Christmas in Australia is often very hot. Whereas the northern hemisphere is in the middle of winter, Australians are baking in summer heat. It is not unusual to have Christmas Day well into the mid 30 degrees Celsius, or near 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
A traditional meal includes a turkey dinner, with ham, and pork. A flaming Christmas plum pudding is added for dessert. In the Australian gold rushes, Christmas puddings often contained a gold nugget. Today a small favor is baked inside. Whoever finds this knows s/he will enjoy good luck. Another treat is Mince Pies.
Some Australians and particularly tourists often have their Christmas dinner at midday on a local beach, Bondi Beach in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs attracts thousands of people on Christmas Day. Other families enjoy their day by having a picnic. If they are at home, the day is punctuated(不时中断) by swimming in a pool, playing Cricket out the backyard, and other outdoor activities.
The warm weather allows Australians to enjoy a tradition which started in 1937. Carols by Candlelight is held every year on Christmas Eve, where tens of thousands of people gather in the city of Melbourne to sing their favorite Christmas songs. The evening is lit by as many candles singing under a clean cut night sky. The sky with its Southern Cross stars is like a mirror. Sydney and the other capital cities also enjoy Carols in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
Australians surround themselves with Christmas Bush, a native plant which has little red flowered leaves.
| A．the country is in the Northern Hemisphere |
| B．people go shopping in shorts and T-shirts |
| C．the festival is not in winter but in summer |
| D．Santa Claus is on a surfboard at many beaches |
| A．ham | B．pork | C．turkey | D．pumpkin |
| A．Tourists like to have Christmas dinner on a beach |
| B．People play outdoor activities at home after picnic. |
| C．Carols by Candlelight is held every year on Christmas Eve |
| D．Sydney enjoys Carols in the weeks leading up to Christmas. |
| A．the warm weather |
| B．the Christmas Bush |
| C．the activities at daytime |
| D．the Southern Cross stars |
| A．Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs |
| B．Christmas meals in Australia |
| C．Christmas in Australia |
| D．Christmas shopping in Australia |
Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticed the boy ahead of him had stumbled over something and dropped all of the books he was carrying along with two sweaters, a baseball bat, a glove and a small tape recorder. Mark knelt down and helped the boy pick up the scattered articles. Since they were going the same way, he helped to carry part of the burden. As they walked Mark discovered the boy’s name was Bill, that he loved video games, baseball and history, and that he was having lots of trouble with his other subjects and that he had just broken up with his girlfriend.
They arrived at Bill's home first and Mark was invited in for a Coke and to watch some television. The afternoon passed pleasantly with a few laughs and some shared small talk, then both graduated from junior high school. They ended up in the same high school where they had brief contacts over the years. Finally the long awaited senior year came and three weeks before graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could talk.
Bill reminded him of the day years ago when they had first met. "Did you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day?" asked Bill. "You see, I cleaned out my locker because I didn't want to leave a mess for anyone else. I had stored away some of my mother's sleeping pills and I was going home to commit suicide. But after we spent some time together talking and laughing, I realized that if Ihad killed myself, I would have missed that time and so many others that might follow. So you see, Mark, when you picked up those books that day, you did a lot more. You saved my life.”
1. The underlined word “stumbled” in Paragraph One probably means .
A. stopped himself B. came to life
C. trapped himself D. lost one’s balance
2. It can be inferred that________ according to the passage.
A. The boy took so many books with him because he was about to take an exam soon.
B. From the beginning, in fact, Mark knew Bill was to kill himself.
C. Bill valued the days when they spent talking and laughing together
D. Bill was dismissed for his breaking the school rules
3. What was it that saved Bill’s life in fact?
A. Friendliness and kindness. B. Understanding and Honesty.
C. Bill’s confidence and strong will D. Bill’s mother’s encouragement
4. From the passage we can learn that _____.
A. Bill would have remove to another school if Mark hadn't met him that day
B. Bill had planned to go to kill himself for the loss of his girlfriend.
C. From the first meeting, they often talked and play together.
D. Mark found out Bill’s secret and saved his life.
5. Which of the following should be the best title for this passage?
A. A little but meaning thing
B. Just a Little Smile
C. Unforgettable School Life
D. Friendship and Life1.D
●A 78-year-old grandmother whose education was cut short by the second world war celebrated an A-level with her 50-year-old daughter. Betty Allen and daughter Chris Branton of Sprotbrough, South Yorkshire, opened their results together on TV after completing the UK's only online English A-level course. Mrs Allen received a D and Ms Branton a C
●Actor Holly Grainger, 18, from East Didsbury, Manchester, achieved two As and two Bs. She is a regular face on television screens with roles in Terry Pratchett's Johnny and the Bomb and new legal drama New Street Law. She learned yesterday that she had landed a main part in a new school drama called Waterloo Road
●A teenage hockey star who hopes to play for England in the 2012 Olympic Games won three A-grades. Will Miles, 18, from Formby, Merseyside, who attends Merchant Taylors' school in Crosby, plans to study maths at Manchester University
● Andrew Nowell, a student at Nottingham high school, got five grade As, including one of the top five marks in the country for his design and technology paper. He won the Young Engineers for Britain contest this year with an invention he produced for his Design and Technology A-Level - a "remote control and security interface system". He is off to Cambridge to study engineering .
● Jed McQueen Jones got A grades in chemistry, maths and physics, despite being diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2003 and being hospital for three months. Jed, a pupil at Richard Huish College in Taunton, restarted A-levels in September 2004 and continued chemotherapy(化疗)into that Christmas. He is going to Exeter University on a science scholarship to study physics.
1. How did Betty Allen learn English and complete the course?
A. On TV B. On the Internet C. By herself D. Through her daughter
2. The underlined word “landed” in Paragraph Two means_______.
A. moved down B. arrive at C. catch up D. got successfully
3. Which of the following statements is WRONG according to the passage?
A. She and her daughter were invited to appear online to celebrate.
B. Her daughter did worse than her in the English A-level course.
C. They completed the English A-level course on the internet.
D. Betty Allen’s education was stopped by the Second World War.
4. What really made Andrew Nowell prouder and more successful?
A. getting five grade As.
B. an invention.
C. his study on engineering
D. His job as an engineer
5. The best title of the passage is probably_________
A. Super students and their achievements
B. Super gifts account for great achievements
C. Hard work results in success
D. Star pupils and super students
The Great Wall of China, one of the greatest wonders of the world, was enlisted in the World Heritage by the UNESCO in 1987. Just like a gigantic dragon, the Great Wall winds up and down across deserts, grasslands and mountains, stretching about 6,700 kilometers from east to west of China. With a history of more than 2,000 years, some parts of the Great Wall are now in ruins or even entirely disappeared. However, it is still one of the most appealing attractions around the world.
No one can tell for sure when the building of the Great Wall was started, but it is popularly believed that it originated as a military fortification(要塞) against intrusion by tribes on the borders during the earlier Zhou Dynasty. Late in the Spring and Autumn Period, some states extended the defence work to prevent the attacks from other states.
It was not until the Qin Dynasty that the separate walls were connected to form a defensive system by Emperor Qin Shi Huang. After the emperor unified the country in 214 BC, he ordered the construction of the wall. It took about ten years to finish and the wall stretched from Gansu Province to Jilin Province. The wall not only served as a defence in the north but also symbolized the power of the emperor.
Further construction also experienced several dynasties. The present Great Wall in Beijing is mainly remains from the Ming Dynasty. Today, the Great Wall has become a must-see for every visitor to China. Few can help saying “Wow” when they stand on top of a beacon tower and look at this giant dragon. It has become a national pride of Chinese people. The underlined word “appealing” probably means “______”.
| A．huge | B．attractive | C．ordinary | D．moving |
In the Qin Dynasty, ______.
| A．the construction of the Great Wall was finished in 204 BC |
| B．the emperor wanted to invade other minor states |
| C．the defensive system of the Great Wall was separated |
| D．the Great Wall began its way from Jilin Province |
According to the passage, the Great Wall _______.
| A．is from the west to the east |
| B．is as long as 6,700 miles |
| C．was built in several dynasties |
| D．was begun in the Qin Dynasties |
The best title for the passage probably is _______.
| A．History of the Great Wall |
| B．Culture of the Great Wall |
| C．Construction of the Great Wall |
| D．Projection of the Great Wall |
Some time ago ,I discovered that one of my chairs had a broken leg. I didn’t think there would be any difficulty in getting it mended ,as there are a whole lot of antique（古董）shops near my home. So I left home one morning carrying the chair with me. I went into the first shop expecting a friendly reception（接待）. I was quite wrong. The man wouldn't oven look at my chair.
The second shop, though slightly more polite, was just the same, and the third and the fourth - so I decided that my approach must be wrong.
I went into the fifth shop with a plan in my mind. I placed the chair on the floor and said to the shopkeeper,“ Would you like to buy a chair?” He looked it over carefully and said,“ Yes, not a bad chair. How much do you want for it, sir?” “Twenty pounds,”I said. “OK, ”he said, “I’ll give you twenty pounds. ”“It ‘s got a slightly broken leg,”I said. “Yes, I saw that, it's nothing.”
Everything was going according to plan and I was getting excited. “What will you do with it?”I asked. “Oh, it will be easy to sell once the repair is done. ”“I'll buy it,”I said. “What do you mean？ You’ve just sold it to me,”he said. “Yes, I know but I’ve changed my mind. I'm sorry, I'll give you twenty -seven pounds for it. ”“ Your must be crazy, ”he said. Then, suddenly the penny dropped. “I know what you want. You want me to repair your chair. ”“ You’re right, ”I said. “And what would you have done if I had walked in and said,’Would you mend this chair for me I wouldn't have agreed to do it,” he said. “We don’t do repairs, not enough money in it and too much trouble. But I’ll mend this for you, shall we say for a fiver?”He was a very nice man and was greatly amused（感到有趣）by the whole thing.We can learn from the text that in the first shop the writer ________.
| A．was rather impolite |
| B．was warmly received |
| C．asked the shopkeeper to buy his chair |
| D．asked the shopkeeper to repair his chair |
The expression “the penny dropped” in the last paragraph means the shopkeeper ________.
| A．changed his mind | B．accepted the offer |
| C．saw the writer’s purpose | D．decided to help the writer |
How much did the writer pay?
| A．￡ 5. | B．￡ 7. | C．￡ 20. | D．￡ 27. |
From the text, we can learn that the writer was ________
| A．hanest | B．careful | C．smart | D．funny |
More surprising, perhaps, than the current difficulties of traditional marriage is the fact that marriage itself is alive and thriving（旺盛的）. As Skolnich notes, Americans are a marrying people: relative to Europeans, more of us marry and we marry at a younger age. Moreover, after a decline（衰退）in the early 1970s, the rate of marriage in the United States is now increasing. Even the divorce（离婚）rate needs to be taken in this pro- marriage context: some 80 percent of divorced individuals remarry. Thus, marriage remains by far the preferred way of life for the vast majority of the people in our society.
What has changed more than marriage is the nuclear family. Twenty- five years ago, the typical American family consisted of the husband, the wife, and two or three children. Now, there are many marriages in which couples have decided not to have any children, and there are many marriages where at least some of the children are from the wife’s previous marriage, or the husband’s, or both. Sometimes these children spend all of their time with one parent from the former marriage; sometimes they are shared between the two former spouses （配偶）．
Thus, one can find every type of tamely arrangement. There are marriages without children; marriages with children from only the present marriages; marriages with “full - time” children from both the present and former marriages; marriages with“full- time”children from the present marriage and“ part- time”children from former marriages. There are stepfathers, stepmothers, half- brothers and half - sisters. It is not all that unusual for a child to have four parents and eight grandparents! These are enormous changes from the traditional nuclear family. But even so, even in the midst of all this, there remains one constant: most Americans spend most of their adult lives married.
By calling Americans a marrying people the writer means that ________.
| A．Americans are more traditional than Europeans |
| B．Americans expect more out of marriage than Europeans |
| C．there are more married couples in the USA than in Europe |
| D．more of Americans, as compared with Europeans, prefer marriage and they accept it at a younger age |
Divorced Americans ________ .
| A．prefer the way they live |
| B．will most likely remarry |
| C．have lost interest in marriage |
| D．are the majority of people in the society |
Which of the following can be presented as the picture of today’s American families？
| A．Which types of family arrangements have become socially acceptable. |
| B．A typical American family consists of only a husband and a wife. |
| C．Americans prefer to have more kids than before. |
| D．There are no nuclear families any more. |
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