Last week Adele's second album, 21, sold 257,000 copies in the UK, a sales figure that would look incredible as an opening sales week for any album by any global superstar. The fact that the album was celebrating its 10th week at No.1, and that each of the previous nine weeks it had sold over 100,000 copies, makes what Adele has achieved look miraculous. The last female singer to spend that long at No.1 in the UK was Madonna in 1990 with her greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection.

For Adele, the success of 21 is part of a perfect storm of talent, timing and a connection that went beyond gender, age and credibility. But what does it say about the state of the music industry? Does Adele's success signal a return to the MOR(適合大眾口味的音樂) musical depression, when the likes of James Blunt dominated the charts? Her success may well lead to a great many similar acts aiming for an MOR audience, but that's more the fault of an industry desperate to recreate any kind of success by creating poor copies until the world shouts "stop now".

What seems to have set Adele apart is her apparent ordinariness, besides that incredible voice. While Gaga parades around in a dress made of meat and Beyonce orbits a world out of touch to the majority of most human beings, Adele's chain-smoking, girl-you'd-like-to-go-to-the-pub-with persona stands out. Even for a British act, her ordinariness goes against trend, with fellow Jessie J adopting a very American habit of over-emoting, talking about a "journey" and making the idea of being a pop star seem fairly difficult.

It's this universality and broad appeal that's helped her translate talent into sales. While the first single from 21, Rolling in the Deep, appealed to Radio 1 listeners and bloggers, the second single, Someone Like You, is so successful that silenced the grand O2 Arena during this year's Brit Awards. The press can write pages and pages in that there's enough of a connection of musicians – Rick Rubin worked on the album, there's a cover of the Cure, Mumford & Sons were an influence – while the gossip magazines have been excited by the fact that the album is one long break-up record, eager to find the ex.

In 1990, Madonna was a global superstar with a back catalogue of era-defining hits to her name. She was untouchable and, tellingly, unknowable. She was (and still is) a megastar, but a megastar of a different age. These days, we want to know a bit more about our artists; that they have relationship problems, walk their dog. Her selling point and appeal is precisely the fact that she exists at the point between everyday ordinariness and pop star.

For now, Adele's success should be celebrated, especially for becoming an unlikely global star on her own terms. The danger is that we're headed for a lot of fairly boring pop, a situation that led to the "birth" of Gaga a few years back. Pop goes in cycles and it feels like we're headed back towards the very middle of MOR.

1.Adele’s achievement seems unbelievable for the reason that ____________.

A．the sales of her second album achieved an incredible success last week in the UK

B．her second album ranked first in a row with the incredible average sales per week

C．Madonna was the last female singer in the UK to stay at No. 1 as long as she did

D．she is such an ordinary singer with so fascinating a voice in the music industry

2.According to the author, the success of Adele’s second album __________________.

A．to a large extent depends on her apparent talent for music

B．is because of her extraordinariness and the wonderful voice

C．lies in gift, timing and something beyond sex, age and trust

D．is largely due to the state of the music industry currently

3.Compared with other female pop stars, what does the author think of Adele?

A．She stands out in a totally different way from Gaga and Beyonce.

B．She and Madonna are contemporary megastars in music.

C．Only she and Madonna spent that long at No.1 in the UK.

D．Jessie J and she both have an American habit of expressing themselves.

4.What helped Adele successfully turned her gift of singing into sales?

A．Her musical talent.

B．The joint work of musicians in the album.

C．Her incredible voice.

D．Her universality and broad appeal.

5.The author thinks that the current musical trend in the UK is _______________.

A．satisfying          B．disappointing       C．dangerous         D．desperate

Most of the flowers in nature are red, orange and yellow. If we have seen a black flower, it’s a chance in a million.

People have made a census (普查) to colors of mor e than four thousand kinds of flowers and discovered that only eight of them are black.

As we know, sunlight is formed by seven different colored lights.The wave length of each light is different, so the quantity of heat in each light is also different. Flowers, especially their petals, are easy to be harmed by light temperature.

Black flowers can take in all the light waves which cause the flowers to dry up in the high temperature. So black flowers can rarely survive sunlight. But red flowers, yellow flowers and orange flowers can protect themselves from sunlight by reflecting the red light, yellow light and orange light, each of which has a large quantity of heat.

1. It is _____ to see a black flower.

A. impossible     B. seldom          C. common       D. no chance

2. From the passage we know that _______.

A. black flowers are so weak that it is difficult for them to grow up.

B. there are only eight black flowers in nature

C. sunlight is formed by seven different colored lights, so the wave length of each light is different

D. black flowers can take in the light of all the wave length which makes them dry up because of high temperature

3. Which of the following ideas is WRONG?

A. People have found that only a few kinds of flowers are black.

B. Flowers are easy to be harmed by very high temperature.

C. Red, orange and yellow flowers can also take in the light of all wave lengths.

D. The black flowers can’t protect themselves from sunlight.

BEIJING - China's railway rates for freight and passenger transport will continue to be set by the government, announced a senior official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner, on Friday.

Cao Changqing, head of the NDRC's department of price, said that the country will continue to implement government-set or government-guided prices for the railway sector after the China Railway Corporation (CRC), a State-owned company that takes over the commercial functions of the former Ministry of Railways (MOR), went into business on March 17.

Cao said the railway sector, constituting China's main public transport facilities, is a key basic industry. Its pricing scheme is concerned with both the sector's normal operation and development, as well as the daily traveling and vital interests of the general public.

The state will be very cautious in making any price adjustment in the railway sector, taking into account various factors including operation, construction, public acceptance and coordinated development with other modes of transport, according to the NDRC official.

Under Chinese law and regulations, hearings will be held before adjustments in the basic passenger train ticket fare, Cao said.

In China's latest railway reform, endorsed at the just-concluded annual session of the country's top legislature, the former MOR was dismantled into two parts, with the newly created CRC carrying out business functions and a state railways administration fulfilling administrative functions.

1.What does this passage mainly talk about?

A．China’s railway pricing scheme unchanged

B．A State-owned company takes over the commercial functions of MOR.

C．China’s latest railway reform

D．The former MOR was divided into two parts

2.What does Cao mean according to the passage?

A．There will be adjustment in the basic passenger train ticket

B．China’s railway rate for passenger will not be changed forever

C．Hearing will be held before adjustment of railway price

D．The price adjustment are being considered

3.What can we infer from the fourth paragraph?

A．The public will be very curious about the price adjustment

B．Various factors are taken into account by the state before adjustment

C．Public acceptance is the most important factor

D．NDRC should coordinate railway development with other modes of transport

4.Why will hearings be held before adjustments in the basic passenger train ticket fare?

A．The public request it

B．Under Chinese laws and regulations

C．According to the order from leaders

D．Because it will cause a lot of problem

5.We would most probably read this passage on the newspaper about________

A．News             B．Entertainment      C．Society           D．Financial

短文填詞 (滿分10分)

Briefly speaking, English is so useful that all of us students should learn it well. It is a good idea to make friends with foreigners. In my o___________,

1.__________

it is the best way to i_________your English. It will be fun and it will expand

2.__________

your view of world. If you make friends with a n______________speaker, you

3.__________

can practice your ______________(口語的)English mor often and you can

4.__________

____________(分享) your ideas with people around the world. You can also

5.__________

Become familiar with the different _________(風(fēng)俗) and habits. There are some

6.__________

people who are afraid to make friends with foreigners___________they are not

7.__________

Confident in their English. In fact, many foreigners do not__________about

8.__________

grammar. They can get your key__________and then figure out the whole

9.__________

meaning. So it is unneccessary_________be afraid to talk with foreigners, just

10.__________

go ahead.

Most of the flowers in nature are red, orange and yellow. If we have seen a black flower, it’s a chance in a million.
People have made a census (普查) to colors of mor e than four thousand kinds of flowers and discovered that only eight of them are black.
As we know, sunlight is formed by seven different colored lights.The wave length of each light is different, so the quantity of heat in each light is also different. Flowers, especially their petals, are easy to be harmed by light temperature.
Black flowers can take in all the light waves which cause the flowers to dry up in the high temperature. So black flowers can rarely survive sunlight. But red flowers, yellow flowers and orange flowers can protect themselves from sunlight by reflecting the red light, yellow light and orange light, each of which has a large quantity of heat.
1. It is _____ to see a black flower.
A. impossible     B. seldom          C. common       D. no chance
2. From the passage we know that _______.
A. black flowers are so weak that it is difficult for them to grow up.
B. there are only eight black flowers in nature
C. sunlight is formed by seven different colored lights, so the wave length of each light is different
D. black flowers can take in the light of all the wave length which makes them dry up because of high temperature
3. Which of the following ideas is WRONG?
A. People have found that only a few kinds of flowers are black.
B. Flowers are easy to be harmed by very high temperature.
C. Red, orange and yellow flowers can also take in the light of all wave lengths.
D. The black flowers can’t protect themselves from sunlight.