The Spring Festival is the biggest festival for Chinese people all around the world. The celebration usually lasts for 15 days. There is a lot to do.
On the eve of the Spring Festival, family members get together and have big meals. Their favorite dish on this day is dumplings.
Days before the Spring Festival, families will clean their homes. People think cleaning sweeps away bad luck. It makes the house ready for good luck.
The color red is everywhere during the Spring Festival. People think red is a happy color and will bring them a bright future. People wear red, too. They decorate (装饰) their homes with pieces of red paper. Kids get a lot of “hong bao”. It is a red paper bag with money in it. Usually, older people give younger ones hong bao. They think it brings good luck.
The Spring Festival is the time to make everybody happy. So don’t say any bad words or do anything that will bring unhappiness to other people. For example, you’d better not say any bad words like “death”. Don’t break anything. People think that it means your luck is running out.
Also, don’t borrow or lend money on these days. If you have borrowed money, return it before the Spring Festival.What do most people do on the eve of the Spring Festival?
| A．Family members get together for a big meal. |
| B．Friends eat dumplings together. |
| C．They borrow money from friends. |
| D．They give each other hong bao. |
Why do people clean their houses days before the Spring Festival?
| A．Because they enjoy being clean. |
| B．Because it is believed that cleaning will sweep away bad luck. |
| C．Because they think it will bring happiness to others. |
| D．Because it is thought that cleaning brings in money. |
Which of the following things should not happen during the Spring Festival?
| A．Returning money before the Spring Festival. |
| B．Saying words that have to do with death. |
| C．Wearing red clothes. |
| D．Decorating houses with red paper. |
The underlined phrase “running out” probably means “____”.
| A．跑出去 | B．打碎 | C．耗尽 | D．离开 |
The best title (标题)of this passage is ____.
| A．China’s festivals | B．How does Spring Festival come? |
| C．Holidays in China | D．Spring Festival in China |
| New Books this Month |
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| The Long Night This is David Reilly’s first book. David became a writer after teaching English for several years. Maha is a nurse in northern Australia. She works in a small hospital. One day a baby is so ill that Maha has to drive all night to get her to the nearest big city. They have a lot of problems getting there and … |
Hard Work This exciting story is Joanna’s twentieth. Hard Work is about Sombat. He works with his father, a carpenter, in Thailand. They work long, hard hours making tables and chairs, but they do not have any money. Then one day a man dressed all in black buys the most beautiful table in the shop… |
Hospital or Cinema Marcie Jacome, who studies English in London, wrote this story earlier this year. Tina is a young Indian woman whose dream is to become a doctor. She goes to London to study English and medicine, but one day she meets a man who asks her to go to the USA with him to become a film star…What will Tina do? |
The Long Night was written by _________.
| A．David Reilly | B．Maha | C．Joanna | D．Marcie Jacome |
The story of Hard Work happened in _______.
| A．Australia | B．Thailand | C．India | D．England |
From the passage we can see Tina is_________.
| A．a doctor | B．a film star | C．a writer | D．a college(大学) student |
_______ is about a difficult journey.
| A．Hospital or Cinema | B．Hard Work | C．The Long Night | D．Harry Potter |
The passage above is___________.
| A．an advertisement(广告) | B．a story | C．a novel | D．a diary |
Have you ever seen snow? Many people in the world have not. Some countries never have snow; some have only a little on the tops of very high mountains. In the north of England, there is quite a lot of snow every winter, but in the south of England, there is usually little.
When a student from a warm country comes to England in autumn for the first time, he feels cold at first. There are often dark clouds, grey sky and cold rain in England in autumn, and most students from warm countries do not like this.
But snow is different. Though it is cold, it is also beautiful. Perhaps, after several dark mornings, the student wakes up one day, and there is a lot of light in his room. He thinks “Is it so late?” and jumps out of bed. But no, it is not very late. He looks out of the window and there is the snow on the ground and on the houses and everywhere. The light of his room comes from clean, beautiful snow.In which part of England is there much snow in winter?
| A．In the east. | B．In the north. | C．In the west. | D．In the south. |
In the autumn of England, we can NOT often see __________.
| A．grey sky | B．dark clouds | C．strong winds | D．cold rain |
In England both snow and autumn rain are ____________.
| A．cold | B．clean | C．beautiful | D．heavy |
Why does the student ask himself “Is it so late?”
| A．Because he has some work to do. | B．Because it is bright in the room. |
| C．Because it is really late. | D．Because he usually gets up early. |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．Every country in the world has snow in winter. |
| B．Foreign students like the weather in England. |
| C．It is often very warm in the autumn of England. |
| D．Many people in the world haven’t seen snow. |
In America, when people say “man’s best friend”, they don’t mean 1 person. Instead they are talking about a lovely animal: a dog! These words show the friendship between people and 2 . Dogs and other pets can give 3 to people’s lives. Some people think of their pets as their children. And some even leave all their money to their 4 when they die!
Animals can help people, too. Dogs can become the “ 5” for a blind （瞎的）person or ears for a deaf（聋的）person. Pets can help people live 6 ! They make people 7 , too.
Americans hold “Be 8 to Animals Week”, the first week of May. There are pet shows during the week. Even if you don’t live in America, you, too, can do this. How? If you have a pet, spend 9 time this week playing with it. Remember to give it good 10 .
If you don’t have a pet, be kind to animals around you. If others around you do bad things to an animal, try to 11 them. As people, we must learn to treat animals as our 12 !
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Basketball is still a young game. It's over a hundred years old. In the winter of 1891, a certain college was having some trouble with its boy students. The weather was bad and the students had to stay indoors. As they couldn't play outdoors, they were unhappy, and some even got into fights from time to time.
Some of the teachers, at the college asked Dr. Naismith to invent a game so that the students might have something to play with. It was not easy to invent such a game because it had to be played indoors , and the court (球场) was not very large.
Dr. Naismith thought for a few days and invented a kind of ball game. It was a fast, wonderful game with much moving and passing of the ball. It was played between two teams. To make a score , the ball had to be thrown into the basket ten feet(英尺) above the floor on the wall . At each end of the court there was such a basket. At first, Dr. Naismith wanted to throw the ball into a box. As he could not find boxes of the right size, he had to use fruit baskets instead. That is how the game got its name. How long is it since basketball was invented?
| A．1000 years | B．More than 100 years |
| C．1100 years | D．Less than 100 years |
The students felt unhappy because _______.
| A．they had much homework to do |
| B．they often got into fights |
| C．they couldn't play outdoors |
| D．they had little time to study |
Who asked Dr. Naismith to invent a game?
| A．Some students | B．Some teachers |
| C．Some students' parents | D．Some of his friends |
When a student ______ , he makes a score.
| A．receives the ball. |
| B．throws the ball to another student |
| C．runs quickly with the ball in his hand |
| D．throws the ball into the basket |
Which sentence is right?
| A．Dr. Naismith had to use fruit baskets to throw the ball. |
| B．It was easy to invent the game. |
| C．The students could go outdoors when the weather was bad. |
| D．The ball had to be thrown into the basket ten feet above the floor. |
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 centimetres wide while others may grow to more than 30 centimetres (1 foot) across. This plant also comes in different colours, 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. How is bamboo like grass?
| A．It grows quickly. | B．It's wood. ` | C．it is easy to cut. | D．It is very thin. |
Though you can see bamboo everywhere, it doesn't grow.
| A．in China | B．in Europe | C．on mountains | D．in Africa |
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 |
Bamboo pipes can.
| A．make money | B．be trees | C．grow quickly | D．carry water |
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 |