Silence is unnatural to man．He begins life with a cry and ends it in stillness．In between he does all he can to make a noise in the world, and he fears silence more than anything else．Even his conversation is an attempt to prevent a fearful silence．If he is introduced to another person, and a number of pauses occur in the conversation, he regards himself as a failure, a worthless person, and is full of envy of the emptiest headed chatterbox（喋喋不休的人）.He knows that ninety-nine percent of human conversation means no more than the buzzing of a fly, but he is anxious to join in the buzz and to prove that he is a man and not a waxwork figure（蜡塑人像）.
The aim of conversation is not, for the most part, to communicate ideas; it is to keep up the buzzing sound. There are, it must be admitted, different qualities of buzz; there is even a buzz that is as annoying as the continuous noise made by a mosquito （蚊子）.But at a dinner party one would rather be a mosquito than a quiet person. Most buzzing, fortunately, is pleasant to the ear, and some of it is pleasant even to the mind. He would be a foolish man if he waited until he had a wise thought to take part in the buzzing -with his neighbors.
Those who hate to pick up the weather as a conversational opening seem to me not to know the reason why human beings wish to talk. Very few human beings join in a conversation in the hope of learning anything new. Some of them are content if they are merely allowed to go on making a noise into other people's ears, though they have nothing to tell them except that they have seen two or three new plays or that they had food in a Swiss hotel. At the end of an evening during which they have said nothing meaningful for a long time, they just prove themselves to be successful conservationists.
1.According to the passage, people usually talk to their neighbors_____.
A．in the hope of learning something new
B．in the hope of getting on well
C．about whatever they want to
D．about whatever they have prepared
2.According to the author, people make conversation to______.
A．achieve success in life
B．overcome their fear of silence
C．exchange ideas
D．prove their value
3.What is the author's purpose in writing the passage?
A．To persuade people to stop making noises．
B．To explain why people keep talking．
C．To discuss why people like talking about weather．
D．To encourage people to join in conversations．
4.By "the buzzing of a fly"(Para.1), the author means"_____".
A．the voice of a chatterbox
B．meaningless talk sound
C．a low whispering
D．the noise of an insect
Most people want to know how things are made. They honestly admit, however, that they hardly know a thing when it comes to understanding how a piece of music is made. Where a composer begins, how he manages to keep going – in fact, how and when he learns his trade – all are covered in complete darkness. The composer, in short, is a man of mystery .
One of the first things the common man wants to know about is the part inspiration plays in a composer’s work. He finds it difficult to believe that composers are not much interested in that question. Writing music is as natural for the composer as eating or sleeping for all. Music is something that the composer happens to have been born for.
The composer, therefore, does not say to himself: “Do I feel inspired?” He says to himself: “Do I feel like working today?” And if he feels like working, he does. It is more or less like saying to himself: “Do I feel sleepy?” If you feel sleepy, you go to sleep. If you don’t feel sleepy, you stay up. If the composer doesn’t feel like working, he doesn’t work. It’s as simple as that.
1.What would be the best title for the text?
A．Composer: a man of mystery
B．Practice makes good music
C．Relation between sleeping and music
D．Music: product of nature
2.Most people seem to think that a composer ____.
A．finds it difficult to write music
B．considers it important to have a good rest
C．should like to talk about inspiration
D．never asks himself very simple questions
3.The author will most probably agree that composers ____.
A．are born with a gift for music
B．are people full of mystery
C．work late at night for their music
D．know a lot about eating and sleeping
The African elephant, the largest land animal remaining on earth, is of great importance to African ecosystem(生态系统). Unlike other animals, the African elephant is to a great extent the builder of its environment. As a big plant-eater, it largely shapes the forest-and-savanna(大草原) surroundings in which it lives, therefore setting the terms of existence for millions of other animals that live in its habitat.
It is the elephant’s great desire for food that makes it a disturber of the environment and an important builder of its habitat. In its continuous search for the 300 pounds of plants it must have every day, it kills small trees and under-bushes, and pulls branches off big trees. This results in numerous open spaces in both deep tropical forests and in the woodlands that cover part of the African savannas. In these open spaces are numerous plants in various stages of growth that attract a variety of other plant-eaters.
Take the rain forests for example. In their natural state, the spreading branches overhead shut out sunlight and prevent the growth of plants on the forest floor. By pulling down trees and eating plants, elephants make open spaces, allowing new plants to grow on the forest floor. In such situations, the forests become suitable for large hoofed plant-eaters to move around and for small plant-eaters to get their food as well.
What worries scientists now is that the African elephant has become an endangered species. If the elephant disappears, scientists say, many other animals will also disappear from vast areas of forest and savanna, greatly changing and worsening the whole ecosystem.
1.What does the underlined phrase “setting the terms” most probably mean?
A．Improving the quality.
B．Deciding the conditions.
C．Fixing the time.
D．Worsening the state.
2.The passage is developed mainly by_________.
A．giving examples
B．showing the effect and then explaining the causes
C．pointing out similarities and differences
D．describing the changes in space order
3.What is the passage mainly about?
A．Forests and savannas as habitats for African elephants.
B．The eating habit of African elephants.
C．Disappearance of African elephants
D．The effect of African elephants’ search for food
4.What do we know about the open spaces in the passage?
A．They are home to many endangered animals.
B．They are attractive to plant-eating animals of different kinds.
C．They result from the destruction of rain forests.
D．They provide food mainly for African elephants.
完形填空（每小题1.5分，共20小题）
You are near the front line of a battle. Around you shells are exploding; people are shooting from a house behind you. What are you doing there? You aren’t a soldier. You aren’t 1 carrying a gun. You’re standing in front of a 2 and you’re telling the TV 3 what is happening.
It’s all in a day’s work for a war reporter, and it can be very 4 . In the first two years of the 5 in former Yugoslavia（前南斯拉夫), 28 reporters and photographers were killed. Hundreds more were 6 .
What kind of people put themselves in danger to 7 pictures to our TV screens and 48 to our newspapers? Why do they do it ?
“I think it’s every young journalist’s 9 to be a foreign reporter,” says Michael Nicholson, “that’s 10 you find the excitement. So when the first opportunity comes, you take it 11 it is a war.”
But there are moments of 12 . Jeremy Bowen says, “Yes, when you’re lying on the ground and bullets（子弹）are flying 13 your ears, you think: ‘What am I doing here? I’m not going to do this again.’ But that feeling 14 after a while and when the next war starts, you’ll be 15 .”
“None of us believes that we’re going to 16 ” adds Michael. But he always 17 a lucky charm（护身符）with him. It was given to him by his wife for his first war. It’s a card which says “Take care of yourself.” Does he ever think about dying? “Oh, 18 , and every time it happens you look to the sky and say to God, ‘If you get me out of this, I 19 I’ll never do it again.’ You can almost hear God 20 , because you know he doesn’t believe you .”
1. A．really B．simply C．even D．merely
2. A．battlefield B．camera C．crowd D．house
3. A．directors B．producers C．viewers D．actors
4. A．depressing B．disappointing C．dangerous D．endangered
5. A．life B．stay C．fight D．war
6. A．buried B．defeated C．wounded D．beaten
7. A．take B．make C．bring D．show
8. A．stories B．scenes C．passages D．contents
9. A．faith B．nightmare C．dream D．duty
10. A．how B．where C．why D．because
11. A．as if B．even if C．even so D．ever since
12. A．surprise B．fear C．sadness D．shame
13. A．past B．into C．through D．around
14. A．occurs B．returns C．goes D．continues
15. A．away B．out C．there D．home
16. A．die B．leave C．remain D．escape
17. A．wears B．carries C．hangs D．holds
18. A．seldom B．never C．many times D．some time
19. A．promise B．consider C．guess D．accept
20. A．laughing B．screaming C．crying D．whispering
– Could I ask you a rather personal question?
– Sure, ____.
A．pardon me B．go ahead C．good idea D．forget it
At one point I made up my mind to talk to Uncle Sam. Then I changed my mind, ____ that he could do nothing to help.
A．to realize B．realized
C．realizing D．being realized
