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 |
Hello. I’m Jan from Mrs. Lake’s class. My class wants to work together to help the public. We think we have found a great way to do this. Last month we did a class project on the highways near our town. We learned about the Adopt-a-Highway Program. This program brings people together to pick up litter along the roads. We think it would be a great idea for all students in our school to join the program and adopt a highway.
Adopting a highway is not like adopting a pet. When a highway is adopted, only part of the highway is cared for by a group of people. The group agrees to work every week to keep its part of the highway clean. Each group gets its own sign that has the name of the group printed on it. The sign is put up at the side of the road. This sign lets drivers know who is keeping that area of the road clean.
The Adopt-a-Highway Program is a great way for people to help their environment look nicer. Also, the government does not have to send out as many road workers. This saves money. Finally, people may try harder to keep roads clean if they see people, especially teenagers like us, cleaning them up.
We will need helpers to care for our adopted highway. If you want to feel great and keep our roads clean，please come with your parents to the meeting next week. We will meet in Mrs. Lake’ room on Wednesday at 6:00 P.M. At the meeting, we will talk about which roads are the dirtiest as a result of people's unkind acts. Then we' ll try to pick an area to adopt and clean.
I look forward to seeing you at the meeting. Remember to keep our roads clean!What is the Adopt-a-Highway Program about?
| A．Giving names to the highways. |
| B．Drawing pictures of highways. |
| C．Picking up litter along the roads. |
| D．Putting up signs near the roads. |
What should the students do first if they want to join the program?
| A．Pick a spot to care for. |
| B．Call Mrs. Lake next week. |
| C．Write a letter to their parents. |
| D．Go to a meeting on Wednesday. |
What is the purpose of this speech?
| A．To encourage students to join the program. |
| B．To introduce the traffic system. |
| C．To show drivers how to drive safely. |
| D．To tell a story about adopting a pet. |
Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
| A．Adopt-a-Pet |
| B．Adopt-a-Highway |
| C．Ways to Protect the Environment |
| D．Volunteers on Roads |
When Dekalb Walcott III was just 8 years old, his father, a Chicago fire chief, let him tag along on a call. Dekalb says a lot of kids idolized(崇拜) basketball player Michael Jordan when he was growing up in Chicago in the 1990s. Not him.
“I wanted to be like Dekalb Walcott Jr.,” he says of his father.
So when his dad asked if he wanted to go on that call with him when he was 8, Dekalb was excited. “I'm jumping up and down,” saying, “Mom, can I go? Can I go?”
The experience changed Dekalb's life, he tells his dad on a visit to StoryCorps. “My eyes got big from the moment the alarm went off.” the younger Dekalb says. “This is the life that I want to live someday. ”
Now 27, the younger Dekalb is living that life. He became a firefighter at 21 and went to work alongside his dad at the Chicago Fire Department. Before his father retired, the pair even went out on a call together — father supervising(监督) son.
“You know, it's everything for me to watch you grow,”his father says. But he also recalls worrying about one particular fire that his son faced.
“I received a phone call that night. And they said, 'Well, your son was at this fire.' I said, 'OK, which way is this conversation going to go?' ” Dekalb Walcott Jr. recalls.
“And they said, 'But he's OK. And he put it out all by himself. Everybody here was proud of him.'”And the word went around, 'Who was out there managing that fire? Oh, that's Walcott! That's Walcott up there!' So, you know, moments like that, it's heaven on Earth for a dad."
Dekalb Walcott Jr. retired in 2009. The younger Dekalb says he's proud of being a second
-generation firefighter. "You know, it makes me look forward to fatherhood as well, because I'm definitely looking forward to passing that torch down to my son."The underlined phrase “tag along” in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to ______.
| A．put out fire | B．watch basketball |
| C．ask his mother’s permission | D．follow his father |
Dekalb Walcott III determined to become a firefighter at the age of _________
| A．8 | B．21 | C．35 | D．27 |
What can we learn from the last paragraph?
| A．Dekalb Walcott Jr is proud to be a second-generation firefighter. |
| B．Dekalb Walcott III wants his son to become a firefighter too. |
| C．Dekalb Walcott Jr wants to pass the torch to Dekalb Walcott III. |
| D．Dekalb Walcott III is proud that his son has become an excellent firefighter. |
Which of the following is the best title of the passage?
| A．Putting Out Fire: A Challenging Job for Father and son |
| B．Passing The Torch: A Firefighter Dad's Legacy |
| C．Dekalb Walcott III: A Second-generation Firefighter |
| D．Dekalb Walcott Jr.: A Chicago Fire Chief |
We grew up with the familiar toy bricks (积木) that gave us the imagination to build towers and castles. Generations have been attracted by this toy that lets children and adults alike create anything and everything. But with over 200 millions sets being sold a year in over 100 countries, the question remains — where did Lego actually come from?
Lego was born from the creative mind of Danish carpenter (木匠), Ole Kirk Christiansen, back in the early 1930s. He established a small business in Denmark. He and his team built a variety of household goods like ironing boards along with wooden toys. The Lego name was adopted in 1934, formed from the Danish words “Leg Godt” or “play well”, which means “I study” or “I put together” in Latin.
Christiansen’s company continued to make wooden toys until 1942 when fire struck — the entire Lego factory burned to the ground. Unwilling to give in, the factory was rebuilt and the production line restarted soon after. By 1954, Christiansen’s son, Godtfred, had become the junior managing director of the Lego Group. It was during his conversation with an overseas buyer that he was struck by the idea of a toy system.
For over 30 years, the Lego Company made only toys and related goods. Then, in 1968, the company opened its first Legoland in Denmark. Combining the Lego building bricks with a computer, the Robotics Invention System 1.5 is now the most advanced toy in the Lego Company, which is targeted at users aged twelve and above, and that includes any parents or grandparents that want to join in.
Now the Lego Company is expanding its production lines to include lights, cameras and so on. Lego Company has done a lot to entertain many children around the world. The author presents the text by ________.
| A．telling an interesting story |
| B．showing the process in different stages |
| C．introducing a practical method |
| D．describing many different activities |
Which of the following is NOT true about the Robotics Invention System 1.5?
| A．It is the most advanced toy in the Lego Company. |
| B．It combines the Lego building bricks with a computer. |
| C．It is intended for users aged twelve and above. |
| D．It is the most expensive toy invented since 1968. |
What is the correct order of the following events in the development of Lego?
a. The entire Lego factory burned to the ground.
b. The company and its products adopted the name Lego.
c. The company opened its first Legoland in Denmark.
d. Godtfred had become the junior managing director of the Lego Group.
| A．cadb | B．cbad | C．abcd | D．badc |
What can we learn from the text?
| A．The Lego Company expands its production lines with computers. |
| B．The author thinks highly of Lego, which entertains many children. |
| C．The name Lego means “I put together” in the Danish language. |
| D．Lego enjoys the greatest popularity among children of 12. |
In a movie, a woman reads a storybook to her friend’s daughter. As they approach the last page, she reads, “...and Cinderella and the prince lived happily together ever after.” She closes the book and looks at the young girl, adding, “You know, things don’t always happen like this in real life. I just think you should know that now.”
We were all raised on fairy tales with glass slippers, brave princes and magic! It didn’t take too long to realize that stories like that aren’t necessarily true. In the life, you learned that glass slippers are really uncomfortable, no prince is perfect and magic doesn’t always work.
So what do you do when the way you planned things is not the way they turned out?
Know that parts of your fairy tale have already been written, and sadly, there’s not a whole lot you can do about those first few chapters.You didn’t get the best start.Your trust was unexpectedly betrayed. You didn’t get the job. Whatever falls and failures that happened in your past are just that in your past. There’s still more to the story.
While your life has a lot of contributors(投稿者), you are the editor-in-chief. You take what’s there and create the masterpiece. All the good pages and the bad can come together to make a beautiful adventure.
When you find yourself wishing your life was more like the fairy tales, remember that in some ways it already is. There will be dragons, bad witches, great romances, winding roads and friends to help you along the way. So, keep rewriting your story every day that you’re alive. Whether it’s a comedy, tragedy or a little of both, the pen is in your hand. How it all ends is up to you. What is the author’s purpose in writing the passage?
| A．To help the readers to live a good life. |
| B．To encourage the readers to write their own stories. |
| C．To advise parents to tell the fairy tale to their kids. |
| D．To describe the difficulties in today’s education. |
Which of the following may NOT often appear in the fairy tale?
| A．Glass slipper. | B．Winding roads. |
| C．Sad ending. | D．Bad witches. |
According to the fires paragraph, we know the woman is ________.
| A．wise | B．cruel | C．brave | D．stupid |
Why does the author mention the question in Paragraph 3?
| A．To express the doubt to life |
| B．To compare different ideas. |
| C．To introduce a point for discussion. |
| D．To describe the conditions in life. |
The aims of the Illustrators(插图画家) Exhibition, staged as part of the Bologna Children's Book Fair, organized by BolognaFiere and held from 23 to 26 December, are to bring illustrators and publishers together and to promote illustrators and their works among publishers.
QUALIFICATIONS
*Individual illustrators or groups of illustrators of any nationality, if they were born before 31st December 1996, whose artwork is intended for use in children's books, are qualified to enter the Exhibition, either directly or through publishing houses or schools.
*Please state in the application form whether you are entering work for the Fiction or Non Category. Illustrators may only enter one category.
`*Artwork previously presented to the Exhibition may not be re-entered.
*The confirmationform must be filled in and a photograph attached, then presented together with illustrations no later than15 October.
SHIPMENT
Entries may be delivered by post, express delivery service or by hand. From abroad, please use the following forms:Form "A" for registered mail or post by air;Form "B" if using an international forwarding agent or airline. To avoid delays, material should not be sent by normal post. Material should be sent "carriage (运费) paid", including any customs and delivery costs.
BolognaFiere may not be held responsible for the non-arrival or late arrival of artwork.
All published works must be accompanied by a declaration bearing the ISBN number, publisher's name and address.
REQUIREMENTS
The illustrations (i.e. the size of the sheet)must not exceed the following dimensions:
Fiction: 32*42cm (or 42*32cm) Non-fiction: 50*70cm (70*50cm)
Illustrations in larger formats will not be considered, nor will they be returned by BolognalFiere.
The illustrations must be on paper or flexible board, maximum thickness 2mm.According to the text, the Illustrators Exhibitions_________.
| A．will last five days in all |
| B．is intended to pick out works for story-books |
| C．can strengthen the relationship between illustrators and publishers |
| D．is held by the Bologna Children's Book Fair |
The illustrators of the Illustrators’ Exhibitions_________.
| A．should be no more than 16 |
| B．may re-enter their artwork after it is returned |
| C．may choose to attach a photo to the application form |
| D．should state the category of their artwork clearly |
Which of the following is unacceptable for delivering entries?
| A．Normal post. | B．Airline post |
| C．Registered mail. | D．Express delivery |