Ang Lee won the Best Director Oscar for his adventure film Life of Pi at the 85th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California February 24, 2013.

　　Life of Pi shows a young Indian named Pi, who finds the world he knows swept away when his family sells their zoo and sets sail for Canada with a few animals. Only Pi escapes from the storm and floats in a lifeboat with a giant Bengal tiger.

　　“I really want to thank you for believing this story and sharing this unbelievablejourney with me,” Lee said in his speech. The film also won three other Oscars, for best original music, best cinematography(電影藝術(shù)) and best visual(視覺(jué)) effects. It won more awards than Lincoln and Argo which were also among the hottest nominees.

　　Coming from China's Taiwan, the 58-year-old Lee won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2001 for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and another for Best Director in 2006 for Brokeback Mountain. He is the only person of Asian to win the directing award and one of the rare people who won that award more than once.

In an after-ceremony interview, Lee said he believed Asian films would come to the main stage of the world sooner or later. "I was born in Asia and grew up with Chinese education. It is natural for me to put Asian thinking into Western things." The film, which cost 120 million U.S. dollars, has earned nearly 600 million dollars worldwide. Lee said most of the earnings came from outside China. Lee said he felt warm that he won the award on the day of the Lantern Festival, a Chinese traditional festival on which families get together to solve puzzles on lanterns and eat Tang Yuan. He wished everyone a happy new year of the snake and everybody gets lucky.

1.What kind of film does Life of Pi belong to?

A．Comedies.                             B．Tragedies.

C．Detective films.                         D．Adventure films.

2.So far, how many Oscar directing awards has Ang Lee won?

A．One.                                 B．Two.

C．Three.                                D．Four.

3.How do Chinese people celebrate the Lantern Festival?

A．Families get together and have rice dumplings.

B．Children make lanterns out of big orange pumpkins.

C．People solve puzzles on lanterns and enjoy Tang Yuan.

D．Children go to the display of lanterns and receive red packets.

4.What can we know from the passage?

A．The 85th Academy Awards was held in Hollywood, California this year.

B．Pi was a young American who had an adventure trip with a tiger in India.

C．Lincoln and Argo won more awards than Life of Pi.

D．Asian films have come to the main stage of the world.

5.Which of the following about Life of Pi is true?

A．It was a great success as it won four Oscars.

B．It earned nearly 600 million dollars in China.

C．It describes Pi’s escape from a terrible earthquake.

D．It is the only successful film Ang Lee has ever made.

 

Short and shy, Ben Saunders was the last kid in his class picked for any sports team. "Football, tennis Cricket — anything with a round ball, I was useless." he says now with a laugh. But back then he was the object of jokes in school gym classes in England's rural Devonshire.

It was a mountain bike he received for his 15^th birthday that changed him. At first the teen went biking alone in a nearby forest. Then he began to cycle along with a runner friend. Gradually, Saunders set his mind building up his body, increasing his speed, strength and endurance. At age 18, he ran his first marathon.

The following year, he met John Ridgway, who became famous in the 1960s for rowing an open boat across the Atlantic Ocean. Saunders was hired as an instructor at Ridgway's school of Adventure in Scotland, where he learned about the older man's cold-water exploits (成就). Intrigued, Saunders read all he could about Arctic explorers and North Pole expeditions, then decided that this would be his future. Journeys to the Pole aren't the usual holidays for British country boys, and many people dismissed his dream as fantasy. "John Ridgway was one of the few who didn't say, 'You are completely crazy,'" Saunders says.

In 2001, after becoming a skilled skier, Saunders started his first long-distance expedition toward the North Pole. He suffered frostbite, had a closer encounter (遭遇) with a polar bear and pushed his body to the limit.

Saunders has since become the youngest person to ski alone to the North Pole, and he's skied more of the Arctic by himself than any other Briton. His old playmates would not believe the transformation.

This October, Saunders, 27, heads south to explore from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back, an 1800-mile journey that has never been completed on skis.

1.The turning point in Saunders' life came when ________.

A．he started to play ball games

B．he got a mountain bike at age 15

C．he ran his first marathon at age 18

D．he started to receive Ridgway's training

2.We can learn from the text that Ridgway ________.

A．dismissed Saunders' dream as fantasy

B．built up his body together with Saunders

C．hired Saunders for his cold-water experience

D．won his fame for his voyage across the Atlantic

3.What do we know about Saunders?

A．He once worked at a school in Scotland.

B．He followed Ridgway to explore the North Pole.

C．He was chosen for the school sports team as a kid.

D．He was the first Briton to ski alone to the North Pole.

4.The underlined word "Intrigued" in the third paragraph probably means ________.

A．Excited

B．Convinced

C．Delighted

D．Fascinated

5.It can be inferred that Saunders' journey to the North Pole ________.

A．was accompanied by his old playmates

B．set a record in the North Pole expedition

C．was supported by other Arctic explorers

D．made him well-known in the 1960s

 

     It is September first today. A new school year begins. Hu Ming gets up early. He puts on the nicest clothes. After a quick breakfast he says goodbye to his parents and leaves with a new school bag. His mother wants to take him to his school. but he doesn't let her do so.

      "The school is less than a hundred meters from here. I can walk there in two minutes. "There are a lot of people in the school this morning. Hu Ming finds Miss Wang in the teachers' office. She brings out a book and asks. "What's your name?"

      "Hu Ming. madam. "answers the boy.   

      "When were you born (出生) .

      "In 2001."

      "Where's your native place?

       "What does "native place "mean, please?

       "It means the place where you were born."

       "Oh. I see. It's the Beijing Maternity (婦產(chǎn)) Hospital.

  1. What is the date?

  2. How old is Hu Ming now?

  3. Is the school far from his home?

  4. What is Miss Wang?

  5. Does Hu Ming understand (理解) Miss Wang?

閱讀短文，回答下列問(wèn)題。

Every four years athletes from all over the world take part in the Olympic Games．Both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games are held every four years．The Winter Olympic Games are usually held two years before the Summer Olympic Games．The first modern Winter Olympic Games were held in 1924．

The Olympic spirit is "Faster，Higher，Stronger"．The ancient Olympic Games began around the year 776 BC in Greece．After about the year 393 AD the Olympic Games stopped．For centuries there were no Olympic Games．But they were not forgotten．In 1896．the first modern Summer Olympic Games happened in Greece-the country in which the Games were born．Since then more and more countries joined in the Games．China first took part in the Olympic Games in 1936．But we didn't win the first prize until 1984 in Los Angeles，USA．In 2000，over 10，000 athletes from nearly 200 countries went to Sydney，Australia，for the 27th Olympic Games．In Sydney the Chinese team got 28 gold medals，ranking third of all the competing countries．

Following the history making success in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games，China won another great competition in 2001  which was not for a medal．It was the competition between countries to host the Olympic Games．In 2008， the 29th Olympic Games will be held in Beijing．To make it the best ever Games，the capital city will make several big changes．New buildings and sports venues （比賽場(chǎng)地） will be built．More trees will be planted and new roads will be built．The people of Beijing，and of the whole country，will be preparing to light the Olympic torch to welcome athletes and sports fans from all over the world．

1．How many times have the Winter Olympic Games been held?

2．What is the Olympic spirit?

3．How was the Chinese team in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games?

4．What's the Chinese for the underlined part "light the Olympic torch"?

5．What are Chinese people doing to get ready for the 29th Olympic Games?

BEIJING--No Car Day was first started by 34 cities in France on September 22，1998．It was started to protect the environment．By now，more than 1，000 cities around the world have had a No Car Day．

The first No Car Day in China was in Chengdu in 2001．Other cities，including Taipei，Shanghai and Wuhan，also support（支持） the day．

In Beijing，more and more people are joining in the activity．It asks drivers to leave their cars at home for one day each month and walk or ride a bike to work．It also calls on Beijingers not to use cars on June 5 （World Environment Day）．The slogan （ 口號(hào)）for the day is，"If we drive for one less day，we can have one more nice day．"

So far，more than 200，000 drivers have shown their support．"We can't control the weather，but we can choose not to drive，"said Wu Zonghua，a ear club chairman．Beijing is trying to have 238 blue sky days this year．In the first quarter of this year，Beijing only had 52 blue sky days．This was 11 days less than the number for the same period last year．Much of the dust（灰塵） comes from the desert（沙漠） ，but cars cause most of the air pollution（污染）．We must do more for No Car Day．

1．There are _____cities in China that support No Car Day according to the passage．

A．three               B．four             C．five               D．six

2．The activity of No Car Day encourages Beijing drivers _______

A．not to work on No Car Day

B．to enjoy having a day off

C．to leave their cars at home for repair

D．to ride a bike or walk instead of driving to work

3．According to the passage there were _____blue sky days in the first quarter of last year in Beijing．

A．52                 B．63                C．41                          D．238

4．The air pollution in Beijing is mostly caused by _____

A．cars               B．dust             C．weather          D．rubbish

5．We can know from the passage that _____

A．more and more people in Beijing are joining car clubs

B．people will have one more World Environment Day each month

C．more and more people won't drive on No Car Day in Beijing

D．more people in the world won't drive any more