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To most people, noise pollution is a jet flying over their head. For one Spanish woman, it is a neighbor playing the piano. The woman has taken her neighbor to court. Now she wants to send her neighbor to prison for over seven years on the charges of psychological damage and noise pollution. In a country known for its noisiness, the case has raised eyebrows. Neighbors often complain about street noise in Spain, but people seeking prison time for someone practicing the piano is unheard of. At the trial, Sonia Bosom says she has been suffering noise pollution up to now due to the practice sessions of Laia Martin, who lives below her. Martin, 27, didn’t admit that she played at home that often, saying she took regular classes in other towns and mostly practiced at home on the weekends. On the first day of the trial, the newspaper reported that Bosom told the court she now hated pianos so much that she couldn’t even stand seeing them in a film. Bosom says years of hearing constant playing has caused her “psychological injury”. Medical reports show she has suffered from a variety of problems, including insomnia (失眠), anxiety, and panic attacks. She says tests by local authorities have found that the sound levels made by the piano are up to 10 decibels (分贝) higher than the limit. City authorities have asked the family several times to either stop the piano playing or soundproof (隔音) the room. The family told the court they carried out soundproofing work twice but the complaints continued. The court hasn’t made a final decision. A spokeswoman says the trial will end before May. 1.Bosom wants to send Martin to prison because _______. A. Martin’s playing the piano damaged her health B. Bosom suffered from heart attack C. Martin refused to take regular classes in other towns D. Martin flew a jet over her head 2.How did Laia Martin respond to the complaints? A. She stopped playing the piano. B. She soundproofed the room. C. She didn’t admit she played at home. D. She took her neighbor to court. 3.Which of the following may probably be the best title for the passage? A. A 7-year Sentence Caused by the Piano B. Pianist Charged with Noise Pollution C. Health Problems of a Spanish Woman D. Actions Against Noise by Local Authority
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| 2. 难度：中等 | |
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CANYOUIMAGINEHOWHARDITWOULDBETOREADSENTENCESLIKETHIS? Every one of us gets so used to punctuation marks that not many of us give them a second thought. Actually, the ancient Greeks wrote this way. The lack of punctuation marks probably didn’t bother good readers, though. As they read, they just put pauses where they fit best. Also at this time, sentences switched directions. A sentence read from left to right. The next one read right to left, and then left to right again, etc. The ancient Romans sometimes punctuated like this: They • put • something • that • can • separate • words • in • a • sentence. The word punctuation actually comes from this idea and the Latin word punctum, which means a dot. When the 5th century arrived, there were just two punctuation marks: spaces and points. The spaces separated words while the points showed pauses in reading. Then in the 13th century, a printer named Aldus Manutius tried to standardize punctuation. He always used a period for a complete stop at the end of a sentence. He used a slash (/) to indicate a short pause. Over time, that slash was shortened and curled, and it became the modern comma (逗号). Since that time, other marks have enlarged the punctuation family. The exclamation mark (感叹号) comes from the Latin word io. It means “exclamation of joy.” The question mark originally started out as the Latin word questio, meaning question. Eventually, scholars put it at the end of a sentence to show a question. Punctuation even keeps changing nowadays. New marks are coming into existence, and old punctuation marks are used in new ways. Take for example the “interrobang”. This 1962 invention combines the question mark and exclamation mark for times when writers want both. For example, “She did what?” or “How much did you pay for that dress?” Obviously, the interrobang is not widely used or recognized yet, but its invention shows that English is not yet finished with its punctuation. 1.From the first paragraph, we can know that _______. A. good readers had trouble reading without punctuation marks B. a sentence always read from left to right in ancient Greece C. ancient Greeks switched the direction of punctuation marks D. the use of punctuation marks can date back to ancient times 2. The passage is developed _______. A. by time B. by space C. by comparison D. by importance 3. We can learn from the passage that _______. A. ancient Romans didn’t use any punctuation marks B. exclamation and question marks came from Latin C. spaces and slashes were already used before the 5th century D. Aldus Manutius first started to use commas 4. What can be concluded from the last paragraph? A. The combination of two marks will not work. B. It takes time for people to accept new punctuation marks. C. Old punctuation marks need to be standardized. D. Punctuation marks are still changing today.
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