Reading Passage 1
Birthday traditions in different countries
Birthdays are celebrated all over the world. Some traditions are fairly similar from country to country: candles, cakes and birthday wishes, birthday games and pinches for good luck. Other customs are quite different. Here are a few.
Argentina – In Argentina, as in many Latin American countries, one of the most important birthday parties is a girl’s fifteenth. When girls turn 15, they have a huge party and dance the waltz first with their father, and then the boys at the party.
China – The birthday child pays respect to the parents and receives a gift of money. Friends and relatives are invited to lunch, and noodles are rved to wish the birthday child a long life.
Denmark – A flag is flown outside a window to show that someone who lives in that hou is having a birthday. Prents are placed around the child’s bed while they are slee
ping so they will e them immediately when they wake up.
shoottothrillThe Netherlands – Special year birthdays such as 5, 10, 15, 20, 21 are called “crown” years and the birthday child receives an especially large gift. The family also decorates the birthday child’s chair with flowers or paper streamers, paper flowers and balloons.
travelingIndia – Usually Indian children wear white to school. However, on their birthday children wear coloured clothes to school and give out chocolates to everyone in the class. Their best friend helps them to do this.
Japan – The birthday child wears new clothes to mark the occasion. Certain birthdays are more important than others and the are celebrated with a visit to the local shrine. The are the third and venth birthdays for girls and the fifth for boys.
Questions 1-5
雪鸮Match the countries in the box with their descriptions.
1 A country where longevity is celebrated by a special dish ________
2 A country where candies are distributed among peers ________
3 A country where the birthday is made known to the community ________
4 A country where the houhold is full of birthday ornaments ________
5 A country where religious worship is sometimes involved ________clerk
Reading Passage 2
The American Revolution was not a revolution in the n of a radical or total change. It was not a sudden and violent overturning of the political and social framework, such as later occurred in France and Russia, when both were already independent nations. Significant changes were ushered in, but they were not breathtaking. What happened was accelerate evolution rather than outright revolution. During the conflict itlf people went on working and praying, marrying and playing. Most of them were not riously disturbed by the actual fighting, and many of the more isolated communities scarcely knew that a war was on.
America’s War of Independence heralded the birth of three modern nations. One was Canada, which received its first large influx of English-speaking population from the thousands of loyalists who fled there from the United States. Another was Australia, which became a penal colony now that America was no longer available for prisoners and debtors. The third newcomer – the United States – bad itlf squarely on republican principles.
Yet even the political overturn was not so revolutionary as one might suppo. In some states, notably Connecticut and Rhode Island, the war largely ratified a colonial lf-rule already existing. British officials, everywhere ousted, were replaced by a home-grown governing class, which promptly sought a local substitute for king and Parliament.
Questions 6-10
6. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A The United States: An Isolated Community
梦境美眉
在线汉翻英
B Breathtaking Events During the American Revolution 寂寞在唱歌英文版
饥饿游戏结局
syntaxC Canada and the American War of Independence
D The American Revolution: Evolution Not Revolution
7. In the first paragraph, what does the author suggest about the French and Russian Revolutions?
邹忌讽齐王纳谏翻译A They were explosive and abrupt.
B They were ineffective.
C They involved only tho people living in urban areas.
D They led to the relea of all political prisoners.
8. In line 5, what does the author mean by “people went on working and praying, marrying and praying”?
A More people got married than divorced.
B The war created new jobs.
C Life went on as usual.
D People had more than enough leisure time.
9. In the cond paragraph, the author states that the colonies’ struggle for lf-government preceded the creation of all of the following countries EXCEPT
