Coming from the Bronx, Jennifer Lopez knew from an early age it would be tough to achieve her dream. In an interview in 2002 she remembered, “I had such a will in me. I had such a passion in me. I could overcome my situation. But a lot of people will get beaten down and be held back by that.” Lopez was not beaten by her situation. She worked hard dancing, singing, and acting in theaters and her hard work paid off with small roles in television and films.
Lopez’s big breakthrough came in 1996 when she played the main role in the movie Selena. For this movie, Lopez got paid $1 million and became the highest paid Latin actress of all time. Since then, she has had starring roles in several successful movies, including Out of Slight(1998) with George Clooney.
Then, Lopez turned her attention toward music. In 1999, she released first album, On the 6. Two songs from the album, “If You Had My Love” and “Waiting for Tonight,” both reached number one on the Billboard music charts. The album sold more than three million copies around the world.
After starring in The Cell (2000), Lopez released her second album, J. Lo, in 2001. The album went straight to the top of the Billboard chart. At the same time that her album came out, Lopez’s new movie, The Wedding Planner, opened in theaters. It became the number one movie at the box office. This meant that Lopez was the first entertainer to ever have a number one album and a number one movie at the same time! Like her first album, J. Lo went tripe-platinum.
But her entertainment career was not the only thing Lopez focused on that year. 2001 was also the year Lopez started her own line of clothing, called J.Lo, and she married Cris Judd, a dancer who performed in her videos. The marriage did not last long, and Lopez and Judd divorced nine months later.
In 2002, Lopez starred in the films Enough and Maid in Manhattan. Maid in Manhattan became Lopez’s biggest movie yet, earning $19 million during its first weekend in theaters. Lopez also put her third album, This Is Me… Then, and the single “Jenny from the Block” hit number one for a week. To go with her line of clothing, Lopez introduced her own perfume.
In an interview, Lopez was asked if she planned to do more acting, singing, designing, or something new. She answered, “Yes, yes, yes, and yes! All of those things. I love making music, I love doing movies and all the other things. I think that everyone should do everything that they have a passion for.”
【小题1】What is the main idea of the passage?

A．acting in the movie Selena	B．getting married to a dancer
C．releasing a second album	D．starring with George Clooney

Engineering students are supposed to be examples of practicality and rationality (理性), but when it comes to my college education I am an idealist and a fool. In high school I wanted to be an electrical engineer and, of course, any reasonable student with my aims would have chosen a college with a large engineering department, many famous professors and lots of good labs and research equipment. But that's not what I did.

I chose to study engineering at a small liberal-arts (文科) university that doesn't even offer a major in electrical engineering. Obviously, this was not a practical choice; I came here for more noble reasons. I wanted a broad education that would provide me with flexibility and a value system to guide me in my job. I wanted to open my eyes and expand my vision by communicating with people who weren't studying science or engineering. My parents, teachers and other adults praised me for such a wise choice. They told me I was wise and grown-up beyond my 18 years, and I believed them.

　I headed off to the college and sure I was going to have an advantage over those students who went to big engineering "factories" where they didn't care if you had values or were flexible. I was going to be a complete engineer: technical expert and excellent humanist all in one.

　Now I'm not so sure. Somewhere along the way my noble ideas crashed into reality, as all noble ideas finally do. After three years of struggling to balance math, physics and engineering courses with liberal-arts courses, I have learned there are reasons why few engineering students try to reconcile engineering with liberal-arts courses in college.

　The reality that has blocked my path to become the typical successful student is that engineering and the liberal arts simply don't mix as easily as I supposed in high school. Individually they shape a person in very different ways. The struggle to reconcile the two fields of study is difficult.

1.Why did the author choose to study engineering at a small liberal-arts university?

2.According to the author, by communicating with people who study liberal arts, engineering students can ___________.

3. Which word below can replace the underlined word “reconcile”?

4.The underlined sentence in 1st paragraph means ___________.

5. The author suggests in this passage that ___________.

When did you last see a polar bear(北极熊）? On a trip to a zoo,perhaps?  If you had attended a winter activity in New York a few years ago,  you would have seen a whole polar bear club.  These "Polar Bears" are people who meet frequently in the winter to swim in freezing cold water.  That day, the air temperature was 3℃, and the water temperature was a little higher.  The members of the Polar Bear Club at Coney Island, New York are usually about the age of 60.  Members must satisfy two requirements.  First, they must get along well with everyone else in the group; this is very important because there are so many different kinds of people in the club.  Polar Bears must also agree to swim outdoors at least twice a month from November through February.
Doctors don't agree about the medical effects of cold-winter swimming.  Some are worried about the dangers of a condition in which the body's temperature drops so low that finally the heart stops.  Other doctors, however, point out that there is more danger of a heart attack during summer swimming because the difference between the air temperature and water temperature is much greater in summer than in winter.
The Polar Bears themselves are satisfied with the benefits of cold-water swimming.  They say that their favorite form of exercise is very good for the circulatory system(循环系统）because it forces the blood to move fast to keep the body warm.  Cold-water swimmers usually turn bright red after a few minutes in the water.  A person who turns blue probably has a very poor circulatory system and should not try cold-water swimming.
　　The main benefits of cold-water swimming are probably mental.The Polar Bears love to swim all year round;  they find it fun and relaxing.  As one 70-year-old woman says,"When I go into water, I pour my troubles into the ocean and let them float away."
【小题1】The members of the Polar Bear Club must meet the following requirements except that_____.

A．they must swim outdoors at least 8 times in the four cold months

B．they must reach the age of 60

C．they should be easy to make friends with

D．they must agree to swim outdoors from November through February

A．Polar Bears are bears swimming in freezing water

B．cold-water swimming can make the body temperature dangerously high

C．you are healthy if cold-water swimming turns your skin color blue

D．cold-water swimming causes more heart attacks in summer than in winter

A few months ago I was at a bus stop in town in the evening. The bus came on time and I took the window seat. The bus route was by the seashore and I was enjoying the breeze (微风) while watching the sea waves. After a few minutes the bus made its next stop. A young boy and a girl got on. They were standing on my left when the bus pulled off. I looked at them curiously and realized that all the window seats were occupied (占据). They could sit but not together. Suddenly a different wave passed through my body and my inner mind gave me the advice to get up. I got up and offered them my seat. The young lady smiled kindly and said thanks. I occupied another seat and we parted our ways. I don’t remember whether I got off the bus before them or not.

       Months passed by. Suddenly one day while I was standing at the same bus stop waiting some time for the bus to arrive I heard a voice.

       “Excuse me, Uncle.” I looked in the direction of the voice. It was a beautiful young lady.

       Puzzled, I said, “I do not recognize you.”

       She said, “Do you remember you gave us your window seat?”

       Puzzled, I said, “Maybe, but what is so great in that?”

       She said, “If you had not given your seat that day, perhaps I would have not sat with my friend. By sitting together it helped us bridge a misunderstanding that had been between us forever. Do you know we are getting married next month?”

       “Good! God bless both of you,” I replied.

       The young lady again said thank you and went on her journey. I realized the importance of giving that day.

Why were the young boy and the girl standing on the bus?

A. Because they wanted to enjoy the sea view.

B. Because they couldn’t sit together.

C. Because there were no empty seats.

D. Because they preferred to stand.

The underlined sentence in the first paragraph probably means that the author had a feeling that ______.

A. he wanted to do something special        

B. the sea wave made him upset

C. a wave from the sea flooded him  

D. he wanted to make a sea wave in his heart

The author’s act of kindness helped the young boy and the girl ______.

A. begin to talk to each other again after a quarrel

B. sit together and become friends very soon

C. clear up a misunderstanding between them

D. know each other and get married

From the story, we can conclude that ______.

A. small things can create great happenings in life

B. it is giving rather than receiving that matters

C. offering one’s seat to others may win respect

D. we sometimes forget what happened in the past

The best title for the passage would be “______”.

A. The empty seat on the bus 

B. The pleasant travel

C. The lovers on the bus            

D. The bus ride

A famous American John Muir said in 1898: “The Grand Canyon… as unearthly (神秘的) in the color and grandeur (壮观) of its architecture as if you had found it after death on some other star.” Like Muir, those of us who stand along the rim are prompted to wonder about the unearthliness and the forces that created and are still changing this place.

After more than 100 years of studies, many things are still mysterious. Today visitors come by the thousands -- the great and simple of the earth -- all in a spirit of wonder. Travelers come from every state of the Union, from every country in Europe and Asia.

From the depths of the canyon comes welling silence. Seldom can you hear the roar of the river, for all sounds are swallowed in this gulf of space. “It makes one want to murmur.” A woman once whispered to her companion. This silence is not the silence of death; rather, it is a presence. It is like a great piece of music. But music made of man works up to a climax (高潮) and stops.

Now, visitors to the South Rim alone may number 18,000 in a single day. Some of that number will travel by mule train down Bright Angel Trail to the canyon's floor, cross the raging river by a suspension bridge (吊桥) and walk to the North Rim. Though the two rims face each other across only 12 miles, it is a journey of 214 miles by car from one to the other. Nor can you visit the North Rim except in summer; some 1,200 feet higher than the South Rim, it is snow covered much of the year except in July and August.

   But there is no day that you may not visit the South Rim and find the sun warm on your face and the air perfumed with the incense (香气) of smoke from an Indian hearth (香炉). No wonder an American writer and journalist said, “I came here an atheist (无神论者), and departed a devout （虔诚的）believer.”

What is it that attracts so many travelers to the Canyon?

A. The unearthliness and the grandeur of its architecture.

B. The presence of American super stars.

C. The saying made by American writers and journalists.

D. The roaring of the river in the Canyon.www..ocm

What does the underlined word “simple” refer to?

A. peaceful stream  B. land surface       C. common people        D. tamed animals

If you want to visit the North Rim from the South Rim, which of the following won’t be the way of traveling for you?

A. By train.                B. By animal.      C. By car.                         D. On foot.

The last sentence “I came here an atheist, and departed a devout believer.” implies that ______.

A. natural wonders such as the Canyon have some effect on human activities

B. all visitors to the Grand Canyon are God believers

C. atheist can’t see the magnificence of the Grand Canyon

D. the Grand Canyon is an unearthly sight that only God could create