There are about fifteen hundred languages in the world. But  21  a few of them are very  22 . English is one of these. Many, many people use it, not only in England and the U.S.A., but in other parts of the world. About 200,000,000 speak it as their own language. It is difficult to say how many people are learning it as a   23  language. Many millions are   24  to do so.

Is it easy or difficult to learn English? Different people may have different   25  . Have you ever   26  ads of this kind in the newspapers or magazines? “Learn English in six weeks, or your   27 back.”.“Easy and funny! Our records and tapes   28   you master(掌握) your English in a month.  29  the first day your   30  will be excellent. Just send us ... ” Of course, it never  31  quite like this.

The only language that seems easy to learn is the mother tongue. We should   32  that we all learned our own language well when we were  33 . If we could learn English in the same way, it would not seem so difficult.   34   what a small child does. He listens to what people say. He tries what he hears. When he is using the language, talking in it,  35  in it all the time. Just imagine how much  36  that gets!

So it is  37  to say that learning English is easy, because a good command of English  38   upon a lot of practice. And practice needs great effort and   39   much time. Good teachers, records, tapes, books, and dictionaries will   40 . But they cannot do the student's work for him.

1.                A．not            B．quite           C．only D．very

2.                A．difficult         B．important       C．necessary D．easy

3.                A．native          B．foreign         C．useful    D．mother

4.                A．learning        B．enjoying        C．trying    D．liking

5.                A．questions       B．problems       C．ideas D．answers

6.                A．found          B．watched        C．noticed   D．known

7.                A．knowledge      B．time           C．money   D．English

8.                A．make          B．help           C．let   D．allow

9.                A．From          B．On            C．Since D．After

10.               A．spelling        B．grammar        C．English    D．pronunciation

11.               A．happened      B．looked         C．seemed   D．felt

12.               A．know          B．remember      C．understand D．think

13.               A．students        B．children        C．babies D．grown-ups

14.               A．Imagine        B．Mind          C．Do   D．Think of

15.               A．using          B．thinking        C．trying D．practicing

16.               A．time           B．money         C．language  D．practice

17.               A．hard           B．easy           C．funny D．silly

18.               A．depends        B．tries           C．has   D．takes

19.               A．uses           B．takes          C．gets  D．costs

20.               A．do            B．work           C．help  D．master

    In this age of media technology where the Internet is playing a more and more important role in our lives，how do you usually get information? For many students and office workers，their first Interact stop is the search engine Google：For any information they want，they’s imply type in a keyword, click “enter”，and within seconds relevant web pages appear out．

    So are people still reading books? The answer is surely yes．It’s  simply not realistic to use a computer to read a novel But reading habits in China，and other countries，are changing．Mr Li，a businessman，says his purpose in reading is to get practical knowledge．“I like stories of successful people and books that give advice on how people become successful．Besides，I read  books with basic knowledge，”said Li．

   “I like funny books，especially Japanese funny books，”said Xing Mingyan，a junior student，who reads purely for entertainment．

   “I like to read cook books，”said Miss Zhang，an office worker，who usually reads magazines．

  “And I usually buy fashion magazines．”

    It seems that the purposes of reading have changed a lot．People don’t  tend to read for entertainment as much．They usually read to learn．Books that teach people how to be more successful，wealthier or more beautiful stay on the best―seller charts for a long time．People are also interested in buying funny books and magazines．Just remember how the funny novels of Jimmy Liao took China and other countries by storm．

    But educators say reading is important to teach people and also to develop their imaginations and language skills．No matter what you like to read，why not turn off the computer and television and read a good book，make yourself comfortable and open the door to another world?

41．We learn from the second paragraph that       ．

    A．Mr Li likes books that give him basic knowledge

    B．Mr Li is a very successful businessman

    C．It is hard for readers to buy books that they are interested in

    D．books are playing a more important role in our lives

42．Which of the following is Tree?

    A．Educators say reading is useful in improving people’s  language skills．

    B．Xing Mingyan，a senior student，especially likes Japanese funny books．

    C．Jimmy Liao’s  serious stories made him well-known in China and other countries．

    D．Miss Zhang likes reading funny magazines and fashion magazines．

43．What’s  the main idea of the passage?

    A．People shouldn’t  watch TV or get information from the Internet．

    B．People’s  reading habits and purposes are changing．

    C．A lot of people like reading．

    D．Books are more popular than the Internet．

44．This passage is most probably     ．

    A．an advertisement                                       B．taken from a text book

    C．to tell people how to read books                  D．a newspaper article

45．From the passage we can infer that the writer thinks        ．

      A．books are more important than the Internet

      B．books are as important as the Internet

      C．it’s  pleasant and useful to read good books

      D．books can give us more information than the Internet

A study of art history might be a good way to learn more about a culture than is possible to learn in general classes．Most typical history courses concentrate on politics, economics, and wars．But art history focuses on much more than this because art reflects not only the political values of a people, but also activities of our ancestors–or of people very different from our own–can be provided by art．In short, art expresses the essential qualities of a time and a place．And study of it clearly offers us a deeper understanding than what can be found in most history books．

In history books, objective information about the political life of a country is presented: that is, facts about politics are given, but opinions are not expressed．Art, on the other hand, is subjective: it reflects emotions and opinions．The great Spanish painter Francisco Goya was perhaps the first truly political artist．In his well-known painting The Truth of May, 1808, he criticized the Spanish government for its misuse of power over people．Over a hundred years later, symbolic images were used in Pablo Picasso’s Guernica to express the horror of war．Meanwhile, on another continent, the powerful paintings of Diego Rivera, Jose Clements Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros–as well as the works of Alfredo Ramos Martinez–depicted these Mexican artists’ deep anger and sadness about social problems．

In the same way, art can reflect a culture’s religious beliefs．For hundreds of years in Europe, religious art was almost the only types of art that existed．Churches and other religious buildings were filled with paintings that depicted people and stories from the Bible．Although most people could not read, they could still understand biblical stories in the pictures on the church walls．By contrast, one of the main characteristics of art in the Middle East was （and still is） its absence of human and animal images．This reflects the Islamic belief that statues are unholy．

1．Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

       A．The way art expresses is the same all over the world．

       B．Art history supplies us with knowledge about everyday activities of people in the past．

       C．Most typical history courses don’t cover people’s spirits．

       D．Art is subjective in that it will find a ready echo in our hearts．

2．Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

       A．Unlike Francisco Goya, Pablo Picasso and several Mexican artists expressed their political opinions in their paintings．

       B．History books often show the editors’ political view．

       C．Religious art remained in Europe for centuries the only type of art because most people regarded the Bible as the Holy Book．

       D．Picasso was something of a political artist．

3．The passage is mainly discussing ______．

       A．the difference between general history and art history

       B．the making of art history

       C．what we can learn from art history

       D．the influence of artists on art history

4．It may be concluded from this passage that ______．

       A．Islamic artists have had to create architectural decoration with pictures of flowers or geometric （几何的） forms

       B．history teachers are more objective than artists

       C．it is more difficult to study art history than general history

       D．people and stories from the Bible were painted on churches and other buildings in order to popularize the Bible．