Americans plan parties for many reasons. As in other cultures, many Americans attend parties for weddings and religious or national holidays. But some parties are especially American. For example, a group of neighbors may gather on their street to eat food, play music and visit with one another. This is called a block party. A woman might invite a group of women to a party called a baby shower for a friend who is about to give birth. Guests bring presents for the new baby.
Americans also attend tailgate parties. A tailgate is the back end of a truck or other vehicle that opens down. The tailgate parties are a big part of sports culture in the United States. Friends bring food and drink to a sports event. They eat together in the parking area of the sports stadium.
Birthday parties are also very popular. Many parents organize a party for their child around a theme. Birthday parties usually include gifts and a birthday cake with candles. In many parts of the United States, cupcakes have become a popular replacement for cakes.
Birthday parties can be low cost or very costly. Some parents take their children’s birthday parties very seriously, even when the child is too young to fully understand the celebration.
One group of parents started a website called Birthdays Without Pressure. They decided that some parents were under too much social pressure to plan costly parties for their children. The group sees this movement as an example of America’s culture of “too much stuff”. The group’s website gives suggestions on how to keep birthday celebrations simple, meaningful and fun without spending a lot of money. Their advice may be very helpful during this period of economic recession (萧条)．What can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Reasons for parties |
| B．Birthdays without pressure |
| C．Different parties in the world |
| D．American parties |
How many kinds of parties does the passage mention?
| A．5. | B．7. | C．6. | D．8. |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Birthday parties are the most popular in America. |
| B．Some parties in America are the same as in other countries. |
| C．There’s a party for the mother before her new baby is born. |
| D．Block party is especially American |
The purpose of Birthdays Without Pressure is to advise people to _________.
| A．relieve people’s pressure |
| B．make birthday parties meaningful and costly |
| C．have meaningful birthday parties with low cost |
| D．spread America’s culture |
As more and more books become movie adaptations (改编), I can’t help but think how this will affect English classes in America. Thinking back to my years in middle and high school — ten years ago, I would be rewarded if I had read a number of classics. Today, a majority of those books are now also movies Life of Pi, The Great Gatsby, Much Ado About Nothing and Anna Karenina, to name a few.
Even modern books such as The Hunger Games and Harry Potter have been adapted for the big screen. In discussion with my students, I often hear them say they are not going to read books because movies will come out soon, which makes me wonder what effect movie adaptations have on modern-day students. Will the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) encourage them to read books more carefully or to use movies to improve their understanding of the text?
The CCSS requires students to provide text-based evidence when reading and discussing a book. By focusing on such evidence, teachers can pull specific details from a book that may have not made the final cut when the book was adapted for the big screen. For instance, after reading and watching The Hunger Games, there were a number of details from the book that were missing from the film — many people were disappointed with Rue’s meek (温顺的) movie role. A student who failed to read The Hunger Games would not quite understand Rue’s impact on the games in the same way as someone who had read the book and remembered all the details that went into her death.
I am not saying the CCSS will stop students from cutting corners, but I believe if teachers use the support the CCSS provides, it can be a great roadway to ensure all students are digging deep into texts and not just hitting the play button.Ten years ago, students in America were .
| A．fond of reading all kinds of novels |
| B．forbidden to discuss movies in class |
| C．not allowed to watch movies in the cinema |
| D．encouraged to read many literature works |
Which of the following might be the effect that movie adaptations have on modern-day students?
| A．They spend less time in studying. |
| B．They can’t understand English texts. |
| C．They discuss movies more frequently. |
| D．They spend less time in reading. |
What can we learn from the third paragraph?
| A．The Hunger Games is the worst movie adaptation. |
| B．It is a waste of time reading and discussing a book in class. |
| C． Rue’s impact on the games is perfectly presented in the movie. |
| D．Movie adaptations may bring trouble in understanding the books. |
According to the text, it seems that the CCSS .
| A．prevents students watching movies |
| B．provides students with well-known movies |
| C．encourages students to write novels |
| D．provides guidance on teaching and learning |
Art classes about animals & wildlife
All Creatures Large and Small
Animals bring something special to our life and give us inspiration for paintings that we will treasure. This workshop will focus on how to bring animals to life through color, lighting and good composition (构图). We will be working from photographs, so you will need to bring several good photos of your pets or wildlife animals.
Location Scottsdale, AZ
Instructor Phil Beck
Pet Portraiture (肖像画法) with Christine Fifer
Nothing teaches us to live in the moment more than our furry and feathered friends, and this workshop emphasizes (强调) the technical aspects of drawing and painting animals. Fifer is a long-time painter whose realistic style is simple and clear. No live models allowed (only a favorite picture or two)!
Location Key West, FL
Instructor Christine Fifer
Nature & Wildlife in the Field with Rafael Galvez
Limited to 12 students. Have a guided walk through a natural reserve and explore Charlotte’s wilderness with an experienced naturalist and bird painter, while learning about the region’s wildlife and habitats, and learning to paint from live subjects. Galvez emphasizes process rather than product.
Location Charlotte, NC
Instructor Rafael Galvez
Animal Drawing
A rare opportunity to work with live animals in the PAFA studios! Work with a horse and a dog served as models, learn skills and develop techniques for the graphic depiction (图形描绘) of animals. Explore a variety of drawing materials and techniques.
Location Philadelphia, PA
Instructor Peter van DyckPhil Beck will teach students to paint animals from .
| A．live models | B．his works |
| C．Pictures | D．famous paintings |
Where should you go if you want to learn to paint in the open air?
A. Scottsdale, AZ. B. Charlotte, NC.
C. Key West, FL. D. Philadelphia, PA.If you like to paint in a realistic style, you will learn from .
| A．Phil Beck | B．Peter van Dyck |
| C．Rafael Galvez | D．Christine Fifer |
People have always been wondering about what our future will look like. Go on reading this text, and you will know what will happen in the next fifty years.
How can we know what the future will look like? To be able to understand the future, you must know the past. What has taken us to where we are today and what has changed along the way? The world has changed a lot in the last 150 years, but we humans are driven by the same basic needs as we were 150 years ago. Will this change in the next 150 years? No.
What inventions have really made a difference in the last 150 years? In the past years, the inventions that have affected most people around the world for everyday living are the telephone, electricity, radio, television, computer, the car and the ability to communicate through the Internet. Then we of course have a lot of inventions that have made life easier, like new medicine, faster transports etc. In general, human beings have been working hard in the last 150 years to make the inventions so that they will be able to get control of the time and the world. Since there is still much to do in this area, this will be the focus at least for the next 150 years.
Why do we need to predict the future? Predicting the future is important for two reasons first we need to start to think about what kind of future we would like for ourselves and to pass on to the next generation, and then we need to know what decisions we need to make today that will give the best result in the future.What does the author try to tell us in the second paragraph?
| A．The world is quite different from what it was. |
| B．Our basic needs will not change in the future. |
| C．Humans will no longer enjoy food in the future. |
| D．The world will be completely changed tomorrow. |
Our past inventions have made .
| A．it easy for us to live |
| B．our daily life more stressful |
| C．our work easily done |
| D．us work less time |
What will humans do in order to keep the world under control?
| A．To produce more cars for transportation. |
| B．To focus on making more inventions. |
| C．To work much harder to achieve their goals. |
| D．To spend more time working on the Internet. |
What is the main idea of the last paragraph?
| A．What result we’ll receive in the future. |
| B．The decisions we make for our future. |
| C．The importance of predicting the future. |
| D．The two reasons of predicting the future. |
Housing Price in China has always aroused heated discussion among property developers and ordinary Chinese. To many property developers and local government officials, housing price in China is still low compared with many developed countries. However, the average housing price in the United States is only 8, 000 yuan per square metre, while in China, it is even higher than that in the United States. “This shows that there are some bubbles(泡沫) in Chinese real estate(房地产) market,” the International Finance News reported.
Although the average price of residential houses in the United States, after changed to RMB, is about 8, 000 yuan per square metre, the houses in the US are not sold in terms of building area, as most Chinese property developers do when they sell their houses. If the US property developers sell their houses according to the building area, then the housing price will be even lower than 8, 000 yuan per square metre. In most big Chinese cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, houses are sold at a price even higher than those in the US.
The high housing price in large cities in China proves that Chinese real estate market does have some bubbles. Moreover, Chinese houses cannot be compared with houses in the US in terms of building quality, environment and supporting facilities. Furthermore, it should be noted that American people’s average income is several dozen times higher than that of Chinese people. How can the Chinese afford to buy a house which is even more expensive than that sold in the US?
At the beginning of 2007, Chinese government issued a set of policies that aimed to benefit the public. Now in order to reduce the high housing prices, the government can regulate the real estate market by raising tax on property industry and controlling the release of loans and lands to property developers. Meanwhile, the government should allow people to build more houses through various fund-raising channels, such as funds collected from buyers or raised by working units. By applying these multiple means, it is expected that the high housing prices can be lowered and Chinese public can really benefit from the economic achievement.When it comes to housing price in China, many ________think it reasonable.
| A．property developers and ordinary people |
| B．property developers and local governments |
| C．ordinary people and the Chinese government |
| D．property developers and the Chinese government |
How does the writer feel about the problem of high housing price in China?
| A．Encouraged and confident. |
| B．Satisfied. |
| C．Hopeless. |
| D．Concerned but optimistic. |
It can be learned from the passage that.
| A．housing price in China will drop considerably very soon |
| B．a set of laws have been passed to improve Chinese real estate market |
| C．regardless of housing price, Chinese houses have poorer building quality than those in the US |
| D．the Chinese government has not realized the importance of the problem |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．The problem of high housing price in China and possible solutions to it. |
| B．Different opinions on the problem of high housing price in China. |
| C．A comparison in residential housing price between China and the US. |
| D．The reaction of Chinese government to the bubbles in real estate market. |
Don’t be afraid! We are not encouraging people to steal. It’s one of the most popular topics currently talked about by people in cities, together with, “How many vegetables did you steal today?”or, “It’s harvest time for your peaches,” and, “I bought you a new car today.”
Listening to a conversation like this, you do not have to feel strange. These people don’t really have their own farms or so much money that they can casually buy someone else a car.
They are just playing games on Social Networking Sites(SNS) like kaixing001.com. Can you imagine millions of people in China spending lots of time on SNS playing games and talking to friends? This is especially true of white-collar workers in cities, Take kaixing001.com for example --the number of current members has already hit 38 million.
However, the large number of people using SNS highlights another problem. That is, lots of people choose to escape from reality, NSN just offers them a virtual(虚拟的) environment where they can escape from reality.
Different games provide netizens with different experiences: dreaming, chatting and playing. It offers people the opportunity to escape from reality. But the virtual world is not the real one; no one can live in it forever, and reality is not as surfing on the Internet.
Since this kind of social networking sites have become so popular, people have started to think about moving it into the real world. And so far as we know, a farmland of this kind exists in Shanghai where it has reached its first base.
After playing the “Happy Farm”game on kaixing001.com, would you like to put yourself among the real world while smelling the fragrances (芳香) of the countryside? Recently a farmland service called “Happy Farm in Reality” was opened in the suburbs of Shanghai where white-collar workers can experience the real farmers’ for themselves.What does the underlined word “it”in Para .5 refer to?
| A．The real world. | B．Farmland in Shanghai. |
| C．The virtual world. | D．An expensive car. |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．Millions of people in China are spending lots of time on SNS. |
| B．People steal vegetables on SNS for living. |
| C．Lots of people play games on SNS to escape from reality. |
| D．White-collar workers can have the real farmers’ life. |
You can find the passage in part on a newspaper.
| A．politics | B．entertainment |
| C．economy | D．military |
What might be the best title?
| A．The virtual world is dangerous. |
| B．Buy a new car for your friend. |
| C．Did you steal vegetables today? |
| D．Be careful about being stolen. |