1 . I first met Paul Newman in 1968, when George Roy Hill, the director of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, introduced us in New York City. When the studio didn’t want me for the film - it wanted somebody as well known as Paul — he stood up for me. I don’t know how many people would have done that; they would have listened to their agents or the studio powers.
The friendship that grew out of the experience of making that film and The Sting four years later had its root in the fact that although there was an age difference, we both came from a tradition of theater and live TV. We were respectful of craft(技艺) and focused on digging into the characters we were going to play. Both of us had the qualities and virtues that are typical of American actors: humorous, aggressive, and making fun of each other — but always with an underlying affection. Those were also at the core(核心) of our relationship off the screen.
We shared the belief that if you’re fortunate enough to have success, you should put something back — he with his Newman’s Own food and his Hole in the Wall camps for kids who are seriously ill, and me with Sundance and the institute and the festival. Paul and I didn’t see each other all that regularly, but sharing that brought us together. We supported each other financially and by showing up at events.
I last saw him a few months ago. He’d been in and out of the hospital. He and I both knew what the deal was, and we didn’t talk about it. Ours was a relationship that didn’t need a lot of words.
1. Why was the studio unwilling to give the role to author at first?| A．Paul Newman wanted it. |
| B．The studio powers didn’t like his agent. |
| C．He wasn’t famous enough. |
| D．The director recommended someone else. |
| A．They were of the same age. |
| B．They worked in the same theater. |
| C．They were both good actors. |
| D．They han similar charactertics. |
| A．Their belief. |
| B．Their care for children. |
| C．Their success. |
| D．Their support for each other. |
| A．To show his love of films. |
| B．To remember a friend. |
| C．To introduce a new movie. |
| D．To share his acting experience. |
2 . Terrafugia Inc. said Monday that its new flying car has completed its first flight, bringing the company closer to its goal of selling the flying car within the next year. The vehicle —named the Transition – has two seats, four wheels and wings that fold up so it can be driven like a car. The Transition, which flew at 1,400 feet for eight minutes last month, can reach around 70 miles per hour on the road and 115 in the air. It flies using a 23-gallon tank of gas and burns 5 gallons per hour in the air. On the ground, it gets 35 miles per gallon.
Around 100 people have already put down a $10,000 deposit to get a Transition when they go on sale, and those numbers will likely rise after Terrafugia introduces the Transition to the public later this week at the New York Auto Show. But don’t expect it to show up in too many driveways. It’s expected to cost $279,000.And it won’t help if you’re stuck in traffic. The car needs a runway.
Inventors have been trying to make flying cars since the 1930s, according to Robert Mann, an airline industry expert. But Mann thinks Terrafugia has come closer than anyone to making the flying car a reality. The government has already permitted the company to use special materials to make it easier for the vehicle to fly. The Transition is now going through crash tests to make sure it meets federal safety standards.
Mann said Terrafugia was helped by the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision five years ago to create a separate set of standards for light sport aircraft, which are lower than those for pilots of larger planes. Terrafugia says an owner would need to pass a test and complete 20 hours of flying time to be able to fly the Transition, a requirement pilots would find relatively easy to meet.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?| A．The basic data of the Transition. |
| B．The advantages of flying cars. |
| C．The potential market for flying cars. |
| D．The designers of the Transition. |
| A．It causers traffic jams. |
| B．It is difficult to operate. |
| C．It is very expensive. |
| D．It burns too much fuel. |
| A．Cautious | B．Favorable. |
| C．Ambiguous. | D．Disapproving. |
| A．Flying Car at Auto Show |
| B．The Transition’s First Flight |
| C．Pilots’ Dream Coming True |
| D．Flying Car Closer to Reality |
3 . In the coming months, we are bringing together artists from all over the globe, to enjoy speaking Shakespeare’s plays in their language, in our Globe, within the architecture Shakespeare wrote for. Please come and join us.
National Theatre Of China Beijing｜Chinese
This great occasion(盛会) will be the National Theatre of China’s first visit to the UK. The company’s productions show the new face of 21st century Chinese theatre. This production of Shakespeare’s Richard III will be directed by the National’s Associate Director, Wang Xiaoying.
Date & Time: Saturday 28 April, 2.30 pm & Sunday 29 April, 1.30 pm & 6.30 pm
Marjanishvili Theatre Tbilisi｜Georgian
One of the most famous theatres in Georgia, the Marjanishvili, founded in 1928, appears regularly at theatre festivals all over the world. This new production of As You Like It is helmed(指导) by the company’s Artistic Director Levan Tsuladze.
Date & Time: Friday 18 May, 2.30 pm & Saturday 19 May, 7.30 pm
Deafinitely Theatre London｜British Sign Language(BSL)
By translating the rich and humourous text of Love’s Labour’s Lost into the physical language of BSL, Deafinitely Theatre creates a new interpretation of Shakespeare’s comedy and aims to build a bridge between deaf and hearing worlds by performing to both groups as one audience.
Date & Time: Tuesday 22 May, 2.30 pm & Wednesday 23 May, 7.30 pm
Habima National Theatre Tel Aviv｜Hebrew
The Habima is the centre of Hebrew-language theatre worldwide. Founded in Moscow after the 1905 revolution, the company eventually settled in Tel Aviv in the late 1920s. Since 1958, they have been recognized as the national theatre of Israel. This production of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice marks their first visit to the UK.
Date & Time: Monday 28 May, 7.30 & Tuesday 29 May, 7.30 pm
1. Which play will be performed by the National Theatre of China?| A．RichardⅢ. | B．Lover’s Labour’s Lost. |
| C．As You Like It. | D．The Merchant of Venice. |
| A．It has two groups of actors. | B．It is the leading theatre in London. |
| C．It performs plays in BSL. | D．It is good at producing comedies. |
| A．On Saturday 28 April. | B．On Sunday 29 April. |
| C．On Tuesday 22 May. | D．On Tuesday 29 May. |
4 . In my mind, there is a moving story about a skinny young boy who loved football with all his heart. Practice after practice, he eagerly gave everything he had. Being half the size of the other boys, he got absolutely nowhere. Despite his hard training at all the games, this hopeful athlete sat on the bench and hardly ever played.
This teenager lived alone with his father, and the relationship between the two of them was very special. Even though the son was always on the bench, his father was always in the stands cheering. He never missed a game. This young man was still the smallest of the class when he entered high school. But his father continued to encourage him.
The young man loved football and was determined to try his best at every practice, and perhaps he’d get to play when he became a senior. All through high school he never missed a practice nor a game but remained a benchwarmer. Besides, his faithful father was always in the stands, always with words of encouragement for him. When the young man went to college, he decided to try out for the football team as a “walk-on”. Everyone firmly believed that he could never make the cut, but he did.
The news that he had survived the cut thrilled him so much that he rushed to the nearest phone and called his father. His father shared his excitement and was sent season tickets for all the college games. This persistent young athlete never missed practice during his four years at college, but actually he never got the real chance to play in a game.
It was at the end of his senior football season that the coach met him with a telegram. The young man read the telegram and he became totally silent. Swallowing hard, he mumbled to the coach, “My father died this morning. Is it all right if I miss practice today?” The coach put his arm gently around his should and said, “Take the rest of the week off, son. And don’t even plan to come back to the game on Saturday.”
Saturday arrived, and the game was not going well. In the third quarter, when the team was ten points behind, a silent young man quietly slipped into the empty locker room and put on his football gear. As he ran onto the sidelines (边线), the coach and his players were surprised to see their faithful teammate back so soon. “Coach, please let me play. I’ve just got to play today,” said the young man. The coach pretended not to hear him. There was no way he wanted his worst player in this close play-off game. But the young man insisted, and finally feeling sorry for the kid, the coach gave in. “All right,” he said. “You can go in.’’ Before long, the coach, the players and everyone in the stands could not believe their eyes. This little unknown, who had never played before, was doing everything right. The opposing team could not stop him. He ran, passed, blocked, and tackled like a star. His team began to succeed. The score was soon tied. In the closing seconds of the game, this kid got a pass and ran all the way for the winning touchdown.
Finally, after the stands had emptied, the coach noticed that this young man was sitting quietly in the corner all alone. The coach came to him and said, “Kid, you were unbelievably fantastic! Tell me what got into you? How did you do it?”
He looked at the coach, tears in his eyes, and said “Well, you knew my had died, but did you know that my dad was blind?” The young man swallowed hard and forced a smile, “Dad came to all my games, but today was the first time he could see me play, and I wanted to show him I could make it!”
1. What’s the writer’s attitude toward the young boy in this passage?| A．Appreciative. | B．Critical. |
| C．Grateful. | D．Negative. |
| A．the young man’s coach played an important role in his growth |
| B．the young man’s father had a great positive influence on him |
| C．not until his father passed away did the young man train hard |
| D．the young man’s road to success in football was always smooth |
| A．He hoped his dead father could be proud of his performance. |
| B．He thought he was much better than other players in his team. |
| C．He wanted to defeat the opposing team in this significant game. |
| D．He planned to make money to cure his father of his blindness. |
| A．A thrilling football match | B．Determined father and son |
| C．The power of dreams | D．The encouragement of a coach |
5 . When I was about 10, I was walking down the street with my mother. She stopped to speak to Mr Lee. I knew I could see Mr Lee anytime around the neighborhood, so I just stood there. After we passed him, my mother stopped and said something unforgettable, "You let that be the last time you ever walk by somebody you know without opening your mouth to speak, because even a dog can wag its tail when it passes you on the street." That sentence sounds simple but it made me become who I am.
At work, I used to say hello to the president of the company and ask him how our business was doing. But I also spoke to the people in the cafe? and people who cleaned the buildings, and asked them how their children were doing, for every single person deserves to be accepted, no matter how humble (卑微的)they are. I remember that after a few years of passing by the president, I had the courage to ask him for a chat. We had a great talk. At some point, when I asked him how far he thought I could go in his company, he said that if I wanted to, I could get all the way to his seat.
I've become vice president, but that hasn't changed how I treat people. I speak to people wherever I am. Speaking to people creates a pathway into their world, and it lets them come into mine, too. The day you speak to someone who has his head down and then see him lift it up and smile, you will realize how powerful it is just to open your mouth and say hello.
1. What is the best title of this passage?| A．The Power of Being Talkative |
| B．My Mother's Influence on Me |
| C．The Power of Saying Hello |
| D．My Way to Become Vice-president |
| A．The writer didn't say hello to everyone in the company. |
| B．The writer made a very good impression on the president of the company. |
| C．The president of the company thought the writer was much better than him. |
| D．The president of the company actually didn't like the writer at all. |
| A．is a way to get what he wants |
| B．has become a habit and a way of life |
| C．is a way to show respect for his mother |
| D．is important in making him remembered |
| A．make our world much better |
| B．make people much happier every day |
| C．help people understand each other better |
| D．help people work much better |
6 . The English language has many ways to talk about something that is funny.
Humour comes in many forms. The most obvious and traditional way we use humour is in jokes.
Another way people can use humour is through telling a funny story. Perhaps something bad happened to the person but they can laugh about it now. People also invent funny stories in order to make people laugh. The advantage of this is that the characters aren’t real.
Physical comedy usually divides opinions. For some, seeing someone fall down, whether it is planned or not, is one of the funniest things they can see.
| A．Humour is just one of the ways. |
| B．Everyone needs to laugh once in a while. |
| C．Other forms of humour are word play and puns(双关语). |
| D．Therefore, you don’t have to feel bad for laughing at them! |
| E．People of all ages and cultures have a strong sense of humour. |
| F．Most people know how to use some form of humour in their native languages. |
| G．For others, finding physical humour and non-serious accidents funny seems cruel. |
7 . What is success? I am not going to try to explain success. I think a precise meaning is impossible! Is it winning a Gold Medal at the Olympic Games or winning Wimbledon, or being awarded a Nobel Prize? What else? I believe personal success could be anything at all- it does not have to involve public recognition. Who is more successful? A millionaire who is unhappy, or an unnoticed person, who has led a simple, quiet, sincere and happy life? The simplest definition of success, I think, is “to set out to do something and to succeed in doing it.
The first step on the road to success starts with belief. Believe you can succeed and you will. Achieving success in whatever endeavor(努力)you choose may be the goal of life; because it gives you freedom from worry. Could that be?
Success means different things to every one of us. Some people believe it is measured in financial term; others believe it is helping others rather than helping themselves. However, most people are motivated to a great extend by public recognition. How many people are really happy? How many people are really doing what they want to with their lives? Incidentally, to imagine makes us different from animals.
Most important of all, I believe success is a matter of personal growth. If every day you are developing or growing just a millimeter, I believe one is successful. Just being a slightly better person each day for me is success. I’ve got a very long way to go them!
Finally, always remember success is a process and is not simply a matter of arriving at a destination. It’s the journey that really matters. Success is what you become in the often very difficult and dangerous journey down the river of life.
1. What is personal success according to the author?| A．Winning public recognition |
| B．Being an unhappy millionaire |
| C．Something impossible to define simply |
| D．Succeeding in doing what you want |
| A．Intelligence | B．Confidence |
| C．Wealth | D．Kindness |
| A．belief | B．freedom |
| C．imagination | D．success |
| A．What is success | B．No true success |
| C．How to be successful | D．Success is reaching a destination |
8 . Scientists investigated why Ebola virus is so deadly when it spreads from animals to humans and then from human-to-human contact. The research team looked at the Zaire Ebola virus in an animal system to understand how it gains strength. This virus is responsible for the current outbreak in West Africa. They found that initially the animal systems were not affected by the virus, but succeeding transmission(传送) into other animals caused the virus to “hot up” and become more severe.
The team analyzed the viruses at different stages and were able to identify several changes in its genetic material that were associated with increased disease.
Professor Julian Hiscox, who led the study from the University’s Institute of Infection and Global Health, explains: “The work tells us that the evolutionary goal of Ebola virus is to become more fatal.”
“We were able to show through genetic analysis which parts of the virus are involved in this process. The information we have gathered will now allow us to monitor for such changes in an outbreak as well as develop future treatment strategies.”
Professor Roger Hewson, leading the study from Public Health England, Porton Down, said: “Ebola virus is such a destructive infection to the people affected by the disease and the economy of West Africa.”
“Our understanding of Ebola virus biology is way behind that of other viruses and our cooperation shows how we can bring together our specialists’ skills to close this knowledge gap.”
Professor Miles Carroll, a co-author of the work, said: “This study has allowed the team to be at the forefront of developing methodologies to analyze patient samples recently taken by the European Mobile Laboratory from West Africa to understand disease evolution during the current outbreak.”
1. What does the first paragraph mainly tell us?| A．How severe Ebola virus is. |
| B．How Ebola virus spreads. |
| C．How Ebola virus gradually becomes deadly. |
| D．What contributions scientists have made on Ebola virus. |
| A．In the first stage, the virus hurts its victims much. |
| B．As the virus spreads, it’ll change and become more and more deadly. |
| C．The research in Ebola virus is more advanced than that in other viruses. |
| D．The scientists have a negative attitude to the research in Ebola virus. |
| A．optimistic | B．deadly |
| C．common | D．fantastic |
| A．In a science report. | B．In a storybook. |
| C．In an advertisement. | D．In a textbook. |
9 . Some people think if you are happy, you are blind to reality. But when we research it, happiness actually raises every single business and educational outcome for the brain. How did we miss this? Why do we have these social misunderstandings about happiness? Because we assumed you were average. When we study people, scientists are often interested in what the average is.
Many people think happiness is genetic. That’s only half the story, because the average person does not fight their genes. When we stop studying the average and begin researching positive outliers —people who are above average for a positive aspect like optimism or intelligence —a wildly different picture appears. Our daily decisions and habits have a huge impact upon both our levels of happiness and success.
Scientifically, happiness is a choice. It is a choice about where your single processor brain will devote its limited resources as you process the world. If you scan for the negative first, your brain really has no resources left over to see the things you are grateful for or the meaning embedded(嵌入) in your work. But if you scan the world for the positive, you start to acquire an amazing advantage.
I wrote the cover story for the Harvard Business Review magazine on “Happiness Leads to Profits.” Based on my article called “Positive Intelligence” and my research in The Happiness Advantage, I summarized our researched conclusion: the single greatest advantage in the modern economy is a happy and busy workforce.
A decade of research in the business world proves that happiness raises nearly every business and educational outcome: increasing sales by 37%, productivity by 31%, and accuracy on tasks by 19%, as well as a number of health and quality-of-life improvements.
1. The underlined word “this” in the first paragraph refers to .| A．the fact that people are happy |
| B．the connection between happiness and educational outcome |
| C．the fact that people often misunderstand happiness |
| D．the fact that most people are average |
| A．Scientists are only interested in what the average is. |
| B．You can choose to be happy or not. |
| C．The average are not happy at all. |
| D．Our decisions and habits have nothing to do with happiness. |
| A．To advertise himself. |
| B．To arouse the readers’ interest. |
| C．To support his point about happiness. |
| D．To attract the readers to read his articles. |
| A．To explain what is happiness. |
| B．To describe the misunderstandings about happiness. |
| C．To show people the importance of happiness. |
| D．To make the point that happiness promotes business and educational outcome. |
10 . I was sure that I was to be killed. I became terribly nervous. I fumbled(摸索) in my pockets to see if there were any cigarettes, which had escaped their search. I found one and because of my shaking hands, I could barely get it to my lips. But I had no matches; they had taken those. I looked through the bars at the guard. He did not make eye contact with me. I called out to him “Have you got a light？” He looked at me, shrugged and came over to light my cigarette. As he came close and lit the match, his eyes unconsciously locked with mine. At that moment, I smiled. I don't know why I did that. Perhaps it was nervousness; perhaps it was because, when you get very close, one to another, it is very hard not to smile. In any case, I smiled. In that instant, it was as though a spark jumped across the gap between our two hearts, our two human souls. I know he didn't want to, but my smile leaped through the bars and caused a smile on his lips, too. He lit my cigarette but stayed near, looking at me directly in the eyes and continuing to smile.
I kept smiling at him, now thinking of him as a person and not just a guard. “Do you have kids？” he asked. “Yes, here, here.” I took out my wallet and nervously fumbled for the pictures of my family. He, too, took out the pictures of his family and began to talk about his plans and hopes for them. My eyes were filled with tears. I said that I feared that I'd never see my family again, never have the chance to see them grow up. Tears came to his eyes, too. Suddenly, without another word, he unlocked my cell and silently led me out. Out of the prison, quietly and by back routes, out of the town. There, at the edge of town, he released me. And without another word, he turned back toward the town.
1. What had happened to the man before?| A．He had been badly treated. |
| B．He had killed someone. |
| C．He had been searched. |
| D．He had been forbidden to get in touch with anyone. |
| A．Because he was sure he was to be killed. |
| B．Because he wanted to ease his nervousness. |
| C．Because he wanted to talk to the guard. |
| D．Because he was used to smoking cigarettes. |
| A．The man was a heavy smoker. |
| B．The man smiled to please the guard. |
| C．The guard set the man free with permission. |
| D．The man hadn't thought the guard would set him free. |
| A．The smile. | B．The cigarette. |
| C．The tears. | D．The wallet. |
