Ode to Joy(《欢乐颂》),a 42-episodes TV series, is about five young women living on the 22nd floor of Shanghai’s “Ode to Joy” high-rise community. They become friends while pursuing love and career advancement. Since its appearance on April 18, Ode to Joy has been praised for its realistic description of the hidden struggles of city life. “The audience can relate to the characters since their experiences can be traced back to real life too,” commented the Dahe Daily. “Even better, female audiences can find themselves in one or two of the characters because the characters embody feminine archetypes (原型)found throughout the society.”But the idea of following a group of women as they lead a city life is hardly a pioneering concept. In many ways, Ode to Joy resembles American TV series like Sex and the City (1998-2004) and Desperate Housewives (2004-2012). These two series were praised for their feminist themes, but they also employed well-known female archetypes to illustrate the range of dilemmas women face. Deborah A. Macey, a communications professor at Saint Louis University in the US, divides these archetypes up into four ways: the iron maiden, the sex object, the child,and the mother. “The iron maiden is portrayed as masculine and career-oriented. The sex object owns her sexuality and genuinely loves her body. The child archetype is naive, optimistic, and dim-witted. The mother archetype connects the characters in the series and serves as the dominant storyteller,” Macey said on the online media forum “In Media Res”.
Sounds familiar? Yes, these features can be seen in the characters of Ode toJoy. Andy (Liu Tao), for instance, partly embodies the iron maiden role. She's super smart, rational and direct. She moves from the US to Shanghai and takes the position of CFO at a top Chinese company. Fan Shengmei (Jiang Xin) can be seen as the “mother” in the series. Despite the fact that she s in charge of her own family issues,she takes her friends under her wing and stands up for them. Qu Xiaoxiao (Wang ziwen), the sexy and beautiful girl born with silver spoon, perfectly illustrates what is bitter-sweet relationship between friends and lovers. With that being said. Ode to Joy doesn't lack creativity. It assigns the “child” role to two characters-the straightforward, naive Qiu Yingying (Yang Zi), and the good-tempered, hard-working Guan Ju'er (Qiao Xin).
But this category of TV series has its risks. Having five main characters means the drama isn’t story-driven but character-driven. “It’s not something you often see in Chinese TV dramas,” Yuan Zidan, Ode to Joy’s screenwriter, told Changjiang Daily. “But we want to challenge the norms.”
1.Which of the following is NOT the reason why the audiences like Ode to Joy?
A. Many famous actors and actresses starred in Ode to Joy.
B.Female audiencc can find themselves in its characters.
C.The lives of the characters can be traced back to real life..
D It describes the real hidden life of those who are struggling in big cities.
2. According to Deborah A. Macey, Fan Shengmei in Ode to Joy is the_______________archetype.
A. iron maiden B. child
C. mother D. sex object
3.What does the underlined word “embody” mean in Paragraph 1?
A.illustrate B. classify C. indicate D. recognize
4.What can we infer from the passage?
A .Ode to Joy is the first TV series to show a group of women’s life in the city.
B..Ode to Joy is not a traditional Chinese drama because it is character-driven.
C. The characters in Ode to Joy arc the same with those in Sex and Cify and Desperate Housewives.
D.Andy fully illustrates the iron maiden who is both masculine and career-oriented.
Maybe you don’t think animals have certain mental powers which human beings do not have. But the
truth is that some of them have instincts, and besides this, I am sure they can feel certain things we humans cannot. A personal experience showed me this.
Some years ago, I had a dog named Howard. From the time when he was a puppy, he was timid, so we named him Howard, sounding like “coward”! He was especially afraid of thunderstorms. At the first flash of lightning or crash of thunder, he would run into his house and hide under a table.
I often went for a walk with Howard. Once, as we were walking along a road, it began to rain. I quickly ran to a bus stop for shelter. The bus stop had a roof supported by metal poles. Soon after I had got there, Howard caught my trousers in his teeth and tried to pull me away. At first I was puzzled and a little angry at his behavior. But I decided to humor him and walked away from the shelter into the rain and started to go home.
When I was about two hundred meters from the shelter, there came a flash of lightning and soon after, there was thunder which nearly deafened(震聋) me. Howard stopped walking and began whining(哀鸣). Thinking he was afraid, I bent to pick him up. As I straightened up, I glanced at the bus shelter we had just left. I was shocked to see that two of the poles were bent and the roof was lying on the ground, broken. The shelter had been struck by the bolt of lightning!
1.The reason why the author was puzzled and angry with the dog was that.
A. Howard had a strange behavior
B. Howard should be afraid of the metal poles
C. Howard should know the approaching of the terrible lightning
D. Howard bit his trousers in his teeth
2.Which of the following is true according to the passage?
A. Dogs are cleverer and better than men.
B. Dogs are usually afraid of thunderstorms.
C. Some animals can feel certain things humans cannot.
D. Dogs are naturally born heroes.
3. What can be inferred about the bus shelter from the passage?
A. It was about 200 meters from the author’s home.
B. It was destroyed in a rainy day.
C. Its roof was supported by wood poles.
D. It could produce blinding flash of lightning.
A
From the jagged (锯齿状的) peaks of the Himalayas to the powerful Yangtze River that flows into the Pacific, China’s vast terrain (地带) and varied climate make it the sixth most biologically diverse nation on the planet.
Since 1998, The Nature Conservancy has been working in China’s northwest Yunnan Province to protect some of the amazing natural and cultural diversity unique to this country for its future generations. In cooperation with Chinese local and state government agencies, the Conservancy established the Yunnan Great Rivers Project, which protects an area about the size of West Virginia.
Did you know?
●China contains 10% of the world’s total species.
●At least 15% of China’s mammal species and 8% of its bird species are found nowhere else on Earth.
●Nearly 15,000 plant species are native to Yunnan Province.
●Yunnan is home to 75% of Tibetan medicinal herbs and 30 endangered species.
What is the Nature Conservancy trying to do?
Education for Sustainability (可持续性)
The Nature Conservancy recognizes that environmental education is an important element of working closely with local communities to achieve sustainable conservation results. In response, the Conservancy launched a new program called Education for Sustainability which tests means of teaching and learning that combine conservation goals, social justice, and appropriate development and participation in a vision and mission for personal and social change.
Promoting Green Tourism
Tourism is both an environmental threat and an economic opportunity, with the potential to provide extremely needed income to northwest Yunnan. The Conservancy is working with local communities, government agencies, and tourism enterprises(企业) to develop strategies for “green” tourism which will limit the footprint of mass tourism while generating income for local people. In addition to combining tourism development and management at our five action sites, we assisted with regional marketing efforts to promote eco-tourism opportunities.
1.Among the most biologically diverse nations on the planet, China ranks _______.
A. tenth B. sixth C. fifteenth D. eighth
2.Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the text?
A. The Nature Conservancy has been working in China’s northwest Yunan Province.
B. The Nature Conservancy cooperated agencies in the Yunnan Great Rivers Project.
C. Nearly 10% of the world’s plant species are native to Yunnan Province.
D. For the moment the Nature Conservancy is devoting itself to education for sustainability as well as eco-tourism.
3.To develop strategies for eco-tourism, the Nature Conservancy is working with the following EXCEPT _________.
A. West Virginia B. local communities
C. government agencies D. tourism enterprises
4.Which of the following best shows the author’s attitude towards tourism?
A. We should greatly promote tourism as it has no disadvantages.
B. Tourism is extremely helpful to people in Yunnan.
C. Tourism does no good to our environment.
D. Tourism is an opportunity for the economy as well as threat to the environment.
Our Web Editor Jan Fields has always loved two things----writing and teaching, so she’s done both throughout her professional career. After graduating from college with a BA in Journalism, shequickly found that writing for newspapers didn’t fulfill her dream. So she switched to magazines andsoon began teaching magazine writing. Still, something didn’t feel quite right. She wanted more challenges and creativity.
In the 1980s, Jan answered a call to rewrite a year’s children’s church less
on. She quickly found that writing stories and activities for children offered all she desired. She dove in and has never looked back. Her work has appeared in Ladybug, Shining Star and many others.
As Jan continued building credits in children’s magazines, educational magazines, and parentingMagazines, she looked for opportunities to pass along what she had learned to other writers. Soon, teaching small community college classes wasn’t enough---she wanted to help other writers to find success in creating material for children.
In 2001, she discovered
the Institute of Children’s Literature and she’s been happily instructingstudents here ever since. To best meet her students’ needs, she’s constantly searching out new information. As a web editor, Jan looks after the needs of all the visitors to this site. She moderates the Scheduled Events discussion groups and the Writer’s Retreat forum, writes for the Writer’s Support Room, and edits the Writer’s Support Room and Writing Tips articles.
Jan is always open to suggestions for new ways to meet the needs of the writing community. Feel free to email her. She’s eager to hear from you.
1.Jan Fields finds_________ what she really wants most.
A. writing for newspapers.
B. teaching magazine writing.
C. writing stories and activities for children.
D. teaching small community college classes.
2.Jan Fields gave up her first two jobs mainly because___________.
A. she was badly paid as a journalist
B. the job didn’t seem challenging or creative
C. she was not good at writing at college
D. she likes teaching better than writing.
3.It can be inferred that the Institute of Children’s Liter
ature is________.
A. where Jan Fields graduated
B. where she cooperates with other writers.
C. where writing materials are on sale
D. children are taught writing by Jan Fields.
4.Which of the following is true according to the passage ?
A. Jan fields is now working for magazines like Scheduled Events, and Writer’s Retreat.
B. Jan has stopped writing for magazines related to children, education and parenting.
C. Jan works for web sections like Writer’s Support Room and Writing Tips.
D. The passage is an advertisement to sell a children’s church curricula.
In most parts of the world, as far back as anyone can remember , there has been a puppet(木偶)tradition. Although some of us think of puppets as children’s entertainment, they were----and oftenstill are used to tell serious stories to adult audiences. Even in these days of special effects, the puppettheatre still has a special place in many cultures.
The best known puppet characters in Britain are Punch and Judy, glove puppets with woodenheads. In summer, one basic play of about half an hour is performed on beaches all around Britain .Mr. Punch, who has an enormous nose and wears a curved hat, gets into trouble and has argumentswith his wife, Judy. A policeman , a crocodile, and a hangman, and all of them run after Mr. Punch .He ,of course, invariably manages to survive to fight another day .
In Belgium wooden puppets first appeared in the 1820s in cities like liege
. The liege puppetsare in fact string puppets without strings!They have a single rod(棒)attached to their heads, whichmeans the puppeteers aren’t able to raise the arms and legs, but can move the body up and down and the head from side to side. Many of the stories used to be historical or religious but it is Tchantches,a comic character wit patched trousers and a big black hat, who is the best loved character today. LikeMr. Punch, he is a simple man who is also greedy, quarrelsome and lazy.
He makes fun of everyone, but is often warm--hearted and tender.
1.We can learn from the first paragraph that______________.
A. puppets are much more popular nowadays .
B. people prefer puppets to special effects
C. puppets were mainly intended for children
D. people used puppets to make fun for adults
2.The underlined word “invariably”in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to___________.
A. constantly B. naturally
C. immediately D. bravely
3.The biggest difference between puppets in Britain and puppets in Belgium is their___________.
A. performing time
B. operating ways
C. producing material
D. decorating characters
4.The passage is mainly about__________________.
A. different kinds of puppets
B. how puppets came into being
C. why puppets are popular
D. story---telling through puppets
阅读下列短文,从每题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、D)中,选出最佳选项,并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
I had worked long and hard on this project. Knowing it was finally completed gave me great satisfaction. “Perfect!”I said “Now, all I have to do is to keep the dogs off it.”I went about setting . Up barriers using old fence, deck chairs, planters, and anything I could find so as to avoid footprints both on th
e oil paint and our carpet . It worked perfectly .
Just before returning to the house and to a much needed shower, I took one last look at this fine work of art. “What is that?”I said. “Where did that come from ?”
Clearly marked and evenly spaced across the entire area, the tiny marks ran in straight lines. .I carefully stepped to our flower garden. It was there I found several of the small markings. Now, almost frozen in place by this shocking discovery, I remained in position so as to prevent further damage to my work.. Just then, off to my left, it appeared. A chipmunk (花栗鼠). He was as surprised as I was . We stood there face to face looking at each other, wondering who would make the first move .
The warm , humid air was now getting the best of me . Sweat now ran freely over my head, and in poor timing into my eyes . I reached up to rub them and when I opened my eyes he was gone .
My only satisfaction was in thinking that when he returned home he tracked oily footprints into his own home . And , hoping he was married , his wife would not let him live it down for the rest of his life . I stood up, shook my head, laughing about it and walking into my house.
Yes, I tracked oil on the carpet. I am married. My wife will not let me live it down for the rest of my life .
1.What was the project the author completed in the passage ?
A. Painting B. A carpet
C. A fence D. A flower garden
2.We can know from the passage that the chipmunk_________________.
A. made fun of the author
B. stole something important in the house
C. spoiled the author’s work
D. came for some food
3.What did the author do to the chipmunk ?
A. He made fun of the author.
B. He frightened it away.
C. He tried to catch it but failed.
D. He didn’t do any harm to it .
4.We
can conclude from the passage that____________.
A. t
he author was not satisfied with his family life
B. the author was quite satisfied with his project
C. the barriers the author set up were quite successful
D. the chipmunk had a happy family just like the author
