Clowns (丑角) have been around for a long time. They not only make us laugh at the circus (马戏团) but they used to make the king and his followers laugh in court. The earliest of these fun-makers are called “fools”. In Greek and Roman times these fools dressed up like clowns do today with painted faces and funny costumes (戏服). They danced around the stage and did things to make people laugh as clowns do in circuses today. By medieval times (中世纪) every court had its fools. Fools wore bright colours and had bells (大肚子) on their shoes and their hats.
They were not really meant to be foolish and often they would say wise and sensible things to the king which nobody else was brave enough to say. The king never got cross with the fool as this was his job. He was meant to be both wise and foolish and try to make the situation in court less serious.
Of course people wanted to have their own kind of fool and shows developed in the 1500s in which fools (or Zanies) performed to make the crowd laugh. This kind of entertainment became so popular that it started a special kind of drama in Italy called Commedia dell´arte, which gradually turned into our comedy programmes today. When you watch the antics (滑稽剧) of Charlie Chaplin or Rowan Atkinson, you are watching a kind of comedy that is directly originated from the fools of ancient Rome and Greece.
1.How do clowns entertain people?
A.By their amusing talk and body language.
B.By their amusing voices and body langauge.
C.By their clothes, songs and the way they talk.
D.By their clothes, make-up and the way they act.
2.Where did fools first give performances?
A.In different towns in Europe.
B.In shows in ancient Greece and Rome.
C.At fairs or market where there were a lot of people.
D.in the building where law cases could be heard and judged.
3.When did the Commedia dell´arte begin to develop?
A.Before the fifth century.
B.Around the tenth century.
C.During the Middle Ages.
D.In the sixteenth century.
4.What does the underlined “got cross” in the second paragraph mean?
A.got satisfied B.got through
C.got angry D.got delighted
Sometimes two very different individuals become the best friends. For example, who could have thought that a spider (蜘蛛) would become friends with a pig? But in American writer E. B. White’s novel Charlotte’s Web, this is exactly what happens.
Wilbur the pig grows up in a barn (牲口棚) and makes many friends, including a spider called Charlotte. One day a sheep tells Wilbur that he will finally be served up as dinner. But Charlotte decides to save her friend. To help Wilbur, Charlotte writes words like “terrific” “radiant (喜悦的)” and “humble (谦逊的)” on her web to praise Wilbur. This makes the farmer believe that he is too important to kill. Wilbur is saved, but Charlotte is so tired that she dies.
The book was first published in 1952. In over 60 years Charlotte has become one of the most famous spiders of all time. She teaches us about love and promise. “She is very, very loving under that ugly look,” said Peter F. Neumeyer, writer of The Annotated Charlotte’s Web.
The book’s success drew the attention of Hollywood film-makers. However, they wanted a happy ending. White was strongly against this idea and as a result the film, like the book, ends with Charlotte’s death.
Jen Doll, a reporter of The Atlantic, believes that “death is part of life”. She says this is one of the main messages of the book.
As Charlotte tells Wilbur, “You have been my friend. That in itself is a wonderful thing. I wove (织) my webs for you because I like you. After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while and then we die. A spider’s life can’t help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a little. God knows anyone’s life can stand a little of that.”
1.Which of the following about the story is TRUE?
A.It’s a good example of how different creatures live in peace.
B.Though ugly, Charlotte is loving and helpful.
C.It encourages children to love their family and friends.
D.The farmer kills Wilbur as dinner.
2.Hollywood film-makers and White didn’t agree on _______.
A.the fate of Wilbur.
B.how to close story.
C.who was to play Charlotte.
D.the way Charlotte makes friends with Wilbur.
3.In the last paragraph, Charlotte’s main message is that _______.
A.life is like a web
B.friendship is more important than life
C.life could be boring and troublesome
D.dying for a good cause is worthwhile
No poem should ever be discussed or “analyzed”, until it has been read aloud by someone, teacher or student. Better still, perhaps, is the practice of reading it twice, once at the beginning of the discussion and once at the end, so the sound of the poem is the last thing one hears of it.
All discussions of poetry are, in fact, preparations for reading it aloud, and the reading of the poem is, finally, the most telling “interpretation” of it, suggesting tone, rhythm, and meaning all at once. Hearing a poet read the work in his or her own voice, on records or on film, is obviously a special reward. But even those aids to teaching cannot replace the student and teacher reading it or, best of all, reciting it.
I have come to think, in fact, that time spent reading a poem aloud is much more important than “analyzing” it, if there isn’t time for both. I think one of our goals as teachers of English is to have students love poetry. Poetry is “a criticism (批评) of life”, and “a heightening of life”. It is “an approach to the truth of feeling”, and it “can save your life”. It also deserves a place in the teaching of language and literature more central than it presently occupies.
I am not saying that every English teacher must teach poetry. Those who don’t like it should not be forced to put that dislike on anyone else. But those who do teach poetry must keep in mind a few things about its basic nature, about its sound as well as its sense, and they must make room in the classroom for hearing poetry as well as thinking about it.
1.It is suggested that a poem should ______ to get it better understood.
A.be discussed it with others B.be analyzed by oneself
C.be copied down in a notebook D.be read aloud a few times
2.Poetry doesn’t have the function of ______.
A.exploring your true feeling.
B.rethinking about your life.
C.saving some time for your life.
D.lifting up your life.
3.According to the writer, one of the purposes of teaching English Poetry is _______.
A.to get students to understand life
B.to get students to enjoy poetry
C.to have students who love poetry.
D.to keep poetry occupying its present place.
4.The underlined phrase “make room” in the last paragraph could be best replaced by “ ______”.
A.arrange a room B.provide a place
C.spare enough space D.set aside enough time
假定你是李华，得知你班英国交换生Jenny最近因学习压力大而情绪低落。请给她写一封电子邮件，内容包括：1.表示关心；2.提出缓解、释放压力的建议。
参考词汇：压力pressure；缓解、释放relieve
注意：1.词数100左右；2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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 grandparent live in a mountain village. My mother and I often go to visit them. In the front of their house runs a small river, in which the water is very clearly. My mother is fond the river and she often washes clothes in the river. Last week, we visited them again. The arrive of us made my grandpa and grandma very happy. My mother also felt very pleasing, thinking that she could do any washing in the river. I reminded my mother what the water in the river was cold in the morning, and she ignored me. She had her own way. She brings rubber gloves that could keep out the cold. Then I happily joined my mother in washing those clothes.
Theresa Furrer's experience with making pet hair thread (线) began after her own painful experience. When she lost her pet cat in 2012，she decided to __________ it with the help of an expert, But she ended up _________ for nine months to get her cat's body back. She said the waiting was also __________. That was the time when she started ___________other ways of keeping the dead pet's body.
She bought a spinning wheel (纺车), and __________working with cotton, to get familiar with the process. Then she set about working with the fur of cats and dogs. Her firs ________was the black fur of a dog. She described the work as a ________, but later the fear was gone.
At first, Furrer always started a(n)___________about her hobby with “Don't think I'm mad.” But most people really didn't.__________ her mad at all._________, many of them had long been looking for that service. And then Furrer _________ that pet hair thread could be a _________of service business for her.
Furrer ___________three spinning wheels in her house now. In the_________ stages of the thread making process of up to ten different projects, she often washes the thread, and sometimes_________ it with a supporting fiber to produce usable mixed thread. Cat hair is very _________ to work with, but she has found ways to manage it over the years, because she doesn't like saying “no” to those__________ owners who have lost their beloved pets.
Furrer has made hundreds of animal hair thread __________over the last eight years. She can_________the thread into all kinds of__________ , like hats and bracelets (手镯).
1.A.ruin B.pack C.preserve D.calm
2.A.accounting B.waiting C.apologizing D.allowing
3.A.painful B.magical C.rare D.entertaining
4.A.giving up B.spying on C.turning down D.thinking about
5.A.started B.missed C.admired D.disliked
6.A.project B.protection C.relief D.application
7.A.joy B.puzzle C.terror D.fantasy
8.A.organization B.discovery C.approach D.conversation
9.A.hear B.consider C.keep D.drive
10.A.Impossibly B.Regretfully C.Unfortunately D.Actually
11.A.reminded B.realized C.regretted D.misunderstood
12.A.fault B.limit C.chance D.story
13.A.decorates B.owns C.hates D.mends
14.A.various B.false C.same D.worthless
15.A.swap B.describe C.mix D.replace
16.A.hard B.simple C.amusing D.relaxing
17.A.factory B.house C.plant D.pet
18.A.toys B.dogs C.products D.cats
19.A.push B.turn C.throw D.put
20.A.nests B.cartoons C.minerals D.items
