Fans of US television dramas watch their favorite series for different reasons: some want to improve their English skills, others just want to kill time.
Some TV series are more than pure entertainment―they have a certain depth. Mad Men, which returned with a sixth season recently; Monday Mornings, which just finished its first season; and Modern Family, which sweeps the awards every year, are just a few examples.
Why do these shows stand out among so many similar ones? TV critics Raymond Zhou will give you an idea of why some shows are better than others.
Period drama—More than time travel
Period dramas are intended to capture the ambience (氣氛) of a particular era. Directors must therefore attract audiences as much by their recreation of a historical setting as by an interesting storyline.www.zxxk.com
Mad Men is an excellent example of this balance being struck. Set in New York during the 1960s, it accurately shows US attitudes in the workplace through the alcoholism and chain-smoking common of the time, and places an absorbing plot right in its center.
But rather than merely presenting a past decade, Mad Men’s subtle (微妙的) description of the struggles of white-collar workers at the time, both male and female, makes it stand out.
“The series’ attention to detail is superb,” Raymond Zhou said. “For example, creator Matthew Weiner makes Don Draper―the leading role of the series―drive a Buick instead of a Cadillac, because Weiner thinks the ad man lacks the self-pride to buy a luxury car. It’s this kind of attentiveness that raises the show’s artistic value.”
Critics also recommend
Another period drama that works is Broadwalk Empire, set during the prohibition period of the 1920s and 1930s in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Heather Havrilesky at Salon magazine noted how the show “revels in the oddities(怪事) of its time, peeling back the layers of polite society to reveal a shadow world of criminals and politicians working together to keep the liquor flowing.”www.zxxk.com
Why does it appeal to viewers? Because they know that the “l(fā)iquor” is a metaphor (暗喻) for today’s political scandals (丑聞).www.zxxk.com
【小題1】 How many US TV series are mentioned in this passage?

A．One.B．Two.C．Three.D．Four.
【小題2】 The following statements are the reasons why many people are attracted by US television dramas EXCEPT that __________.
A．US television dramas merely present a past decade
B．directors recreate a historical setting and adopt interesting storylines
C．the dramas can improve their English skills, and help people kill time
D．some TV series are more than pure entertainment, and they have a certain depth
【小題3】 According to Raymond Zhou, Don Draper’s driving a Buick instead of a Cadillac shows __________.
A．Mad Men attaches much importance to details
B．Mad Men places an absorbing plot right in its center
C．the director wants to raise the show’s artistic value
D．Mad Men’s description of the struggling white-collar workers makes it stand out
【小題4】 What does the passage mainly talk about?
A．Directors of US dramas.B．US dramas and their storylines.
C．US period dramas to kill time.D．US dramas and their magic touch.


【小題1】D
【小題2】A
【小題3】A
【小題4】D

解析試題分析：美劇大部分都是論'季'的,每年中的一個(gè)固定季度播出, 邊拍邊播,一年只播放一季。文章介紹了美劇受歡迎的原因，和其中影射現(xiàn)實(shí)的元素。
【小題1】D信息歸納題。根據(jù)文中提到的Mad Men, Monday Morning, Broadwalk Empire, Modern Family，可知一共提到了4部電視劇，選擇D。
【小題2】A反選題。根據(jù)文中提到的美劇吸引人的緣由可以知道它們不僅表現(xiàn)了某個(gè)歷史背景下的故事，還影射了現(xiàn)代社會(huì)中的一些問題，A項(xiàng)不正確，可知選擇A。
【小題3】A細(xì)節(jié)題。根據(jù)文中第五段“The series’ attention to detail is superb,” Raymond Zhou said.，可知他舉這個(gè)例子是為了說明Mad Men在細(xì)節(jié)上安排了許多重要信息，選擇A。
【小題4】D 主旨大意題。根據(jù)文中介紹的美劇吸引人的原因，以及美劇導(dǎo)演和編劇處理故事的手法，可知文章是說美劇像魔法一般的吸引力，選擇D。
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【小題1】What is the text mainly about?

A．Teaching children how to garden.
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C．Helping children realize the importance of work.
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【小題2】Why should you introduce your children’s work to your friends?
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【小題3】What kind of people is the text mainly written for?
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【小題1】From Paragraph 1, we can conclude that _______.

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【小題2】The author used to think that the Internet addiction is  ________.
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【小題3】In medical terms, the Internet addiction is ________.
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【小題2】If you ring “Alive and Well”,         .
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【小題4】Through “Alive and Well”, parents of runaway children         .
A．often fail to persuade their children to return home
B．know nothing from their children
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【小題5】What can we know about the Haydens’ daughter from the passage?
A．She died six months ago.
B．She had a quarrel with her parents.
C．She worked in “Alive and Well”.
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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解


Is veg food healthier than non-veg food? I feel this is a very common topic that people speak on．Please give me your opinions on this topic．
Rao
12-18-08
So far as veg food is concerned, it is also proved to be a healthy and nutritious diet, but has very few items which can provide us with proteins, but if you see non-veg food like eggs, chicken, and many more, such foods have a large content of proteins in them.
Sai
12-19-08
Man basically is herbivorous（食草的）. If we look at the animal kingdom
We can see that all the herbivorous animals have the similar dental（牙齒的）
structure, which clearly shows that the human being also ought to be vegetarian by birth. It is only the living conditions that make man carnivorous（食肉的）.
The vegetarian foods are easily digestible.
Santos
12-20-08
Non-veg food items are better than veg items. A healthy person requires complete diet and veg + meat makes the diet complete. The only caution that needs to be taken is not to have non-veg items on a daily basis. Once in a week or couple of weeks will be best.
Krishna
01-03-09
When we eat non-veg, we are all veg by nature. The chicken that we eat feeds on grains, the mutton that we eat feeds on grass, and the fish that we eat feeds on simple plants. So non-veg food by logic（邏輯）is better and suited for hauman beings.
Khan
01-05-09
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【小題2】In the opinion of Sai, humans are born vegetarian because humans        .
A．have the same teeth structure as plant-eating animals
B．believe that veg foods are good for their teeth
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D．can adapt to the living conditions like plant-eating animals
【小題3】What advice is given by Santos?
A．To have a daily veg + meat diet.
B．Not to eat non-veg food every day.
C．To eat digestible food every day.
D．Not to eat food without protein.

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科目：高中英語 來源： 題型：閱讀理解

KFC(肯德基), one of the most famous fast-food chains, saw its reputation in China shaken because of “quick chicken”. Recent years, KFC has ever shocked us more than once because of its food safety, which made itself in severe trust crisis. Now it greatly surprised us again owing to the poultry（禽肉）incident. We could never believe it should have cheated us again and again. In fact, as a well-known restaurant chain, KFC’s business records at China’s is not very good. There’s no doubt that the very incident has made things worse and worse.
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【小題1】According to the text, we can learn that KFC made itself in severe trust crisis________.

A．because it had food safety problems many times
B．because it is one of the most famous fast-food chains
C．no people went to it
D．many people don’t like it
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B．KFC apologized to the public though it was not sincere
C．no people went to KFC
D．there is no longer chicken in KFC
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【小題4】The main purpose of the passage is to ________.
A．introduce some food safety incidentsB．make people not support KFC
C．a(chǎn)sk people not to eat fast foodD．a(chǎn)ppeal to people for food safety

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