Pop stars today enjoy what once only belonged to the royalty(皇室)．Wherever they go，people turn out in their thousands to greet them.The crowds go wild trying to catch a brief glimpse of their smiling，colorfully dressed idols.The stars are transported in their chauffeur driven Rolls Royces，private helicopters or executive aeroplanes.They are surrounded by a permanent entourage(随从)of managers，press agents and bodyguards.Photographs of them appear regularly in the press and all their comings and goings are reported，for，like royalty，pop stars are news.If they enjoy many of the privileges of royalty，they certainly share many of the inconveniences as well.It is dangerous for them to make unscheduled appearances in public.They must be constantly shielded from the adoring crowds who idolize them.They are no longer private individuals，but public property.The financial rewards they receive for this sacrifice cannot be calculated，for their rates of pay are great.

And why not？Society has always rewarded its top entertainers lavishly.The great days of Hollywood have become legendary：famous stars enjoyed fame，wealth and adulation(奉承)on an all time scale.By today's standards，the excesses of Hollywood do not seem quite so spectacular.A single gramopphone record nowadays may earn much more in royalties than the films of the past ever did.The competition for the title“Top of the Pops”is fierce，but the rewards are truly huge.

It is only right that the stars should be paid in this way.Don't the top men in industry earn enormous salaries for the service they perform to their companies and their countries？Pop stars earn vast sums in foreign currency—often more than large industrial companies—and the taxman can only be grateful for their massive annual contributions to the exchequer(国库)．So who would begrudge them their rewards?

It's all very well for people in boring jobs to complain about the successes and rewards of others.People who make envious remarks should remember that the most famous stars represent only the tip of the iceberg.For every famous star，there are hundreds of others struggling to earn a living.A man working in a steady job and looking forward to a pension at the end of it has no right to expect very high rewards.He has chosen security and peace of mind，so there will always be a limit to what he can earn.But a map who attempts to become a star is taking enormous risks.He knows at the outset that only a handful of competitors ever get to the very top.He knows that years of concentrated effort may be rewarded with complete failure.But he knows，too，that the rewards for success are very high indeed：they are the payback for the huge risks involved and once he makes it，he will certainly earn them.That's the essence of private enterprise.

1.The author develops the passage mainly by ________.

A．comparing different ideas

B．giving explanations

C．inferring

D．listing typical examples

2.The underlined word “begrudge” in the third pararaph is closest in meaning to ________.

A．be jealous of? ????????????? B．be satisfied with

C．be anxious about? ????????????? D．be crazy about

3.According to the passage，which of the following can match the view of the author?

A．He who laughs last laughs best.

B．If you venture nothing，you will gain nothing.

C．He who makes no mistakes makes nothing.

D．Success belongs to the persevering.

4.Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．People are blind in idolizing stars.

B．There is fierce competition in becoming pop stars.

C．The government taxes pop stars very little.

D．Pop stars' life is more luxurious than that of royalty.

He makes it a         to put some money aside each month.

    A．principal    B．principle    C．essential    D．discipline

 (湖北省宜昌市一中2009届高三5月仿真模拟考试)

Where the heart is?

In three days I will leave China behind for a few weeks and head back to Australia to spend time with my family and friends. This will be a very   31   trip for me as, for the first time ever, I will not be   32   to my hometown. You see, my parents sold their house in my hometown and moved about 500 kilometers away.

As it   33  me I would be returning to a whole new place, I was   34   with two questions: Do I still have a hometown? Where is my home? I needed to do some research.

After reading A Story from the Chinese Diaspora, I learned I was not alone in feeling   35   about where I call home. In the story, a Chinese American girl   36   with finding her identity and   37   her past with her present. I realized the place we live now and the place we lived then, have a great   38   over who we are, where we long to be and where we feel   39   and safety.

Back to My Motherland   40   of a woman who left her motherland years ago and started a new life in America--the place she now calls home. But,   41   some people move on from their hometown and   42   a new life somewhere else, others have a strong   43   to the city that they grew up in. In Hometown Boy we learn of a man who clings(坚持) to his   44  and continues to make his hometown a   45   of his life for now and for the future. He makes it his   46   to give back to the community that has given so much to him and his family.

As I   47   the days until I head back to my motherland and   48   where exactly my home is, I am   49   to decide where my heart is. And quite   50  , my heart is wherever I am.

31. A. strange                B. serious                  C. unique                       D. curious

32. A. removing             B. returning                C. referring                    D. relating

33. A. struck                  B. clarified                  C. occurred                   D. impressed

34. A. satisfied               B. charged                  C. appointed                  D. presented

35. A. confused              B. convinced               C. depressed                  D. excited

36. A. sticks                  B. starts                     C. struggles                   D. supplies                 

37. A. consulting            B. connecting              C. confirming                D. contenting

38. A. difference            B. advantage               C. impression                 D. influence

39. A. comfort               B. tension                   C. unrest                       D. stress

40. A. talks                    B. shows                    C. tells                          D. learns

41. A. why                    B. how                       C. where                       D. while

42. A. build                    B. trend                      C. survive                      D. expand

43. A. attachment           B. commitment           C. devotion                    D. ambition

44. A. bases                   B. roots                      C. rules                         D. tasks

45. A. soul                     B. sign                       C. role                           D. part

46. A. duty                    B. urge                       C. conduct                    D. purpose

47. A. account for          B. appeal to                 C. centre upon              D. count down

48. A. consider               B. remind                   C. foresee                      D. expect

49. A. directed               B. annoyed                 C. sacred                       D. forced

50. A. simply                 B. gently                     C. merely                      D. awfully

Where the heart is?

In three days I will leave China behind for a few weeks and head back to Australia to spend time with my family and friends. This will be a very   31   trip for me as, for the first time ever, I will not be   32   to my hometown. You see, my parents sold their house in my hometown and moved about 500 kilometers away.

As it   33  me I would be returning to a whole new place, I was   34   with two questions: Do I still have a hometown? Where is my home? I needed to do some research.

After reading A Story from the Chinese Diaspora, I learned I was not alone in feeling   35   about where I call home. In the story, a Chinese American girl   36   with finding her identity and   37   her past with her present. I realized the place we live now and the place we lived then, have a great   38   over who we are, where we long to be and where we feel   39   and safety.

Back to My Motherland   40   of a woman who left her motherland years ago and started a new life in America--the place she now calls home. But,   41   some people move on from their hometown and   42   a new life somewhere else, others have a strong   43   to the city that they grew up in. In Hometown Boy we learn of a man who clings(坚持) to his   44  and continues to make his hometown a   45   of his life for now and for the future. He makes it his   46   to give back to the community that has given so much to him and his family.

As I   47   the days until I head back to my motherland and   48   where exactly my home is, I am   49   to decide where my heart is. And quite   50  , my heart is wherever I am.