Every country has its traditional festivals. The Chinese New Year is now known as the Spring Festival because it starts from the beginning of spring. Though there are some sayings about its origin, all agree that the word Nian, which in modern Chinese means “year”, was originally the name of a beast that started to eat people the night before the beginning of a new year.
One story goes that the beast Nian had a very big mouth that would take in a great many people at one time. People were very afraid. One day, an old man came to their help and said he would stop all this. He said to Nian, “I hear that you are very strong, but can you eat up all the beasts on earth instead of people who are too weak to be your enemies?” “Yes,” Nian agreed with him and went to kill many of the beasts on earth. People were very happy because those beasts also did bad things to people and killed their farm animals from time to time.
After that, the old man, who was a god, rode on the beast Nian and left. Nian was gone, and other beasts also went into forests; people began to enjoy their happy life. Before the old man left, he had told people to put up red paper-cuts on their windows and doors at each year’s end to drive Nian away, because red is the color the beast felt most afraid of.
From then on, every year at the beginning of spring, people prepare to “Guo Nian”. The word “Guo Nian” means “go through the Nian safely”. Putting up red paper-cuts to drive Nian away and making dumplings for a better new year are still an every-year doing by the Chinese people. However, people today have long forgotten why they are doing all this, they just feel the color and the food make the New Year very enjoyable.How did the old man stop Nian from eating people?
| A．By putting red paper-cuts on windows. |
| B．By eating up beasts. |
| C．By talking to him. |
| D．By riding on him. |
Why did people put on red paper-cuts instead of those of any other color?
| A．Because Nian liked the color red. |
| B．Because the color red could kill Nian. |
| C．Because the old man like the color red. |
| D．Because Nian was afraid of the color red. |
The best title of this passage is “__________”.
| A．The Origin of the Chinese New Year |
| B．The Old Man and the Beast Nian |
| C．How to Go Through the Nian safely |
| D．What Nian Was Like |
Which of the following statement is TRUE?
| A．Nian can eat up all the beasts on earth at one time. |
| B．Nian is a tall beast that likes to eat farm animals. |
| C．Nian is afraid of red paper-cuts. |
| D．Nian doesn’t like to use his own mind. |
B
Dyslexia is a learning disorder, it interferes with the ability to recognize words, and for some readers to understand what they have read. Experts say dyslexia affects about five to ten percent of the population of the United States. Researchers have long known that people with dyslexia write or read words and lettersbackwards in the wrong order.
But a new study shows that people with dyslexia may have trouble redirecting their attention betweensenses, from seeing something to hearing something. The study suggests something that might help dyslexicpeople learn more quickly - play video games.
Vanessa Harrar of Britain’s University of Oxford led the study. She reported the findings in the journalCurrent Biology. The study suggests that dyslexic people may have trouble moving quickly from what theyread to what they hear.
In the study, Doctor Harrar tested 17 people with dyslexia, and 19 others without reading problems. The volunteers were asked to push a button as quickly as possible when they heard a sound, saw a light orexperienced both together. Doctor Harrar compared the speed of their reactions. She found that people withdyslexia were just as fast as the others when they saw only a picture or heard only a sound. But the Dyslexicshad a slower reaction time when they heard a sound and saw a picture at the same time, this may have an effect on how dyslexic children are taught how to read.
Doctor Harrar feels like playing video games could help dyslexic people shift from seeing to hearing more quickly. She adds that images in video games force the eyes to move and focus quickly. “Video game types of things pop out of here and there, they move your eyes around the screen quite quickly in response to things quite quickly, and the more you play a video game the faster you get that kind of thing. So, the video game is really training the attention system to move quickly,” said Harrar. When children learn the alphabet, they usually see the letter first and then hear the sound, or they see and hear the letter at the same time. The study shows that Dyslexics might learn more quickly if they hear the sound of a letter or word first before seeing it.According to Doctor Harrar’s study, the dyslexic people have difficulty in______.
| A．recognizing words |
| B．reading words backwards |
| C．writing letters in order |
| D．shifting from seeing to hearing |
Which factor affects the way dyslexic children are taught to read?
| A．They react more slowly to a single picture or sound |
| B．They react as fast as others to a single picture or sound |
| C．It takes them longer to react to sounds and pictures together |
| D．It is difficult for them to understand before seeing the word |
How does the author suggest Dyslexics are taught based on the research finding?
| A．by putting hearing previous to seeing |
| B．by training the attention on games |
| C．by seeing first and then hearing later |
| D．by moving the eyes around the screen |
What can be the best title of the passage?
| A．Video Games Might Help Dyslexics |
| B．Dyslexia Affects Attention between Senses |
| C．Video Games Can Train the Attention System |
| D．Dyslexics Might Learn Better through Sound |
A阅读理解
One of those big social networking sites, Facebook, has attracted over 58 million members. Commentator Melody Cramer is no longer one of them. Here is what she shares with us about her story.
I deleted all 1,281 of my coworkers, secondgrade classmates and people who I don’t know at all. I shut down my account, completely. I’m 30, and I’ve been on Facebook since March of 2004, which makes me one of the website’s earliest users.
At first, I used it obsessively. If I had a free moment, I’d log on to see whether my friends had updated their profiles. I’d sit alone scrolling through these updates and then run into someone at a coffee shop and have nothing to say because I already knew everything about them, and they knew everything about me.
In November, I went to my tenyear high school reunion and was not pleasantly surprised. Lauren became a model, Josh went to law school, Dina was a teacher. I hadn’t talked to any of them since graduation, but I knew exactly what they were doing, both now and last week. But lately, I’m overwhelmed(应接不暇). Facebook opened up to everyone, not just college students, and my coworkers started to join, which meant they now knew what I was doing when I wasn’t at work.
And as a rule: you can NOT make friends with your coworkers because then they’ll ask you the next day. But I thought we were friends. And you are friends but not the kind of friends who tell each other what they do outside of work. So now the people you work with can see what you did last night, and you’re constantly worrying what people might say about what you did last night instead of actually doing anything tonight.So Iquit. I became a 30yearold Luddite, a person who is strongly against technology development. I’ve retuned to how the world worked when I was 20, before I knew when my friends and coworkers were counting down the seconds to vacation or entering a complicated relationship. I’m hoping life will be a lot simpler now. Peoplewill be more mysterious now that I actually have to talk to them to find out their favorite books or hobbies orneurosis(神经症). I don’t know when my college roommate goes to the supermarket, and I think I’m a better person for not knowing. In fact, you could say getting off a social network was the best thing I’ve done thisweek.
Melody Cramer decided to quit Facebook mainly because ______.
| A．she thought it wasted too much time |
| B．she was afraid of the strangers on her account |
| C．she was tired of exposing her life to coworkers |
| D．she thought it made realworld life less interesting |
We can learn from the passage that Melody Cramer ______.
| A．had a 10year membership of Facebook |
| B．used to be very objected to Facebook |
| C．was unpleasant to attend high school reunion |
| D．was one of the co-founders of Facebook |
Which of the following about Melody Cramer is TRUE?
| A．She owes her communication skills to Facebook. |
| B．She wishes she could be several years younger. |
| C．She prefers to face her friends and co-worders in reality. |
| D．She is no longer curious about anything around her. |
The best title for this passage can be _____.
| A．Addiction to Facebook |
| B．Farewell to Facebook |
| C．Friends Online |
| D．A Simpler Life |
“Beauty is only skin deep." This expression means that beauty is only a temporary surface quality. Some beauty products can cause lasting damage that goes far below the surface of the skin.
In America，many people use sunlight and non-natural light to darken their skin. Health experts advise against what is called“tanning”because of its links to akin cancer. In the African country of Senegal（塞内加尔），some women take health risks trying to do just the opposite.
An average beauty supply shop in Dakar has many kinds of skin-lightening creams and soaps. The World Health Organization says that 25％of Senegalese women use skin-lightening production a usual basis. These products can contain chemicals，like mercury（汞），hydroquinone（对苯二酚），etc. These are dangerous ingredients that can cause cancer and possibly other physical damage to the akin. They can actually burn the eyes and skin.
Shop worker Adama Diagne advises her visitors to avoid the stronger products that promise fast results. She users a cream that is made from carrots，not the strong chemical，hydroquinone. She says that it is a personal choice and that no one pressures her. Some women want to be black every day，but for her，she likes to be a shade of brown.
Women in Senegal say they lighten their skin for the same reason that women all over the world make changes to their appearance. They say they want to look beautiful，to find a husband to stand out in a crowd or simply to look great for a special event.
This thinking troubles Senegalese film-maker Khardiata Pouye Sall. So，she made“This Color That Bothers Me"，a film about the subject of skin lightening. She said，“I used the most shocking images so that women would see the dangers. It is hard to understand why a woman says that dark skin is not beautiful. It is in their heads. They want to please a man，to he loved or they want to please society，to succeed."
Ms. Sall says that the government needs to better control the marketing and the sale of skin-lightening products. But she adds that education is the best way to persuade people against using them.
The underlined part“the opposite" in Paragraph 2 means some Senegalese women ．
| A．use sunlight to darken their skin |
| B．try creams to prevent skin cancer |
| C．use products to lighten their skin |
| D．take health risks to become beautiful |
According to Adama Diagne，women shouldn't believe ·
| A．beauty is just a personal choice |
| B．a cream from carrots is healthier |
| C．it is beautiful to be black every day |
| D．a product can make you beautiful quickly |
We can infer that women in Senegal ．
| A．attract attention with shockingimages |
| B．don't consider dark skin to be beautiful |
| C．find it hard to understand the true beauty |
| D．put beauty in the first place in their heads |
What is Sall's attitude towards skin-lightening products?
| A．Unsupportive. | B．Casual. |
| C．Responsible. | D．Positive. |
The year of 2014 saw smart people always busy inventing useful things，which have helped to
make the world better，smarter and a little more fun. Now，let's take a look at some of the inventions.
Super banana
Australian biogeneticist（生物遗传学家）James Dale
visited Uganda，a poor African country，in the early 2000s，
where he found that 15％-30% of children under 5 were at
the risk of going blind because they didn't get enough vitamin
A. Dale also learned that people there love bananas. They
eat 3 to 11 bananas a day. So hecame up with an idea to
plant bananas containing added nutrition in order to improve
Ugandans' health ．With the help of Bill Gates' foundation，Dale developed the“super banana，’·He added a gene to the fruit，making it rich in vitamin A.
Which of the following statements would James Dale agree with?
| A．Children in Uganda should eat fewer bananas. |
| B．Vitamin A is largely found in fruits like bananas. |
| C．Super bananas are definitely a safe biological product. |
| D．People's eating habits can be used to develop new food. |
What is the biggest advantage of the 94Fifty Basketball?
| A．The sensors hidden inside can help players run faster in a game. |
| B．It can help players to improve their shooting and ball-handling skills. |
| C．It allows players to connect to their smartphones while playing basketball. |
| D．The Bluetooth chip inside allows its users to listen to music while playing basketball. |
What can we learn about the hovercraft from the text?
| A．It enables its users to float off the ground freely. |
| B．It can work on many different kinds of surfaces. |
| C．It still needs to improve its power and efficiency. |
| D．It is an affordable means of transport for a family. |
What do the hovercraft and wireless electricity have in common according to the text?
| A．They create magnetic fields to produce power. |
| B．They apply technologies to many things in life. |
| C．They are technologies which can produce electricity. |
| D．They use wireless technology to improve their products. |
When I began planning to move to Auckland to study，my mother was a little worried about the uncertainty of living in a place that was so different from India，where we lived. She worried particularly about the lack of jobs，the cultural differences and the chance that I would face racism.
Despite these worries，I came to New Zealand in July 2009. I have found the place and people very nice and supportive. Soon after I arrived，I realized the importance of getting a job to supply my living expenses.
Determined to do this on my own ，I spent a whole day going from door to door asking for a job. However，I received little or no response. This became my routine every day after college for
a few weeks.
One afternoon，I walked into a building to ask if there were any job opportunities. The people there were very surprised，and advised me not to continue my job search in that manner. As I was about to leave，a clerk in the building，who had been listening to what the others had said, approached me and asked if I would wait outside. Fifteen minutes later，he returned. He asked me what my plans were and encouraged me to stay confident. He then offered to take me to the Royal Oak area to search for a job.
I was a little surprised，but had a good feeling about him，so I went along. Along the way I realized that I had run out of copies of my resume（简历）．The man stopped at his business partner's office to make me 15 extra copies. He also gave me tips on dressing and speaking，and added that I should give him, a call if I ever needed anything. I handed out my resumes and went home feeling very satisfied. The following day，I received：call from。store in Royal Oak offering me a job.
It seems that the world always gives back to you when you need it. And this time，it was a complete stranger who turned out to be a real blessing.
What wasn't the author's mother worried about?
| A．People might look down on the author. |
| B．The author couldn't speak the local language. |
| C．The author wasn't familiar with local customs. |
| D．It might be difficult for the author to find a job. |
After staying in New Zealand for a short time, the author
| A．decided to go back to his own country |
| B．felt the local people were not very friendly |
| C．had to find a job to cover his living expenses |
| D．wanted to get a job that needed practical skills |
When the author went into a building to look for a job
| A．a clerk gave him encouragement and advice |
| B．he was confident that he would find a good one |
| C．he found many college students like him already there |
| D．a clerk recommended him to the company he worked for |
What is the story mainly about?
| A．How a stranger offered the author a job. |
| B．How a stranger turned out to be a real blessing. |
| C．How the author adapted himself to a new situation. |
| D．How the author was helped to get a job by a stranger. |
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