The audience starts to scream and young people all over Britain turn on their TVs. Yes, it’s Top of the Pops!
Top of the Pops is an amazing 34 years old. Pop stars from all over the world appear on this successful TV programme. After 1,800 shows, it’s still the most popular pop music show in Britain. So what’s the secret?
“We get lots of bands to perform live in the studio,” says producer Chris Cowey. “That just doesn’t happen on other shows.”
Chris starts planning the programme over a week before it goes out. His first job is to decide which bands to have on the show. When the chart of the top twenty songs is produced on Sunday, Chris can start to book the bands.
Monday starts with Chris meeting his sound, lighting and camera workers. They listen to each song and plan the show.
Tuesday is paperwork day. There are bookings to make sure of letters to answer and lots of phone calls to make. The show is on Thursday. Bands arrive at the studio from 10 o’clock in the morning and start practising. Tonight’s presenter, Jo Whiley, practices too.
First the bands go to make up. Judy and Issy are the make-up artists. “We see the stars with no make-up on, looking terrible,” says Issy. Then the bands go to the costume department where Marianne dresses the stars.
Back in the studio things are happening. The audience are practicing their dance moves! It takes over two hours to record the whole programme, then Chris edits it all night long. The final version is exactly 29 minutes long.
31. What make(s) Top of the Pops still the most popular in Britain?
A. The live performances in the studio.
B. The jobs carefully done by the workers of the TV station.
C. The great fame of the bands.
D. The large numbers of pop fans in Britain.
32. When the bands receive the invitations to the performance, _________.
A. they must decide on the songs
B. they don’t have to decide what songs they will perform
C. the songs that will be performed haven’t been decided on
D. they have no idea what songs they will perform
33．The underlined word “costume”（in Paragraph 7） probably means        .
A. makeup        B. stage         C. studio       D. clothes
【小题1】How is a music programme made at the TV station?

【小题2】Which is the proper title for the passage?

Although the New Year is already here, the great moments of the past year are still in the memory. Let’s look back at some of them.
United States
One of the world’s largest New Year’s Eve parties was held in Times Square, New York. The festival attracted hundreds of thousands of people to watch a brightly-lit ball drop on a landmark building at the stroke (击、打) of midnight.
A great amount of confetti (五彩纸屑) was released from the sky at zero o’clock.
Britain
Painted in shinning colors, blowing whistles, 50，000 party-goers arrived in London’s Millennium Dome to dance in the New Year. The Millennium Dome came to life at midnight as 50 DJs started up, competing on five separate dance floors to warm the crowd into the party mood.
Russia
New Year is the biggest holiday in Russia. It is traditional to put up a tree for celebrations with family and friends.
On the very last day of last year, Russians with a taste for a very cold swim braved freezing temperatures to plant traditional, festival trees on the bed of the Northern Ocean and at the bottom of Lake Baikal, the world’s deepest lake.
Malaysia
Brave skydivers threw themselves off the world’s tallest building near midnight and floated towards the New Year.
The jump from the 452-metre Petronas Twin Tower was called a real leap from one year to the next since the group took off in the last second of the old year and landed a minute later in the New Year. “That was really cool,” said Roland Simpson, “over crowds of onlookers to the landing spot.”
【小题1】In New York the brightly-lit ball dropped ____________.

“This is the BBC News at Eight O’ Clock.”
…
“Chinese people spent about 120 billion yuan during the first three days of the May Golden Week last year. This year it has increased to 140 billion yuan.”
“The children of Beijing No.2 Middle School sang with students from Toronto in Canada to celebrate the 20^thanniversary. They had been sister schools since 1986. They spent about two weeks together in Beijing. They visited the Great Wall and the Summer Palace. They took a lot of photos in Beihai Park.”
“Have you ever got tired of heavy shopping bags? A new shopping assistant robot which was invented by Japanese company could be the answer. The helpful robot can follow you around and carry several bags. The robot was tested at a shopping center in February 2006. ”
“About 500 people from different countries were in the 2006 “Rock Paper Scissors(剪刀)” World Match in Canada. This event was founded in 1842. It is said playing this game is fun, and also a good way to solve problems among people.”
…
“And now it’s time for Morning Music.”
【小题1】The students from Canada and Beijing No. 2 Middle School didn’t ________.

Here is the Nine O‘clock News：

 1. President Absul Krim of Syria says that the danger of war in the Middle East is greater now than for the past two years. His country does not want war， he says， but the Syrian people have waited too long for an end to the troubles with their neighbors. If war comes, says Mr. Krim, Syria will be ready.

2. Ben Kitson, a writer of stories and plays for children, has died at his home in California. Mr. Kitson was 82. His most famous book of stories, “The Gentleman‘s House” sells all over the world, in more than twenty-five languages.

3. Policemen in New York have gone on strike. Their leader Mr. Paul Angeli says that they will return to work only when they receive more money for working long hours and doing what Mr. Angeli calls “the most dangerous job in the city”.

4. It has been a good year on the farm. The warm, wet spring and the fine summer have been very good for all kinds of food plants. This means that fruits and vegetables will cost less in the shops this year.

5. MORE than 1,100 people committed suicide（自杀）in Beijing last year, and experts have been encouraging the capital to set up a mental health care system as soon as possible, local media reported last week. About 20 per cent of the people of Beijing live in unhealthy conditions, with 3 per cent of these suffering from affective disorder and 5 per cent reporting symptoms（症状）of depression, according to the Beijing Mental Health Service Centre.

The Syrian people _______.

A. are ready and waiting for war

B. are ready to wait another two years for war、

C. do not want war, but will be ready if it comes

D. are a great danger to peace in the Middle East

Mr. Kitson wrote _______.

A. plays and stories for children

B. 82 stories about his home in California

C. in more than twenty-five languages

D. books, and then sold them all over the world

As food plants have grown well， _______.

A. fruit and vegetables will be cheaper this year

B. there will be a warm, wet spring and a fine summer

C. food will be cheaper than it was in the spring

D. plants will be cheaper in the shops this year

What is the best title for the last pieces of news？

A. MORE than 1,100 people committed suicide（自杀）in Beijing last year.

B. About 20 per cent of the people of Beijing live in unhealthy conditions.

C. Beijing needs mental health care.

D. People living in Beijing suffer a lot.

The Great Fire of London started in the very early hours of September 2, 1666. In four days it destroyed more than three-quarters of the old city, where most of the houses were wooden and close together. One hundred thousand people became homeless, but only a few lost their lives.

The fire started on Sunday morning in the house of the King's baker in Pudding Lane. The baker, with his wife and family, was able to get out through a window in the roof. A strong wind blew the fire from the bakery into a small hotel next door. Then it spread quickly into the Thames Street. That was the beginnings.

By eight o'clock three hundred houses were on fire. On Monday nearly a kilometer of the city was burning along the River Thames. Tuesday was the worst day. The fire destroyed many well-known buildings, old St Paul's and the Guildhall among them.

Samuel Pepys, the famous writer, wrote about the fire. People threw their things into the river. Many poor people stayed in their houses until the last moment. Birds fell out of the air because of the heat.

The fire stopped only when the King finally ordered people to destroy hundreds of buildings in the path of the fire. With nothing left to burn, the fire became weak and finally died out.

After the fire, Christopher Wren, the architect, wanted a city with wider streets and fine new houses of stone. In fact, the streets are still narrow; but he did build more than fifty churches, among which was new St Paul's.

The fire caused great pain and loss, but after it London was a better place: a city for the future and not just of the past.

1. The fire began in ___________________________.

A. a hotel         B. the palace          C. Pudding Lane          D. Thames Street

2. The underlined word "family" in the second paragraph means “________________________________”.

A. home             B. children              C. wife and husband    D. wife and children

3. It seems that the writer of the text was most sorry for the fact that ________________________________.

A. some people lost their lives              

B. the birds in the sky were killed by the fire

C. many famous buildings were destroyed     

D. the King’s bakery was burned down

4. Why did the writer cite(引用) Samuel Pepys?

A. Because Pepys was among those putting out the fire.

B. Because Pepys also wrote about the fire.

C. To show that poor people suffered most

D. To give the reader a clearer picture of the fire.

5. How was the fire put out according to the text?

A. The king and his soldiers came to help.

B. All the wooden houses in the city were destroyed.

C. People managed to get enough water from the river.

D. Houses standing in the direction of the fire were pulled down.

6. Which of the following were reasons for the rapid spread of the big fire?

(a) There was a strong wind.

(b) The streets were very narrow.

(c) Many houses were made of wood.

(d) There was not enough water in the city.

(e) People did not discover the fire earlier.

A. (a) and (b)                                        B. (a), (b) and (c)         

C. (a), (b), (c) and (d)                            D. (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e)