Going home for Christmas is a tradition of the holiday season. No matter where you may be the rest of the years, being at “home” with your family and friends for Christmas is a “must”. The Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are the busiest times of the year at airports, train stations and bus stations. It seems that all America is on the move and Americans are on their way to spend the holidays with their loved ones.
This means that the house will be full of cousins, aunts and uncles that might not see each other during the year. Everyone joins in to help in the preparation of the festival. Some family members get to choose a Christmas tree to buy and bring home. Others decorate the house or wrap presents. And of course, each household needs to make lots of food!
At Christmas Eve gatherings adults have eggnog, which is made of cream, milk, sugar, eggs and brandy. Plenty of eggnog or hot cocoa is on hand in colder climates for carolers, or people who go from house to house sing Christmas carols to their neighbors.
Long ago, each child hung a stocking, or sock, over the fireplace. Santa entered down the chimney and left candy and presents inside the socks for the children. Today the tradition is carried on, but the socks are now large red sock-shaped fabric bags still called stockings. Each child can’t wait to open his or her eyes to see what Santa has left in the stocking.
Giving gifts is a Christmas tradition. However, in recent years, more and more people have complained that Christmas is too commercialized(商业化) especially in large cities. Store owners begin advertising and decorating very early in hopes of selling more goods. Some people believe that the origin of Christmas has been lost.
It is a traditional custom for Americans ____________.
| A．to buy Christmas trees and bring them to churches for Christmas |
| B．to drink beer on Christmas Eve |
| C．to go home for Christmas with their family and relatives |
| D．to hung stockings on the chimney |
The underlined word “eggnog” in the third paragraph is a kind ____________.
| A．drink | B．food | C．egg | D．present |
Each child hung a stocking over the fireplace in order to____________.
| A．get some eggnog | B．have a look at Santa |
| C．get some candy and presents | D．get some money from his/ her parents |
The last paragraph wants to tell us that ____________.
| A．giving gifts is a Christmas tradition | B．giving gifts is getting more and more commercialized |
| C．store owners hope to get more presents | D．people think there will be no Christmas in the future |
Winners Club
You choose to be a winner！
The Winners Club is a bank account specially designed for teenagers. It has been made to help you better manage your money. The Winners Club is a transaction account（交易账户）where you receive a key-card so you can get to your money 24/7—that’s 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!
It’s a club with impressive features for teenagers：
No account keeping fees！
You’re no millionaire so we don’t expect you to pay large fees. In fact, there are no account keeping or transacting fees!
Excellent interest rates!
You want your money to grow. The Winners Club has a good rate of interest which gets even better if you make at least two deposits（储蓄）without talking them out in a month.
Convenient
Teenagers are busy—we get that. You may never need to come to a bank at all. With the Winners Club you can choose to use handy tellers and to bank from home using the phone and the Internet. You can have money directly deposited into your Winners Club account. This could be your pocket money or your pay from your part-time job!
Mega magazine included
Along with your regular report, you will receive a FREE magazine full of good ideas to make even more of your money. There are also fantastic offers and competitions only for Winners Club members.
The Winners Club is a great choice for teenagers. And it is so easy to join. Simply fill in an application form. You will have to get permission from your parent or guardian (so we can organize that cool key-card) but it is easy. We can’t wait to hear from you. It’s the best way to choose to be a winner! The Winners Club is a bank account intended for _________.
| A．parents | B．teenagers | C．winners | D．adults |
Which of the following is TRUE about the Winners Club？
| A．Special gifts are ready for parents. |
| B．The bank opens only on work days. |
| C．Services are convenient for its members. |
| D．Fees are necessary for the account keeping. |
If you want to be a member of the Club, you must _________.
| A．be an Internet user | B．be permitted by your parent |
| C．has a big sum of money | D．be in your twenties |
What is the purpose of this text?
| A．To set up a club. | B．To provide part-time jobs. |
| C．To organize key-cards. | D．To introduce a new banking service. |
It is hardly surprising that clothing manufacturers （生产商）follow certain uniform standards for various features（特征）of clothes. What seems strange, however, is that the standard adopted for women is the opposite of the one for men. Take a look at the way your clothes button. Men’s clothes tend to button from the right, and women’s from the left. Considering most of the world’s population--men and women are right-handed, the men’s standard would appear to make more sense for women. So why do women’s clothes button from the left?
History really seems to matter here. Button first appeared only on the clothes of the rich in the 17th century, when rich women were dressed by servants. For the mostly right-handed servants, having women’s shirts button from the left would be easier. On the other hand, having men’s shirts button form the right made sense, too. Most men dressed themselves, and a sword drawn from the left with the right hand would be less likely to get caught in the shirt.
Today women are seldom dressed by servants, but buttoning from the left is still the standard for them. Is it interesting? Actually, a standard, once set, resists change. At a time when all women’s shirts buttoned from the left, it would have been risky for any single manufacture to offer women’s shirts that buttoned the right. After all, women had grown so used to shirts which buttoned from the left and would have to develop new habits and skills to switch. Besides from the right, since anyone who noticed that would believe they were wearing men’s shirts.What is surprising about the standard of the clothing industry?
| A．It has been followed by the industry for over 400 years. |
| B．It is different for men’s clothing and women’s. |
| C．It works better with men than with women. |
| D．It fails to consider right-handed people. |
What do we know about the rich men in the 17th century?
| A．They tended to wear clothes without buttons. |
| B．They were interested in the historical matters. |
| C．They were mostly dressed by servants. |
| D．They drew their swords from the left. |
Women’s clothes still button from the left today because.
| A．adopting men’s style is improper for women |
| B．manufacturers should follow standards |
| C．modern women dress themselves |
| D．customs are hard to change |
The passage is mainly developed by .
| A．analyzing cause | B．making comparisons |
| C．examining differences | D．following the time order |
One morning more than thirty years ago, I entered the Track Kitchen, a restaurant where everyone from the humblest(卑微的)to the most powerful came for breakfast. I noticed am empty chair next to an elderly, unshaven man, who looked somewhat disheveled. He was wearing a worn-out hat and was alone. I asked if I might join him. He agreed quietly and I sat down to have my breakfast.
We cautiously began a conversion and spoke about a wide range of things. We never introduced ourselves. I was concerned that he might have no money and not be able to afford something to eat. So as I rose to go back to the counter and buy a second cup of coffee, I asked,
“My I get you something?”
“A coffee would be nice.”
Then I bought him a cup of coffee, we talked more, and he accepted another cup of coffee, Finally, I rose to leave, wished him well, and headed for the exit. At the door I met one of my friends. He asked,
“How did you get to know Mr. Galbreath?”
“Who?”
“The man you were sitting with. He is chairman of the Board of Churchill Downs.”
I could hardly believe it. I was buying, offering a free breakfast, and feeling pity for one of the world’s richest and most powerful men!
My few minutes with Mr. Galbreath changed my life. Now I try to treat everyone with respect, no matter who I think they are.What does the underlined word “disheveled” mean?
| A．Unfriendly. | B．Untidy. | C．Gentle. | D．Kind |
The author bought coffee for the old man because
| A．he thought the old man was poor |
| B．he wanted to start a conversation |
| C．he intended to show his politeness |
| D．he would like to thank the old man |
How did the author probably feel after he talked with his friend?
| A．Proud. | B．Pitiful. | C．Surprised. | D．Regretful |
What is the message mainly expressed in the story?
| A．We should learn to be generous. |
| B．It is honorable to help those in need. |
| C．People in high positions are not like what we expect. |
| D．We should avoid judging people by their appearances. |
The National Gallery
Description:
The National Gallery is the British national art museum built on the north side of Trafalgar Square in London. It houses a diverse collection of more than 2,300 examples of European art ranging from 13th-century religious paintings to more modern ones by Renoir and Van Gogh. The older collections of the gallery are reached through the main entrance while the more modern works in the East Wing are most easily reached from Trafalgar Square by a ground floor entrance.
Layout:
The modern Sainsbury Wing on the western side of the building houses 13th- to 15th-century paintings, and artists include Duccio, Uccello, Van Eyck, Lippi, Mantegna, Botticelli and Memling.
The main West Wing houses 16th-century paintings, and artists include Leonardo da Vinci, Cranach, Michelangelo, Raphael, Bruegel, Bronzino, Titan and Veronese.
The North Wing houses 17th-century paintings, and artists include Caravaggio, Rubens, Poussin, Van Dyck, Velazquez, Claude and Vermeer.
The East Wing houses 18th- to early 20th-century paintings, and artists include Canaletto, Goya, Turner, Constable, Renoir and Van Gogh.
Opening Hours: The Gallery is open every day from 10am to 6pm (Fridays 10am to 9pm) and is free, but charges apply to some special exhibitions.
Getting There: Nearest underground stations: Charing Cross (2-minute walk), Leicester Square (3-minute walk), Embankment (7-minute walk), and Piccadilly Circus (8-minute walk).
| A．The 13th. | B．The 17th. | C．The 18th. | D．The 20th. |
| A．In the East Wing. | B．In the main West Wing. |
| C．In the Sainsbury Wing. | D．In the North Wing. |
| A．Piccadilly Circus | B．Leicester Square |
| C．Embankment | D．Charing Cross |
Teachers and parents usually call attention to the pictures when they read storybooks to pre-school children. But a new study suggests that calling attention to the words and letters on the page may lead to better readers.
The two-year study compared children who were read in this way in class with children who were not. Those whose teachers most often discussed the print showed clearly higher skills in reading, spelling and understanding. These results were found one year and even two years later.
Shayne Piasta, an assistant professor of teaching and learning at Ohio State University, was an author of the study. She says most pre-school teachers would find this method manageable and would need only a small change in the way they teach. They already read story-books in class. The only difference would be increased attention to the printed text. “If you get children to pay attention to letters and words, it makes sense that they will do better at word recognition and spelling.” But she says research suggests that very few parents and teachers do this in a systematic way.
More than 300 children aged four and five were observed in classrooms. They came from poor families and were below average in their language skills. For thirty weeks, the children took part in a program called Project STAR--- Sit Together and Read. The project is based at Ohio State. It tests the short-term and long-term results of reading regularly to pre-school children in their classrooms.
There are different ways that adults can talk to children about print. They can point to a letter and discuss it, and even trace the shape with a finger. They can point out a word and discuss the meaning of the print or how the words tell the story. And they can talk about the organization of the print--- for instance, showing how words are written left to right in English.
| A．More attention is paid to the pictures ,with words and letters being ignored. |
| B．Preference is given to the shape of letters and the organization of the print. |
| C．The focus of the teaching is on bringing them up to be good readers. |
| D．Equal attention is paid to the texts and the pictures. |
| A．Teach children how to draw pictures to get an idea of what they mean. |
| B．Change the way they teach and pay more attention to words and letters. |
| C．Adopt different methods according to the students’ difference in reading skills. |
| D．Read storybooks to children rather than explain the meaning of the pictures. |
| A．Many teachers want to change their way of teaching pre-school children. |
| B．Attention on the pictures has made the children uninterested in reading. |
| C．Project STAR aims to research into the results of reading books to pre-school children in the classroom. |
| D．Teachers are often prevented from taking different approaches to language teaching. |
| A．Fashion. | B．Economy . | C．Entertainment. | D．Education. |