C. more detailed D. more formal
27. Though the social problems Jerry Springer talks about appear unpleasant, people who watch the show _______. A. show disbelief in them B. are ready to face up to them C. remain cold to them
D. are willing to get away from them
28. Which of the following is likely to be a topic of the Oprah Winfrey show? A. A new type of robot.
B. National hatred. D. Street accident.
C. Family income planning.
29. We can learn from the passage that the two talk shows _______. A. have become the only ones of its kind B. exploit the weaknesses in human nature C. appear at different times of the day D. attract different people
30. What is the advantage of the Jerry Springer show? A. The show exposes the dark side of society. B. The show pours poisonous waste into society. C. Jerry sums up the whole idea of the show. D. Jerry talks about the improvement of society.
（B）
Two-thirds of Britons cannot say anything in a foreign language—with one fifth even unsure of what “bonjour” means, a study claims.
Overall, 64 percent of those polled admitted they did not know a single word in any language other than English. And just one third said they were willing to make an attempt at speaking a foreign language while on holiday.
One fifth did not know the meaning of the French word for hello, one of the most recognizable foreign greetings in the world. And 63 percent had no idea what the Dutch word “goedemorgen” meant, despite the obvious similarities to our own “good morning”.
Young Britons were found to be worst at making the effort, with nearly half of those aged 16 to 24 admitting they have never spoken the foreign language they learned at school. But 45 percent of the over-55s said they liked to try to speak the local language when abroad, the poll of 2, 000 adults by travel website Hotels. com found.
It is compulsory for all pupils to study a foreign language up to the age of 14 and French, German and Spanish are all on the national curriculum. Yet only one in ten of those polled considered themselves able to speak one of them.
Of these, a quarter could ask only “everyday questions”, 21 percent said they were limited to “hello” and “goodbye”, and one in fifty claimed they could understand everything said to them in another language, but were unable to reply.
Reasons for not trying to speak a local language included not being bothered, fear of making a mistake or expecting hosts to be able to speak English. 31. What’s the best title of the passage?
A. Two in three Britons cannot speak a foreign language B. The Britons take great pride in their language
C. English is still the most important language in the world D. The reasons why Britons don’t speak foreign languages
32. Which has the similar meaning with the underlined word “goedemorgen”（Para. 3）? A. hello
B. greeting D. good morning
C. happy
33. Who are more unwilling to speak a foreign language? A. the middle aged C. the children
B. the old D. the youth
34. Which is NOT the reason why Britons don’t speak a foreign language? A. They are afraid of making mistakes when they speak foreign languages. B. They are too busy with daily affairs to spare any time to learn. C. They expect that the people in other countries can speak English. D. They don’t want to be disturbed by other languages or accents. 35. What can we learn from the passage?
A. Most British people are willing to make an attempt at speaking a foreign language. B. More than half of the British like to speak the local language when abroad.
C. Studying a foreign language is compulsory in the school in Britain. D. One fiftieth of the British can understand a foreign language and reply.
(C)
［2012广州模拟］
●Ms Tan, you’ve referred to your new novel as your eighth book.
That’s because it took me six or seven attempts at a second novel before I started and completed this one.
●Why do you think you had so many false starts?
I would say that my reasons were wrong: I was trying to prove that I wasn’t just a mother-daughter storyteller, or I was trying to prove that I didn’t just have to write about things that were strictly Chinese or Chinese-American. Those were never the right reasons for writing those early stories. And I could never come up with others, better reasons for continuing them.
●What kept you going on this book?
This book was different because it was based on my mother’ s real life. The reason for writing it became more personal and emotional. After The Joy Luck Club came out, my mother was always explaining to people that she wasn’t any of the mothers in that book. And at one point she said to me, “Next book tells my true story. ” And then she started telling me things I never knew before. She also told me many, many stories，because my mother doesn’t generalize. The book really grew out of that.
●Have you ever visited China?
Yes. I’ve been there twice:about three years ago and then again last November, both times with my mother and my husband.
●Was it difficult to capture the Chinese-American dialect without sounding like a parody(拙劣的模仿)?
No, because it’ s the language I’ve heard all my life from my mother. She speaks English as it’s direct translation from Chinese. But it’s more than that: Her language also has more imagery than English.
●Can you think of an example?
Somebody might say to me, “Don’t work so hard. You’ll kill yourself. ” My mother will say to me，“Why do you press all your brains out on this page for someone else？” So it’ s very vivid. That’ s the way she talks.
●Have many readers told you that the Chinese mother in your book reminded them of the typical Jewish mother?
Many people have told me that. I think the mother-daughter relationship is very intense in both cases. Culturally there is an acceptance that mothers have the power to tell their children, especially their daughters, how to conduct their lives—not simply up until the time they are 18, but for the rest of their lives. However, when children grow up in a different culture from their parents’， they tend to keep more secrets from their parents. The children think, “They just wouldn’t understand that I had to do this. ” And that can really create a gap, and it can grow as the number of secrets grows.
36. Based on the questions in this interview, what do you think Ms Tan’ s profession