III. 阅读理解

William Shakespeare is the most famous playwright (剧作家). Although he died in 1616, people still go to see his plays. Among the most popular are Ｒｏｍｅｏ ａｎｄ Ｊｕｌｉｅｔ, Ａ Ｍｉｄｓｕｍｍｅｒ Ｎｉｇｈｔ’ｓ Ｄｒｅａｍ and Ｈａｍｌｅｔ — the story of a prince who struggles to respond to the crimes around him.

    Shakespeare, who was born in 1564, was an actor as well as a writer. Most of his ideas for plays were taken from history, people’s conversation, ancient stories, and also from other writers. He wrote not only about kings and queens and princes, but also about friends and ordinary people. He wrote about the cruelty of war and the bravery of heroes, as well as about jealousy, joy, hate, ambition and love. His stories live on. The tragedy Ｒｏｍｅｏ ａｎｄ Ｊｕｌｉｅｔ was reborn as the musical Ｗｅｓｔ Ｓｉｄｅ Ｓｔｏｒｙ and more recently as the movie Ｒｏｍｅｏ ａｎｄ Ｊｕｌｉｅｔ with the wonderful performance of Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.

     He invented a number of great characters: powerful magicians, thrilling witches, smart women and both wise and wicked men. He also invented some great phrases. If you’ve ever said, “Oh, for goodness sake!” you can thank Shakespeare for that. Other examples of common phrases adapted from Shakespeare: “as luck would have it”, “your own flesh and blood”, “too much of a good thing”, “good riddance”, “in one fell swoop”, and “in the twinkling of an eye”. “To be, or not to be: that is the question,” Hamlet says. “Good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it is morrow,” says Juliet to her Romeo.

    Don’t be surprised if you don’t understand everything when reading Shakespeare or watching one of his plays because the meanings of many words have changed over the years. And Shakespeare’s characters speak in poetry, so their speeches can be complicated.

    It does help to find out a little bit about the story before reading a Shakespeare play. It’s worth the effort. As Shakespeare wrote, “All the world is a stage.” And in his plays you’ll find that an entire world is waiting for you.

1. Shakespeare created the following characters EXCEPT ________.

A. Juliet             B. Hamlet     C. Claire Danes      D. Romeo

2. From Paragraph 3 we can learn that ________.

A. most of the characters created by Shakespeare were negative ones

B. most of the phrases used today were invented by Shakespeare

C. “Oh, for goodness sake!” is what Juliet says to Romeo

D. Shakespeare contributed greatly to the development of English

3. Which of the following is a reason why it’s difficult to understand some of Shakespeare’s plays?

A. There are many new words in his plays.

B. He wrote his plays using uncommon words.

C. The characters in his plays speak in poetry.

D. Most of the words in his plays are outdated.

4. We can infer from the passage that ______.

A. most of Shakespeare’s plays have been made into films

B. language changes with the development of society

C. Shakespeare made lots of money from his works

D. it is more useful to read Shakespeare’s works than to watch them

Televisions were among the most talked about items at the 2013 International Consumer Electronics Show last week in Las Vegas, Nevada. Some employed the most advanced technology ever.

Some of the TVs used a new technology called Organic Light Emitting Diodes, or OLED. They were thinner, lighter, offered better color and were brighter than traditional LEDs. Smart TVs this year were smarter. Many offered technology that let users have a more personalized experience. One such TV from the electronics company TCL uses sensors and voice recognition to determine who is watching. It then offers programming based on the specific user. Another TV from Panasonic offers a similar personalized user experience.

In addition to television technology, size also played a major part in CES 2013. Televisions varied in size from big to bigger, with at least two companies — Samsung and HiSense — exhibiting TVs measuring 110 inches.

The yearly Consumer Electronics Show is the biggest technology trade show in North America and one of the biggest in the world.

Gary Shapiro is president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, the group that organizes CES. He gave one of the keynote speeches on opening day.

“Now you know that CES is more than a trade show. It’s a gathering of the brightest minds and the top leaders from many industries and those seeking a glimpse into the future.”

That glimpse into the future included a look at digital health and fitness devices, which were also big at CES 2013. There were devices that track your activity and others that measure blood pressure, heart rate and weight. There was even a fork that tells you when you are eating too fast.

Cars, smart-phones, tablet computers and PCs also made news. And a 27-inch table computer drew quite a bit of attention.

CEA President Gary Shapiro says there was much to see but not nearly enough time to see it all. “You cannot see the show in the four days that you have. We have over 3200 different industries showing over 20,000 new products. It’s absolutely incredible.”

1.At the 2013 CES, which item drew the most attention?

A. Cars.          B. Smart-phones.       C. Computers.       D. Televisions.

2.From the text, we can know that the TV from Panasonic _________.

A. is bigger than the others                              B. uses the technology of OLED

C. offers a personalized experience          D. can track your activity

3.What can we know from Gary Shapiro?

A. CES is only a big trade show.

B. CES offers a glimpse into the future.

C. CES lasts only four days in all.        

D. He thinks little of the new products’ quality.

4.At the CES, the biggest TV in size might be from ______.

A. HiSense        B. Panasonic         C. TCL         D. CEA

5.From the passage we can infer that__________.

A. the CES is held every 4 years

B. at the 2013 CES, the TV section was crowded

C. if you watch TV every day, you needn’t see a doctor

D. tablet computers drew more attention at the 2013 CES

Among the most important questions the journalists wanted _____was how Greece could overcome economic crisis ?

A. to answer                 B. being answered      C. answering       D. answered

Earlier this month, the United States Library of Congress named Katherine Paterson the national ambassador for young people’s literature.

She is only the second person to hold the position. She replaces writer Jon Scieszka,who had served since two thousand eight.

The librarian of Congress, James Billington, said Miz Paterson “represents the finest in literature for young people”. He spoke of the importance of reading in the lives of America’s young people.Miz Paterson has written more than thirty books. She is among only five writers to have won two Newbery Medals. These are among the most important children’s book awards in the United States.

“Bridge to Terabithia” won a Newbery Medal in nineteen seventy-seven. Her book “Jacob Have I

Loved” won the award in nineteen eighty-one.

Katherine Paterson’s books for children are often quite complex. “Bridge to Terabithia” includes

adult themes like depression and death. The book has caused debate because of its place on school

library bookshelves. Some parents think it is too adult for young children. Miz Paterson says the idea

for the book came from a real life experience. Her son’s best friend died in nineteen seventy-four

when she was struck by lightening.

Katherine Paterson is seventy-seven. She began writing as a young mother with three children. But

she says her interest in writing came as a surprise. As a child she had thought about becoming a

Christian religious worker in foreign countries like her parents were.

Katherine Paterson spoke to a gathering of children when she was named ambassador on January

fifth in Washington. She said: “Read for your life. Read for your life as a member of a family, as a part

of a community, as a citizen of this country and a citizen of the world.

1. The Newbery medal is designed for ______.

  A. writers with best books for grown-ups      B. children with best books on adult themes

  C. writers with best books for children        D. children with best books on nature

2. Which of the following is NOT true about the book Bridge to Terabithia?

  A. Its topics include depression and death.     B. It won a Newbery Medal in the 1980s.

  C. Some people think it’s for adults only.      D. The idea for it came directly from real life.

3. As a child, Katherine_______.

  A. had bad relations with her parents       B. showed great interest in writing books

  C. hoped to take part in religious activities     D. began writing books with serious themes

4. The national ambassador for young people’s literature as a position started in_____.

  A. 1977           B. 1981            C. 2008         D. 2009

Tens of thousands of smartphone applications are running ads from the overwhelming(势不可挡的) advertising networks that change smartphone settings and copy people’s contact information without permission.
Aggressive ad networks can disguise（假扮） ads as text message notifications (通告), and sometimes change browser settings and bookmarks. Often, the ads will upload your contacts list to the ad network’s servers--- information that the ad network can then sell to marketers.
Sounds scary? It’s not a giant problem yet, but it’s a growing one. As many as 5% of free mobile apps use an “aggressive” ad network to make money, according to Lookout, a San Francisco-based mobile security company. PhoneLiving was one of the most popular app developers to use these kinds of ad networks; their dozens of talking animal apps have been downloaded several million times. Later, PhoneLiving says it has mended its ways. The company admittedusing invasive techniques to make money from its apps, but said it dropped those methods at the start of July because of bad reviews and declining downloads.
The most popular type of apps that use aggressive ad networks are “Personalisation” apps, which include wallpapers. Comic and entertainment apps are also among the most likely to have rogue(凶猛的) ad networks running behind the scenes. Like aggressive pop-ups on PCs, the bad software isn’t easy to get rid of. Though the damage can typically be removed by deleting the app, it can be hard to tell which app is causing the problems.
When developers create free mobile apps, they usually make money through ads displayed within the app. App makers don’t usually tell people which ad network they are using, which makes it hard to avoid the known offenders. The best defense is to read reviews and avoid downloading apps that have attracted many complaints.
【小题1】What is an example of bad behavior by the annoying mobile ads?