literature collection only consisted of British and American titles. Worse still, I couldn’t ever find anything in translation. My reading was limited to stories by English-speaking authors.
So, at the start of 2012, I set myself the challenge of trying to read a book from every country in a year to find out what I was missing.
With no idea where to get those books, I was unlikely to find publications from nearly 200 nations on the shelves of my local bookshop, so I decided to ask the readers all over the world for help. I created a blog called A Year of Reading the World and put out an appeal for suggestions of titles that I could read in English.
The response was amazing. People all over the world were getting in touch with me, offering ideas and book lists. Some posted me books from their home countries. In addition, several writers, like Turkmenistan’s Ak Welsapar and Panama’s Juan David Morgan, sent me unpublished translations of their novels, giving me a rare opportunity to read works unavailable in Britain. Even with such an extraordinary team of bibliophiles(爱书者) behind me, however, sourcing books was no easy task. With translations making up only around 4.5 per cent of literary works published in the UK, getting English versions of stories was tricky.
One by one, the books from the countries on the list filled my heart with laughter, love, anger, hope and fear. Lands that had once seemed exotic and remote became close and familiar to me. At its best, I learned, reading makes the world real. 51. The author realized she was not a learned person when she found _____. A. she could do nothing but read books B. she had never been to Indian and Australian
C. she didn’t have any translated books. D. she could only read simple English stories
52. What was the challenge the author set for herself? A. Reading books from nearly 200 countries in a year. B. Creating a blog to offer help to other readers. C. Looking for publications to publish her own books. D. Giving some suggestions on learning English.
53. It was not easy to find the books mainly because _____.
A. there were too few translations in the UK B. the readers were unwilling to offer help
C. the author had no time and no chance to do it
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D. the writers didn’t want to publish their books
54. We can infer that by reading the books from other countries, the author feels _____.
A. bored and regretful B. thankful and pitiful C. calm and peaceful D. satisfied and rewarded
B
Are you competitive enough to make it in America? There is an undeniable excitement about coming to study in the US, but it’s not all excitement.
Yes, it is America; it is the land of freedom; it's the place where different cultures clash ... and live together in peace. However, you guys might agree with me. it's not easy to leave home and the security of family, friends and people who love and care about us. And doing it raises some questions:
Is it worth it? Are you equal to the challenge? You might be sitting in front of your computer watching a documentary about America, which shows you the breathtaking views of skyscrapers in New York, the beautiful warm weather in San Diego, and the huge parties along the beaches of the Sunshine State, Florida.
Just as you know, it's all true. I remember how my heart was racing the first time I visited Times Square in New York. I can't find any words in the dictionary to describe how I felt at that moment. Some day, when you get lucky and go there, you will know what I mean.
Unfortunately, TV and movies never show the other side of what students must do to survive America.
Education in the States is really different from other places. Yes, there is the traditional A, B, C, and D grading system, and you get to be on the Dean's List if you have all A's on your transcript. However, these grades don't just come from your test performances. The requirements of classes in the US are much more varied and this is the biggest adjustment that overseas students have to manage.
Some have papers that you have to write every week; others have group projects you must do with your classmates, presentations you make in the class, or research you do by yourself to prove your own idea. There comes a night when you have a couple
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of projects for different classes, a paper, and an exam to study for. And that night you ask yourself, “What did I get myself into？”
I'm not trying to intimidate you, but you should know what it really is like to study in the States. One thing I can promise you is that it is worth all the hard work you put in. And the more time you give to your study, the more open doors you will have by the time you finish your degree. 55. The author wrote this passage to _____. A. help readers prepare for studying in the US. B. warn people of the dangers of living in the US. C. promote the US education system to overseas students. D. make readers understand the benefits of studying in the US. 56. According to the author, America is _____.
A. a place that he could not get used to B. a country where students can learn freely
C. a dangerous place to live in without family or friends D. a place where people from different backgrounds get on well 57. When the author first visited Times Square, he felt _____. A. disappointed B. surprised C. excited D. nervous
58. According to the passage, which of the following is most challenging? A. Attending all the classes B. Getting all A's in the tests
C. Writing papers every week D. Balancing different study requirements
C
The French have always loved Apple. Its elegant products and smart operating system, and its struggles against IBM and Microsoft in the 1980s, are especially appealing in a country that prides itself on being fashionable, clever and revolutionary. Apple’s two stores in central Paris lie in locations that are dear to French hearts—under the Louvre and directly opposite the Opera.
But the love affair is fading—in official circles at any rate—as concerns grow that the technology giant’s market control does harm to a business in which French companies have been successful: designing applications for mobile devices. The
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government has complained Apple’s eviction (逐出) from its application store of a popular product developed by a French start-up firm—AppGratis. AppGratis offeres its users one free application a day, charging developers for making products known to a wider audience.
Simon Dawlat, the boss of AppGratis, thinks the application performs a valuable service in providing “a continuous stream of editorial picks” of the highest quality from the complex world of applications. Around 12 million people have downloaded AppGratis, he says, and perhaps a quarter of them at least consider the chosen application each day. First marketed outside France in 2012, AppGratis has at times been the most popular free entertainment download for devices running Apple’s iOS operating system in 78 countries including the United States, according to App Annie, a market-research firm. In early 2013 AppGratis had raised more than $13 million for an expansion that has now been put on hold.
Apple says AppGratis disobeyed its bans on promoting other publishers’ products and on using “push” notifications (通知) for paid marketing. Apple dislikes apps that serve as shopfronts for other ones. It worries that “app-discovery” products can help developers with deep pockets move their applications up the league tables and disturb the market. So it is rather puzzling that a version of AppGratis for iPads was approved less than a week before the mobile-phone version was evicted from the app store, and that other app-discovery applications are still available there. Perhaps AppGratis was growing too popular too quickly and that was its real fault.
Fleur Pellerin, France’s digital-economy minister, blamed Apple on April 11th for its cruel treatment of AppGratis and spoke of tightening the regulation of giant Internet firms, in France and at European Union level. The country’s competition authority is looking into the relationship between app stores—Google’s no less than Apple’s—and developers. The French have a lengthening list of grievances (抱怨) against the Internet giants, including their failure to pay serious taxes, the refusal of Microsoft’s Skype to register as a telecoms operator and Twitter’s refusing to name those behind an outburst of racists. Ms Pellerin may not manage to cut them down to size; others have tried and failed. But for Apple and France,
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at least, it is looking increasingly like the end of the affair. 59. Paragraph 2 mainly illustrates ____.
A. Apple’s products have a significant place in French electronic market B. the fierce competition between Apple and AppGratis
C. AppGratis’s future development problems D. France and Apple has had conflict
60. What can been inferred from Paragraph 3?
A. AppGratis is a branch company of Apple. B. AppGratis develops very well in France.
C. AppGratis’ new application is considered a threat to Apple. D. The products of AppGratis are considered of low quality by Apple.
61. In the last paragraph, many big Internet companies are mentioned to show that _____.
A. French government is starting a new supervision policy toward these companies B. these companies must cooperate with French companies to seek development C. the development of these companies prevents that of French domestic companies D. big digital companies are facing a brighter future in France
D
For years I fought with the bird's nest that sat on top of my head—my Medusa (神话中的蛇发女妖) hair, a composition of frizz (卷曲的头发) and giant ringlets (垂下的长卷发) that in no way could be tamed.
Growing up in a Russian-Jewish home with parents who thought North American styling products were similar to illegal substances such as heroin, I was never allowed to put them in my hair.
“Why buy gel (凝胶)? Your hair is so beautiful naturally,\my mother would say. However, from boys not wanting to kiss me when we played spin the bottle in Grade 7 to being called “the mop”, I suffered for my hair.
When I got to university, I believed my frizzy hair was something that stood between me and everything—finding an internship (实习期), getting a boyfriend.
Then, in my second year, a miracle happened. I was asked to be a hair model for
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