許紅梅

A

Whats On？

Electric Underground

7.30pm—1.00am Free at the Cyclops Theatre

Do you know whos playing in your area？ Were bringing you an exciting evening of live rock and pop music from the best local bands. Are you interested in becoming a musician and getting a recording contract （合同）？ If so， come early to the talk at 7.30pm by Jules Skye， a successful record producer. Hes going to talk about how you can find the right person to produce your music.

Gee Whizz

8.30pm—10.30pm Comedy at Kaleidoscope

Come and see Gee Whizz perform. Hes the funniest stand-up comedian on the comedy scene. This joyful show will please everyone， from the youngest to the oldest. Gee Whizz really knows how to make you laugh！ Our bar is open from 7.00pm for drinks and snacks （快餐）.

Simons Workshop

5.00pm—7.30pm Wednesdays at Victoria Stage

This is a good chance for anyone who wants to learn how to do comedy. The workshop looks at every kind of comedy， and practices many different ways of making people laugh. Simon is a comedian and actor who has 10 years experience of teaching comedy. His workshops are exciting and fun. An evening with Simon will give you the confidence to be funny.

Charlotte Stone

8.00pm—11.00pm Pizza World

Fine food with beautiful jazz music； this is a great evening out. Charlotte Stone will perform songs from her new best-selling CD， with James Pickering on the piano. The menu is Italian， with excellent meat and fresh fish， pizzas and pasta （面食）. Book early to get a table. Our bar is open all day， and serves cocktails， coffee， beer， and white wine.

1. Who can help you if you want to have your music produced？

A. Jules Skye.

B. Gee Whizz.

C. Charlotte Stone.

D. James Pickering.

2. At which place can people of different ages enjoy a good laugh？

A. The Cyclops Theatre.

B. Kaleidoscope.

C. Victoria Stage.

D. Pizza World.

3. What do we know about Simons Workshop？

A. It requires membership status.

B. It lasts three hours each time.

C. It is run by a comedy club.

D. It is held every Wednesday.

4. When will Charlotte Stone perform her songs？

A. 5.00pm—7.30pm.

B. 7.30pm—1.00am.

C. 8.00pm—11.00pm.

D. 8.30pm—10.30pm.

B

Five years ago， when I taught art at a school in Seattle， I used Tinkertoys as a test at the beginning of a term to find out something about my students. I put a small set of Tinkertoys in front of each student， and said： “Make something out of the Tinkertoys. You have 45 minutes today—and 45 minutes each day for the rest of the week.”

A few students hesitated to start. They waited to see what the rest of the class would do. Several others checked the instructions and made something according to one of the model plans provided. Another group built something out of their own imaginations.

Once I had a boy who worked experimentally with Tinkertoys in his free time. His constructions filled a shelf in the art classroom and a good part of his bedroom at home. I was delighted at the presence of such a student. Here was an exceptionally creative mind at work. His presence meant that I had an unexpected teaching assistant in class whose creativity would infect （感染） other students.

Encouraging this kind of thinking has a downside. I ran the risk of losing those students who had a different style of thinking. Without fail one would declare， “But Im just not creative.”

“Do you dream at night when youre asleep？”

“Oh， sure.”

“So tell me one of your most interesting dreams.” The student would tell something wildly imaginative. Flying in the sky or in a time machine or growing three heads. “Thats pretty creative. Who does that for you？”

“Nobody. I do it.”

“Really—at night， when youre asleep？”

“Sure.”

“Try doing it in the daytime， in class， okay？”

5. The teacher used Tinkertoys in class in order to ________.

A. know more about the students

B. make the lessons more exciting

C. raise the students interest in art

D. teach the students about toy design

6. What do we know about the boy mentioned in Paragraph 3？

A. He liked to help his teacher.

B. He preferred to study alone.

C. He was active in class.

D. He was imaginative.

7. What does the underlined word “downside” in Paragraph 4 probably mean？

A. Mistake.

B. Drawback.

C. Difficulty.

D. Burden.

8. Why did the teacher ask the students to talk about their dreams？

A. To help them to see their creativity.

B. To find out about their sleeping habits.

C. To help them to improve their memory.

D. To find out about their ways of thinking.

C

Reading can be a social activity. Think of the people who belong to book groups. They choose books to read and then meet to discuss them. Now， the website BookCrossing.com turns the page on the traditional idea of a book group.

Members go on the site and register the books they own and would like to share. BookCrossing provides an identification number to stick inside the book. Then the person leaves it in a public place， hoping that the book will have an adventure， traveling far and wide with each new reader who finds it.

Bruce Pederson， the managing director of BookCrossing， says， “The two things that change your life are the people you meet and books you read. BookCrossing combines both.”

Members leave books on park benches and buses， in train stations and coffee shops. Whoever finds their book will go to the site and record where they found it.

People who find a book can also leave a journal entry describing what they thought of it. E-mails are then sent to the BookCrossing to keep them updated about where their books have been found. Bruce Pederson says the idea is for people not to be selfish by keeping a book to gather dust on a shelf at home.

BookCrossing is part of a trend among people who want to get back to the “real” and not the virtual （虛擬）. The site now has more than one million members in more than one hundred and thirty-five countries.

9. Why does the author mention book groups in the first paragraph？

A. To explain what they are.

B. To introduce BookCrossing.

C. To stress the importance of reading.

D. To encourage readers to share their ideas.

10. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to？

A. The book.

B. An adventure.

C. A public place.

D. The identification number.

11. What will a BookCrosser do with a book after reading it？

A. Meet other readers to discuss it.

B. Keep it safe in his bookcase.

C. Pass it on to another reader.

D. Mail it back to its owner.

12. What is the best title for the text？

A. Online Reading： A Virtual Tour B. Electronic Books： A new Trend

C. A Book Group Brings Tradition Back

D. A Website Links People through Books

D

A new collection of photos brings an unsuccessful Antarctic voyage back to life.

Frank Hurleys pictures would be outstanding—undoubtedly first-rate photo-journalism—if they had been made last week. In fact， they were shot from 1914 through 1916， most of them after a disastrous shipwreck （海難）， by a cameraman who had no reasonable expectation of survival. Many of the images were stored in an ice chest， under freezing water， in the damaged wooden ship.

The ship was the Endurance， a small， tight， Norwegian-built three-master that was intended to take Sir Ernest Shackleton and a small crew of seamen and scientists， 27 men in all， to the southernmost shore of Antarcticas Weddell Sea. From that point Shackleton wanted to force a passage by dog sled （雪橇） across the continent. The journey was intended to achieve more than what Captain Robert Falcon Scott had done. Captain Scott had reached the South Pole early in 1912 but had died with his four companions on the march back.

As writer Caroline Alexander makes clear in her forceful and well-researched story The Endurance， adventuring was even then a thoroughly commercial effort. Scotts last journey， completed as he lay in a tent dying of cold and hunger， caught the worlds imagination， and a film made in his honor drew crowds. Shackleton， a onetime British merchant-navy officer who had got to within 100 miles of the South Pole in 1908， started a business before his 1914 voyage to make money from movie and still photography. Frank Hurley， a confident and gifted Australian photographer who knew the Antarctic， was hired to make the images， most of which have never before been published.

13. What do we know about the photos taken by Hurley？

A. They were made last week.

B. They showed undersea sceneries.

C. They were found by a cameraman.

D. They recorded a disastrous adventure.

14. Who reached the South Pole first according to the text？

A. Frank Hurley.

B. Ernest Shackleton.

C. Robert Falcon Scott.

D. Caroline Alexander.

15. What does Alexander think was the purpose of the 1914 voyage？

A. Artistic creation.

B. Scientific research.

C. Money making.

D. Treasure hunting.