Today, at 28, the young German Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter is at the top. “She gives radiance to the music,” wrote Geoffrey Norris in The Daily Telegraph, London. Mutter is also one of the world’s youngest professors.

Born in Rheinfelden on June 29, 1963, Anne-Sophie grew up in Wehr, a small town just five kilometers from the Swiss border. Her father, Karl Wilhelm Mutter, and her mother, Gerlinde, considered music lessons part of a good education. Thus, their son, Andreas, began practicing the violin at eight, and his younger brother, Christoph, had piano lessons. It came as no surprise when Anne-Sophie said she wanted a violin for her fifth birthday.

Her parents thought she was too young for the violin, and persuaded her to start on the piano. But Anne-Sophie has always had a mind of her own. “I longed to play the violin,” she says. “It seemed to me a much more interesting instrument.” After six months, her parents gave in.

The famous violin teacher Erna Honigberger, who lived nearby, became Anne-Sophie’s tutor. After only nine months of lessons, she entered the six-year-old in a nationwide competition for young musicians. With Christoph accompanying her on the piano, Anne-Sophie won first prize.

In 1974, Erna, Erna Honigberger died. Anne Sophie’s new teacher was Aida Stucki. She taught Anne-Sophie to develop her own ideas on how a piece should be played, not just to imitate others. This is one of the violinist’s strongest most distinctive characteristics today.

Though the Mutters were short of money at time, they limited their daughter’s performances to one or two a year. “We are glad we went the family road,” says her father. “No outsider can ever have an effect on our daughter’s career or push her into playing more concerts than she wants to.” Later she was allowed to give six to eight concerts a year and make some recordings. Only when she turned 18 did she begin her professional career.

56．Anne-Sophie’s career dates back to          .

       A．the late 1960’s                                     B．her family education

       C．the late 1970’s                                     D．her fifth birthday

57．Anne-Sophie’s concerts are          .

       A．limited to one or two a year

       B．a(chǎn)ccompanied at the piano by Christoph

       C．highly praised throughout the world

       D．a(chǎn)ppreciated by professors in London

58．Which sentence shows Anne-Sophie’s strong point as a violinist?

       A．She wanted a violin for her fifth birthday.

       B．She had always had a mind of her own.

       C．She had two famous violin teachers.

       D．Violin seemed to her a much more interesting instruments.

59．The virtue the Mutters have is that they believe          .

      A．children should learn music

       B．money is not everything

       C．Anne-Sophie was too young to give concerts

       D．parents have a great effect on their children

60．Which of the following is right?

       A．Mutter’s family had an effect on her.

       B．Anne-Sophie’s concerts are limited to one or two a year.

       C．Anne-Sophie liked to imitate others.

       D．Anne-Sophie like all the instruments.

The Man of Many Secrets-Harry Houdini---was one of the greatest American entertainers in the theater this century. He was famous for his escapes---from prison cells, from wooden boxes floating in rivers, from locked tanks full of water. He appeared in theaters all over Europe and America. Crowds came to see the great Houdini and his “magic” tricks.

Of course, his secret was not magic, or supernatural powers. It was simply strength. He had ability to move his toes as well as he moved his fingers. He could move his body into almost any position he wanted.

Houdini started working in the entertainment world when he was 17, in 1891. He and his brother then performed card tricks in club in new York. They called themselves the Houdini brothers. When Harry married in 1894, he and his wife Bess worked together as magician and assistant. But for a long time they were not very successful. Then Harry performed his first prison escape, in Chicago in 1898. Harry persuaded a detective to let him try to escape from the prison, and he invited the local newspaperman to watch.

It was the publicity that came from this that started Harry Houdini’s success.

Harry had fingers trained to escape from handcuffs and toes trained to escape from ankle chains. But his biggest secret was how he unlocked the prison doors. Every time he went into the prison cell, Bess gave him a kiss for good luck---and a small skeleton key, which is a key that fits many locks, passed quickly from her mouth to his.

Harry used these prison escapes to build his fame. He arranged to escape from the local jail of every town he visited. In the afternoon, the people of the town would read about it in their local newspapers, and in the evening every seat in the local theater would be full. What was the result? Worldwide fame, and a name remembered today.

53．According to the passage, Houdini’s success imprison escape depends on          .

       A．his magic tricks and inhuman powers   

       B．his special tricks and a skeleton key

       C．his unusual ability and skeleton key    

       D．his inhuman talents and magic tricks

54．In the fourth paragraph, the word “this” refers to          .

       A．his first prison escape                  B．a(chǎn) local reporter’s invitation

       C．the place, Chicago                      D．The time, 1898

55．It can he inferred from the passage that Houdini became successful         .

       A．before he was about 17                        B．when he was about 17

       C．a(chǎn)fter the year 1898                               D．before the year 1898

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

       A．Houdini used to be a famous magician in the USA.

       B．Houdini was first recognized widely in Chicago.

       C．Houdini first entered the entertainment world together with his wife.

       D．Houdini owed his great success to his small skeleton key.

A New Headphone

The answer to a very great noise may not be blocking it out with earplugs but taking that noise and bearing it as its own game.

    Earplugs have been the simple but effective way to stop noise affecting your mind, but their shortcoming is that they also block out sounds you may want or need to hear, such as music or someone talking to you.

    The answer to this problem is “ active noise cancellation(抵消)” headphones that are made up of a microphone and electronics (電子裝置)that take all background low-frequency (低頻率) noise, turn the sound waves upside down and rebroadcast them into your ears.

    The result is that all the unwanted noises around are blocked out.

    In effect, one set of electronically produced around wave has sucked away the unwanted sound waves of noise.

    Stand next to a busy road wearing the noise cancellation headphones and the traffic noise disappears. Sit in an airplane and the engine noise dies away. In a noisy office, the noise of office equipment, people and air-conditioning is gone. You can still , however, hear music or people talking because that sound does not have a regular pattern and so the device (裝置) does not block it.

49．What is the best way to keep out the unwanted noise?

   A．To wear an earplug.                         B．To wear a headphone.

   C．To wear a microphone.                    D．To wear electronics.

50．Which of the following gives a general idea of how the above device works?

   A．By producing low-frequency sound waves and rebroadcast them.

   B．By producing new sound waves to suck away the unwanted sound waves.

   C．By changing all background low-frequency noise into an irregular pattern.

   D．By sucking away all the low-frequency sound waves turned upside down.

51．Suppose you are driving your friend to the airport and the car radio is on, what can't you  hear if you wear a headphone?

   A．The radio music and the car engine noise.

   B．The noise of the planes passing overhead and what your friend says.

   C．The radio music and what your friend says.

   D．The nose of the car and the planes passing overhead.

The Post Office in Britain is famous for getting letters and parcels（packages）to places to which they should be sent. The problem is that we the public have to observe the rules. For example, we must put a stamp on a letter. If we don’t, the receiver will have to pay double. We often see the sign ALL LETTERS MUST BE CORRECTLY ADDRESSED. These days, this means having to use postcodes. If you didn’t use a postcode, it’s no good complaining that your letter should have arrived sooner. Parcels are a problem because they must be correctly packaged. If Aunt Sophie is going to send you a jar of your favorite jam, she will have to wrap it up well. The most important thing we have to do is to address our letters and parcels legibly(易讀)and correctly. This means clear handwriting and correct spelling. What we should do and what we actually do are often miles apart. Recently, the Post Office had to deliver a letter which showed a name followed by the word Rajah. What is this, do you think? Arabic? Hindustani(興都斯坦語)?Wrong both times！Say it out loud and you’ll see it’s just plain English. HARWICH HARBOUR!

45．In England ______ if you forget to put on a stamp.

       A．nobody can receive your letter

       B．you will have to give some money as a punishment

       C．you can’t have your letter posted

       D．you can still have your letter posted

46．If you didn’t use a postcode,            .

       A．your letter couldn’t arrive soon

       B．your letter would be surely lost

       C．your letter could not be posted

       D．your letter would be sent back at last

47．When we post parcels, we must             .

       A．a(chǎn)ddress them correctly                        B．a(chǎn)ddress them clearly

       C．package them correctly                        D．a(chǎn)ll of the above

48．From the passage we can see that postmen            .

       A．have no difficulty in delivering any letters

       B．have difficulty in delivering misspelt letters

       C．won’t deliver any letters with bad handwriting

       D．can deliver all letters to their destinations.

For more than six million American children, coming home after school means coming home to an empty house. Some deal with the situation by watching TV. Some may hide. But all of them have something in common. They spend part of each day alone. They are called latchkey children．They’re children who look after themselves while their parents work. And their bad condition has become a subject of concern．

Lynette Long was once the headmaster of an elementary school. She said, “We had a school rule against wearing jewelry. A lot of kids had chains around their necks with keys attached. I was constantly telling them to put them inside shirts. There were so many keys it never came to my mind what they meant.” Slowly, she learned they were house keys.

She and her husband began talking to the children who had them. They learned of the impact working couples and single parents were having on their children. Fear is the biggest problem  faced by children at home alone. One in each three latchkey children the Longs talked to reported being scared. Many had nightmares and were worried about their own safety.

The most common way latchkey children deal with their fears is by hiding. It might be in a shower stall, under a bed in a closet. The second is TV. They’ll often play it at high volume. It’s hard to get statistics on latchkey children, the Longs learned. Most parents are slow to admit they leave their children alone．

41．What is the main problem with “l(fā)atchkey” children?

       A．They are growing in numbers.

       B．They are also found in middle-class neighborhoods.

       C．They watch too much television during the day.

       D．They suffer problems from being left alone.

42．What does the underlined word “scared” mean?

       A．punished             B．fearful                 C．lonely                  D．forbidden

43．The longs’ study was mainly on           .

       A．lonely children who have single parents

       B．children whose parents are working or who have one parent only

       C．children who have the problem of fear

       D．parents who are working far from their home

44．We may draw a conclusion that            .

      A．it’s difficult to find out how many latchkey children there are    

       B．latchkey children try to hide their feeling

      C．latchkey children often watch TV with their parents

      D．latchkey children enjoy having such a large amount of time alone

Three weeks ago, Paul David was given up for dead. Today the 24-year-old truck driver is on the road to getting   21  , thanks to quick,  22  first aid of six skilled college student nurses, who were traveling a few minutes   23  his truck and got to him   24  it crashed.

The student nurses were on the way back from a day of medical   25  at a hospital. When they saw the   26  , they jumped out of their car. They   27  that David was already dead, but they wouldn’t move on without seeing for   28  . With the help of three men they lifted him out. He was bleeding   29  and his heart almost stopped beating. He was obviously   30  .

One girl found an ice-cream  31  on the ground and made an airway down his throat. Another student held his tongue down. Then a third girl found a towel and   32  down with it on David’s neck to slow the bleeding. A fourth nurse brought a blanket and   33  David to warm him up. They kept his legs   34  .“We kept talking to him,” Miss Taylor said. “We   35  that the last thing you lose is your   36  .”

The student nurses kept David   37  until he could be gotten to hospital. There, he was brought out of   38  . A doctor said that David would have choked and bled to death without the   39  of the six student nurses. That is   40  he is alive today.

Put away these old vases and you may depend upon            that they are valuable.

       A．that                     B．it                        C．if                        D．whether

The accident            his careless driving.

       A．led to                  B．resulted in            C．lay in                  D．result from

The government was in            with the unions over pay. Many people went on strike.

       A．conflicts              B．a(chǎn)greement            C．contract              D．contact

They wouldn’t             to call the police at the first sign of trouble. They do it right away.

       A．hesitate               B．bold                    C．bargain                D．expand