For a 400-year-old art form, opera had a bad fame: overweight actresses singing the words which were hard to understand in one of those romantic languages you were supposed to learn in high school. And with tickets costing as much as $145 a performance, operagoers also had a certain appearance in people’s mind: rich, well-dressed and old.

But now opera companies around the country are loosening their ties and kicking off their shoes in an attempt to keep opera alive and take it to a younger and not so wealthy audience.

Opera producers have found that to attract this crowd, they need to associate opera with the common people. That means no formal suits, old-styled theatre or bank-breaking ticket prices. And because young people don’t or won’t come to the opera, companies are bringing the opera to them, giving performances in such usual places as parks, libraries and public schools.

The Houston Grand Opera’s choice is the public library, where it performs “mobile operas”, shortened versions of child-friendly operas. This summer’s production is Hansel & Gretel. By performing smaller versions of large productions, producers are able to make people interested while keeping costs at a reasonable level. The San Francisco Opera, which will be celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, is staging Cinderella free of charge, keeping costs down by employing students from its Young Artists’ Training Program.

1.Which is the main idea of this passage?

A. Opera is famous for its long history.

B. Opera is only performed for rich people.

C. Opera companies are trying to keep opera alive.

D. Young people are not interested in opera.

2.The underlined phrase in the second paragraph means _________.

A. breaking up the old rules            B. changing the dresses

C. making the audience at ease      D. advertising themselves

3.Opera companies prefer to perform short versions because _________.

A. they can be performed in public libraries                   

B. short versions are easy to perform

C. it is hard to find long versions

D. they can make people interested

4.The San Francisco Opera employs students in order to _________.

A. celebrate its 75th anniversary

B. reduce the cost

C. attract young people

D. make Cinderella popular

5. From the passage we can infer that _________.

A. the tickets for opera are very expensive

B. opera is performed in a difficult language

C. opera is not so popular an art form today

D. students enjoy performing opera very much

It was the summer of 1965. DeLuca, then 17, visited Peter Buck, a family friend. Buck asked DeLuca about his plans for the future. “I’m going to college, but I need a way to pay for it,” DeLuca recalls saying. “Buck said, ‘You should open a sandwich shop.’”

    That afternoon, they agreed to be partners. And they set a goal: to open 32 stores in ten years. After doing some research, Buck wrote a check for $1000. DeLuca rented a storefront (店面) in Connecticut, and when they couldn’t cover their start-up costs, Buck kicked in another $1000.

    But business didn’t go smoothly as they expected. DeLuca says, “After six months, we were doing poorly, but we didn’t know how badly, because we didn’t have any financial controls.” All he and Buck knew was that their sales were lower than their costs.

    DeLuca was managing the store and going to the University of Bridgeport at the same time. Buck was working at his day job as a nuclear physicist in New York. They’d meet Monday evenings and brainstorm ideas for keeping the business running. “We convinced ourselves to open a second store. We figured we could tell the public, ‘We are so successful, we are opening a second store.’” And they did—in the spring of 1966. Still, it was a lot of learning by trial and error.

    But the partners’ learn-as-you-go approach turned out to be their greatest strength. Every Friday, DeLuca would drive around and hand-deliver the checks to pay their suppliers. “It probably took me two and a half hours and it wasn’ t necessary, but as a result, the suppliers got to know me very well, and the personal relationships established really helped out,” DeLuca says.

    And having a goal was also important. “There are so many problems that can get you down. You just have to keep working toward your goal,” DeLuca adds.

    DeLuca ended up founding Subway Sandwich, the multimillion-dollar restaurant chain.

1.DeLuca opened the first sandwich shop in order to ____.

  A. support his family                     B. pay for his college education

  C. help his partner expand business       D. do some research

2.Which of the following is true of Buck?

  A. He put money into the sandwich business.

  B. He was a professor of business administration.

  C. He was studying at the University of Bridgeport.

  D. He rented a storefront for DeLuca.

3.What can we learn about their first shop?

  A. It stood at an unfavorable place.

B. It lowered the prices to promote sales.

  C. It made no profits due to poor management

  D. It lacked control over the quality of sandwiches

4.They decided to open a second store because they ___.

  A. had enough money to do it.  

B. had succeeded in their business

  C. wished to meet the increasing demand of customers

  D. wanted to make people believe that they were successful

5.What contribute most to their success according to the author?

  A. Learning by trial and error.           B. Making friends with suppliers.

  C. Finding a good partner.                D. Opening chain stores.

It is the job hunting season again. The job fairs（交易会） flood with hundreds and thousands of 2011 graduate students. Owing ___1.__ the global financial crisis, most graduate students admit that job hunting isn’t that easy any longer.

It is always a __2.___ (pain) process for college students to find jobs. With many colleges enlarged in recent years, large numbers of graduates need to hunt for jobs; ___3.___, job positions are quite limited. In order to get a job, the candidates should be more ___4.___ (competition) than ever before.

A Chinese expert predicted the job hunting pressure in China, with a rocketing increase in the active labor force, ___5.___ (reach) its climax in 2009. Yet, this situation continues in 2011. The Chinese government has provided financial support to encourage the college students to start ___6.__ own career.

To go on with further education or to find ___7.___ job is the hardest decision for the graduate students __8.___ (make) now.  “I was preparing for my postgraduate exam ___9.___ I received my offer from a Japanese company. I was so excited ___10.___ I decided to quit the exam next year.” LiNing, a senior from school of mechanical science and technology in Huazhong University of Science and Technology said.

 Are you still wishing your friends and partners “Happy New Year”? In the first few days of a new year, we say these three words countless times. The ___16___ is that we say them almost without thinking. The result of such a wish is that it ___17___ its meaning and power.

Last month, I ___18___ Dada J P Vaswani’s first speech after his return from the US. The ___19___ of his speech was “In 2012, all will be fine”. While sharing one of his many ___20___ ideas, he said that while “Happy New Year” is a nice greeting, there’s a more beautiful and encouraging way to ___21___ others—“Happy New You!”

Those three ___22___ words show that New Year is a time to leave behind our ___23___ and step forward. It’s the time to renew ourselves by getting rid of the negative things of the past — ___24___, pain and so on. It’s also the right time to give up thoughts of fear and failure.

For those who are ___25___ what to change, Dada has a simple suggestion: write down all the things that you don’t ___26___ about yourself… every single one. They could be small or big, easy or difficult — ___27___ write them all down. Putting them on ___28___ brings clearness of thought, which is the first step towards bringing about any change.

So this New Year, let’s wish each other “Happy New You” and then ___29___ that trend all through the year. Each time you wish others, you will be ___30___ not only them but also yourself to leave behind sadness and the past — because it’s time for being Happy and New.

1.A. mind           B. idea             C. thought      D. problem

2. A. proves        B. loses                C. hides            D. shows

3. A. ruined        B. remembered       C. attended     D. missed

4. A. opinion       B. design           C. structure        D. topic

5. A. beautiful     B. funny            C. old          D. normal

6. A. surprise      B. wish             C. require      D. disappoint

7. A. short         B. unusual          C. exciting     D. new

8.A. friends        B. dreams           C. wishes       D. disappointments

9.A. anger          B. calm             C. Excitement  D. desire

10.A. avoiding      B. fearing              C. forgetting   D. wondering

11. A. like             B. think            C. care         D. ask

12.A. still             B. just             C. sometimes    D. never

13.A. paper         B. mind             C. cloth            D. bed

14.A. explain       B. continue         C. improve      D. check

15. A. helping          B. replacing            C. reminding    D. pleasing

The task _______ by the time you come back.

A. has been completed  B. will have been completed  C. will complete  D. has completed

She is going to spend part of her week in Liverpool where she ______ on the beach with her children.

  A. is playing     B. plays        C. will be playing      D. has played

A group of firefighters were called in to rescue the woman ______ in a dry well.

  A. who trapped        B. trapping     C. trapped      D. to be trapped

_____ was most important to her was her family.

A. It      B. This     C. What      D. As

Jumping out of _______ airplane at ten thousand feet is quite _______ exciting experience.

  A. /; /       B. /; an        C. an; an       D. the; the

The merchant made me promise not to ______ where the goods were hidden.

  A. give up        B. give away        C. get across       D. get out