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B. Walt Whitman was born in 1819 in New York City. During his long life, he watched America grow from a young nation to the strongest industrial power in the world. Whitman was influenced by events around him. But his poetry speaks of the inner self. He celebrated great people like President Abraham Lincoln. He also celebrated common people. As a young man, Whitman worked as a school teacher, a printer and a newspaper reporter. He was thirty- six years old when his first book of poetry was published. He called it Leaves of Grass. It has only twelve poems. The poems are written in free verse. The lines do not follow any set form. Some lines are short and some are long. The word at the end of each line do not have a similar sound. They do not rhyme. One of America’s greatest thinkers and writers immediately recognized the importance of Leaves of Grass. Ralph Waldo Emerson praised Whitman’s work. But most other poets and writers said nothing or denounced it. The American Civil War began in 1861. During the war, Whitman worked without pay at army hospitals. He helped care for the wounded and dying soldiers. He sat beside these men for hours. He brought them food and wrote letters for them. After the Civil War, Whitman worked for government agencies. He watched the United States try to heal itself and increase democracy. To Walt Whitman, democracy was more than a political system or idea. It was the natural form of government for free people. Whitman believed democracy was meant to honor the rights of every person and the equality of all people. In 1873, Walt Whitman suffered a stroke . he spent the last few years of his life in Camden, New Jersey and wrote more poems. Whitman was poor and weak during the last few years of his life. He died in 1892. 60.Walt Whitman expressed his feelings by _____. A. singing songs B. celebrating great people C. writing poems D. praising common people 61.Leaves of Grass was published in _____. A.1855 B.1819 C.1861 D.1873 62.The underlined sentence “But most other poets and writers said nothing or denounced it.” (in Paragraph3) is most likely to tell us that ___. A .many great writers liked Whitman’s poems very much B. a lot of people agreed with Emerson. C. many poets and writers thought ill of Whitman’s poems D. few poets and writers didn’t like talking to Whitman 63.It can be inferred from the fourth paragraph that Whitman was ____. A. a brave soldier B. a man of devotion C. an honest official D. a great politician C In July 1994,Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, was struck by 21 pieces of comet . When the fragments (碎片) landed in the southern part of the giant planet , the explosions were watched by scientists here on earth. But what if our own planet was hit by a comet? The year is 2094. It has been announced that a comet is heading towards the earth. Most of it will miss our planet, but two fragments will probably hit the southern part of the earth. The news has caused panic. On 17 July, a fragment of four kilometers wide enters the earth’s atmosphere with a huge explosion. About half of the fragment is destroyed. But the major part survives and hits the South Atlantic at 200 times the speed of sound. The sea boils and an enormous wave is created and spreads. The wall of water rushes towards southern Africa at 800 kilometers an hour. Cities on the African coast are totally destroyed and millions of people are drowned. The waves move into the Indian Ocean and head towards Asia. Millions of people are already dead in the southern part of the earth, but the north won’t escape for long. Tons of broken pieces are thrown into the atmosphere by the explosions. As the sun is hidden by clouds of dust, temperatures around the world fall to almost zero. Crops are ruined. Wars break out as countries fight for food. A year later civilization has collapsed. No more than 10 million people have survived. Could it really happen? In fact, it has already happened more than once in the history of the earth. The dinosaurs were on the earth for over 160 million years. Then 65 million years ago they suddenly disappeared. Many scientists believed that the earth was hit by a space fragment. The dinosaurs couldn’t survive in the cold climate that followed and they became extinct. Will we meet the same end? 64.Why does the author mention dinosaur at the end of the passage? A. Because they could only live in the warm climate. B. Because they once dominated the earth C. Because their extinction indicates future disasters. D. Because dinosaurs and humans never live in the same age. 65.It can be concluded that the passage is most probably part of a(n) ______. A. horror story B. news report C. research paper D. article of popular science D 第二节(共5小题，每小题2分，满分10分) The American book “ Who Moved My Cheese” has been a best- seller all over the world. __66___ . Now its author Spence Johnson has written a book just for teenagers. The book tells us that when facing changes in our lives, like a new school or new friends, don’t be afraid. Instead, use these changes to make a better life. ___67__ A school is changing from having two terms to three terms because there are too many students. Several teenagers are talking about this. Most of them are unhappy and worried. But Chris laughs and tells a story about two mice, two little people and some cheese.__68___ Here, cheese means something important in life, like moving to a new class or getting into college. __69___ The mice realize that they can’t change what has happened and have to find more cheese. ___70___The little people, however ,can’t do this. They are afraid of change so they find no cheese. After Chris finishes the story, the friends understand one thing: to get more cheese, move in a new direction quickly . His friends understand how this can be used in the changes all teenagers face, such as doing well at school or having good relationships or just feeling good about yourself. (责任编辑：admin) |