Are you a big fan of pirate（海盗） stories? Do you know how to talk like a pirate? You can have fun on September 19th. This special holiday is called International Talk Like A Pirate Day. It was invented in 1995 by two young Americans, John Baur and Mark Summers.
These two good friends came up with this idea when they were playing racquetball, and began to talk like pirates. At that moment, they thought, “Young people are interested in pirate. But there is no such a chance for people to get together to share it. Why not have a day when everybody talks like a pirate?” They decided to make September 19th the date. Since then, Baur and Summers have tried hard to promote Talk Like A Pirate Day. As Baur said, “We've talked like pirates, and encouraged several of our friends to do so every September 19th.”
At first, this day was only known by a few people. In 2002, Baur and Summers sent a letter about their invented holiday to Dave Barry. This columnist（专栏作家）really liked their idea. He promoted the holiday and made it known to more and more people. Now, it has really become an international holiday. On Talk Like A Pirate Day, you need to dress like a pirate. You should wear a big hat or maybe cover one of your eyes. You can pretend to be any kind of pirate that you can find in any story or movie.
Having fun and being relaxed are not the only best things about the holiday. Young people share the same interest and childhood dreams that day. That's why it is welcomed by so many people, especially young people.
Unlike traditional holidays, International Talk Like A Pirate Day is a brand new holiday which is invented by the youth themselves and celebrated by themselves too. Because of Baur and Summers' imagination and creativity, thousands of young people's pirate dream come true. Next time, when you have a good idea, why not share it with your fiends and insist on your belief? Maybe you can create another wonderful holiday for the youth in the future.How did John Baur and Mark Summers invent the special holiday?
| A．Many young people asked them to do it |
| B．They did it just for pleasure |
| C．They thought out the idea by chance and imagination |
| D．They did it in order to honor pirates |
Why are the holiday become more and more popular？.
| A．You can have fun and relax yourself freely. |
| B．young people can exchange ideas and dreams on the day |
| C．young people can have fun and be relaxed. |
| D．you can play the role of the pirate in the movie on the day |
Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．It was Dave Barry who made more people know the holiday. |
| B．Talk Like A Pirate Day is a young, active and lively holiday |
| C．Thanks to John Baur and Mark Summers’ imagination and creativity, a lot of people realize their pirate dream. |
| D．The holiday has been popular since the birth of it. |
According to the passage, which of the following can show that the holiday is special?
| A．It has a long history. |
| B．It is a wonderful and instructive holiday. |
| C．It is a brand new holiday invented and celebrated by the youth themselves. |
| D．People can make their dream come true on this day. |
Which of the following can serve as the best title of the passage？
| A．Can you talk like a pirate? |
| B．Young people’s pirate dream |
| C．John Baur and Mark Summers |
| D．September 19th ,—a day in honor of pirates |
第三部分阅读理解（共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中，选出最佳选项。
A
Bamboo (竹子) is one of nature’s (自然) most surprising plants. Many people call this plant a tree, but it is a kind of grass.
Like other kinds of grass, a bamboo plant may be cut very low to the ground, but it will grow back very quickly. A Japanese scientist reported one bamboo plant which grew 1.5 metres (4 feet) in 24 hours! Bamboo grows almost everywhere in the world except Europe. There are more than 1, 000 kinds of bamboo.
Not all bamboo looks the same. Some bamboo plants are very thin. They may only grow to be a few centimeters wide while others may grow to more than 30 centimetres (1 foot) across. This plant also comes in different colors, from yellow to black to green.
Bamboo has been used to make many things such as hats and kitchen tools(厨房用具). Because it is strong, bamboo is also used to build buildings.
Many Asian countries have used bamboo for hundreds of years. They often use bamboo for buildings and supporting (支撑) new buildings and bridges while they are being built.
In Africa, poor farmers are taught how to find water using bamboo. These African countries need cheap way to find water because they have no money, and their fields often die from no rain and no water.Bamboo pipes (管子) help poor farmers bring water to their thirsty fields without spending a lot of money.
56. How is bamboo like grass?
A. It grows quickly. B. It’s wood. C. it is easy to cut D.It is very thin
57. Though you can see bamboo everywhere, it doesn’t grow.
A.in China B.in Europe C. on mountains D. in Africa
58. Why is bamboo used by African poor farmers? Because.
A.it is cheap B.it has different colours
C.it is strong D.it has been used by Asians
59. Bamboo pipes can.
A. make money B. be trees C. grow quickly D. carry water
60. In Asia, bamboo has been used for.
A.a short time B.many thousands of years
C. many hundreds of years D. about 100 years
C
Isn't it astonishing how much time we spend talking about food? “Have you ever eaten …?” “What did you have for lunch?” and so on. And yet when you travel from one country to another, you will find that people have quite different feelings about food. People often feel that what they eat is normal (正常) and that what other people eat is strange or silly. In most parts of Asia, for example, no meal is complete without rice. In England, people eat potatoes every day. In the Middle East, bread is the main part of every meal. Eating like so many things we do, becomes a habit which is difficult to change. Americans like to drink a lot of orange juice and coffee. The English drink tea four or five times every day. Australians drink a great deal of beer, and the French drink wine every day.
The sort of meat people like to eat also differs from one country to another. Horse meat is thought to be delicious in France. In Hong Kong, some people enjoy eating snakes. New Zealanders eat sheep, but they never eat goat meat. The Japanese don't like to eat sheep meat because of its smell, but they enjoy eating raw fish (生鱼).
So it seems that although eating is a topic we can talk about for hours, there is very little common sense in what we say it. People everywhere enjoy eating what they have always eaten, and there is very little we can do to change our eating habits.
64. Which of the following is true according to the article?
A. All people have the same feeling about food.
B. In most parts of Asia, people usually have rice for meals.
C. People often consider other people to be strange or silly.
D. The topic people spend time talking about is bread and meat.
65. People in different countries ___.
A. drink the same sort of wine B. have the same eating habit
C. eat different kinds of meat D. have the same tea at different time within a day
66. The Japanese don't like to eat sheep meat __.
A. because they dislike its smell B. because it is too expensive
C. because it is easy to go badD. because they think it will do harm to their health
67. English people drink tea four or five times a day _.
A. because they get thirsty easilyB. because there is plenty of tea in Britain
C. because of their drinking habitD. because they have enough time to do so
B
A beautiful and very successful actress (女演员) was the star for a new musical show. Her home was in the countryside, but she did not want to go back there every night, so she bought an expensive house in the centre of the city, got some beautiful furniture (家具) and got a man to paint the rooms in new colours.
It was very difficult to get tickets for her show, because everybody wanted to see it. So she decided to give the painter two of the best seats. She hoped that this would make him work better for her. He took the tickets without saying anything, and she heard no more about them until the end of the month, when she got the painter’s bill (账单). At the bottom of it were these words: “ Four hours watching Miss Hall sing and dance: 3 pounds,” with this note: “After 5 p.m., I get 15 shillings (先令) an hour instead of 10 shillings.”
60. The actress bought a house in the centre of the city because ______.
A. she liked to live in the busiest place
B. she didn’t like to live in the country
C. her home was far away from where she worked
D. she didn’t want to go back to her hometown any longer
61. In order to make the painter work better for her, the actress ________.
A. gave him two tickets for her show B. sang and danced for him for hours
C. paid him 3 poundsD. decided to pay him 15 shillings an hour
62. The actress got the painter’s bill ________.
A. to ask for the money of his painting work
B. to ask to pay for his watching her show
C. in which he showed his thanks for the tickets
D. in which he expressed his dissatisfaction
63. What kind of man was the painter?
A. He was a careful man. B. He was a poor man.
C. He was not friendly to others. D. He knew little about music and dances.