In 2009, the Taiwu Elementary School Folk Singers were invited to perform in Belgium, France, Germany, and Luxemburg. In 2011, they were voted as one of the world’s top five performance groups by audiences of Japan Broadcasting Corporation’s Amazing Voice program.
Thinking back the group’s first tour in Europe, Camake Valaule, a physical education teacher and the founder of the Taiwu Elementary School Folk Singers, admitted that he felt very nervous. He was worried that the audience would fall asleep since most of the 75-minute performance was a cappella, that is, singing without instrumental sound. Surprisingly, the audience listened with full focus and high spirits. Camake said, “They told me afterward that through our performance, they had a vision of our country, our village, without having to visit it. This experience greatly increased our confidence.”
According to Camake Valaule, singing traditional ballads has helped students and their parents to re-understand their culture. “It used to be that the only ones who could sing these songs were tribal elders aged between 50 and 60. Now with the children performing the pieces, parents are beginning to ask, ‘Why do we not know how to sing these ballads?’ Many times nowadays, it is the children who teach the songs to their parents, putting back the pieces of a blurred memory.”
Winning international fame, however, was neither the original intention nor the main reason why Camake founded the group in 2006. The most important thing was to make children understand why they sing these songs and to preserve and pass on their culture. Referring to the relocation of Taiwu Elementary School and Taiwu Village following Typhoon Morakot in August 2009, Camake said, “We could not take the forest or our houses in the mountains with us; but we were able to bring our culture along. As long as the children are willing to sing, I will always be there for them, singing with them and leading them to experience the meaning of the ballads.”
1.Which of the following is true about Taiwu Elementary School Folk Singers?
A. The group was first established in 2009.
B. The group was founded by a PE teacher.
C. The singers usually sing popular folk songs.
D. The singers learn to sing from their parents.
2.On his first trip to Europe, why did Camake think the audience might fall asleep?
A. The average age of the audience was between fifty and sixty.
B. Most of the performance was not accompanied by any instrument.
C. Nobody could understand the language and the meaning of the songs.
D. The audience could not visualize the theme sung by the school children.
3.What does the underlined part “the pieces of a blurred memory” in the third paragraph most likely refer to?
A. The fading memories about old tribal people.
B. The children’s ignorance of their own tradition.
C. The broken pieces of knowledge taught at school.
D. The parents’ vague understanding of their own culture.
4.What did Camake realize after the incident of Typhoon Morakot?
A. The significance of the relocation of Taiwu Elementary School.
B. The need to respect nature to avoid being destroyed by it.
C. The importance of passing on the traditional culture.
D. The consequence of building houses in the forest.
Of the several films Hirokazu has made about childhood and children, this one is the most modest, but no less pleasing for its delicate style and small setting. This wise and funny film works small miracles in describing such a moment when kids turn from the wishfulness of childhood into shaping the world for themselves.
The sweetly reflective hero, a sixth-grader named Koichi, starts out by wishing for a volcano to erupt. Not just any volcano, but the one that towers above his town, smoking heavily and giving off ash. An eruption would lead to a withdrawing, which would lead, at least in his mind, to a reunion with his father and kid brother, who’ve been living in Hakata while Koichi lives with his mother and retired grandparents in Kagoshima. The volcano, knowing nothing of this, refuses to erupt, but Koichi hears of another approach to realizing the desired miracle.
One of the pleasures of I Wish is watching how kids behave — how Koichi attacks his dinner, for example. Another pleasure is rediscovering how kids think. These kids can be logical and ever so tricky. But children’s thought processes can also be fancy. A boy wishes he could play baseball like one of baseball stars, who eats curry for breakfast; so he, too, starts eating curry for breakfast, instead of practicing on the field. Another boy tries to wish his dead dog, Marble, back to life. And what does Koichi finally wish for? I wish you’d see this delightful film to find out.
1. Koichi wishes the volcano to erupt so that he can ______.
A. enjoy the wonderful scene of a volcano
B. help those who suffer from the eruption
C. get together with his family members
D. work miracles during the disaster
2.Which of the following statements is true of the film?
A. It is set in a volcano eruption.
B. It is a serious science fiction movie.
C. It shows some dull and ridiculous behaviors.
D. It shows a lively and thoughtful world of children.
3.What does the writer intend to do in this text?
A. To recommend a film.
B. To make a review on a film.
C. To share pleasures of watching a film.
D. To discuss kids’ behavior and thoughts.
Are you trying to learn a new language in a foreign land? You might be better off if you stopped looking at that picture of your family and friends.
New research from Columbia University found that prompting (提示) someone who is learning a new language with images and reminders of their own culture could temporarily ruin everything that the brain was trying to build.
When native Chinese students were asked to talk with a Caucasian avatar (白种人的虚拟头像) and a Chinese avatar, their English skills were so different. Simply exposing students to a Chinese person affected their ability to speak English. Subjects who talked with the Chinese version felt more comfortable in their speech, but they produced 11% fewer words per minute. They actually became less fluent speakers.
To make sure it wasn’t just the avatar, researchers also showed people random images of China while the participants told a story. When pictures of their homeland appeared, fluency dropped 16% and volunteers were 85% more likely to use a literal (照字面的) translation, for example, calling pistachios “happy nuts”, because that’s literally what the Chinese word for pistachio means.
When the students were shown pictures of fish with one swimming ahead of the others, their culture would change how they look at the photo. With Chinese prompt, like photos of the Great Wall or Chinese Dragon, etc. they saw more students thinking that the fish was being chased, while an American prompt, like pictures of Marilyn Monroe or Superman, saw those students believing that it was a leader fish.
The bottom line is: when attempting to learn a new culture it is far better to surround yourself with that culture than create an island of the old one.
1.Why does the author use a question in the first paragraph?
A. To raise a question.
B. To arouse readers’ awareness.
C. To introduce the topic.
D. To tell a story.
2.The underlined word “pistachios” in the fourth paragraph refers to ______.
A. pictures B. volunteers
C. an image D. a kind of food
3.From the passage we can infer that ______.
A. different images would change with different people
B. different cultures would affect how students look at the photo
C. with Chinese prompts, more students thought that it was a leader fish
D. with an American prompt, more students thought that the fish was being chased
4.According to the research, which is a better way for a student in a foreign land to learn a new culture?
A. To surround himself with that culture.
B. To create an island of the old one.
C. To see random images of China.
D. To talk with a Caucasian avatar.
Fly Alone for the First Time
I began flying lessons at the age of 14; but the Federal Aviation Administration requires you to be 16 before you make flight by yourself. So I had to wait for two long years until I could fly a plane by myself. I used that time to master the basic maneuvers (要领) of flying. I learned emergency procedures and practiced hundreds of takeoffs and landings until I could land the airplane smoothly without bouncing it down the runway. It wasn’t always easy, and many times I would come home feeling discouraged and thinking maybe everyone was right – I would never learn to fly, but by the next day, I was always eager to try again.
On the day of my 16th birthday, I made my first solo flight, which meant I could finally fly alone. The night before, my dad, who was my flight instructor, explained that the winds were forecast to be high. He said if we were in the air by dawn, the winds would probably be calm enough for me to solo. The next morning it was cold, but the sky was completely clear, and the winds were calm. I expected my dad to stay in the plane for at least three takeoffs and landings. But after the first one, he told me to pull off the runway, and he got out of the plane.
I was alone. As I climbed higher and higher, the world began to change. Everything on the ground became miniature. Houses, cars, and all looked like tiny toys that could fit in the surface of my hand. I made three takeoffs and landings that day. Each landing was perfect. It was one of the happiest days of my life.
Today, as a flight instructor, I stand alongside runways watching as my own students take to the sky on their first solo flights. I understand the joy faces, which always bring me back to that day when my dream came true. I learned that no matter how people tell you that you can’t do something, if you believe in yourself, you can succeed.
1.When practicing flying, the author ______.
A. met several times of emergencies
B. was worried about his own safety
C. couldn’t wait to fly alone in the sky
D. sometimes doubted his ability to fly
2.The underlined word “miniature” probably means “______”.
A. distant B. unclear C. small D. high
3. What was the father concerned about before his son flied alone?
A. Whether his son was brave enough.
B. Whether it would be too windy.
C. Whether he was able to protect his son.
D. Whether there were negative comments.
4.What lesson does the author learn from his experience?
A. Be confident and you will succeed.
B. Be responsible and you can grow up.
C. Give up something and you may win more.
D. Think hard and you can achieve your dream.
书面表达
假如你是高三学生李华，期末获评年级“进步之星”。你校英语俱乐部邀请你做一个励志的英语演讲。请写一篇标题为：“Time And Tide Wait For No Man” (机不可失，时不再来)的演讲词，内容须包括:
1.你对该格言的理解感悟;
2.体现该格言含义的个人经历;
3.表达对其他同学的希望。
注意：
1. 词数100字左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 演讲稿开头和结尾已为你写好，不计入总词数;
4. 参考词汇：进步之星：“Star of Progress”
Dear fellow students,
It's my great honor to be invited here to give a speech. The topic of my speech today is “Time and tide wait for no man”.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
That’s all.Thank you!
短文改错
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(
)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线(＼)划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
My family was very poor when I was a child. My parents lost their jobs or lived with heavy pressure. As a result, I wanted to study hardly so as to have different future. During my high school life, I spent all my time studied those difficult subjects, which made me one of the best student in our school. After graduation, I was admitted in a key university where I meet a lot of interesting friends. Now, I am working in a big company and I am able to afford anything I wanted. What’s more, my parents also have been found new jobs. So I believe that our dream will came true if we try our best.
