Minutes after the last movie ended yesterday at the Plaza Theater, employees were busy sweeping up popcorns and gathering coke cups. It was a scene that had been repeated many times in the theater’s 75-year history. This time, however, the cleanup was a little different. As one group of workers carried out the rubbish, another group began removing seats and other theater equipment in preparation for the building’s end.
The film classic The Last Picture Show was the last movie shown in the old theater. Though the movie is 30 years old, most of the 250 seats were filled with teary-eyed audience wanting to say good-bye to the old building. Theater owner Ed Bradford said he chose the movie because it seemed proper. The movie is set in a small town where the only movie theater is preparing to close down.
Bradford said that large modem theaters in the city made it impossible for the Plaza to compete. He added that the theater’s location (位置) was also a reason. “This used to be the center of town,” he said. “Now the area is mostly office buildings and warehouses.”
Last week some city officials suggested the city might be interested in turning the old theater into a museum and public meeting place. However, these plans were given up because of financial problems. Bradford sold the building and land to a local development firm, which plans to build a shopping complex on the land where the theater is located.
The theater audience said good-bye as Bradford locked the doors for the last time. After 75 years the Plaza Theater has shown its last movie. The theater will be missed.
1.In what way was yesterday’s cleanup at the Plaza special?
A.It made room for new equipment.
B.It signaled the closedown of the theater.
C.It was done with the help of the audience.
D.It marked the 75th anniversary of the theater.
2.Why was The Last Picture Stow put on?
A.It was an all-time classic.
B.It was about the history of the town.
C.The audience requested it.
D.The theater owner found it suitable.
3.What will probably happen to the building?
A.It will be repaired.
B.It will be turned into a museum.
C.It will be knocked down.
D.It will be sold to the city government.
4.What can we infer about the audience?
A.They are disappointed with Bradford.
B.They are sad to say goodbye to the old theater.
C.They are supportive of the city officials.
D.They are keen to have a shopping center.
Some of the world’s most famous musicians recently gathered in Paris and New Orleans to celebrate the first annual International Jazz Day. UNESCO( United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) recently set April 30 as a day to raise awareness of jazz music, its significance, and its potential as a unifying(联合) voice across cultures.
Despite the celebrations, though, in the U.S. the jazz audience continues to shrink and grow older, and the music has failed to connect with younger generations.
It’s Jason Moran’s job to help change that. As the Kennedy Center’s artistic adviser for jazz, Moran hopes to widen the audience for jazz, make the music more accessible, and preserve its history and culture.
“Jazz seems like it’s not really a part of the American appetite,” Moran tells National Public Radio’s reporter Neal Conan. “What I’m hoping to accomplish is that my generation and younger start to reconsider and understand that jazz is not black and write anymore. It’s actually color, and it’s actually digital.”
Moran says one of the problems with jazz today is that the entertainment aspect of the music has been lost. “The music can’t be presented today the way it was in 1908 or 1958. It has to continue to move, because the way the world works is not the same,” says Moran.
Last year, Moran worked on a project that arranged Fats Waller’s music for a dance party, “Just to kind of put it back in the mind that Waller is dance music as much as it is concert music,” says Moran. “For me, it’s the recontextualization. In music, where does the emotion(情感) lie? Are we, as humans, gaining any insight(感悟) on how to talk about ourselves and how something as abstract as a Charlie Parker record gets us into a dialogue about our emotions and our thoughts? Sometimes we lose sight that the music has a wider context,” says Moran, “so I want to continue those dialogues. Those are the things I want to foster.”
1.Why did UNESCO set April 30 as International Jazz Day?
A.To remember the birth of jazz.
B.To protect cultural diversity.
C.To encourage people to study music.
D.To recognize the value of jazz.
2.What does the underlined word “that” in paragraph 3 refer to?
A.Jazz becoming more accessible.
B.The production of jazz growing faster.
C.Jazz being less popular with the young.
D.The jazz audience becoming larger.
3.What can we infer about Moran’s opinion on jazz?
A.It will disappear gradually.
B.It remains black and white.
C.It should keep up with the times.
D.It changes every 50 years.
4.Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
A.Exploring the Future of Jazz.
B.The Rise and Fall of Jazz.
C.The Story of a Jazz Musician.
D.Celebrating the Jazz Day.
As cultural symbols go, the American car is quite young. The Model T Ford was built at the Piquette Plant in Michigan a century ago, with the first rolling off the assembly line（装配线） on September 27, 1908. Only eleven cars were produced the next month. But eventually Henry Ford would build fifteen million of them.
Modern America was born on the road, behind a wheel. The car shaped some of the most lasting aspects of American culture: the roadside diner, the billboard, the motel, even the hamburger. For most of the last century, the car represented what it meant to be American—going forward at high speed to find new worlds. The road novel, the road movie, these are the most typical American ideas, born of abundant petrol, cheap cars and a never-ending interstate highway system, the largest public works project in history.
In 1928 Herbert Hoover imagined an America with “a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.” Since then, this society has moved onward, never looking back, as the car transformed America from a farm-based society into an industrial
The cars that drove the American Dream have helped to create a global ecological disaster. In America the demand for oil has grown by 22 percent since 1990.
The problems of excessive（过度的）energy consumption, climate change and population growth have been described in a book by the American writer Thomas L. Friedman. He fears the worst, but hopes for the best.
Friedman points out that the green economy（经济）is a chance to keep American strength. “The ability to design, build and export green technologies for producing clean water, clean air and healthy and abundant food is going to be the currency of power in the new century.”
1.Why is hamburger mentioned in paragraph 2?
A. To explain Americans’ love for travelling by car.
B. To show the influence of cars on American culture.
C. To stress the popularity of fast food with Americans.
D. To praise the effectiveness of America’s road system.
2.What has the use of cars in America led to?
A. Decline of economy. B. Environmental problems.
C. A shortage of oil supply. D. A farm-based society.
3.What is Friedman’s attitude towards America’s future?
A. Ambiguous. B. Doubtful.
C. Hopeful. D. Tolera
Adults understand what it feels like to be flooded with objects. Why do we often assume that more is more when it comes to kids and their belongings? The good news is that I can help my own kids learn earlier than I did how to live more with less.
I found the pre-holidays a good time to encourage young children to donate less-used things, and it worked. Because of our efforts, our daughter Georgia did decide to donate a large bag of toys to a little girl whose mother was unable to pay for her holiday due to illness. She chose to sell a few larger objects that were less often used when we promised to put the money into her school fund(基金)(our kindergarten daughter is serious about becoming a doctor)
For weeks, I've been thinking of bigger, deeper questions: How do we make it a habit for them? And how do we train ourselves to help them live with, need, and use less? Yesterday, I sat with my son, Shepherd, determined to test my own theory on this. I decided to play with him with only one toy for as long as it would keep his interest. I expected that one toy would keep his attention for about five minutes, ten minutes, max. I chose a red rubber ball-simple, universally available. We passed it, he tried to put it in his mouth, he tried bouncing it, rolling it, sitting on it, throwing it. It was totally, completely enough for him. Before I knew it an hour had passed and it was time to move on to lunch.
We both became absorbed in the simplicity of playing together. He had my full attention and I had his. My little experiment to find joy in a single object worked for both of us.
1.What do the words “more is more” in paragraph 1 probably mean?
A.The more, the better. B.Enough is enough.
C.More money, more worries. D.Earn more and spend more.
2.What made Georgia agree to sell some of her objects?
A.Saving up for her holiday B.Raising money for a poor girl
C.Adding the money to her fund D.Giving the money to a sick mother
3.Why did the author play the ball with Shepherd?
A.To try out an idea
B.To show a parent’s love
C.To train his attention
D.To help him start a hobby
4.What can be a suitable title for the text?
A.Take It or Leave It B.A Lesson from Kids
C.Live More with Less D.The Pleasure of Giving
Teens and younger children are reading a lot less for fun, according to a Common Sense Media report published Monday.
While the decline over the past decade is steep for teen readers, some data in the report shows that reading remains a big part of many children’s lives, and indicates how parents might help encourage more reading.
According to the report’s key findings, “the proportion (比例) who say they ‘hardly ever’ read for fun has gone from 8 percent of 13-year-olds and 9 percent of 17-year-olds in 1984 to 22 percent and 27 percent respectively today.”
The report data shows that pleasure reading levels for younger children, ages 2—8, remain largely the same. But the amount of time spent in reading each session has declined, from closer to an hour or more to closer to a half hour per session.
When it comes to technology and reading, the report does little to counsel(建议) parents looking for data about the effect of e-readers and tablets on reading. It does point out that many parents still limit electronic reading, mainly due to concerns about increased screen time.
The most hopeful data shared in the report shows clear evidence of parents serving as examples and important guides for their kids when it comes to reading. Data shows that kids and teens who do read frequently, compared to infrequent readers, have more books in the home, more books purchased for them, parents who read more often, and parents who set aside time for them to read.
As the end of school approaches, and school vacation reading lists loom(逼近) ahead, parents might take this chance to step in and make their own summer reading list and plan a family trip to the library or bookstore.
1.What is the Common Sense Media report probably about?
A. Children’s reading habits.
B. Quality of children’s books.
C. Children’s after-class activities.
D. Parent-child relationships.
2.Where can you find the data that best supports “children are reading a lot less for fun”?
A. In paragraph 2. B. In paragraph 3.
C. In paragraph 4. D. In paragraph 5.
3.Why do many parents limit electronic reading?
A. E-books are of poor quality.
B. It could be a waste of time.
C. It may harm children’s health.
D. E-readers are expensive.
4.How should parents encourage their children to read more?
A. Act as role models for them.
B. Ask then to write book reports.
C. Set up reading groups for them.
D. Talk with their reading class teachers.
Before the 1830s, most newspapers were sold through annual subscriptions in America, usually $8 to $10 a year. Today $8 or $10 seems a small amount of money, but at that time these amounts were forbidding to most citizens. Accordingly, newspapers were read almost only by rich people in politics or the trades. In addition, most newspapers had little in them that would appeal to a mass audience. They were dull and visually forbidding. But the revolution that was taking place in the 1830s would change all that.
The trend, then, was toward the “penny paper”—a term referring to papers made widely available to the public. It meant any inexpensive newspaper; perhaps more importantly it meant newspapers that could be bought in single copies on the street.
This development did not take place overnight. It had been possible(but not easy) to buy single copies of newspapers before 1830, but this usually meant the reader had to go down to the printer’s office to purchase a copy. Street sales were almost unknown. However, within a few years, street sales of newspapers would be commonplace in eastern cities. At first the price of single copies was seldom a penny—usually two or three cents was charged—and some of the older well-known papers charged five or six cents. But the phrase “penny paper” caught the public’s fancy, and soon there would be papers that did indeed sell for only a penny.
This new trend of newspapers for “the man on the street” did not begin well. Some of the early ventures(企业) were immediate failures. Publishers already in business, people who were owners of successful papers, had little desire to change the tradition. It took a few youthful and daring businessmen to get the ball rolling.
1.Which of the following best describes newspapers in America before the 1830s?
A.Academic. B.Unattractive. C.Inexpensive. D.Confidential.
2.What did street sales mean to newspapers?
A.They would be priced higher. B.They would disappear from cities.
C.They could have more readers. D.They could regain public trust.
3.Who were the newspapers of the new trend targeted at?
A.Local politicians. B.Common people.
C.Young publishers. D.Rich businessmen.
4.What can we say about the birth of the penny paper?
A.It was a difficult process. B.It was a temporary success.
C.It was a robbery of the poor. D.It was a disaster for printers.
