We are happy to introduce our new show, On Broadway. This will be a night of the most entertaining, and thrilling Broadway Shows set on stage. We would like to honor some of these world class acts in our brilliant show. You will experience dramatic tangos (探戈), elegant waltzes (华尔兹), and much more. This show will attract you with its creative dancing, exciting music, and beautiful costurnes. Date: February 20—April 4, 4—6 p.m. Admission: $20 presale/$25 on the door

Our unique and fun summer camp includes dancing, fitness, games and other activities. While having a good time, campers can improve their body coordination (协调), balance, posture (仪态), and physical condition. For the last day, we have planned a performance for family and friends to show everything we have learned during the camp. Date: Monday July 9—Friday July 13, 9 a.m.—12:30 p.m. Children Ages 5&Up

I am excited to invite you to attend the North Carolina Open, Charlotte’s first NDCA recognized dance competition. Located in the beautiful Ballantyne Resort, this is an event you won’t forget. Take part in an evening of dancing, then relax in the spa or get away for a round of golf. Enjoy a full day of dancing with world—class judges and scholarship (奖学金) opportunities. Date: September 21 Admission: $30

Dance Center USA is turning 7 years old, so come and celebrate with us! Wine bar, starters, great music, and special performances by Dance Center students and professionals will be waiting for you. Also, an award ceremony will be held to recognize the outstanding achievement of our students in the past year. Date: Friday April 29, 8—10 p.m. Party Admission: $15

根据材料内容选择最佳答案。
1. How much do you have to pay for two tickets to On Broadway if you book in advance?

A．$20

B．$25

C．$40

D．$50

2. How does the summer camp help the children?

A．It helps build up their bodies.	B．It makes them to learn from famous dancers.
C．They get useful camping skills.	D．They learn how to get on with their parents.

3. Those who are invited to attend the North Carolina Open will ________.

A．be able to compete as dancers.	B．enjoy a free spa with friends.
C．learn some golf skills.	D．have a dinner with professionals.

4. Who will be awarded at the celebration party in Dance Center USA?

A．Outstanding professionals.	B．Excellent students.
C．Welcomed visitors.	D．Special performers

5. Which event is available in April at a good price?

A．On Broadway.	B．Summer Camp.
C．North Carolina Open.	D．The Celebration Party.

A rich Nobleman once opened the theaters without charge to the people, and gave a public notice that he would generously reward any person who invented a new amusement for the occasion.

Various public performers competed for the prize. Among them came a Buffoon who was well known for his jokes. He said that he had a kind of performance which had never been brought out on any stage before. This report was quickly spread about, and the theater was crowded in every part. The Buffoon appeared alone upon the platform and the very sense of expectation caused silence. He suddenly bent his head towards his bosom and imitated the sound of a little pig so wonderfully with his voice that the audience thought he had a pig under his cloak (斗篷), and demanded that it should be taken out. When that was done and nothing was found, they cheered the actor, and gave him the loudest applause (掌声).

A Countryman in the crowd said, “He shall not beat me at that trick!” and at once announced that he would do the same thing on the next day, though in a much more natural way. On the following day, a still larger crowd gathered in the theater, but the audience came rather to make fun of the Countryman than to see his performance. Both of the performers appeared on the stage. The Buffoon performed first, and again obtained the applause and cheers of the audience. Next the Countryman started, and pretending that he hid a little pig beneath his clothes (which in truth he did, but not found by the audience) tried to take hold of and pulled his ear causing the pig to make a sound. The crowd, however, cried out that the Buffoon had given a far more exact imitation, and asked for the Countryman to be kicked out of the theater.

Finally, the Countryman produced the little pig from his cloak and showed the most positive proof of their mistake. “Look here,” he said, “this shows what kind of judges you are.”

6. Why did the rich Nobleman give a public notice?

A．To reward the person who was good at telling jokes.

B．To invite people to his theatre for free.

C．To reward any person who invented a new amusement for the occasion.

D．To find out the Buffoon and the Countryman.

7. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

A．The Countryman was well known for his jokes.

B．The Buffoon hid a little pig in his cloak when he was performing.

C．The performance the Buffoon did was shown on the stage before.

D．The crowd gathered the following day to make fun of the Countryman.

8. What does the underlined word “produced” mean?

A．生产

B．拍摄

C．展现

D．繁育

9. When the countryman said “this shows what kind of judges you are” to the audience, he meant ________.

A．The audience clapped their hands to an imitation and disagree the real thing.

B．He was satisfied with the audience’s judgement.

C．The audience made a mistake by clapping their hands to him.

D．He thought highly of the audience and they were good judges.

10. Where is the text most probably from?

A．A guidebook.	B．A storybook.
C．A movie magazine.	D．A science report.

When we are children, the holidays seem to last forever. But later, we may find that the time just seems to fly by. Why does time seem to pass faster as we get older?

According to the Daily Mail, our brainsdegradeas we get older. That decreases the amount of information we can deal with in a single day. “The human mind senses time changing when the perceived (被感知的) images change,” Adrian Bejan from Duke University, US, told the Daily Mail. “The present is different from the past because the mental viewing has changed, not because somebody’s clock rings.”

Infants (幼儿), for example, move their eyes much more often than adults because they’re processing (处理) images at a faster rate. They deal with a large amount of information and do many things in a single day. This makes them feel like a single day lasts for a long time. However, as people get older, fewer images are processed in the same amount of time. Therefore, older people receive less information during a day than younger people. This causes things to seem as though they’re happening more quickly.

Apart from the degradation of our brains, some psychological reasons also make us experience time differently.

People may measure time by the number of memorable events that can be recalled (回忆) within a certain period. When we think about our youth, we may remember a life packed with first—time activities, for example, our first time traveling without our parents, or our first date. We experienced these events so vividly that time then seems to us to have passed very slowly. According to David Eagleman of the Baylor College of Medicine in the US, recalling these memories makes us feel like they took forever.

Many adults find life is routine and sometimes dull. For this reason, when they look back, they might feel like there are not many exciting things to remember. Therefore, time seems to be moving faster to them.

11. What does the underlined word “degrade” mean?

A．become better	B．become worse
C．remain the same	D．become smaller

12. How do people sense time changing according to Adrian Bejan?

A．It depends on how their clocks change.	B．It depends on how the views around them change.
C．It depends on how often they move their eyes.	D．It depends on how they process images.

13. What is the purpose of the fifth paragraph?

A．To tell us that first—time activities are vivid and memorable.

B．To tell us that first—time events can make time pass slowly.

C．To tell us that psychological reasons make people sense time differently.

D．To tell us that people should measure time by the number of memorable events.

14. Why does time seem to pass faster as we get older?

A．Because our life will become routine and dull when we grow older.

B．Because the degradation of our brains will make it slower to recall memories.

C．Because we’ll deal with less information in the same amount of time.

D．Because we won’t have first—time activities.

15. In which part of the magazine can you probably read the text?

A．News

B．Sports

C．Health

D．Science

Public Speaking and Critical thinking

What is critical thinking? To a certain degree, it’s a matter of logic (逻辑)— of being able to spot weakness in other people’s arguments and to avoid them in your own.     16    

In the broad sense, critical thinking is focused, organized thinking——the ability to see clearly the relationships among ideas.     17     The greatest thinkers, scientists, and inventors have often taken information that was really available and put it together differently to produce new ideas. That, too, is critical thinking.

If you are wondering what this has to do with your public speaking class, the answer is quite a lot. As the class goes on, for example, you will probably spend a good deal of time organizing your speeches.     18     If the structure of your speech is loose (松散的) and confused, chances are that your thinking is also disordered and confused. If, on the other hand, the structure is clear, there is a good chance your thinking is too. Organizing a speech is not just a mater of arranging your ideas you already have. Rather, it is an important part of shaping the ideas themselves.

    19     The skills you learn in your speech class can help you become a more effective thinker in a number of ways. As you work on expressing your ideas in clear accurate language, you will improve your ability to think clearly and accurately. As you study the role of evidence and reasoning in speechmaking, you will see how they can be used in other forms of communication as well. As you learn to listen critically to speeches in class, you will be better able to assess the ideas of speakers in a variety of situations.

    20     This is one reason public speaking has been regarded as a vital part of education since the days of ancient Greece.

根据材料内容，从下面五个选项中选出能填入文中空缺处的最佳选项，使短文意思通顺，内容完整。

A．While this may seem like a purely mechanical (机械的) exercise, it is closely connected with critical thinking.

B．If you take full advantage of your speech class, you will be able to develop your skills as a critical thinker in many situations.

C．What is true of organization is true of many aspects of public speaking.

D．It also includes related skills such as distinguishing (区分) fact from opinion and assessing (评估) the soundness of evidence (证据).

E．It has often been said that there are few new ideas in the world, only reorganized ideas.