The insanely popular song from South Korean recording artist PSY has just become the most watched video on YouTube ever, gaining more than 808 million views on the popular media site.

The record was previously held by another pop heavyweight, Justin Bieber, whose song“Baby”had a little more than 804 million views at press time. PSY made the announcement early today.

Since its release，the song has outshone such other popular videos as Jennifer Lopez’s“On the Floor.”and Eminem’s“Love the Way You Lie”.

And in September，“Gangnam Style”also became the most liked video on YouTube，now with nearly 5.4 million thumbs up．

At the time of the announcement, the Guinness Book of World Records released a statement saying: “In years past it was unthinkable that something would be viewed a hundred million times, and now Gangnam Style has achieved more than twice this figure in just three months on YouTube. PSY，your certificate is waiting here at our office，come and pick it up any time!”

Despite its massive popularity, the video shows no signs of slowing down, and it even has a shot at becoming the first video to get more than one billion views.

If it maintains its current rate of around six million new views per day, “Gangnam Style”would be in line to break that record by the end of the year.

It has found its way to the tops of music charts in more than 30 countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain and Canada, while providing material for thousands of parody videos.

It became a staple in the 2012 presidential elections with the now ramous “Mitt Romney Style” video and was even used by the North Korean government in propaganda(宣传)films promoting their supreme leader. Meanwhile, such influential figures as President Obama, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt have all made mention of the hit song.

1.Which of the following ranks second in views on YouTube?

A．Gangnam Style．                       B．Baby．

C．On the Floor．                         D．Love the Way You Lie．

2.Which statement about Gangnam Style on YouTube is wrong?

A．It has become the most watched video．

B．It has become the most liked video．

C．It has won more than 5.4 million thumbs down．

D．It has more than two hundred million views in three months．

3.What does the statement made by the Guinness Book of World Records suggest?

A．Some video gained more views than Gangnam Style．

B．It is impossible that Gangnam Style should have 100 million views．

C．Guinness Book of World Records has recognized Gangnam Style’s achievements．

D．Guinness Book of World Records won’t believe Gangnam Style’s achievements．

4. Gangnam Style is to _______ if it keeps its current rate．

A．get more than one billion views

B．get more than two billion views

C．get more than 808 million Views

D．get one hundred million views

5.What can we learn about Gangnam Style from the last paragraph?

A．It is especially popular in developing countries.

B．It has played a part in the US presidential elections.

C．Few influential figures know it.

D．The supreme leader of North Korea has ever performed it.

 

The following diaries were written by an Australian boy named Tony. He was on holiday with his family in South Asia.

27 December, 2007 This morning I read an email about a boy in hospital looking for his father and I finally thought of a way to help. I took my camera to the hospital and took photos of the boy. Now I’m going to set up a website on my dad’s computer, upload the photos and add his name and information of the hospital. Hopefully it will help!

2 January, 2008 At the end of the trip, I learned that the boy found his father! His Swedish uncle saw the email on my webpage and arranged the meeting. Is it my website that has made such a success? But at least I’ve done something. We’re returning home tomorrow but I will remember the experience and tell my friends: No matter what we are. We can think of a way to help others.

1.Tony thought of the way to ______.

A．forget the experience                    B．take photos of the travelers

C．set up a website for the hospital            D．help the boy find his father

2.______ saw the email and photos on the webpage and arranged the meeting.

A．The boy’s uncle   B．Tony             C．Tony’s father      D．The doctor

3.Tony was more likely to be ______ in South Asia.

A．living             B．studying           C．shopping          D．traveling

4.It can be learned from the diaries that ______.

A．people are willing to set up websites

B．Tony’s father worked in the hospital there

C．people can do something to help each other

D．Tony went there to look for his family members

 

If you want to stay young, sit down and have a good think. This is the research finding of a team of Japanese doctors, who say that most of out brains are not getting enough exercise, and as a result, we are growing old unnecessarily soon.

Professor Taiju Matsuzawa wanted to find out why quite healthy farmers in northern Japan appeared to be losing their ability to think and reason at a rather early age, and how the speed of getting old could be slowed down.

With a team of researchers at Tokyo National University, he set about measuring brain sizes of a thousand people of different ages with different jobs.

Computer technology helped the researchers to get most exact measurements of the sizes of the front and side parts of the brain, which have something to do with thinking and feeling, and decide the human character. As we all know, the back part of the brain, which controls task like eating and breathing, does not contract(萎缩) with age.

Contraction of front and side parts, as cells(细胞) die off, was seen in some people in their thirties, but it was still not found in some sixty and seventy-year-olds.

Matsuzawa concluded from his tests that there is a simple way to prevent the contraction---using the head.

The findings show that contraction of the brain begins sooner in people in the country than those in the towns. Those with least possibility, says Matsuzawa, are lawyers, followed by university professors and doctors. White-collar workers doing the same work day after day in government offices are, however, as possible to have contracting brains as the farm workers, bus drivers and shop assistants.

1. The team of doctors wanted to find out ____.

   A. at what point people grow live longer. 

B. how to make people live longer

   C. the size of certain people’s brains.  

D. which group of people are the busiest

2.Their research findings are based on ______.c

   A. an examination of farmers in northern Japan 

B. using computer technology

   C. examining the brain sizes of different people 

D. tests given a thousand old people

3.The doctor’s tests show that ______.

   A. our brains contract as we grow older  

B. one part of the brain does not contract

   C. sixty-year-olds have better brains than thirty-year-olds

   D. contraction of the brain begins sooner in people in the country

4. According to the article, _____ are growing mentally old earlier.

   A. engineers    B. office clerks    C. professors    D. researchers

5.The most possible conclusion of the article is that ____.

   A. most of us should take more exercise  

B. it’s better to live in the towns

   C. the brain contracts if it is not used 

D. the more one uses his brain, the sooner he becomes old

 

 

I made a promise to myself on the way down to the vacation beach cottage. For two weeks I would try to be a loving husband and father. Totally loving. No ifs, ands or buts.
The idea had come to me as I listened to a talk on my car radio. The speaker was quoting a Biblical passage about husbands and their wives. Then he went on to say, “Love is an act of will. A person can choose to love.” To myself, I had to admit that I had been a selfish husband. Well, for two weeks that would change.
And it did. On arriving at the beach cottage, I kissed Evelyn meeting me at the door and said, “That new yellow sweater looks great on you.” “Oh, Tom, you noticed”, she said, surprised and pleased. Maybe a little puzzled. After the long drive, I wanted to sit and read. Evelyn suggested a walk on the beach. I started to refuse, but then I thought, “Evelyn’s been alone here with the kids all week and now she wants to be alone with me.” We walked on the beach while the children flew their kites.
So it went. Two weeks of not calling the Wall Street firm where I am a director; a visit to the shell museum though I usually hate museums. Relaxed and happy, that’s how the whole vacation passed. I made a new promise to keep on remembering to choose love.?
There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment, however. Evelyn and I still laugh about it today. On the last night at our cottage, preparing for bed, Evelyn stared at me with the saddest expression.
“What’s the matter?” I asked her.
“Tom,” she said in a voice filled with distress, “I don’t?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well…that checkup I had several weeks ago…our doctor…did he tell you something about me? Tom, you’ve been so good to me…am I dying?”
It took a moment for it all to be understood. Then I burst out laughing.
“No, honey,” I said, wrapping her in my arms. “You’re not dying; I’m just starting to live.”
【小题1】From the story we may infer that Tom drove to the beach cottage ______.

A．with his family

B．with Evelyn

C．alone

D．with his children

【小题2】During the two weeks on the beach, Tom showed more love to his wife because ______.

A．he was determined to be a good husband

B．he had made a lot of money in his Wall Street firm

C．she looked lovely in her new clothes

D．the doctor said his wife was seriously ill

【小题3】The author says, “There was one thing that went wrong with my experiment.” What does “one thing” refer to?

A．He praised her sweater, which puzzled her.

B．She insisted on visiting a museum, which he hated.

C．He knew something about her illness but didn’t tell her.

D．He was so good to her that she thought she must be dying.

The garden city was largely the invention of Ebenezer Howard (1850 – 1928). After immigrating from England to the USA, and an unsuccessful attempt to make a living as a farmer, he moved to Chicago, where he saw the reconstruction of the city after the disastrous fire of 1871. In those days, it was nicknamed "the Garden City", almost certainly the source of Howard's name for his later building plan of towns．Returning to London, Howard developed his design in the 1880s and 1890s, drawing on ideas that were popular at the time, but creating a unique combination of designs．

The nineteenth-century poor city was in many ways a terrible place, dirty and crowded; but it offered economic and social opportunities．At the same time, the British countryside was in fact equally unattractive: though it promised fresh air and nature, it suffered from agricultural depression（萧条）and it offered neither enough work and wages, nor much social life．Howard's idea was to combine the best of town and country in a new kind of settlement, the garden city．Howard's idea was that a group of people should set up a company, borrowing money to establish a garden city in the depressed countryside; far enough from existing cities to make sure that the land was bought at the bottom price．

Garden cities would provide a central public open space, radial avenues and connecting industries．They would be surrounded by a much larger area of green belt, also owned by the company, containing not merely farms but also some industrial institutions．As more and more people moved in, the garden city would reach its planned limit-Howard suggested 32,000 people; then, another would be started a short distance away．Thus, over time, there would develop a vast planned house collection, extending almost without limit; within it, each garden city would offer a wide rang of jobs and services, but each would also be connected to the others by a rapid transportation system, thus giving all the economic and social opportunities of a big city．

1.How did Howard get the name for his building plan of garden cities?

A. By using the nickname of the reconstructed Chicago．

B. Through his observation of the country life．

C. Through the combination of different ideas．

D. By taking other people's advice．

2.The underlined phrase "drawing on "in Paragraph 1 probably means______．

A．making comments on                 B．giving an explanation of                      

C．giving a description of                  D．making use of  

3.What can we learn about garden cities from the last paragraph?

A. Each one would continue to become larger

B. People would live and work in the same place

C. Their number would continue to rise

D. Each one would contain a certain type of business

4.What could be the best title for the passage?

A．City and Countryside

B．The Invention of the Garden City

C．A New City in Chicago

D．A Famous Garden City in England