Grammar and usage
Ⅰ.阅读理解
A
Tang Dynasty poets sang for about three centuries in different tones.There were many famous poets living in the Tang period such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Juyi and Li Shangyin.Poems of the Tang Dynasty edited in the Qing Dynasty is a collection of more than 48,900 poems that were written by over 2,200 poets.But it didn't cover all the poems of the Tang Dynasty.
During the Tang Dynasty, poems were recited when lovers walked under the moonlight.Poems were also recited when soldiers fought on the battlefield.People recited them in the open air or at temple fairs.
Tang Dynasty poets wrote poems to win fame and also to develop their temperament (性情)．They poured out deep feelings for their friends and criticized injustice in the world thro
ugh poems.
In the Tang Dynasty scholars had to be poets.Their readers were not only people of high social position but also common people.Poets recited poems, women singers sang poems and other ranks of people, including old women and children, read Tang poems.This atmosphere affected foreigners who visited the country at that time.As a result, Tang poetry was introduced to some adjacent countries, like Japan and Vietnam.
Tang poetry is a most brilliant page in the history of ancient Chine literature.It's a miracle in the cultural history of mankind.The Tang Dynasty was a powerful empire with a vast territory.It inherited(继承)Chine civilization that went back to ancient times, was combined with the best of other cultures and adopted the benefits of other nations in the world.Tang poetry wasn't the only spiritual wealth created by the Tang Dynasty people.Philosophy and religion, handwriting and painting and music and dance all gained new peaks of development.Tang poetry, however, was the jewel in the crown and its greatest achievement.
语篇解读：本文是一篇说明文。文章主要介绍了中国的唐诗。
1．We can conclude from the passage that________.
A．only people in the Tang Dynasty created poems
B．in total there were four famous poets in the Tang Dynasty
C．the Tang Dynasty probably existed for about three centuries
D．in the Tang Dynasty most common people were poets
解析：选C 推理判断题。根据第一段中的“Tang Dynasty poets sang for about three centuries in different tones.”可知，答案为C。
2．Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage?
A．Why the poets created poems.
B．Some other kinds of spiritual wealth in the Tang Dynasty.
C．The significance and influence of the Tang Dynasty.
D．The editors of Poems of the Tang Dynasty.
解析：选D 细节理解题。A项在第三段中提到了；B、C项在最后一段提到了。根据第一段内容可知，文章没有具体交代Poems of the Tang Dynasty这本书是谁编辑的。
3．The underlined word “adjacent” in Paragraph 4 probably means “________”．
A．strong B．neighboring
C．poor D．rich
解析：选B 词义猜测题。根据句中的“like Japan and Vietnam”可以推测，adjacent意为“邻近的”。
4．What does the author really want to tell us in Paragraph 4?
A．Tang Dynasty poems were quite popular.
B．In the Tang Dynasty all scholars were poets.
C．Many foreigners came to our country during the Tang Dynasty.
D．In the Tang Dynasty many poems were sung by women singers.
解析：选A 推理判断题。作者在第四段中谈到当时各种阶层的人都吟唱、背诵唐涛，并提到对外国人的影响，其真正的目的是说明唐诗在当时很受欢迎。
B
Long ago，poems were recited out loud instead of being written down.Back when the Greeks first started the Olympics, they held poetry contests as well as athletic competitions.
Now，poetry competitions have been revived (恢复)．This year 120,000 high school students competed in the first Poetry Out Loud national recitation contest，performing poems from memory for D|S100,000 in prizes.
The first competitions were held in classrooms.The winners went on to schoolwide contests, and then they competed in city and state competitions.Finally, the 50 state champions，along with the District of Columbia champion came to Washington D．C.last week for the last showdown.After the 51 champions competed against one another, 12 went on to the finals.Then the field was narrowed to five.The final five had one last chance to “perform” a poem.The overall champ, Jackson Hille, a high school nior from Ohio, won a D|S20,000 scholarship.
The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation started Poetry Out Loud, becau they realized that bearing a poem performed is a different experience from reading it on a page.
It's not just a matter of saying the words in the right order.It's the tone of voice, the paus, the gestures and the attitude of the person performing that bring the words to life.“Each time we hear somebody recite a poem, we understand again what we found fresh and interesting about it，” said National Public Radio Broadcaster Scott Simon, ma
ster of ceremonies for the finals.Hearing it in a new voice offers something new to the listener.
Not only do the people hearing poems have a new experience, but memorizing and prenting poems helps the participants (选手) understand tho poems in a new way.Another benefit of a competition such as Poetry Out Loud is that the participants learn publicspeaking skills that can help them for life.
