Hey, all you Muggles, witches, and wizards—are you ready for the grand finale of the Harry Potter series? J. K. Rowling announced on Thursday the title for book seven—Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Book seven in the Harry Potter series will pick up where book six, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, left off. With the last chapter of book seven, the magical adventures of Harry, Hermione, Ron, and friends will come to an end.

“I am alternately delighted and worried,” says Rowling on her official Web site. She made the announcement of the book title on the Web site. Rowling is currently busy putting the finishing touches on the book.

“I’m now writing scenes that have been planned, in some cases, for a dozen years or even more,” says Rowling. Rowling adds that she has been working very hard on this final installment in the series. With the title now set, she assured fans that she will indeed finish this book. 

“I both want, and don’t want, to finish this book,” Rowling says.

It’s not too late to catch up on the rest of the series. You can also reread your favorite books while waiting for the last one. The publication date for book seven has not been set. To make the waiting a little easier, there’s always the next Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which is scheduled for release in July 2007.

What’s the name of the last issue of the Harry Potter series?

        A.Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

        B.Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

        C.Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

        D.Harry Potter and J. K. Rowling

Muggles, Harry, Hermione and Ron could probably be _____.

        A.the best friends of J. K. Rowling       

         B.the characters of the Harry Potter series

        C.the fans of Harry Potter                      

         D.the publishers of the Harry Potter series

Which statement is true according to the passage?

        A.Harry Potter series will be published on the Website.

        B.Book Seven of Harry Potter series will be published before July 2007.

        C.Book Seven is being written as planned years ago.

        D.Harry Potter will come to the end of his life.

In the last paragraph, the writer _____.

        A.encourages readers to act out a play following the Harry Potter movies

        B.persuades readers into reading their favorite book rather than Harry Potter series

        C.states that seeing the Harry Potter movies is the best way to catch up the series

        D.advises readers to wait for the publication of Book Seven patiently

                         HANS Christian Andersen put Denmark on the map of the world literature with his stories The Emperor's New Clothes, The Little Mermaid (小美人鱼) and The Ugly Duckling.Now Copenhagen, the country's capital, has become the center of the world political map, with 190 world leaders attending the climate talks there, not to mention thousands of reporters.
Just how much do you know about the Scandinavian country?
Denmark is famous for its design culture.At the heart of “Danish Design” is the idea that, as poet and designer Piet Hein puts it: “There is one art, not more, nor less, [and that is] to do all things with artlessness (朴实)”.
Danish design places equal emphasis on practicality and quality.From Lego toys to furniture, Danish products are known for their clean lines, simplicity and functionality.“Remove material where it's not needed.Keep things simple and functional and make them carefully,” explained Hans J.Wegner, the first Danish designer to achieve worldwide fame: “The aim is not to create a work of art, but to produce a good chair.”
“The Danes have done a better job than most in promoting arts in Europe, considering their country's size and population, in the fields of architecture, sculpture and design,” writes Helena Smith, reporter with British newspaper the Guardian.
The simplicity of Danish design may extend to the quality of life there.Some even claim that the Danes have the highest quality of life of any nation in the world.
Kate Vial, a 55-year-old American who has lived and worked in Denmark for more than 30 years, explaining why she chooses to live in Denmark rather than the US, told Germany's biggest news weekly Der Spiegel: “I just chose a simpler lifestyle, one where I could ride my bike all over and where I don't have to make a great living to survive.”
【小题1】What’s the writer’s purpose of mentioning Denmark’s literature?

A.To show the readers that Denmark is best known for its stories.
B.To arouse readers’ interest in Denmark.
C.To tell the readers that this passage is related to literature.
D.To show why Denmark can attract so many political leaders.
【小题2】What is Denmark famous for according to the passage?
A.Design cultureB.Making chairs
C.Writing poemsD.Climate prediction
【小题3】Which statement is true according to the passage?
A.Danish design pays more attention to arts than its function.
B.Danish products don’t need much material.
C.Danish people like to keep simple life.
D.Compared with other countries in Europe, Denmark does little in promoting arts.
【小题4】In Piet Hein’s opinion, the characteristic of Danish culture is _____________.
A.CreativeB.ComplicatedC.ImpracticalD.Simple
【小题5】What is the best title for the passage?
A.Danes conquer the world with simple designs.
B.Denmark—a new political center.
C.Life in Denmark.
D.Designer’s idea of Denmark.



B
Across the United States, there are several places where two independent towns grew together to become one city — but kept both their names.
Winston?Salem is one of them. It’s a mid?sized city in what’s called the plateau(high land), between the Atlantic Coast and the inland mountains in the state of North Carolina. The Winston part is a relatively new place, founded early this century. It’s home to the nation’s biggest open?air tobacco market.?
The giant R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company’s headquarters is in Winston?Salem, and Winston is the name of one of Reynolds’best?known cigarette brands. Fast?growing Winston soon surrounded the much older town of Salem, so in 1913, people in the area voted to combine them into a single place.?
From a historical and tourist point of view, Salem, or Old Salem, as it’s called today, is the interesting and unusual part of town.?
Salem was founded in the 1700s by the Moravians. They spoke German, and their community was religiously based, with single men and single women living apart in separate dormitories. The Moravians greatly valued women’s work and brainpower. In fact, one of the nation’s oldest boarding schools for young women— the Moravians’Salem Academy founded in 1772 — is still in operation. ?
Over the years, Salem lost its Moravian character. That all changed, though, when a nonprofit group began to rehabilitate the historic area. These days Old Salem is what’s called a living history museum, with exhibits, music, and tours of 18th-century houses, taverns and Moravian dormitory buildings just seven blocks from the tallest skyscraper in Winston-Salem.?
The historic community is booming again. Just as R. J. Reynolds is taking in millions of dollars making cigarettes across town, Old Salem is generating about S| 15 million a year in tourism revenue and donations.?
61. From the passage we can know that____________.?
A. Winston-Salem is the name of a city?
B. Salem is home to the tobacco market?
C. the city Winston-alem has two names?
D. Old Salem is the name of a tobacco brand
62. It can be inferred from Paragraph 3 that__________.?
A. the two cities benefited each other?
B. Salem developed faster than Winston?
C. R.J. Reynolds Company has moved into Salem?
D. the combination meets the wishes of the people
63. The city Salem is special for its__________.?
A. boarding school                          B. lifestyle and tradition?
C. respect for brainpower                    D. religious belief
64. The underlined word “rehabilitate” in Paragraph 6 is closest in meaning to “_________”.?
A. reconstruct            B. evaluate         C. enlarge         D. decorate?
65. What will probably be talked about in the following part? ?
A. Some other attractions in Winston-Salem. ?
B. How Winston makes profits from tourism. ?
C. Other examples of cities combined by two parts.?
D. Something about the boarding school for women.

J.K. Rowling set children’s imaginations on fire. Can the creator of Harry Potter do the same for a grown-up audience? The British author will find out on September 27, when more than 2 million hardcover(精装书) copies of her first novel for adults hit bookstores in the UK and the US, along with the digital edition. Set in a little English town, The Casual Vacancy is about an election held after an unexpected death.

Michael Pietsch, Rowling’s US publisher, says the novel reminded him of Dickens “because of the humanity, the humor, the social concerns, the intensely real characters”. No magic though, apparently: “This book isn’t Harry Potter”, says Pietsch. “It is a completely different concern”. As with Harry Potter, there are no advance copies for the media, no early reviews. To date, the seven-book series has sold more than 450 million copies worldwide, and it became one of the most successful movie franchises in July 21, 2007.

Back then, fans could buy books at midnight parties hosted by bookstores. But recent years have seen a great challenge for brick-and-mortar(实体的) bookstores. People are still buying books, indeed more books than in 2007, according to figures released by the Association of American Publishers. But they are reading them in a new format(样式)—the e-book. The Harry Potter series just became available digitally for the first time in April. It will be different for The Casual Vacancy, with the publisher simultaneously releasing an e-book. For Rowling fans who once queued up for Harry Potter, this means that instant satisfaction is now only a click away.

Moving from children’s books to adult literature is a big transition. Will Rowling’s new book be successful? Arthur Levine, the US co-editor of the Harry Potter books, seems confident: “If you read or re-read the Harry Potter books, you can see that Rowling has all the strengths she needs for great success as a fiction writer –you have great characters, an involving plot, a sense of humor and great empathy”.

1.In Paragraph 2, what Michael Pietsch says means that_____.

A. Dickens’ works are too impressive to forget.

B. J.K. Rowling has all the strengths of Dickens.

C. The new book is similar to Dickens’ works in some way.

D. The new book is quite different from the works of Dickens.

2.The underlined word “simultaneously” has the closest meaning with“______”.

A. willingly????????????? ????? B. meanwhile??????? C. especially????????????? ????????????? ? D. eventually

3.What’s the main purpose of Paragraph 3?

A. To explain why the new book will have a digital edition.

B. To show the Harry Potter series are popular with readers.

C. To compare J.K. Rowling’s old books and her new book.

D. To clarify the great challenges for brick-and-mortar bookstores.

4.What do the Harry Potter series and The Casual Vacancy have in common?

A. They are both intended for children.

B. They both show the author’s great talent.

C. Their characters both have magical power.

D. Both of them won’t be read on the Internet.

 

Motorists who used to listen to the radio or their favorite tunes on CDs may have a new way to entertain themselves, after engineers in Japan developed a musical road surface.

A team from the Hokkaido Industrial Research Institute has built a number of“melody roads,”which use cars as tuning forks to play music as they travel.

The concept works by using grooves(凹槽).They are cut at very specific intervals in the road surface. The melody road uses the spaces between to create different notes.

Depending on how far apart the grooves are, a car moving over them will produce a series of high or low notes, and designers are able to create a distinct tune.

Paten documents for the design describe it as notches “formed in a road surface so as to play a melody without producing simple sound or rhythm and reproduce melody-like tones”.

There are three musical strips in central and northern Japan—one of which plays the tune of a Japanese pop song. Reports say the system was invented by Shizuo Shinoda. He scraped some markings into a road with a bulldozer before driving over them and found that they helped to produce all kinds of tones.

The optimal speed for melody road is 44kph,but people say it is not always easy to get the intended sound.

“You need to keep the car windows closed to hear well,”wrote one Japanese blogger.“Driving too fast will sound like playing fast forward, while driving around 12mph[20km/h]has a slow-motion effect, making you almost car-sick.”

1.According to the passage, melody roads use        to create different notes.

A.cars

B.grooves

C.spaces between intervals

D.bulldozers

2.We can learn from the passage that the highness of notes is depended on        .

A.how far the grooves are

B.how big the grooves are

C.the number of the grooves

D.the speed of the car

3.The underlined word “optimal” in the passage might mean        .

A.fastest

B.possible

C.best

D.suitable

4.In order to hear the music well, you have to        .

A.drive very fast

B.drive slowly

C.open the windows wide

D.keep the windows closed

5.What’s the best title of the passage?

A.A New Type of Music

B.Melody Roads in Japan

C.A Musical Road Surface

D.A New Invention in J

 

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