Pop stars today enjoy what once only belonged to the royalty (皇室). Wherever they go, people turn out in their thousands to greet them. The crowds go wild trying to catch a brief glimpse of their smiling, colorfully dressed idols. The stars are transported in their chauffeur driven RollsRoyces, private helicopters or executive aeroplanes. They are surrounded by a permanent entourage(随从) of managers, press agents and bodyguards. Photographs of them appear regularly in the press and all their comings and goings are reported，for, like royalty, pop stars are news. If they enjoy many of the privileges of royalty, they certainly share many of the inconveniences as well. It is dangerous for them to make unscheduled appearances in public.They must be constantly shielded from the adoring crowds who idolize them. They are no longer private individuals, but public property. The financial rewards they receive for this sacrifice cannot be calculated, for their rates of pay are great. And why not? Society has always rewarded its top entertainers lavishly. The great days of Hollywood have become legendary: famous stars enjoyed fame, wealth and adulation (奉承) on an alltime scale. By today’ s standards, the excesses of Hollywood do not seem quite so spectacular. A single gramophone record nowadays may earn much more in royalties than the films of the past ever did. The competition for the title “Top of the Pops” is fierce, but the rewards are truly huge. It is only right that the stars should be paid in this way. Don’t the top men in industry earn enormous salaries for the service they perform to their companies and their countries? Pop stars earn vast sums in foreign currency — often more than large industrial companies — and the taxman can only be grateful for their massive annual contributions to the exchequer(国库). So who would begrudge them their rewards?
It’ s all very well for people in boring jobs to complain about the successes and rewards of others. People who make envious remarks should remember that the most famous stars represent only the tip of the iceberg. For every famous star, there are hundreds of others struggling to earn a living. A man working in a steady job and looking forward to a pension at the end of it has no right to expect very high rewards. He has chosen security and peace of mind, so there will always be a limit to what he can earn. But a man who attempts to become a star is taking enormous risks. He knows at the outset that only a handful of competitors ever get to the very top. He knows that years of concentrated effort may be rewarded with complete failure.But he knows, too, that the rewards for success are very high indeed: they are the payback for the huge risks involved and once he makes it, he will certainly earn them. That’ s the essence of private enterprise. [语篇解读] 明星的生活总是令人羡慕不已。他们的生活中有光鲜的一面：不菲的收入，以豪华汽车和私人飞机代步，一言一行都成为人们关注的焦点……然而，我们也应看到，他们活得很累，他们为成功所付出的艰辛和代价是一般人难以想象的。 1．The author develops the passage mainly by ________. A. comparing different ideas B. giving explanations C. inferring D. listing typical examples [解析] 篇章结构题。本文主要通过解释向读者阐明道理。 [答案] B 2．The underlined word “begrudge” in the third paragraph is closest in meaning to ________. A. be jealous of B. be satisfied with C. be anxious about D. be crazy about [解析] 词义猜测题。结合上下文的语境判断本句意为：谁会对他们所得到的感到妒忌、不满呢？接下来作者讲了一般人从事枯燥但稳定的工作，所以这里意思是：从事稳定工作的人会妒忌这些明星。 [答案] A 3．According to the passage, which of the following can match the view of the author? A. He who laughs last laughs best. B. If you venture nothing, you will gain nothing. C. He who makes no mistakes makes nothing. D. Success belongs to the persevering. [解析] 推理判断题。根据最后一段可知，想成为明星就要冒更大的风险，然而一旦成功，回报也是丰厚的，那些选择了稳定工作的人是没有权利期待高额回报的。“If you venture nothing，you will gain nothing.”意为：不入虎穴，焉得虎子，即要成功就要冒险。 [答案] B 4．The author holds a(n) ________attitude towards the high income of pop stars. A. critical B. approval C. optimistic D. indifferent [解析] 推理判断题。根据全文可知，作者认为明星们理应得到高收入，因为他们为此付出了高昂的代价。 [答案] B 5．Which of the following is true according to the passage? A. People are blind in idolizing stars. B. There is fierce competition in becoming pop stars. C. The government taxes pop stars very little. D. Pop stars’ life is more luxurious than that of royalty. [解析] 细节判断题。根据文章最后一段的“He knows at the outset that only a handful of competitors ever get to the very top.”以及第二段的最后一句可知答案。 [答案] B
Do American children still learn handwriting in school? In the age of the keyboard, some people seem to think handwriting lessons are on the way out. 90% of teachers say they are required to teach handwriting.But studies have yet to answer the question of how well they are teaching it. One study published this year found that about three out of every four teachers say they are not prepared to teach handwriting. Some teachers are teaching handwriting by providing instruction for 10 15 minutes a day, and then other teachers who basically teach it for 60 to 70 minutes a day — which really for handwriting is pretty much. Many adults remember learning that way — by copying letters over and over again. Today’ s thinking is that short periods of practice are better. Many experts also think handwriting should not be taught by itself.Instead, they say it should be used as a way to get students to express ideas. After all, that is why we write. Handwriting involves two skills. One is legibility,_which means forming the letters so they can be read. The other is fluency — writing without having to think about it. Fluency continues to develop up until high school. But not everyone masters these skills. Teachers commonly report that about onefourth of their kids have poor handwriting. Some people might think handwriting is not important any more because of computers and voice recognition programs. But Steve Graham at Vanderbilt says word processing is rarely done in elementary school, especially in the early years. American children traditi
