You will ______ sooner or later if you keep working like that.

A. break off           B. break down    C . break into   D. break out

He was about to tell me the secret _______ someone patted him on the shoulder.

   A. as       B. when        C. while        D. then

May 12th, 2008 is a special day will be remembered by the Chinese forever.

I still remember      to the Famen Temple and what I saw there.

A. taking              B. to take                      C. being taken            D. to be taken

I don’t think Jack is a man to be ______ when we are in trouble. He only cares for himself.

   A. relied on       B. familiar with    C. turned to      D. based on

Taylor sings with heart

The music industry is never short of teen pop stars with wonderful looks, but it doesn’t often find one like US singer Taylor Swift. “Beneath Taylor Swift’s not-a-girl, not-yet-a-woman sweetness hides a very skillful songwriting technique (技巧),” writes Leah Greenblatt with Entertainment Weekly.

Songwriting, the country singer explains, is “how I deal with problems. I am used to writing about things that really influences me most.” So in her songs, there is always something true and honest. They seem like stories from a diary. And that certainly helps Swift attract her audience.

She’s sold more than 13 million copies worldwide of her first two albums, 2006’s self-titled debut (首張專輯) and 2008’s Fearless. She’s the youngest artist ever to be named Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards. Not surprisingly, there were great expectations for her third album, Speak Now, which came out late last month, where she again returned to her own life for material. The 14 songs “are all about the last two years... when life was a little bit bigger and crazier,” says Swift. “So I’ve written about the lessons and confusion and heartbreak and all the different things that go along with being 18, 19 and 20.”

What led to Taylor’s fame?

A. Her wonderful looks.                     B. Her songwriting skills together with her looks.

C. Her beautiful voice.                 D. Her special life experience in her teenage years.

Which of the following is true?

A. Taylor is now in her twenties.

B. Taylor’s the youngest Artist of the Year at the Academy Awards

C. Taylor has produced three albums up till now.

D. Taylor has sold more than 13 million copies worldwide.

What may be written in the album, Speak Now?

A. Her unhappy experience with her boyfriend.

B. Her concern for her popularity.

C. Her happy childhood.

D. Her worries for environmental pollution.

下面是美國著名游記作家Bill Bryson的幾本作品，首先請閱讀它們的封面信息：

下面是對這幾本書的簡要介紹，請把它們對應的封面信息找出來：

In this collection, Bill Bryson is writing from home. We find he assesses life both in New England and in the contemporary United States. With the telescopic perspective(遠望視角) of one who has stepped out of the American mainstream and come back after 20 years, Bryson holds the mirror up to U.S. culture and feel strange to his motherland.

This book is a guide to the world’s unspoilt sights and experiences. It presents one thousand fresh and fascinating alternatives to hundreds of well-known tourist destinations and sights, including alternatives to the Carnival in Rio and the beaches of Thailand, the most-visited national parks, over-rated restaurants and holiday sites.

Returning to the U.S. after 20 years in England, Bill Bryson decided to reconnect with his mother country by hiking the length of the 2100-mile Appalachian Trail. Awed by merely the camping section of his local sporting goods store, he still goes into the wilderness and learns hard lessons about self-reliance.

A travelogue by Bill Bryson is as close to a sure thing as funny books get. This book is no exception. Following an urge to rediscover his youth, the author leaves his native Des Moines, Iowa, in a journey that takes him to across 38 states in the country, which is like a small town in his opinion.

Born in Iowa, Bryson backpacked through Europe as a young man. While living in England some 20 years later, he revisited many of the same places from arctic Norway’s northern lights to romantic Capri in Italy. Here he jumps back and forth between old memories and new experiences.

The road conditions there turned out to be very good, ______ was more than we could expect.

A. it      B. what     C. which      D. that

Did you pay a visit to the Great Wall .      the time when you were in Beijing?

A. while      B. as       C. during     D. with

A

Marian Anderson was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the early 1990s. She began singing in church. Soon, her rich deep voice became widely known in the area. Marian Anderson received many honors and awards during her life. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in nineteen sixty—three. Marian Anderson died at the age of ninety—six. Experts say she is remembered not only for the quality of her voice, but also because of the way she carried out her right to be heard.

B

Movie director Robert Altman died in November 2006, in Los Angeles, California. He was eighty—one years old. During his fifty-year career, he made some of the most influential movies of modern times.

C

Ann Richards died in September 2006 at the age of seventy-three. At her funeral service, leaders from around the country gathered to celebrate her life. Former President Bill Clinton spoke at the service. He said Ann Richards helped create a world where young girls could be scientists, engineers and police officers. He said she was a great woman with a big heart and big dreams.

D

Journalist R.W. Apple died in October 2006 at the age of seventy—one. Earlier this month his friends and family gathered in Washington, D.C. for a large memorial service. Famous writers, politicians, and cooks told about his warm personality, sharp intelligence, and extraordinary energy. After the service, guests enjoyed fine foods provided by some of the best cooks in the area.

E

William Styron died in November 2006 at the age of eighty—one. His stories are filled with rich language and complex moral questions. Many of his books try to understand the evil actions of people. Later in life William Styron suffered from severe depression. After recovering, he wrote honestly and bravely about his experience in “Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness.” He received great praise for educating people about the difficulties of mental illness.

F

Ruth Brown was born in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1928 and died in October 2004. Brown recorded many rhythm and blues hits in the 1950s. She also fought for musicians rights. In 1988, Atlantic Records agreed to pay her and thirty-five other musicians the money they owed them for using their songs for twenty years.

請閱讀下列有關的信息, 然后匹配上面的美國名人。

As a young woman, she worked as a teacher and raised four children. She and her husband were very involved in local politics. Then one day, she decided to run for officer herself—and she won. She served first as country commissioner, then as Texas state treasurer. In nineteen ninety she was elected governor. She fought for equal rights, environmental protection and laws to restrict guns. She created a government in which women, Hispanics, and African-Americans played important roles.

“MASH”, was released in nineteen seventy. It tells about a group of American medical workers in a temporary military hospital in Korea during the Korean War in the 1950s. It questions the rules of the military establishment in a way that was sharply funny and intelligent; “Nashville” came out in nineteen seventy—five. It provides a complex look at changes in the country music industry. Many of his thirty—three films were nominated for Academy Awards, including “The Player” and “Gosford Park”

She learned traditional music at her Christian religious center. But she liked the popular jazz and rock music of the time even more. She left home at a young age to build a career in music. Soon, she became known as “the girl with the tear in her voice” because of her emotional way of singing. Her popular songs helped build the Atlantic Records company and she continued performing for the rest of her life until she died recently at the age of seventy six.

He is known as Johnny, wrote about many subjects, from politics and war to food and drink. During his forty—three years writing for the New York Times newspaper, he enjoyed a rich and eventful career. He was the paper’s chief reporter in cities like London, Moscow, Lagos and Nairobi. He covered events such as the Vietnam War, the Iranian revolution and the Gulf War. He reported on ten presidential elections. And, his opinions on fine foods, travel and the world’s best restaurants were very influential.

He wrote “Lie Down in Darkness” published in nineteen fifty—one when he was only twenty-five. It is about a troubled young woman who kills herself. It established him as a great new voice in American literature; he also wrote “The Confessions of Nat Turner” in nineteen sixty-eight which told about a nineteenth century slave revolt in the southern state of Virginia; and “Sophie’s Choice ” won the American Book Award in nineteen eighty. It is a tragic story about a woman and her children who were sent to a Nazi death camp in Poland during World War Two.