Think of some of your favorite singers. When you listen, they can make you happy or sad, peaceful or angry. They can make you relax or want to get up and dance. Gifted singers have the power to affect us in many ways ― emotionally, physically and mentally.

But becoming a great singer isn’t as easy as listening to one. It takes practice, devotion and strong lungs! Just ask the well-known American opera(歌剧)star Carol Vaness.

At the Metropolitan Opera in New York City where she often sings, Carol’s voice must be loud enough to be heard by four thousand people. It must reach every person in the theater, without a microphone, even when she’s singing softly. The reason Carol can project her voice that far is the way she breathes.

“When you breathe, it’s like a swimmer taking a deep breath before going underwater,” Carol explains. “You have to take a lot of air into your lungs.”

According to Carol, the main difference between pop singing and opera is “how you breathe, how much air you take in, and how you control it coming out. Regular singing is more like speaking, and it’s a lot softer. When I sing for children, they’re often surprised by how the vibrations strike their ears ― like waves on a beach, ” Carol says. “In opera, the air doesn’t just go out of your mouth ― it vibrates in your chest, the way a guitar vibrates when it’s played. ”

Ever since she started piano lessons at the age of ten, Carol has loved music. As she got older, she decided to become a music teacher. When she went to college, she took singing lessons as part of her studies. Her voice teacher discovered that nineteen-year-old Carol had an exceptionally beautiful soprano voice the highest singing voice for women.

Carol decided to make opera her goal, not only because she loved to sing but also because she loved the drama. Opera is a play in which the characters sing the words instead of speaking them. The stories of opera can be tragic or comical. They can be personal stories about two people falling in love or grand stories about kings and queens who lived long ago. As the characters in an opera sing, the emotions(情感)expressed by words and music come to life.

Today, Carol performs throughout the United States and Europe and she has song for almost twenty years. But she has never forgotten where she started singing in the first palace.

“Put your heart into your singing and enjoy it,” says Carol, “because singing is a great joy. That’s why I sing. In fact, that’s why everybody sings. ”

 

66. According to the passage, the Metropolitan Opera in New York City _____.

A. is a five-story building                       B. can seat 4,000 people

C. has no microphone in it                     D. can project the singer’s voice

67. What is the best title for this passage?

A. Opera Singing and Pop Singing               B. The Way an Opera Star Sings

C. An Opera Star                                      D. Singing without a Microphone

68. Which statement is TRUE?

A. A pop singer breathes more deeply than an opera singer when he or she sings.

B. Opera singing is more like speaking.

C. A pop singer takes in much more air than an opera singer when singing.

D. An opera singer breathes differently from a pop singer when singing.

69. From the passage you can conclude all the following EXCEPT that _____.

A. Carol once learned to play the piano

B. Carol worked as a music teacher

C. Carol has been singing opera for 20 years or so

D. Carol is popular with Americans and Europeans

70. The sentence “Put your heart into your singing” in the last paragraph means  “_____”.

A. devoting yourself to singing               B. taking trouble to sing

C. singing happily                                 D. trying your best to sing

"China is expected to complete its first exploration of the moon in 2010 and will found a moon base just as we did on the North and South Poles.” Ouyang Ziyuan, head of China’s moon exploration program, promised during the country's national science and technology week.

After its first man in space, China plans a space laboratory, a lunar orbiter to look for valuable elements and minerals, robot landings on the moon and then the human touchdown.

The price of space exploration is enormous. Russia and the US, the only two countries to have achieved manned flight, are struggling to keep their new investment, the international space station.

But China, which has a long tradition in physics, mathematics and engineering, finds its doctoral graduates welcomed in the US and Europe for decades. And it has been able to learn from 40 years of pioneering successes and mistakes by the USSR and the USA.

Space flight is a gamble and the stakes(赌注)are high. If successful, China could become a member of the world's most exclusive club, set up a second home on the moon and get a powerful hand at the strategic bargaining table.

Two designers from the Shenzhou III project said that 12 astronauts now are undergoing intensive training. One more unmanned space flight is planned before the first manned launch.

Experts say that the Shenzhou spacecraft already provides China with a space vehicle capable of mounting a lunar program. Chinese scientists have also predicted that Mars will be the next target after the moon.

 

61. According to Ouyang Ziyuan_____________________.

A. China has founded her base on the moon

B. China has founded one base on the North and South Poles

C. China will set up a base on the moon in 2010

D. China has already finished founding a moon base

62. The underlined word "touchdown" in the second paragraph means_____________.

A. landing           B. relation           C connection           D. behavior

63. Which one of the following is NOT right according to this passage?

A. A second home is going to be built on the moon in 2010.

B. China's first man has landed the moon in space.

C. People from only two countries have been to the moon till now.

D. Twelve Chinese astronauts are being trained for the manned flight to the moon.

64. We think the Chinese astronaut will succeed in landing the moon in 2010 because_________________.

A. China will ask for help from the USSR and the USA

B. two countries have set up a space station on the moon

C. China has a large population in the world

D. China has its traditional technology and advanced scientists

65. We can infer from this passage that______________________.

A. China's robot landing on the moon has been successful

B. the USSR and the USA don't allow Chinese people land the moon

C. Chinese scientists show great interest in exploring Mars now

D. it is impossible for the Chinese people to land on the moon

(Natural News)Many parents have tried to gave their children a head start on education with get-smart videos and enrichment activities as early as infancy, but free play is often sacrificed, so the American Academy of Pediatrics says that the best medicine for busy children is an increase in traditional “playtime”.

A number of studies suggest that unstructured(无条理的)play can help children become creative, discover their own interests, develop problem-solving abilities, and relate to others socially, according to a report prepared by two academy committees for release Monday at the group’s annual meting. On the contrary, a lack of such playtime can create stress for both children and parents, and it can also cause obesity(肥胖)when children spend too much time sitting in front of educational videos. The report notes lack of playtime could even lead to depression in many children.

The report thinks the lack of playtime lies in the fact that parents want to have super-smart children and safe places for children to play is decreasing. A balance between free playtime and educational activities should be struck, the report states.

“In the current environment, where so many parents feel pressure to be super parents, I believe this message is an important one,” said Dr. Kenneth Ginsburg, the report’s lead author and a pediatrician(小儿科医师)at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Noted pediatrician, author, and presenter of cable TV’s “What Every Baby Knows,” Dr. T. Betty Brazelton agreed. “Children with structured activities” are missing the chance to dream, to make their own world work the way they want it. That to me is a very important part of childhood.

 

56. From the passage we can see that today’s children really need more                .

A. enrichment activities                B. conventional playtime

C. structured activities                 D. educational activities

57. Which of the following is a proper word to describe today’s children?

A. Dull.                B. Busy.                C. Happy.                    D. Free.

58. According to the report, the balance between                    _ is important for a child.

A. structured activities and unstructured activities

B. educational videos and recess time

C. fee playtime and traditional playtime

D. enrichment activities and social activities

59. Dr. T. Berry Brazelton mainly emphasizes                   in the last paragraph.

A. children’s ability to dream

B. the roles of structured activities

C. the important activities in his childhood

D. the harm of too many structured activities

60. It can be inferred from the passage that                                    .

A. children given a lot of unstructured activities can be more creative

B. get-smart videos and enrichment can create super children

C. there is a competition among parents to be super parents

D. child obesity is mainly caused by lack of playtime

As a saying goes, every bean has its black. It is impossible to make no mistakes all one’s life. My grandpa Nybakken, a carpenter, is no   36  . Several decades ago he made a mistake a(n)perfect mistake,   37  .

On a cold Saturday, Mother’s father was building some wooden cases for the clothes his  38

was sending to an orphanage(孤儿院)in China. On his way home, he   39   into his shirt pocket to find his glasses, but they were gone. He remembered putting them there that morning, so he drove back to the church. His   40   proved fruitless.

When he   41   replayed his earlier actions, he realized what happened. The glasses had slipped out of his pocket unnoticed and fallen into one of the cases, which he had nailed shut. His brand new glasses, having   42   him $20 that very morning, were heading for China! He had to drive home   43  .

Several months later, the director of the orphanage came to give a report on Sunday night at my grandfather’s church,   44   Grandpa and his family also attended.

“But most of all,” he said, “I must thank you for the   45   you sent last year. You see, the bandits(土匪)had just   46   through the orphanage, destroying everything ,including my glasses. I was desperate. ”

   47    I had the money, there was simply no way of    48    those glasses.   49 headaches every day. Then your cases arrives. When my staff    50    the covers, they found a pair of glasses lying on top. ”

Then, still gripped(吸引注意)with the   51   of it all, he continued, “When I tried   52   the glasses, it was as though they had been made just for me! I want to thank you for being a part of that!”

The peopled listened, 53   for the miraculous glasses. But the director surely must have   54   their church with another, they thought. There were no glasses on their   55   of items to be sent overseas.

But sitting quietly in the back, with tears streaming down his face, an ordinary carpenter realized the Master Carpenter had used him in an extraordinary way.

36. A. expectation

B. success

C. comment

D. exception

37. A. though

B. although

C. as

D. so

38. A. factory

B. church

C. family

D. country

39. A. turned

B. reached

C. filled

D. put

40. A. research

B. look

C. search

D. clothes

41. A. mentally

B. physically

C. anxiously

D. directly

42. A. charged

B. spent

C. paid

D. cost

43. A. disappointed

B. pleased

C. nonstop

D. quick

44. A. which

B. what

C. where

D. when

45. A. cases

B. clothes

C. glasses

D. wishes

46. A. cut

B. swept

C. pulled

D. broken

47. A. Unless

B. As long as

C. Until

D. Even though

48. A. replacing

B. finding

C. wearing

D. changing

49. A. Except for

B. Along with

C. Rather than

D. As for

50. A. nailed

B. burnt

C. removed

D. took

51. A. preparation

B. pleasure

C. satisfaction

C. wonder

52. A. out

B. over

C. for

D. on

53. A. pity

B. happy

C. curious

D. eager

54. A. confused

B. associated

C. combined

D. compared

55. A. cases

B. order

C. list

D. orphanage

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