He spoke for quite a while, but I was _____________ puzzled about what he said.

1. A.
   not a little
2. B.
   not too
3. C.
   not a bit
4. D.
   too much

 He spoke for quite a while, but I was _____________ puzzled about what he said.

  A. not a little             B. not too                     C. not a bit            D. too much

A recent survey of teachers found that an unhealthy passion with celebrity culture is having a negative impact on British students’ studies and it discovered that celebrity couple, the Beckhams, are the favorites among most students. Many students are ignoring building their own careers to seek a chance at fame instead, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) survey found.

Almost two-thirds of teachers said sports stars were the type of celebrity many pupils wanted to follow while more than half of students wanted to be pop stars.

The survey said the celebrities that students aspired to mostly were David and Victoria Beckham who live in Los Angeles now. Soccer player Beckham is on the top of the survey while in second place, with almost a third of the survey’s votes, was his 33-year-old pop star wife.

Almost half of the 300 teachers surveyed said pupils tried to look like or behave like the celebrities they most admired, with some girls even dressing "unsuitably".

"We are not surprised about the influence of celebrity culture in schools —it reflects the current media passion with celebrities and the effect of celebrity culture on society as a whole," ATL general secretary Mary Bousted said in a statement.

"Celebrities can have a positive effect on pupils. They can raise pupils’ aspirations and desires for the future. However, celebrity culture can spread the idea that celebrity status is the greatest achievement and reinforce the belief that other career choices are not as valuable," said one primary school teacher. "Too many of the pupils believe that school success is unnecessary, because they will be able to get fame and fortune quite easily through a reality TV show."

The story mainly tells us that ______.

  A. the Beckhams are mostly admired in Britain

  B. most students think that being pop stars is more valuable than other career achievements

  C. the celebrity passion has a harmful impact upon British students’ studies

  D. a survey was made recently about the popularity of the stars

According to the survey, Victoria Beckham ______.

  A. is a pop star most students admire

  B. goes in the second place of the celebrities admired

  C. won two-thirds of the votes

  D. lives in New York now

Why does the author mention that pupils tried to look like or behave like the celebrities they most admired, with some girls even dressing “unsuitably”?

  A. The pupils think it interesting to pretend to be the celebrities.

  B. The behavior or the dress of celebrities can be followed as examples.

C. The author wants to show the negative influence these celebrities had on the students.

D. The author just wants to show being pop stars is very valuable to the students.

What is not TRUE according to the story?

  A. Celebrities can’t have positive impact on the students.

  B. Beckham and Victoria are husband and wife.

C. The so-called celebrity culture does harm to the pupils’ ideas about achievement.

  D. Many students believe that school success is unnecessary.

The best title of the story is _____.

 Sports Star David Beckham 

B. Survey of Students about Celebrities

C Harmful Effect of Celebrities on Students 

D. Better to Be Pop Stars Than Sports Stars

A little boy invited his mother to attend his school’s first teacher-parent meeting. To the little boy’s __1__, she said she would go. This __2__ be the first time that his classmates and teacher __3__ his mother and he felt __4__ of her appearance. Although she was a beautiful woman, there was a severe scar (疤痕) that __5__ nearly the entire right side of her face. The boy never wanted to __6__ why or how she got the scar.

At the meeting, the people were __7__ by the kindness and natural beauty of his mother __ 8__ the scar, but the little boy was still embarrassed (尷尬) and __9 __ himself from everyone. He did, however, get within __10__of a conversation between his mother and his teacher.

The teacher asked __11__, “How did you get the scar on your face?”

The mother replied, “__12__ my son was a baby, he was in a room that caught fire. Everyone was __13__ afraid to go in because the fire was __14__，so I went in. As I was running toward his bed, I saw a long piece of wood coming down and I placed myself over him trying to protect him. I was knocked __15__ but fortunately, a fireman came in and saved both of us.” She __16__ the burned side of her face. “This scar will be __17__, but to this day, I have never __18__ what I did.”

At this point, the little boy came out running toward his mother with tears in his eyes. He held her in his arms and felt a great __19__ of the sacrifice (犧牲) that his mother had made for him. He held her hand __20__ for the rest of the day.

1. A. enjoyment   B. disappointment  C. surprise    D. excitement

2. A. would     B. could             C. should      D. must

3. A. noticed   B. greeted            C. accepted  D. met

4. A. sick      B. ashamed           C. afraid    D. tired

5. A. included    B. passed          C. covered       D. shaded

6. A. talk about   B. think about C. care about    D. hear about

7. A. impressed  B. surprised    C. excited    D. comforted

8. A. in sight of   B. by means of    C. by way of D. in spite of

9. A. hid   B. protected  C. separated   D. escaped

10. A. understanding    B. reminding   C. hearing   D. learning

11. A. carefully  B. seriously    C. nervously   D. anxiously

12. A. As    B. When     C. Since     D. While

13. A. so     B. much C. quite   D. too

14. A. out of control B. under control C. in control  D. over control

15. A. helpless   B. hopeless    C. senseless  D. useless

16. A. pointed    B. showed    C. wiped   D. touched

17. A. ugly       B. lasting     C. serious     D. frightening

18. A. forgot  B. recognized  C. considered    D. regretted

19. A. honor    B. sense     C. happiness   D. pride

20. A. quietly   B. slightly     C. tightly    D. suddenly

A new research has uncovered that culture is a determining factor when interpreting facial emotions （情感）．The study reveals that in cultures where emotional control is the standard, such as Japan, focus is placed on the eyes to interpret emotions．Whereas in cultures where emotion is  openly expressed, such as the United States, the focus is on the mouth to interpret emotion．

       "These findings go against the popular theory that the facial expressions of basic emotions can be universally recognized," said University of Alberta researcher Dr．Takahiko Masuda．"A person's culture plays a very strong role in determining how they will read emotions and needs to be considered when interpreting facial expression．"

       These cultural differences are even noticeable in computer emoticons （情感符號）, which are used to convey a writer's emotions over email and text messaging．The Japanese emoticons for happiness and sadness vary in terms of how the eyes are drawn, while American emoticons vary with the direction of the mouth．In the United States the emoticons :） and :-） show a happy face, whereas the emoticons  : （ or : -（  show a sad face．However, Japanese tend to use the symbol （ ' ' ） to indicate a happy face, and （ ;_; ）to indicate a sad face．

       "We think it is quite interesting and appropriate that a culture tends to mask its emotions．The Japanese would focus on a person's eyes when determining emotion, as eyes tend to be quite subtle （微妙的）," said Masuda．"In the United States, where open emotion is quite common, it makes sense to focus on the mouth, which is the most expressive feature on a person's face．"

The text mainly tells us that __________．

       A．cultural differences are expressed in emotions

       B．culture is the key to interpreting facial emotions

       C．different emoticons are preferred in different cultures

       D．people from different cultures express emotions differently

Which emoticon is used by Americans to show a happy face?

       A．（;_;）            B．:-）         C．:-（                D．: （

If a Japanese wants to detect whether a smile is true or false, he will probably_______．

       A．read the whole face  B．focus on the mouth

       C．look into the eyes    D．judge by the voice

People used to believe that _______．

       A．some facial expressions of emotions were too complex to be recognized

       B．people in the world interpreted basic emotions in different ways

       C．people could only recognize the facial expressions of basic emotions

       D．people all over the world understood basic emotions in the same way