This past week, the world lost an icon and I lost one of my favorite musicians when Michael Jackson, 50, died of a heart attack on June 25. Jackson, a famous person nearly all his life, was admired by fans for signature dance moves like the Moonwalk and his album Thriller, which has sold over 100 million copies.

One of the greatest hits from Thriller is Beat It. In the song, Jackson sings: “Just beat it, beat it/ No one wants to be defeated/ It doesn’t matter who’s wrong or right/ Just beat it, beat it!”

Just what does he mean?

“Beat it” is a very common expression with a few different meanings. One of the most popular is the command form, which is similar to “Get out of here!” or “Get out of my face, stop bothering me!” You might tell your dog to “beat it” when he keeps begging you for food.

“Beat it” can also be used as a suggestion, to describe the act of leaving suddenly: “This party is so boring, let’s beat it.”

The expression can be taken more literally, in its traditional sense of “ to strike or hit something”: “Tell me the answer before I beat it out of you.”

“To beat” also means “to win”. “She struggled with her illness, and in the end she beat it.” When Jackson sings, “No one wants to be defeated…Just beat it!” he may be encouraging his audience to overcome their struggles. Or maybe he means the opposite: that it’s better to run than stay and fight. Just beat it!

The underlined word “icon” in the first paragraph most probably means ______.

A. a small symbol on a computer screen that represents a programme

B. a famous person or thing that people admire and see as a symbol of a particular idea etc.

C. a person who has talent in songs or music

D. a man or woman who is very good-looking in appearance

The author mentions Michael Jackson mainly to _____.

A. show his or her honor to him

B. inform readers of his death

C. introduce the expression “beat it”

D. get us to know more about his career

According to the passage the expression “Beat it” has all the following meanings EXCEPT “_____”.

A.  Away with you!             B. Get out of my face!

C.  See or understand            D. Win

What’s the purpose of the writer’s writing this passages?

A. To make the expression “Beat it” known.

B. To tell us that Michael Jackson’ death is a great loss to the world.

C. To show the origin of the expression “Beat it”.

D. To amuse or entertain readers.

You ______ be driven out of the school if you dare to cheat in the exam.

         A. should B. would C. will D. shall

—Mum, is the pair of gloves______mine?

—Yes. You have to wear another pair.

A. washing         B. have washed  C. having washed   D. being washed

The cattle has been rounded up.

Once in a blue moon there is one on New Year's Eve. Revelers ringing in 2010 will be treated to a so-called blue moon. According to popular definition, a blue moon is the second full moon in a month. But don't   1   it to be blue - the name has nothing to   2   the color of our closest celestial（天體） neighbor.

A full moon   3   on December 2. It will appear again on Thursday in time for the New Year's countdown.

"If you're in Times Square, you'll see the   4   moon right above you. It's going to be that brilliant," said Jack Horkheimer, director emeritus of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium and host of a weekly astronomy TV show.

The New Year's Eve blue moon will be   5   in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America and Africa. For partygoers in Australia and Asia, the full moon does not show up  6   New Year's Day, making January a blue moon month for them.

However, the Eastern Hemisphere can celebrate with a partial lunar eclipse（月蝕） on New Year's Eve when  7   of the moon enters the Earth's shadow. The   8   will not be visible in the Americas.

A full moon occurs   9   29.5 days, and most years have 12.  10  , an extra full moon in a month - a blue moon - occurs every 2.5 years. The   11   time there was a lunar double take was in May 2007. New Year's Eve blue moons are rarer, occurring every 19 years. The last time was in 1990; the next one won't   12    again until 2028.

Blue moons have no astronomical   13   , said Greg Laughlin, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

"`Blue moon' is just a   14   in the same sense as a `hunter's moon' or a `harvest moon,'" Laughlin said in an e-mail.

The popular definition of blue moon   15   after a writer for Sky & Telescope magazine in 1946 misunderstood the Maine Farmer's Calendar and marked a blue moon as the second full moon in a month. In fact, the calendar   16   a blue moon as the third full moon in a season with four full moons, not the usual three.

Though Sky & Telescope corrected the  17   decades later, the definition caught on. For purists（語言純正癖者）, however, this New Year's Eve full moon doesn't even qualify as a   18   moon. It's just the first full moon of the winter season.

In a tongue-in-cheek essay   19   on the magazine's Web site this week, senior contributing editor Kelly Beatty wrote: "If skies are clear when I'm    20  celebrating, I'll take a peek（瞇著眼睛看） at that brilliant orb（天體） as it rises over the Boston skyline to see if it's an icy shade of blue. Or maybe I'll just howl."

(   ) 1. A. wish            B. wait                 C. hope             D. expect

(   ) 2. A. deal with       B. do with          C. develop with     D. form into

(   ) 3. A. occurred        B. came                 C. ran          D. went

(   ) 4. A. full            B. half                 C. bright       D. part

(   ) 5. A. out of sight        B. visible          C. big          D. clear

(   ) 6. A. until           B. when                 C. before       D. since

(   ) 7. A. part            B. all              C. any          D. none

(   ) 8. A. moon            B. eclipse          C. sun          D. shadow

(   ) 9. A. each            B. every                C. either           D. all

(   ) 10. A. On the whole   B. Generally speaking   C. On average   D. In addition

(   ) 11. A. last           B. next                 C. other            D. another

(   ) 12. A. go             B. see              C. come             D. look

(   ) 13. A. point          B. evident          C. theory       D. significance

(   ) 14. A. name           B. object           C. phenomenon   D. tradition

(   ) 15. A. created        B. came about       C. made             D. copied

(   ) 16. A. named      B. called           C. introduced       D. defined

(   ) 17. A. error          B. name                 C. reality      D. number

(   ) 18. A. blue           B. red              C. yellow       D. grey

(   ) 19. A. published      B. posted           C. printed      D. written

(   ) 20. A. in             B. out              C. away             D. on

They asked me to have a dinner in an excellent restaurant with the, I said that it was at least five years since I _______ a good meal.

A. had enjoyed  B. was enjoying  C. enjoyed  D. had been enjoying

— Is this Mr. White’s office, Mary?

— Yes, _____.

A. that’s all right        B. it doesn’t matter

C. after you             D. please yourself

When he realized the police had seen him, the man _______the exit as quickly as possible.

A. made up  B. made for  C. made out D. made off

— Is he said ____ his car lost?

— Yes. He was so foolish ____ leave his car ____.

A. that…that…unlock       B. to have had…as to…unlocked

C. to have…to…unlock      D. to have…for him to…unlocked

Reading _______the lines, I would say that the government are more worried than they will admit.

  A. behind   B. between   C. along   D. among