题目内容

Born on August 9,1963,New Jersey,Whitney Houston almost seemed bound to become a singer.Her mother Cissy Houston was the choir(唱诗班)minister at New Hope Baptist Church,and it was there that a young Whitney got her start.

When she was 19,Whitney Houston was discovered in a nightclub by the famous Clive Davis of Arista Records. In 1983,Houston made her debut(首演)on national television.In 1985,she released her debut album Whitney Houston and almost immediately became a sensation.Over the next year,her hit singles Saving All My Love for You and How Will I Know helped the album reach the top of the charts,where it staved for fourteen weeks in a row. Houston won a Grammy in 1986 for Saving All My Love for You.

By 1992,Whitney Houston was on top of the world,but her life was about to get very complicated very quickly. That year she married the R&B singer Bobby Brown.At first the marriage was passionate and loving,but things turned sour as the decade progressed and both Brown and Houston battled drug abuse.

In spite of these growing personal troubles,Whitney Houston continued to progress in her career,crossing over successfully into acting in 1992 by starring in The Bodyguard.Her single from the movie,I will Always Love You, proved to be Houston's biggest hit ever,spending a record-breaking fourteen weeks on top of the US charts.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s,Whitney Houston's increasingly rocky marriage,struggles with drug and health problems threatened her career.Over the next few years,Houston attempted to break her drug habit and divorced Bobby Brown in 2007.

After almost a decade of struggling with her personal life,Houston seemed to be pulling herself together.She released a new album,I Look to You,in 2009.The recording received a warm welcome from music fans.

In early 2012,Houston worked on a new musical film Sparkle with Jordin Spark.Unfortunately,Houston didn't live long enough to see it.

Whitney Houston died on February 11,2012,in Los Angeles.With her passing,the music world has lost one of its most outstanding stars.

1.From the first paragraph,we know that .

A. Whitney Houston grew up in a nearby church.

B. Whitney Houston came from a single-parent family.

C. Whitney Houston had to support her family by singing when she was a child.

D. Whitney Houston grew up in a musical background.

2.Which shows the right order of the following events?

a.Whitney Houston divorced the R&B singer Bobby Brown.

b.Whitney Houston began to sing at New Hope Baptist Church.

c.Whitney Houston starred in the film The Bodyguard.

d.Whitney Houston worked on a new musical film Sparkle.

A. bcad B. badc

C. abdc D. cadb

3.What's the author's attitude towards Houston's death?

A. Ashamed B. Regretful

C. Hopeless D. Delightful

4.Which can be the best title of the passage'?

A. Whitney Houston's music talent B. Whitney Houston's achievement

C. Whitney Houston's lite story D. Whitney Houston's sudden death

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Many years ago, my father suffered from a serious heart condition. He was put on _______ disability and was unable to work at a steady job.

However, he wanted to do something to keep himself ______, so he decided to volunteer at the local children ______. My dad loved kids. It was the ______ job for him. He would talk to them and play with them. Sometimes, he would ______ one of these kids. In certain instance, he would tell the sad parents that he would soon be able to ______ their children in heaven and that he would take care of them until they got there. His assurance seemed to help those parents with their ______.

One of these kids was a girl who had been admitted with a rare disease that paralyzed (瘫痪) her from the neck down. She could do ______ and she was very ______. My dad decided to help her. He started ______ her in her room, bringing paints, brushes and paper. He stood the paper up ______ a backing, put the paintbrush in his mouth and began to paint. He didn’t use his ______ at all. All the while he would tell her: See, you can do ______ you set your mind to.

____, she began to paint using her ______, and she and my dad became friends. Soon after, the little girl was discharged (出院) and my dad also left the hospital because he became ______. Sometime later after my dad had ______ and returned to work, he was at the volunteer counter of the hospital one day. He noticed the front door open. In came the little girl who had been paralyzed; only this time she was walking. On seeing my dad, she ______ straight over to him and gave him a ______ she had done using her hands. At the bottom it read: thank you for helping me walk.

My dad would say sometimes love is more powerful than ______, and my dad, who died just a few months after the little girl gave him the picture loved every single child in that hospital.

1.A. permanent B. temporary C. mild D. slight

2.A. confident B. comfortable C. wealthy D. occupied

3.A. center B. hospital C. park D. camp

4.A. normal B. perfect C. awkward D. tiring

5.A. protect B. teach C. lose D. miss

6.A. bury B. praise C. spot D. accompany

7.A. sadness B. happiness C. nervousness D. forgiveness

8.A. anything B. nothing C. Everything D. something

9.A. disappointed B. bored C. depressed D. embarrassed

10.A. visiting B. observing C. avoiding D. contacting

11.A. on B. in C. over D. against

12.A. eyes B. neck C. hands D. head

13.A. whoever B. whatever C. wherever D. whenever

14.A. Gradually B. Briefly C. Suddenly D. Naturally

15.A. hands B. feet C. fingers D. mouth

16.A. better B. worse C. healthier D. fitter

17.A. took out B. turned away C. picked up D. knocked over

18.A. ran B. wheeled C. slid D. turned

19.A. card B. picture C. note D. photo

20.A. words B. exercise C. faith D. medicine

根据短文内容,从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。

How to Do Man-on-the-Street Interviews

The man-on-the-street interview is an interview in which a reporter hits the streets with a cameraman to interview people on the sport. _____ But with these tips, your first man-on-the-street interview experience can be easy.

? When your boss or professor sends you out to do man-on-the-street interviews for a story, think about the topic and develop a list of about ten general questions relating to it. For example, if your topic is about environmental problems in America, you might ask, “Why do you think environmental protection is important in America?” _____

? Hit the streets with confidence. _____ Say, “Excuse me, I work for XYZ News, and I was wondering if you could share your opinion about this topic.” This is a quick way to get people to warm up to you.

Move on to the next person if someone tells you she is not inter

Don’t get discouraged.

Each interview that you get on the street shouldn’t be longer than ten minutes. As soon as you get the answer you need, move on to the next person. Make sure that as you go from interview to interview, you are getting a variety of answers. If everyone is giving you the same answer, you won’t be able to use it. A safe number of interviews to conduct is about six to ten.

● If your news station or school requires interviewees to sign release forms to appear on the air, don’t leave work without them.

A. Limit your time.

B. As you approach people, be polite.

C. If you don’t own a camera, you can buy one.

D. For new reporters, this can seem like a challenging task.

E. To get good and useful results, ask them the same question.

F. That number of interviews should give you all the answers you need.

G. With a question like this, you will get more than a “Yes” or “No” reply.

Last spring, I was fortunate to be chosen to participate in an exchange study program. In my application letter, I was careful to______how much I wanted to see France; evidently, my excitement really came through in my words. Once I_____that I was going, all I could think about was the fun of foreign travel and making all sorts of new and_____friends. While traveling was inspiring and meeting people was_____, nothing about my term in France was what I_____.

The moment I arrived in Paris, I was______by a nice French couple who would become my host parents. My entire experience was joyous and exciting______I received some shocking news from my program coordinator(协调人): there had been a death in my host parents' extended family. They had to travel outside France for several weeks. That afternoon, I had to______out of one family's house and into another. The exchange coordinator told me I'd have a ______this time and asked whether I could share a bedroom with an English speaker. To avoid the temptation (诱惑)to______my native language, I asked not to be_____with an Englishspeaking roommate. When I got to my new room, I_____myself to my new roommate Paolo, a Brazilian (巴西人)the same age as I, whom I was surprised to find playing one of my favorite CDs! In just a few hours, we knew we'd be good friends for the rest of the______.

I left France with many____, so when people ask me what my favorite part of the trip was, they are always______to hear me talk about my Brazilian friend Paolo and the scores of weekdays in class, weeknights on the town, and weekends____ France we enjoyed together. I love how people_____seem so different, but end up being so______. The most valuable lesson I gained from studying in France wasn't just to respect the French people______to respect all people, for your next best friend could be just a continent away. I would recommend an exchange program to anyone who wants to experience foreign cultures and gain meaningful_____.

1.A. discuss B. express C. announce D. argue

2.A. approved B. knew C. warned D. denied

3.A. stubborn B. anxious C. universal D. interesting

4.A. boring B. upsetting C. exciting D. promising

5.A. expected B. liked C. doubted D. feared

6.A. sponsored B. witnessed C. greeted D. supported

7.A. until B. when C. since D. while

8.A. move B. travel C. walk D. rush

9.A. housekeeper B. leader C. roommate D. colleague

10.A. learn B. appreciate C. speak D. master

11.A. combined B. fitted C. involved D. placed

12.A. added B. introduced C. devoted D. adapted

13.A. term B. week C. month D. vacation

14.A. presents B. suitcases C. stories D. dreams

15.A. surprised B. disturbed C. embarrassed D. concerned

16.A. analyzing B. exploring C. describing D. investigating

17.A. need B. shall C. must D. can

18.A. generous B. independent C. similar D. distant

19.A. and B. but C. or D. so

20.A. instructions B. friendships C. facts D. data

Hollywood’s theory that machines with evil(邪恶) minds will drive armies of killer robots is just silly. The real problem relates to the possibility that artificial intelligence(AI) may become extremely good at achieving something other than what we really want. In 1960 a well-known mathematician Norbert Wiener, who founded the field of cybernetics(控制论), put it this way: “If we use, to achieve our purposes, a mechanical agency with whose operation we cannot effectively interfere(干预), we had better be quite sure that the purpose put into the machine is the purpose which we really desire.”

A machine with a specific purpose has another quality, one that we usually associate with living things: a wish to preserve its own existence. For the machine, this quality is not in-born, nor is it something introduced by humans; it is a logical consequence of the simple fact that the machine cannot achieve its original purpose if it is dead. So if we send out a robot with the single instruction of fetching coffee, it will have a strong desire to secure success by disabling its own off switch or even killing anyone who might interfere with its task. If we are not careful, then, we could face a kind of global chess match against very determined, super intelligent machines whose objectives conflict with our own, with the real world as the chessboard.

The possibility of entering into and losing such a match should concentrate the minds of computer scientists. Some researchers argue that we can seal the machines inside a kind of firewall, using them to answer difficult questions but never allowing them to affect the real world. Unfortunately, that plan seems unlikely to work: we have yet to invent a firewall that is secure against ordinary humans, let alone super intelligent machines.

Solving the safety problem well enough to move forward in AI seems to be possible but not easy. There are probably decades in which to plan for the arrival of super intelligent machines. But the problem should not be dismissed out of hand, as it has been by some AI researchers. Some argue that humans and machines can coexist as long as they work in teams—yet that is not possible unless machines share the goals of humans. Others say we can just “switch them off” as if super intelligent machines are too stupid to think of that possibility. Still others think that super intelligent AI will never happen. On September 11, 1933, famous physicist Ernest Rutherford stated, with confidence, “Anyone who expects a source of power in the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine.” However, on September 12, 1933, physicist Leo Szilard invented the neutron-induced(中子诱导) nuclear chain reaction.

1.Paragraph 1 mainly tells us that artificial intelligence may ________.

A. run out of human control

B. satisfy human’s real desires

C. command armies of killer robots

D. work faster than a mathematician

2.Machines with specific purposes are associated with living things partly because they might be able to ________.

A. prevent themselves from being destroyed

B achieve their original goals independently

C. do anything successfully with given orders

D. beat humans in international chess matches

3.According to some researchers, we can use firewalls to ________.

A. help super intelligent machines work better

B. be secure against evil human beings

C. keep machines from being harmed

D. avoid robots’ affecting the world

4.What does the author think of the safety problem of super intelligent machines?

A. It will disappear with the development of AI.

B. It will get worse with human interference.

C. It will be solved but with difficulty.

D. It will stay for a decade.

B

Before birth,babies can tell the difference between loud sounds and voices.They can even distinguish their mother’s voice from that of a female stranger.But when it comes to embryonic learning(胎教),birds could rule the roost.As recently reported in The Auk:Ornithological Advances,some mother birds may teach their young to sing even before they hatch(孵化).New-born chicks can then imitate their mom’s call within a few days of entering the world.

This educational method was first observed in 2012 by Sonia KIeindorfer,a biologist at Flinders University in South Australia,and her colleagues.Female Australian superb fairy wrens were found to repeat one sound over and over again while hatching their eggs,When the eggs were hatched,the baby birds made the similar chirp to their mothers—a sound that served as their regular “feed me!”call.

To find out if the special quality was more widespread in birds,the researchers sought the redbacked fairy wren,another species of Australian songbird.First they collected sound data from 67 nests in four sites in Queensland before and after hatching.Then they identified begging calls by analyzing the order and number of notes.A computer analysis blindly compared calls produced by mothers and chicks,ranking them by similarity.

It turns out that baby red-backed fairy wrens also emerge chirping like their moms. And the more frequently mothers had called to their eggs,the more similar were the babies’ begging calls. In addition,the team set up a separate experiment that suggested that the baby birds that most closely imitated their mom’s voice were rewarded with the most food.

This observation hints that effective embryonic learning could signal neurological(神经系统的)strengths of children to parents.An evolutionary inference can then be drawn.”As a parent,do you invest in quality children,or do you invest in children that are in need?”KIeindorfer asks.”Our results suggest that they might be going for quality.”

1.The underlined phrase in Paragraph 1 means“ ”.

A.be the worst B.be the best

C.be the as bad D.be just as good

2.What are Kleindorfer’s findings based on?

A.Similarities between the calls of moms and chicks.

B.The observation of fairy wrens across Australia.

C.The data collected from Queensland’s locals.

D.Controlled experiments on wrens and other birds.

3.Embryonic learning helps mother birds to identify the baby birds which .

A.can receive quality signals B.are in need of training

C.fit the environment better D.make the loudest call

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