Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29,1958 in Gary, Indiana. Being the seventh child in his family, Michael was often physically abused (虐待) by his father, beaten up and also orally abused. But Michael also owed his success to his father’s strict discipline.
Michael was always an entertainer. Even when he just started school, he would perform in front of his friends and classmates. He started his professional music career at the age of 11, as a member of The Jackson Five.
He is well-known for increasing the popularity of MTV through his music videos. Before this, music videos were made just to promote the album. But Michael’s videos managed to change that by making them an art and a big business. Some of the music videos that are good examples of this are Beat It, Billie Jean, and thriller。Through these works the world got caught onto the idea of music videos and focused on music video channels.
Michael enthralled his fans and audience with his style of singing, dressing, and his complex dance moves, especially the moonwalks all around the world to show their love for him.
Through his work and various foundations(基金会), Michael raised and donated millions to charity, which is much more than any showman. He supported 39 charities in all. Apart from that, he had a great love for children, especially the poor ones, and he felt that children were the best thing than God.
Michael planned to start a 50-concert tour in July 2009. Sadly  on June 25^th, 2009, Michael passed away at home. Besides a great performer, showman and entertainer, he was a good and charitable person. Nobody can be another graeter entertainer like Michael Jackson ever again.
【小题1】According to the passage, Michael Jackson _____.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop giant Michael Jackson, who took to the stage as a child star, died on Thursday, TMZ website reported. He was 50.

There was no official confirmation of the reported death and spokespersons for Jackson could not be reached for comment. "We've just learned Michael Jackson has died," TMZ said. "Michael suffered a cardiac（心脏的） arrest earlier this afternoon at his Holmby Hills home and paramedics were unable to revive him. We're told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back," the entertainment site said. It added, "A source tells us Jackson was dead when paramedics arrived."

Earlier, the Los Angeles Times said the singer had been rushed to a Los Angeles-area hospital by fire department paramedics who found him not breathing when they arrived at the singer's home.The newspaper said paramedics performed perfectly at the scene before taking him to the UCLA Medical Center hospital. Jackson had been due to start a series of comeback concerts in London on July 13 running until March 2010. The singer, whose hits included "Thriller" and "Billie Jean," had been rehearsing in the Los Angeles area for the past two months. The shows for the 50 London concerts sold out within minutes of going on sale in March.

 His lifetime record sales tally is believed to be around 750 million, which, added to the 13 Grammy Awards he received, makes him one of the most successful entertainers of all time. There were concerns about Jackson's health in recent years but the promoters of the London shows, AEG Live, said in March that Jackson had passed a 4-1/2 hour physical examination with independent doctors.

1.What does the underlined word paramedics probably mean?

A. the persons who attend at home.

B. relatives or friends

C. the persons who give emergency medical treatment

D. the artists together with Jackson

2. What is the reason of Jackson’s death?

A. He was too tired before his death.

B. He was so lonely that nobody looked after him.

C. Maybe Jackson was too excited when he was invited by London.

D. The text didn’t tell us.

3. If Jackson had not died, he __________.

A. would be taken care of by the doctors.

B. would not practise singing any more.

C. would give some concerts in London soon.

D. would retire as a result of his bad health.

4.The underlined the singer probably refers to _______.

A. TMZ        B. AEG          C. Michael Jackson         D. unknown

Billie Holiday was one of the greatest jazz(爵士音乐) singers in America. Her life was just a mixture of success and tragedy. Her singing expressed her experiences and feelings.

Billie Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan in 1915 in Baltimore, Maryland. Her parents were Sadie Fagan and Clarence Holiday. They were young when their daughter was born. Their marriage failed because Clarence Holiday was often out. He traveled as a musician with some of the earliest jazz bands and inspired his daughter.

Sadie Fagan cleaned people’s houses to make a living. But she could not support her family with the money she earned. So she moved to New York City where the pay was higher. She left her daughter in Baltimore with one of her distant relatives.

The young girl Eleanora Fagan changed her name to Billie, because she liked a movie star, Billie Dove. The talented Billie Holiday loved singing. She sang and listened  to music whenever she could. In one place near her home there was a machine that played records. The building was a theater where many famous singers also performed their newly-made songs for free.

Billie cleaned floors and did other jobs for the theater so that she could listen to the records. It was there that young Billie first heard the records of some famous black American blues artists of the 1920s. she heard Bessie Smith sing the blues. And she heard Louis Armstrong play the horn. Both musicians had a great influence on her.

Billie Holiday once said, “I do not think I’m singing. I feel like I am playing a horn. What comes out is what I feel. I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That is all I know.”

1.Billie Holiday’s parents divorced because _______.

A．Sadie Fagan wanted to move to New York City

B．the family couldn’t support itself

C．Clarence Holiday spent too much time in working

D．Clerence Holiday was a strange person

2.Who might originally have had an influence on Billie Holiday’s career in music?

A．Sadie Fagan        B．Clerence Holiday.    C．Bessie Smith.       D．Louis Armstrong

3.From the passage, we can learn that ______.

A．Sadie Fagan was fond of living in New York

B．Clerence Holiday didn’t love his wife at all

C．Billie lived a happy childhood

D．Billie had a gift for music

4.The underlined sentence “ What comes out is what I feel” means _____.

A．Billie Holiday doesn’t like to sing for others

B．Billie Holiday’s songs reflect her unhappy childhood

C．Billie Holiday is fond of the songs written for herself

D．Billie Holiday’s music is greatly determined by her emotions

5.In order to listen to the records in the theater, Billie Holiday_______.

A．cleaned floors for the theater              B．changed her name

C．moved to New York                      D．separated from her parents

Billie Holiday was one of the greatest jazz(爵士音乐) singers in America. Her life was just a mixture of success and tragedy. Her singing expressed her experiences and feelings.
Billie Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan in 1915 in Baltimore, Maryland. Her parents were Sadie Fagan and Clarence Holiday. They were young when their daughter was born. Their marriage failed because Clarence Holiday was often out. He traveled as a musician with some of the earliest jazz bands and inspired his daughter.
Sadie Fagan cleaned people’s houses to make a living. But she could not support her family with the money she earned. So she moved to New York City where the pay was higher. She left her daughter in Baltimore with one of her distant relatives.
The young girl Eleanora Fagan changed her name to Billie, because she liked a movie star, Billie Dove. The talented Billie Holiday loved singing. She sang and listened  to music whenever she could. In one place near her home there was a machine that played records. The building was a theater where many famous singers also performed their newly-made songs for free.
Billie cleaned floors and did other jobs for the theater so that she could listen to the records. It was there that young Billie first heard the records of some famous black American blues artists of the 1920s. she heard Bessie Smith sing the blues. And she heard Louis Armstrong play the horn. Both musicians had a great influence on her.
Billie Holiday once said, “I do not think I’m singing. I feel like I am playing a horn. What comes out is what I feel. I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That is all I know.”
【小题1】Billie Holiday’s parents divorced because _______.

Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29,1958 in Gary, Indiana. Being the seventh child in his family, Michael was often physically abused (虐待) by his father, beaten up and also orally abused. But Michael also owed his success to his father’s strict discipline.

Michael was always an entertainer. Even when he just started school, he would perform in front of his friends and classmates. He started his professional music career at the age of 11, as a member of The Jackson Five.

He is well-known for increasing the popularity of MTV through his music videos. Before this, music videos were made just to promote the album. But Michael’s videos managed to change that by making them an art and a big business. Some of the music videos that are good examples of this are Beat It, Billie Jean, and thriller。Through these works the world got caught onto the idea of music videos and focused on music video channels.

Michael enthralled his fans and audience with his style of singing, dressing, and his complex dance moves, especially the moonwalks all around the world to show their love for him.

Through his work and various foundations(基金会), Michael raised and donated millions to charity, which is much more than any showman. He supported 39 charities in all. Apart from that, he had a great love for children, especially the poor ones, and he felt that children were the best thing than God.

Michael planned to start a 50-concert tour in July 2009. Sadly  on June 25^th, 2009, Michael passed away at home. Besides a great performer, showman and entertainer, he was a good and charitable person. Nobody can be another graeter entertainer like Michael Jackson ever again.

1.According to the passage, Michael Jackson _____.

A．had nine brothers and sisters

B．live a happy life as a child

C．loved performing at school

D．fell in love with music at the age of 11

2.The underlined word “enthralled”in Paragraph 4 probably means ____.

A．encouraged       B．puzzled           C．developed         D．attracted

3.In the author’s opinion, Michael Jackson ‘s greatest contribution lies in _____.

A．Five making MTV popular                 B．creating music video channel

C．joining the Jackson                      D．popularizing the moonwalk