New York Times---（ DINITIA SMITH ）Tomorrow is the 433d anniversary of Shakespeare's birth．A recent survey shows that more people are watching him, reading him and studying him than ever before．
Consider the recent yearly conference of the Shakespeare Association of America in Washington, where more than 600 people who study or admire Shakespeare from 18 countries took in topics like ''Whither Attribution Studies,'' ''Unpopular Shakespeare'' and ''Sex Me Here,'' a talk on breast-feeding and Lady Macbeth．
''The national media is saying that fewer students' taking Shakespeare,'' Barbara Mowat, the editor of The Shakespeare Quarterly, observed in a speech at the conference．''But Shakespeare is thriving.'' The association's membership has increased by a third since 1990．
The Shakespeare business is so good these days that W．W．Norton is introducing a huge new collections of the plays into the already crowded field just in time for tomorrow's birthday anniversary．Priced at $44.95, ''The Norton Shakespeare: Based on the Oxford Edition'' runs for 3,420 pages, offering introductions, illustrations and notes and three versions（版本） of ''King Lear.''
Today, movies and videos have made the plays even more accessible．Last year, ''William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet'' was No．1 at the box office when it opened, and it grossed nearly $50 million．In New York in January, crowds lined up in the freezing cold to see Kenneth Branagh's four-hour ''Hamlet.'' The students select a scene and then have a violent discussion about it.'' Influenced by films, professors are increasingly teaching students by having them perform the plays．
1.Why people from 18 countries came to Washington this year?
A．To celebrate Shakespeare’s 433d birth day only.
B．To watch some plays by Shakespeare as planned．
C．To celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday and study his works.
D．To discuss how to teach students using Shakespeare’s plays.
2.What does the underlined word “ field” in the fourth paragraph refer to?
A．Washington D.C. B．Shakespeare Association.
C．The birthday anniversary． D．The Shakespeare business.
3.Which of the many plays by Shakespeare was most popular the year before?
A．King Lear. B．Hamlet.
C．Macbeth. D．Romeo and Juliet.
4.What does the author want to prove by using so many examples about Shakespeare?
A．More and more people are becoming interested in Shakespeare.
B．Shakespeare business is being run well in America nowadays.
C．Plays by Shakespeare can be used at school for more studies.
D．Shakespeare belongs not only to Britain but also to the USA．
Did you ever wonder how some of your favorite foods, products or toys came about? Believe it or not, they may have been an accident, or a failure of some other intention．Below, we found three mistakes we're thankful for turned out to be what they are.
.1．Most historians hold that the Chinese invented fireworks in the 9th century when they discovered how to make gunpowder．Story has it that a Chinese cook accidentally mixed together what were then considered common kitchen items and noticed they burnt．When put tightly in a bamboo tube and lit, it blew up．
.2．In May of 1886, a law led John Pemberton, a pharmacist（药剂师）, to rewrite the formula（配方） for "Pemberton's French Wine Coca,” his popular headache treatment．Containing sugar instead of wine as a sweetener, the outcome became something for Coke, which was later mixed with carbonated water．His bookkeeper suggested the name Coca-Cola because he thought the two C’s would look good together, which is how what we call Coca-Cola, a world –wide drink came into being.
.3．During World War II, scientists at the University of Birmingham invented the magnetron—an important heat-producing part of the microwave oven（微波炉）．While working for Raytheon Corporation after the war, the American engineer Percy Spencer was testing the magnetron when a chocolate bar in his pocket melted．He went on to test other foods including popcorn kernels, and found it to be a much more efficient way to cook．In 1947 Raytheon came out with the first restaurant microwave oven, which was six feet tall and weighed 750 lbs．
1.The right time order of the three inventions, according to the passage, should be _________.
A．fireworks, the microwave and Coca-Cola
B．fireworks ,Coca-Cola and the microwave
C．Coca-Cola , fireworks and the microwave
D．the microwave, Coca-Cola and fireworks
2.Percy Spencer found the microwave efficient in cooking when he was _______.
A．looking for a way to melt his chocolate
B．trying to know how a magnetron could cook
C．working to know how the magnetron works
D．asked to invent a restaurant microwave oven
3.What can we learn from the above invention stories?
A．Experiments make great inventors of our time.
B．Nothing is impossible if one tries each day.
C．Inventors come out of hard work at any time.
D．A small incident may lead to a great invention.
4.What’s the best title for the passage?
A．What great inventions they are! B．Inventions from Three Countries.
C．Stories of Accidental Inventions. D．The Human Inventions of time.
Writer and power chair adventurer Mary Laver has not walked for twenty years．Yet the cheerful and positive 60 year old is not only refusing to let her disability get her down ---- she is also planning to cross the length of Britain in a power wheelchair.
Getting ready for the trip is not easy．She has already run into many problems - not least officials and organizations who view her as a health and safety risk．One police officer wrote to Mary requesting:
1．The proposed route through our area with road numbers．
2．The dates and times each day that this will be taking place．
3．The location details of the proposed overnight stops．
4．The names and mobile phone contact details of the Support Crew．
Another police officer asked her to travel off road! As Mary told me, this was unacceptable - as a power wheelchair user with limited movement she needs to be "gettable".
There are other problems in her way though - she is, after all, in her 60's and has severe rheumatoid arthritis（风湿性关节炎）．However, unlike many other people with arthritis, she is no longer in pain.
"When you are in a power chair and it is going at eight miles an hour, believe me it feels fast … to me it is the Formula One（一级方程式赛车） chair of electric wheelchairs."
At the end of the interview, I asked Mary if she had a message for any other power chair users who wanted to do a challenge, and her reply was simple："Just do it!"
1.What is Mary Laver planning to do？
A．Travel to write a power wheelchair adventure.
B．Travel across Britain in a power wheelchair.
C．Prove she can do what a man can in driving．
D．Try a fast Formula One power chair sport.
2.Why did a police officer write to Mary requesting the four points?
A．He tried to stop her . B．Mary’s adventure is valueless.
C．The power chair is too fast. D．He wanted to ensure her safety.
3.The underlined word “She needs to be gettable” in the passage probably means “_______”
A．She’ll have a try whatever difficulties she may have．
B．A road for a power wheelchair user is a must for her.
C．Mary has to jump off her wheelchair once on the road.
D．With rheumatoid arthritis, she need some field help.
4.When Mary said “Just do it !” at the end of the interview, she meant “_______”
A．Be brave though disabled． B．Fear no challenges at all.
C．Take action right away． D．Make it whoever you are．
As high school students, Sang Tian and Huang Yunru dreamed of attending one of the world’s top universities．They slaved over their studies and were in the end admitted to famous schools – only one turned out to be far more famous than the other, according to new ranking （排名）of Asia’s top schools．
Huang Yunru, 19, went to the University of Hong Kong, the No 1 school in Asia．Sang, also 19, went to Tsinghua University, which was ranked a disappointing 16th in Asia．When Sang heard the news, he couldn’t believe his ears．“What? How can it be?” he said, greatly surprised.．
The new list of Asia’s top 200 universities was published last month by Quacquarelli Symonds （QS）, a UK-based career and education company．The ranking have started heated discussions among Chinese people, since the mainland’s top two schools – Peking University （PKU） and Tsinghua University – were not in the top 10.
Actually, this isn’t the first time that the schools have gone on poorly in regional or global ranking．The 2010 world university list released by the magazine US News & World Report ranked Peking University at 50th and Tsinghua University at 56th．They were the only two mainland schools in the top 100．Meanwhile, 37 US universities made the top 100 list．And three of 10 Hong Kong universities made the top 50.Chinese universities’ poor performance has saddened many students．“I can’t understand their standards,” said Sang．“At least we are a university with a long, proud history.”
According to the QS list, Chinese universities are doing OK in academic peer review, with both Tsinghua and Peking University scoring a full 100．But when it comes to student-to-faculty ratio（师生比）, their ranking drops, with Tsinghua at 22th and Peking at 23rd.John Hennessy, president of Stanford University, said at the Fourth Chinese-Foreign University Presidents Forum in early May that a lack of small-group discussions has seriously affected the teaching quality at Chinese universities．This has also resulted in students being afraid to question or challenge teachers.
1.Peking University （PKU） and Tsinghua University were in the top 10 in the ranking of Asia’s top schools．
2.There were no top 100 universities in the mainland according to the ranking.
3.Hong Kong universities are doing much better than the Chinese mainland ones in the ranking.
4.Peking University （PKU） and Tsinghua University are so famous that they are not worried about the result at all.
5.One of the reasons for the mainland’s universities’ disappointing ranking is that there are simply not enough teachers for the large number of students.
阅读下面短文，从短文后所给的四个选项A、B、C、D中,选出可以填人空白处的最佳答案，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
There are reasons why a middle-aged woman who has been away from the work for her children’s sake decides to go back to work．The 1reason for me was: years ago my job was that of a bookkeeper（会计）----- it was then that I worked for 2, and now with my children working, I wanted to do something 3, something new and exciting．
Money wasn't too important now, as my husband made a very 4living for us．But what should I do? What sort of 5should I look for? I knew I needed to be 6as to what I became involved with．I am not a "quitter"（容易放弃的人） and so I hoped to 7becoming responsible to an employer in a job that might turn out to be a mistake for me．
While I made painful efforts thinking over what to do, I was 8of a past incident where I needed to replace my original engagement ring 9the gold was wearing thin．My husband and I shopped and shopped for one, 10we went, even when we were on vacation． 11this nonstop searching got my poor 12to ask, "Just what kind of ring do you want, what exactly are we looking for?" My reply was, "I honestly don't 13, but when I see the correct setting, I will know it." That was the 14I felt about the new career I wished to start; I didn't have an exact idea as to what I wanted to do, but knew there was a perfect fit for me, if I would 15be patient.
Fortunately, that summer while I 16my twenty-fifth high school class reunion（重聚）, I heard a former classmate 17what she did for a living．She was a travel agent, and she and her husband had just 18from a trip to Hawaii where they acted as guides for a group of travelers．WOW, that 19like fun, considerably more fun and exciting than being a 20: I know what to take up!
1.A．possible B．obvious C．believable D．good
2.A．money B．fun C．children D．employers
3.A．valuable B．reasonable C．worthy D．different
4.A．interesting B．comfortable C．successful D．meaningful
5.A．pleasure B．place C．job D．man
6.A．careful B．useful C．joyful D．painful
7.A．finish B．miss C．avoid D．forget
8.A．recalled B．reminded C．warned D．robbed
9.A．where B．while C．if D．as
10.A．nowhere B．somewhere C．wherever D．everywhere
11.A．Actually B．However C．Finally D．Once
12.A．children B．classmates C．employer D．husband
13.A．care B．know C．understand D．find
14.A．way B．time C．style D．thought
15.A．really B．ever C．just D．certainly
16.A．joined B．left C．started D．attended
17.A．complaining B．explaining C．describing D．considering
18.A．returned B．rested C．came D．stayed
19.A．looked B．seemed C．sounded D．felt
20.A．travler B．wife C．employer D．bookkeeper
As we know, in our Chinese history _____ was a time when industry was only a home business.
A．it B．there C．that D．what
