Old Behrman was a painter but was a failure in art. For years, he had always been planning to paint a work of art, but had never yet begun it. He earned a little money by serving as a model to artists who could not pay for a professional model. He was a fierce, little, old man who protected the two young women in the studio apartment above him.

Sue found Behrman in his room. In one area was a blank canvas(画布) that had been waiting twenty – five years for the first line of paint. Sue told him about Johnsy and how she feared that her friend would float away like a leaf on the old ivy vine climbing hopelessly up the outside block wall.

Old BeYucman was angered at such an idea. “ Are there people in the world with the foolishness to die because leaves drop off a vine?”

“She is very sick ,” said Sue, “and the disease has left her mind full of strange ideas.”

“This is not any place in which one so good as Miss Johnsy shall lie sick, “  yelled Behrman .  “Some day I will Paint a masterpiece,and we shall all go away.”

Johnsy was sleeping when they went upstairs. Sue pulled the shade down to cover the window. She and Behrman went into the other room. They looked out a window fearfully at the ivy vine. Then they looked at each other without speaking. Beluman sat and posed as the miner.

The next morning, Sue awoke after an hour’ s sleep. She found Johnsy with wide – open eyes staring at the covered window.

“Pull up the shade; I want to see,” she ordered, quietly. Sue obeyed.

Despite the strong wind, yet there was one ivy leaf against the wall. It was the last one on the vine. It was still dark green at the center. But its edges were colored with the yellow. “It is the last one,” said Johnsy.“I thought it would surely fall during the night. It will fall today and I shall die at the same time.”

“Dear, dear!” said Sue,“Think of me, if you won’t think of yourself. What would I do?”

But Johnsy did not answer.

The next moming, when it was light, Johnsy demanded that the window shade be raised. The ivy leaf was still there.

“I’ ve been a bad girl, “  said Johnsy ,  “Something has made that last leaf stay there to show me how bad I was. It is wrong to want to die. You may bring me a little soup now.”

An hour later she said: “Someday I hope to paint the Bay of Naples.”

Later in the day, the doctor came, and Sue talked to him in the hallway.

“Even chances.  With good care,  you’ll win, “ said the doctor.  “And now I must see another case I have in your building. Behrman, his name is-some kind of an artist, I believe. Pneumonia（肺炎）,too. He is an old, weak man and his case is severe. There is no hope for him; but he goes to the hospital today to ease his pain.”

The next day , the doctor said to Sue:“She’ s out of danger. You won.．”

 “I have something to tell you, Johnsy, “ she said.“Behrman died today. And look out the window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall. Didn’ t you wonder why it never moved when the wind blew? Ah, darling, it is Behrman’ s masterpiece—he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell.”

75. What was in Johnsy’ s mind all the time?

A. When the last leaf falls I must go.

B. The old ivy leaves have little to do with my getting well.

C. I am such a bad girl as to make everything messy.

D. Someday I hope to paint a masterpiece.

76. Which detail in the passage suggests that Behnnan was a failure?

A. He worked as a miner to make ends meet.

B. His drawing board had waited 25 years to receive the first line of his masterpiece

C. He was protective of the two girls but mostly sensitive and fierce.

D. He was a professional model waiting for his great opportunity.

77. We can learn from the story that_____.

A. The relationship between the two artist girls was developed on material comfort

B. The three artists mentioned in the story shared a studio apartment

C.Behnnan showed great sympathy for the two youth

D. Johnsy was somehow annoyed to be accompanied by a never – succeeded artist

78. What does the underlined part “Even chances.” mean ?

A. The doctor indicated that Johnsy was doomed to die.

B.The doctor thought that they should let her go.

C. The doctor believed that Johnsy had every chance of recovery

D. The doctor put her chances at fifty – fifty.

79. When Johnsy said she had been a bad girl, she meant that_____.

A. asking for death was not right

B. she deserved more severe punishment

C. she should never forget about her dream.

D. she was ashamed not to be able to support the other two.

80. The short story can be listed as a typical example of stories with_____.

A. surprise endings                   B. vivid contrasts ( 对比)

C. artistic imagination                D. attractive openings

This is a talk by a London taxi（出租车）driver．

"I've been a taxi driver for nearly ten years． Most London taxi drivers have their own taxis．"

"It's a nice job most of time． you meet a lot of people． I always work at night, because there is too much traffic during the day． I live twenty miles（英里）outside London and I go to work at 5:30 in the afternoon．"

"I usually go home between 2 and 3 in the morning．"

"Some very strange things happened late at night．The other day I was taking a woman home from a party ．She had her little dog with her．When we got to her house, she found that she had lost her key．So I waited in the car with the dog while she climbed in through the windows．"

"I waited and waited． After half an hour of ringing the bell I decided to find out what was going on ．I tied the dog to a tree and started to climb in through the window． The next thing I knew was that the police came． They thought I was a thief（小偷）．

Luckily the woman came downstairs（下楼）．She must have gone to sleep and forgotten about me and the dog!"

1．The driver always worked at night because it was easier to _____．

A．drive                                      B．make money 

C．climb in through the window                  D．meet a lot of people

2．The woman climbed in through the window because _____．

A．she wanted to have a sleep                   B．her husband didn't open the door for her

C．she didn't want to pay the driver              D．she couldn't find her key

3．The story happened _____．

A．in the afternoon                             B．late at night

C．20 miles outside London                      D．near the police station

4．Which of the following is wrong?

A．The driver worked until between 2 and 3 in the morning．

B．The police made a mistake．

C．The woman had no money to pay the driver．

D．The woman had forgotten about the driver and the dog．

5．The driver climbed in through the window to

A．get money from the woman               B．return the dog to the woman

C．see what was happening in the house        D．phone the police

Armed only with iPhones, the inventive rock band Atomic Tom has gone viral（广为流传） by way of the New York subway． The band has scored an Internet hit with the video to the song “Take Me Out．”
Singer Luke White says the production was a top-secret operation．
“We didn't tell anyone about this． It was completely top-secret from our family, from our friends, from our label, our management, everybody． So the first time that people saw this video was last Friday when we put it on YouTube,” explained White．
Since uploading the video to YouTube, band members have spent several days refreshing the page to watch the number of hits rise．
The video has also made its way around Twitter as many people have shared it with their friends．
“I mean, it still hasn't quite hit． It's just kind of blowing our minds right now that we're getting this: many people are fond of it, and they're sharing it with their friends． We don't know what it's like really to have something that's viral, so all of this is very new to us．” said Eric Espiritu, the lead guitarist of the band．
White explains how the video came together:
“We did our research with the applications（ 应用程序） and found applications that worked out really well with the instruments and then we plugged them all into, plugged our phones into mini-battery powered amplifiers（扩音器） that we put underneath our seats, and we did a lot of, you know, practices, in terms of figuring out what the balance of the sound and like who was overpowering, who was too loud or who was too soft．”
The idea for the video came from Espiritu's younger brother Benjamin． The younger Espiritu directed the video from his initial concept through the final edit and upload to the Internet．　
“I've seen a lot of the music applications come out, and I've never actually had the chance to play with them," says Ben Espiritu． "When I started hearing about how they sound and everything, I thought it might be unique to take it one step further and then create an entire band just performing solely（单曲） on the iPhones, and I thought it would be a pretty cool idea．”
Ben says the success of the band’s music video is a credit to the talent and ability of the musicians, but it's also a sign of the times．
“It really comes down to seeing something different, seeing something unique, and I think that that's always, in any type of art form, what will speak to people, and I think it does reflect the times that we live in, taking a smart phone and then being able to turn it into an instrument, not only just an instrument, but making it sound really good．”
【小题1】 Who first saw the video of the song “Take Me Out”?

阅读理解

　　It was the middle of April of 1975．A large number of birds were flying northward． Thousands of ducks led the way as they usually do．

　　But things were different that year．The north winds were very strong． Heavy snowstorms came quite late in the spring．The birds badly needed a place to get out of the storms and to rest during their long flights． Thousands of ducks found a place to rest in Nebraska．

　　At that time a terrible disease that kills birds broke out in Nebraska．Ducks were dying in great numbers．Hawks that lived nearby were spreading (传播) the disease to the water birds that landed on the small lakes．

　　The wildlife workers (野生动物保护工作者)were not able to stop the terrible disease．As they worried over the dying birds, they suddenly thought of something even worse． In a few days the whoopers (美洲鹤), one of the most beautiful birds, were going to fly across the state．

　　What would happen if even one of the forty-nine remaining whoopers was to land near the sick birds? If a whoopers got the disease, it could spread to all the rest．

　　A bad snowstorm blew over Nebraska as the first whoopers fought their way across the state． They were forced down by the storm． And they landed right in the middle of one of the places where the disease was spreading． A farmer was the first to see the nine whoopers on the lake．The wildlife workers quickly prepared to save the whoopers． They worked for long hours trying to frighten the birds away to a safe place．They fired guns, but the whoopers refused to move．

　　At last it stopped snowing! With a small plane the workers were able to drive all but two of the whoopers to a safe place．

　　All night long the workers stayed in the cold as they watched over the whoopers．Suddenly, as day began to break, the last two whoopers took off． They were driven by the airplane to a safe place．

　　Slowly the winds became less strong． The nine whoopers flew off to the north． The wildlife workers were tired but happy．

1．What was the unusual thing that happened in Nebraska in 1975? ______．

[　　]

A．Ducks led the way as a large number of birds flew north

B．Ducks couldn’t find a place to rest in Nebraska

C．A terrible disease that kills birds broke out

D．Heavy snowstorms came early in the spring

2．What made things even worse was that ______．

[　　]

A．hawks got the disease and spread it to the water birds

B．the whoopers flying by would be in danger of catching the disease

C．thousands of ducks died

D．the wildlife workers were not able to stop the disease

3．the wildlife workers did all the following things to save the whoopers EXCEPT ________．

[　　]

A．firing guns to get the whoopers away from the sick birds

B．watching over the whoopers the whole night

C．using a small plane to drive the whoopers to safety

D．gathering the sick and dead birds with a small plane

4．In the end , the nine whoopers flew off to the north when ______．

[　　]

A．the night was over　　　 B．it stopped snowing

C．there was less wind　　　D．the winds stopped

5．Which of the following is NOT TRUE ?______．

[　　]

A．The wildlife workers were happy because they had done their best to protect the whoopers

B．The wildlife workers acted quickly when they were needed to save the whoopers

C．The whooper is a bird which is not commonly found

D．The whoopers always land on the lakes in Nebraska when flying north

Singing had always been an important part of Gloria Estefan’s life. “Since I was three years old, I sang. I sang everything,” Gloria said. “Cubans,” she added, “are a musical people”.

Gloria was born in Cuba in 1957. Her family left the country just before Fidel Castro came to power. In Miami, where the family settled, many people did not accept Cuban immigrants. In first grade, she spoke little English, but she worked hard to learn the language. Six months after she entered school, she won an award for reading in English!

When Gloria was ten, her father returned from the Vietnam War. Soon, the family realized he wasn’t well. They soon found out that he was badly ill. Her mother went back to teaching at school to support the family. Gloria cared for her father and her younger sister.

She still made the honor roll, and she still had her music, but Gloria was lonely. However, when the band leader Emilio Estefan came to speak at her high school, Gloria sang for him. He asked her to join his band. It was the beginning of the Miami Sound Machine.

Within a few months, the Miami Sound Machine was the top band in Miami. In 1978 Gloria and Emilio married.

At first, the Miami Sound Machine was known only in Miami. Then the band signed with CBS Records. Estefan and his band became stars.

Since then, the Miami Sound Machine has sold millions of records. Gloria has done more than just singing when Hurricane Andrew hit central Florida in 1992. She used only two weeks to organize an all-star concert that raised $2 million for the people who suffered in the hurricane. “We needed a party after that disaster,” she said.

Gloria said, “You have to stay true to the music you really love to do. There will always be people who will tell you, ‘that won’t work.’ You’ve got to be firm in spite of difficulties. Stick to it—that’s the main thing.”

1.Gloria’s father was ill_________.

A．when they settled down in Miami.

B．before they left their home country

C．after he returned from Vietnam War

D．as soon as she finished high school

2.According to the passage, probably Gloria did the following excep________ .

A．organizing an all-star concert for Hurricane victims

B．winning an award for reading in English

C．teaching at school to support the family

D．taking care of her father and sister

3.The underlined word “disaster” in this passage refers to __________ .

A．the concert        B．the celebration     C．the victims         D．the hurricane