Patti Page, the top-selling female artist of the 1950s with more than 100 million records sold, died on January 2nd, 2013, when she was 85. She was one of the most beloved singers of the post-war era. Take her "Tennessee Waltz" for example, it sold more than 10 million copies and was her biggest hit . Born in Claremore, Oklahoma, a small town near Tulsa, Page once dreamed of a career in commercial art. Her first job in the art department at a local radio station soon led to her performing 15-minute program on her own. At age 20, Page was discovered by big-band leader Jack Rael, who gave up his job to become her manager. The next year, she signed her first recording contract with Mercury Records and enjoyed her first hit record soon. She stayed with Mercury for the next 14 years and recorded hit after hit including: "With My Eyes Wide Open, I'm Dreaming" and "Old Cape Cod". Her last hit was "Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte" , recorded for the Bette Davis movie of the same name. And then, there was "Doggie in the Window". The creative tune was a huge hit, but with its repeated barking sounds and silly lyrics , the song has been used by many people as an example of all that was wrong with pop music in the early 1950s. Throughout the 1950s, Patti Page made regular appearances on a variety of television shows and in 1957 she was chosen to host the musical program "The Big Record". The following year, Page appeared in her own CBS television series "The Patti Page Show". She continued to record and perform into the 21st century, most recently releasing an album of songs for children, a Christmas record, and a new "best of" collection. Besides music, Patti Page did a bit of acting. She co-starred with the Oscar-winning Burt Lancaster in "Elmer Gantry", and also starred on stage in the musical play "Annie Get Your Gun". According to the passage, Patti Page _ . A) wanted to be a singer as a child B) was born in a small town in 1927 C) was known mainly for her acting skills D) started her work as a TV program hostess
B
If you were given a chance to choose your favorite life metaphor , what would it be? Do you agree with Forrest Gump's mother that life is "a box of chocolates" because "you never know what you're going to get"? Or do you prefer the phrase from the 1930's song that "life is just a bowl of cherries "? Though simply stated, each conveys a very different view. A "box" implies mystery, because we don't know what is in a closed box. Meanwhile, a "bowl" of cherries is completely in view. For many centuries, the metaphor of life that probably burst into most people's mind was the one suggested by Shakespeare: "All of life is a stage..." On that stage, we take seven roles. More recently, psychologist Erik Erikson took up the idea of life as a stage. Erikson regarded development as a "powerful unfolding" in which we are driven from one stage to the next as our bodies, minds, and social roles develop. Stage metaphors fit with many of our common-sense ideas about change, but the problem with the stage metaphor is that it isn't particularly accurate. None of the studies that try to clarify the universality of adult life stages actually studied people as they developed over time. All of them were based on performances of their samples at one point in time. People's actual lives don't fit into these stage metaphors. They don't automatically transform when people reach a certain age. Instead, people's real lives are messy, unpredictable, and full of surprises. Today, I'd like to focus on an even longer study, an 80-year study which is the subject of a recent book by Howard Friedman and Leslie Martin. Their final chapter summarizes the "many changes of healthy and unhealthy pathways" that their participants took over the course of their lives. As I too discovered in my research, the pathway provides a perfect metaphor of human development. We don't all go down the same road marked with the same signposts based on age. People travel through diverse routes as they track the years of adulthood. Friedman and Martin use health... When a person is facing difficulties bravely, which metaphor can best describe him? A) "Not Easy Street" B) "Happy Trails to You" C) "Catastrophe Lane" D) "The Road to Resilience"
D
(Q).
"Selfie" may have been named Oxford Dictionary's word of 2013. In effect,so widely known has the selfie become that in the past 12 months,its frequency in the English language has increased by 17000 percent, said Oxford dictionaries. However,its popularity has just earned it another honour-being voted the most annoying and overused term of the past 12 months. But I'd like to offer that maybe it isn't so bad. According to the Oxford online dictionary, selfie is a photo that one takes of oneself, often from a smart phone, and send them to a social media website. Women and men alike decorate their Facebook and Twitter accounts with these pictures, sometimes with exaggerated facial expressions,such as large smiles or puckered lips . Let's think about it. Someone takes about 10 selfies each time they do, and they only end up posting one or two of those. They pick the one that they feel makes them look the best. Isn't that beautiful? In that one picture,somebody has given himself or herself confidence. Self-image is vital. In today's society,we are so crazy about being perfect. But perhaps, with that one selfie,we feel as if we fit that need. We feel handsome,beautiful,confident,smart,happy,and content. For that moment,everything bad or terrible that has ever happened to us seemed to have been erased,for that smile or that pucker is what gives us the determination to love ourselves. A spoken-word poem I saw lately set me thinking:If I ask you what you love,the answers will most likely roll of your tongue. You love to read. You love to write. You love birds,music...your mom,your brother,your sister,your daughter,your best friend,your dog. How long do you think you could go on and on before you said,"I love myself."? The poem hit me like a ton of bricks. I've struggled with confidence all of my life. And I still do. And in no way am I saying that taking a selfie is a gateway to that confidence. However,the selfie does deserve some _ for allowing individuals to express themselves. Just as Pamela Rutledge put it,"There... According to the writer, we live in a society where _ . A) selfie leads to success B) a good image decides one's status C) one's poor performance can be erased D) being perfect is highly valued
(A).
D