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A poet is in his words

The writings of William Shakespeare are today little read by young people in Britain．His young readership is limited to those who choose to study literature-at university．

Still, in British schools,                     to study the poet, and when something is made compulsory, usually the result is boredom, resentment or both．Shakespeare, Careless Dickens, Jane Austen-for many of the young, reading them can seem like being forced to eat medicine, especially when people are at an age when they are beginning to discover themselves and wanting to claim their independence．

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 the subject in universities 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 classic．

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 and his greatness is in his language．Reading someone else's rewriting of his work is like peeling （剥皮） a banana, throwing away the fruit, and eating the skin．Take on the original．It really is worth the effort．

1．Find a sentence from the text which can explain the title．

2．Fill in the blank in Paragraph 2 with proper words to complete the sentence．（within 5 words）

3．Why are the adaptations of great works popular?

4．Do you think it necessary to read the original? Why?（within 30 words）

5．Translate the underlined sentence in the last paragraph into Chinese．

Rarely have I experienced a reaction like that which came about following the idea of banning private education．One of those who contacted me to disagree with the idea was 17 year old Anirudh Mandagere．He got 10 A*s at GCSE and is currently studying English, French, Math and History at a private school in Manchester．Here is his response:

For me, the idea that all private schools should be banned is not only ridiculous and unrealistic, but goes against the idea of liberty．We must have the freedom to choose between state-funded and privately educated schools．If parents pay taxes, surely they should be able to choose whether they send their children to a state-funded or a privately-funded school．

The economic impacts of abolishing private education are vast．Banning private schools would obviously contribute to a great transfer to state schools．Many state schools are already overburdened; do they really need more pupils? Abolishing private education would lead to higher taxes for taxpayers since more money would be needed to educate the 7% who were previously private educated．In the times of economic crisis, should the taxpayer need to fork out more money to pay for their education? There would also be a great rise in unemployment of the staff who works at private schools．

It is noted that, in general, private schools have better grades at GCSE and A level than state schools．Yet, why do people view this as a bad thing? The higher private school grades eventually force the government to endlessly improve state education so that the middle-classes do not totally abandon state education for private education．This competition creates reform and progress within state schools and eventually promote them! If the private schools did not exist, where would be the impetus for state school improvement?

Government should not simply ban a system which produces results．It should learn from it and use the private education model as a basis for the state education model．Abolishing a successful system will not help anybody, learning from a successful system will．

1．In the eye of Anirudh Mandagere, parents have the right to______．

A．criticize state-funded schools

B．pay taxes for the promotion of private schools

C．choose the way their children receive education

D．advocate the competition between state schools and private ones

2．According to the passage, banning private education will______．

A．obviously contribute to lower taxes

B．not cause the state schools to be overburdened

C．force the government to boost state education

D．lead to many people losing their jobs

3．The underlined word "impetus" in the fourth paragraph probably means______．

A．motivation         B．prevention          C．participation         D．assessment

4．Compared with state schools, private ones______．

A．educate a little fewer students                 B．conduct better than all state ones

C．are better received by the public               D．are more competitive on the whole

5．Which of the following statements will Anirudh Mandagere agree with?

A．His wonderful performance results from the education his private school offers．

B．Without the existence of private schools, state ones wouldn't get improved much．

C．Private education is a good system to make students successful in life．

D．Private schools are supposed to be sponsored more than state ones．

Sleeping in on Saturday after a few weeks of too little shuteye may feel refreshing, but it can give a false sense of security．

New research shows long-term sleep loss cannot be cured that easily．Scientists researched the effects of short-and long-term sleep loss and found that those who suffer long-term sleep loss may function normally soon after waking up, but experience steadily slower reaction times as the day goes by, even if they had tried to catch up the previous night．

The research has important safety significances in an increasingly busy society, not just for shift-workers but for the roughly one in six Americans who regularly get six hours or less of sleep a night．

"We know that staying awake 24 hours without sleep will affect your performance to do all sorts of things, and this effect equals to drinking too much when driving," said lead researcher Dr．Daniel Cohen of Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital．But when those who suffer long-term sleep loss become all-nighters, "the harm is increased ten times," Cohen said．

The National Institutes of Health says adults need seven hours to nine hours of sleep for good health．Regularly getting too little sleep increases the risk of health problems, including memory impairment and a weakened immune system．More immediately, too little sleep affects reaction times; sleepiness is to blame for car crashes and other accidents．

It has critically important complicated and unexpected results for anyone who works "crazy hours" and thinks they are performing fine with a few hours of weeknight sleep, said Harris, director at New York's Montefiore Medical Center．"Don't think you can just bank up your sleep on the weekend, because it doesn't work that way," he warned．

1．The text mainly advises people______．

A．to sleep more time                         B．to sleep in on Saturday

C．to sleep scientifically                       D．to sleep little on weekend

2．People with long-term sleep loss ______．

A．are quicker in thinking                       B．may feel refreshed soon after waking up

C．are surely energetic                         D．can have a strong sense of security

3．What can we learn from the text?

A．Most of the Americans get six hours or less of sleep a night．

B．Staying up is worse for those who suffer long-term sleep loss．

C．Traffic accidents have little to do with sleepiness．

D．One in six Americans are all-nighters．

4．Which of the following is the immediate effect of long-term sleep loss?

A．Health problems                           B．Immune system

C．Reaction times                            D．Memory impairment

5．The underlined phrase "bank up" in the last paragraph most probably means

A．accumulate              B．recover         C．allocate        D．credit

I made a promise to myself on the way down to the vacation beach cottage．For two weeks I would try to be a loving husband and father．Totally loving．No ifs, ands or buts．

The idea had come to me as I listened to a talk on my car radio．The speaker was quoting a Biblical passage about husbands and their wives．Then he went on to say, "Love is an act of will．A person can choose to love．" To myself, I had to admit that I had been a selfish husband．Well, for two weeks that would change．

And it did．Right from the moment I kissed Evelyn at the door and said, "That new yellow sweater looks great on you．" "Oh, Tom, you noticed", she said, surprised and pleased．Maybe a little puzzled．Alter the long drive, I wanted to sit and read．Evelyn suggested a walk on the beach．I started to refuse, but then I thought, "Evelyn's been alone here with the kids all week and now she wants to be alone with me．" We walked on the beach while the children flew their kites．

So it went．Two weeks of not calling the Wall Street firm where I am a director; a visit to the shell museum though I usually hate museums．Relaxed and happy, that's how the whole vacation passed．I made a new promise to keep on remembering to choose love．

There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment, however．Evelyn and I still laugh about it today．On the last night at our cottage, preparing for bed, Evelyn stared at me with the saddest expression．

"What's the matter?"! asked her．

"Tom," she said in a voice filled with distress, "I don't?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well．．．that checkup I had several weeks ago．．．our doctor．．．did he tell you something about me? Tom, you've been so good to me．．．am I dying?"

It took a moment for it all to be understood．Then I burst out laughing．

"No, honey," I said, wrapping her in my arms．"You're not dying; I'm just starting to live．"

1．In the first paragraph, "No ifs, ands or buts" probably means______．

A．Unintentionally                          B．Independently

C．Impressively                             D．Unconditionally

2．From the story we may infer that Toni drove to the beach cottage _____．

A．with his family                            B．with Evelyn

C．alone                                  D．with his children

3．During the two weeks on the beach, Tom showed more love to his wife because______．

A．he was determined to be a good husband

B．he had made a lot of money in his Wall Street firm

C．she looked lovely in her new clothes

D．the doctor said his wife was seriously ill

4．The author says, "There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment．"What does "one thing" refer to?

A．He praised her sweater, which puzzled her．

B．She insisted on visiting a museum, which he hated．

C．He knew something about her illness but didn't tell her．

D．He was so good to her that she thought she must be dying．

5．By saying "I'm just starting to live," Tom means that _____．

A．he is just beginning to understand the real meaning of life

B．he is just beginning to enjoy life as a loving husband

C．he lived an unhappy life before and is now starting to change

D．he is beginning to feel regret for what he did to his wife before

One windy spring day, I observed young people having fun using the wind to fly their kites．Multicolored creations of varying shapes and sizes   1   the skies like beautiful birds dancing．As the strong winds blew against the kites, a string kept them under   2   ．

Instead of blowing away with the wind, they arose against it to achieve great   3    ．They   4   and pulled, but the restraining string and the clumsy tail kept them in tow （拖着）, facing upward and against the   5    ．As the kites struggled and trembled against the string, they seemed to say, "Let me go! Let me go! I want to be   6   !" They flew beautifully even   7   they fought the restraint of the string．Finally, one of the kites succeeded in getting   8   ．"Free at last．" it seemed to say．"Free to fly   9   the wind．"

Yet freedom from restraint simply put it at the   10   of an unsympathetic wind．It flew up and down to the ground and   11   in a mass of weeds and string against a dead bush．"Free at last", free to lie powerless in the dirt, to be blown   12   along the ground．

How much like   13   we sometimes are．The heaven gives us adversity（逆境）and restrictions,   14   to follow from which we can grow and   15   strength．Some of us resist the rules so hard that we never fly to reach the heights we might have   16   ．We keep part of the rules and never   17   high enough to get our tails off the ground．

Let us each rise to the great heights,   18   that some of the restraints that we may be annoyed at are   19   the powerful force that helps us climb and   20  our goal．

1．A．surrounded           B．covered            C．emptied            D．filled

2．A．construction          B．discussion          C．control             D．pressure

3．A．heights              B．lengths              C．widths             D．weights

4．A．crashed             B．shook             C．floated              D．landed

5．A．rain                 B．sun                C．wind                D．storm

6．A．energetic            B．lonely              C．safe             D．free

7．A．before               B．as                 C．since            D．after

8．A．crazy               B．upset               C．loose            D．happy

9．A．with                B．against             C．beneath          D．over

10．A．edge              B．expense            C．mercy           D．bottom

11．A．fled               B．hid                C．existed                  D．landed

12．A．deliberately          B．helplessly            C．actively            D．hopefully

13．A．strings            B．kites               C．bushes              D．weeds

14．A．rules              B．customs            C．wishes            D．instructions

15．A．convey            B．consume           C．lose               D．gain

16．A．contained           B．lowered            C．indicated           D．obtained

17．A．rise               B．rank               C．kick               D．jump

18．A．hoping            B．supposing           C．recognizing         D．dreaming

19．A．strictly            B．actually            C．hardly             D．consequently

20．A．achieve          B．score              C．miss               D．set