Over 40 years ago, a country music DJ convention (大会) was held every year in Nashville, Tennessee. Many country performers used to attend (参加) the convention to give their performances. Fans would go to Nashville hoping to see their favorite performers. In the end, so many fans began showing up in Nashville that a festival named Fan Fair was born.

The first Fan Fair was held in April 1972, in Nashville for four days. Some of country music's biggest stars attended. There were about fifty thousand fans. The first Fan Fair was so successful that planning began almost immediately for 1973. The date was changed to June, when the weather would be better. Over one hundred thousand fans attended the second Fan Fair.

Every year brought so many performers and fans to Fan Fair that, in 1982, it was moved to the Tennessee State Fairgrounds. Fan Fair stayed at the fairgrounds for another nineteen years.

There was always the unexpected during the festival. In 1974, former Beatle Paul McCartney attended. In 1992, more than six hundred reporters from Europe, Asia, and South America went to cover the appearance of a popular star, Billy Ray Cyrus, who had introduced a new country line dance. In 1996, Garth Brooks, who made a surprise appearance, signed autographs (签名) for 23 hours.

In 2001, Fan Fair returned to downtown Nashville as the world's biggest country music festival. Now, over one hundred and twenty-five thousand country music fans go to Nashville every June. As you can imagine, those who want to attend Fan Fair must plan ahead. For example, they need to buy a ticket several months ahead of time. Of course, there's much more to prepare.

1.According to the text, Fan Fair _____.

A. has a history of more than 50 years

B. lasts almost half a month every year

C. is the most important music festival in America

D. is a time when country music lovers get together

2.The second Fan Fair _____.

A. was held in the spring of 1972

B. was more popular than the first one

C. was moved from Nashville to the fairgrounds

D. was attended by former Beatle Paul McCartney

3.The purpose of the fourth paragraph is to _____.

A. show why Fan Fair has been popular

B. introduce three famous musicians

C. explain how Fan Fair started

D. ask people to attend Fan Fair

4.What will the author probably talk about next?

A. Advice for fans.

B. Music in America.

C. Education in Nashville.

D. The future of country music.

Putting more green space around an elementary school may help students develop some mental abilities, a study suggests.

Researchers tested students repeatedly over the course of a year on attentiveness and working memory, which is the ability to keep something in mind temporarily for performing a task. The study tracked more than 2,000 students in 36 primary schools in Barcelona, Spain. The pupils were in the second to fourth grade when the study began. Overall, students whose schools are surrounded by more green space improve more pupils from schools with less green space.

“Policy makers should know that more green space around the school is better for cognitive (认知的) development and that they should make sure that kids can see and play in green areas,” one author, Mark Nieuwenhuijsen of the Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology in Barcelona, said in an email. “Existing urban schools should think about replacing concrete or other hard surfaces with green space, and even a few trees may help,” he suggested.

The researchers used satellite images to group schools according to how much green space appeared on the school ground and within about 55 yards of the school’s surrounding property. Their analysis indicated that differences in socioeconomic factors between schools did not account for the study outcome.

Sally Augustin, a psychologist in La Grange Park, Illinois, who used research on how people react to their surroundings to consult on design of buildings, products and services, said the results make sense to her. Augustin, who did not participate in the new study, said the results fit with previous findings that views of nature help children and adults lower stress and perform mental tasks better.

1.What do we know about the findings of the study?

A. Attentiveness (专注) is the most important quality for students.

B. A good memory enables students to perform a task better.

C. More green space may help the mental development of students.

D. Schools surrounded by more green space are favored by parents.

2.According to Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, policy makers should _______.

A. reduce the noise near the school

B. reduce air pollution from vehicles

C. provide more green space for kids

D. encourage kids to play more sports

3.How are the schools classified by the researchers?

A. By green space. B. By test scores.

C. By size. D. By position.

4.Why is Augustin mentioned in the passage?

A. To introduce another interesting study.

B. To make the findings of the study more convincing.

C. To present new evidence for the study.

D. To show a different viewpoint.

Honeybees can do three kinds of jobs.

It is one of the most unusual insects in the world. Bees are special because they divide up their honeybee work. Each bee has a certain job to do.

The busiest bee is the worker. Workers build the nest, called a hive. Inside the hive, workers make a honeycomb from wax(蜂蜡). They store honey there for food. Workers are always cleaning and fixing the hive. They even stand at the opening and fan their wings to cool the hive. Worker bees will attack anything—even people—to keep their hive safe, if need.

Another kind of bee is the drone(雄蜂). Drones are male bees, and their job is to fly with the queen bee and mate with her. After the queen mates, the worker bees drive the drones away. The drones then starve to death.

The third kind of bee is the queen. Each hive needs only one queen, and her job is laying eggs. She can lay as many as 2, 000 eggs a day.

1.The bee’s nest is called a _______.

A. hive B. honeycomb

C. drone D. wax

2.Which jobs do workers do?

A. They lay 2, 000 eggs each day and build a nest.

B. They mate with the queen bee and then starve.

C. They clean the hive and keep it cool.

D. They attack the queen bee.

3.The drone is driven away when its job is finished, because _______.

A. it attacked the workers B. the queen bee has died

C. it is no longer needed in the hive D. it ate the queen bee

4.According to the story, bees _______.

A. are very dangerous insects

B. will attack anything or anyone to protect the hive, if necessary

C. are like any other insect that flies

D. eat each other as food

A recent study led by researchers from ihe National University of Singapore ( NUS) has found a clear link between the color o£ a taxi and its accident rate. An analysis of 36 months of detailed taxi,driver and accident data from two fleets of yellow and blue taxis in Singapore

suggested that yellow taxis have fewer accidents than blue taxis. The higher visibility (能见度)of yellow makes it less difficult for drivers to avoid getting into accidents with yellow taxis, leading to a lower accident rate.

The study was led by Prof Ho. To test whether there was a relationship between the color of a taxi and the number of accidents the taxi had, the research team analysed data collected by the largest taxi company in Singapore. The researchers found that yellow taxis have about 6. 1 fewer accidents per 1,000 taxis per month.

They also studied the economic effect of changing the color of the entire fleet of taxis to yellow. The Singapore taxi company involved in the study owns about 16,700 taxis in a ratio (比例〉of one yellow to three blue taxis. If a commercial decision is made to switch from blue to yellow taxis, 76.6 fewer accidents will occur per month or 917 fewer accidents per year.Assuming an average repair cost of $1,000 per car and a downtime of six days,switching the color of all taxis to yellow could produce an annual saving of $2 million.

“We are eager to continue to validate(证实)the findings of our study by looking at the use of yellow in other types of public transport, such as school buses. For example, we hope to compare (he accident rates of yellow school buses against those of other colors lo find out if yellow is indeed a safer color for school buses. Besides, we're also interested to look al private-hire vehicles and do a comparison of the accident rates of vehicles that are of differenl colors,” explained Prof Ho.

1.Why do yellow taxis result in fewer accidents?

A. Because yellow can be seen more easily.

B. Because yellow signals a warning of clanger.

C. Because drivers tend to be more careful in yellow taxis.

D. Because people act more quickly in yellow surroundings.

2.What's Prof Ho'S study based on?

A. Physical risks taxi passengers experience.

B. The economic effect of changing taxi color.

C. Data from Singapore's largest taxi company.

D. Personal reports from taxi drivers worldwide.

3.What do Prof Ho’s words in the last paragraph suggest?

A. Their study will be furthered.

B. Their findings are worth popularizing.

C. School buses should be painted yellow.

D. Yellow should be widely used in public transport.

4.What can be the best title for the text?

A. Caution: yellow taxis ahead.

B. Safer to ride in yellow taxis.

C. Why are yellow taxis preferred?

D. How can colors help prevent accidents?

Do you know how to deal with failure at school? Here are four steps that will help you get the most out of each failure,and move on.

1. When you feel bad after failing,talk with your parents or good friend,or any other adult.Then decide to take the responsibility to improve yourself.Read the teachers’ comments on your test carefully.

Ask yourself what you were trying to do and why you failed.2. Maybe you didn’t have all the information you needed; maybe you made a mistake or a poor decision.If so,give yourself a pat in the back.Fewer people ever get something right the first time they try it,and often it takes them many times.

3. Sometimes the failure isn’t because of something you did or didn’t do; it is someone else’s fault.But don’t spend time blaming them; instead,move on toward your goals.

Don’t give up easily.4. There is a difference between making a decision and giving up.Deciding to follow a better way is one thing; simply walking away means you really have failed.

Keep trying again.Successful people are different because they choose their next steps instead of just reacting to feelings.If a goal is still important to you,figure out what to do and go after it again.5.

A.No pains,no gains.

B.Failure is unavoidable.

C.If it isn’t,do your best on something else.

D.Remove you bad feelings.

E.Actually it was because you were very lazy.

F.Review the situation to see what your choices are.

G.Usually it was because you were trying out a new skill or learning a new subject.

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