金山区2015学年第一学期期末考试
高三英语试卷 I. Listening Comprehension
II. II. Grammar and Vocabulary
Section A
( A )
Playing a violin with three strings
On Nov.18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came on stage to give a concert. The audience sat quietly while he made his way across the stage to his chair and began his play. But this time, something went wrong. Just as he finished the first few bars, one of the strings on his violin broke. We thought that he would have to stop the concert. (25) ________ everyone’s expectation, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled (26) ________ conductor to begin again.
The orchestra began and he played with such passion and such power and such purity
(27) ________ they had never heard before.
Of course, anyone knows that no one (28) ________ play a harmonious work with just three strings. I know that, and you know that, (29) ________ that night Itzhak Perlman refused to know that. When he finished, there was an awesome silence in the room. And then people rose and cheered. He smiled, wiped the sweat from his brow and then he said in a quiet, sacred tone, ―You know, sometimes it is the artist’s task to find out how much music you can still make with (30) ________ you have left.‖
This powerful line has stayed in my mind ever since I heard it. And who knows? Perhaps that is the definition of life –not just for artists but for all of us.
He has prepared all his life to make music on a violin of four strings, but all of a sudden, in the middle of a concert, he finds himself with only three strings; so it is with three strings
(31) ________ he makes music, and the music he made that night with just three strings was more memorable than any that (32) ________ (make) before.
( B )
Emoji — a small digital image or icon used to express an idea, emotion, etc. in electronic communications, are everywhere. The little illustrated characters that are on Smartphone keyboards (33) ________ (take) over the world now. There are shoes with emoji on them, pants with emoji on them, emoji stickers, emoji yoga, and the list goes on and on with no sign of ending. As emoji spreads into our culture, I’ve actually heard the following question：Is emoji moving to replace the written word in communication?
To find out, I communicated by iMessage using only emoji for five days. That meant
(34) ________ ________ someone sent me a text or I wanted to send a text, I could only use the popular tiny picture characters (35) ________ (respond) to or start a conversation.
I wasn’t allowed to cheat by moving the conversation to Facebook or Twitter, etc., but I could send a phone emoji to indicate to the recipient of my texts that they should call me instead; I could not encourage the phone call myself. I wanted to see if it was (36) ________ (easy) than I expected it to be, yes, but I also wanted to see if I could influence (37) ________ I was