Strange Baby-Naming Laws
Germany
Parents are banned by law from using last names and the names of objects and products as first names. A child’s first name must clearly show his or her sex, and all names must be approved by the office of vital statistics(人口统计) in the area in which the child was born.
Iceland
The country’s naming committee consults the National Register of Persons to determine if a name is acceptable. If parents prefer a name which is not on the list, they must apply for approval and pay a fee, and the name must contain only letters in the Icelandic alphabet.
New Zealand
The country’s Births, Deaths, and Marriages Registration Act of 1995 doesn’t allow parents to choose a name that “might cause offense to a reasonable person; is unreasonably long; or is, includes, or is similar to an official title or rank,” including, apparently, Adolf Hitler and Yeah Detroit—both names recently rejected.
Denmark
If Danish parents prefer a name not on the list of 7,000 preapproved baby names, they must get permission from local church and government officials. 15 to 20 percent of the 1,100 reviewed names—including creative spellings of common names, last names as first names, and unusual names—are rejected each year.You can tell whether a baby is a girl or a boy according to the first name in ________.
| A．Germany | B．New Zealand |
| C．Iceland | D．Denmark |
In Iceland, the names should ________.
| A．be on the name list without exception |
| B．be paid a large amount of money for |
| C．contain only letters in the Roman alphabet |
| D．be accepted by the National Register of Persons |
In New Zealand the naming law ________.
| A．used to forbid the use of the name of Adolf Hitler |
| B．allows names similar to an official title or rank |
| C．is considerate as to how other people feel about the names |
| D．doesn’t allow using last names as first names |
It can be learned from the text that ________.
| A．each year about 160-220 reviewed names are rejected in Denmark |
| B．babies’ names should be allowed by the office of vital statistics in Iceland |
| C．Adolf Hitler is a name that is banned in all the European countries |
| D．parents must give up babies’ names if the names are not on the list in Ireland |
Attending a university is an important part of a person’s life. Today, many people go to a university to study and train for a future job in subjects like law, medicine, or education. But the university is not a modern invention. It has a history that is over a thousand years old.
The world’s oldest university, Al-Azhar, is in Cairo, Egypt. It was first built as a mosque in A.D. 972. A few years later, learners and teachers began meeting in the mosque in “tutoring circles”. They read and talked about the subject of law. Around 988, leaders in the city of Cairo decided to create a school for higher learning and the University of Al-Azhar was founded.
At Al-Azhar, there were many university ‘firsts.’ Courses were created. The earliest ones taught at Al-Azhar were in law and religion. In a course, students read and studied with the teacher, but there was also free discussion. Often, students and teachers talked about a topic, and there was no ‘right’ answer. Finally, scholars from around the world came to Al-Azhar to teach and do research. At the university, people studied the past, but it was also a place for sharing new ideas.
Over a thousand years later, Al-Azhar is still an important university in the world. Its library contains more than 250,000 of the world’s oldest and most valuable books. Today, many of the world’s most important universities such as Oxford and Harvard still follow the traditions started at Al-Azhar. What’s this passage mainly about?
| A．The history of the world’s oldest university. |
| B．The importance of attending a university. |
| C．The relationship between university and future job. |
| D．The invention of a modern university. |
The first university was founded over _____ years ago.
| A．a hundrend | B．hundreds of | C．a thousand | D．thousands of |
The oldest university in the world is _____.
| A．Oxford | B．Cambridge | C．Harvard | D．Al-Azhar |
What does the underlined word “course” mean in this passage?
A. A series of lessons. C. A period of time.
C. A series of actions. D. A group of professors.What’s the main idea of the last paragraph?
| A．How many books are in the Al-Azhar’s library. |
| B．How valuable the Al-Azhar’s books are. |
| C．Why Oxford and Harvard still follow Al-Azhar’s pattern. |
| D．How Al-Azhar still holds an important role in the world. |
Last year I had a wonderful experience. I went on a student exchange to Japan. It was an exciting time of my life and I learned many things about the school system in Japan. I was in Grade 11, which is second year of high school in Japan, but I was younger than most of my classmates. That’s because Japanese children enter first year of elementary school (小学) in April following their sixth birthday. I started school when I was still five years old.
In Japan, Children attend elementary school for six years, where they study Japanese, arithmetic, science, social studies, music, crafts, physical education, and home economics (simple cooking and sewing skills). During their three years in middle school, English is added to this list. Most schools have access to computers and the Internet.
The classes in my school seemed rather big to me, around 30 students in a typical high school class. We ate lunch in the classroom, instead of a cafeteria and enjoyed a healthy, nutritious meal prepared by the school or by a local “school lunch centre” instead of eating the same, dry sandwiches every day. I really like the Japanese interpretation of school lunches. I also enjoyed the field trips and activities. At Japanese schools, there are many school events during the year, such as field day when students compete in tug-of-war, field trips, and arts and cultural festivals.The writer went to Japan _____ last year.
| A．to visit his family memebers | B．to finish his high school there |
| C．to study as an exchange student | D．to do research on school system in Japan |
Children in Japan may start their elementary school at the age of ____.
| A．5 | B．6 | C．7 | D．11 |
Japanese students start to learn English _____.
| A． before they start their school year | B．when they are in elementary school |
| C．when they are in middle school | D．when they are in high school |
In the writer’s country, there are normally _____ students in a high school class.
| A．less than 30 | B．exactly 30 | C．more than 30 | D．Not certain |
In the writer’s country, students probably _____.
| A．have lunch in the classroom | B．have different lunch every day |
| C．have lunch at home | D．have sandwiches for lunch |
Can storms in Africa cause asthma(哮喘) in the Caribbean(加勒比)? Islanders point to the desert insects that land on beaches after a 5,000-kilometer flight across the Atlantic. If they can use winds to get from one continent to another, so can clouds of dust that carry disease.
Scientists think that as Africa becomes drier, dust from expanding deserts is being blown away into Caribbean islands. A study in Barbados shows that asthma has increased 17 times since Africa’s drought(干旱) began in 1973.
Other forms of life are suffering, too. Among them are the Caribbean’s famous coral reefs( 珊瑚礁), which began dying in large numbers in the 1900s. Eugene Shinn of the U.S. Geiological Sudrvey(USGS) in Florida went to the virgin Islands to study the reefs. The tests he and his colleagues carried out showed that the coral was dying of disease caused by Africa microbes(微生物) from across the ocean.
William Sprigg of the University of Arizona is studying the problem as part of a major UN project. He says that dust is causing problems in the U.S., too.
“We are just beginning to collect the evidence of airborne(空气传播的) dust influences on human health,” he told The Washington Post. Which of the following can be the best title for this passage?
| A．Dangerous Dust | B．Dangerous Disease |
| C．Changing Weather | D．Developing Technology |
Where does the dust talked about in this passage come from?
| A．America. | B．Africa. | C．The Atlantic. | D．The Pacific. |
The increase of asthma in the Caribean is probably related to _____ according to scientists.
| A．desert insects | B．strong winds | C．airborne dust | D．dry weather |
Which of the following is NOT true about the Caribbean coral reefs?
| A．They are in Florida. |
| B．They used to be very beautiful. |
| C．They began dying in the past decades. |
| D．The African microbes have bad effect on them. |
Which of the following is TRUE about William Sprigg?
| A．He is a member of UN. |
| B．He thinks African dust also affects the US. |
| C．He has collected enough evidence about dust influences. |
| D．He is a reporter from The Washington Post. |
Diamonds may be forever. But what’s a girl to do when she gets dumped (失恋) or divorced (离婚) and those rings, necklace and love gifts lose their emotional (情感) sense?
Help is just a click away on new Web sites that provide an outlet for selling jewelry(珠宝) from past relationships, sharing break-up stories and helping broken hearts heal (愈合).
“You go through a divorce. What do you do with that ring? Maybe you have a child you can pass it on to. Maybe you don’t. It just sits there, ” said Megahn Perry, who with her stepmother (继母) Marie Perry runs www.exboyfriendjewelry.com.
Three months after its start with the slogan(口号) “You Don’t Want It. He Can’t Have It Back,” the web site has 3,000 registered users and more than 600 postings of rings, bracelets and earrings for sale—all with a personal tale attached.
As one woman posting a diamond ring for $3,500 wrote:
“Beautiful ring came with a wrong man. Decided to sell to regain the money that I spent finishing payments on the ring that my ex didn’t.”
The idea was born when Megahn Perry, a Los Angeles actress and writer, was looking for a safe place to sell a wedding set after a divorce and realized others might have former boyfriends’ jewelry with memories(记忆) that make them too painful to wear.
The local pawn shop(当铺) proved an unattractive choice. So she teamed up with her stepmother Marie, researched the market and found a gap in it. The passage is mainly about _____.
| A．how a web site is set up | B．how sad the love stories are |
| C．How much a website can make | D．How many people like the web site |
How long is it since the start of this website?
| A．Less than three months. | B．At least three months. |
| C．Less than one month. | D．Not known. |
How many people have registered on this website within three months?
| A．About 600. | B．About 3,000. | C．About 3,500. | D．Not know. |
Who set up this website?
| A．Megahn herself alone. | B．Megahn and her best friend. |
| C．Megahn and her stepmother. | D．Megahn and her exboyfriend. |
What’s the meaning of the underlined word “gap” in the last sentence?
| A．Gulf between two people. | B．Misunderstandings among each other. |
| C．Differences from a pawn shop. | D．A market worth developing. |
Sir William Osler has a few words for you: “In the Life of a young man, the most essential thing for happiness is the gift of friendship.” Truer words were never spoken. For what more could you ask than comradeship during the peaks and valleys of life? To whom else but a close, valuable friend can you show off your successes and complain about your failures or losses?
What is
a “good friend”? How is he best described? Well, it has been my observation that although many will cry with you, few can sincerely rejoice (欣喜) with you. Therefore, in my opinion, a good friend is one who can enjoy your successes without envy; one who can say, “That was wonderful! You can do it again, even better if you want!” and mean it. Nothing taxes a friendship more than the success of one and not the other. Even the closest of friendships often cannot resist such pressure and fail. No wonder many minor friendships go down day by day for the same reason.
A person of good character and sound moral, of honor and humor, of courage and belief is a friend to be sought and treasured — for there are few. Too often we hear, “If you can count your good friends on more than one hand, consider yourself blessed
.”
What makes a friendship last? Well, I don’t know all the answers, but one of my observations is that most good friends usually have similar tastes. They generally like and dislike many of the same things. There also usually seems to exist a similarity of personality types — especially in the fundamental value
s of life such as honesty, sincerity, loyalty, and dependability. More often than not, birds of a feather do fly together. I don’t think it matters a lot whether one prefers jazz or hockey to another’s Mozart or ballet. Much other matters far more: relying, sharing, giving, getting, enjoying; a sympathetic ear always there; criticism when it can help; praise — even if only because it would help. With not many people on this earth will you find this much in common. When you find one, hang on to him, for a good friend found is a rare treasure.
67. The function of Paragraph 1 is to introduce ______.
A. a famous saying
B. the topic for discussion
C. a famous person
D. two different attitudes
68. What is the meaning of the underlined sentence in Paragraph two?
A. People don’t have to pay taxes to develop friendship with others.
B. Success of one person can promote his friendship with others.
C. Friendship can be affected by the difference in success between friends.
D. Nothing can affect friendship because it has gone through the peaks and valleys of life.
69. What is the main idea of Paragraph three ?
A. One is lucky to have many friends.
B. A friend should have a good character.
C. We should count our friends on more than one hand.
D. A true friend should be treasured because there are few.
70. According to the passage, which of the following plays the LEAST important role in a long-lasting friendship?
A. Hobbies. B. Tastes. C. Personality. D. Sympathy.
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