There is no known date for when the ancient Greeks or Romans first shared their stories about gods, monsters and heroes. But for the modern myth known as Star Wars, that date is May 25,1977, when the original movie opened in theaters and kicked off a global phenomenon that spanned films, TV shows, novels, comic books, toys, lunchboxes, bed sheets and more. Even today, Star Wars remains an enduring touchstone (检验标准) of pop culture. Critically praised or not, the movies continue to be a big hit.
And just as we know when the mythology began, we also know who invented it: writer-director George Lucas. His inspiration, he told TIME in 1977, was “all the books and films and comics that I liked when I was a child… My main reason for making it was to give young people an honest, wholesome fantasy life, the kind my generation had.”
No one could predict just how much Lucas’ creation would catch on — not even Lucas himself or the film’s star Mark Hamill, who played young hero Luke Skywalker. “I had no idea it would be as successful as it was,” Hamill said in 2017, marking the original film’s 40th anniversary. “I just thought I would be a fan of this even if I weren’t involved.”
Before Lucas created Star Wars, he had an even more ambitious goal — to blow up the ways of Old Hollywood. And he did. Star Wars introduced a new era of moviemaking, one that saw the development of amazing special effects and the tools to achieve them. After this legend, filmmakers felt free to bring their wildest ideas to life in totally realistic ways that left audiences thrilled.
Why did Star Wars become such a powerful force? Hamill credits its ability to satisfy the human need for escapism. “People value the idea of going away to some happy place,” he said, “whether it’s Oz or Narnia or Middle Earth or Hogwarts. I think it appeals to children of all ages. It doesn’t matter if you’re 6 or 60. It appeals to the optimistic young idealism that I think every person has, however buried it might be.”
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?| A．People should keep digging into the history of ancient myths. |
| B．More products associated with Star Wars have been created. |
| C．Some people’s criticism of Star Wars made it less popular than before. |
| D．Star Wars is more successful in the business field than in the entertainment field. |
| A．To break the old rules and traditions of making films. |
| B．To appeal to the optimistic young men to pursue their dreams. |
| C．To encourage other filmmakers to bring their wild ideas to life. |
| D．To offer young people an as good and healthy fantasy life as he had. |
| A．it meets people’s pursuit for a place to escape |
| B．it symbolizes the beginning of the modern myth |
| C．the special effects offer amazing viewing experience |
| D．the main actors in this film are very popular among the public |
| A．inspire people to be optimistic and ideal |
| B．introduce the basic information about Star Wars |
| C．recommend the talented writer-director George Lucas |
| D．criticize the fact that Star Wars is not as well made as before |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】New York Broadway Show: Aladdin
Have a genie (精灵) grant your wish to see the Disney classic live on Broadway!
Provider: Tiqets International B.V.
Duration: 2h 30mins
Ticket Info:
A. $91.20 Admission to Aladdin
B. Smartphone tickets accepted
C. Instant ticket delivery
Highlights & Description
Roll out the magic carpet and get ready for a whole new world. The producer of The Lion King brings the timeless story of Aladdin to the New York stage in a musical spectacular for the whole family.
From the producer of The Lion King, this magical spectacle is packed with all your favorite songs from the Disney animated classic Aladdin, and more!
Come to the New Amsterdam Theatre and step into “A Whole New World”!
Instructions
Your tickets will be sent to you via email. Please show your ticket at the New Amsterdam Theatre entrance for the time and date of your show.
Seating starts 30 minutes prior to showtime, but there may be a wait to enter the theatre due to the security check. Please give your group plenty of time to get to the theatre and find their seats. Latecomers will be accommodated during the first appropriate break in the performance.
Reschedule and Cancellation Policy
Refunds are not possible for this ticket.
Rescheduling is not possible for this ticket.
1. Where is the text probably taken from?| A．A Disney brochure. | B．A travel blog. |
| C．A ticketing website. | D．A Broadway introduction. |
| A．It is set in ancient Amsterdam. |
| B．It is adapted from The Lion King. |
| C．It is an animated classic from Disney. |
| D．It is a magical musical with many songs. |
| A．be kept waiting until the first suitable break. |
| B．be turned away and the refund is impossible. |
| C．be rescheduled for the earliest available show. |
| D．be admitted immediately after the security check. |
【推荐2】You can find hundreds of free comedy movies online, saving your money, as well as the trouble of going out to rent a DVD or visit a movie theater.
Free Comedies at Popcornflix
Popcornflix is a legal website where you can watch fill-length streaming movies in both the U. S. and Canada. You'll see lots of actors and actresses you’ll recognize here in some movies you've heard of and some you haven’t. You don' t need to register, so you'll be enjoying your chosen movies or TV shows in seconds. However, this video streaming service is ad-supported, so you will have to sit through a few commercial breaks during your movie.
Free Comedy Movies at Tubi TV
Thousands of free movies and TV shows are available through Tubi TV, and they can all be viewed on a number of mobile devices in addition to a computer. There’s also a whole section at Tubi TV that’s just for comedy videos. Some movies require you to log in to view them, but registration is free and only takes a few moments.
Hulu's Free Comedy Movies
Hulu has the best selection of free comedy movies that you can watch online night now. You can look through newly added comedies or the most popular ones from today, this week, this month, or all time. Hulu also has a huge collection of funny free TV shows and movies available but you'll have to watch advertisements placed like commercials throughout the shows or movies you are viewing.
Classic Cinema Online’s Comedies
Dozens of free classic comedies are available from Classic Cinema Online. What really makes Classic Cinema unique from the rest is its rather large selection of silent films, while there' re only Classic a large handful of movies at Classic Cinema Online, if you love classic and silent movies, you really need to check it out.
1. What can we learn about Free Comedies at Popcornflix?| A．Its movies are all popular. | B．No registration is required. |
| C．It has a whole section of comedy videos. | D．Its movies can be watched anywhere. |
| A．Funny free TV shows. | B．Free-books. |
| C．Science fiction. | D．Action movie. |
| A．Dozens of free classic comedies. | B．A large selection of silent films. |
| C．Rather fine video quality. | D．The best selection of movies. |
The theme of the film by itself will not result in a rating greater than PG-13, although activities shown in the film related to a mature theme may result in a restricted rating for the film. Any drug use will initially require at least a PG-13 rating. More than brief nudity will require at least a PG-13 rating, but such nudity in PG-13 rated film generally will not be sexually oriented. There may be violence scene in a PG-13 movie, but generally not both realistic and extreme or persistent violence.
A single use of one of the rude words in a film, though only as an expletive (感叹语), initially requires at least a PG-13 rating. More than one such bad word requires an R rating, as must even one of those words used in a sexual context. The Rating Board nevertheless may rate such a film PG-13 if, based on a special vote by a two-thirds majority, the Raters feel that most American parents would believe that a PG-13 rating is appropriate because of the context or manner in which the words are used or because the use of those words in the film is easily neglected.
1. What is the main goal of this passage?| A．To discuss various movie ratings. |
| B．To explain various movie ratings. |
| C．To explain the difference between PG-13 and R movie ratings. |
| D．To explain the PG-13 movie rating. |
| A．has little impact on its rating |
| B．has a large impact on its rating |
| C．should be entertaining |
| D．should be suitable for children |
| A．should not be allowed in movies |
| B．is dangerous |
| C．makes a PG-13 rating necessary |
| D．is not appropriate for children under 13 |
| A．A PG rating. | B．A PG-13 rating. |
| C．An R rating. | D．An NC-17 rating. |
【推荐1】Some people can sit outside all summer long and not suffer from mosquito bites, while others turn into an itchy (痒的) mess despite bathing in DEET (含驱蚊胺的沐浴露) and never leaving the purple light of the bug zapper (灭蚊灯). It’s mostly about the invisible chemical landscape of the air around us. Mosquitoes take advantage of this landscape by using specialized behaviors and sensory organs to find victims by following the tiny chemical marks their bodies leave behind; specifically, mosquitoes rely on carbon dioxide to find their hosts.
When we breathe, the carbon dioxide from our lungs doesn’t immediately mix with the air, but temporarily stays in plumes (团状气流) that mosquitoes follow. “Mosquitoes start locating themselves in those pulses of carbon dioxide and keep flying upwind as they sense higher concentrations than the normal atmosphere contains,” said Joop van Loon, a scientist who studies insects. Using carbon dioxide, mosquitoes can lock onto targets from up to 164 feet (50 meters) away.
Things start getting personal when mosquitoes get about 3 feet (1 meter) away from a group of potential targets. At a short distance, mosquitoes take into account a lot of factors that vary from person to person, including skin temperature, the presence of water vapor (水蒸气) and color. Scientists think the most important factor mosquitoes rely on when choosing one person over another is the chemical compounds (化合物) produced by the colonies of microbes (微生物菌落) that live on our skin.
These chemical smells are complex, including upward of 300 different compounds, and they vary from person to person based on genetic variation and environments. “If you compare a father and daughter in the same household, there can be differences in the ratios of the chemicals the microbes are making,” said Jeff Riffell, an associate professor of biology who has studied mosquito attraction. For instance, men with a greater diversity of skin microbes tended to get fewer mosquito bites than men with less diverse skin microbes did, a study found.
Tiny differences in the elements of these chemical smells can account for big differences in how many bites a person gets. The elements of those microbial colonies can also vary over time in the same individual, particularly if that person is sick, Riffell said. We don’t have much control over the microbiomes on our skin, but Riffell did offer some advice based on his research — mosquitoes love the color black, so consider wearing something lighter at your next cookout.
1. What do we know about mosquitoes before they bite?| A．They are affected by wind speed. |
| B．They tend to fly against the wind. |
| C．They target their victims by using carbon dioxide. |
| D．They locate their victims through their body sizes. |
| A．Victims’ skin temperature. |
| B．The water vapor in the air. |
| C．The color of victims’ clothes. |
| D．The chemicals left on skin by microbes. |
| A．Men with a smaller variety of skin microbes. |
| B．Men with a greater variety of skin microbes. |
| C．Women in general. |
| D．Men in general. |
| A．Mosquitoes do not bite people who are sick. |
| B．Mosquitoes do not bite people who are much older. |
| C．We should cover our bodies as much as possible to avoid mosquitoes outdoors. |
| D．Wearing light-colored clothing outdoors is less likely to attract mosquitoes. |
| A．How to avoid mosquito bites? |
| B．Why are there mosquitoes in the world? |
| C．Why do some people attract mosquitoes? |
| D．What kind of smell attracts mosquitoes the most? |
【推荐2】Smartphones, tablets and smart watches are banned at school for all children under 15 in France. Under the ban students are not able to use their phones at all during school hours, including meal breaks.
“I think it’s a good thing. School is not about being on your phone,” Paris mum Marie-Caroline Madeleine told AFP. “It’s hard with kids. You can’t control what they see and that’s one of the things that worries me as a parent.”
There is no law like this in Australia, but some Australian schools have banned phones. McKinnon Secondary School in Victoria introduced a total ban in February and Principal Pitsa Binnion said this has been a success. McKinnon students still have a Chromebook to use in every class for day-to-day learning but they're not allowed to use social media. Ms. Binnion said at first “teachers cheered and students moaned (抱怨),” but now they’re seeing the positives (优势). “They come to school and they’re not allowed to use phones at all during the school day, including lunch breaks,” she said.
“It’s been wonderful as for students communicating with each other at lunchtime and not looking at their screen,” Ms. Binnion said. She also leads by example and doesn’t use her mobile phone in school. “I think anyone can do it if we’ve done it.”
Not everyone agrees with the bans. Western Sydney University technology researcher Dr. Joanne Orlando wrote in online magazine The Conversation earlier this year that Australia should not ban phones in schools because it’s important to educate kids to live in the age they are raised in. “A good education for students today is knowing how to use technology to learn, communicate and work with ideas,” she wrote. “Banning students from using smartphones is a 1950s response to a 2020 state-of-play.”
1. Why did Madeleine welcome the ban?| A．Teachers find it hard to control kids. |
| B．Kids behave badly nowadays. |
| C．School is for studying. |
| D．Her kids depend too much on phones. |
| A．Students can now see the good of the ban. |
| B．Some teachers were against it at first. |
| C．Students can use their phones at lunch breaks. |
| D．Teachers have stopped using phones at school as well. |
| A．It will disconnect parents and kids. |
| B．It will cause kids to communicate less. |
| C．It will make education go back 60 years. |
| D．It will prevent kids being tech-minded. |
【推荐3】Sunflowers are huge plants with bright yellow flowers. They have a long history in North America. There is evidence that they were used for food and for medicine by Native Americans beginning around 1000 B. C. The seeds from sunflowers were likely brought to Europe by Spanish explorers around the late 16th century. Over time, they found their way to Eastern Europe. Today, Ukraine is the world’s leading producer of the plants. Sunflowers are grown for their seeds and to make oil.
If you start growing sunflowers from seeds, put them in room-temperature water for 2-8 hours before planting to start the growing process. Plant each seed into dirt 2.5 centimetres deep and 15 to 30 centimetres apart. Plant them after the danger of frost has passed or start indoors three weeks before your last frost date. Keep the soil wet, but not too wet, until the seeds begin to grow.
Sunflower plants can be moved outdoors when the danger of frost has passed in your area. Choose a place outside that will provide the plants with at least 6- 8 hours of direct sunlight each day.
As the plants grow, they will develop long roots that work their way deep into the ground. So, before planting, it is important to loosen the soil. Dig at least one third of a metre down and remove any rocks.
Mixa large amount of compost (堆肥) into the soil where the plant will grow. Compost provides important, lasting nutrients that will help the plants all season long. The sunflowers may not need additional nutrients if they are planted with compost. If compost is not added during the planting process, provide nutrients through a slow release, all-purpose fertilizer (肥料) one or two times during the growing season.
1. What can be known about the sunflower in Paragraph 1?| A．It originated in South America. | B．It was initially used to make oil. |
| C．It has a history of 3,000 years or so. | D．It was taken to Europe by British explorers. |
| A．Keep the seeds in water for 10 hours. |
| B．Plant seeds 2.5 centimetres apart. |
| C．Never put new plants in direct sunlight each day. |
| D．Plant seeds indoors 21 days before your last frost date. |
| A．It is friendly to roots’ growth. | B．It helps to hold water in the soil. |
| C．It guarantees adequate supplies of air. | D．It is more efficient in keeping temperature. |
| A．How to select sunflowers. | B．How to grow sunflowers. |
| C．When to fertilize sunflowers. | D．When to move sunflowers. |
