What is the hottest word of 2008 in China?Google, the world's top search engine, gave its list at the end of this year.“Shanzhai”, a Chinese term, which literally refers to the mountain strongholds of bandits(强盗)but has changed to mean “copycatting(复制)”, came at the top.
It's true that “Shanzhai” is everywhere.There are “Shanzhai” phones called “Nakia” and “Anycoll”.There are “Shanzhai” stars who dress and act like celebrities such as Jay Zhou.There are “Shanzhai” versions of movies, songs and TV programs.And recently a crowd of youths has drawn eyes from around the country preparing for the amateur Spring Festival gala(联欢会), in which ordinary people are invited to show their work.“I want to watch the amateur gala on Spring Festival eve,” said 19-year-old Fan Xiaojie in Wuhan.“The performers will express themselves in a bolder and funnier way than those on CCTV.”
“‘Shanzhai'is a way for young people to have their voices heard in a world ruled by authorities,” said Gu Haibin, a sociologist from Remin University.Made cheaply and easily, “Shanzhai” versions gave ordinary people an opportunity to express themselves.Gu said the copycat trend also promotes a DIY(do it yourself)attitude.“With the spread of the Internet, it has become easier to publish works and get an access to technology.This has made DIY more possible.”
Li Xinlian, a psychologist in Beijing, thought about why “Shanzhai” is getting popular at this particular time.“It meets people's need to release, especially after this year's many gloomy events, such as the snowstorm, earthquake and financial crisis,” said Li.“The ‘Shanzhai'spirit makes fun of authorities and of ourselves.It provides a release.”
However, experts remind that copycat works can break copyright laws.The law allows copying the format of a copy-righted work, but not the content.Lyrics or melody(词曲)of a song are also protected from commercial uses.
(1)
Which popular copycat is NOT mentioned in the passage?
[ ]
A.
Shanzhai phones.
B.
Shanzhai stars.
C.
Shanzhai internet.
D.
Shanzhai movies, songs and TV programs.
(2)
The underlined word “gloomy”(in paragraph 4)means ________.
[ ]
A.
satisfying
B.
depressing
C.
surprising
D.
exciting
(3)
According to Li Xinlian, “Shanzhai” is currently getting popular because ________.
[ ]
A.
many people's life is very boring
B.
it meets people's needs and provides a release
C.
people, especially young people, like to play jokes
D.
many people lost their lives in the snowstorm and earthquake
(4)
This passage is most probably taken from ________.
To take the apple as a forbidden fruit is the most unlikely strory the Christians(基督教徒)ever cooked up.For them, the forbidden fruit from Eden is evil(邪恶的).So when Colu brought the tomato back from South America, a land mistakenly considered to be eden, ever jumped to be the obvious conclusion.Wrongly taken as the apple of Eden, the tomato was shut o the door of Europeans.
What made it particularly terrifying was its similarity to the mandrake, a plant that was the to have come from Hell(地狱).What earned the plant its awful reputation was its roots w looked like a dried-up human body occupied by evil spirits.Tough the tomato and the man were quite different except that both had bright red or yellow fruit, the general population consio them one and the same, to terrible to touch.
Cautious Europeans long ignored the tomato, and until the early 1700s most of the We people continued to drag their feet.In the 1880s, the daughter of a well-known plant expert that the most interestinig part of an afternoon tea at her father's house had been the “introduction this wonderful new fruit-or is it a vegetable?”As late as the twentieth century some writers classed tomatoes with mandrakes as an”evil fruit”.
But in the end tomatoes carried the day.The hero of the tomato was an American named R Johnson, and when he was publicly going to eat the tomato in 1820, people journeyed for hun of miles to watch him drop dead.”Wha are you afraid of?”he shouted.”I'll show you fools these things are good to eat!” Then he bit into the tomato.Some people fainted.But he sur and, according to a local story, set up a tomato-canning factory.
(1)
The tomato was shut out of the door of early Europeans mainly because ________.
[ ]
A.
it made Christive evil
B.
it was the apple of Eden
C.
it came from a forbidden land
D.
it was religiously unacceptable
(2)
What can we infer the underlined part in Paragraph 3?
[ ]
A.
The process of ignoring the tomato slowed down
B.
There was little pregress in the study of the tomato
C.
The tomato was still refused in most western countries
D.
Most western people continued to get rid of the tomato
(3)
What is the main reason for Robert Johnson to eat the tomato Publicly?
[ ]
A.
To manke imself a hero
B.
To remove people's fear of the tomaoto
C.
To speed up the popularityt of the tomato
D.
To persuade people to buy products fo\rom his factory
(4)
What is the main purpose of the passage?
[ ]
A.
To challenge people's fixed concept of the tomato
B.
To give an explanation to people's dislike of the tomato
C.
To present the change of people's attitudes to the tomato
D.
To show the process of freeing the tomato from religious influence