Beijing Opera is my favourite. Bao Zheng always has a black face and Guan Yu has a red face in Beijing Opera. But many people don’t know why.
I come from America and I have lived in China for six years. I like Beijing Opera very much. I think Beijing Opera is very interesting. I can learn a lot about Chinese history. Now let me tell you the art of Beijing Opera facial paintings.
In Beijing Opera facial paintings, different colours and patterns are for different roles. For example, a black face is for fair people. A red face is for brave people. A white face is for bad people. Blue and green faces are for heroes. The gold face is for gods.Why does Bao zheng have a black face?
| A．Because he is bad. | B．Because he is fair. |
| C．Because he is brave. | D．Because he is a god. |
The writer thinks he can learn a lot about _______ by watching Beijing Opera.
| A．Chinese history | B．American history |
| C．different colours | D．different pattern |
What’s the main idea of the third paragraph?
| A．It tells us why people like Beijing Opera. |
| B．It tells us the writer ’s personal information. |
| C．It tells us the art of Beijing Opera facial paintings. |
| D．It tells us the history of Beijing Opera. |
Sunday is more like Monday than it used to be. Places of business that used to keep daytime “business hours” are now open late into the night. And on the Internet, the hour of the day and the day of the week have become irrelevant. A half century ago in the United states, most people experienced strong and precise dividing lines between days of rest and days of work, school time and summer time. Today the dividing lines are still there, but they seem not clear.
The law in almost all states used to require stores to close on Sunday; in most, it no longer does. It used to keep the schools open in all seasons except summer, in most, it still does. And whether the work week should strengthen its legal（法律的）limits, or whether it should become more changeable, is often debated（争论）. How should we, as a society, organize our time? Should we go even further in relaxing the dividing lines of time until we live in a world in which every minute is much like every other?
These are not easy questions even to ask. Part of the difficulty is that we seldom recognize the “law of time” even when we meet it face to face. We know as children that we have to go to school a certain number of hours, a certain number of days, a certain number of years – but unless we meet the truant officer（学监）, we may well think that we should go to school because of social custom and parents’ requirement rather than to the law. As adults we know “extra pay for overtime working” very well, but less familiar with the fact that what constitutes（构成）“overtime” is a matter of legal thing. When we turn the clock forward to start daylight – saving time, have we ever thought to ourselves: “Here is the law in action”? As we shall see, there is a lot of law that has great influence on how organize and use time: compulsory education law, overtime law, and daylight-saving law – as well as law about Sunday closing, holidays, being late to work, time zones, and so on. Once we begin to look for it, we will have no trouble finding a law of time to examine and assess.What does the underlined word “irrelevant” probably mean?
| A．Impossible. | B．Unacceptable. | C．Unimportant. | D．Disagreeable. |
The writer raises the questions in Paragraph 2 to introduce the fact that people _____.
| A．are unknowing of the law of time |
| B．fail to make full use of their time |
| C．welcome changeable working hours |
| D．enjoy working overtime for more pay |
We can learn from the passage that most children go to school because they_____.
| A．have to follow the law |
| B．need to find social customs |
| C．need to learn more knowledge |
| D．have to follow their parents’ requirement |
What is the main idea of the passage?
| A．Our life is governed by the law of time. |
| B．How to use time is not worth debating. |
| C．New ways of using time change our society. |
| D．Our time table is decided by social customs. |
Even though global warming may have made the weather more mild, many animals are still hibernating（冬眠）. It’s too bad that humans can’t hibernate. In fact we almost did.
Apparently, at times in the past, farmers in France liked a semi-state of human hibernation. So writes Graham Robb, a British scholar who has studied the sleeping habits of the French farmers. As soon as the weather turned cold, people all over the France shut themselves away and practiced the forgotten art of doing nothing at all for months.
In line with this, Jeff Warren, a producer at CBC Radio’s The Current, tells us that the way we sleep has changed since the invention of lighting.
When historians began studying texts of the Middle Ages, they noticed something referred to as “first sleep”, which was not clarified, though. Now scientists are telling us our ancestors most likely slept in separate periods. The business of eight hours’ continuous sleep is a modern invention.
In the past, without the artificial light, humans went to sleep when it became dark and then woke themselves up around midnight. The late night period was known as “The Watch”. It was when people actually kept watch against wild animals, although many of them simply moved around or visited family and neighbors.
According to some sleep researchers, a short of insomnia（失眠）at midnight is not a disorder. It is normal. Humans can experience another state of consciousness（清醒状态）around their sleeping, which happens in the brief period before we fall asleep or wake ourselves in the morning. This period can be a creative time for some people.
Playing with your sleep rhythms（节奏）can be dangerous, as worry may set in. Medical science doesn’t help much in this case. It offers us medicines for a full night’s continuous sleep, which sounds natural; however, according to Warren’s theory, it is really the opposite of what we need.The late night was called “The Watch” because it was a time for people ______.
| A．to set time to catch animals |
| B．to remind others of the time |
| C．to guard against possible dangers |
| D．to wake up their family and neighbors |
We can infer from the last paragraph that people should ______.
| A．sleep in the way animals do |
| B．follow their natural sleep rhythms |
| C．keep to the eight-hour sleeping way |
| D．ask doctors for help if they can’t sleep |
What is the writer’s purpose in writing the passage?
| A．To throw new light on human sleep. |
| B．To encourage people to sleep less. |
| C．To give some suggestions on insomnia. |
| D．To find out people’s hibernating history. |
What do you want to be when you grow up? A teacher? A doctor? How about an ice-cream taster?
Yes, there really is a job where you can get paid to taste ice cream. Just ask John Harrison, an “Official Taste Tester” for the past 2l years. Harrison’s job has been responsible for approving（批准）large numbers of the sweet ice cream – as well as for developing over 15 flavors（味道）.
Some people think that it would be easy to do this job; after all, you just have to like ice cream, right? No – there’s more to the job than that, says Harrison, who has a degree in chemistry. He points out that a dairy or food-science degree would be very useful to someone wanting a job in this “cool field”.
In a typical morning on the job, Harrison tastes and grades 60 ice-cream samples. He lets the ice cream warm up to about 12oF. Harrison explains, “You get more flavor from warmer ice cream, which is why some kids like to stir it, creating ice-cream soup.”
While the ice cream warms up, Harrison looks over the samples and grades each one on its appearance. “Tasting begins with the eyes,” he explains. He checks to see if the ice cream is attractive and asks himself, “Does the product have the colour expected from that flavor?” Next it’s time to taste!
Continuing to think up new ideas, try out new flavors and test samples from so many kinds of ice cream each day keeps Harrison busy but happy – working at one cool job. What is John Harrison’s job?
| A．An officer. | B．An ice-cream taster. |
| C．A chemist. | D．An ice-cream producer. |
According to John Harrison, what is useful to get a job in “cool field”?
| A．To just like ice cream. |
| B．To find out new flavors each day. |
| C．To have new ideas every day. |
| D．To have a degree in food-science. |
What does Harrison do first when testing ice cream?
| A．He smells it. | B．He lets it warm up. |
| C．He tastes its flavor. | D．He examines its colour. |
| Future Plan |
| Thomas I’m not very sure what I will be doing in ten years from now. Maybe a cook or a film director? But I can tell you what I’ll be doing next week – having a birthday party with friends. |
| Emma There is one thing I really want to do and that is to travel around the world. Hopefully I will be living somewhere different in ten years, like Australia, or even Japan – who knows? I’d like to be a teacher and I’ll probably be teaching English. |
| Ken When I was little I always said I wanted to be a doctor and that hasn’t changed. I will study medicine after I finish school. It will be a lot of hard work, but it’s my dream. So in ten years I hope I will either be working in a hospital or as a doctor with my own surgery. |
| Mary I’m not really sure about the future. I’m interested in the environment, so maybe I’ll probably be working as a scientist and help develop energy or something like that. |
Who will have a birthday party with friends next week?
| A．Emma. | B．Ken. | C．Thomas. | D．Mary. |
What would Emma like to be in the future?
| A．A teacher. | B．A cook. | C．A doctor. | D．A scientist. |
What’s Ken’s dream?
| A．To live somewhere different. | B．To travel around the world. |
| C．To help develop energy. | D．To study medicine in the future. |
阅读短文，选择正确的答案
Dear Jennifer,
It’s Tuesday, February 11th. I’m really busy(繁忙) today! At 8 o’clock I have a math class. I don’t like math. Then I have a science class. It’s difficult, but it’s interesting. Next, at 10:00, I have a history class. It’s boring. But I have P.E. at 11:00. That’s my favorite subject! I have lunch at 12:00. After lunch, I have a music class. I like my music teacher, Mr. Morgan. He is a fun(滑稽) teacher. School is over at 2:00.After school I do sports for two hours. I’m so tired, but I’m very happy.
Yours,
Lin MeiThis is a letter from_______.
A. Jennifer B.Lin Mei C.Mr. MorganHow many classes does she have on Tuesday?
A. Four B. Five C. SixShe likes _______best.
A.P.E. B. math C. historyWhy does she like her music teacher?
A. He is tall. B. He is tired. C. His class is interesting.After school, she _______for two hours.
A. listens to music B. does sports C. does her homework
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