America has been experiencing the longest economic increase in its history. Incomes have risen, unemployment has fallen, and cities such as New York are bursting with new office buildings.
But just a short walk from Manhattan’s skyscrapers, George Brown sits on the side-walk, cooking a lunch of rice and bits of fish over a can of cooking fuel.
Brown is homeless——one of the 2.3 million people in the US who end up on the street.
During the day, Brown collects aluminum cans and sells them for five cents a piece. At night, he sleeps on the street.
“I have been on the street about eight or nine years, something like that,” said the 62-year-old former construction worker.
Brown admits he had problems with alcohol and has smoked cocaine. But he said he still wants a more stable housing arrangement. He could afford it just with the money he earns by collecting cans and small pieces of metal, if only truly low-income housing were available.
However, he sees no hope of finding affordable housing in New York.
With the strong economy and unemployment down, beautiful housing is being built to meet demand.
A US report shows rents in New York City rose more than 27 per cent, from $549 to $700 a month.
One of the side effects of the strong economy is that rents have been going up.
The majority of people who experience homelessness really just need some affordable housing help.
But few housing companies are building for the poor. Many small apartments in the city now rent for $1,500 a month or more.
Brown, the homeless New Yorker, said he has a daughter who lives in the city but he rarely sees her. She is angry about his drinking and won’t allow it in her house.
Smiling, he said he also has seven grandchildren whom he’d like to see more often. “All I’ve got to do is clean up my act,” he said.
【小题1】What kind of life does George Brown lead?

A.Stable.B.Dangerous.C.Hard.D.Comfortable.
【小题2】 It can be inferred from this passage that     .
A.America is short of housing companies
B.the poor can’t benefit from the increasing economy
C.poor people in America will become rich
D.housing companies will build more houses for the poor
【小题3】The underlined part “clean up my act” in the last paragraph means “   ”.
A. remove my cans                B kick my bad habits   
C. make a lot of money             D. see my grandchildren
【小题4】Which part of a newspaper is the passage possibly taken from?
A.Society.B.Science.C.Arts.D.Business.

A few years ago, I moved into a new house in Los Angeles. Soon after, a family moved in next door. It wasn’t the best of times for me. I had just divorced(离婚) from my second wife, and I wasn’t working. I’d come home each day and sit by myself in the backyard. One night, I heard someone from the yard next door, “Tom ! How are you, Tom? ” 
I couldn’t see anybody through the trees, but I answered, “I’ m good.”
“Good!” said the voice.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Eric.” Then I heard someone say, “Eric, don’t bother him.”
“Okay!” Eric said. “Talk to you tomorrow!”                                                                           
Months later, on Halloween, we finally met face to face. Eric came to the door dressed like a rap star. We became friends. We’d hang out in our yards, and Eric, who was almost 17 at the time and look liked a 13-year-old, would tell me his ideas and dreams. Eric’s dad, Alec Gores, is a billionaire(亿万富翁), the head of Gores Technology Group.
One day, Alec called me and said, “I know you are an actor. My son’s an actor, too. And he’s very good. I want you to write a movie for him. He wants to do something like True lies.” That’s the movie I made in 1994. His father has given Eric the great gif of confidence. He believes he can do anything he wants. He also offered to fund the movie. And that’s how The Kid & I, which opens in November, began.
Well, I really have to say that opportunity(机会)lies anywhere.
【小题1】What do we learn about the writer when he had just moved into his new house in Los Angele?

A.He often came back very late.
B.He was working in the city at that time.
C.He and his second wife had just gotten divorced.
D.He often talks with others in the backyard.
【小题2】The writer of this passage is a(an)        .  
A.teacherB.actorC.singerD.doctor
【小题3】What do we learn about Eric from the passage?
A.He lives alone with his father.B.He has a very rich father
C.He often feels very lonely.D.He is a rap star.
【小题4】The second last paragraph(倒数第二段)mainly tells us        .
A.how The Kid & I beganB.the roles in The Kid & I
C.how the writer met Eric’s fatherD.what The Kid & I is about
【小题5】From his experience in Los Angeles, the writer learnt that        . 
A.where there is a will, there is a way.
B.one should always learn from the past.
C.one can find opportunity anywhere.
D.life can always be better.


In 1993, researchers at the University of California at Irvine discovered the so – called “Mozart Effect” – that college students who listened to ten minutes of Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D major (D大调) before taking an IQ test scored nine points higher than when they had sat in silence or listened to relaxation tapes. Other studies also have indicated that people gain information better if they hear classical or baroque (a style of art) music while studying.
It is said that Albert Einstein was an average student until he began playing the violin. "Before that, he had a hard time expressing what he knew," says Hazel Cheilek, orchestra director at Fairfax County's Thomas Jefferson High School. “Einstein said he got some of his greatest inspirations while playing the violin. It liberated his brain so that he could imagine." In the early 1700s, England's King George I also felt he would make better decisions if he listened to good music. Reportedly, Handel responded by composing his Water Music suites to be played while the king floated the Thames on his royal boat. Even Plato in ancient Greece believed studying music created a sense of order and harmony necessary for intelligent thought.
The deepest effects take place in young children, while their brains are growing. This year, the same researchers at Irvine’s Center for Neurobiology of Leaming and Memory found that preschoolers who had received eight months of music lessons scored 80 percent higher on certain tasks than other youngsters who received no musical training.
Music students continue to beat their non – arts peers (同龄人) on the SAT, according to the 1999 “Profiles of SAT and Achievement Test Takers” from The College Board. Students with coursework in music appreciation scored 42 points higher on the math section of the test than students with no coursework or experience in the arts.
All of this to say "you are the judge" but listening to Mozart certainly won't hurt you. My point always is that making music is preferable to passive listening and that listening to live music is always preferable to listening to recorded music. Mozart WILL NOT raise your IQ, but it might help you organize your thoughts better before taking a standardized test.
63.When people mention Albert Einstein, King George I and Plato, they believe that the effect of music is_______.
A.positive    B.negative    C.suspicious D.sensitive
64.So far researchers at the University of California at Irvine have done studies about_______.
A.college students who listen to rock music every day
B.people who hear classical music while studying
C.preschoolers with music lessons
D.music students in SAT
65.Which of the following is an opinion rather than a fact?
A.Handel composed Water Music to be played while the kind floated the Thames on his boat.
B.Mozart might help you organize your thought better before taking a standardized test.
C.Preschoolers with music training scored higher on object – assembly tasks.
D.Music students continue to beat their non – arts peers on the SAT.
66.What is the author’s opinion about music?
A.He thinks that listening to music is better than making music.
B.He has a doubt whether listening to Mozart will hurt the listeners.
C.He is sure that listening to the music of Mozart will raise people’s IQ.
D.He thinks that live concert is better worth listening to than recorded music.

An Australian man who has been donating his extremely rare kind of blood for 56 years has saved the lives of more than two million babies.
James Harrison has an antibody in his plasma(血浆)that stops babies dying from Rhesus disease, a form of severe anaemia. He has enabled countless mothers to give birth to healthy babies, including his own daughter, Tracey, who had a healthy son thanks to her father's blood.
Mr. Harrison has been giving blood every few weeks since he was 18 years old and has now racked up a total of 984 donations. When he started donating, his blood was deemed so special that his life was insured for one million Australian dollars.
He was also nicknamed the “man with the golden arm” or the “man in two million”. He said, “I've never thought about stopping. Never!” He made a pledge to be a donor aged 14 after undergoing major chest surgery in which he needed 13 liters of blood. “I was in hospital for three months,” he said. “The blood I received saved my life so I made a pledge to give blood when I was 18.”
Just after he started donating he was found to have the rare and life-saving antibody in his blood. At the time, thousands of babies in Australia were dying each year of Rhesus disease. Other newborns suffered permanent brain damage because of the condition. The disease creates an incompatibility between the mother's blood and her unborn baby's blood. It stems from one having Rh-positive blood and the other Rh-negative.
His blood has since led to the development of a vaccine called Anti-D. After his blood type was discovered, Mr. Harrison volunteered to undergo a series of tests to help develop the Anti-D vaccine. “They insured me for a million dollars so I knew my wife Barbara would be taken care of,” he said. “I wasn't scared. I was glad to help. I had to sign every form going and basically sign my life away.”
Mr. Harrison is Rh-negative and was given injections of Rh-positive blood. It was found his plasma could treat the condition and since then it has been given to hundreds of thousands of women. It has also been given to babies after they are born to stop them developing the disease.
It is estimated he has helped save 2.2 million babies so far. Mr. Harrison is still donating every few weeks now.
【小题1】What does the underlined phrase “two million” refer to?

A.mothersB.babiesC.dollarsD.blood
【小题2】Why did James decide to donate his blood? Because _____.
A.his daughter asked him to help her son
B.he has a golden arm worth a million dollars
C.a vaccine called Anti-D is to be developed
D.someone else’s blood saved his life
【小题3】The sentence “The disease creates an incompatibility between the mother's blood and her unborn baby's blood” (underlined in Paragraph 5) suggests that _____.
A.the mother and the baby have different types of blood
B.babies suffer permanent brain damage before born
C.Rhesus disease contributes to permanent brain damage
D.all the patients have a rare antibody in their blood
【小题4】What can we infer from the sixth paragraph?
A.His wife Barbara needed to be taken care of badly then.
B.Mr. Harrison was not glad to help develop a new vaccine.
C.Some of the tests to develop the vaccine are dangerous.
D.His blood type was accidentally discovered after tests

短文改错(共10小题;每小题1分,满分10分)
此题要求改正所给短文中的错误。对标有题号的每一行做出判断:每行只有一个错误,请按下列情况改正:
该行多一个词:把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉,在该行右边横线上写出该词,并也用斜线划掉。
该行缺一个词:在缺词处加一个漏字符号(),在该行右边横线上写出该加的词。
该行错一个词:在错的词下划一横线,在该行右边横线上写出改正后的词。
Mr. Smith is an old man. He has a dog or a                    76. ____________
small car. He likes playing cards. Yesterday afternoon when        77. _____________
he played cards for three hours in his friend house. It was         78. _____________
getting dark, so he left there in the hurry and jumped into a car.          79. ____________
His dog followed him, but it jumped into other car. “Come here!    80. ____________
What a fool!” Mr. Smith shouted at it. But the dog still stayed here.       81. ___________
Mr. Smith want to start the car, but the key                          82. ___________
didn't turn. Then he looked the car again. It was not              83. ____________
him. He was in the wrong car! And the dog                     84. ____________
was in the right one. Realized that, Mr. Smith laughed.            85. ___________

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