Li Yan is a Chinese girl. She lives in Yangzhou with her grandparents. Her parents are in England now and Li Yan will go there this summer holiday. But her spoken English is not good. She does well in English exams, but she can only write. So Li Yan wants to study hard to speak good English.
Every Saturday evening, Li Yan goes to “English Corner”. It’s a place for people to speak English. There are also many foreign(外国的) people. They come from America, England or Australia. Kitty likes talking with these foreign people. When the summer holidays come, her spoken English is much better! Her parents are so surprised to see her change (变化) and they are very happy.Li Yan’s parents are in .
| A．Yangzhou | B．Australia | C．America | D．England |
“Spoken English” means “ ” in Chinese.
| A．英语写作 | B．英语口语 | C．英语表达 | D．英语考试 |
Li Yan can .
| A．speak English very well before she practices |
| B．get high marks（分数） in English exams |
| C．get high marks in all exams |
| D．live in the UK after the summer holidays |
“English Corner” is a place .
| A．to speak English only with foreign people |
| B．to meet only with foreign people |
| C．for people to practice speaking English |
| D．in England |
What change does Li Yan make?
| A．She can go to England |
| B．She can live with her grandparents and parents. |
| C．Her spoken English is much better. |
| D．She likes “English Corner”. |
In 1826, a Frenchman named Niepce needed pictures for his business .But he was not a good artist .So he invented a very simple camera. He put it in a window of his house and took a picture of his garden .That was the first photo.
The next important date in the history of photography was in 1837. That year, Daguerre, another Frenchman, took a picture of his reading room .He used a new kind of camera in a different way. In his picture you could see everything very clearly, even the smallest thing. This kind of photo was called a Daguerreotype.
Soon, other people began to use Daguerre’s way. Travelers brought back wonderful photos from all around the world .people took picture of famous buildings, cities and mountains.
In about 1840, photography was improved .Then photographers could take pictures of people and moving things .That was not simple .The photographers had to carry a lot of films and other machines. But this did not stop them, for example, some in the United States worked so hard. Mathew Brady was a famous American photographer. He took many pictures of great people .The pictures were unusual because they were very lifelike.
Photographers also became one kind of art by the end of the 19th century. Some photos were not just copies of the real world .They showed feelings like other kinds of art.The first photo taken by Niepce was a picture of ________
| A．his business | B．his house | C．his garden | D．his window |
The Daguerreotype was_______.
| A．a Frenchman | B．a kind of picture |
| C．a kind of camera | D．a photographer |
If a photographer wanted to take pictures of moving things in the year of 1840, he
had to_____.
| A．watch lots of films | B．buy an expensive camera |
| C．stop in most cities | D．take many films and something else. |
This passage tells us_____________.
| A．how photography was developed | B．how to show feelings in pictures |
| C．how to take pictures in the world | D．how to use different cameras |
What is your zodiac（生肖） animal? According to the Chinese lunar calendar（农历）, 12 animals mark 12 different years. It is the basis of the Chinese zodiac. Nowadays, Chinese zodiac animals have worldwide fame and are increasingly popular among western people.
The zodiac is an important part of Chinese culture. People believe that the characteristics of a zodiac animal influence the personality of every person born in that year. For example, people born in the Year of the Tiger are considered powerful and brave.
Zodiac animals also have some social functions. When people think it is not proper to ask: “How old are you”, they may change their question to “What is your zodiac animal?” With this question, you can figure out roughly which year someone was born and the person’s age.
Zodiac animals are not special to China. Many countries share a similar zodiac culture with China. For example, in the Japanese Zodiac, a wild boar（野猪）takes the place of a pig and the Vietnamese（越南的）zodiac has a cat instead of a rabbit.
But have you ever wondered how these 12 animals were chosen to represent each year? According to legend, the Jade Emperor（玉皇大帝）invited all the animals to join him for Chinese New Year. Only 12 animals went to see him. As a reward he named a year after each one in the order they arrived. The ox would have been the first to arrive, but the rat sat on his back and jumped off just before they arrived to come in first place.The characteristics of a zodiac animal may influence the _____ of every person
born in that year.
| A．appearance | B．personality | C．hobby | D．education |
“What is your zodiac animal?” is a question used to find out a person’s______.
| A．age | B．name | C．job | D．weight |
In the Japanese zodiac, we don’t see the zodiac animal：_______
| A．wild boar | B．rabbit | C．dragon | D．pig |
According to the last paragraph, we know that ____ was the first animal to arrive.
| A．ox | B．rat | C．pig | D．cat |
ASK THE BLOG!
Post your problems on the blog and get other bloggers’ advice!
★★★★★★
My problem is my parents. They never stop going on about how I should keep my room tidy, keep my hair tidy and wear smart clothes. They even make me do the washing-up after dinner every night! None of my friends have got such tenable parents. What should I do?
Helen, USA
★★★★★★
Hi, Helen. I think you should do what your parents ask. They’re much older than you and you should respect them. It’s their house you live in and their money you spend.
Emily, Australia
★★★★★★
Helen, why should your parents do all the housework? You should help around the house. –it’s only fair. I don’t think you should change your appearance though. Teenagers should look like teenagers.
Simon, EnglandWhat is Helen’s problem?
| A．Her parents treat her badly. |
| B．She always worries about her parents. |
| C．Her parents don’t care about her feelings. |
| D．She doesn’t want to do what her parents ask. |
In Emily’s opinion, Helen should .
| A．respect her parents | B．give her parents money |
| C．leave her parents | D．change her appearance |
Simon suggests that Helen should.
| A．wear smart clothes | B．help with housework |
| C．do all the washing-up | D．change her appearance |
Happiness is for everyone. You don’t need to care about those people who have beautiful houses with large gardens and swimming pools or those who have nice cars and a lot of money and so on. Why? Because those who have big houses may often feel lonely and those who have cars may want to walk on the country roads at their free time.
In fact, happiness is always around you if you put your heart into it. When you are in trouble at school, your friends will help you; when you study hard at your lessons, your parents are always taking good care of your life and your health; when you get success, your friends will say congratulations to you; when you do something wrong, people around you will help you to correct it. And when you do something good to others, you will feel happy, too. All these are your happiness. If you notice a bit of them, you can see that happiness is always around you.
Happiness is not the same as money. It is a feeling of your heart. When you are poor, you can also say you are very happy, because you have something else that can’t be bought with money. When you meet with difficulties, you can say loudly you are very happy, because you have more chances to challenge(向…挑战)yourself. So you can not always say you are poor and you have bad luck. As the saying goes, life is like a revolving(旋转)door. When it closes, it also opens. If you take every chance you get, you can be a happy and lucky person.When you fall down in a PE class, both your teacher and your classmates will_________.
| A．laugh at you | B．play jokes on you |
| C．quarrel with you | D．help you up |
What will your friends say to you when you make great progress?
| A．Oh, so do I. | B．Congratulations. |
| C．Good luck. | D．It’s just so-so. |
Which idea is NOT right according to the passage?
| A．People who have cars would never like to walk in the open air. |
| B．You can get help from others when you make mistakes. |
| C．You can still be a happy person even if you have little money. |
| D．Happiness is always around you though difficulties come towards you. |
Which of the following is this passage about?
| A．Bad luck. | B．Good luck. | C．Happiness. | D．Life. |
Ruby, the artist, is an Asian elephant, She is17 years old. She lives in the zoo. Ruby has produced about 100 paintings since last year. She has made more than $ 40,000 for the zoo. Zoo leaders say Ruby first showed the talent (才能) about four years ago. Zoo workers watched her make the marks in the sand with her trunk. She rubbed (擦掉) out the marks, then made the new ones. The zoo worker gave her brushes and paints. Soon Ruby painted pictures.
Newspaper reporters wrote Ruby, then people asked about buying her pictures. And in this way, she made a lot of money for the zoo. This is how Ruby does the paintings. A zoo worker holds different color paints. Ruby touches the colors she wants. Then the worker gives her brushes with the chosen colors in her trunk and Ruby begins painting.We can most probably read this story_______.
| A．in a dictionary about read animals | B．in a newspaper |
| C．in a book on art | D．in history textbooks |
People asked about buying Ruby's pictures because_______.
| A．newspaper reporters bought her picture |
| B．her pictures were better than those of real artists |
| C．they just wanted to have fun |
| D．zoo workers would let them have a free visit to the park |
Ruby rubbed out the marks she had drawn in order to_______.
| A．make other ones | B．clear her trunk |
| C．dig a hole in the sand | D．ask for brushes and paints |
From the story, we can know that_______.
| A．Ruby can paint a picture all by herself |
| B．Ruby can draw better pictures than the other animals in the zoo |
| C．Ruby has to finish a painting with the help of zoo workers |
| D．Ruby will ask for money if she finishes a picture |