People fell in love with Elizabeth Taylor in 1944, when she starred in National Velvet-the story of Velvet Brown, a young girl who wins first place in a famous horse race, At first, the producers of the movie told Taylor that she was too small to play the part of Velvet. However, they waited for her for a few months as she exercised and trained—and added three inches to her height in four months! Her acting in National Velvet is still considered the best by a child actress.

Elizabeth Taylor was born in London in 1932. Her parents, both Americans, had moved there for business reasons. When World War II started, the Taylor moved to Beverly Hills, California, and there Elizabeth started acting in movies. After her success as a child star, Taylor had no trouble moving into adult(成人)roles and won twice for Best Actress: Butterfield 8 (1960) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf ? (1966)

Taylor’s fame(名声)and popularity gave her a lot of power with the movie industry, so she was able to demand very high pay for her movies. In 1963, she received $1 million for her part in Cleopatra—the highest pay received by any star up to that time.

Elizabeth Taylor is a legend (传奇人物) of our time. Like Velvet Brown in National Velvet, she has been lucky, she has beauty, fame and wealth. But she is also a hard worker. Taylor seldom acts in movies any more. Instead, she puts her time and efforts into her businesses, and into helping others—several years ago, she founded an organization that has raised more than $40 million for research and education.

1.The producers didn’t let Taylor play the part of Velvet at first because they thought she ____.

2.What Elizabeth Taylor and Velvet Brown had in common was that they were both _____.

3.Taylor became Best Actress at the age of          .

4.In her later life, Elizabeth Taylor devoted herself to             .

TODAY, Friday, November 12

JAZZ with the Mike Thomas Jazz Band at the Derby Arms. Upper Richmond Road West, Sheen, Admission(门票) free.

DISCO. Satin Sounds Disco. Free at the Lord Napier, Mortlake High St., from 8 pm. Tel. 682-1158.

JAZZ. Lysis at the Bull’s Head, Barnes. Admission 60p.

TOMRROW, Saturday, November 13

MUSIC HALL at the Star and Garter, Lower Richmond Road, Putney, provided by the Aba Daba Music Hall company. Good food and entertainment at a fair price. Tel. 789-6749.

FAMILY night out? Join the sing-along at the Black Horse, Sheen Road, Richmond.

JAZZ. The John Bennet Big Band at the Bull’s Head, Barnes. Admission 80p.

THE DERBY ARMS, Upper Richmond Road West, give you Joe on the electric accordion(手风琴). Tel. 789-4536.

SUNDAY, November 14

DISCO. Satin Sounds Disco, free at The Lord Napier, Mortlake High Street, from 8 pm.

FOLK MUSIC at the Derby Arms. The Short Stuff and residents the Norman Chop Trio.

Non-members 70p. Tel. 688-4626.

HEAVY music with Tony Simon at the Bull, Upper Richmond Road West, East Sheen.

TEE DERBY ARMS, Upper Richmond Road West, give you Joe on the electric accordion.

1.We can listen to the Norman Chop Trio _________.

2.Which telephone number will you ring if you want to enjoy good food and entertainment?

3.The underlined word “fair” in the passage means _________.

4.If this passage is from a newspaper, which section can it be probably taken from?

Imagine, one day, getting out of bed in Beijing and being at your office in Shanghai in only a couple of hours, and then, after a full day of work, going back home to Beijing and having dinner there.

Sounds unusual, doesn't it? But it's not that unrealistic, with the development of China’s high—speed railway system. And that’s not all. China has an even greater high-speed railway plan—to connect the country with Southeast Asia, and eventually Eastern Europe.

China is negotiating to extend its own high·-speed railway network to up to 17 countries in 10 to 15 years, eventually reaching London and Singapore.

China has proposed three such projects. The first would possibly connect Kunming with  Singapore via Vietnam and Malaysia. Another could start in Urumqi and go through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and possibly to Germany. The third would start in the northeast and go north through Russia and then into Western Europe.

If China’s plan for the high-speed railway goes forward, people could zip over from London to Berlin in under two days.

The new system would still follow China’s high-speed railway standard. And the trains would be able to go 346 kilometers an hour, almost as fast as some airplanes.

China’s bullet train(高速客车),the one connecting Wuhan to Guangzhou, already has the   World’s fastest average speed. It covers 1,069 kilometers in about three hours.

Of course, there are some technical challenges to overcome. There are so many issues that need to be settled, such as safety, rail gauge(轨距),maintenance of railway tracks. So, it’s important to pay attention to every detail.

But the key issue is really money. China is already spending hundreds of billions of yuan on domestic railway expansion.

China prefers that the other countries pay in natural resources rather than with capital  investment. Resources from those countries could stream into China to sustain development.

It’ll be a win-win project. For other countries, the railway network will definitely create more opportunities for business, tourism and so on, not to mention the better communication among those countries.

For China, such a project would not only connect it with the rest of Asia and bring some much-needed resources, but would also help develop China’s far west. We foresee that in the coming decades, millions of people will migrate to the western regions, where the land is empty and resources unused. With high-speed trains, people will set up factories and business centers in the west once and for all. And they’11 trade with Central Asian and Eastern European countries.

1.China’s new high-speed railway plan will be a win-win project because     .

2.According to the passage, the greatest challenge to the new high-speed railway plan is     .

3.Which of the following words best describes the author’s attitude towards China’s high-speed railway plan?

4.Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?

阅读下面短文,根据以下提示：1）汉语提示,2）首字母提示,3）语境提示,在每个空格内填入一个适当的英语单词,并将该词完整地写在右边相对应的横线上。所填单词要求意义准确,拼写正确。

Organized by the Students’ Union, we watched the newly-released

sci-fiction movie ----2012 last ______ (星期三) evening. In the movie, the

1.

end of our world falls on Dec. 21, 2012. On the day,_________(地震)

2.

occur and volcanoes erupt, c_______ millions of deaths and leaving

3.

people desperate. Our planet is d______ in an instant. People across

4.

the world tried to s______ the catastrophe.

5.

Having watched the movie, I was lost in thought. ______ is high time

6.

that human beings should protect the ______ (环境) better. If we continue

7.

to care s______ little about our earth, we human beings will be punished

8.

for______ we do today. I suggest everybody lead a more eco-friendly life. Do

9.

remember everybody can _______ a difference.

10.

根据所给汉语完成下列各句

1.那张照片使我回忆起儿时假期的情景。

That picture ________ ________ my memories of a holiday I had when I was a child.

2.这台机器发生故障。我得让人修理下。

The machine is ________ ________ ________. I have to have it repaired.

3.经过10年的辛苦劳作，玛蒂尔德终于还清了所以的债务。

After ten years of hard work, Mathild ________ ________ all her debts at last.

4.即使这房子历史悠久，它还是状况良好。

Even though the house has a long history, it is still ________ ________ ________.

5.不要被许诺能使你快速减肥的商品所欺骗。

Don’t be ________ ________ by products promising to make you lose weight quickly.

6.我们当中许多人不喜欢在课堂上讲英语。

_____ ______ _______ ______ us don’t like speaking English in class.

7.跟随它，在它的周围探索，不知不觉中，你将有值得思考的某些东西占据你的脑海。

________ ______ ______, explore all around it, _____ before you know it, you will have something worth thinking about to occupy your mind.

假设你正在参加全省中学生英语演讲比赛,请你针对有些父母经常翻看孩子日记或书包这一现象,写一篇演讲稿,陈述你的观点。演讲稿的主要内容应包括：认为同学们不必为此苦恼；希望能够体谅父母的苦衷；建议与父母进行交流和沟通。注意：1. 词数120左右；2. 可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯；3. 开头和结尾已为你写好,不计入总词数。

Good morning, ladies and gentleman.

Some of us are having problems with our parents, as they often look into our schoolbags or read our diaries _____________________________________________________________________________________

Gillard's ride to      top of Australian politics was         rough one.

A. 不填; a          B. the; a         C. a; the         D. a;不填

—When did she get injured?

    —It was at midnight      rain was pouring down.

A. where             B. that           C. what            D. when

How would you like      if you didn't see me for two or three days?

A. me               B. it              C. that            D. them

The government has decided to build a modern cinema___ many migrant workers live.

A. in which      B. that     C. where    D. when