William Shakespeare is the most famous playwright (剧作家). Although he died in 1616, people still go to see his plays. Among the most popular are Ｒｏｍｅｏ ａｎｄ Ｊｕｌｉｅｔ, Ａ Ｍｉｄｓｕｍｍｅｒ Ｎｉｇｈｔ’ｓ Ｄｒｅａｍ and Ｈａｍｌｅｔ — the story of a prince who struggles to respond to the crimes around him.
Shakespeare, who was born in 1564, was an actor as well as a writer. Most of his ideas for plays were taken from history, people’s conversation, ancient stories, and also from other writers. He wrote not only about kings and queens and princes, but also about friends and ordinary people. He wrote about the cruelty of war and the bravery of heroes, as well as about jealousy, joy, hate, ambition and love. His stories live on. The tragedy Ｒｏｍｅｏ ａｎｄ Ｊｕｌｉｅｔ was reborn as the musical Ｗｅｓｔ Ｓｉｄｅ Ｓｔｏｒｙ and more recently as the movie Ｒｏｍｅｏ ａｎｄ Ｊｕｌｉｅｔ with the wonderful performance of Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.
He invented a number of great characters: powerful magicians, thrilling witches, smart women and both wise and wicked men. He also invented some great phrases. If you’ve ever said, “Oh, for goodness sake!” you can thank Shakespeare for that. “To be, or not to be: that is the question,” Hamlet says. “Good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it is morrow,” says Juliet to her Romeo.
Don’t be surprised if you don’t understand everything when reading Shakespeare or watching one of his plays because the meanings of many words have changed over the years. And Shakespeare’s characters speak in poetry, so their speeches can be complicated.
It does help to find out a little bit about the story before reading a Shakespeare play. It’s worth the effort. As Shakespeare wrote, “All the world is a stage.” And in his plays you’ll find that an entire world is waiting for you.
1.Shakespeare created the following characters EXCEPT ________.
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A．Juliet |
B．Hamlet |
C．Claire Danes |
D．Romeo |
2.From Paragraph 3 we can learn that ________.
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A．most of the characters created by Shakespeare were negative ones |
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B．most of the phrases used today were invented by Shakespeare |
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C．“Oh, for goodness sake!” is what Juliet says to Romeo |
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D．Shakespeare contributed greatly to the development of English |
3.Which of the following is a reason why it’s difficult to understand some of Shakespeare’s plays?
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A．There are many new words in his plays. |
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B．He wrote his plays using uncommon words. |
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C．The characters in his plays speak in poetry. |
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D．Most of the words in his plays are outdated. |
4.We can infer from the passage that ______.
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A．most of Shakespeare’s plays have been made into films |
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B．language changes with the development of society |
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C．Shakespeare made lots of money from his works |
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D．it is more useful to read Shakespeare’s works than to watch them |
A thousand years ago Hong Kong was covered by a thick forest like the forests we now find in Malaysia and Thailand. As more and more ___36___ came to live in Hong Kong, these trees were cut down and burnt. Now there is no forest left, ___37__ there are still some areas covered with trees. We call these __38__.
Elephants, tigers, monkeys and many other animals used to live in the __39__ forests of Hong Kong, and there were even crocodiles in the ___40__ and along the coast. When people came to live in Hong Kong, the animals began to __41___ out. Early farmers grew rice and kept pigs and chickens in the valleys.
They ___42___ the trees and burnt them. They needed fires to keep themselves ___43___ in the winter, to cook their food, and to keep away from dangerous animals. Elephants quickly disappeared because there was not enough ___44___ for them. So did most of the wolves, and tigers. Monkeys, squirrels and many other animals soon died out in the same __45____.
You might think that there are ___46___ any animals in Hong Kong, except in the __47_____. You might think there can’t be any wild animals in such a __48___ place with so many cars and buildings. But there is __49_____ a good deal of countryside in Hong Kong and New Territories, and there are still about thirty-six different kinds of animals living there.
One of the most interesting of Hong Kong’s ____50___ is the barking deer. They are beautiful little creatures with rich, brown coat and a white patch under the tail. They look like deer but they are much ___51___. They are less than two feet high. The male barking deer has two small horns but the female has none. They make a __52____ rather like a dog barking.
Barking deer live in thick shrub（灌木） country and are very good at __53___. They eat grass and shrubs, mainly in the very early morning and late afternoon and evening. This is when you are most likely to see one but you will need to be very quiet and to have very ___54___eyes. In Hong Kong the barking deer has only one ___55_____ ---- man. Although it is illegal, people hunt and trap these harmless little animals. As a result there are now not many left. There are a few on Hong Kong Island but none in the New Territories.
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Laura wanted to play a joke on her father but gave herself________by laughing.
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A．out |
B．away |
C．off |
D．up |
The hurricane did damage to many houses and business buildings. ,it caused 20 deaths.
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A．However |
B．But |
C．After all |
D．What’s more |
I’m sorry, Bill. I _________ the book to you last week, but I was so busy that I forgot to do so.
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A．must have returned |
B．could return |
C．should have returned |
D．might return |
They gave a(n)________broadcast while the performances were in process on the stage.
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A．lively |
B．alive |
C．living |
D．live |
