Dragons can be friendly or fierce (凶狠), they can bring good luck or cause death, but one thing is sure——people talk about them almost everywhere in the world.
In Chinese culture, dragons are generous and wise, although they can be unpredictable. The dragon was closely connected to the royal family: the emperor's robes (礼袍) have a symbol of a gold dragon with five claws. According to popular belief, if you were born in the year of the dragon, you are intelligent, brave, and a natural leader.
But in the west, dragons had a different reputation (名声). The very first text in English, the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf, tells the story of a Scandinavian hero, Beowulf, who fights and kills a dangerous dragon but is himself killed in the fight. However, across the border in Wales, the red dragon which appears on the Welsh flag is a positive symbol, indicating strength and a sense of national identity.
Why should the dragon have a different character in different parts of the world? Some experts believe it is due to the animals that the myths grew out of. In the west, the idea of the dragon probably came from the snake—an animal which people hated and were afraid of.
But in China, the idea of the dragon may have come from the alligator--a shy animal which lives in rivers, but which is usually only seen when there is plenty of water--a good sign for agriculture(农业). So the Chinese dragon was a bringer of good fortune.
_____________________________________________________________
In China, people think the dragon may have come from the ____ which is a shy animal. However, in the west, they think the dragon may come from the _____ that they hated and scared.
出相关描述的英语单词或短语，每空至少一个。)
Chinese dragons：_____________ Western dragons：___________.
Who do you think are the most important people in your life, your parents, your sisters or brothers, or your friends? I think your answer must be “my friends”. Some teenagers often say their parents don’t understand them. In large families, brothers and sisters often argue with each other. So most of us think friends are the most important people in our lives.
It is very important for teenagers to have one good friend or a group of friends. As for the reason, it may be because we can discuss some private things with friends. Of course we won’t tell things to our family members.
However, parents often try to choose friends for us. They may even stop us from meeting some of our best friends. In fact, they do it just because they care for us too much. But they often neglect(忽视) our real feelings. How can you solve this problem? I think the best way is to find a right time to talk with parents about our real feelings.
根据短文内容，选择正确答案Many teenagers think are the most important people in their live.
A、friends
B、brothers and sisters
C、family membersIt’s important for teenagers to have good friends because .
A、friends can help them with their lessons
B、they have the same interests
C、they can discuss some private things with friendsThe underlined word “private” means “ ” in English.
A、public B、personal C、interestingWhy do our parents even stop us from meeting friends?
A、Because they don’t think it’s the right time to meet friends.
B、Because they care for us too much.
C、Because our friends are not friendly.The writer thinks the best way to solve the problem is .
A、to make more friends
B、to tell parents our real feelings
C、to let parents choose friends for us
As young students, you have many dreams. These dreams can be very big, such as winning the Nobel Prize; they can also be small, such as becoming one of the best students in your class. Once you find a dream, what do you do with it? Do you ever try to make your dream real?
Andrew Matthews, an Australian writer, tells us that making your dreams real is life’s biggest school subjects, or that it’s impossible for you to become a writer. Those kinds of ideas stop you from realizing(实现) your dream.
In fact, everyone can realize his dream. The first thing you must do is to remember what your dream is. Don’t let it leave your heart. Keep telling yourself what you want every day and then your dream will come true faster. You should know that a big dream is, in fact, made up of many small dreams.
You must also never give up your dream. There will be difficulties on the road to your dreams. But the biggest difficulty comes from yourself. You need to decide what is the most important. Studying instead of watching TV will help you to get better exam results, while saving five yuan instead of buying an ice cream means you can buy a new book.
As you get closer to your dream, it may change a little. This is good as you have the chance to learn something more useful and find new hobbies.
根据短文内容，选择正确答案The biggest difficulty on the road to your dreams comes from .
A、yourself B、your friends C、your schoolWhich of the following ISN’T mentioned in this passage?
A、You may think you’re not good at some school subjects.
B、Making your dreams real is life’s biggest challenges.
C、Listening to English more can help you realize your dream.If we have dreams in our hearts and work hard, our dreams .
A、can’t be realized
B、can be very small
C、will come trueHow do you make your dream come true faster?
A、Remember what your dream is.
B、Don’t let your dream leave your heart.
C、A and B.The best title(标题) of this passage is .
A、How to become a writer
B、How to make your dream real
C、A big dream is made up of small dreams
Around the world more and more people are taking part in dangerous sports and activities. Of course, there have always been people who have looked for adventures—those who have climbed the highest mountains, travelled into unknown parts of the world or sailed in small boats across the greatest oceans(海洋). Now, however, there are more people who look for an excitement from a risky activity which may only last a few minutes or even seconds.
I would think bungee jumping to be a good example of such an activity. You jump from a high place (perhaps a bridge or a hot-air balloon) 200 metres above the ground with an elastic (有弹性的) rope tied to your ankles(脚踝). You fall at up to 150 kilometres an hour until the rope stops you from hitting the ground. It is said that about 2 million people around the world have now tried bungee jumping. Other risky activities include jumping from tall buildings and diving(跳水) into the water from the top of high places.
Why do people take part in such activities as these? Some psychologists suggest that it is because life in modern world has become safe and boring. Not very long ago, people’s lives were often in danger. They had to go out and hunt for food, diseases could not easily be cured, and life was harder than that of the present days.
Nowadays, to many people, life offers little excitement. They live and work in safe conditions; they buy food in shops; and there are doctors and hospitals to look after them if they become ill. The answer for some of these people is to look for danger in activities such as bungee jumping.More and more people today __________.
| A．are trying activities such as bungee jumping |
| B．are climbing the highest mountains |
| C．are coming close to death in sports |
| D．are looking for adventures such as travelling into exciting parts of the world |
In bungee jumping, you __________.
| A．jump as high as you can |
| B．slide down(下滑) a rope to the ground |
| C．tie yourself to a rope and fall to the ground |
| D．fall towards the ground without a rope |
People probably take part in dangerous sports nowadays because __________.
| A．they have a lot of free time |
| B．they can go to hospital if they are injured |
| C．there isn’t so much excitement in life |
| D．they no longer need to hunt for food |
What is the best title of this passage?
| A．Modern Life is Boring |
| B．Dangerous Sports: What and Why |
| C．Bungee Jumping: Is It Really Dangerous? |
| D．Need for Excitement |
If parents’ aim(目标) is only to make a child be a genius(天才), they will cause a disaster. Several leading educational psychologists(心理学家) say this is one of the biggest mistakes that can cause great problems to children.
However, if parents are a little gentler, the child may act successfully—especially if the parents can support him. Michael Li is very lucky. He is very fond of music, and his parents help him a lot by taking him to concerts and inviting a teacher to give him personal piano lessons. They even drive him 59 kilometers twice a week for violin lessons. Although Michael’s mother knows very little about music, Michael’s father plays the piano very well. However, he never makes Michael enter music competitions if he is unwilling.
Michael’s friend, Winston Chen, however, is not so lucky. Although both his parents are successful musicians(音乐家), they set too high a standard for Winston. They want their son to be as successful as they are, so they enter him in every piano competition held. They are very unhappy when he does not win. “When I was your age, I used to win every competition I entered,” Winston’s father tells him. Winston is always afraid that he will disappoint(使…失望) his parents and now he always seems quiet and unhappy. One of the worst mistakes any parent can make is to __________.
| A．pay much attention to their child’s education |
| B．push the child into trying to achieve too much |
| C．make their child become a musician |
| D．help their child to succeed in the future |
Michael Li is lucky because __________.
| A．his father knows music and teaches him much |
| B．his parents are rich enough to support him |
| C．his mother doesn’t know much about music |
| D．his parents help him in a wise way |
The two examples show that __________.
| A．it is important to let children develop in their own way |
| B．it is successful to let children develop without others’ help |
| C．successful parents often have unsuccessful children |
| D．the more you help your children, the less they can achieve |
Unlike Chinese people, the ones in the West believe in star signs. Western world has a complete system(系统) of star signs, and they explain them and use them to tell a person’s characteristics and the things they like or dislike. There are a cycle of 12 of them in all. All of them are decided by the date instead of the year of your birth and each of them has its own characteristics.
Sagittarius (射手座) is one of them. Now, let’s take it as an example:
Sagittarius (November 23—December 21)
Sagittarius in short
Sagittarius are fun, loving, generous and very friendly. They seldom tell lies; in fact they’re so open about everything, They have surprising intuitions(直觉) that they should pay attention to. They are pretty clever because they are so interested in everything. They can be a bit rude, that’s only because they’re very honest and will say exactly what they think. They love travelling, fast cars and horse riding. They also love spending money.
More about Sagittarius
Sagittarius are great friends because they are interested in everything and everyone. They are attracted by even the strangest people. With their humour, they are often in a good mood. They can be hurtful to others because they cannot stop speaking what they see as the truth, but they don’t mean to. Money is not their God. Their values are spiritual(精神的) rather than material.
They are hard-working. They are very open-minded about new ideas and love to try ideas out. Usually it does end up working because they have an excellent intuition and can usually tell straight away if an idea is a good one or a bad one. One of their weaknesses is not asking enough money for all the hard work they do, because they love doing it.Whose star sign is Sagittarius?
| A．Miss Yao who was born on Mar 18, 1978. |
| B．Peter, a boy who was born on Nov 22, 1998. |
| C．Mr Zhou who was born on Dec 23, 1976. |
| D．Lucy, a girl who was born on Nov 30, 1991. |
Which is WRONG about Sagittariaus?
| A．Sagittarians often tell lies. |
| B．Sagittarians can be rude. |
| C．Sagittarians show great interest in strange things and people. |
| D．Sagittarians can end up working by using their good intuition. |
What can we know from the underlined sentence “Money is not their God”?
| A．Sagittarians care too much about money. |
| B．Sagittarians believe that money is from the God. |
| C．Sagittarians hate God. |
| D．Sagittarians pay no attention to money. |
粤公网安备 44130202000953号