Almost all cultures celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another in some way. Different cultures celebrate the beginning of a new year in different ways, and at different times on the calendar.
In Western countries, people usually celebrate New Year at midnight on January 1st. People may go to parties, dress in formal clothes -- like tuxedos (小礼服) and evening gowns, and drink champagne at midnight. During the first minutes of the New Year, people cheer and wish each other happiness for the year ahead. But some cultures prefer to celebrate the New Year by waking up early to watch the sun rise. They welcome the New Year with the first light of the sunrise.
It is also a common Western custom to make a New Year’s promise, called a resolution. New Year’s resolutions usually include promises to try something new or change a bad habit in the new year.
Many cultures also do special things to get rid of bad luck at the beginning of a new year. For example, in Ecuador, families make a big doll from old clothes. The doll is filled with old newspapers and firecrackers. At midnight, these dolls are burned to show the bad things from the past year are gone and the new year can start afresh (again). Other common traditions to keep away bad luck in a new year include throwing things into rivers or the ocean, or saying special things on the first day of the new year.
Other New Year traditions are followed to bring good luck is to eat grapes on New Year’s Day. The more grapes a person eats, the more good luck the person will have in the year. In France, people eat pancakes for good luck at New Year. In the United States, some people eat black-eyed peas (豇豆) for good luck -- but to get good luck for a whole year you have to eat 365 of them!
【小题1】Which culture celebrates New Year in the morning?
| A．The United States. | B．Spain. |
| C．France. | D．The passage doesn’t say. |
| A．Something you burn. | B．Something you eat. |
| C．Something you say. | D．Something you wear. |
| A．Bringing good luck. | B．Keeping away bad l uck. |
| C．Planning for the next year. | D．Remembering the past. |
| A．Black-eyed peas taste bad. |
| B．One pea brings one day of luck. |
| C．The peas are very difficult to cook. |
| D．It is bad luck to eat a lot of black-eyed peas. |
【小题1】D
【小题1】C
【小题1】B
【小题1】B
解析【小题1】D。细节理解题。文章提到了美国、西班牙和法国庆祝新年的传统，但没有说哪个国家是早晨庆祝的
【小题1】C。词义理解题。根据第三段It is also a common Western custom to make a New Year’s promise, called a resolution和New Year’s resolutions usually include promises to try something new or change a bad habit in the new year可知其意义是“来年的决心”。
【小题1】B。段落主旨题。通读此段可知不同国家的人们在新年到来之际都会做一些特别的事情来驱除晦气。
【小题1】B。细节理解题。根据最后一段最后一句话可知：365颗代表一年中的365天，即一颗表示一天的好运。
阅读快车系列答案科目：高中英语 来源：2014届山东省聊城市高二第四次模块检测英语试卷（解析版） 题型：短文改错
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（/\），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第十一处起）不计分。
Nowadays women are playing a much more important part in society. More and more women are working like teachers, scientists and even leader. Almost all jobs that were used to be done by men are done perfectly well by women. Women are no longer looking down upon in society. With the changes in their social role, women’s position in the family have been improved as well. It’s hard to see the phenomenon which the wife is busy while the husband is sitting in an armchair, watching TV. In spite of all these changes, the great number of men still guard his rights. They thought of women as incapable creatures. Sometimes few women are allowed attend important meetings. This is the problem we should try to solve now.
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科目：高中英语 来源：2012-2013学年山东省泰安市高三12月质检英语试卷（解析版） 题型：阅读理解
However urban life strikes you, cities worldwide have been growing ever more rapidly. Some of this growth has occurred in the developed world, but the most dramatic increase has been in the Third World. Almost all the world’s population growth over the next 30 years will take place in the cities of developing countries
By the year 2030, for the first time in history, 60 percent of the world’s people will be living in cities.
This is actually good news in some ways. “Cities are the fundamental building blocks of prosperity,” says Marc Weiss, chairman of the Prague Institute for Global Urban Development, “ both for the nation and for families.” Industrial and commercial activities in urban areas account for between 50 and 80 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in most countries of the world“ there’s the crazy notion that the way to deal with a city’s problems is to keep people out of them,”Weiss continued. “But the problems of the rural life are even more serious than those of the city.” For better or worse, urban-watchers are clear on one point: The quality of life for most people in the future will be determined by the quality of cities. Those cities will be bigger than ever. And yet, population numbers by themselves don’t determine a city’s prospects; after all, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and Hamburg, Germany, have the same population. Nor is explosive growth necessarily the determining factor. “City problems,” one authority points out, “mostly have to do with weak, ineffective, and usually unrepresentative city governments.”
1.The passage mainly discusses ______________.
A．Big cities. B．City life. C．Population. D．Gross Domestic Product.
2.According to the passage, in the year of 2030 _______.
A．there will be 21 cities having a population of more than 10 million.
B．rural area will be extinct.
C．most people will live in cities.
D．the third world will keep abreast with the developed world.
3.In the author’s opinion, _________.
A．better city, better life
B．both urban and rural areas have a larger population
C．the larger population, the faster a city develops
D．both urban and rural areas have larger gross domestic products
4.Which statement is NOT true according to the passage?
A．The developing countries develop faster than the developed countries.
B．Cities contribute more to the GDP than the villagers.
C．Some problems are more easily solved in cities than in country.
D．It’s impossible to solve urban problems by getting people out of cities.
5.The last paragraph implies that ____________.
A．Public services are ineffective.
B．Cities are increasing too fast.
C．Population is not linked with development.
D．Government should be responsible for the problems in the cities.
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科目：高中英语 来源：2010-2011学年浙江省杭州市高三二模考试英语卷 题型：阅读理解
A Charlotte, N.C., man was charged with first-degree murder of a 79-year-old woman whom police said he scared to death. In an attempt to evade policemen after a bank robbery, the Associated Press reports that 20-year-old Larry Whitfield broke into the home of Mary Parnell. Police say he didn’t touch Parnell but that she died after suffering a heart attack that was caused by terror. Can the guy be held responsible for the woman’s death? Prosecutors(公诉人) said that he can under the state’s murder rule, which allows someone to be charged with murder if he or she causes another person’s death while committing or fleeing from a severe crime like robbery—even if he or she doesn’t kill someone on purpose.
But, medically speaking, can someone actually be frightened to death? We asked Martin Samuels, chairman of the neurology department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Absolutely, no question about it.
The body has a natural protective method called the fight-or-flight response(战或逃反应), which was originally described by Walter Cannon，the chairman of Harvard University’s physiology department from 1906 to 1942. If, in the wild, an animal is faced with a life-threatening situation, the autonomic nervous system responds by increasing heart rate, increasing blood flow to the muscles, and slowing digestion, among other things. All of this increases the chances of succeeding in a fight or running away from an aggressive beast. This process certainly would be of help to primitive humans. However, in the modern world there is obvious decline of the fight-or-flight response.
The autonomic nervous system uses the chemical messenger to send signals to various parts of the body to activate the fight-or-flight response. This chemical is toxic in large amounts; it damages the organs such as the heart, lungs, liver and kidneys. It is believed that almost all sudden deaths are caused by damage to the heart. There is almost no other organ that would fail so fast as to cause sudden death. Kidney failure, liver failure, those things don’t kill you suddenly.
By the way, any strong positive or negative emotions such as happiness or sadness can cause the same result. There are people who have died in intercourse or in religious passion. There was a case of a golfer who hit a hole in one, turned to his partner and said, “I can die now”, and then he dropped dead. For about seven days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon there was an increase of sudden cardiac death among New Yorkers.
1. Why the Charlotte, N.C., man was charged?
A. Because he threatened the policemen to kill an old woman.
B. Because he caused an old woman’s terror and she died.
C. Because he beat an old woman and caused her heart attack
D. Because he murdered an old woman while robbing a bank.
2. Which of the following about the fight-or-flight response is true?
A. The fight-or-flight response was raised and proved by Martin A. Samuels.
B. It is a natural protective method that can’t be found in all creatures but humans.
C. The ancient humans had a superior fight-or-flight response than modern ones.
D. The fight-or-flight response is beneficial to both our actions and organs.
3.What activity can we infer is less likely to damage the organs?
A. Winning a big lottery. B. Missing a dead family.
C. Watching a horror movie. D. Listening to a sweet song.
4. The purpose of the passage is_________.
A. to explain why people will die of a heart attack
B. to offer some advice on protecting us from heart failure
C. to compare different kinds of feelings to cause a death
D. to show strong emotions can cause a sudden death
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科目：高中英语 来源：2010-2011学年浙江省杭州市高三上学期10月月考英语卷 题型：阅读理解
“I never expected that I would be so busy. Why can’t there be 25 hours in a day?” complained Liu Ran in Hong Kong as mid – term exams were going on.
The 18 – year – old girl was Shandong Province’s top scorer in this year’s college entrance examination. After graduating from Tai’ an No. 1 High School, she chose the Chinese University of Hong Kong, although two famous universities in mainland promised her a place.
“I want to experience a more international school and social life in Hong Kong. I’m majoring in（主修）journalism, so Hong Kong will surly help widen my horizons,” Liu said.
It is two months since Liu first set foot on Hong Kong. She missed home a lot at the beginning, because of the food and language problems.
“The canteen offers mostly Western or Guangdong food, but it’s convenient to cook for ourselves in our dormitory if we like. People speak Cantonese and almost all classes are in English,” Liu explained.
Her English and Cantonese are now both improving, but she still needs more time to adapt to the new environment.
“I’m happy that I made the right decision to study here. With a mix of the Eastern and Western cultures, there is so much to discover and learn,” she said.
Liu has 18 credit hours of classes every week and 23 non – credit hours every other week. She has signed up for four associations including the Chinese Language Debating Team and the drama club. Essays, book reports and presentations also take plenty of time to prepare.
1.What would be the best title for the text?
A．Hong Kong dreams B．Looking for a job in Hong Kong
C．Social life in Hong Kong D．the Chinese University of Hong Kong
2.Liu Ran chose the Chinese University of Hong Kong .
A．to see more of an international school and social life
B．in order to enrich her experiences
C．because it is more famous than any university in mainland
D．Both A and B
3.Which of the following statement is NOT true?
A．She is improving her English and Cantonese.
B．She is allowed to cook in the dormitory.
C．She is too busy to join in activities outside class.
D．She hasn’t adapted herself to the new environment.
4.From the passage we can infer that she was with her school life.
A．satisfied B．unhappy
C．bored D．disappointed
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科目：高中英语 来源：2014届广东省惠州市高一上学期期中考试英语题 题型：阅读理解
Everyday, 340 million people speak it. One billion people are learning it and it is said that by 2050, half of the world’s population will be using it. What are we talking about? That is the global language—English.
The English language started in Britain in the 5th century. It is a mixed language. It was built up when German. Scandinavian and French invaders settled in England and created a common language for communication.
Today it is the official language of the UK, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and Ireland as well as many islands in the Caribbean. Many other countries and regions use it for politics and business, for example, India. Pakistan, Nigeria and the Philippines. English is also one of the official languages of Hong Kong.
But global advertising and pop music mean that in most countries, you will see or hear some English. Thanks to McDonalds, we all know about “burgers”. “fries” and “milkshakes”. Songs by Madonna, Britney Spears and Celine Dion are in English. We can sing along, even if we do not understand what we are singing!
English is a messy (杂乱的) language. Every year, dictionaries include new words that talk about popular culture, for example, computer-related words such as "blogging", "download" and "chartroom". Also included are words that teenagers use. Who does not know “cool”, “OK” and “hello”?
Other languages also influence English. Many English words come from French. Words like “café” and expressions like “c'est la vie” (that is life) are all part of the English language. On the other hand, the French language includes English words like "le weekend" and "le camping". German words are also part of English. Words like "kindergarten" come from the German language.
Recently, British people have become interested in “yoga”. But the word comes from an ancient Hindu language in India.
1.The English language has a history of ______.
A. over 2000 years B. over 500 years
C. over 1500 years D. over 1000 years
2.The underlined expression “thanks to” can be replaced by ______.
A. because of B. in order to C. as usual D. as if.
3.Which of the following statements is true about the language of English?
A. It has been changing all the time.
B. It has borrowed words from all the other languages.
C. French words are used by the English because dictionaries have French words.
D. Singers and film stars have the greatest influence on language.
4.How many people in the world are using English now?
A. One billion people B. 340 million
C. almost all the people in the world.
D. not mentioned above, but the number is growing rapidly.
5. Many countries and regions use it for politics and business except______.
A. the USA B. Nigeria C. the Philippines D. Norway
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