The BBC has made its second annual report known since its new charter was established and the broadcaster paints a rather bleak（暗淡的）picture for itself. It highlights the fact that the media landscape（局面）has changed quite rapidly in recent years and will most certainly continue to do so, and it says that the industry is “more and more dominated by a small number of US-based media giants with extraordinary creative and financial firepower.”The BBC added, “Their business models and huge budgets mean we are increasingly being squeezed out of an ever more competitive environment. British creativity and British content are now under real threat.”
However, the broadcaster is determined to do all it can to survive in the ever more digital TV world increasingly controlled by companies like Netflix and Amazon. In that regard, it laid out a few goals for the year that are aimed at keeping the BBC competitive. One focus will be its iPlayer platform. It notes that younger audiences are more frequently choosing Netflix over the BBC and it’s, therefore ,making some changes to iPlayer that will hopefully make it a destination itself rather than just a way to catch up on shows viewers have missed. The BBC has already started to introduce personalization into its iPlayer content and going forward, it will work to strengthen the user experience, boost（促进）personalization and add more live content.
But most importantly, the issue comes down to money. “The cost of sports broadcasting rights has skyrocketed while, overall, the cost of ideas and talent has risen fast.”Te broadcaster concludes that is has shrunk while the market has continued grow.“In this context, the BBC’s urgent challenge is to develop new ways to grow our income so that we can keep pace with the market around us, as well as successfully safeguard British content and Britain’s creative track record.”it said.
1.What situation is the BBC in?
A.It faces severe competition. B.Its business budgets are huge.
C.It provides bleak pictures. D.Its creativity has been lost.
2.Which of the following can replace the word "dominated" underlined in Paragraph 1?
A.Considered. B.Chosen.
C.Controlled. D.Improved.
3.What's the key measure the BBC has taken to survive?
A.Catching up on programmes. B.Improving its iPlayer platform
C.Sharing its iPlayer content. D.Reducing live shows.
4.What can we infer from the last paragraph about the BBC?
A.It tries to develop while keeping its own style.
B.It intends to rise the cost of broadcasting rights.
C.Its challenge is to safeguard the market around.
D.Its ideas of cost and talent have changed rapidly.
Cala didn’t like us. Any of us. We didn’t do anything to offend her and she didn’t know us but that didn’t matter, she still didn’t like us.
As new teacher in the Emirati school, we Westerners greeted her every day. She ignored us. She came into our rooms and bypassed us as she shook hands with all the non Westerners. Whenever we saw her, she avoided eye contact with us. Eventually, we stopped trying to befriend her.
I won’t say her nationality but her friends had been fired from the school, we had been employed in their places and that was enough for her to have nothing to do with us.
Well after 16 months in the school we had a secret friend gifting. To my surprise, I drew her name from the glass jar and that meant she was my secret friend. My role was to buy her a gift and say something about her when we publicly acknowledged who our secret friend was.
I decided to gift her a coloured bangle（手镯）. I added a postcard and wrote “Love and Blessings, Rose-Marie.”
Then came the day. We all gathered in the meeting room. When you received your gift, you said a few kind words about your secret friend and passed the gift to them. What could I say? Everyone knew she didn’t like the Westerners. She taught music in the school so I said”My secret friend is someone who brings music to our ears every day.”She came forward with a huge warm smile. She hugged me and kissed me on both cheeks and accepted my gifts.
Since then, she smiles often. We hug and shake hands when we meet. I have seen her wear my gift several times and I am so pleased.
1.Why didn't Cala like the Western teacher?
A.They stopped befriending her. B.They were new comers.
C.They replaced her friends' position. D.They had once offended her.
2.How did the writer change Cal's attitude?
A.With the help of her friends. B.Through her love and blessings.
C.By showing her talent in music. D.Through her sincerity and wisdom.
3.Which of the following can best describe the ending of the story?
A.Exciting. B.Complex.
C.Beautiful. D.Surprising.
4.What does the writer intend to tell us?
A.Do nothing by halves.
B.A good act will be well rewarded.
C.Nothing is impossible to a willing heart.
D.Without confidence there is no friendship.
1 Doha, Qatar
Qatar is currently involved in a major conflict with many other countries in the Middle Eastern region, but visitors to its capital , Doha, will still find themselves in the safest city in the world. It’s home to the Museum of Islamic Art, designed by I.M. Pei with inspiration from traditional Islamic architecture, which houses Islamic art from three different continents that have a history of over 1,400 years.
2 Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Dropping down from the top spot last year is Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, with a safety index of 88.03. While it has a population of just over 1 million, only 420,000 are actually citizens-whose average net worth is $17 million dollars. It is also home to the Sheikh Zzyed Mosque, the country’s largest, as well as many camel races.
3 Quebec City, Canada
Quebec City is one of the few cities in North America that still has its original city walls. One of the most romantic cities on the planet, its Old Town was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and as a city with just over 700,000 residents, it’s got a safety index of 85.36, landing it in the top three.
4 Osaka, Japan
Osaka is the best city in Japan for food, drinks, and nightlife, and it’s safer than ever. Make sure you visit Osaka Castle while you’re here, which has a park attached, or the nearby Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum, where you can even customize(定制）your own Cup Noodles to take home.
1.In which city can you watch a special sports event?
A.Doha. B.Abu Dhabi.
C.Qubec City. D.Osaka.
2.What can you do in Qucbec City, Canada?
A.Appreciate Islamic art. B.Go to see castles.
C.Visit ancient city walls. D.Make the noodles you like
3.What do the cities have in common?
A.They have museums. B.They are romantic.
C.They have wealthy citizens. D.They are very safe.
假设你是李津，你的英国朋友Jenny生日将至，你画了一幅中国画《竹》作为生日礼物寄送给她。请你给她写一封信，说明其寓意并表示祝福。
注意：（1）词数不少于100；
（2）可适当加入细节，使内容充实、行文连贯；
（3）开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Jenny,
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Jin
阅读短文，按照题目要求用英语回答问题。
Before she was crowned (加冕) Miss Amazing National in Chicago? US, Vanessa Cleary had never thought of herself as a beauty pageant (选美) competitor.
Yet the way in which Vanessa told the story of her birth mother’s struggle to help her with her disabilities and the positive impact the adoption had on her life helped her win over the judges last month. After the pageant, in which she took top honors in the junior teen division, the 15-year-old girl said she’s looking forward to telling her friends about her experience so they can join in as well. “I want everyone to have the experience I had,” Vanessa said. “It was really fun and I really enjoyed it.”
Miss Amazing is a pageant for girls with learning disabilities. In the ten years since it began, 1700 girls with disabilities have benefited from it. The pageant is designed to help the girls who participate to build sisterhoods, develop life skills, and so on.
The main event of the pageant is the stage performance, in which participants get to showcase a talent of their choice. When Vanessa’s mother first heard about Miss Amazing, she thought the pageant would be a great opportunity for Vanessa to showcase her skill for public speaking. Vanessa wants to be a teacher to teach other students who have disabilities like her.
Vanessa’s hearing is impaired, and she has a disability that makes reading difficult for her. Despite these, she is very active and loves public speaking. For Vanessa, it wasn’t about winning the pageant. It was about the opportunity for her to participate and feel supported.
1.Who is Vanessa Cleary? (no more than 15 words)
2.What’s the aim of the pageant? (no more than 20 words)
3.What’s the meaning of the underlined word “impaired”? (no more than 3 words)
4.What is Vanessa’s talent show in the pageant? (no more than 5 words)
5.What do you think is the most important for Vanessa’s winning this year’s Miss Amazing pageant? (no more than 10 words)
Reading a book can enlarge the imagination, support independent thinking and widen a person’s world. Writing a book can do even more. Educators now are using book-writing to help students develop creativity and a love of reading at an early age.
This is a third grade classroom at Taylor Elementary school in Arlington, Virginia. The students of eight or nine years old are busy writing, making pictures and talking with their teacher. And today, each student is working on writing a story.
Creating a book begins with the children finding the ideas that interest them. Then they write the first version (版本). After that, they edit their work, which means to make corrections and changes. In the process? students learn to think like real writers.
Holly Karapetkova writes children’s books and teaches literature at Marymount University in Arlington. She says she is happy that her 8-year-old son K. J. and his classmates are writing books at school. She thinks creating books sends them back to books. It encourages them to read more, both the books they are creating and other books.
Creating books is one of her favorite activities at home with K. J. and his 3-year-old sister, Kalina. “We have made books about animals? about weather, a lot of books about letters and numbers to reinforce skills. One of our favorite kinds of books to make is an alphabet book, just with a simple letter, then pictures, either pictures that we print out from our real photos or pictures that the children draw to match those letters.” She says the way to keep children interested in creating books is to give them freedom of choice.
K. J. has written more than 12 books on different subjects. His mother hopes the skills he and Kalina are developing-writing, reading, thinking, imagining-will help them succeed in the 21st century job market.
1.What’s the first step to write a book for the children?
A.Writing the first description. B.Deciding on an interesting subject.
C.Changing some details in the book. D.Correcting the mistakes in the story.
2.What’s Holly Karapetkova’s attitude to the book-writing method?
A.Disapproving. B.Approving.
C.Doubtful. D.Curious.
3.The underlined word “reinforce” in Paragraph 5 means “________”
A.examine B.create
C.experience D.strengthen
4.In the opinion of Holly Karapetkova, writing books can help children ________.
A.find a good job in the future B.gather experience in social life
C.form the skills of writing stories D.make money for college education
5.What does the text mainly talk about?
A.Some child writers. B.Several interesting books.
C.A teaching method. D.Debates about education.
