1 . Leslie Nielsen’s childhood was a difficult one, but he had one particular shining star in his life — his uncle, who was a well-known actor. The admiration and respect his uncle earned inspired Nielsen to make a career (职业) in acting. Even though he often felt he would be discovered to be a no-talent, he moved forward, gaining a scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse and making his first television appearance a few years later in 1948. However, becoming a full-time, successful actor would still be an uphill battle for another eight years until he landed a number of film roles that finally got him noticed.
But even then, what he had wasn’t quite what he wanted. Nielsen always felt he should be doing comedy but his good looks and distinguished voice kept him busy in dramatic roles. It wasn’t until 1980 — 32 years into his career — that he landed the role it would seem he was made for in Airplane! That movie led him into the second half of his career where his comedic presence alone could make a movie a financial success even when movie reviewers would not rate it highly.
Did Nielsen then feel content in his career? Yes and no. He was thrilled to be doing the comedy that he always felt he should do, but even during his last few years, he always had a sense of curiosity, wondering what new role or challenge might be just around the comer. He never stopped working, never retired.
Leslie Nielsen’s devotion to acting is wonderfully inspiring. He built a hugely successful career with little more than plain old hard work and determination. He showed us that even a single desire, never given up on, can make for a remarkable life.
1. Why did Nielsen want to be an actor?| A．He enjoyed watching movies. | B．He was eager to earn money. |
| C．He wanted to be like his uncle. | D．He felt he was good at acting. |
| A．He directed some high quality movies. | B．He avoided taking on new challenges. |
| C．He focused on playing dramatic roles. | D．He became a successful comedy actor. |
| A．Art is long, life is short. | B．He who laughs last laughs longest. |
| C．It’s never too late to learn. | D．Where there’s a will there’s a way. |
2 . For Western designers, China and its rich culture have long been an inspiration for Western creative.
“It’s no secret that China has always been a source(来源) of inspiration for designers,” says Amanda Hill, chief creative officer at A+E Networks, a global media company and home to some of the biggest fashion(时尚) shows.
Earlier this year, the China Through A Looking Glass exhibition in New York exhibited 140 pieces of China-inspired fashionable clothing alongside Chinese works of art, with the aim of exploring the influence of Chinese aesthetics(美学) on Western fashion and how China has fueled the fashionable imagination for centuries. The exhibition had record attendance, showing that there is huge interest in Chinese influences.
“China is impossible to overlook,” says Hill. “Chinese models are the faces of beauty and fashion campaigns that sell dreams to women all over the world, which means Chinese women are not just consumers of fashion — they are central to its movement.” Of course, not only are today’s top Western designers being influenced by China—some of the best designers of contemporary fashion are themselves Chinese. “Vera Wang, Alexander Wang, Jason Wu are taking on Galliano, Albaz, Marc Jacobs—and beating them hands down in design and sales,” adds Hill.
For Hill, it is impossible not to talk about China as the leading player when discussing fashion. “The most famous designers are Chinese, so are the models, and so are the consumers,” she says. “China is no longer just another market; in many senses it has become the market. If you talk about fashion today, you are talking about China—its influences, its direction, its breathtaking clothes, and how young designers and models are finally acknowledging that in many ways.”
1. What can we learn about the exhibition in New York?| A．It promoted the sales of artworks. | B．It attracted a large number of visitors. |
| C．It showed ancient Chinese clothes. | D．It aimed to introduce Chinese models. |
| A．They are setting the fashion. | B．They start many fashion campaigns. |
| C．They admire super models. | D．They do business all over the world. |
| A．learning from | B．looking down on | C．working with | D．competing against |
| A．Young Models Selling Dreams to the World |
| B．A Chinese Art Exhibition Held in New York |
| C．Differences Between Eastern and Western Aesthetics |
| D．Chinese Culture Fueling International Fashion Trends |
3 . Parrots are prey animals, which means that other predators (捕食者) in the wild, such as hawks or snakes, are looking to make them into a meal. This one factor influences parrots’ behavior in your house more than any other.
Parrots are most easily hurt when feeding on the ground. Membership in a group plays an important function in ensuring their safety and improving their chances of survival from attacks by predators. The most common predators of parrots include hawks, snakes, cats, monkeys, and bats. Some predators make attacks only during the day while others hunt in the night.
As prey animals, parrots are constantly watching out for danger and they instinctively (本能地) react to risks. Their first choice is to take flight. However, if this is not possible, they will fight with their powerful beaks to defend themselves.
Because their biggest enemy is the hawk, parrots are especially reactive to quick movements from above and behind. For this reason, it is wise to avoid quick, sudden movements near your bird. This is a built-in reaction not subject to logic or reason. Simple and relatively harmless household objects can draw extreme fear responses from a bird. For example, a balloon may represent a hawk or a vacuum hose (吸尘器软管) may be the same as a snake in your bird’s mind.
As prey animals, parrots are often frightened by exposure to new household items or strangers. It is important to expose your bird to safe experiences and changes starting at a very young age to build flexibility and improve their adaptability. Variety in diet and toys, travel, and exposure to new people and places all help to make your bird more flexible and adaptable to change.
1. What is important for parrots to better survive from attacks in the wild?| A．Living in a group. | B．Growing beautiful feathers. |
| C．Feeding on the ground. | D．Avoiding coming out at night. |
| A．To attack back. | B．To get away. |
| C．To protect the young. | D．To play dead. |
| A．It may explode suddenly. | B．It may be in a strange shape. |
| C．It may have a strong color. | D．It may move around quickly. |
| A．To explain wild parrots’ behavior. | B．To give advice on raising a parrot. |
| C．To call for action to protect animals. | D．To introduce a study on bird ecology. |
4 . I experienced years of loneliness as a child.
A bright spot for me turned out to be reading. My love of the written word began early as my mother read to me every evening.
My mother also encouraged me to make what I wanted. I tried making toy cars with cardboard boxes and constructing buildings from leftover cardboard and bits of wood my father gave me. When my mother saw my creations, she told me how creative my designs were.
| A．I wasn't alone any longer. |
| B．I enjoyed reading stories aloud. |
| C．I was invited to play with another kid. |
| D．I loved the colorful photographs in the books. |
| E．Another habit I formed early was being outdoors. |
| F．Thus, I began my lifelong interest in making things. |
| G．My older brother couldn’t be bothered to play with me. |
5 . Yellowstone Poster Exhibition to Be on View at UW’s Coe Library
A first-of-its-kind exhibition that focuses on the history of Yellowstone National Park posters will be on display at the University of Wyoming’s Coe Library beginning Tuesday, February 1.
“Wonderland Illustrated” will present posters and poster-style illustrations of the park spanning from the 1870s through 2022. The exhibition will be located on Level 3 of Coe Library. It will be on view through Tuesday, May 31.
The exhibition takes place at the same time as this year’s 150th anniversary of the creation of Yellowstone National Park. The posters in the exhibition serve the purpose of both advertising and art.
“We’re thrilled to be working with Yellowstone collectors Jack and Susan Davís, and Larry and Thea Lancaster to bring this exhibition to the University of Wyoming as part of year-long celebrations recognizing Yellowstone’s 150th anniversary,” says Tamsen Hert, head of UW Libraries’ Emmett D. Chisum Special Collections. “This exhibition involves the history of printing, art, photography and advertising over 16 decades. The images reproduced are found on travel brochures, postcards and maps—many of which are held in our collections.”
One poster from the exhibition—Henry Wellge’s “Yellowstone National Park” from1904—was recently purchased with donated funds and is now part of UW Libraries’ Emmett D. Chisum Special Collections. Wellge, a productive bird’s-eye-view artist, designed the piece for the Northern Pacific Railroad, which used it to advertise the park. This is a unique piece, as posters such as this one were printed on soft paper and very few have survived.
1. How long will the exhibition “Wonderland Illustrated” last?| A．Two weeks. | B．Three months. | C．Four months. | D．One year. |
| A．To remember a famous artist. | B．To raise fund for Coe Library. |
| C．To mark the anniversary of a national park. | D．To tell the history of the University of Wyoming. |
| A．It is rare in the world. | B．It is in black and white. |
| C．It is printed on cloth. | D．It is owned by a professor. |
6 . Languages have been coming and going for thousands of years, but in recent times there has been less coming and a lot more going. When the world was still populated by hunter-gatherers, small, tightly knit(联系) groups developed their own patterns of speech independent of each other. Some language experts believe that 10,000 years ago, when the world had just five to ten million people, they spoke perhaps 12,000 languages between them.
Soon afterwards, many of those people started settling down to become farmers, and their languages too became more settled and fewer in number. In recent centuries, trade, industrialization, the development of the nation-state and the spread of universal compulsory education, especially globalisation and better communications in the past few decades, all have caused many languages to disappear, and dominant languages such as English, Spanish and Chinese are increasingly taking over.
At present, the world has about 6,800 languages. The distribution of these languages is hugely uneven. The general rule is that mild zones have relatively few languages. Often spoken by many people while hot, wet zones have lots, often spoken by small numbers. Europe has only around 200 Languages: the Americas about 1,000, Africa 2,400; and Asia and the Pacific perhaps 3,200, of which Papua New Guinea alone accounts for well over 800. The median number(中位数) of speakers is a mere 6，000, which means that half the worlds languages are spoken by fewer people than that.
Already well over 400 of the total of 6,800 languages are close to extinction(消亡), with only a few elderly speakers left. Pick, at random, Busuu in Cameroon (eight remaining speakers), Chiapaneco in Mexico(150). Lipan Apache in the United States(two or three) or Wadjigu in Australia (one, with a question-mark): none of these seems to have much chance of survival.
1. What can we infer about languages in hunter-gatherer times?| A．They developed very fast. | B．They were large in number. |
| C．They had similar patters. | D．They were closely connected |
| A．Complex. | B．Advanced. |
| C．Powerful. | D．Modern. |
| A．About 6,800 . | B．About 3,400 |
| C．About 2,400 | D．About 1,200. |
| A．New languages will be created. |
| B．Peoples lifestyles are reflected in languages. |
| C．Human development results in fewer languages. |
| D．Geography determines language evolution. |
7 . With the young unable to afford to leave home and the old at risk of isolation(孤独), more families are choosing to live together.
The doorway to peace and quiet, for Nick Bright at least, leads straight to his mother-in-law, she lives on the ground floor, while he lives upstairs with his wife and their two daughters.
Four years ago they all moved into a three-storey Victorian house in Bristol - one of a growing number of multigenerational families in the UK living together under the same roof. They share a front door and a washing machine, but Rita Whitehead has her own kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and living room on the ground floor.
“We floated the idea to my mum of sharing at a house,” says Kathryn Whitehead. Rita cuts in: “We spoke more with Nick because I think it’s a big thing for Nick to live with his mother-in-law.”
And what does Nick think? “From my standpoint, it all seems to work very well. Would I recommend it? Yes, I think I would.”
It’s hard to tell exactly how many people agree with him, but research indicates that the numbers have been rising for some time. Official reports suggest that the number of households with three generations living together had risen from 325,000 in 2001to 419,000 in 2013.
Other varieties of multigenerational family are more common. Some people live with their elderly parents; many more adult children are returning to the family home, if they ever left. It is said that about 20% of 25-34-year-olds live with their parents, compared with 16% in 1991.The total number of all multigenerational households in Britain is thought to be about 1.8 million.
Stories like that are more common in parts of the world where multigenerational living is more firmly rooted. In India, particularly outside cities, young women are expected to move in with their husband’s family when they get married.
1. Who mainly uses the ground floor in the Victorian house in Bristol?| A．Nick. | B．Rita. | C．Kathryn | D．The daughters. |
| A．Positive. | B．Carefree. | C．Tolerant. | D．Unwilling. |
| A．Family traditions. | B．Financial reports. | C．Published statistics. | D．Public opinions. |
| A．Lifestyles in different countries. | B．Conflicts between generations. |
| C．A housing problem in Britain. | D．A rising trend of living in the UK. |
8 . At the start of the 20th century, an American engineer named John Elfreth Watkins made predictions about life today. His predictions about slowing population growth, mobile phones and increasing height were close to the mark. But he was wrong in one prediction: that everybody would walk 10 miles a day.
Today, in Australia, most children on average fall 2, 000 steps short of the physical activity they need to avoid being overweight. In the early 1970s, 40 per cent of children walked to school, while in 2010, it was as low as 15 percent.
The decline is not because we have all become lazy. Families are pressed for time, many with both parents working to pay for their house, often working hours not of their choosing, living in car-dependent neighborhoods with limited public transport.
The other side of the coin is equally a deprivation: for health and well-being, as well as lost opportunities (机会) for children to get to know their local surroundings. And for parents there are lost opportunities to walk and talk with their young scholar about their day.
Most parents will have eagerly asked their child about their day, only to meet with a “good”, quickly followed by “I’m hungry”. This is also my experience as a mother. But somewhere over the daily walk more about my son’s day comes out. I hear him making sense of friendship and its limits. This is the unexpected and rare parental opportunity to hear more.
Many primary schools support walking school-bus routes (路线), with days of regular, parent-accompanied walks. Doing just one of these a few times a week is better than nothing. It can be tough to begin and takes a little planning-running shoes by the front door, lunches made the night before, umbrellas on rainy days and hats on hot ones-but it's certainly worth trying.
1. Why does the author mention Watkins' predictions in the first paragraph?| A．To make comparisons. | B．To introduce the topic. |
| C．To support her argument. | D．To provide examples. |
| A．Plain laziness. | B．Health problems. |
| C．Lack of time. | D．Security concerns. |
| A．She can get relaxed after work. | B．She can keep physically fit. |
| C．She can help with her son's study. | D．She can know her son better. |
9 . When “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” was first shown to the public last month, a group of excited animal activists gathered on Hollywood Boulevard. But they weren’t there to throw red paint on fur-coat-wearing film stars. Instead, one activist, dressed in a full-body monkey suit, had arrived with a sign praising the filmmakers: “Thanks for not using real apes (猿)!”
The creative team behind “Apes” used motion-capture (动作捕捉) technology to create digitalized animals, spending tens of millions of dollars on technology that records an actor’s performance and later processes it with computer graphics to create a final image (图像). In this case, one of a realistic-looking ape.
Yet “Apes” is more exception than the rule. In fact, Hollywood has been hot on live animals lately. One nonprofit organization, which monitors the treatment of animals in filmed entertainment, is keeping tabs on more than 2,000 productions this year. Already, a number of films, including “Water for Elephants,” “The Hangover Part Ⅱ” and “Zookeeper,” have drawn the anger of activists who say the creatures acting in them haven’t been treated properly.
In some cases, it’s not so much the treatment of the animals on set in the studio that has activists worried; it’s the off-set training and living conditions that are raising concerns. And there are questions about the films made outside the States, which sometimes are not monitored as closely as productions filmed in the States.
1. Why did the animal activists gather on Hollywood Boulevard?| A．To see famous film stars. |
| B．To oppose wearing fur coats. |
| C．To raise money for animal protection. |
| D．To express thanks to some filmmakers. |
| A．The cost of making “Apes.” |
| B．The creation of digitalized apes. |
| C．The publicity about “Apes.” |
| D．The performance of real apes. |
| A．Listing completely. |
| B．Directing professionally. |
| C．Promoting successfully. |
| D．Watching carefully. |
| A．They may be badly treated. |
| B．They should take further training. |
| C．They could be traded illegally |
| D．They would lose popularity. |
10 . The brown paper bag hit the ground. A Michelin engineer picked it up and opened it, revealing a cracked, leaking egg. The third graders at A.J. Whittenberg Elementary School were disappointed when they saw the runny mess.
It was engineering week at A.J. Whittenberg, a public primary school in Greenville, South Carolina. One week per month, engineers from local industries visit the classrooms and talk to students about their careers.
Greenville is now introducing the idea of a career path to students in primary school and giving students the option to follow those programs to middle and high schools. Each primary school focuses on a specific technical skill. The district allows students to attend schools outside of their attendance boundaries as long as space is available, which means students can choose to continue to follow their chosen career pathway at a middle school with corresponding programs.
The effort in Greenville is part of a growing national trend in which school districts partner with local industries to develop curriculum (课程) and expose students to specialized careers at a young age.
Some education experts worry the focus on industry qualifications has resulted in schools taking on responsibilities that should fall to businesses, like training workers for specific job duties, damaging a more comprehensive education in schools. “Schools are to not just prepare people for work and strengthen the economy, but also a place where students should experience art, music and think creatively,” said Jack Schneider, a professor of education at the University of Massachusetts.
A teacher from Greenville, however, said, “Career exposure has a big impact on kids. We’re not really wanting them to make a decision—‘I’m in the second grade and now I’m locked in to being whatever when I graduate from high school in 10 years.’ We just hope students walk across the graduation stage with plans for a career in mind.”
Modern times need modern solutions. When students leave school, they need to be already down their road to college, if that’s what they’re going to do, or schools need to give them something that allows them to get to work and earn a living. Just getting out with a high school degree doesn’t do that.
1. Why were the third graders disappointed?| A．Their test failed. | B．The bag missed the target. |
| C．Engineers disturbed them. | D．They had to clean the ground. |
| A．Design more career paths. | B．Invite engineers to their schools. |
| C．Adopt the open enrollment policy. | D．Offer more courses for them to choose. |
| A．People’s employment. | B．Students’ overall development. |
| C．The nation’s economy. | D．The school’s innovative education. |
| A．Modern solutions are hard to find. |
| B．More students need college education. |
| C．Greenville’s practice is not acceptable. |
| D．A high school degree is not enough for jobs. |
