The kindly “Chinese Fortune Grandpa” wearing Han Chinese clothing and holding a fortune bag debuted （亮相） at the Imperial Ancestral Shrine in Beijing on the day after Christmas．The final image of the Chinese gift-giver was selected through a global design competition against“Santa Claus”，according to a report by Guangming Daily．
Many Chinese cities have been filled with Christmas neon lights，Christmas songs，Christmas trees，and the images of “Santa Claus”in recent days．As a matter of fact，foreign festivals are becoming more popular than certain traditional Chinese festivals among the Chinese people，particularly the youth．“Certain traditional festivals have died out because people have forgotten their spiritual meanings，”said noted writer Feng Jicai．More and more Chinese people are beginning to exchange gifts on Valentine's Day and Christmas．However，many of them know nothing about Chinese New Year pictures or sugarcoated figurines（小糖人），and have never heard suona music．Certain folk customs on the Dragon Boat Festival，Tomb Sweeping Day，and other traditional festivals have gradually disappeared．Under such circumstances，even the “Chinese Fortune Grandpa” is unlikely to defeat “Santa Claus”．
However，it is not a bad thing to some extent．It constantly reminds people to restore the “true face” of traditional festivals．China has listed traditional Tomb Sweeping Day，Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival as legal holidays，which brings more paid leaves to the public，and helps to awake the public awareness of traditional festivals．
In modern society，festival is a carrier of culture and its meaning largelydepends on their understandings and usages by people．Compared with foreign festivals，traditional Chinese festivals are not inferior （次于） in cultural meanings，but lack of fashion sought by modern people．If people do not appreciate the historical culture contained by traditional festivals，and only take pleasure-seeking as the most important，the significance of traditional festivals will fade away and the inheritance （继承） of fine traditional culture will be cut off．
The second paragraph implies that______________________．
| A．traditional festivals should co-exist with foreign festivals |
| B．all the Chinese festivals are disappearing in the near future |
| C．western festivals are constantly impacting on our festivals |
| D．the Chinese people have the public awareness of traditional festivals |
We can learn from the passage that______________．
| A．an image designed by the Chinese people will be displayed |
| B．the Chinese gift-giver was intended to symbolize traditional culture |
| C．many foreigners know nothing about Chinese festivals |
| D．the Chinese are beginning to exchange gifts on the Mid-Autumn Festival |
Many Chinese youth dislike traditional festivals because they think______________．
| A．traditional festivals are out of fashion now |
| B．the historical culture is more difficult to understand |
| C．western festivals contain more cultural meanings |
| D．the inheritance will cut off their contact with western festivals |
What would be the best title of the passage?
| A．Gone are Chinese Traditional Festivals |
| B．True Face of Chinese Traditional Culture |
| C．Foreign Festivals Popular with Chinese |
| D．Chinese Fortune Grandpa VS．Santa Claus |
The world's native languages are dying out at an unprecedented(空前的) rate, taking with them irreplaceable(不能替代的) knowledge about the natural world, according to a new study.
The study identified five global "hot spots" where languages are vanishing faster than anywhere else ---- eastern Siberia, northern Australia, central South America, the US state of Oklahoma and the US Pacific Northwest. "Languages are suffering a global extinction crisis that greatly goes beyond the pace of species extinction," linguistics(语言学的) professor David Harrison noted, who said half of the world's 7,000 languages were expected to disappear before the end of the century.
Native people had an intimate(详尽的) knowledge of their environment that was lost when their language disappeared, along with other certain things often unfamiliar to us, Harrison stressed. "Most of what we know about species and ecosystems is not written down anywhere, it's only in people's heads," he said. "We are seeing in front of our eyes the loss of the human knowledge base."
Harrison was one of a team of linguists who carried out the study. The researchers traveled to Australia this year to study native languages, some of the most endangered. According to Harrison, in Australia, they were heartened to see a woman in her 80s who was one of the only three remaining speakers of the Yawuru language passing on her knowledge to schoolchildren. He said such inter-generational exchanges were the only way native languages could survive. "The children had elected to take this course, no one forced them," he said. "When we asked them why they were learning it, they said,‘This is a dying language, we need to learn it'." Also, while there they found a man with knowledge of the Amurdag language, which had previously been thought extinct.
The researchers said all five of the hot spots identified were areas that had been successfully colonized and where a dominant language such as Spanish or English was threatening native tongues.What does this text mainly talk about?
| A．A study on native languages endangered. |
| B．The knowledge of native languages. |
| C．People's efforts in saving native languages |
| D．Harrison and his study on languages. |
According to Harrison, language extinction.
| A．causes the researchers lots of worries |
| B．speeds up the pace of species extinction |
| C．threatens the existing of Spanish and English |
| D．brings about a loss of knowledge about the environment |
Which of the following can be described as good news?
| A．Native languages became less endangered in Australia. |
| B．A man was found with knowledge of the Amurdag language. |
| C．Researchers were well received by native people in Australia. |
| D．Many schoolchildren showed interest in the Yawuru language. |
We're one of the biggest ESL professional organizations in Shanghai, China and we have 10 primary schools, 2 middle schools, and 5 kindergartens in Shanghai and 1in Suzhou. For these schools, we only need oral English teachers.
We also own an international school whose name is Shanghai World Foreign Language Primary and Middle School. For this school, we need classroom teachers and subject teachers to teach Science, PE, and Music in English.
We prefer to hire experienced teachers with TESOL or Teacher's Certificate. If you want to know more about us, please visit our website at http://www.shyulun.com/.
●Dates and Durations
We need 1 teacher for every position as below:
1. Classroom Teacher Position in Shanghai World Foreign Language Primary School (From 17th Feb 2009, 12 months)
2. Subject Teacher Position in Shanghai World Foreign Language Middle School (From 1st Sep 2009, 10 months)
3. Oral English teachers in Shanghai Changning Experimental Primary School (From 3rd March 2009, 3 months)
●Basic requirements for the Positions
1. Native English speakers for all of the above positions
2. Bachelor Degree at least (Position 1 and 2) with related teaching experience
3. TESOL or related certificate (Position 3)
●Working Conditions and Environment
The schools are the top schools in Shanghai with libraries and public computer rooms. Every teacher will have the office desk, free access to the Internet. We provide teaching materials and teaching guidelines.
●Salary, International Travel Allowance and Bonus
The salary ranges from 6,000 RMB to 10,000 RMB per month according to the position you apply for, which can ensure you have a comfortable life in Shanghai.
We will offer you part or full international travel allowances depending on how long you will work for us. Generally, we will pay you a return ticket for one year contract.The ESL professional organization in Shanghai wants to take on.
| A．some language teachers to work in Shanghai |
| B．some native English teachers to work in Suzhou |
| C．some language teachers to work in Suzhou |
| D．some native English teachers to work in Shanghai |
Those who are going to work for the organization will.
| A．prepare teaching materials themselves |
| B．get at least $6,000 a month |
| C．get international travel allowances |
| D．buy their return tickets themselves |
If you want to be hired as a classroom teacher by the above organization, you should .
| A．speak several languages |
| B．have Bachelor Degree |
| C．present good teaching plans |
| D．know how to teach middle school students |
The passage is probably taken from a.
| A．novel | B．travel guide | C．news report | D．website |
Family traditions were important in our house, and none was more appreciated than the perfect Christmas tree.
"Dad, can we watch when you trim(修剪) the tree?" My eldest son, Dan, nine, and his seven-year-old brother John, asked.
"I won't be cutting this year," my husband Bob said. "Dan, you and John are old enough to measure things. Do it all by yourselves. Think you boys can handle it?"
Dan and John seemed to grow six inches in their chairs at the thought of such an amazing responsibility. "We can handle it," Dan promised. "We won't let you down."
A few days before Christmas, Dan and John rushed in after school. They gathered the tools they'd need and brought them out to the yard, where the tree waited. I was cooking when I heard the happy sounds as the boys carried the tree into the living room. Then I heard the sound that every mother knows is trouble: dead silence. I hurried out to them. The tree was cut too short. John crossed his arms tight across his chest. His eyes filled with angry tears.
I felt worried. The tree was central to our holiday. I didn't want the boys to feel ashamed every time they looked at it. I couldn't lower the ceiling, and I couldn't raise the floor either. There was no way to undo the damage done. Suddenly, a thought came to my mind, which turned the problem into the solution.
"We can't make the tree taller," I said. "But we can put it on a higher position."
Dan nodded his head sideways. "We could put it on the coffee table. It just might work! Let's try it!"
When Bob got home and looked at the big tree on top of the coffee table, Dan and John held their breath.
"What a good idea!" he declared. "Why didn't I ever think of such a thing?"
John broke into a grin. Dan's chest swelled with pride. The underlined part "grow six inches" (Para. 4) implies the brothers felt.
| A．proud | B．nervous | C．embarrassed | D．scared |
What happened after the brothers moved the Christmas tree into the living room?
| A．They rushed to school. |
| B．They began to decorate the tree. |
| C．They got angry with each other. |
| D．They found the tree was cut short. |
How could the short tree be turned into a perfect one?
| A．By making the tree taller. |
| B．By lowering the ceiling. |
| C．By placing it on a coffee table. |
| D．By raising the floor. |
What Bob said in the last but one paragraph (the underlined part)showed.
| A．he was a little disappointed |
| B．he was too stupid to think of the idea |
| C．he appreciated what the brothers had done |
| D．he should not have given them the task |
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it were your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?"
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choice in life.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that was incurable, and that I would live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is my doctors' code for preparing yourself to die.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. I was completely in despair. Later that evening, I had another examination and my wife told me that tumor turned to be curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I' m fine now.
This was the closest I've been to facing death. To tell the truth, no one wants to die. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. It clears out the old to make room for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.
Your time is so limited that you shouldn't waste it repeating someone else's life. Don' t be trapped by dogma（教条）— which is living with the results of other people' s thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart. It somehow already knows what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.The doctor advised the author to go home and get his affairs in order because ______.
| A．he had to rest at home |
| B．his disease couldn't be cured |
| C．his disease was not serious at all |
| D．he had to wait for the result of the test |
What does the author think of death?
| A．He thinks it is impossible to avoid. |
| B．He thinks it is not the end of life. |
| C．He thinks it is nothing to be scared of. |
| D．He thinks it is the beginning of a new life. |
In the author's opinion, we should ______.
| A．follow others' advice | B．take no notice of diseases |
| C．take exercise and keep healthy | D．have the courage to follow our heart |
What does the underlined word “encountered” in paragraph 2 mean?
| A．came across | B．dealt with | C．survived | D．supported |
Are you looking for some new and exciting places to take your kids to? Try some of these places:
. Visit art museums. They offer a variety of activities to excite your kids' interest. Many offer workshops for making hand-made pieces, traveling exhibits, book signings(签名) by children's favorite writers, and even musical performances and other arts.
. Head to a natural history museum. This is where kids can discover the past from dinosaur models to rock collections and pictures of stars in the sky. Also, ask what kind of workshops and educational programs are prepared for kids and any special events that are coming up.
. Go to a Youth theater. Look for one in your area offering plays for child and family visitors. Pre-show play shops are conducted by area artists and educators where kids can discover the secret about performing arts. Puppet (木偶) making and stage make-up are just a couple of the special offerings you might find.
.Try hands-on science. Visit one of the many hands-on science museums around the country. These science play-lands are great fun for kids and grown-ups alike. They'll keep your child mentally and physically active the whole day through while pushing buttons, experimenting, and building. When everyone is tired, enjoy a fun family science show, commonly found in these museums.If a child is interested in the universe, he probably will visit
| A．a Youth theater | B．an art museum |
| C．a natural history museum | D．a hands-on science museum |
What can kids do at a Youth theater?
| A．Look at rock collections. | B．See dinosaur models. |
| C．Watch puppet making. | D．Give performances. |
Where does this text probably come from?
| A．A science textbook. | B．A tourist map. |
| C．A museum guide. | D．A news report. |