C
James Blunt is one of the most popular singers in the UK. His first album, Back to Bedlam, and his number one hit, You’re Beautiful, brought him fame in 2005. his music is a mix of pop, rock and folk.
Blunt comes to China for the first time this month, he will hold two concerts, one in Beijing and one in Shanghai on April 18 and 19 respectively.
Blunt, 34, took an unusual path to stardom. His father was a soldier and so was his grandfather.
“The only music he heard growing up was Happy Birthday and Silent Night. His father considered all music, even classical, to be unnecessary noise,’ reads Blunt’s official website.
Even though Blunt did not want to join the military, he eventually followed his father’s wishes, and served as a soldier in Kosovo on peacekeeping duty.
“Like any parents, mine wanted me to have a secure job with a regular wage and career prospects,” Blunt said. “And the one job my father knew of, that he’d had experience of himself, was the army, so he could help me in that direction.”
Blunt eventually became a Captain. One of his final duties in the army before retirement was carrying the coffin(棺材) at the funeral of the Queen Mother of England in 2002.
But Blunt couldn’t escape his love for music. So, after leaving the British Army he moved to Los Angeles and worked on his first album. While in LA, Blunt lived with the actress Carrie Fisher, who played the lead female role in the Star Wars movie. He recorded his song, Goodbye My Lover, in his bathroom, where he kept a piano.
Blunt took his new album back to England where it was not very successful. But he kept performing and eventually his song, You’re Beautiful, became a number one hit.
Now Blunt has won numerous awards, sold millions of records and dated super models.
But his greatest accomplishment might be that his father now enjoys music!
59. All of the following belongs to Blunt EXCEPT__________.
A. Back to Bedlam B. Silent Night
C. Goodbye My Lover D. You’re Beautiful
60. Which of the following proves “Blunt took an unusual path to stardom”?
A. Blunt was 34 when be became famous.
B. Blunt recorded his most famous song in a bathroom.
C. Blunt’s father wanted him to have a secure job.
D. Blunt began to pursue a career in music after military service.
61. We can infer from the passage that __________.
A. Blunt is living in Los Angeles at present
B. Blunt rose to fame two years after he left the army
C. Blunt became successful immediately he recorded his first song
D. Blunt has changed his father’s attitude towards music
62. What is the passage mainly about?
A. Blunt’s visit to China B. Blunt’s military life.
C. How Blunt became famous D. How Blunt father fell in love with music.
科目:高中英语 来源:2013届浙江省金华一中高三4月月考英语试卷(带解析) 题型:阅读理解
Last week Adele's second album, 21, sold 257,000 copies in the UK, a sales figure that would look incredible as an opening sales week for any album by any global superstar. The fact that the album was celebrating its 10th week at No.1, and that each of the previous nine weeks it had sold over 100,000 copies, makes what Adele has achieved look miraculous. The last female singer to spend that long at No.1 in the UK was Madonna in 1990 with her greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection.
For Adele, the success of 21 is part of a perfect storm of talent, timing and a connection that went beyond gender, age and credibility. But what does it say about the state of the music industry? Does Adele's success signal a return to the MOR(适合大众口味的音乐) musical depression, when the likes of James Blunt dominated the charts? Her success may well lead to a great many similar acts aiming for an MOR audience, but that's more the fault of an industry desperate to recreate any kind of success by creating poor copies until the world shouts "stop now".
What seems to have set Adele apart is her apparent ordinariness, besides that incredible voice. While Gaga parades around in a dress made of meat and Beyonce orbits a world out of touch to the majority of most human beings, Adele's chain-smoking, girl-you'd-like-to-go-to-the-pub-with persona stands out. Even for a British act, her ordinariness goes against trend, with fellow Jessie J adopting a very American habit of over-emoting, talking about a "journey" and making the idea of being a pop star seem fairly difficult.
It's this universality and broad appeal that's helped her translate talent into sales. While the first single from 21, Rolling in the Deep, appealed to Radio 1 listeners and bloggers, the second single, Someone Like You, is so successful that silenced the grand O2 Arena during this year's Brit Awards. The press can write pages and pages in that there's enough of a connection of musicians – Rick Rubin worked on the album, there's a cover of the Cure, Mumford & Sons were an influence – while the gossip magazines have been excited by the fact that the album is one long break-up record, eager to find the ex.
In 1990, Madonna was a global superstar with a back catalogue of era-defining hits to her name. She was untouchable and, tellingly, unknowable. She was (and still is) a megastar, but a megastar of a different age. These days, we want to know a bit more about our artists; that they have relationship problems, walk their dog. Her selling point and appeal is precisely the fact that she exists at the point between everyday ordinariness and pop star.
For now, Adele's success should be celebrated, especially for becoming an unlikely global star on her own terms. The danger is that we're headed for a lot of fairly boring pop, a situation that led to the "birth" of Gaga a few years back. Pop goes in cycles and it feels like we're headed back towards the very middle of MOR.
【小题1】Adele’s achievement seems unbelievable for the reason that ____________.
A.the sales of her second album achieved an incredible success last week in the UK |
B.her second album ranked first in a row with the incredible average sales per week |
C.Madonna was the last female singer in the UK to stay at No. 1 as long as she did |
D.she is such an ordinary singer with so fascinating a voice in the music industry |
A.to a large extent depends on her apparent talent for music |
B.is because of her extraordinariness and the wonderful voice |
C.lies in gift, timing and something beyond sex, age and trust |
D.is largely due to the state of the music industry currently |
A.She stands out in a totally different way from Gaga and Beyonce. |
B.She and Madonna are contemporary megastars in music. |
C.Only she and Madonna spent that long at No.1 in the UK. |
D.Jessie J and she both have an American habit of expressing themselves. |
A.Her musical talent. |
B.The joint work of musicians in the album. |
C.Her incredible voice. |
D.Her universality and broad appeal. |
A.satisfying | B.disappointing | C.dangerous | D.desperate |
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科目:高中英语 来源:2011-2012学年湖南省望城一中高二下学期期末考试英语试卷(带解析) 题型:阅读理解
Directions: Read the following passage. Fill in the numbered blanks by using the information from the passage. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.
Garlic (大蒜) is one of the most common spices of the kitchen, and the good news is that growing garlic indoors is simple. Garlic can be easily grown at home from individual cloves (瓣), which is the most commonly used form of cultivating garlic than growing garlic from seeds. Here are some useful tips on growing garlic indoors.
Autumn is the best time to plant garlic. Garlic requires enough time to develop strong roots. In warmer climate, it can be delayed to late winter or early spring.
Ensure the container used to grow garlic is large enough for the roots to have enough space to grow. The larger the size of the container, the healthier and bigger the garlic bulbs (鳞茎) will be. The container should also have holes at the bottom so that the water can drain (流走) out easily.
Sow each clove vertically into the soil at a depth of one inch. Ensure that the bluntend (平端) is facing downward. In case of container gardening, the number of cloves to be sowed in each container depends on the size of the container. In case you are planning to sow more than one clove in each container, make sure that each clove is at least 5 inches apart from others.
For the best growth of the garlic plant, choose a sunny spot where there is enough air circulation (流通). This will aid evaporation (蒸发) of too much amount of water and prevent the soil from becoming too damp in case too much watering does occur. Window sill (窗台) is a good place to put your container of garlic plant.
Once the clove has been sowed, cover the soil with a layer of mulch (覆盖物) to protect the roots from extreme cold. Provide fertilizer at the correct time in right amounts, and proper watering. Once the garlic tips start appearing in the spring season, pull back the layer of mulch. Feed the plants once or twice every month with fertilizer.
Items | (1) on growing garlic indoors. |
Time | ● It’s best to plant garlic in (2) ● In warmer climate, it’s also suitable to plant garlic in late winter or early spring. |
Container | ● Be large enough to (3) with enough space to grow. ● Have holes at the bottom to (4) the water to drain out easily. |
Sowing | ● Sow each clove vertically into the soil one inch (5) . ● Ensure that the blunt end is facing (6) . ● Ensure that each clove is at least 5 inches apart from others in a container. |
Place | ●Choose a sunny spot like window sill having enough(7) to aid evaporation of too much amount of water. |
Care | ●Cover the soil with a layer of mulch to(8) from extreme cold after sowing the clove. ● Provide right amounts of fertilizer at the correct time. ● Water the clove (9) . ● (10) the layer of mulch once the garlic tips start appearing. ● Use fertilizer to feed the plants once or twice a month. |
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科目:高中英语 来源:2014届吉林长春外国语学校高二下学期期中考试英语卷(解析版) 题型:其他题
用下列单词或短语的适当形式填空(
每小题1分,满分10分)
。
sympathetic temperament intense prolific channel go too far blunt delete specific intricately |
1.If you make a mistake, use the __________ button to erase backwards.
2.I think you guys _______ by saying he is selfish before other guys.
3.These early works evidence van Gogh's _________ desire to express the misery and poverty of humanity as he saw it among the miners in Belgium.
4.This report offered the most_______ and accurate description of the problems.
5.The__________ writer wrote a large number of novels.
6.Water is________ through a series of irrigation canals.
7.Under the care of a __________ doctor, whose portrait he painted (Dr Gachet,1890), van Gogh spent three months at Auvers.
8.A whole lot of_______ carved sculptures are displayed in the British Museum.
9.Julian's_______ words hurt me.
10.Born in 1853, van Gogh was the son of a Dutch Protestant minister. Early in life he displayed a moody _______ that was to thwart his every pursuit.
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科目:高中英语 来源:20102011山东莱州一中高三5月适应性模拟练习二英语试题 题型:阅读理解
Ants have a reputation for strength,organization and teamwork.But researchers have now discovered that a key secret to the success of ants is their ability to identify the importance of age in the work place.
A study of Gentral American leaf-cutter ants has shown that the younger and stronger members are give the toughest job of cutting therough the leaves they harvest.Their sharp youn teeth do this job effectively,but as they get older their teeth become relatively worn and blunt.
But rather than being retired or abandoned by the group,the ageing ants are given a new role more suyted to their physical abilities.They become carriers and teansport the leaves back to the kingdom where they are harvested for food.
The findings by researchers from the University of Oregon and the Oregong State University support previous research showin the survival of a leaf-cutter kingdom depends on the efficiency(效率)of is workers.
“Cuting leaves is hard work,”said Dr.Robert Schofield,who led the research team.“Much of the cutting is done with a V-shaped blade(刀片)between teeth on their jaws.This blade starts out as sharp as the sharpest razor blade that humans have developed.”But over rime the teeth become blunter and the cutting job slows down.The team estimated that,because of this age-related wear,a colony(蚁群)spent twice the energy cutting leaves than it would if all the ants had sharp blades.Its findings support the idea that wear and break can be significant problems for insects as well as largre animals.
Like humans,leaf-cuttre ant recognize that older members of the group can still make a worhwhile contribution to society.“This study shows an advantage of social living that we are familiar with,”said Dr.Schofield.
1.The younger and stronger ants do the toughest job because .
A.they can teansport the leaves effectively |
B.they have a sharp blade to cut leaves |
C.other members are busy with other work |
D.they can finish the job in a better organized way |
2.The undrelined word“blunt”in the second paragraph can be replaced by .
A.quite loose |
B.less sharp |
C.quite fragile |
D.more dirty |
3.What happens to the ants when they become old?
A.They no longer hve work to do. |
B.They keep doing the same work. |
C.They have to leave and live on themselves. |
D.They are given a new worthwhile job. |
4.It can be learned from the passage that .
A.Dr.Schofield is the first to research leaf-cuttre ants |
B.older ants are more powerful in carrying leaves |
C.large animals can also suffer from some kind of wear |
D.leaf-cutter ants are the most lever ants in the world |
5.What can be the best title for the passage?
A.The key secret to the success of ants |
B.The developed structure of ant colony |
C.The most challenging job for leaf-cutter ants |
D.No V-shaped blade,no success of ants |
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