King of theater (P4-5)
I. Warming up
Discuss the following questions with your partner.
    What do you know about William Shakespeare?
     William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language.
    Can you name some of Shakespeare’s plays that you like or are familiar with?
Tragedies: Hamlet; King Lear; Othello; Macbeth; Romeo and Julie …
Comedies: Much Ado About Nothing; A Midsummer Night's Dream; The Merchant of Venice; As You Like It; The Taming of the Shrew; Twelfth Night …
History plays: King John; Richard II; Henry IV, Henry V; Henry VI, Richard III…

II. Reading
Read the article and answer the following questions:
1. What did Shakespeare do to make a living in London before he produced plays?
  He worked as an actor.
2. What types of plays was Shakespeare most famous for?
  He was most famous for his tragedies.
3. What was a typical characteristic of Shakespeare’s tragedies?
  They reflected Shakespeare’s mixed feeling about the changes in society.
4. What won Shakespeare fame and wealth in his day and secured his reputation as one of the greatest writers of all time?
  Shakespeare is a writer with a wonderful range. It was this range that won him fame and wealth in his day and has secured his reputation as one of the greatest writers of all time.

Choose the best answer for each of the following questions:
1. What is the article mainly about?
A. Shakespeare’s impact on English literature.
B. Some common features of Shakespeare’s plays.
C. Why Shakespeare has such enormous appeal.
D. How Shakespeare developed into a great playwright.
2. What can we infer from the article?
A. Shakespeare’s comedies are better recognized than his tragedies.
B. Theatres began to thrive in London at the end of the 16th century.
C. Shakespeare’s early plays were not well-received by audiences.
D. Most of Shakespeare’s tragedies are about people’s struggles in the old world.
3. With the examples of King Lear and Hamlet, the author intends to ____.
A. compare the similarities and differences of the two plays
B. analyze what makes Shakespeare’s tragedies so popular
C. reflect Shakespeare’s mixed feelings about the society he lived in
D. show how the times Shakespeare lived in were really depressing
4. Which of the following plays belongs to a different genre from the other answer choices?
A. Macbeth            B. Taming of the Shrew
C. As You Like It         D. A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Key:
1. C。本文主要分析了莎士比亚和他的作品拥有经久不衰的魅力的原因，所以答案为C。
2. B。从第一段可以推知16世纪晚期到17世纪初期，戏剧在英国伦敦盛极一时，故B为正确答案。由第四段的“But it is his tragedies for which he is most famous.”可知A不对；由第三段的“Soon, however, he was producing plays and his company, the King’s Men, was winning the esteem (尊敬) of both of the court and the public.”可以推知C不对；由第四段的“These are so rich that it is difficult to reduce them to one theme”可知D不对。
3. C。作者提到《李尔王》和《哈姆雷特》两部戏剧主要是为了例证前一段的作者的观点“He had mixed feelings about these changes. This can be seen in the situations and characters dramatized (戏剧化) in these works.”所以答案为C。
4. A。从文中可以看出Macbeth是悲剧，其他选项是喜剧，所以A为正确答案。

III. Language study
1. From the last decades of the 16th century through the early decades of the 17th, dozens of playwrights of varying degrees of talent wrote dramas that played in London theaters to enthusiastic audiences of all social classes.
本句的主干是：dozens of playwrights wrote dramas。of varying degrees of talent用作后置定语修饰playwrights，表示“不同水平的剧作家”；that引导的定语从句修饰dramas。

2. All but one of them take advantage of him with the result that this elderly and perhaps senile man is left to the mercy of fate.
本句中that引导同位语从句，进一步说明result的具体内容。Leave sb to the mercy of fate表示“使某人受命运的摆布”。

Deciding for ourselves (P5)
I. Pre-reading
Discuss the following questions with your partner.
    Why is self-control important?
    Is it important to animals also? Why or why not?
    What do you think might have an effect on our self-control?

II. Reading
Read the article and choose the best answer for each of the following questions:
1. What is the article mainly about?
A. The importance of self-control.
B. Factors that affect self-control.
C. How to improve our self-control.
D. Animal species that are good at controlling themselves. 
2. Which of the following was a finding of the scientists’ study?
A. Squirrels chose to use the side entrance more often than dogs did. 
B. Great apes and squirrels proved to have better self-control than dogs.
C. Species’ cognitive abilities are more influenced by their relative brain size than by their absolute brain size.
D. Animals with larger brains showed better self-control than those with smaller brains.
3. Which of the following is TRUE according to the article?
A. Self-control is more essential to animals than it is to humans.
B. Humans probably have exactly the same level of self-control as great apes. 
C. Species with more complex diets have greater self-control.
D. A diverse diet plays a more important role than brain size does in cognitive evolution.

Key:
1. B。本文主要介绍了新研究发现的影响自控力的因素，所以答案为B。
2. D。由第五六段可知科学家们发现拥有脑容量更大的动物相比较小脑容量的动物，更有自控力，所以D为正确答案。松鼠的脑容量比狗的小，所以自控力也可能要小，故B不对；同时结合第四段的“using the side entrance as usual was considered a success while running directly toward the food from the front displayed a lack of self-control”可知松鼠选择侧门去找食物的可能性应该比狗小，故A不对。由第六段可知，新研究发现绝对脑容量比相对脑容量对动物认知能力的影响可能更大，故C不对。
3. C。A、B显然不对，由倒数第三段的“In addition to brain size, more diverse diets were found to affect self-control.”可知C为正确答案。文中没有对比多样化饮食与脑容量对于动物认知进化谁的影响更大，所以D不对。


III. After reading
Fill in the blanks with proper words.
1. ______ its importance, however, not all species are equally skilled at controlling themselves.
2. They then moved the food to a transparent box and watched ______ the animals reacted — using the side entrance as usual was considered a success ______ running directly toward the food from the front displayed a lack of self-control.
3. The findings challenge the traditional belief ______ “relative” brain size –______ a brain is large or small relative to the body – is more important than “absolute” brain size.
4. The truth is ______ “absolute” brain size is ______ really matters when it comes to cognitive (认知的) abilities, according to Science Daily.
5. ______ the study didn’t look at self-control in humans, given how well the great apes did on the tests, humans would probably perform similarly.

Key:
1. Despite        2. how; while        3. that; whether        4. that; what    5. Although/ Though

Moving forward (P6)
I. Skimming
Skim the article and find out what it is mainly about.
What is the main purpose of the article?
A. To inform us of the characteristics of a Stanford education.
B. To congratulate those who have been admitted to Stanford.
C. To inform us of what kinds of applicants are more likely to be accepted by Stanford.
D. To tell parents that there is no need to feel down if their children weren’t admitted to Stanford. 

Key:
D。由第二段的“Given that today's teens already have enough pressure in their lives, I wish to impart (告知) three messages to any particularly disappointed parents.”可知答案为D。

II. Scanning
Read the article again and choose the best answer for each of the following questions:
1. Which of the following statements might the author agree with?
A. There are more students applying to study at Stanford than at its peer schools in the US. 
B. Those who fail to get admitted into Stanford don’t necessarily do worse than those who make it. 
C. Those who fail to get admitted to Stanford probably wouldn’t meet the demands of a Stanford education.
D. Bass players, even extraordinary ones, have little chance of being accepted by Stanford.
2. In the last two paragraphs, the author intends to convey the message that ____.
A. most colleges offer students the same resources as Stanford does
B. Stanford offers the best opportunities for young adults to learn and grow 
C. parents should tell their children that rejections will only make them stronger
D. it’s not which college that students enter but what they do there that counts

Key:
1. B。由最后一段的“Thousands of applicants who aren't accepted to Stanford go on to have fulfilling lives.”可推知B为正确答案。文中只是提到斯坦福像他同一级别的其他学校一样，每年会收到超过42000份申请，并没有说申请斯坦福大学的人数最多，所以A不对；由第三段的“and there is no doubt that the vast majority of them could have met the demands of a Stanford education”可知C不对；文中提到“The final roster (花名册) is an effort to create harmony (和谐), and that means that some extraordinary bass players don't get a chair”这里的贝斯手是一种比喻，而不是说斯坦福不招收贝斯手，所以D不对。
2. D。从最后两段可知作者认为不同的大学之间教育资源的差距是存在的，但他们都能给予学生学习和成长的资源和空间。没有被斯坦福录取的学生中也有很多人最终取得了杰出的成绩，因此不论你是被录取了还是拒绝了，进入大学，相对于慢慢人生路来说，只是一个简单的纪念碑。因此可以推出D为正确答案。

III. After reading
Discuss the following questions with your partner.
You are going to graduate from high school this July, and college life is unfolding in front of you. What your ideal college life is like? How are you going to spend your four years at college?