As a solo artist, Brightman has sold 26 million albums and two million DVDs in 34 countries. Her musical styles put opera, pop and jazz together. She is popular in the States but not here(Britain) – the image of her and her second husband, Andrew Lloyd Webber (he much older, she his muse) seems for ever frozen.

The 47-year-old singer talks about the new album Symphony that came out of a “very dark time”, including her decision to give up trying to have children. “People have suggested I could adopt,” Brightman says. “But work is central to my life now. And so I am going to put it to one side. After a while not having children becomes the norm and perhaps that might sound alarming, to parents especially, but I have never known anything different. I’m not hurt by not having children. My life and career are incredibly rich.”

Talking about growing up in a large family in Berkhamsted (father a property developer who later committed suicide), she says: “I was gifted as a child, and very musical. I seemed to be good at anything to do with the arts. At 5 I understood the music I was dancing to and had an eye for costume.” She first appeared in a West End musical at 11 and hated boarding school.

Brightman led the saucy dance troupe(辣妹三人舞) Hot Gossip and had her first hit with I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper in 1978. At 18 she married a music manager called Andrew Graham Stewart. “I was probably in love but I can’t remember. Girls change such a lot between 18 and 22. It didn’t really work out.” In 1981 she was spotted by Lloyd Webber. She became his leading lady in Song and Dance, Requiem and Phantom of the Opera. They married in 1984.

Brightman says she felt hostility(敌意) “from the beginning. I haven’t tried to understand it. I’ve done very well everywhere else, especially the US, where I now live, I just accept it for what it is. The more you are away from Britain, the more you appreciate it. But I don’t miss it, although I miss my family. Our profession can be uncomfortable but I enjoy what I do. I get on with it.”

The first paragraph tells us that _____.

  A. Brightman is very popular around the world except in America

  B. Brightman’s musical style is a mixture of opera, pop and jazz

  C. the British people don’t like her for her style of music

  D. Brightman is much older than Andrew Lloyd Webber

Brightman decided to give up having children because _____.

  A. she could adopt one    B. her life and career were unbelievably rich without children

  C. she felt it normal not to have children   D. she was too busy

The following statements are true except ______.

  A. Brightman first appeared in a West End musical at 5

  B. Brightman disliked life on the campus

  C. Brightman was very gifted when she was young

  D.The saucy dance troupe made Brightman famous

The underlined word in the fourth paragraph probably means _____.

  A. located     B. admired     C. followed     D. found

What does the author try to say in the last paragraph by quoting Brightman’s words?

  A. Brightman has to accept the fact that she is liked in Britain

  B. Brightman lives in America but she loves her own country

  C. The British coldness towards Brightman led to her hatred to her homeland

  D. Brightman was at a loss why she was not welcome in Britain

I had this exchange with my 6-year-old last week.

       Him: Mom, we have to start buying Danimals.

       Me: Why?

       Him: So, I can bring it to |school for lunch.It's yogurt .

       Me: Why do you want it so badly?

       Him: Because Danimals i|s giving away five fantastic Caribbean vacations.

       I had to explain that there was little chance that he would win a vacation.It's a strategy used to encourage kids to beg for artificially-colored (人工着色的) yogurt that costs a lot.

       Marketing follows my kids —and yours—wherever they go .It comes via TV commercials. Store displays and websites are also constantly selling at our kids .But the most powerful means in kids" lives is the presence of licensed characters on every product imaginable.

       Children can begin their day in character clothing.There's even character -themed wall paint available.A breakfast in a character bowl can be followed by a character toothbrush and character toothpaste(牙膏), character soap and shampoo, and a character wash cloth and towel .Then, they can put on character clothing and character shoes.Check that, character clock on the wall: Is it time for characier-shaped fruit snacks yet?

       Surround kids with enough of the characters and they'll come to believe they need them.Most of us, of course, don't buy all those items.But say no to four products out of five and your home can still get filled with these tiny items encouraging brand loyalty (品牌忠诚)

       At this time of year, parents buy licensed school supplies.With so much marketing around us, it can be tough to stop the tide.

       "One thing that helps parents'is that they can talk to other parents about, this kind of thing," Linn suggested ."If you decide you want to buck this, it helps to find other people who will do the same thing .That way, if your child says."Everyone's doing it," you can really have a sense of whether everyone is." |

From the dialogue between the author and the son, we can infer that ____-

       A.the son likes drinking yogurt a lot.

       B.buying Danimals may win a free tour

       C.the son's school encourages kids to eat yogurt

       D.Danimals in the most popular yogurt among kids.

We can learn from th^ passage that     '

       A.character bowls increase kids' appetite.

       B.character-themed wall paint is expensive

       C.household goods are becoming the target of advertisers.

       D.Linn considered character-themed products a foolish marketing strategy.

The underlined word "buck" in the last paragraph probably means _____.

       A.support        B.resist           C.advertise            D.learn

What does the passage mainly tell us ?  .

       A.Marketing is affecting kids all the time.

       B.Most kids now don't have a happy childhood,

       C.Kids like buying licensed school supplies a lot.

       D.Licensed character produce are doing great harm to kids.

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