British singer Sarah Brightman began training for a 2015 flight to the International Space Station where she hopes to become the first professional musician to sing from space, the company arranging the trip said on Tuesday.

Brightman, a famed soprano (女高音) who starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber' s "Phantom of the Opera" , will pay about $ 52 million for a 10-day stay aboard the orbital outpost, Tom Shelley, president of privately owned Space Adventures, said.

Brightman, who will become the eighth privately funded space tourist, is scheduled to fly in September 2015. Her training to fly on a Russian Soyuz capsule began last fall.

Brightman has planned to be the first professional musician to sing from space. But she faces competition from Lady Gaga, who, according to media reports late last year, intends to be the first when she performs one song in space in early 2015 on a Virgin Galactic flight. Virgin Galactic, part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, plans to offer suborbital(亞軌道的) space flights.

Brightman said in 2012 that she would travel to the space station, but her plans haven't been confirmed until now. So far. Space Adventures has arranged for nine private missions to the space station, a $ 100 billion research laboratory that flies about 260 miles above the earth. Microsoft co-founder Charles Simonyi made two trips.

Brightman will be the first private citizen to visit the station since Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Lalibarte paid about $ 35 million for an 11-day stay in September 2009.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin has an option to fly on the next available Soyuz seat after Brightman, which most likely will be in 2017, Shelley told Reuters.

1. What is the purpose of the passage?

A. To praise Brightman.

B. To persuade the readers that Brightman is more famous than Lady Gaga.

C. To instruct the readers how to begin a space flight.

D. To give some information about Brightman.

2. When did Brightman start training for her space travel?

A. Last winter. B. Last autumn.

C. Next spring. D. Next summer.

3. The underlined word "she" in Paragraph 4 refers to ____.

A. Brightman B. Lady Gaga

C. Andrew Lloyd Webber D. Tom Shelley

4. The fifth paragraph is mainly carried out ____.

A. in time order B. in space order

C. by giving examples D. by comparison

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來源：2014-2015學(xué)年內(nèi)蒙古呼倫貝爾市高三第二次模擬考試英語(yǔ)試卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解

Students in American schools learn from an early age to give presentations(演講) as part of their regular classroom activities. Children as young as five years old often give brief talks about objects they bring in to school – called “show and tell,” and this training is a basis for later public speaking. Even so, many native English-speaking adults are afraid to speak or give presentations in front of a large group.

Speaking English in public meetings is necessary for many students and employees. The best way to improve is to practice public speaking in a friendly environment. Learners need to receive feedback about what they are doing well and about their mistakes. One group that gives members the chance to practice is Toastmasters. Toastmasters is an international organization that holds weekly meetings. At the meetings, members each give a speech and give others advice about their speeches and speaking style.

Charles LeBeau is a public speaking professor and consultant. He began his career in Japan in 1982. Currently, he teaches at two universities and at the Toshiba International Training Center. He has also written books on the subject.

English language learners around the world use his book Speaking of Speech. Speaking of Speech tells about a method of teaching public speaking for non-native speakers. Mr. LeBeau says a simple approach helps English learners.

“The approach that I’ve taken is to simplify and break it down. First if we look at a presentation, what’s going on, there are basically three messages that the presenter is giving the audience, all simultaneously(同時(shí)). There’s what I call the physical message. Physical message is basically body language. It’s the way that my body, as a speaker, is talking to the audience. And then there’s also the visual message. The visual messages are the slides that we now make and show the audience. The third message is the story message. The story message is the content of our presentation. So another way we can think of the story messages is that it’s the verbal message, and it’s what we say to the audience. The story message also includes how we organize our ideas to present to the audience,” LeBeau said.

1. Which of the following statements is true?

A. The best way to improve is to practice public speaking in an unfriendly environment.

B. Toastmasters is an international organization that holds meetings every two weeks.

C. Only non-native English-speaking adults are afraid to give presentations in front of a large group.

D. At the meetings of Toastmasters, members give not only a speech but also advice.

2. What are the three messages given in Mr. LeBeau’s simple approach that helps English learners?

a. the physical message

b. the visual message

c. the story message

d. the verbal message

e. the basically body language

A. a b c B. b c d C. a b e D. c d e

3. The book Speaking of Speech by Charles LeBeau is mainly intended for___________.

A. children as young as five years old

B. non-native English speakers

C. native English speakers only

D. students in American schools

4. Which could be the best title for this passage?

A. Necessity of Speaking English in Public Meetings

B. Toastmasters, an international organization

C. Tips for Public Speaking

D. Charles LeBeau, a public speaking professor and consultant

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科目：高中英語(yǔ) 來源：2014-2015學(xué)年江西八所重點(diǎn)中學(xué)高三4月聯(lián)考英語(yǔ)試卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解

There is a very instructive incident involving the life of Alexander, the great Greek king. Alexander, after conquering many kingdoms, was returning home. On the way, he fell ill and it took him to his death bed. With death staring him in his face, Alexander realized how his conquests, his great army, his sharp sword and all his wealth were of no consequence. So, he lay helplessly waiting to breathe his last. He called his generals and said, "I will depart from this world soon, I have three wishes, please carry them out without fail."

"My first desire is that," said Alexander, "My physicians alone must carry my coffin." After a pause, he continued, "Secondly, I desire that when my coffin is being carried to the grave, the path leading to the graveyard be strewn（撒滿） with gold, silver and precious stones which I have collected." The king continued， "My third and last wish is that both my hands be kept hanging out of my coffin.” Alexander's favorite general kissed his hand and pressed them to his heart. "Oh King, we assure you that your wishes will all be fulfilled. But tell us why do you make such strange wishes?"

At this Alexander took a deep breath and said, “I would like the world to know of the three lessons I have just learnt. I want my physicians to carry my coffin because people should realize that no doctor can really cure any body. They are powerless and cannot save a person from the clutches of death. So let people not take life for granted.

The second wish of strewing gold, silver and other riches on the way to the graveyard is to tell people that not even a bit of gold will come with me. I spent all my life earning riches but cannot take anything with me. Let people realize that it is just a waste of time to chase wealth.

And about my third wish of having my hands hanging out of the coffin, I wish people to know that I came empty-handed into this world and empty-handed I go out of this world.” With these words, the king closed his eyes. Soon he let death conquer him and breathed his last.

1.The first paragraph suggests that Alexander _________.

A. was conquering many kingdoms.

B. realized that what he got in his life was nothing to him at all.

C. wanted to leave as he came empty-handed.

D. regarded his conquests, his great army, his sharp sword and all his wealth as the most important things.

2.The underlined word “clutches” in paragraph 3 means “_______”.

A. sentence B. attention

C. control D. shadow

3.The author intends to ________.

A. tell us the story of Alexander

B. introduce readers to the instructive lessons of Alexander

C. stress the powers of Alexander the Great

D. persuade people to realize what Alexander said

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

A. The Death of Alexander.

B. The Greed of Alexander

C. Three Wishes of Alexander

D. The Life of Alexander

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We often see hitchhikers（搭便車的人）, standing by the side of the road, thumb sticking out, waiting for a lift. But it is getting nowadays. What killed hitchhiking? is often mentioned as a reason. Movies about murderous hitchhikers and real-life crime many drivers off picking up hitchhikers. no single women picked me up on my journey to Manchester reflects the safety fear: , strangely dressed man is seen as dangerous.

But the reason may be complex: hitchhiking happens where people don’t have cars and transport services are . Plenty of people hitchhike in Poland and Romania. Perhaps the rising level of car ownership in the UK means the few people lift hitchhiking are usually considered strange. Why can’t they cars? Why can’t they take the coach or the train?

Three-quarters of the UK population have a car; many of the will be quite old. The potential hitchhiking population is therefore small. my trip proves it’s still possible to hitchhike. The people who picked me up were very interesting lawyer, retired surgeon, tank commander, carpenter, man who live in an isolated farmhouse and a couple in the mountains. My conclusion is that only really interesting people are mad enough to pick up fat blokes(家伙) in red, spotted scarves. Most just wanted to do someone a good turn; a few said they were so surprised to see a hitchhiker that they couldn’t help .

The future of hitchhiking most lies with car-sharing organized over the Internet, via sites such as hitchhikers. org. But for now, you can still stick your thumb out (actually, I didn’t do much of that, just to hold up my destination sign) and people—wonderful, caring, sharing, unafraid people—will stop.

In the UK, with its cheap and reasonable rail service, I don’t think I’ll make a habit of it. But having enjoyed it so much, I’m ready now to do a big trip Europe and beyond. In the 1970s a female friend of my wife’s hitchhiked to India. How wonderful it would be to have another go, Afghanistan might be a challenge. I wish I’d got that tank commander’s mobile number.

1.A．valuable B．hardly C．rare D．little

2.A．Fear B．Safety C．Allowance D．Expense

3.A．has put B．had been put C．has been put D．have put

4.A．What B．Which C．Whether D．That

5.A．no more B．no need C．no reason D．no doubt

6.A．a(chǎn) short B．a(chǎn) clumsy C．a(chǎn) small D．a(chǎn) large

7.A．most B．more C．very D．much

8.A．poor B．heavy C．busy D．convenient

9.A．seldom B．a(chǎn)lways C．still D．never

10.A．a(chǎn)fford B．offer C．a(chǎn)ffect D．offend

11.A．effect to B．effect on C．a(chǎn)ccess in D．a(chǎn)ccess to

12.A．remain B．rest C．pedestrians D．citizens

13.A．While B．When C．Yet D．Though

14.A．living up B．lived down C．was living up D．was living down

15.A．stopping B．but stop C．stop D．stopped

16.A．likely B．certainly C．positively D．a(chǎn)ctively

17.A．pretending B．preparing C．preferring D．defending

18.A．vehicles B．coaches C．cars D．helicopters

19.A．a(chǎn)cross B．through C．for D．over

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第一節(jié)短文改錯(cuò)（共10小題；每小題1分，滿分10分）

假定英語(yǔ)課上老師要求同桌之間交換修改作文，請(qǐng)你修改你同桌寫的以下作文。文中共有10處語(yǔ)言錯(cuò)誤，每句中最多有兩處。每處錯(cuò)誤僅涉及一個(gè)單詞的增加、刪除或修改。

增加：把缺詞處加一個(gè)漏字符號(hào)()，并在其下面寫出該加的詞。

刪除：把多余的詞用斜線(＼)劃掉。

修改：在錯(cuò)的詞下劃一橫線，并在該詞下面寫出修改后的詞。

注意：1.每處錯(cuò)誤及其修改均僅限一詞；

2．只允許修改10處，多者（從第11處起）不計(jì)分。

Recently, smog weather has became more and more serious in parts of China. People forced to wear masks to avoid breathe poisonous air. To settle this problem, the series of measures should be taken. First, we should enact(頒布) more strict law on environmental protection to regulate the industrial punish those factories what ignore the protection. Second, we should develop environmentally-friendly products to improve air quality. Besides, people should build up protection awareness to form a habit by using green products or saving energy. In my opinion, if we all act together, their environment will become more better.

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1.You are not allowed to camp here without ________（允許，許可）.

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7.We asked the stranger the question out of ______(好奇).

8.My sister, an inexperienced rider, was found sitting on the bicycle trying to ________（平衡） it.

9.He is not a wealthy person; on the ________（相反），he has been in heavy debt..

10.Thank you for ______（提醒） me about my appointment..

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The boy _______ in the bed ______to his friend that a cock ______an egg yesterday.

A．lay; lay; laid B．lying; lay; lied

C．lying; lied; laid D．lied; lying; lain

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ground

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