A year ago, at the annual pre-Grammy party, Whitney Houston, the great star, wal

A year ago, at the annual pre-Grammy party, WhitneyHouston, the great star, walked on stage and closed the evening with abrilliant performance．

Last Saturday, Houston was once again the focus beforethe Grammy, but her presence was a regrettable one．Earlier that day, the pop music's former queen wasfound dead in her hotel room．She was 48．This, no doubt, is sad news to the whole musicindustry and her fans all over the world．

At her peak(巅峰), Houstonwas the golden girl of the music world．From themid-1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world's best-selling artists．She impressed audiences with her effortless, powerfuland peerless performance．

Besides multi-million record sales, Houston madecountless hits such as The Greatest Love of All, I Have Nothing, and themostly famous I Will Always Love You．She alsoinfluenced a generation of younger singers, from Christina Aguilera to MariahCarey．

But by the end of her career, there was a shockingfall for this superstar．Houston had been addicted to(上瘾) drugs．Her albumsales declined (下降) and the hits stopped coming and her oncebeautiful voice became hoarse （嘶哑的）, unable to hit thehigh notes as she used to．

In 2009, Houston staged a successful comeback with thealbum I Look To You, which fell on top of the charts．But hoarse voice, canceled concerts, and continuousillness-Houston's comeback trail wasn't smooth at all．In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2009, Houstonadmitted: "It (show business) is too much for me and I wanted out．"

Now that Houston has finally taken a break from allthe chaos(混乱), may she rest in peace．

1.Whitney Houston died ______．

A．shortlybefore the Grammy this year         B．earlier lastSunday

C．a year ago                             D．at the annualpre-Grammy party

2.The underlined word "peerless" inParagraph 3 most probably means ______．

A．having nopower                        B．having noequal

C．requiring noeffort                      D．leaving noimpression

3.The cause of the fall of Whitney Houston was that_____．

A．her albumsales declined

B．show businesswas too much for her

C．her fans nolonger love her

D．she had beenaddicted to drugs

4.According to the passage, which is not Houston’sachievement?

A．She madecountless hits such as I Have Nothing.

B．Sheinfluenced a generation of younger singers.

C．She becamethe focus before the Grammy this year.

D．She staged asuccessful comeback in 2009.

试题答案

【答案】

1.A

2.B

3.D

4.C

【解析】

试题