(纟色缘物、隔热物) is;and what the green credentials of installed equipment are. You can read up a little, but you'll still be luck to avoid being puzzled by the developers' marketing. Many so-called energy-saving buildings are nothing of the sort,and some are even more energy-hungry than the average home―as Li Taige warned in his article "Energy-efficient buildings? Not always",on Chinadialogue last August. 

(   ) 1. What may probably be the best title of this passage?

   A.To purchase a cheap bulb―your wise alternative.

   B.To choose an energy-saving residence―a must of your life

   C.To learn a low-carbon lifestyle―each citizen's responsibility

   D.To learn a low-carbon lifestyle―a promising but difficult purpose (   ) 2. Why did the writer's colleague get an energy-saving light bulb?

   A.He wanted to save some money.

   B.He wanted to use a more powerful light bulb.

   C.He was asked to do so by some organizations.

   D.He wanted to try learning his low-carbon lifestyle. 

(   ) 3. We can infer from the passage that .

   A.Using energy-saving bulbs and appliances is a fashion.

   B.It's difficult for most Chinese to try to learn a low-carbon lifestyle.

   C.Not all citizens have the same responsibility―learn a Sow-carbon lifestyle.

   D.Most Chinese families cannot afford to purchase an energy-saving residence 

(   ) 4. What is the writer's attitude towards the low-carbon lifestyle?

   A. infomative and entertaining   B. supportive but cautious

   C.  negative but wise   D. positive and active

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