【推荐2】Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word given in the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word that you do not need.

A. combined       B. existing       C. followed       D. guilty       E. historical F. innovative       G. mix       H. noted       I. process       J. searchable       K. usage

Oxford English Dictionary adds new words

In June, the Oxford English Dictionary, or OED, added about 1,000 words and new definitions to its website. The changes are to help users understand a(n)     1     of terms, some dating back many centuries. The additions include words such as “brencheese”, “deathshildy” and “hip-pop”.

The new entries are part of the company’s update to its     2     online dictionary for paid members. The OED makes changes to the website four times each year.

But the latest print version has been in     3     since the year 2000, and may not be ready for 10 more years. That information comes from Katherine Connor Martin, who heads the company’s dictionary operations in the United States.

Usually, the OED watches     4     of a word for at least 10 years before deciding whether to add a new entry, new definition or word related to a(n)     5     entry, she said. This general rule, however, is sometimes not     6    . That is what happened with “tweet”, a word that the OED added far before the 10-year mark.

Other times, the company adds words that are very old, but were not included in the dictionary in the past. “It’s funny because we talk about new words, but many of the words we add are already old. It’s just that they were never in the dictionary before,” Martin said.

That is the reality, she said, of a(n)     7     dictionary trying to put more than 1,000 years of English into books that already have over 855,000 entries. So, you get “brencheese”, a rarely used term for when bread and cheese are eaten together. The word dates back to the year 1665. The word “deathshildy” is from Old English. It means someone who is     8     of a serious crime and sentenced to death.

The website defines the term “hip-pop” for music that has     9     parts of hip-hop and popular music. The OED discovered the term “hip-hip pop” was used in a 1985 story from a Pennsylvania newspaper. It     10     that the term “hip-pop” appeared in a 1991 US newspaper report about a rap artist.

【推荐3】Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

Renaissance

The French word renaissance means rebirth. It was first used in 1855 by the historian Jules Michelet in his History of France. Then it was adopted by historians of culture, by art historians, and eventually by music historians, all of whom     1     it to European culture during the 150 years from 1450 to 1600. The concept of rebirth was appropriate to this period of European history because of the     2     interest in ancient Greek and Roman culture that began in Italy and then spread throughout Europe. Scholars and artists of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries wanted to     3     the learning and ideals of the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome. To these scholars this meant a return to human rather than spiritual values. Fulfillment in life rather than concern about an afterlife became a desirable goal. Expressing the     4     range of human emotions and enjoying the pleasures of the senses were no longer looked down upon.

These changes in     5     deeply affected the musical culture of the Renaissance period--how people thought about music as well as the way music was composed, experienced, and discussed. They could see the     6     monuments, sculptures, plays, and poems that were being rediscovered , but they could not actually hear ancient music although they could read the writings of classical philosophers, poets, essayists, and music theorists that were becoming     7     in translation. They learned about the power of ancient music to move the listener and wondered why modern music did not have the same effect. For example, the influential religious leader Bernardino Cirillo expressed     8     with the learned music of his time. He urged musicians to follow the example of the sculptors, painters, architects, and scholars who had rediscovered ancient art and literature.

The musical Renaissance in Europe was more a general cultural movement and state of mind than a(n)     9     set of musical techniques. Furthermore, music changed so rapidly during this century and a half--though at different rates in different countries-that we cannot     10     a single Renaissance style.

【推荐2】Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

Poetry is a kind of writing in which the sound and meaning of groups of words express ideas or emotion in addition to the experiences or strong feelings the writer     1    . Unlike most other forms of writing, poetry is often written in lines, rather than paragraphs. Poetry also sounds different from other forms of writing, often using rhythm and rhyme to create an interesting sound when read aloud. Poetry catches the attention of a reader because it     2     to both emotions and senses.

Sound is     3    the single most important aspect of any poem. The sound that any poem. The sound that any given word makes, or the sounds that come from specific groups of words used together, are what make poetry so unique as a form of writing. A typical story or report does not focus on the sounds that each     4     word makes when read. But poems generally contain few words, so it is important that each word plays a role in making an impact on the reader. Rhythm is the flow of sounds created by successive words in a poem. When you read a poem you can often hear this     5     pattern,or “beat,” in the sounds. This is called meter.

Some of the oldest and best-known poetry in the world came from Ancient Greece. As far back as 700 BCE, poets there recited their work at public     6     and religious ceremonies, the great epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer came from Greece. The Greeks eventually     7     Roman poets, such as Virgil, who wrote the Aeneid 30 BCE. In medieval

times, poems such as Beowulf, The Divine Comedy by Dante, and The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer were written. Religion and romance became the     8     of choice for many poets at that time.

Poetry    9     even more during the Renaissance period of history, an era of many great cultural achievements. This was the period during which Shakespeare, the most well-known poet, was making his mark! Needless to say, a trend had started. Poetry has continued to grow and change as a form of     10     expression in modern times,

【推荐3】Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. topic          B. developed          C. arguably        D. increasingly        E. repeated        F. events G. shares        H. individual        I. influenced        J. appeals                 K. literary

Poetry is a kind of writing in which the sound and meaning of groups of words express ideas or emotion in addition to the experiences or strong feelings the writer     1    . Unlike most other forms of writing, poetry is often written in lines, rather than paragraphs. Poetry also sounds different from other forms of writing, often using rhythm and rhyme to create an interesting sound when read aloud. Poetry catches the attention of a reader because it     2     to both emotions and senses.

Sound is     3     the single most important aspect of any poem. The sound that any given word makes, or the sounds that come from specific groups of words used together, are what make poetry so unique as a form of writing. A typical story or report does not focus on the sounds that each     4     word makes when read. But poems generally contain few words, so it is important that each word plays a role in making an impact on the reader. Rhythm is the flow of sounds created by successive words in a poem. When you read a poem you can often hear this     5     pattern, or “beat” in the sounds. This is called meter.

Some of the oldest and best-known poetry in the world came from Ancient Greece. As far back as 700 BCE, poets there recited their work at public     6     and religious ceremonies. The great epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer came from Greece. The Greeks eventually     7     Roman poets, such as Virgil, who wrote the Aeneid 30 BCE. In medieval times, poems such as Beowulf, The Divine Comedy by Dante. and The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer were written. Religion and romance became the     8     of choice for many poets at that time.

Poetry     9     even more during the Renaissance period of history, an era of many great cultural achievements. This was the period during which Shakespeare, the most well-known poet, was making his mark! Needless to say, a trend had started. Poetry has continued to grow and change as a form of     10     expression in modern times.