阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
The writings of Shakespeare are today little read by young people in Britain. His young readership is limited to those who choose to study literature at university.
Shakespeare’s work, together with most other classics, is seen as remote, and written in a 400-year-old version of English that is about as inviting as toothache.
Still, in Britain schools, it is compulsory to study the bard (诗人), and when something is made compulsory, usually the result is boredom, resentment (憎恨)or both.
This was my experience of the classics at school. But when I reached my late teenage years, I had a change of heart. Like every other young person since the dawn of time, the world confused me. I wanted answers, so I turned to books to find them.
I went on to take a PhD in literature and have taught it in Britain and China. I have never regretted it. There is something in literature that people want, even if they don’t read books. You see this in the popularity of TV and movie adaptations of great works, the recent film version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice being a case in point. These popular adaptations may help increase people’s interest in the classics.
Reading a simplified Romeo and Juliet may perhaps lead to a reading of Shakespeare’s actual play. If that is the case, then I welcome the trend. But do not make the mistake of thinking that it is the same thing. Shakespeare is a poet. His greatness is in his language. Reading someone else’s rewriting of his work is like peeling a banana, throwing away the fruit, and eating the skin. Take on the original. It really is worth the effort.
1.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. The language used in classics is no longer in use today.
B. British students usually find compulsory reading dull.
C. Only those studying literature read Shakespeare’s works.
D. For British people, Shakespeare’s works are no longer classics.
2.According to the passage, the writer ________.
A. has liked literary classics since an early age
B. was forced to read the classics for a PhD
C. turned to literature to seek answers in his teens
D. thinks only people who read books like literature
3.The popularity of TV and movie adaptations of great works may help people ______.
A. learn more about tradition
B. get a PhD in literature
C. seek their answers about the world
D. become more interested in the classics
4.What does the writer intend to tell us in the last paragraph?
A. The fruit of a banana is more useful than its skin.
B. The rewriting trend does more harm than good.
C. Readers should try to read the original versions.
D. Readers need to learn the language in the classics.
语法填空。
In the United States, there were 222 people 1.（report） to be billionaires（亿万富翁） in 2003．The 2.（rich） of these is Bill Gates, worth at least $ 41 billion, 3.made his money 4. starting the company Microsoft．Mr．Gates was only 21 years old 5.he first helped to set up the company in 1976．He was a billionaire by the time he was 31 years old．6., there are still some other people who have made lots7. money at even younger ages．Other young people who have struck it rich include Jackie Coogan and Shirley Temple．8. of these child actors made over a million dollars 9. （act） in movies before they were 14．But _10. youngest billionaire is Albert von Thurn und Taxis of Germany, who, in 2001, inherited （继承） a billion dollars when he turned 18!
完形填空。
A phone call reached me one cold winter day. I was ______ that my father was seriously ill.I had not seen my father since his divorce from my mom, and he had lived alone in a small trailer (拖车式活动房)in California, 100 miles away from me. The real ______ between us seemed much greater. I was in no hurry to change that, but ______ I promised to be there the next day.
The whole drive down, ______ flashed through my mind. I remembered my father, the proud Marine (海军陆战队队员). He snatched off the Christmas tree all the decorations the rest of us had put up and rehung them so there was ______ the same spacing between them. But we needn't ______ those military orders. I remembered clearly the battles he had with my mother. I remembered ______ to hear my father say just once, “I love you, Patty”, only to have him ______ at me, “You can't do anything right!”
Standing outside his trailer, I tried to ______ my courage to face him one more time. Slowly,I took a few steps inside, my hand and my whole body shaking, too ______ to believe my eyes. Sitting on the sofa, my father looked confused and frustrated. This wasn't the angry and ______ man I had known growing up. This man was ______ and seemed broken. Part of me felt sorry for him, but another part of me was thinking this was exactly the fate he ______.
“God, what am I supposed to do now?” I wondered. But as soon as the words ______ me, a sense of sorrow ______ me, and I knew that I had to take him to my home.
It was the ______ part I struggled with. The days of looking after my father turned into weeks, then months. All the pain, the conflicted feelings I'd been ______ over the years came rushing out. One night, I sat there, talking to God, begging him to help me let go of the ugly feelings I had toward my father. When I was finished, I felt an incredible peace, as if every ______ had been lifted from me. ______ had cleaned all that from me and I felt free to start living the joyful life God wanted me to live.
It has been eight years since father died. Now when I think of him, those are the moments I remember, which are, as I put on Dad's headstone, God's amazing ______.
1.A. reminded B. confirmed C. informed D. warned
2.A. difficulty B. challenge C. pain D. distance
3.A. somehow B. therefore C. otherwise D. somewhat
4.A. messages B. memories C. thoughts D. images
5.A. exactly B. vaguely C. generally D. roughly
6.A. admit B. recite C. master D. observe
7.A. attempting B. longing C. promising D. hesitating
8.A. stare B. aim C. laugh D. yell
9.A. strengthen B. support C. gather D. distribute
10.A. shocked B. puzzled C. worried D. disappointed
11.A. selfish B. sensitive C. controlling D. fascinating
12.A. fragile B. awkward C. cautious D. stubborn
13.A. grasped B. deserved C. determined D. expected
14.A. inspired B. failed C. escaped D. followed
15.A. absorbed B. defeated C. ruined D. overtook
16.A. physical B. emotional C. religious D. material
17.A. keeping up B. looking back C. holding back D. picking up
18.A. interference B. crime C. disaster D. burden
19.A. Forgiveness B. Sadness C. Kindness D. Awareness
20.A. virtue B. grace C. appreciation D. conscience
完形填空。
I'm someone who never went to university but always thought about it. The only way I was listening to my children talk about their class and all the interesting things they were . University was just a life-long of mine. I just turned sixty-four years old in September. I still thought about that old dream one day when there was an Advanced-Age at the local university. I decided to .
The day finally arrived — my first day of school. As I there, my mind was filled with thoughts, "What am I doing? I'm not smart enough to go to university. The will laugh when they see me in class. I probably won't live long enough to get a . Maybe I should just turn the car around and go home."
Then, , I saw it! A large billboard on the side of the road with a picture of Kermit the Frog. I a little and read the words next to his picture. "Live your dreams." Was Kermit speaking me? I didn't turn the car around.
I drove a little on up the highway and there was another . This one had a picture of Albert Einstein with his tongue out. A line read, "As a student, he was no Einstein." And there was a word in red, "Confidence". A new attitude was inside me.
I was now the gate of the university and there still another billboard. This one showed a photograph of a proud in a cap and gown. Under the picture was her , Nola Ochs, aged 95. Oldest University Graduate. Below it was the words, "Live Life". At that moment, my outlook changed completely.
1.A. acquired B. consulted C. contained D. attended
2.A. learning B. taking C. teaching D. using
3.A. goal B. advice C. dream D. idea
4.A. since B. until C. after D. before
5.A. program B. system C. theme D. process
6.A. turn up B. keep up C. sign up D. make up
7.A. walked B. drove C. ran D. stepped
8.A. active B. attractive C. negative D. optimistic
9.A. tutors B. kids C. professors D. fellows
10.A. degree B. praise C. skill D. reputation
11.A. finally B. immediately C. exactly D. suddenly
12.A. sped up B. slowed down C. cut down D. went up
13.A. higher B. lower C. closer D. further
14.A. billboard B. picture C. portrait D. cartoon
15.A. breaking B.sticking C pulling. D. giving
16.A. arriving B. forming C. building D. making
17.A. approaching B. arriving C. squeezing D. staying
18.A. lay B. lived C. stood D. sat
19.A. man B. teenager C. youth D. woman
20.A. motto B. name C. age D. hobby
语法填空。
A couple had been married for over 60 years. They shared everything, talked about everything and kept no secrets 1. each other except that the woman had a box in a drawer 2. she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about.
He'd never thought about it ever since. One day 3. woman got very sick and the doctor said she wouldn't recover. To sort out their affairs, the husband took down the box and 4. (bring) it to his wife's bedside. She agreed it was time that he should know 5. was in the box.
6.(open) it, he found two small table mats and a sum of money totaling $25,000. He asked her about the contents, "When we were to be married," she said, "my grandma told me the secret of happy 7. (marry) was never to argue, and I should just keep quiet and make a mat 8. I got angry with you."
The man was so 9.(move) that he had to fight back tears. She had only been angry with him twice in all those years of living and loving! "Honey", he said, "that explains the mats, but what about the money? Where did it come from?"
"Oh", she said, "that's the money I made from selling 10.."
– Amazing! You _____ have won the first prize in the national English speech contest!
– I’m lucky that all my efforts have finally paid off.
A. must B. may
C. can D. should
