FREE Homeschooling If you are reading th...

To Be a Deaf DJ

I was born in England with perfect hearing. In 1990, when I was five, my family moved to the United States. I started getting ear infections every three months or so. We didn’t have health insurance at the time, and when I got a third infection, my parents couldn’t afford the treatment. I went deaf in my right ear and was left with 50 percent hearing in my left. Over time, my remaining hearing dropped to 20 percent, where it is today. My doctors predicted that I would be thoroughly deaf by now, so I think I’m doing pretty well.

There was always music on in my house in my childhood. I loved listening to Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson. My dad was a DJ, so he played disco, folk, rock, and music from other countries. For my 18th birthday, my dad asked me to deejay at the restaurant be owned. After doing that for a few weeks, I was hooded. I desired to learn more. I e-mailed DJ Shiftee, a distinguished New York City DJ, when I was 25: “I know you like a challenge. How about teaching a deaf person to deejay?” He wrote back the next day; “Challenge accepted.” He tutored me twice a week for two years, helping me develop correct technique. I practiced four hours a day.

Now when I’m performing, muscle memory takes over. When I started, I wouldn’t tell the club managers that I was deaf. I would just show up, introduce myself, and start playing music. At the end of the night, someone would say, “Oh, here’s the check.” And I’d say, “What? Oh, I can’t hear.” They were always so astonished. Sometimes I would bring doctor’s notes because they wouldn’t believe me. It was reassurance that they were giving me opportunities to perform because I was brilliant, no out of sympathy. Eventually people started calling me “that deaf DJ,” and the name stuck.

What fascinates me about deejaying is the creativity. I use software that turns the music into lines of color on a computer screen. I’m visually hearing the music. The next time you go dancing, cover your ears, and you’ll start seeing that you’re able to hear the music in a different way. Music is not all about hearing. I pay all sorts of get-togethers now, from college parties to corporate events. I also go to elementary schools for the deaf and talk to the students about motivation and believing in themselves. I’m big on talking to the parents. I tell them, “My advice to you is let your kids chase their dreams. I’m a deaf DJ, so why not?”

1.Which of the following might result in the author’s hearing loss?

A.Monthly ear infection. B.Moving to the U. S.

C.Family financial hardship D.The doctors’ prediction.

2.How did DJ Shiftee help the author during his youth?

A.He taught him correct skills. B.He discovered his talent for DJ.

C.He played at the restaurant for him. D.He cultivated his taste for foreign music.

3.The underlined expression in Paragraph 3 “the name stuck” probably means that _________.

A.the author was in low spirits B.the author impressed people deeply

C.the audience felt disappointed by the player D.the audience looked down upon the player

4.We can conclude from the passage that the author loves deejaying because _________.

A.working as a DJ involves innovation

B.music helps him to see the world virtually

C.he motivates the kids to realize their dream

D.he desires to challenge something impossible

Communication, One Major Part of the Scientific Method

Scientists may feel it their duty to share their guesses, methods, and findings with the rest of the scientific community. This sharing serves two _______. First, it supports the basic deal of skepticism(怀疑论)by making it possible for others to say, “Oh, yeah? Let me check that.” It tells others where to see what the scientist saw, and what techniques and tools to use. Second, it gets the word out so that others can use what has been discovered. This is essential because science is a(n) _______ efforts. People who work thousands of miles apart build with and upon each other’s discoveries.

The communication of science begins with “peer review”, a process of _______ an author’s scholarly work, research or ideas to the inspection of other experts. It typically has three stages. The first occurs when a scientists seeks funding - from government agencies, foundations, or other _______ -- to carry out a research program. He or she must prepare a report describing the intended work, laying out background, hypotheses(假设), planned experiments, expected results, and even the _______ impacts on other fields. Committees of other scientists then _______ the report to see whether the scientist knows his or her area, has the necessary abilities, and is realistic in his or her plans.

Once the scientist has the needed _______, has done the work, and has written a report of the results, that report will go to a scientific journal. Before publishing the report, the journal’s editors will show it to other workers in the same or _______ fields and ask whether the work was done adequately, the conclusions are justified, and the report should be published.

The third stage of peer review happens are publication, when the broader scientific community gets to see and _______ the work.

This three-stage quality-control process can, of course, be faulty. Any scientist with independent wealth can ________ the first stage quite easily but such scientists are much, much rarer today than they were a century or so ago. Those who remain are the object of envy. ________ , it is fair to say that they are not disapproved as were those who avoid the latter two stages of the “peer review” mechanisms by using press conferences.

On the other hand, it is certainly possible for the standard peer review mechanisms to ________. By their nature, these mechanisms are more likely to ________ ideas that are not different from what the reviewers think they already know. Yet the un-traditional or unconventional ideas are not ________ wrong, as Alfred Wegener proved when he tried to gain ________ for the idea of continental drift in the early twentieth century. It was not until the 1960s that most geologists accepted his ideas as genuine insights.

1.A.purposes B.duties C.interests D.needs

2.A.innovative B.prospective C.cooperative D.plain

3.A.accustoming B.addicting C.restricting D.subjecting

4.A.projects B.sources C.unions D.departments

5.A.stronger B.more limited C.more dramatic D.broader

6.A.Look up B.go over C.long for D. call for

7.A.funds B.fields C.impacts D.experiments

8.A.different B.chosen C.related D.academic

9.A.substitute B.create C.judge D.undertake

10.A.reach B.mark C.hold D.skip

11.A.Similarly B.Contrarily C.Surely D.Therefore

12.A.fail B.function C.evolve D.work

13.A.convey B.overlook C.reject D.approve

14.A.necessarily B.particularly C.dramatically D.terribly

15.A.confidence B.acceptance C.strength D.weight

Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Green Spring Renews Life’s Promise

For me, two of the loveliest words in the English language are “Life persists”. I came across them years ago as a college freshman, sitting in the library on a beautiful spring day, bored, working on a history paper. I don’t recall 1. I was researching into. Out of nowhere, those two words came 2. (dance) off the page in a quote by Gandhi, “In the midst of death life persists, in the midst of untruth truth persists, in the midst of darkness light persists.”

After those words 3. (read) again a dozen times, suddenly I was no longer bored. Outside in the sunshine, I kicked off my shoes and danced barefoot across a spring-green lawn.

I love spring. And this year, I was especially hungry to see it. Flying home last weekend to Las Vegas, after 10 days in California, I looked down on hills that were so green that I 4. almost taste them. When I approached Vegas, the green turned a dull desert brown. We landed after sunset, and the only green to be seen was neon(霓虹灯).

But the next morning, to my surprise, I 5. (awake) to find signs of spring all over my yard. 6. my absence, all sorts of things had leafed and bloomed. Three days later, I drove to Arizona to visit a friend and get yet another taste of spring seeing the Giants play the A’s in spring training. The drive across the desert was completely great, a variety of wildflowers and blooming cactuses.

Sometimes we need the chance 7. (remind) that we’re still alive. After my husband died, a friend sent me a card which read: “Just 8. you think you will never smile again, life comes back.”

Life persists, and so do 9. in the green of spring and the dead of winter, in the birth of a child and the passing of a loved one; in the words we leave behind and the hearts of those 10. will remember us. Spring reminds us that we’re alive forever.

Questions are based on the following passage.

1.A.London. B.Barcelona. C.Madrid. D.Iceland

2.

A.She was scheduled to meet more customers in other cities.

B.Her ship was delayed by the wind blowing southwards.

C.Clouds of volcano ash threatened passengers' health.

D.Volcanic eruption caused her flight to be cancelled.

3.

A.She tried various means of transport except the coach.

B.She had a tough journey back home with many transfers.

C.She enjoyed the lovely scenery in various cities in Spain.

D.She managed to book a ticket with the British airline at last.

4.

A.He paid little attention to the news media.

B.He didn't care about meaningless pastimes.

C.He was out of employment for too long.

D.He was too busy to make preparations for it.

Questions are based on the following passage.

1.

A.They support various living creatures. B.They reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

C.They bring about huge economic benefits. D.They protect the coast against melting ice.

2.A.Australia B.Canada. C.America. D.China.

3.

A.Tourism will face strong decline

B.Beach losses are causing climate change

C.Half of the world's sandy beaches could disappear.

D.Beaches play an important part in the ecosystem