For the most part, you are probably only exposed to the music that is played on your favorite radio stations and TV shows, music Web sites, or the music that your friends and family members enjoy. While you probably know a lot about your favorite type of music, it can be a rewarding experience to enlarge your horizons (眼界), discovering artists and types of music that you’re not familiar with. Who knows, you might discover you like certain types of music you never even considered.

Have you ever wondered about the history and influences of your favorite types of music? For example, did you know that rock ’n’ roll originated (起源) from the blues, and that the blues began as a form of musical expression for African Americans during slavery(奴隶制度)? Did you know that most hip-hop is heavily influenced by early rhythm blues and jazz?

There are many fun ways to learn about different musical styles and their historical roots. For example, if you like hip-hop, listen to some of your favorite CDs and take note of the samples the performers used to create the songs. There is a possibility that the artist used parts of older songs to create the music. You can go to the library or online to learn more about the artists and listen to more of their music by checking out CDs from the library or downloading songs online for a small fee.

 You can learn so much about culture and history just by paying attention to different types of music and what is being expressed in the songs. There are so many different styles of music to learn about, and you owe (欠) it to your-self to make an effort to listen to and learn about them.

1.The main topic of this passage is _______.

A. creating music                  

B. performing music

C. enjoying your favorite music        

D. learning about music

2.What music did African Americans use to express their feelings of being slaves?

A. Rock ’n’ roll.    B. The blues.   C. Hip-hop.     D. Jazz.

3.How can you learn about culture and history through music?

A. By writing down the names of the music

B. By creating music from older songs yourself.

C. By caring about what is being expressed in music.

D. By keeping a record of fees after downloading songs online.

4.By saying the underlined sentence in the last paragraph, the author probably means that _______.

A. you should try harder to learn about music

B. you should return something to music

C. you should borrow music CDs from others

D. you should buy music CDs yourself

Willa Nicoletta, Genuine relaxation

Somewhere in the world, there’s a place where stress isn’t allowed and peace and genuine relaxation are the only demands of the day．If you could go there, you would thoroughly enjoy yourself．There are not too many places in the world like this．．．but this is one of them．It’s luxurious．It’s ultra-private．

Welcome to Villa Nicoletta．

Villa Nicoletta is a 4 bedroom luxury villa and an oasis(绿洲) of rest and rejuvenation（恢复活力） in a land of unspoiled peace．Located on a 70-foot cliff overlooking the north shore of the Island of St．Thomas and the pretty waters of Caret Bay, Villa Nicoletta offers some the finest accommodations in the Caribbean for those seeking a vacation of elegance, peace and privacy．You’ll see how the sun blankets the landscape and water in shimmering brilliance by day and how the sky twinkles like billions of flawless diamonds at night．

Completed in 2000, the 3,300-square-foot  Villa Nicoletta is fully equipped with state-of-the-art electronics, including: 6 High Defintion flat-screen TVs all with 120-channel satellite television and four Dell computers with 19-inch flat-screen monitors, wireless broadband Internet and printer/scanner/fax capability. There are also 6 DVD players to go with the TVs, as well as CD players, radios and video games.

When you book Villa Nicoletta, you shall book the entire villa.

Off Season: April 16 to December 14

★4 bedrooms—$5700 /week (8 people max)

Sleep sofa can add additional 2 people $ 200/night

Peak Season: December 15 to April 15

★4 bedrooms—$6300/week(8 people max)

Sleep sofa can add additional 2 people $ 200/night

1.The villa can be rented to a maximum of           people at a time.

A．five              B．eight             C．thirteen           D．ten

2.If a family with 6 people spends a two-week Christmas holiday in the villa, how much will they pay?

A．$12,600.          B．$15,400.          C．$11,400.          D．$13,200.

3.Villa Nicoletta is most likely to be popular with tourists who     .

A．like adventure

B．want to escape the noisy life of the city

C．enjoy the winter sports

D．seek excitement in the sea

4.We can infer that        .

A．you have to share the villa with other tourists

B．the Island of St. Thomas is famous for the ocean theme amusement park

C．fewer tourists stay in Villa Nicoletta in autumn than in spring

D．you can go in for extreme sports in Villa Nicoletta

5.The underlined word “twinkles” here means       .

A．shines with a light                       B．falls like snow

C．burns with a spot                        D．cries in surprise

Teaching materials for learning Chinese are provided here. There are sites where you may find interesting instructions suitable for you. Here are some sites to begin your surfing.

You may start with these pages from this website — just to get a little taste of it without working too hard.

● A Is For Love

Flash cards for learning a few Chinese words

● Listening to the sound of Chinese

Play a few words of Chinese on your computer.

● A few Chinese words

Each word is enlarged for easy study.

If you are studying Chinese, these tools can help. [来源:]

● Zhongwen site

More than a dictionary!

● Clavis Sinica

 Excellent program by Professor David Porter. It displays a whole document in Chinese [GB] or [BIG5], and gives individual word’s definition, pronunciation as well as much more information when you click on that word. If you are studying Chinese, this is a very useful tool.

● Chinese Character Visual Dictionary

If you like to know more, go to the following sites on the Internet.

● The Chinese Outpost[来源:ZXXK]

Pronunciation, Character and Grammer By Mark Andrew Baker. The best. A must-visit site.

● Learn Cantonese / Mandarin Online

● Internet Based Chinese Teaching and Learning

● Rainland Kids discover Chinese — Site is in Germany

If you want to have a better understanding of China, go to this one.

● Wanfang Data

As an affiliate (分支) of Chinese Ministry of Science && Technology, Wanfang Data has been the leading information provider in China since 1950s. With a wide range of database resources and value-added services, Wanfang Data has become a gateway to understanding Chinese culture, medicine, business, science, etc.

1.This passage is most probably from ______.

A. a TV programme            B. a teacher’s lecture

C. a newspaper                  D. the Internet

2.If you want to know each Chinese character’s definition, pronunciation and much more information, you’d better surf ______.

A. Zhongwen site   B. A Is For Love         C. Clavis Sinica   D. A few Chinese words

3.If you want to know China about its culture, medicine, business, science, you’d better surf ______.

A. Learn Mandarin online                   B. Wanfang Data

C. Rainland kids discover Chinese        D. The Chinese Outpost

4. The underlined word “gateway” in the last paragraph probably refers to ______.

A. an opening in a wall that can be closed by a gate[来源:学*科*网Z*X*X*K]

B. a place through which you can go to another place  

C. the space when a door is open 

D. a means of getting or achieving something

The crisis at the damaged Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Station in northern Japan has raised worries about radiation risks. We spoke Tuesday with Jonathan Links, an expert in radiation health sciences. He is a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland.

Professor Links says workers within the nuclear plant are the only people at risk of extremely high doses of radiation.

JONATHAN LINKS: "Of course, we don't know what doses they've received, but the only persons at risk of acute radiation effects are the workers."

For other people, he says, there may be a long-term worry. People can get cancer from low doses of ionizing radiation, the kind released in a nuclear accident.

Professor Links says scientists can use computers to quickly model where radioactive material has blown and settled. Then they measure how large an area is contaminated. He says if the situation is serious enough, officials could take steps like telling people not to eat locally grown food or drink the water.

JONATHAN LINKS: "But that would only be the case if there was a significant release and, because of wind direction, the radioactive material was blown over the area, and then settled out of the air into and onto water, plants, fruits and vegetables."

The reactors at Fukushima are on the Pacific coast. But Professor Links says people should not worry about any radioactive material leaking into the ocean.

JONATHAN LINKS: "Even in a worst-case scenario accident, the sea provides a very high degree of dilution. So the concentration of radioactivity in the seawater would still be quite low."

Japan is the only country to have had atomic bombs dropped on it. That memory from World War Two would create a stronger "psychological sensitivity" to radiation exposure, Professors Links says.

Next month is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the explosion and fire that destroyed a reactor at Chernobyl in Ukraine. The nineteen eighty-six event was the world's worst accident in the nuclear power industry.

A new United Nations report says more than six thousand cases of thyroid cancer have been found. These are in people who were children in affected areas of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. The report says that by two thousand five the cancers had resulted in fifteen deaths.

The cancers were largely caused by drinking contaminated milk. The milk came from cows that ate grass where radioactive material had fallen.

To get the latest updates, go to www.unsv.com.

Contributing: James Brooke

1.The passage mainly tells us __________.

2.Which of the following is NOT the influences caused by the leak of Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Station?

3.What’s the meaning of the underlined word “dilution”?

4.According to the passage which of the following is not TRUE ?

Giving up smoking will most likely add seven years to one’s life.  While many people try to give up and fail, it is not an impossible task.  Follow these five tips, and you will be well on your way to giving up smoking. 

71   . Success in all fields of life begins with firm determination.  If you are weak in willpower, you can never do anything.  However, if you make up your mind,  once and for all,  that you are giving up the habit,  you have made the first step towards success.

72.    If you sit around doing nothing, there is a higher chance that you will light up a cigarette and relax.  Fill your spare time with sports and energetic activities.  Try to feel how good it is to get your blood circulating and to breathe in air deeply.  If you are not the athletic type,  then walking will have the same benefit as other kinds of sports.

73.  If going to a bar means that you are going to have a drink and then light up, maybe it is better to avoid that place for the time being.  Once you have truly stopped smoking and you feel how good it is,  you can go anywhere else  But while you are in the transition phase,  it is better to carefully choose where you will spend your spare time.

74.   Whenever you get a desire to put a cigarette in your mouth,  replace it with something that will help you rather than harm you.  Drinking small amounts of water throughout the day is not only a good way to help you give up smoking,  but it is also a great way to stay healthy.  You should drink eight glasses of water per day,  if you can.  If you need to put something solid in your mouth,  then have a piece of fruit in place

75.   Tell people around you that you are giving up smoking for health reasons.  They are likely to support you and not to offer you cigarettes.  Your family and loved ones will similarly support your efforts and help you to avoid situations where you may feel you have to smoke because of social pressure.

E. Get support from your friends and family

F. Promise not to smoke

G Drink more water instead of smoking a cigarette