A turkey named Courage gave thanks to President Obama for saving his life on the day before Thanksgiving. Honouring a 62-year-old tradition, the President pardoned the bird on Thanksgiving eve.
The tradition of a turkey pardon at Thanksgiving began with President Truman in 1947. Courage comes from Ellsworth, Iowa. The name Courage was chosen by voters (投票人)who took part in a survey posted on the White House website. The lucky turkey walked on the lawn of the Rose Garden and posed for the cameras at the presidential podium(讲台).
The dinner that has become known as the First Thanksgiving was actually a harvest festival celebrated in December of 1621. That’s when English settlers in Plymouth, Massachusetts, gave thanks for the progress they had made after a hard winter in their new country. As America grew, Thanksgiving customs also spread and got bigger. George Washington declared that the first national Thanksgiving would be on November 26, 1789. In the decades to follow, however, people celebrated Thanksgiving locally, with no official date. President Abraham Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November 1863 a national day of Thanksgiving. It stayed that way until 1939, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved it one week earlier. He wanted to lengthen the shopping period before Christmas to encourage gift-buyers and to help businesses. So Congress（议会） ruled that, after 1941, Thanksgiving would be an official federal holiday falling on the fourth Thursday of November.
This year we celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday, November. Millions of Americans got together to give thanks with friends and family. The lucky turkey, Courage, was one of them. After his pardon, Courage would be sent to Disneyland Resort in California, where he would be the grand assemble of Disney’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.That the turkey Courage was pardoned was decided by ________.
| A．George Bush | B．Congress | C．President Truman | D．the public |
The first Thanksgiving Day was held to ________.
| A．celebrate the harvest of British settlers |
| B．celebrate the progress of Americans |
| C．encourage the struggle with British settlers |
| D．celebrate the joy of all Americans after a hard winter |
In 1939, President Roosevelt put forward the national day of Thanksgiving to ________.
| A．encourage the economy | B．help the poor |
| C．please Congress | D．lengthen the summer holidays |
We can infer from the passage that ________.
| A．President Obama pardoned a turkey before Thanksgiving because of the economic crisis |
| B．the turkey named Courage was pardoned by President Roosevelt before Thanksgiving |
| C．the pardoned turkey walked on the lawn of the Rose Garden on Thanksgiving eve |
| D．the pardoned turkey will appear in a celebrating parade of Thanksgiving Day |
My father was Chief engineer of a merchant ship, which was sunk in World War II. The book
Night of the U-boats told the story.
Memories
In September, 1940, my mother, sister and I went to Swansea, where my father’s ship was getting ready to sail. We brought him a family photograph to be kept with him at all times and keep him sail.
Then I remember my mother lying face down, sobbing. She had heard from a friend that the ship had been sunk by a torpedo(鱼雷).
I can remember the arrival of the telegram(电报),which in those days always brought bad news. My grand- mother opened it. It read, “Safe, Love Ted.”
My most vivid memory is being woken and brought down to sit on my father’s knee, his arm in a bandage.
He was judged unfit to return to sea and took a shore job in Glasgow for the rest of the war. For as long as I can remember, he had a weak heart. Mother said it was caused by the torpedoes. He said it was because of the cigarettes. Whichever, he died suddenly in his early 50s.
Ten years later I read Night of the U-boats and was able to complete the story.
Torpedo
One torpedo struck the ship. Father was in the engine room, where the third engineer was killed. He shut down the engines to slow the ship making it easier for it to be abandoned.
By the time he got on deck (甲板) he was alone. Every lifeboat was gone except one which had stuck firm. When he tried to cut it free it swung against the ship, injuring his hand and arm. He had no choice but to jump—still with the photograph in his pocket.
Three days later, he and other survivors were safe in Glasgow. All 23 with him signed the back of the photograph.
In my room is the book and the photograph. Often, glass in hand, I have wondered how I would have dealt with an explosion, a sinking ship, a jump into a vast ocean and a wait for rescue? Lest（以免）we forget, I have some more whisky and toast the heroes of the war.We can infer(推断) that the mother and children went to Swansea ________.
| A．to meet a friend |
| B．to see the father off |
| C．to take a family photo |
| D．to enjoy the sailing of the ship |
What did the author learn about the father from the telegram?
| A．he was still alive. |
| B．His knee was broken. |
| C．His ship had been sunk. |
| D．He had arrived in Glasgow. |
What can we know about the author’s father after his ship was attacked?
| A．He lost his arm |
| B．He repaired the engines. |
| C．He managed to take a lifeboat. |
| D．He was the last to leave the ship. |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．A group of forgotten heroes |
| B．A book describing a terrifying battle. |
| C．A ship engineer’s wartime experience. |
| D．A merchant’s memories of a sea rescue. |
To Chinese immigrants, in the mid-1800s, California was “The Land of the Golden Mountain.” In their homeland they had heard the words, “There’s gold in California.” They sailed 7,000miles to join the gold rush and strike it rich. Between 1849 and 1882, more than 30,000 Chinese came to California. Most were men. They had been farmers in China. They came here to be miners and laborers. They ended up doing many other jobs, too.
Like many other immigrants, they did not plan to stay in America. They came because of their ties to their homeland and their families. They planned to return to China with their fortunes and help their families.
Only a few Chinese gold miners struck it rich. Most picked over the areas that had been mined already. But still, white miners resented the Chinese. Slowly, they drove the “yellow peril” from the mining camps.
By the end of the 1850s, many Chinese returned home. Those who stayed found other jobs.
Few women had come west in the gold rush. The Chinese saw a good business opportunity. They began doing the jobs women would have done. Many became house servants. Many more opened laundries.
The Chinese opened restaurants. Chop suey and show mein are popular Chinese-American dishes. The Chinese probably created these dishes to serve to the white miners. Other Chinese became fishermen, farmers, and even cigar makers. Why did Chinese go to America in the mid-1800s?
| A．Because they could find good jobs there. |
| B．Because they had found gold there. |
| C．Because they could open laundries and restaurants there. |
| D．Because they heard there was gold there. |
The underlined word “resented”(L.2,Para.3 ) mean “________”.
| A．liked | B．helped | C．hated | D．served |
Which should be the title of the passage?
| A．Early Chinese immigrants in America |
| B．Dream to strike it rich |
| C．The difference between men and women |
| D．Gold miners in America |
In her new book, “The Smartest Kids in the World,” Amanda Ripley, an investigative journalist, tells the story of Tom, a high-school student from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, who decides to spend his senior year in Wroclaw, Poland. Poland is a surprising educational success story: in the past decade, the country raised students’ test scores from significantly below average to well above it. Polish kids have now outscored American kids in math and science, even though Poland spends, on average, less than half as much per student as the United States does. One of the most striking differences between the high school Tom attended in Gettysburg and the one he ends up at in Wroclaw is that the latter has no football team, or, for that matter, teams of any kind.
That American high schools lavish more time and money on sports than on math is an old complaint. This is not a matter of how any given student who plays sports does in school, but of the culture and its priorities. This December, when the latest Program for International Student Assessment(PISA) results are announced, it’s safe to predict that American high-school students will once again display their limited skills in math and reading, outscored not just by students in Poland but also by students in places like South Korea, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Singapore, and Japan. Meanwhile, they will have played some very exciting football games, which will have been breathlessly written up in their hometown papers.
Why does this situation continue? Well, for one thing, kids like it. And for another, according to Ripley, parents seem to like the arrangement, too. She describes a tour she took of a school in Washington D.C., which costs thirty thousand dollars a year. The tour leader—a mother with three children in the school—was asked about the school’s flaws. When she said that the math program was weak, none of the parents taking the tour reacted. When she said that the football program was weak, the parents suddenly became concerned. “Really?” one of them asked worriedly, “What do you mean?”
One of the ironies of the situation is that sports reveal what is possible. American kids’ performance on the field shows just how well they can do when expectations are high. It’s too bad that their test scores show the same thing.Tom decides to spend his senior year in Poland because _______.
| A．he intends to improve his scores |
| B．Polish kids are better at learning |
| C．sports are not supported at schools in Gettysburg |
| D．there are striking differences between the 2 countries |
According to Paragraph 2, we know that _______.
| A．PISA plays a very important role in America |
| B．little time is spent on sports in Japanese schools |
| C．American high schools complain about sports time |
| D．too much importance is placed on sports in America |
The underlined sentence in the last paragraph means _______.
| A．low expectations result in American students’ poor PISA performance |
| B．high expectations push up American students’ academic performance |
| C．American students’ academic performance worries their parents a lot |
| D．lacking practice contributes to American students’ average performance |
The purpose of this article is to _______.
| A．compare Polish schools with those in America |
| B．call on American schools to learn from the Polish model |
| C．draw public attention to a weakness in American school tradition |
| D．explain what is wrong with American schools and provide solutions |
For decades, families settled on the sofa to share the latest news and TV series, until additional bedroom TV, computer games and the Internet almost put an end to family rows over who held the remote control. Now, however, the traditional living room scene is making a comeback. A study by the communications watchdog Ofcom has found families are once again gathering around the main television set, but they are bringing their pads and smartphones with them.
“The 1950s living room is making a comeback as a family entertainment centre,” said Jane Rumble, head of media research at Ofcom. “We are watching on much better, bigger, and more delicate television sets, but we are coming into the living room holding our connected devices.” While the family are coming together once more, comparisons with the past end there. With a range of smaller screens on hand, not everyone sitting on the sofa shares the same viewing experience.
The coronation (加冕礼) may have drawn the undivided attention of 20 million viewers in 1953, but those watching the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations 50 years later were as likely to be commenting online about BBC’s broadcast as watching it. “Just a few years ago, we would be talking about last night’s TV at work or at school,” said a viewer, “Now, we’re having those conversations live while watching TV, using social media, text and instant messaging.”
It is a behaviour of media meshing（联网）, whose influence was underlined during this year’s Wimbledon men’s tennis final. As Andy Murray pushed towards his victory, 1.1 million people worldwide sent an average of over two microblogs about the match.
People use the Internet to enhance their television experience, for example, by reading a newspaper live blog about a football match while watching the action on the main screen. For a huge number of younger viewers, the portable screen offers a chance to do something unrelated, such as online shopping, listening to music or watching another television programme.
Some 70% of 16-to-24-year-olds claim to be absorbed in what Ofcom calls “media stacking” at least once a week. For TV viewers, the Internet scanning is the most popular activity, but they are also calling friends on the phone or sending emails and texts. Surprisingly, 12% claim to have listened to the radio with the television on, and 6% say they have watched another video in the meanwhile. According to the study by Ofcom, family members nowadays _______.
| A．care more about who holds the remote control |
| B．share the same programmes in the living room |
| C．watch better and more delicate television programmes |
| D．enjoy TV together with various smaller screens on hand |
This year’s Wimbledon men’s tennis final is mentioned to indicate _______.
| A．so many people worldwide are watching TV |
| B．people like watching live matches on TV |
| C．the great influence of media meshing |
| D．the average amount of microblogs |
Which shows the phenomenon of “media stacking” in the last paragraph?
| A．People are watching TV while shopping online. |
| B．People are watching a broadcast of a coronation. |
| C．The Internet makes people spend less time on TV. |
| D．The Internet enriches people’s television experience. |
The passage is written to _______.
| A．describe the changes connected devices bring to TV watching |
| B．report the comeback of the traditional living room scene |
| C．show the influence of connected devices on people |
| D．present the different roles TV plays in people’s life |
Expensive and new gloves allow chatterboxes（话匣子）to take the term “handsfree” to a new level—by talking into them as they make a call. The gloves are known as “Talk to the Hand” and cost £1,000 a pair. They fixed a speaker unit into the thumb and a microphone into the little finger that can be connected to any mobile handset using Bluetooth.
Artist Sean Miles designed the new gloves that double as a phone in part of his project that shows the possibilities of gadget recycling. He uses outdated gloves and combines them with parts from mobile handsets recycled through O2, which commissioned（承担）the project. Mobile phone users will be able to keep their hands warm while they chat without taking their phones out of their pockets or handbags.
Mr Miles designed two pairs of the new gloves—one in pink and the other in brown and yellow. They will appear in an exhibition this July and visitors will be able to win the gloves. If demand is high, they will then be produced on a larger scale. O2 Recycle, which backed the project, estimates that there are already 70 million unused mobile handsets in the UK. The service pays up to £260 to those who recycle gadgets including phones, handheld consoles, MP3 players and digital cameras.
Designer Sean Miles hopes his work will get people thinking about recycling. The 41-year-old said, “I hope that my ‘Talk to the Hand’ project will get people to think again about the waste created by not recycling gadgets. If a few more people recycle their gadgets rather than send them to trash, I think this project will have fulfilled its aim.”
Bill Eyres, head of O2 Recycle, urges people to recycle their phone responsibly. He said, “There’s a pressing need for all of us to look at outdated handsets, and all the gadgets that we move on from or upgrade each year. Whether they are consoles or cameras, we should think of them as a resource that we need to recycle responsibly rather than throw them away.”The underlined word “O2” in Paragraph 2 is probably the name of ______.
| A．an artist | B．a company | C．a mobile | D．an exhibition |
Consumers can buy the “Talk to the Hand” gloves ______.
| A．in the exhibition |
| B．from Mr Miles |
| C．when they are mass produced |
| D．after they recycle the gadgets |
The purpose of the project is to _______.
| A．promote the technology of IT |
| B．enable people to talk to their hands |
| C．raise people’s awareness of recycling |
| D．attract visitors’ attention in the exhibition |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．New mobiles that are fashionable. |
| B．Outdated handsets that are upgraded. |
| C．Outdated gadgets that can be used for recycling. |
| D．New gloves that can be used for making phone calls. |