Americans plan parties for many reasons. As in other cultures, many Americans attend parties for weddings and religious or national holidays. But some parties are especially American. For example, a group of neighbors may gather on their street to eat food, play music and visit with one another. This is called a block party. A woman might invite a group of women to a party called a baby shower for a friend who is about to give birth. Guests bring presents for the new baby.
Americans also attend tailgate parties. A tailgate is the back end of a truck or other vehicle that opens down. The tailgate parties are a big part of sports culture in the United States. Friends bring food and drink to a sports event. They eat together in the parking area of the sports stadium.
Birthday parties are also very popular. Many parents organize a party for their child around a theme. Birthday parties usually include gifts and a birthday cake with candles. In many parts of the United States, cupcakes have become a popular replacement for cakes.
Birthday parties can be low cost or very costly. Some parents take their children’s birthday parties very seriously, even when the child is too young to fully understand the celebration.
One group of parents started a website called Birthdays Without Pressure. They decided that some parents were under too much social pressure to plan costly parties for their children. The group sees this movement as an example of America’s culture of “too much stuff”. The group’s website gives suggestions on how to keep birthday celebrations simple, meaningful and fun without spending a lot of money. Their advice may be very helpful during this period of economic recession (萧条)．What can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Reasons for parties |
| B．Birthdays without pressure |
| C．Different parties in the world |
| D．American parties |
How many kinds of parties does the passage mention?
| A．5. | B．7. | C．6. | D．8. |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Birthday parties are the most popular in America. |
| B．Some parties in America are the same as in other countries. |
| C．There’s a party for the mother before her new baby is born. |
| D．Block party is especially American |
The purpose of Birthdays Without Pressure is to advise people to _________.
| A．relieve people’s pressure |
| B．make birthday parties meaningful and costly |
| C．have meaningful birthday parties with low cost |
| D．spread America’s culture |
In the United States, 30 percent of the people have a “weight problem”。To many people the cause is obvious (明显的): they eat too much. But scientific evidence (证据) does little to support this idea. Going back to America of 1910, we find that people were thinner than today, yet they ate more food. In those days people worked harder physically, walked more, used machines much less, and didn’t watch television.
Several modern studies, moreover, have shown that fatter people don’t eat more on average than thinner people. A 1979 study of 3,545 London office workers showed that fat people eat less than slim (苗条的) people.
Studies also show that slim people are more active than fat people. A study by a research group at Stanford University found the following interesting facts:
The more the man ran, the greater loss of the body fat
The more they ran, the greater increase in food intake.
Thus, those who ran the most ate the most, yet lost the greatest amount of body fat. Nowadays many Americans have the problem that ______.
| A．they are too slim | B．they work too hard | C．they are too fat | D．they lose too much body fat |
Accord
ing to the passage, how many people in 900 Americans have a “weight problem”?
| A．150. | B．300. | C．600. | D．270. |
Is there any scientific evidence to support the idea that eating too much is the cause of a “weight problem”?
| A．Yes, there is plenty of evidence. | B．Of course, there is some evidence to support this. |
| C．There is hardly any scientific evidence to support this. | D．We are not sure. |
The Americans in 1910 ________.
| A．ate more food and had more physical activities | |
| B．ate less food but had more physical activities | |
| C．ate less food and had less physical activities | D．had more problems |
Dear Abby,
This is my first letter to you, al
though I have been reading your column for many years. I need an outside opinion.
I am a grandmother in my 70s and have just returned from visiting my daughter, her husband and their three dearly loved children--all under the age of 5--and I'm upset with some of their parenting ways.
For example: They lock the doors to their children's bedrooms at night because the children might 
get out of their beds and wander around the house, and we may not hear them."
If one child should get punishment, all three are punished, and if one 
child says a naughty
word, all three are given hot sauce (辣酱汁) in the mouth. I know these parents love their children very much, but are these ways of disciplining them wise? Please understand, it is not my aim to interfere (干涉).
--- Gram
Dear Gram,
Children's bedroom doors should not be locked. Should a flash fire break out, it would be a nightmare (噩梦).Punishing all the children when only one has earned the punishment is a good way to make them grow up to hate each other. Children who use "naughty" words should not be punished with hot sauce in the mouth-they should be taught the proper and acceptable word to use instead of the "naughty" word. Gram's daughter _____________.
| A．is very strict with her children | B．does not love her three children |
| C．always punishes her children at night | D．often gives her children hot sauce |
Gram writes the letter in order to ____________.
| A．disclose her daughter's ways as a mother |
| B．criticize her daughter's ways as a mother |
| C．express her anger about her daughter s ways as a mom |
| D．get others' opinion about her daughter's ways as a mom |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Gram seems to care for her grand children very much. |
| B．Gram is against some of her daughter's ways as a mom. |
C．Abby i s for only one of Gram's daughter's ways as a mom. |
| D．Abby agrees with Gram about her daughter's ways as a mom. |
BRITAIN is a popular tourist place, but tours of the country have pros and cons.
GOOD NEWS
Free museums. No charge for outstanding collections of art and antiquities.
Pop music. Britain is the only country to compete with the US on this score.
Black cabs. London taxi drivers know where they are going even if there are never enough of them at weekends or night.
Choice of food. Visitors can find everything from Japanese to Swedish restaurants.
Fashion. Not only do fashion junkies love deeply and respect highly brand names such as Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen; street styles are justly loved, too.
BAD NEWS
Poor service. “It’s part of the image of the place. People can dine out on the rudeness they have experienced,” says Professor Tony Seaton, of Luton University’s International Tourism Research Center.
Poor public transport. Trains and buses are promised to disappoint the keenest tourists, although the over crowded London tube is unbelievably popular.
Rain. Still in the number one complaint.
No air-conditioning. So that even splendidly hot summers become as unbearable as the downpours.
Overpriced hotels. The only European country with a higher rate of tax on hotel rooms is Denmark.
Licensing hours. Alcohol(酒) is in short supply after 11 pm even in “24-hour cities”. What do tourists complain most?
| A．Poor service. | B．Poor public transport. |
| C．Rain. | D．Overpriced hotels. |
What do we learn about pop music in Britain and the US through this passage?
| A．Pop music in Britain is better than that in the US. |
| B．Pop music in Britain is as good as that in the US. |
| C．Pop music in Britain is worse than that in the US. |
| D．Pop music in Britain is quite different from that in the US. |
When is alcohol unlikely to be available in quantities?
| A．At 8: 30 pm. | B．At 9: 30 pm. | C．At 10: 30 pm. | D．At 11: 30 pm. |
Which of the following is true according to the passage?
| A．The public transport is poor there. |
| B．It’s very cheap to travel by taxi there. |
| C．You cannot find Chinese food there. |
| D．You have to pay to visit the museums. |
Farming was once the chief way of life in nearly every country. People cannot live without food, and nearly all their food comes from crops and animals raised on farms. Not many people farm for a living any more, but farming remains the most important work in the world.
Before the nineteenth century, the typical American family lived on a small farm. They raised pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens, and planted corn, frui
ts, garden vegetables, and wheat. Everyone worked long and hard, but the results were often poor. Families barely harvested enough food for themselves. This situation began to change during the last half of the 1800's and it changed remarkably(明显地) in the next century.
Scientific methods and labor-saving machinery have made farming increasingly productive. The development of improved plant varieties and fertilizers has helped double and even triple the production of some major crops. More scientific animal care and animal raising have helped increase the amount of meat and products that animals produce. At the same time, the use of tractors and other modern farm equipment has sharply reduced the need for farm labor.
As farming has become less important as a way of life in the United States, it has become more important as a source which offers materials to industry. Today's successful farmers are experts not just in agriculture but also in accounting, marketing, and finance. Farms that are
not run in a similar way have great difficulty surviving. We are told in the first paragraph about ____.
| A．the history of farming | B．the importance of farming |
| C．the development of farming | D．the changes of farming |
Which of the following describes American farming before the 19th century?
| A．Farmers didn’t work hard on their farms. |
| B．Farmers used tractors to help them. |
| C．Farming was the main way of living for most people. |
| D．Farmers could supply materials to industry. |
Crop production has increased greatly now thanks to all the following EXCEPT __.
| A．scientific methods | B．labor- saving machinery |
| C．farmers’ hard work | D．chemical fertilizers |
The passage mainly talks about_____.
| A．the advantages of American farming | B．the changes in American farming |
| C．the situation of American farms | D．how rapidly farming has developed |
The famous director of a big and expensive movie planned to film a beautiful sunset over the ocean, so that the audiences could see his hero and heroine in front of it at the end of the film as they said goodbye to each other forever. He sent his camera crew out one evening to film the sunset for him.
The next morning he said to the men, “Have you provided me with that sunset?”
“No, sir,” the men answered.
The director was angry. “Why not?” he asked.
“Well, sir,” one of the men answered, “we’re on the east coast here, and the sun sets in the west. We can get you a sunrise over the sea, if necessary, but not a sunset.”
“But I want a sunset!” the director shouted. “Go to the airport, take the next flight to the west coast, and get one.”
But then a young secretary had an idea. “Why don’t you photograph a sunrise,” she suggested, “and then play it backwards? Then it’ll look like a sunset.”
“That’s a very good idea!” the director said. Then he turned to the camera crew and said, “Tomorrow morning I want you to get me a beautiful sunrise over the sea.”
The camera crew went out early the next morning and filmed a bright sunrise over the beach in the middle of a beautiful bay. Then at nine o’clock they took it to the director. “Here it is, sir,” they said, and gave it to him. He was very pleased.
They all went into the studio. “All right,” the director explained, “now our hero and heroine are going to say goodbye. Run the film backwards so that we can see the ‘sunset’ behind them.”
The “sunset” began, but after a quarter of a minute, the director suddenly put his face in his hands and shouted to the camera crew to 
stop.
The birds in the film were flying backwards, and the waves on the sea were going away from the beach.One evening, the director sent his camera crew out _________.
| A．to film a scene on the sea | B．to find an actor and an actress |
| C．to watch a beautiful sunset | D．to meet the audience |
Why did the director want to send his crew to the west coast?
| A．Because he changed his mind about getting a sunset. |
| B．Because he was angry with his crew. |
| C．Because he wanted to get a scene of sunset. |
| D．Because it was his secretary’s suggestion. |
The director wanted to film a sunset over the ocean because ______.
| A．it went well with the separation of the hero and heroine |
| B．when they arrived at the beach it was already in the evening |
| C．it was more moving than a sunrise |
| D．the ocean looked more beautiful at sunset |
After the “sunset” began, the director
suddenly put his face in his hands ______.
| A．because he was moved to tears |
B．as he saw everything in the film moving backwa rds |
| C．as the sunrise did not look as beautiful as he had imagined |
| D．because he was disappointed with the performance of the hero and heroine |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．The crew had to follow the secretary’s advice. |
| B．If you want to see a sunrise, the east coat is the place to go. |
| C．The camera crew wasn’t able to film the scene the first day. |
| D．The director ordered his crew to stop filming the “sunset”. |
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