Pop idols  are celebrities  who burn brighter  than regular  stars. If a star is someone you can recognize on the street, an idol is someone who will cause a stir at a public appearance.

Without fans, an idol is just an ordinary person, like you and me. As Reese Witherspoon once said  while  announcing  the  Oscar  for  best  make-up,  movie  stars   look  just  like  people   in documentaries(纪录片) if you see them without make-up.

I was once invited to a private party where about half of the guests were stars and the other half entertainment

reporters. Guess what? The good-looking ones were the reporters because they tend to be young, and they glow without make-up.

Some idols are born; some are made. Most idols are created by a machine called the entertainment industry. They may have some charms and talent, but not enough to become famous. They are the raw material out of which a star, or even an idol, is made. An army of behind-the-scenes assistants will hype(炒作) or even make up their virtues and hide their shortcomings.

Paris Hilton is the kind of star who possesses no real talent but yet is quite well-known. This is the result of endless hype. If you are thrust into the limelight often enough, you can become a celebrity without having any talent.

Television contest shows create a much fairer more transparent platform where young people can compete and showcase their talent. The soap opera is another platform for idol making. These drama

series are long, giving an actor much needed exposure. The actors and actresses are always well-lit, made up and beautifully dressed. Now all they need is some good dialogue from the scriptwriter( 编 剧).

1. Which of the following statements agrees with the writer’s viewpoint?

A. Most idols are born.

B. The entertainment industry is more popular.

C. Many stars are often good looking

D. Pop idols are not as pretty as you think.

2. Why does the writer use the example of Paris Hilton?

A. To show that hype is an important element in making a star.

B. To indicate that Paris Hilton is very famous.

C. To prove a star often lacks talent.

D. To show a star is popular because of the acting skills.

3. What does the writer think of the television contest show?

A. More practical    B. More formal    C. More equal    D. More competitive

Have you ever wondered?

（1）.Why do airplanes take longer to fly west than east?

It can take five hours to go west-east from New York (NY) to London but seven hours to travel east-west from London to NY. The reason for the difference is an atmospheric phenomenon known as the jet(喷射) stream. The jet stream is a very high altitude wind which always blows from the west to the east across the Atlantic. The planes moving at a constant air speed thus go faster in the west-east direction when the air moving with the wind than in the opposite direction.

（2）.What would happen if the gravity on Earth was suddenly turned off?

Supposing we could magically turn off gravity. Would buildings and other structures float away? What happened would depend on how strongly the things were attached to the Earth. The Earth is moving at quite a speed moving at over a thousand miles per hour. If you turn something round your head on a string, it goes around in a circle until you let go of the string. Then it flies off in a straight line.  “Switching off” gravity would be like letting go of the string. Things not attached to the Earth would fly off in a straight line. People in buildings would suddenly shoot upwards at a great speed until they hit the ceiling. Most things would fly off into space.

4. What information can we get from the first passage?

A. It is the jet stream that affects how fast airplanes fly.

B. Planes go slower when they are moving with the wind.

C. It takes more time to fly from NY to London than from London to NY.

D. The jet stream always blows from the east to the west across the Atlantic.

5. The word “shoot” underlined in the 2nd paragraph probably means“    ”.

A. send for    B. move quickly    C. come out    D. grow quickly

6. It can be inferred that without gravity    .

A. buildings and other structures would float away

B. trees and buildings would not so easily fly off

C. something around your head would not float away

D. everything outside buildings would fly off into space

7. Where can we most probably read this text?

A. In a research paper    B. In a short story.

C. In a travel magazine.    D. In a students’ book.

On 8th March this year, events marking International Women’s Day (IWD) were held in many countries around the world. In most countries the events have a political tone: they tend to celebrate the advances women have made towards economic, social and political equality with men, and to press for change in those areas of life where there is still progress to be made.

In other countries, meanwhile, 8th March is traditionally more about expressing an appreciation of women: it  is a day on which men give presents to their wives, girlfriends and mothers, and it therefore has some similarities  with St Valentine’s  Day and Mother’s Day.

Back in 1911, the first IWD events in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland were certainly political. They were protests by women against forms of gender discrimination that would now be unthinkable in most parts of the world: almost nowhere were women allowed to vote, and Finland was the only country with any female members of a national parliament. The general expectation worldwide, across different continents and cultures, was that women would spend their lives largely in the home, devoting themselves to looking after their husbands and children. The rate of women who had paid employment was far lower than today, and when women did go out to work they typically earned very little, meaning they were economically dependent on men.

A century later, gender inequality in employment—particularly pay inequality—is still one of the hottest issues IWD tries to draw attention to: it remains common, of course, for women to earn less than men for doing exactly the same job.

Limited educational opportunities (there are many countries in which girls generally stay fewer years in school than boys) and domestic violence towards women have also been highlighted by events surrounding IWD in recent years.

And yet, as the IWD website notes,    . As just one example, to return to the issue of women elected to office, the change over the last hundred years has been significant. Since 1911, when the small group of women in the Finnish parliament (nineteen of them, to be exact) were the only females in public office worldwide, the governments of more than fifty different countries have been led by women. In 2011, at least one country in every continent has a female leader, including high-profile examples such as Brazil (Dilma Rousseff), Germany (Angela Merkel) and Australia (Julia Gillard).

8. According to the passage, which of the following is true?

A. 100 years ago, women were not allowed to work outside.

B. IWD is equal to St Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day in some countries.

C. Finland was the first country with female employment.

D. Pay inequality is a hot issue for IWD.

9. Which word below is closest in meaning to the phrase  “press for” in Paragraph 1?

A. prevent    B. urge    C. express    D. want

10. Which of the following is the missing sentence in the first line of the last paragraph?

A. distinctive differences do exist between men and women

B. the achievements are beyond people’s expectations

C. there’s still a long way to go to achieve the set goals

D. alongside the ‘negatives’ there are plenty of  ‘positives’

11. We can conclude from the passage that    .

A. the progress in gaining equality in the last century seems to be too slow

B. the concept of equal pay for equal work is completely accepted in practice

C. much has been achieved in gender equality, but still there is space for improvement

D. one or two female leaders can’t stand for women’s social status on the whole

Scientists have found that human eyes are more likely to be damaged by UV rays while skiing in the snow-covered areas than sitting on the beach, according to a report by the UK newspaper.

The researchers at Kanazawa Medical University, Japan and American company Johnson & Johnson conducted the study together. They looked at the effects of light reflection on newly fallen snow on a ski trail in Ishikawa District, northern Japan. They compared the results with the levels of UV rays on a sand beach in southern Japan's Okinawa District.

They found that on the beach, eyes are exposed to a daily 260 kilojoules (千焦耳) of UV a square meter compared to 658 kilojoules  in snow-covered areas.

The findings are supported by the Japan Meteorological (气象的) Agency. According to the agency, the reflection rate of UV light on beaches is often between 10 and 25 percent, compared to 80 percent in the new snow areas. The amount of light increased 4 percent with a 300-meter rise in height.

Most of us know that UV rays can harm the skin. That's why we wear sunscreen on our skin before we get out in the sun. But many of us may not realize that UV rays are also harmful to the eyes.

If your eyes are exposed to large amounts of UV radiation over a short period of time, you may experience a kind of sunburn of the eye, which is harmful. Your eyes will become red and feel a strange feeling. They may be sensitive to light. Fortunately, this is usually temporary and seldom causes permanent damage to the eyes.

Long-term exposure to UV radiation, however, can be more serious. Scientific studies and researches have shown that exposure to small amounts of UV radiation over a period of many years increases the chance of eye damage, which could lead to total blindness.

12. You would most likely find the article in    .

A. a doctor's diary    B. a travel journal

C. a medical magazine    D. a physics textbook

13. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A. Too much eye exposure to UV rays may cause total blindness.

B. Short-time exposure of the eyes to UV rays doesn't harm them at all.

C. Most people know that UV rays harm the eyes as well as the skin.

D. The study was conducted by researchers from Japan, the USA and the UK.

14. Human eyes are more likely to be damaged by UV rays while skiing in the snow-covered areas than sitting on the beach because    .

A. Snow produces more UV light than water.

B. People don’t wear sunscreen while skiing as they do while sitting on the beach.

C. The reflection rate of UV light in snow-covered areas is much higher than that on the beach.

D. Human eyes are exposed longer to UV light in the snow- covered areas than on the beach.

15. What will the passage most probably talk about next?

A. Never ski on newly fallen snow in Japan.

B. Go to hospital to have your eyes examined.

C. Wearing a hat can provide protection while skiing in new snow areas.

D. Take some measures to protect your eyes while skiing in new snow areas.

Five Ways to Improve Reading Comprehension

Help your child keep what he reads—a crucial skill, especially as he gets older and needs to gain important information from textbooks.

Have him read aloud. This forces him to go slower, which gives him more time to process what he reads.    ___16___.Provide the right kinds of books. Make sure your child gets lots of practice reading books that aren’t too hard.    ___17___. Stopping any more often than that to figure out a word makes it tough for him to focus on the overall meaning of the story.

    ___18___. To gain meaning from text, your child needs to read quickly and smoothly—a skill known as fluency. Rereading familiar, simple books gives your child practice at decoding words quickly, so he’ll become more fluent.

Supplement class reading. If his class is studying a particular theme, look for easy-to-read books or magazines on the topic.    ____19____  .

Talk about what he’s reading.    ___20___. Ask questions before, during, and after a reading session.

For example:

•Before:  “What interests you in this book? What doesn’t?  ”

•During:  “What’s going on in the book? Is it turning out the way you thought it would?  ”

•After:  “Can you summarize the book? What did you like about it?  ”

A. He should recognize at least 90 percent of the words without any help.

B. Select books that are appealing to your child but not too challenging.

C. Some prior  knowledge will help him  get  better  prepared and make his way through tougher classroom texts.

D. This  “verbal processing” helps him remember and think through the themes of the book.

E. Plus, he’s not only seeing the words, he’s hearing them, too.

F. Have him reread to build fluency.

G. Increase the speed of reading.