Fifty four years ago, young Quentin entered this world. “Action!” he must have yelled then to his mum. When he was two, his whole family moved to Los Angeles, and before Quentin Tarantino turned a teenager, he had already seen more movies than most people . In his twenties he started working at the Manhattan Beach Video Archives, where he made some important friendships and tried his hand at making a first movie. It would take another few years until he would sell the scripts for True Romance and Natural Born Killers, and shortly after go on and conquer the film festival circuit in a storm with Reservoir Dogs. And so it began ...
With Pulp Fcition, QT finally turned Hollywood upside-down for good, and established himself as, what they would then call, an “enfant terrible” of the new film-making community. to this day, Pulp Fiction counts as a completely original masterpiece, that sometimes even to his most loyal fans he has not matched again. After Jackie Brown, he took a pause for a while, not turning out a major motion picture until Kill Bill. Kill Bill turned into an epic, and manifested director Tarantino as the truly great filmmaker, opening the eyes of millions among the younger generations to lost classics, foreign cult cinema and the wild world of exploitation film.
Then in 2007, he made Grindhouse together with his long time friend Robert Rodriguez. The movie was well-received among critics, but was a financial disaster. Tarantino has talked about a war movie for many years, but not until 2008 did any of those rumors come together, when he announced that he had in fact finally finished a script for Inglourious Basterds, a massive war epic. The movie went into production that same year, starring Brad Pitt in the leading role. It was a huge international success and gathered quite a few awards.
In 2011, Tarantino announced the completion of his latest script, a movie about slavery in the old US south of the 1860s, titled Django Unchained. The movie has attracted enormous attention, especially because it stars Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson and Christoph Waltz, who won an Oscar for his role in Inglourious Basterds, and whose acting talents have been truly recognized. And 2015 marked the release of his 8th film, appropriately titled The Hateful Eight, a post Civil War era Western mystery and thriller.
At the age of 54, Quentin Tarantino has recently gone on record saying he will retire some time soon, but all of the movie fans definitely hope the speak of film-making stays strong in his heart of a long time still. Because in a world densely crowded with average filmmakers QT seems to be one of the few who never play it safe.
A Salute to Quentin Tarantino
1.The underlined phrase “enfant terrible” in paragraph 2 means ________.
A.rude and unpleasant B.ordinary but arrogant
C.smart but unconventional D.boring and traditional
2.According to the passage, which one of the followings is Right?
A.Quentin Tarantino was born and raised in Los Angeles.
B.After Jackie Brown, Tarantino shot Kill Bill right away.
C.The film Grind-house made in 2007 gained huge profits
D.2008 witnessed the production of Inglourious Basterds.
3.We can infer from the paragraph 4 that ________.
A.Tarantino finished his shooting of Django Unchained in 2011.
B.Christoph Waltz has at least worked with Tarantino two times.
C.The all-star cast helped Django Unchained gain wide publicity.
D.The story of The Hateful Eight was set during the Civil War.
4.What might be the author’s attitude towards Quentin Tarantino?
A.indifferent B.negative
C.neutral D.favorable
As the sun set he remembered, to give himself more confidence, the time in the tavern at Casablanca when he had played the hand game with the great negro from Cienfuegos who was the strongest man on the docks. They had gone one day and one night with their elbows on a chalk line on the table and their forearms straight up and their hands gripped tight. Each one was trying to force the other’s hand down onto the table. There was much betting and people went in and out of the room under the kerosene lights and he had looked at the arm and hand of the negro and at the negro’s face. They changed the referees every four hours after the first eight so that the referees could sleep. Blood came out from under the finger-nails of both his and the negro’s hands and they looked each other in the eye and at their hands and forearms and the bettors went in and out of the room and sat on high chairs against the wall and watched. The walls were painted bright blue and were of wood and the lamps threw their shadows against them. The negro’s shadow was huge and it moved on the wall as the breeze moved the lamps.
The odds would change back and forth all night and they fed the negro rum and lighted cigarettes for him. Then the negro, after the rum, would try for a tremendous effort and once he had the old man, who was not an old man then but was Santiago El Campeon, nearly three inches off balance. But the old man had raised his hand up to dead even again. He was sure then that he had the negro, who was a fine man and a great athere, beaten. And at daylight when the bettors were asking that it be called a draw and the referee was shaking his head, he had unleashed his effort and forced the hand of the negro down and down until it rested on the wood. The match had started on a Sunday morning and ended on a Monday morning.
Many of the bettors had asked for a draw because they had to go to work on the docks loading sacks of sugar or at the Havana Coal Company.
Otherwise everyone would have wanted it to go to a finish. But he had finished it anyway and before anyone had to go to work.
For a long time after that everyone had called him The Champion and there had been a return match in the spring. But not much money was bet and he had won it quite easily since he had broken the confidence of the negro from Cienfuegos in the first match. After that he had a few matches and then no more. He decided that he could beat anyone if he wanted to badly enough and he decided that it was bad for his right hand for fishing. He had tried a few practice matches with his left hand. But his left hand had always been a traitor and would not do what he called on it to do and he did not trust it.
Quoted from The Old Man and the Sea written by Ernest Hemingway
1.Since the old man is the main character, in the hand game, why does Hemingway put more efforts in describing his opponent the negro?
A.Because Hemingway himself is an anti-racist who wants to support the colored race.
B.By doing so, he indirectly shows how strong and determined the old man is to readers.
C.he shifts readers’ attention to a new character to neutralize the nervous atmosphere.
D.There is no need to describe the old man because he is well-known to all readers.
2.What does the underlined word “unleashed” in paragraph 2 mean?
A.spare B.restrict C.reduce D.loose
3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A.Many bettors were afraid of losing their money so they wanted to call the game a draw.
B.The old man had owed his victory over the negro more to his will than to his strength.
C.The referee had been convinced by the bettors that the game be considered a draw.
D.Regular hand games should be a good practice to enhance the old man’s fishing skills.
4.What can be inferred from the whole passage?
A.The old man could have ended the game earlier but he had withheld his power.
B.Many workers working on the decks had showed no respect towards the old man.
C.The old man had to self-feed himself a lot so as to stay competitive in the game.
D.The negro was not as strong and athletic as the old man had expected him to be.
At the end of the First World War, in 1918. China was convinced it would be able to reclaim the territories occupied by the Germans in present-day Shandong Province. After all, it had fought along with the Allies. However it was not to be. The warlord government of the day had ________ struck a deal with the Japanese, offering the German colonies in return for financial support. The Allies, ________, acknowledged Japan’s territorial claims in China. When it became known in China in April 1919 that the negotiations over the Treaty of Versailles（凡尔赛条约）would not ________ China’s claims, it gave rise to a movement that might be considered even more revolutionary than the one that ended the Empire.
In the course of this May Fourth Movement, some 5,000 students from Peking University hit the streets to ________ the Versailles Treaty. But more was at stake than Japan’s grabbing of land. When one considers the 1911 Revolution as a mere regime（政体）change, it become clear that the numerous popular demands for modernization had not been satisfied yet.
The May Fourth Movement was part cultural revolution, part _______ movement. On the cultural side , the students had been inspired in the preceding two decades by Western thought, creating a feeling of frustration and _______ with Chinese tradition. In the intellectual ferment（酝酿/骚动）that resulted from this, answers were sought for the questions why and how China had lagged behind the West. The negative influences of traditional morality, the clan（宗族）system and Confucianism were seen as the main causes. China in its shaky state could only be cured by “Two Doctors”: Doctor Science（赛先生）and Doctor Democracy（德先生）.
At the same time, intellectuals untied in the New Culture Movement attempted to make Chinese culture more ________ to social groups beyond the traditional scholar-officials. To this end, they advocated a Literary Revolution, in which wenyan, the ossified（僵化的）system of ________ language, was to be replaced by a system based on conversational language, the so-called baihua. Hu Shi is one of the scholars who ________ with this movement, and meanwhile Lu Xun is seen as one of the most productive practitioners of this type of writing that came into _______ in the 1920s.
The social aspects of May Fourth consisted of attempts to free the Chinese woman, although this was often limited to movements to bring foot-binding to a halt. Nonetheless, in the cities newly ________ women, modern girls who had been educated, became a loud voice for further changes.
May Fourth is seen as a critical _______ for the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. Before 1919, there was hardly any interest in what was happening in Russia. After May Fourth, Marxism was seen as a _______ revolutionary ideology for a predominantly agricultural society such as China still was.
Even today, May Fourth functions as a point of _______ for China. The Party may interpret the events of 1919 as being brought about by its earliest members, and it may turn Lu Xun into the Marxist writer he would refuse to be, but the fact ________ that May Fourth truly set China on its revolutionary path.
1.A.firmly B.suddenly C.immediately D.secretly
2.A.on the other hand B.for instance C.on the contrary D.with no exception
3.A.challenge B.honor C.withdraw D.investigate
4.A.agree on B.draw up C.demonstrate against D.adhere to
5.A.political B.democratic C.social D.revolutionary
6.A.contentment B.dissatisfaction C.interconnection D.identification
7.A.accessible B.modernized C.complex D.appealing
8.A.written B.non-verbal C.informal D.dead
9.A.debated B.parted C.disagreed D.identified
10.A.effect B.being C.power D.fortune
11.A.engaged B.divorced C.liberated D.widowed
12.A.burden B.accelerator C.message D.handbrake
13.A.superficial B.unrealistic C.applicable D.imperfect
14.A.departure B.difference C.interest D.reference
15.A.alters B.denies C.overstates D.remains
Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in he blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blanks with the proper form of the given word; for the blanks,use one word that best fits each blank.
When I worked part-time in a local bookstore at my early age -- so easily - pictured, if you do not work in one, as a kind of paradise where not only 1. one read his own favorite books but also encounter charming young ladies (one of my personal fantasies) who browse eternally among Toni Morrison or Ernest Hemingwast thing that chiefly struck me was that really bookish people are a rarity, 2. there are vast numbers of those who consider themselves to be such. Often they will introduce themselves when they enter the bookshop 3. ‘book people’ and insist on telling you that ‘we love books’. They will wear T-shirts or carry bags with slogans explaining exactly how much they think they adore books. It is clear that the was they dress themselves is quite similar to that of us bookish people, but that is 4. the similarities between them and us begin and end. And 5. (sure) means of identifying them is that they never, ever buy books.
These days it is so rare that I find time to read that, when I do, it feels like indulgence, more so than any, other sensory experience. When an important relationship in my twenties 6. (break) up the only thing I could do was to read, and I amassed a pile of books 7. I sank and escaped from the world around me and inside me. The landscapes of Yu Hua, Wang Shou, Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Harper Lee and others protected me from my own thoughts, which were pushed into the background, where 8. could silently process without bothering me. I created a physical wall on my desk, 9. (make) from the books, and as I read them the wall slowly came down until it was gone.
In a more real sense, books are the best way in which one enriches his own life and the enormous numbers of them out there in the world excite me, especially when I visit second-hand bookstores with no intention 10. (search) for a certain book. It is like casting a net and never knowing what you will find when you gather it in. As Goglo put in it in Dead Souls: “Once, long ago, in the years of my youth, in the years of my childhood, which have flashed irretrievably（不能挽回地）by, it was a joy for me to drive for the very first time to a place unknown.”
根据短文内容,从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项,选项中有两项为多余选项。Some Ways to Cheer UpFeeling a little blue? Here are ten fast and easy ways to smile.①ExerciseWhen you exercise, your brain gives out a chemical called endorphins(内啡肽).This chemical makes you feel happier.1.②Play outsideLeave your apartment and go outside. Sun and fresh air are good for you.③BreatheIf you can’t go to the gym, try taking deep breaths.2.④Play pop musicWestlife, Backstreet Boys, S.H.E....who doesn’t like a little mindless pop? Listening to upbeat, happy music will make you smile. Singing along won’t hurt either.⑤Laughter is the best medicine3. Children laugh around 400 times a day. Adults only laugh about 20 times a day. What happened? Be a kid for a day: play games, watch funny movies, or read jokes online.⑥4.Chocolate has special natural chemicals that make you happy. Besides, it tastes so good!⑦DrawBe an artist! Draw, paint, or make something. Even if it is not perfect, being creative relieves stress.⑧Get a dogDogs are cute, energetic, and fun. Plus, studies show that people with pets live longer and people with dogs live the longest!⑨Have a heart-to-heart talkIf something is upsetting you, it is a good idea to talk about it. Call a friend or relative.5.⑩Think positiveClose your eyes and think of a beautiful scene or a time when you were happy and feeling good.
A. Laughing is the best way to improve your mood. |
B. Everyone likes laughing. |
C. The youth like chatting online. |
D. A good chat is a great way to feel better fast. |
E. Power of chocolate |
F. Breathing deeply will relax your muscles and give you energy. |
G. That is just another reason why exercise is good for you. |
There are many wetlands in China and some of them have become the world’s important wetlands. The Chinese Yellow Sea Wetlands are among them. They are in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province. They are home for many different kinds of birds and animals. The world’s largest Milu Deer Nature Reserve(麋鹿自然保护区) is in them. More than 700 Milu deer live freely there. There are not many red-crowned cranes（丹顶鹤）in the world, but every winter you can see some in the Red-crown Cranes Nature Reserve in the Yellow Sea Wetlands.
The temperature in the wetlands is usually neither too high nor too low. There is a lot of rain and sunshine, too. They are really good places for wildlife. Offering food and home for some special kinds of animals and birds is not the only reason why we need to protect wetlands. Wetlands are important because they also prevent flood. But some people want to change the wetlands to make more space for farms and buildings. This means there will be less and less space for the wildlife.
Luckily, more and more people are beginning to realize the importance of wetlands and wildlife. Every year, on February 2nd, many activities are held to tell people more about wetlands.
1.The Yellow Sea Wetlands are in the ________ part of China.
A.Northeast B.northwest
C.southeast D.southwest
2.What is the weather usually like in the wetlands?
A.Hot B.Dry C.Cold D.Mild
3.When is the World Wetlands Day?
A.On June 25th. B.On April 22nd.
C.On March 23rd D.On February 2nd.
4.What is the best title for the text?
A.Wetlands -- Valuable Land on the Earth
B.China’s Wetlands Are in the World’s List
C.Wetlands -- Home for Wildlife and Human Beings
D.Special Animals in the Chinese Yellow Sea Wetlands
