Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed Lady Day by her loyal friend and musical partner, Lester Young, Holiday was a great influence on jazz and pop singing. Her voiced style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of controlling tempo . Above all, she was admired for her deeply personal and direct approach to singing. Billie Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan on April 7, 1915, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her father, Clarence Halliday (Holiday), a musician, did not marry or live with her mother. Her mother had moved to Philadelphia when thirteen, after being driven away from her parents' home in Sandtown-Winchester, Baltimore for becoming pregnant. With no support from her own parents, Holiday's mother arranged for the young Holiday to stay with her older married half sister, Eva Miller, who lived in Baltimore. During her final period of separation from her mother, Holiday began to perform the songs she learned while working in the brothel . By early 1929, Holiday joined her mother in Harlem. Their landlady was a sharply dressed woman named Florence Williams, who ran a brothel at 151 West 140th Street. In order to live, Holiday and her mother had to work there. Holiday had not yet turned fourteen at that time. On May 2, 1929, the house was raided , and Holiday and her mother were sent to prison. After spending some time in a workhouse, her mother was released in July, followed by Holiday in October, at the age of 14. She co-wrote a few songs, and several of them have become jazz standards, notably God Bless the Child, Don't Explain, and Lady Sings the Blues. She also became famous for singing jazz standards written by others, including Easy Living and Strange Fruit. Her early career is hard to track down exactly. But, she later gained work singing in local jazz clubs before being spotted by a talent scout , John Hammond, in 1933, aged 18. Her voice and recordings are loved for the depth of emotion and intensity she could bring to classic standards.... It can be inferred from the passage that Holiday . A) had the greatest range of voice B) wrote many songs like Easy Living C) was gifted and had a happy childhood D) was famous for her voice and way of singing
D
(Question)
My 16-year-old son, Anton, had gone to the local swimming hole. Most of the kids swim there, and there are plenty of rocks for them to use as safe harbors, so I had no fears for his safety. Still, the firefighter's first words "You need to come up here to the Stillwater River" made me catch my breath, and his follow-up words gave me relief: " Your son is OK." When I got to the river, I immediately saw the firetruck, ambulance and Anton, wrapped with a towel about his shoulders, sitting quietly on a low platform of the fire engine. I hurried over to him. "You OK?"I asked. "Yeah," was all he said. But my eyes begged for an explanation, I didn't get it from my son, however, _ . The story was this: A woman was being swept under water. Hearing the cries, Anton and his friend Tyler, without hesitation, swam out to her, and brought her safely to shore. In an age in which the word "hero" is broadcast with abandon and seemingly applied to anyone who make it through the day, I realized the real thing in my son. The teens are stubborn and self-centred, but that didn't mean they have no desire to do good. Still shocked by my son's daring, I drove him home. Along the way, I tried to dig out some more information from him - but he had precious little to say. The only words he said were, "What's for supper?" I spent some time alone that evening, thinking about the tragedy that might have been. The next morning, when Anton got up, I half expected him to tell me the story. But all he did was toast some bread, pull himself together, and head for the door to start a new day. Watching from the window,1 was reminded that still water often runs deep. What might be the best title for the passage? A) My Son, My Hero B) Anton, A Silent Boy C) A Good Deed D) A Proud Mother
(Answer)
A
Ques: Today, I'm going to talk about the invention of the camera and photography. The camera is often thought to be a modern invention. But as early as 1727, a German physicist discovered that light darkened silver salt, a chemical compound. Using as a camera, a big box with a small hole to let the light in, he made temporary images on the salt. Silver salt is still the base of film today. Then a French scientist made the first permanent picture by using a special piece of metal sensitized(...)with silver salt. A photograph he made in 1826 still exists. The painter Daguerre improved on the process by placing common salt, the kind we eat, on the metal. This was in 1839, the official date of the beginning of photography. But the problem was the printing of the photographs. And it was not until other scientists developed the kind of paper we now use that good printing was possible and photography became truly common. In the 1860s, Mathew Brady was able to take his famous pictures of the American Civil War, thus making portrait poses very popular. In the 20thcentury, George Eastmen of theprefix = st1 /United Statessimplified film-developing film, and Dr. Edwin Land invented the so-called instant camera with self-developing film. If we say that the photography came into existence in 1839, it follows that it has taken more than one hundred years for the camera to reach the present condition of technical refinement . What does the writer regard as the official date of the beginning of photography? A) The use of common salt in the process of making pictures. B) The first permanent picture made by a French scientist. C) The temporary images on the salt by a German scientist. D) The first use of silver salt in making pictures.
Ans: A
"Gold Rush Alaska" has given America gold fever. A lot of young men put everything at risk to find gold in Alaska. They face problems with their machines and the Alaska wild animals. They're just ordinary people out trying to realize a dream. Todd Dorsey is one of them. He spent $100,000 on it and prepared for a year before going to Alaska. He brought his family and friends to help him out. He must get them mining and a place to stay. He also had to keep their spirits up and kept everyone working as a team. They had to run off bears sometimes from their camp. They had to face the fact that their lead mechanic's health was not good. They called him Harness, and he was on medication that was hard for him to take, because out in Alaska it was not easy to get to the hospital and so he didn't enjoy good health. He was the only one who could keep things running the way they were supposed to. There was one guy that didn't seem to get along with anyone. But didn't there always have to be someone that didn't get along and messed things up? They got excited when they found a few small pieces of gold, but they needed a lot more to cover the cost of mining every day. It cost Todd $1,000 a day to run everything they needed to mine. They had to make money before the Alaska summer came to an end or they would go broke . We learn from the text that the young men joining the gold rush _ . A) knew Alaska well before they set off B) were poor before they went to Alaska C) faced the threat of wild animals D) got along well with each other
C