Matt Haimovitz is 42 and a renowned cellist   in the world. He rushed into the classical music scene at the age of 12 after Itzhak Perlman, the famed violinist, heard him play. But nothing in his family history explains where Haimovitz got his extraordinary talent. And that's typical, Ellen Winner, a professor says. "People are fascinated by these children because they don't understand where their talent came from. You will see parents who say, 'I wasn't like this, and my husband wasn't like this.' It seems to sometimes just come out of the blue," Winner says. It's not clear whether a prodigy's  brain is any different from the brains of other children, in part because there have been no study comparing the brains of prodigies to those of average people. "But I believe that anything that shows up so early, without training, has got to be either a genetic or some other biological basis," Winner says. "If a child suddenly at the age of 3 goes to the piano and picks out a tune and does it beautifully, that has to be because that child has a different brain." Children who are extremely gifted tend to be socially different, too, Winner says. "They feel like they can't find other kids like themselves, so they feel strange, maybe even like a freak, and feel like they don't have anybody to connect with. On the other hand, they also long to connect with other kids, and they can't find other kids like themselves." As Haimovitz got older, he became frustrated. He wanted to play other kinds of music but felt constricted by the image and the expectations of the boy prodigy who played classical music and filled concert halls. "When you start that early, you suddenly start to grow up in public, and I wanted to experiment," Haimovitz says. So he took his cello into punk rock clubs and coffee houses. He played Bach, Haydn and Hendrix. "My teacher was Leonard Rose, and we never played any 20th-century music. He didn't like it. But once I was exposed to James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix, Miles Dewey Davis El and others, I couldn't... According to the text, gifted children are  _  . A) lonely B) easy-going C) innocent D) social
A


I bought a Paul Smith shirt three months ago. For those who don't know, Paul Smith is an English designer brand. His shirts cost about 1,000 yuan and upwards. I paid 50 yuan for my colorful shirt from a street vendor in Beijing. Of course my shirt was a knockoff, a cheap copy of the brand. After a few washes, little balls formed on the surface of the thin material. Do I care? Not at all. You get what you pay for. I have to admit I hate shopping. _ I have other priorities. In You Are What You Wear, US writer Jennifer Baumgartner says people's clothes tell a story about their personality. She writes: "The clothes you choose to wear provide important information about you as a person: your approximate education level, your income, social status and even your level of self-esteem  ." When I started work as an undercover crime reporter, I had to shop for jeans and a hoodie   in order to fit in with a rough and ready   social group. I bought the hoodie in a charity shop. My daughters were shocked. They thought I looked bad, but I knew my disguise was perfect. Elizabeth L. Cline thinks she knows best when it comes to cheap clothes in her book Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion. She expresses sadness that clothing has been turned into a good that is thrown away after being used once or twice. She looks down her nose at cheap fashion and longs for the good old days when department stores sold quality clothes at high prices. I don't agree. At least people now can choose what to wear without breaking the bank. Which of the following might be the best title for the story? A) The variety of clothes B) You are what you wear C) High cost of cheap fashion D) You get what you pay for
D


Q: October 21 was a very dark day in Texas.Not only did Hurricane Hanna destroy homes,it caused the largest business damage in Texas's history.The worst thing is Hanna's destructive force nearly wiped out most power poles and power lines.According to Center Point Energy,Hurricane Hanna affected 2.15 million customers.Currently, more than 4,000 of them are still in the dark.Crews have worked 16-hour shifts to restore power to residents. Most of Houston seems to be returning to normal.Schools,restaurants,retail stores and gas stations are open.Smiles are back.But harder-hit places,including Galveston,will take much longer to recover. Hundreds of people are still missing,and coastal towns are a mess.Some ruins from storm have drifted south to other beaches in Texas.Several public schools in Galveston are closed due to water damage.Parents are registering kids in other area schools which are scheduled to begin class on November 13.Many school supplies were destroyed. Clara Barton Village is an emergency shelter located at Alamo Elementary School in Galveston,Texas.This is where Paula Reed and her family are staying.Believe it or not,Paula Reed and her family consider this hurricane a blessing.When Paula was a girl,she was an orphan,but was taken in by her stepmom,Antonia Flores.Reed lost contact with Flores and had been trying desperately to locate her for the past few years.Before the hurricane,Reed and her family moved away from Galveston to a San Antonio shelter.There,she reunited with Flores after 30 long years! The moment they saw each other, their lives were changed. It can be inferred that the residents in Houston  _  . A) have fully recovered from the disaster B) were the most unlucky people in the disaster C) need a long time to bring their life back to normal D) suffered less from Hanna than people in Galveston
A: D


Friendship is one of the basic bonds   between human beings. While the characteristics of friendship might vary from one country to another, people from all cultures not only enjoy friends but need them. Many studies have shown that teenagers who have no friends often suffer from psychological disorders. It has been shown that teenagers, perhaps more than any other age group, need companionship and a sense of belonging. The negative consequences of loneliness have also been observed among the elderly. The death of a spouse often leaves a widow or a widower totally bereft  . If, however, they are surrounded by friends and relatives and if they are able to articulate  their feelings, they are more likely to recover from their grief. "No man is an island." In other words, we are all parts of society. We all need the love, admiration, respect and moral support of other people. If we are fortunate, our friends will provide us with all of these necessary aspects of life. As most people observe, there are many levels of friendship. The degree or intensity of friendship varies depending on the personality of the individuals involved and the context of the relationships. Extroverts   enjoy being surrounded by many people whereas introverts are perhaps content with fewer but more intense friendships. Everyone is not equally open with all their friends. The degree of intimacy   is determined by many factors. Close friends can be formed at any stage in one's life but they are usually very rare. Not very many people have more than a few really close friends. Irrespective of the level of intimacy, all friendships are based on reciprocity , honesty and a certain amount of love and affection. The author thinks that close friends   _   . A) can be easily formed when one is young B) cannot be long-lasting C) are not rare for everyone D) are rare for most people

D