Birthdays are celebrated all over the world. Some ways to celebrate birthdays are rather similar from county to country---candles, cakes and birthday wishes. But there are also different ways to celebrate birthdays. Here are a few:
Denmark![]() A flag is flown outside a window to show that someone who lives in the house is having a birthday. Presents are placed around the child’s bed while he is sleeping so he will see them at once when he wakes up. |
![]() India Usually Indian children wear white to school. However, on their birthdays, children wear colored clothes to school and give out chocolate to everyone in the class. Their best friends help them to do this. |
Japan![]() The birthday child wears new clothes to mark the special time. Certain birthdays are more important than others. These are the third and seventh for girls and fifth for boys. |
Holland![]() The birthday child receives an especially large present. The family also puts flowers on the birthday child’s chair to make it beautiful. |
When someone is having a birthday in Denmark, what can you see outside the window?
A.flowers | B.presents |
C.a flag | D.a chair |
Flowers are put on the chair of the birthday child in .
A.Japan | B.Denmark |
C.India | D.Holland |
In India, birthday children .
A.give out chocolate to their classmates |
B.share chocolate with their best friends |
C.go to school in white clothes |
D.wear new clothes to mark the special time |
Flags have existed for over 3,000 years. The earliest flags were wooden or metal poles with a carving. About 2,000 years ago pieces of fabric were added to some poles for decoration. Over the next 500 years the free-flying part of the flag became more important.The earliest flags have a long history for more than _______ years.
A.2000 | B.500 | C.3000 | D.2500 |
The flying pieces of flags were added to some poles for _______ about 2000 years before.
A.passion | B.decoration | C.progress | D.sincerity |
The flag which features a temple belongs to ___________.
A.Japan | B.Nepal | C.Singapore | D.Cambobia |
An olive wreath is used to represent ________________.
A.peace | B.purity | C.justice | D.Equality |
Two flags that include the sun in their design belong to __________________.
A.Nepal and Japan |
B.Singapore and Japan |
C.the United Nations and Nepal |
D.the United Nations and Singapore |
Future and Today
It is well known that everyone has his own dream as well as his own future. But do you know what future really is? I have to say that future is now. That is to say we must treasure every minute now. If we want to have a bright future, we should know how important time is and use it well.
There is an old English saying:“Gain time, gain life”Then what’s time? Time is something that we can’t see or touch, but we can feel it passing by. Time is always with us. When we are at table, time passes; when we play, time goes by unnoticeably. We always say “Time is money”, but time is even more precious(珍贵的) than money, because when money is spent, we can earn it back. But if time is gone away, it will never return. So, some of us even say time is priceless.
We should always remember: future is now. For us students, we should try our best to work hard in order to create a great future of our own. We should make the best use of every hour and be the master of today. We should do everything before us as well as possible. And never put off what can be done today till tomorrow.
As we all know,“Time and tide wait for no man.”If you waste today, you will regret tomorrow. So from now on, work hard. Tomorrow will be better, and your future will be brighter. Remember:“No pains, no gains.”Today’s hard work is the cause of tomorrow’s harvest.
Title: Future and Today
Opinions |
Supporting details |
Future is now |
Everyone has his own dream as well as his own future. If we want to have a bright future, we should know the 61________ of time and make every minute 62 ________. |
63_______is priceless. |
Time is money, but time is even more 64_________ than money, because when money is spent, we can earn it back. But time will return no more. |
Be masters of today |
Today’s hard work is the cause of tomorrow’s harvest. As students, we should never put off what we can be done today till tomorrow and we should try our 65 ______ to do everything well. |
Fire can help people in many ways. But can also be very harmful. Fire can heat water warm your houses, give light, and cook food. But fire can burn things too. It can burn trees, houses, animals, or people. Sometimes big fires can burn forests.
Nobody knows for sure how people began to use fire. But there are many interesting, old stories about the first time a man or woman started a fire. One story from Australia tells about a man very, very long time ago. He went up to the sun by a rope and brought fire down.
Today people know how to make a fire with matches. Children sometimes like to play with them. But matches can be very dangerous. One match can burn a piece of paper, and then it might burn a house. A small fire can become a big fire very fast.
Fires kill many people every year. So you must be careful with matches. You should also learn to put out fires. Fires need oxygen. Without oxygen they die. There is oxygen in the air. Cover a fire with water, sand, or in an emergency, with your coat or something else. This keeps the air away from a fire and kills it.
Be careful with fire, and it will help you. Be careless with fire, and it will burn you.Which is true?
A.We are not sure how people started to use fire. |
B.It is an Australian who started a fire. |
C.We know how people began to use fire. |
D.Nobody knows how to make a fire. |
Children mustn’t play with matches because ______.
A.matches burn paper |
B.it is not interesting |
C.matches can be dangerous |
D.they don’t know how to make a fire with matches |
If you are going to put out a fire, you ______.
A.must be careful with matches |
B.ought to know it can be harmful |
C.have to cover it with water only |
D.should keep air away from it |
We must be careful with fire, or it ______.
A.can be | B.warms our houses |
C.might burn us | D.will help us |
What is the main idea of the passage?
A.Fire can help people in many ways. |
B.Fire can be both helpful and harmful. |
C.Fire can burn things and people |
D.We must be careful with matches. |
Long ago ,there lived in Greece a learned man. He was so well known for his good knowledge of almost everything that lots of people from all over the country came to learn from him. The great man taught his students whole-heartedly and answered their questions with great patience.
One day a student asked him, “ My dear teacher, didn’t you say you yourself have many ,many more questions about things than we do? But I think we students have far more than you.”
With a smile on his face, the teacher drew two circles ,one as large as a big cake, the other smaller. Then he said , “Of course, I have learned much more. But it’s wrong to think that a teacher has fewer questions than his students. Now, look at these two circles. The inside of the bigger one is my knowledge of things, and the inside of the smaller one is yours. Out of the circles is what is still unknown to us. Since mine is larger, I have to use the longer line to draw the bigger circle. That means I have more opportunities to face what is still unknown. And that’s why I myself have more questions than you do. The more you learn , the more questions you have. You will never learn enough ,you know.”The learned man drew two circles to show _____.
A.he was good at drawing circles |
B.his knowledge had something to do with the circles |
C.why he had more questions than the students |
D.how he could get more knowledge |
The student didn’t agree that ______.
A.the teacher had so many questions as a learned man |
B.the teacher had so many questions |
C.the students had fewer questions than the teacher |
D.the students had more questions than 0the teacher |
The teacher was famous for his ______.
A.kindness | B.knowledge | C.patience | D.questions |
From the passage we can learn that_____.
A.the more questions we have, the more knowledge we may get |
B.it’s never too old to learn |
C.every one of us should try to be a learned man |
D.a teacher should have many questions |
Which of the following shows us what the teacher drew?
There once lived in China a very foolish king and queen. One day the queen had a baby daughter. When they saw their baby, they both cried out, “My goodness! How small it is! It’s hairless and toothless! It’s a monster!” They sent for all the doctors in the country and ordered them to prepare some medicine for her.
“When she drinks your medicine, she must grow to the right size and have hair and teeth,” the king said, “If you don’t do this, you’ll have a beating.”
The doctors thought it impossible, but they dared not say anything against the king’s order. Just then and old doctor stepped forward. “Oh, we shall certainly obey your order,” he said, “but it takes time. We have to dig a mineral from the KunLun Mountains when the snow melts for the second time. The snow melts on those mountains only once in six years. So we need twelve years.”
At last the king agreed and the doctors took away the little princess. On her twelfth birthday, they brought her back to her parents with long black hair and beautiful teeth. The king and queen were very happy and gave the doctors expensive presents.Which of the following words makes the sentence untrue? The baby was ______.
A.Toothless | B.hairless | C.unusual | D.small |
The doctors would be beaten if ______.
A.the baby daughter didn’t drink their medicine |
B.they refused to obey the king’s order |
C.the baby daughter grew to the right size |
D.the baby daughter became a monster |
The old doctor wanted to keep the king’s daughter for twelve years because ______.
A.they needed a lot of different plants |
B.they need a lot of different minerals |
C.this would give the baby time to grow up |
D.they had to dig a mineral the snow melted for the second time |
The doctors thought it impossible ______.
A.for them to change the king’s order |
B.for them the prepare the medicine in twelve years |
C.for the small baby to drink the medicine |
D.for them to make the baby have teeth and hair or grow teeth at once |
______ the king wouldn’t have given them expensive presents.
A.Had the doctors not brought back a beautiful girl |
B.If the doctors hadn’t found the minerals |
C.Had the doctors not been able to prepare the magic medicine |
D.If the daughter were still a monster twelve years later |