I came to live here where I am now between Wounded Knee Greek and Grass Greek. Others came too, and we made these little grey houses of logs that you see, and they are square, It is a bad way to live, for there can be no power in a square.
You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round. In the old days when we were a strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the respectful circle of the nation, and so long as the circle was unbroken, the people were getting rich. The flowering tree was the living center of the circle, and the circle of the four quarters nursed it. The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain, and the north with its cold and strong wind gave strength and continuous power. This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our brief. Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. Birds make their nests in circle, for theirs are the same as ours. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same, and both are round. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves. Our places were like the nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation’s circle, a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to nurse our children.
But the Wasichus (Indian word for “white people”) have put us in these square boxes. Our power is gone and we are dying, for the power is not in us any more. You can look at our boys and see how it is with us. Where we were living by the power of the circle in the way we should, boys were men at twelve or thirteen years of age. But now it takes them very much longer to be full - grown.
1.According to the passage, the Indians _______.
A. don’t have modern instruments in their homes
B. refused to move from round places
C. lived in round places, but were forced to live in square houses
D. lived in round places, but then decided to move into square houses
2.Two things being compared in the passage are _______.
A. the Indians’ past and present living conditions
B. the Indians’ past and modern beliefs
C. the Indians’ old and new power
D. people and nature
3.In the second paragraph “the four quarters” refers to _______.
A. the four rooms of the Indian’s house
B. the four kinds of natural power
C. the four seasons
D. the four directions
4.According to the author, once the Indians moved into square houses, _______.
A. they had to move to other houses
B. boys took more time to grow into men
C. they forgot the old way of life
D. everyone was not happy
Many immigrants(移民) to the United States find the decision to seek better lives for their families in America can have an unexpected and tragic consequence(后果). Deep differences with their children develop over language and culture.
“Many immigrants arrive here without much education. Their kids soon gain language skills and also street smarts(生存技能) on how to live in America, leaving the parents at a disadvantage,” Ileana , Roses, pastor of a Methodist church group operating in Virginia, said.
“Not only that but they find they cannot relate to children who quickly absorb American culture,” she said.
According to the US Census Bureau(人口调查局), the number of foreign born or first generation Americans reached 55 million last year, a record one in five of the total population.
A government survey of 922 immigrants in 2000 found that nearly 40 percent of those who had been in the United States for more than 15 years would still like to take English classes if they had the time.
Two thirds of low income households depended on their children for translation.
Psychologists(心理学家) and sociologists say parents can lose their position of authority(权威) in a family as a result and the effects of that can be far-reaching.
Children exposed to American pop culture that glorifies(颂扬) youth and sexuality(性感) often rebel when their parents try to impose the conservative values they brought with them.
“Americanization erodes(侵蚀) all important aspects of parenting,” said Richard Weissbourd, who teaches education at Harvard University.
“I feel a part of me is dying with my children. They don’t listen to my music. I have to play it on Sunday morning when they are not around,” said an immigrant.
1.What troubles the immigrant parents most is ___________.
A. that they can’t understand the English language
B. that they lose their position of authority in their families
C. that their children have lost sense of their own national values
D. how they can master the English language as soon as possible
2.From the passage we can infer that the population of the states at present is about____.
A. 275 million B. 220 million
C. 255 million D. smaller than 250 million
3.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. All the immigrants had expected the troubles they would meet before they went to the US.
B. Two thirds of immigrant families are low income households.
C. American culture shows a spirit against conservative social and cultural values.
D. American pop culture puts the immigrant families at a disadvantage.
4.Which of the following is probably the title of the report?
A. The Result of the US Census
B. The Differences Between Parents and Children in the US
C. The Troubles of the American Immigrants
D. Role Reversal(颠倒) Troubles Many Parents and Children
The Man of Many Secrets — Harry Houdini — was one of the greatest American entertainers in the theater this century. He was a man famous for his escapes — from prison cells, from wooden boxes floating in rivers, from locked tanks full of water. He appeared in theaters all over Europe and America. Crowds came to see the great Houdini and his “magic” tricks.
Of course, his secret was not magic, or supernatural powers. It was simply strength. He had the ability to move his toes as well as he moved his fingers. He could move his body into almost any position he wanted.
Houdini started working in the entertainment world when he was 17, in 1891. He and his brother Theo performed card tricks in club in New York. They called themselves the Houdini Brothers. When Harry married in 1894, he and his wife Bess worked together as magician and assistant. But for a long time they were not very successful. Then Harry performed his first prison escape, in Chicago in 1898. Harry persuaded a detective to let him try to escape from the prison, and he invited the local newspapermen to watch.
It was the publicity(宣传) that came from this that started Harry Houdini’s success. Harry had fingers trained to escape from handcuffs and toes trained to escape ankle chins. But his biggest secret was how he unlocked the prison doors. Every time he went into the prison cell, Bess gave him a kiss for good luck — and a small skeleton key, which is a key that fits many locks, pass quickly from her mouth to his.
Harry used these prison escapes to build his fame. He arranged to escape from the local prison of every town he visited. In the afternoon, the people of the town would read about it in their local newspapers, and in the evening every seat in the local theater would be full. What was the result? World-wild fame, and a name remembered today.
1.According to the passage, Houdini’s success in prison escapes depends on _______.
A. his special tricks and supernatural powers
B. his unusual ability and a skeleton key
C. his magic tricks and unhuman powers
D. his wisdom and magic tricks
2.In the fourth paragraph, the underlined word “this” refers to _______.
A. his first prison escape B. the year 1898
C. the publicity D. Harry Houdini’s success
3.It can be inferred from the passage that Houdini became famous _______.
A. in 1894 B. before he married
C. at the age of 17 D. when he was about 24
请以Is Failure a Bad Thing?为题写一篇120个词左右的英语作文。内容包括：
1. 失败是常有的事。
2. 人们对失败有各种态度。
3. 我对失败的态度。
Is Failure a Bad Thing?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
阅读下面短文，根据以下提示：1）汉语提示；2）首字母提示；3）语境提示，在每个空格内填入一个适当的英语单词，并将该词完整地写在下面的横线上。所填单词要求意义准确，拼写正确。
Vincent van Gogh was born in the Netherlands in 1853. Although today he is r_1.__ to as an artist of the top 2. (等级), the painter’s life was filled with failure. B 3. up in a religious family, van Gogh had a nervous personality. His early working experiences made him more c 4. off from society. He began to focus all his attention on painting in 1880. Later, he moved to Paris, w 5. he received support from his brother. There he tried a new way of painting, 6. (使用) bright colors unrealistically to express his feelings. However, people didn’t accept his way of painting. He l 7. a very hard life in Paris. He moved to southern France two years later. There he produced many o 8. works that sell for high prices today. But his serious depression finally led to him k__9. himself with a gun. Vincent van Gogh’s works show either his 10. (抗争) against life or his understanding of man and nature.
根据课文内容完成句子。（共8个空格, 每空所填词数不定；每空格1分，满分8分）
1.______________, the UN has more tools in the battle to ______________.
多亏了他的研究，联合国在使世界摆脱饥饿的战斗中有了更多的办法。
2.______________ was Tony Gracia from Colombia, ______________ Julia Smith form Britain.
第一个到达的是从哥伦比亚来的托尼.加西亚，随后紧跟着的是英国的茱莉亚.史密斯。
3.Its 3-D cinemas and giant movie screens ______________ of the earth and beyond.
它的立体电影以及那巨大的屏幕能提供在地球以及更远的地方的全新体验。
4.Unfortunately his father died, leaving the family even ______________.
不幸的是他的父亲去世了，整个家庭状况更糟了。
5.At that time, hunger was ______________ in many parts of the countryside.
当时，饥荒是许多农村地区面临的令人困扰的问题。
6.__________________ an article about a doctor called Lin Qiaozhi, a specialist in women’s diseases. 很偶然地，我看到了一篇关于一位妇科专家林巧稚大夫的文章。
