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．American parties |
| D．Different parties in the world |
How many kinds of parties does the passage mention?
| A．5. | B．6. | C．7. | D．8. |
Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
| A．Block party is especially American. |
| 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．Birthday parties are the most popular in America. |
The purpose of Birthdays Without Pressure is to advise people to _________.
| A．relieve people’s pressure |
| B．have meaningful birthday parties with low cost |
| C．make birthday parties meaningful and costly |
| D．spread America’s culture |
Xu Hui is very excited. The Senior 1 student in a middle school in Beijing will go to South Korea with his parents during the Spring Festival.
“Overseas touring has always been a dream for me,” he said happily.
Nowadays, Chinese people enjoy longer holidays, such as the three “Golden Week Holidays”(the Spring Festival, May Day and National Day). They have more time to travel. Rising incomes also make travelling abroad realistic for ordinary Chinese people.
Nearly 7 million Chinese travelled overseas in 2001, according to the National Tourism Administration(国家旅游局). The most common problem travellers face is how to choose the best routes.
By the end of 2002, Chinese citizens were allowed to travel to 19 foreign countries and regions at their own expense.
The top 10 places included Hong Kong, Macao and Thailand. European countries are also becoming increasingly popular.
“More and more Chinese people have shown interest in travelling to Europe, particularly France and Finland,” said Tan Wen, a general manager of China Youth Travel Service. “Sooner or later, there will be a peak(高峰) in European tours.”
Another consideration is choosing the right travel agencies and finding the best price. The China Consumers’ Association(CCA, 中国消费者协会) offered tips to consumers on choosing the right travel agencies to help prevent a relaxing vacation from turning into a costly disaster.
“Price should not be the single most important factor in choosing a travel agency,” said Zhang Yuanchao, CCA vice-secretary general. Consumers are advised to choose large State travel agencies with good reputations(名声) and official approval to organize overseas tour groups.
Zhang’s association dealt with more than 5, 000 complaints about travel agencies last year. And the majority of the complaints were about random changes in travel routes, bad tour guides, and forced shopping.
Travellers were warned to look carefully at their contracts(合同) with agencies and to buy travel insurance(保险). How many reasons are given in the article as to why ordinary Chinese people are traveling abroad more today?
| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. | D．Five. |
According to the passage, what is the biggest problem Chinese travelers face when going overseas?
| A．Choosing the best travel agent. |
| B．Deciding the best way to get to the places they want to go to. |
| C．Traveling to Europe. |
| D．Cost. |
According to the passage, what seems to be the most common result of choosing a bad travel agency?
| A．People buy more souvenirs than they had planned to. |
| B．People spend more money than they had planned to. |
| C．People go to different places than they had planned to. |
| D．People complained more than they had planned to. |
The underlined part “random changes” probably means that _______.
| A．the travelers agreed with the changes. |
| B．the travel agency didn’t make any changes. |
| C．the travel agency refused to changes the routes. |
| D．the travel agency changed the routes or time without following the original plan. |
In just two months, the latest buzzword from the Internet, diaosi, has spread so much that it can be found everywhere—from online forums(论坛) to micro blogs. Many people even call themselves diaosi. It’s not the first time a term has gone popular on the Internet in China. However, why is the word so viral that is has become a cultural phenomenon? Here, we tell you something you want to know about it.
Where it began
The word originated in Baidu. Com’s Tieba (a top Chinese bulletin board system) of soccer player Li Yi. There, fans of Li, who are called yisi in Chinese, not only talk about soccer but complain about their lives, work and relationships. Yisi, who are known for their rude and dirty language, were given the name diaosi by others who have seen their posts.
What a “diaosi” is like
The word diaosi was coined first by single, young men who feel they have dead-end lives. Generally, men in this category don’t earn enough, are not good-looking, and have difficulty winning promotion(晋升). Unlike their upper-class contemporaries(同代人), they lack influential families, useful social networks for their careers, and most importantly, suitable women to marry. “I’m just a diaosi, poor and plain-looking. Who will marry me?” The sigh can be heard, which is half self-mockery(自嘲), half reality. Many young men call themselves diaosi because they feel they are among the lowest classes of the society.
“Diaosi” culture reflects social changes
According to Zhu Chongke, a professor in the School of Asia-Pacific Studies at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, the popularity of this word diaosi stems from the fact that is was created by common people and thus resonates(共鸣) with a huge population. “Labeling yourself a diaosi offers a way for people to mock themselves and relieve pressure, hence it spread quickly,” he told Xinhua Agency. “The attitude is basically: ‘I already have little to lose, so why don’t I mock myself for gun?’.” The phenomenon reflects a larger social issues. These young people have no influential family background, no chances of receiving promotion at work or no economic strength to find a proper woman to marry. It reflects a deep sense of loss.Diaosi refers to the ones with following features except.
| A．the ones who don’t earn much. |
| B．the ones who are not good-looking. |
| C．the ones who have difficulty winning promotion |
| D．the ones who have suitable people to marry. |
The word “diaosi” is so popular because .
| A．It was used to describe the fans of soccer player Li Yi. |
| B．It was created by common people and resonates with a huge population. |
| C．It is new and interesting. |
| D．It helps people who are among the lowest classes mock themselves. |
Which of the following is NOT true?
| A．It’s not the first time a term like “diaosi” has gone popular on the Internet. |
| B．The name “diaosi” was given by those people who are among the lowest classes. |
| C．Many young people call themselves diaosi because they have a deep sense of loss. |
| D．Calling yourself diaosi can probably mock yourselves and release pressure. |
The author’s attitude to diaosi is.
| A．positive | B．negative | C．neutral(中立的) | D．indifferent |
请阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项（A、B、C和D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该选项的标号涂黑。
What you are reading is a(n) _______.
| A．draft | B．poster | C．schedule | D．advertisement |
Xiao Wang wants to buy his girlfriend a gold ring (origin price: 1200 yuan) and a skirt (origin price: 200 yuan), how much will he pay on this day?
| A．260 yuan. | B．1140 yuan. | C．1400 yuan | D．1220 yuan |
Miss Yang bought a pair of shoes (origin price: 500 yuan) and a T-shirt (origin price: 100 yuan), and she has ICBC bank card. How much will she pay for these?
| A．370 yuan | B．360 yuan | C．350 yuan | D．300 yuan |
Which of the following statements is true?
| A．Not all the restaurants accept the special coupons on that day. |
| B．With the money for one shirt, I can get two shirts. |
| C．A woman with her baby can’t get the cokes and popcorn at UME. |
| D．I can see a Hollywood blockbuster with my lover with 50 yuan on that night . |
Ever wonder how much a cloud weighs? What about a hurricane? A meteorologist(气象学者) has done some estimates and the results might surprise you.
Let's start with a very simple white puffy cloud — a cumulus cloud（积云）. How much does the water in a cumulus cloud weigh? Peggy LeMone, senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, did the numbers. "The water in the little cloud weighs about 550 tons," she calculates. "Or if you want to convert it to something that might be a little more meaningful … think of elephants."
The thought of a hundred elephants-worth of water suspended(悬浮的) in the sky begs another question — what keeps it up there?
"First of all, the water isn't in elephant-sized particles（微粒）, it's in tiny tiny tiny particles," explains LeMone. And those particles float on the warmer air that's rising below. But still, the concept of so much water floating in the sky was surprising even to a meteorologist like LeMone. "I had no idea how much a cloud would weigh, actually, when I started the calculations," she says.
So how many elephant units of water are inside a big storm cloud—10 times bigger all the way around than the "puffy" cumulus cloud? Again, LeMone did the numbers: About 200,000 elephants.
Now, ratchet up(略微调高) the calculations for a hurricane about the size of Missouri and the figures get really massive(巨大的). "What we're doing is weighing the water in one cubic meter theoretically pulled from a cloud and then multiplying by(乘上) the number of meters in a whole hurricane," she explains.
The result? Forty million elephants. That means the water in one hurricane weighs more than all the elephants on the planet. Perhaps even more than all the elephants that have ever lived on the planet. The weight of is NOT mentioned in the passage.
| A．a cumulus cloud | B．a tornado |
| C．a hurricane | D．a storm cloud |
How did Peggy LeMone feel about the result of her calculations?
| A．She found it not convincing. |
| B．She thought it needed further calculations. |
| C．She was quite surprised at it. |
| D．She considered the calculations inaccurate. |
What can be inferred from the passage?
| A．A storm cloud weighs about 200,000 elephants. |
| B．The water in a hurricane weighs more than that in any other kind of cloud. |
| C．There are less than forty million elephants living on the earth. |
| D．The water in the cloud is in very tiny partials. |
What is the best title for the passage?
| A．How Much a Cloud Weighs | B．How Much a Hurricane Weighs |
| C．Surprising Results | D．Elephants in the Sky |
If you hear the sound of running water the next time you call a co-worker on his or her mobile phone, don’t be surprised. Three-fourths of Americans with mobile phones say they use them in the bathroom, a new study shows.
Approximately(大约) the same number of men and women have used the phone in the bathroom, according to a survey of 1,000 Americans by 11 mark, an integrated marketing agency, although men seem more attached to IT in the toilet: 30 percent of men versus(VS) 20 percent of women agreed with the statement, "I don't go to the bathroom without my mobile phone."
More than half the surveyed users (63 percent) said they have answered a phone call in the bathroom, and almost half (41 percent) reported initiating a phone call. That's not all, however. What goes on behind the walls of the stalls(小隔间) is anything a mobile phone is capable of. Sixty-seven percent said they have read a text, and 39 percent have surfed the Web. Men work more from the bathroom — 20 percent said they have participated in work-related calls, versus 13 percent of their female colleagues.
As expected, Gen Y(1981年后出生的一代) respondents(调查对象) are the pacesetters(先导者) in the "mobile everywhere" movement, with 91 percent using their phone in the bathroom. Still, older generations are not far behind. Eighty percent of Gen X(1961-1981) reported using the phone in the bathroom, as did 65 percent of Baby Boomers(1946-1965) and 47 percent of the Silent Generation(1925-1945).
While online, they are doing more than just surfing; 16 percent of Gen Y report they have made an online purchase while in the bathroom. Users of iPhones are particularly likely to browse and buy in the bathroom – 22 percent have made a purchase, versus 10 percent of Americans with mobile phones overall.
"The writing is on the stall," said 11 mark principal Nicole Burdette. "This study confirms what we all know: that the last private place is no longer private."
In the process, high-tech hygiene(卫生) is taking a hit, the survey found. While 92 percent of mobile phone users said they wash their hands after using the bathroom, only 14 percent said they wash their phones.Which is the best word to replace the underlined word "initiating"?
| A．receiving | B．experiencing | C．ending | D．beginning |
According to his words, Nicole Burdette mainly wants to tell us that .
| A．no wonder mobile phones are used in the bathroom |
| B．the bathroom is a private place for people |
| C．it makes people have no privacy at all |
| D．more men have used the phone in the bathroom |
What does the last paragraph of the passage imply?
| A．Using phones in the bathroom has a bad effect on hygiene |
| B．Mobile phones should not be allowed to use in the bathroom |
| C．Most people care about the hygiene after using the bathroom |
| D．Few people wash their phones after using the bathroom |
The attitude of the author to the use of phones in the bathroom is ______
| A．supportive | B．disapproval | C．subjective | D．objective |