I guess I always knew about the little fish treat, but this past summer it was all I could see. Pipin and Nemo were balancing on one front flipper(鳍), flying through hoops, dancing with the trainer, and we were all applauding — the little kids screaming with delight. That’s when the trainer, who wore a little treat bag on her belt, slipped Pipin and Nemo a fish. Each time they successfully performed a trick, they’d get an immediate reward.
These creatures weren’t really dancing, of course. They were performing a series of movements that they knew would produce a fish. It’s such a good show because the sea lions look like they’re having such fun. These talented performers who love to be in front of an audience seem almost human.
Somewhere in our faith journey, we all have a sea lion moment. You see how you’ve spent years jumping through hoops, balancing a ball on your nose, not because it’s really who you are, but because you’ve always done it and the system rewarded you for your performance. But when you’ve done that for ten or twenty years, you start to ask yourself, “Whose approval am I working for? What do I really believe?” Suddenly you see it: you’ve spent most all your life taking direction from other people. They’ve told you what to believe in, what to work for, what to value, how to live your life. You don’t want to end your life like Sinclair Lewis’s George Babbitt, the middle-aged real-estate broker(经纪人) who has everything and reached the top. But on the last page of Babbitt, George is speaking to his son Ted, who cannot follow in his father’s steps. He wants to leave college and head off on his own way. “Dad, I can’t stand it any more,” the boy says. “Maybe it’s all right for some fellows. Maybe I’ll want to go back some day, but now, I want to get into mechanics.” Babbitt, seeming old and subdued, says, “I’ve never done a single thing I’ve wanted to in my whole life!”
The Good-Bye Gate brings us naturally to a second passage, leading from dependency to self-possession. As you start separating from the whole worn-out system, you discover that where there is supposed to be a self, there really isn’t.
1.The sea lions were pleased to perform in front of the audience because they ____.
A. will be punished if it refuses it
B. wants to win the trainer’s favor
C. wants to get audiences’ applauses
D. can get food as a reward that way
2.While watching the sea lions’ performance, the author ____.
A. realized an important life philosophy
B. recalled the similar scene of last year
C. couldn’t help shouting and dancing
D. was happy to see them living freely
3.By saying “we all have a sea lion moment”, the author means that ____.
A. anyone can make it so long as they work hard
B. sometimes we don’t act following our own will
C. we can also get rewarded if we do something well
D. every human being also has his happy moment
4.What do you learn about George Babbitt?
A. He has been living a free life of his own.
B. His son ends up Babbitt family’s business.
C. He tends to agree to his son’s choice of life.
D. His son decides to follow his father’s steps.
5.Which can be the best title for this passage?
A. Challenge YourselfB. Summer Vacation Fun
C. No Pains, No GainsD. Now I Become Myself
No opera smells of the sea quite like Britten’s Peter Grimes. The music makes us constantly aware of the sea’s immensity, it’s potential for threat, and the play of light on its waves. But the sea isn’t just a special background, it weighs on the lives of the characters, offering them a living, but at a price. In the first act the laboured sound of the strings evokes (引起) the complete heaviness of the sailor’s work, as they haul(用力拉) the boats up the shingle (鹅卵石). Then a storm gathers which rages(肆虐) through the scene at the Inn, and stirs up an orchestral hurricane. Even when it’s calm and favorable, the sea is inescapable.
In the comfortable enclosed world of the opera house, this can only be suggested. In the production of Peter Grimes about to open at the Aldeburgh Festival, it will be really present, because the opera is taking place on the beach, the setting for much of the narrative of Britten’s opera, and also the poem by the Suffolk poet George Crabbe that inspired it.
This won’t be the first opera production to be set in the actual landscape in which the action takes place. There’s a well-known filmed production of Tosca shot in Castel Gandolfo in Rome, and a production of Donizetti’s Anna Bolena was once mounted in the moat(护城河) surrounding the Tower of London. But those were manageable urban landscapes, with comfortingly solid buildings to act as wind shields and acoustic blocks.
On the Aldeburgh beach there’s actually nothing, apart from a few boats, some whole, some wrecked. Here anything more complicated than walking the dog is hard to solve. The wind blows away one’s words, so conversation is hard, and anything not tied down tends to blow away. The sliding shingle turns one’s steps into a drunken stagger.
The idea of performing an opera in these conditions seems quite barmy — an accusation Aldeburgh director Jonathan Reakie takes cheerfully on the chin. Why has he done it? “Well, Grimes is the opera of Britten’s that’s most associated with Aldeburgh, but it’s never been produced at the Festival which he founded. There just isn’t the space for it. In his anniversary year we wanted to focus on Britten’s connection with Suffolk, and this seemed the boldest way to do it.”
Having had the mad idea, Reakie found his colleagues were not just accepting, but enthusiastic. “We spent a long time thinking about ways to do it. One idea we had was to do all the scenes at the right time of day. There’s one scene at dawn, another at midday, and a lot of action at night, but that was too complicated. Then we thought about doing a few scenes on the beach. But in the end, we thought hell, let’s just do the whole thing.”
1.Which of the following can best describe the sailor’s work in the first act?
A. Pleasant.B. Hard.
C. Comfortable.D. Attractive.
2.How is Paragraph 2 mainly developed?
A. By giving descriptions.B. By following time order.
C. By analyzing causes.D. By making comparisons.
3.What does Paragraph 4 mainly tell us?
A. The benefits of the actual landscape.
B. The actual landscape of Aldeburgh beach.
C. The location of the Aldeburgh beach.
D. The hardship of performing opera in Aldeburgh beach.
4.The underlined word “barmy” (in Paragraph 5) is closest in meaning to ____.
A. crazy B. impossible
C. wonderfulD. terrible
5.Reakie’s partners’ attitude towards his opera on a beach is ____.
A. eagerB. cautious
C. doubtfulD. unfavorable
If you’re travelling in the following cities, these exciting events may drag you out of the house.
CONCERTS
Mayday Noah’s Ark World Tour
Info: Jul 13, Xiamen; Jul 19/20, Shanghai; Aug 3, Shenzhen; Aug 17, Beijing
The rock band Mayday is about to bring their attractive tour to an end — and, as usual, it’s going to happen in a grand way. On Aug 17, they will rock the National Stadium, or the Bird’s Nest Stadium, and hold their last Noah’s(诺亚方舟) Ark concert in China, before heading to Europe in September.
Tanya Chua 2013 Concert Tour
Info: Aug 10, Shanghai; Aug 31, Beijing
In her music career of more than 15 years, the 38-year-old Singaporean singer-songwriter has never been short of popular songs that astonish the heart. Now, for the first time since 2008, when she played a small Christmas concert in Shanghai, Chua is visiting China as part of a concert tour.
THEATER
What is Success?
Director: Edward Lam
Performers: Chu Hung-chang, Ethan Wei, Shi Yi-hsiu
Info: Aug 9-10, Guangzhou; Aug 16-17, Chongqing; Aug 29-Sept 1, Beijing
In Part Three of Edward Lam’s Four Great Classics Series, which looks back at Luo Guanzhong’s novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it is sure to give you a surprise. Will it be true? Find out for yourself!
To Live
Director: Meng Jinghui
Performers: Huang Bo, Yuan Quan
Info: Jul 30-Aug 4, Beijing; Aug 6-7, Tianjin; Aug 9-11, Hangzhou; Aug 13-18, Shanghai
After their world show in September, theater director Meng Jinghui and his team are back for another tour around China. While audiences can renew their memories of Yu Hua’s new realism works, film stars Huang Bo and Yuan Quan will also impress audiences with their excellent performance.
EXHIBITIONS
Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal(永恒)
Info: Apr 29-Jul 28, Shanghai
Launched in 2012 — the 25th anniversary of the pop artist Andy Warhol’s death — the exhibition brings the largest ever collection of Warhol’s work to Asia. It includes more than 300 paintings, photographs, drawings and 3-D art, including his works such as Marilyn Monroe, Mao, Campbell’s Soup and Self-Portrait.
1.You may find the above advertisements ____.
A. in a newspaperB. in a school magazine
C. in a store windowD. on a company notice-board
2.The rock band Mayday is going to give concerts in ____ after they perform in Beijing.
A. AustraliaB. Japan
C. EuropeD. the USA
3.Tanya Chua 2013 Concert Tour is her ____ concert in China.
A. thirdB. Fourth
C. firstD. second
4.Travelling in Hangzhou on Aug 10, you can watch film star Huang Bo’s works ____.
A. What is SuccessB. To Live
C. Campbell’s SoupD. Self-Portrait
5.The main purpose of the advertisements is to tell you ____ when you are in these cities.
A. how to enjoy these activitiesB. how to improve your artistic level
C. how to amuse yourselvesD. what to enjoy
Educating Girls Is a Real Lifesaver
Clare Short knows it. Every developing economist knows it. The World Bank knows it. The education of girls is the surest way to reduce poverty.
The reason is simple. All the evidence shows that taking girls out of the fields and homes, and putting them behind desks, raises economic productivity, lowers infant and maternal(产妇) death rates, reduces birth rates, and improves environmental management.
Why, then, are 90 million primary school-age girls around the world not in school? For the same reason that when Charles Dickens was writing David Copperfield 150 years ago girls were absent from the British education system: Men in power mostly prefer it that way, or are not interested enough in changing the situation to commit energy and money to doing so.
The countries with the poorest record for having women in positions of power or influence have the worst figures for girls’ education. High-profile intervention(介入) by organizations such as the World Bank has begun successfully with several countries, and more of the same will probably be needed to bring change in conservative, male-run states.
Even if there were no development payoff from gender equality in schools, the education of girls would still be a cause worth fighting for. Education is a human right, and the denial of it to girls is a scar on the community in the twenty-first century.
To be born a girl in a rural area in Nepal, Pakistan, Indonesia, Morocco, Togo, or Sudan — half a dozen of the most shameful performers — means being condemned to a life without school, education, or clean water, marriage and babies coming too early, too many births, children who die of preventable diseases, backbreaking work in the fields, subordination(从属) to husband and his family, and an early death.
Every year, almost 12 million children under the age of five needlessly die of infectious diseases associated with poverty. But each additional year spent by their mothers in primary school lowers the risk of premature child deaths by about 8 percent. In Pakistan, an extra year of school for 1,000 girls could prevent sixty infant deaths.
With women and girls being the main farmers in Africa and southern Asia, their education offers a chance to develop more efficient farming practices, improve output, and raise awareness of the ecological needs of the land with tree planting and farming. Therefore, the world community cannot afford to ignore this avenue of change.
1.Which is Not the reason why educating girls reduces poverty?
A. It improves environmental management.
B. It raises economic productivity.
C. It creates more children.
D. It lowers maternal death rates.
2.What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 3 refer to?
A. The poor economy at that time.
B. Girls’ absence from school.
C. Energy and money.
D. The education of girls.
3.Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?
A. The countries where women have great influence and are in power always do worse in girls’ education.
B. Some organizations such as the World Bank haven’t taken the lead in girls’ education.
C. Some girls in Sudan and Indonesia are bound to live a life without education when they are born.
D. Each extra year of school for girls has nothing to do with the birthrate and maternal deaths.
4.How many more infants will survive when 100 girls stay in school for another year?
A. 5 B. 6 C. 8 D. 12
5.What does the author think of girls’ education?
A. essential B. terrible
C. indifferent D. helpless
America is built on the idea of freedom, and there is no exception for Muslim women. I the freedom of religion and speech. But mostly, I believe it’s OK to be , and to stand up for who and what you are. So I believe in wearing the hijab.
The hijab is a religious head covering, like a scarf. I am Muslim, and keeping my head covered is a of maturity and respect toward my and to Allah’s will. , I also like to wear it to be different. I don’t usually like to do what everyone else is doing. I want to be a(n) , not just part of the crowd. But when I first wore it, I was also afraid of the that I’d get at school.
I on my own that sixth grade was the I should start wearing the hijab. I was about what the kids would say or even do to me. I thought they might make fun of me, or be scared of me and my head-scarf. Kids at that age usually like to be all the same, and there’s little or no of differences.
On the first day of school, I put all those thoughts behind my back and walked in with my head held high. I was holding my breath a little, but I was also proud to be a Muslim, proud to be wearing the hijab, proud to be different.
I was about everything I thought the kids would say or even do to me. I actually met a lot of people because of wearing my head covering. Most of the kids would come and ask me questions — — about the hijab and why I wore it.
I did hear some kids were making fun of me, there was one girl — she wasn’t even in my class, we never really talked much — and she spoke me, and I wasn’t even there! I made a lot of new friends that year, friends that I still have until this very day, five years later.
Yes, I’m different, but everyone is different here, in one way or another. This is the beauty of America, which lies in its .
1.A. believe inB. stick toC. believeD. insist
2.A. independent B. free C. sensitive D. different
3.A. signal B. sign C. reminder D. symbol
4.A. religion B. country C. parents D. status
5.A. In a wordB. In generalC. To be exact D. To be honest
6.A. princess B. heroine C. individual D. adult
7.A. praise B. punishmentC. reaction D. reflection
8.A. hoped B. expected C. realized D. decided
9.A. time B. chance C. case D. occasion
10.A. disappointed B. scaredC. enthusiastic D. angry
11.A. still B. already C. even D. ever
12.A. show off B. pull off C. pick up D. put up
13.A. rejection B. ignoranceC. awareness D. acceptance
14.A. negative B. optimistic C. serious D. strange
15.A. often B. inside C. only D. outside
16.A. concerned B. particular C. wrong D. convinced
17.A. respectfully B. cautiouslyC. suspiciously D. critically
18.A. and B. so C. but D. or
19.A. in terms of B. in front ofC. in charge ofD. in favor of
20.A. significanceB. diversityC. valueD. power
The door opens and there ____.
A. enter the teacher of English and head teacher
B. enters the teacher of English and head teacher
C. does the teacher of English and head teacher
D. the teacher of English and head teacher enter
