(2013·高考北京卷，C)Although being famous might sound like a dream come true，today’s stars，feeling like zoo animals，face pressures that few of us can imagine.They are at the center of much of the world’s attention.Paparazzi (狗仔队) camp outside their homes，cameras ready.Tabloids (小报) publish thrilling stories about their personal lives.Just imagine not being able to do anything without being photographed or interrupted for a signature!

According to psychologist Christina Villarreal，celebrities－famous people－worry constantly about their public appearance.Eventually，they start to lose track of who they really are，seeing themselves the way their fans imagine them，not as the people they were before everyone knew their names.“Over time，”Villarreal says，“they feel separated and alone.”

The phenomenon of tracking celebrities has been around for ages.In the 4th century B．C.，painters followed Alexander the Great into battle，hoping to picture his victories for his admirers.When Charles Dickens visited America in the 19th century，his sold?out readings attracted thousands of fans，leading him to complain (抱怨) about his lack of privacy.Tabloids of the 1920s and 1930s ran articles about film?stars in much the same way that modern tabloids and websites do.

Being a public figure today，however，is a lot more difficult than it used to be.Superstars cannot move about without worrying about photographers with modern cameras.When they say something silly or do something ridiculous，there is always the Internet to spread the news in minutes and keep their “story” alive forever.

If fame is so troublesome，why aren’t all celebrities running away from it? The answer is there are still ways to deal with it.Some stars stay calm by surrounding themselves with trusted friends and family or by escaping to remote places away from big cities.They focus not on how famous they are but on what they love to do or whatever made them famous in the first place.

Sometimes a few celebrities can get a little justice.Still，even stars who enjoy full justice often complain about how hard their lives are.They are tired of being famous already.

1.It can be learned from the passage that stars today________.

A．are often misunderstood by the public

B．can no longer have their privacy protected

C．spend too much on their public appearance

D．care little about how they have come into fame

2.What is the main idea of Paragraph 3?

A．Great heroes of the past were generally admired.

B．The problem faced by celebrities has a long history.

C．Well?known actors are usually targets of tabloids.

D．Works of popular writers often have a lot of readers.

3.What makes it much harder to be a celebrity today?

A．Availability of modern media.

B．Inadequate social recognition.

C．Lack of favorable chances.

D．Huge population of fans.

4.What is the author’s attitude toward modern celebrity?

A．Sincere.? B．Sceptical.

C．Disapproving.? D．Sympathetic.

A cancer-stricken British teenage girl said Thursday she had been moved by messages of support from around the world after writing an online “Bucket List” of things she wanted to do before dying.
Alice Pyne, l5, created an Internet blog in which she described her fight against a cancer of the white blood cells. “ I've been fighting cancer for almost four years and now l know that the cancer is gaining on me and it doesn't look like I'm going to win this one,” she wrote.
For her list, the teenager took inspiration from the 2007 film “The Bucket List”, in which two terminally ill (患绝症的) men, played by Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, draw up a list of things they wish to do before they die.
On her list, at the site www. alicepyne. blogspot. com, she has included making everyone sign up to be a bone marrow donor (骨髓捐赠者), swimming with sharks, meeting boy band Take That and getting a purple iPad computer.
Messages of support and offers of help quickly flooded her webpage and it became one of the most talked about subjects on Twitter.
“Oh dear and I thought that I was just doing a little blog for a few friends!” she wrote after her site attracted huge attention. “Thank you so much for all your lovely messages to me.”
Pyne, who lives with her family in the northwest English town of Ulverston, revealed (透露) the management of Take That had arranged for her to see the band after reading her blog. A group of local lawmakers have also joined forces with the Anthony Nolan blood cancer charity to encourage people to join its stem cell register.
【小题1】 What happened after Alice Pyne wrote her“Bucket List”?

Three wishes

A man and his wife were very poor. They kept hoping for new clothes and good food. The man enjoyed eating, and he especially liked cakes. One night an old woman came to their house and told them she would let them have three wishes. They could wish for anything they wanted.

  The man had just finished eating a piece of bread for his dinner, but he was still hungry. He said, “I wish I had a big cake!”

  Suddenly a cake appeared on his plate.

  “You fool!” His wife cried. “You could have wished for a house full of wonderful food, but you wished for a cake. I wish that cake was on the end of your foolish nose! ”

  Immediately the cake stuck to the end of his nose.

  Then the man and his wife started blaming each other. “It’s your fault!” she man cried. “No, it’s your fault!” she answered. What could they do? The cake was still stuck to the husband’s nose.

  “Oh!” the wife cried. “I wish none of this had ever happened!”

  Immediately the cake was gone, and the man was saying, “I’m still hungry. How I wish I had some cakes! ”

But of course nothing happened.

The man quarreled with his wife because ___.

A. he always enjoyed eating          

B. his wife hoped that he asked for a house

C. the cake stuck to the end of his nose according to his wife’s wish.

D. he didn’t want anything except cakes

The wrong statement of the following is ___.

A. the man made his wishes before dinner

B. the wife made two wishes, which worked

C. the wife wanted her husband to wish for more than a big cake

D. the man wished that the cake were not on his nose

Why did the old woman not satisfy the man’s wish when he said he was still hungry and wanted some cakes?

A. Because the old lady was angry with them

B. Because this was the fourth wish.

C. Because the man had made this wish before.

D. Because the cake had been gone.

I had about 10 minutes to exercise before I had to pick up my two older daughters from school yesterday. It was a busier day than usual for me with a couple of meetings besides my regular work.
Years ago, I would have put off my workout and would have left things for the next day. But since it was a busy day as well, I knew that I may not have all that much time either. So, I picked up my kettle-bell (哑铃) and went to town for 4 minutes.
See, 4 minutes, if that’s all you’ve got, is enough to give your body a great fat-burning exercise. How did I get a killer workout in 4 minutes? I used a training workout discovered 10 years ago by a Japanese Sports Scientist called a TABATA.
It includes 20-second periods of warm-up, followed by 10-second periods of rest and 4-minute straight exercise. How is a 4-minute exercise able to burn fat? It all depends on the quality of work you do. Not on the quantity. Here’s how I did it yesterday.
You should never forget your warm-up. A TABATA workout is 20 seconds of 2-arm Kettle-bell swings, 10 seconds rest, 20 seconds push-ups, and 10 seconds rest. You should do those 4 rounds. That’s it. I was done in a total time of 8 minutes by the time and when I got to school my heart was still pumping pretty hard.
A healthy body is needed for studying and working, and efficiency (效率) is the key to building a great body in the least amount (数量) of time possible and you can’t get more efficient than a 4-minute workout.
【小题1】We can learn from the passage that the author ______.