题目内容
Section B
Directions: There are 2 passages in this section. Each passage is followed by some questions or unfinished statements. For each of them there are four choices marked A, B, C and D. You should decide on the best choice.
Two years ago this month, Doubleday published a historical thriller with an announced first printing of 85,000 and high hopes that a little-known writer named Dan Brown would catch on with the general public.
"We surely expected to have a huge success, but I don't think anyone dreamed it would be come a historic publication," says Stephen Rubin, president and publisher of the Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group.
If the Harry Potter books stand as the essential popular read for young people, then The Da Vinci Code has captured the crown for grown-ups. A word-of-mouth sensation from the moment it came out, Brown's controversial mix of storytelling anti speculation remains high on best-seller lists even as it begins its third year since publication.
Twenty-five million books, in 44 languages, are in print worldwide and no end is in sight. Booksellers expect The Da Vinci Code to remain a best-seller well into 2005. A planned film version by Oscar-winning director Ron Howard should bring in even more readers. And at a time when consumers are supposedly minding their budgets, sales for the $24.95 hardcover have been so good that Doubleday still has set no date for a paperback.
"It's been our No.1 fiction book for two years in a row, and I can't remember another time that happened," said Bob Wietrak, vice president of merchandising for Barnes & Noble Inc. "People come into our store all the time and ask for it or ask for books that are like it."
Thanks to The Da Vinci Code, about the only books that seem able to keep up are Brown's previous novels. Deception Point, first released in 2001, now has 3.7 million copies in print, ac cording to Simon & Schuster, Brown's previous publisher. Angels and Demons, published in 2000 and featuring "Da Vinci" protagonist Robert Langdon, has more than 8 million copies in print.
The unprecedented success of The Da Vinci Code has been helped by wide access, with the book on sale everywhere from Wal-Mart to airports to supermarkets, often proving more popular than the mass market paperbacks available at the same outlets.
The Da Vinci Code has also thrived during a time when both literary and commercial novels struggled, when a tight economy, competition from other media and election-year tensions drove the public to nonfiction works or away from books altogether. Publishers and booksellers say Brown's novel has worked by combining narrative excitement and provocative—and disputed—historical detail.
When The Da Vinci Code was first published,______.
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A．His ability to play the organ.B．His interest in medicine.C．His doctoral degrees in p
What is the main idea of the passage？
听力原文： Albert Schweitzer was born in 1875 in Alsace. At that time, it was a part of Germany. [32] His generous spirit was first awakened through his training as a preacher. Besides gaining a reputation as preacher, [33] he also became respected for his ability to play the organ. [35] He was a man of many talents. His concern for other people turned his attention to medicine. He had also acquired doctoral degrees in philosophy and music. His wife took an interest in medicine also and became a nurse. Many people thought that he should remain and lecture in Europe to have a strong impact on Western civilization. Though he listened to their suggestions, he ultimately decided to follow his own conscience. This led him to Africa. [34] Albert had felt that all men should accept the responsibility of helping others. He felt particularly concerned for black Africans who had been exploited by white men. He earned the money he needed by performing on the organ and by lecturing. With this money he bought equipment and opened a hospital in Africa. He was a man of great strength who faced great problems with courage. The threat of war, the reality of imprisonment during World War One as a German citizen and the unbearable heat in Africa did not make him retreat at all. [35] He believed that a man could overcome these obstacles if he had a sense of idealism. He died in 1965.
(33)
听力原文： Under normal conditions the act of communication requires the presence of at least two persons: one who sends and one who receives the communication. In order to communicate thoughts and feelings, there must be a conventional system of signs or symbols which mean the same to the sender and the receiver. [29] The means of sending communications are too numerous and varied for systematic classification; therefore, the analysis must begin with the means of receiving communications.
Reception of communication is achieved by our senses. Sight, hearing and touch play the most important roles. Smell and taste play very limited roles. [30] Examples of visual communication are gesture and imitation. Although both frequently accompany speech, there are systems that rely solely on sight, such as those used by deaf and dumb persons. Another means of communicating visually is by signals of fire, smoke, flags or flashing lights. Feelings may be simply communicated by touch such as by handshaking, although a highly-developed system of handshaking disables blind, deaf, and dumb persons to communicate intelligently. Whistling to someone, clapping hands in a theater, and other forms of communication by sound rely upon the ear as a receiver. The most fully developed form. of auditory communication is, of course, the spoken language.
[31] The means of communication mentioned so far have two features in common: they last only a short time, and the persons involved must be relatively close to each other. Therefore, all are restricted in time and space.
(30)
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