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

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

LONDON: What could possibly be wrong with planting trees? The advantages are obvious; they  firm the soil, soak up (摄取) extra water and take carbon dioxide (二氧化碳) out of the atmosphere.
However, it now turns out that planting trees could add to global warming.
Tree roots do a great job of keeping soil firmly on the ground and out of the wind’s power. The problem is that some of those dust clouds play an important part in soaking up carbon dioxide.
Huge dust storms blow out over the oceans from dry parts of North Africa and central Asia. Tons of dust are lifted and left as a thin film over the ocean surface. The dust fuels oceanic life.
Dust from China is carried east and left in the Pacific Ocean. If a tree-planting programme there is successful and the dust supply reduced, the net result may be that less carbon dioxide gets locked away in the ocean.
Andy Ridgwell, an environmental scientist from the University of East Anglia, has spent the past few years studying dust and says his work “shows clearly the complexity of the system and the importance of not tinkering(粗劣地修补) with it without understanding the results. For this reason there is the need to focus(集中) on cutting carbon dioxide giving off rather than monkeying (瞎弄) about with the land surface.”
An American scientist, Robert Jackson, has shown that when native grassland areas are invaded(侵入) by trees, carbon is lost from the soil. “We are studying why the soil carbon disappears, but one theory is that trees do a lot more of their growing above ground compared to grasses, so less carbon goes directly into the soil from trees, ” says Jackson.
In wet areas of the world, the gain from trees absorbing carbon dioxide above ground seems to be outweighed(超过) by the loss of carbon from the soil below ground. Countries that plan to combat global warming by planting trees may have to think again.
Solutions(解决办法) to environmental problems are often more complex than they first appear, and understanding the Earth’s climate is a very great challenge.
60．People usually hold the opinion that________
A．huge dust storms can destroy carbon dioxide
B．huge dust storms can destroy the oceans on the earth
C．huge dust storms can’t do anything beneficial for man
D．planting trees is the only way to control huge dust storms
61．Andy Ridgwell, the environmental scientist, believes that ________ .
A．dust plays a more important part than trees
B．trees shouldn’t have been planted in dry places
C．carbon dioxide is harmful to everything on the earth
D．environmental problems are more complex than expected
62．Robert Jackson’s experiment proves that________   .
A．grassland areas should be covered by forests
B．trees hold more carbon than grass
C．carbon can turn grass into dust
D．less carbon can make trees grow faster
63．The underlined word “combat” in the last paragraph means_______ .
A．learn about      B．fight against     C．live with   D．give up 

LONDON: What could possibly be wrong with planting trees? The benefits are obvious; they  firm the soil, soak up (摄取) extra water and take carbon dioxide (二氧化碳) out of the atmosphere.
However, it now turns out that planting trees could add to global warming.
Tree roots do a great job of keeping soil firmly on the ground and out of the wind’s power. The problem is that some of those dust clouds play an important part in taking in carbon dioxide.
Huge dust storms blow out over the oceans from dry parts of North Africa and central Asia. Tons of dust are lifted and left as a thin film over the ocean surface. The dust fuels oceanic life.
Dust from China is carried east and left in the Pacific Ocean. If a tree-planting programme there is successful and the dust supply reduced, the final result may be that less carbon dioxide gets locked away in the ocean.
Andy Ridgwell, an environmental scientist from the University of East Anglia, has spent the past few years studying dust and says his work “shows clearly the complexity of the system and the importance of not tinkering(粗劣地修补) with it without understanding the results. For this reason the need is to focus(集中) on cutting carbon dioxide giving off rather than monkeying (瞎弄) about with the land surface.”
An American scientist, Robert Jackson, has shown that when native grassland areas are invaded(侵入) by trees, carbon is lost from the soil. “We are studying why the soil carbon disappears, but one theory is that trees do a lot more of their growing above ground compared to grasses, so less carbon goes directly into the soil from trees, ” says Jackson.
In wet areas of the world, the gain from trees absorbing carbon dioxide above ground seems to be outweighed(超过) by the loss of carbon from the soil below ground. Countries that plan to combat global warming by planting trees may have to think again.
Solutions to environmental problems are often more complex than they first appear, and understanding the Earth’s climate is a very great challenge.
【小题1】People usually hold the opinion that_____________.