May: Happenings from the Past
     May 5,1884
     Isaac Murphy, son of a slave and perhaps the greatest horse rider in American history, rides Buchanan
to win his first Kentucky Derby. He becomes the first rider ever to win the race three times.
     May 9,1754
     Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette produces perhaps the first American political cartoon (漫画),
showing a snake cutsin pieces, with the words" Join or Dic" printed under the picture.
     May 11,1934
     The first great dust storm of the Great Plains Dust Bowl, the result of years of drought (干旱), blows
topsoil all the way to New York City and Washington, D.C.
     May 19,1994
     Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, former first lady and one of the most famous people of the
1960s, died of cancer in New York City at the age of 64.
     May 24, 1844
     Samuel F.B Morse taps out the first message, "What Hath God wrought," over the experimental
long-distance telegraph line which runs from Washington, D,C, to Baltimore, Md.

1. We know from the text that Buchanan is _____.

A. Isaac's father
B. a winning horse
C. a slave taking care of horses
D. the first racing horse in Kentucky

2. What is the title of the first American political cartoon?

A. Join or Die
B. Pennsylvania Gazette
C. What Hath God Wrought
D. Kentucky Dorby

3. In which year did the former first lady Jacqueline die?

A. 1934
B. 1960
C. 1964
D. 1994

4. Which of the following places has to do with the first telegram in history?

A. Washington, D.C.
B. New York City.
C. Kentucky.
D. Pennsylvania.

     The flag, the most common symbol (象征) of a nation in the modern world, is also one of the most
ancient. With a clear symbolic meaning, the flag in the traditional form is still used today to mark buildings,
ships and other vehicles related to a country.
     The national flag as we know it today is in no way a primitive (原始的) artifact. It is,rather, the product
of thousands of years' development. Historians believe that it had two major ancestors, of which the earlier
served to show wind direction.
     Early human beings used very fragile houses and boats. Often strong winds would tear roofs from houses
or cause high waves that endangered travelers. People's food supplies were similarly valuable. Even after they
had learned how to plant grains, they still needed help from nature to ensure good harvests. Therefore they
feared and depended on the power of the wind, which could bring warmth from one direction and cold from
another.
     Using a simple piece of cloth tied to the top of a post to tell the direction of the wind was more dependable
than earlier methods, such as watching the rising of smoke from a fire. The connection of the flag with
heavenly power was therefore reasonable.
     Early human societies began to fix long pieces of cloth to the tops of totems (图腾) before carrying them
into battle. They believed that the power of the wind would be added to the good wishes of the gods and
ancestors represented by the totems themselves.
     These flags developed very slowly into modern flags. The first known flag of a nation or a ruler was
unmarked: The king of China around 1000 B.C. was known to have a white flag carried ahead of him. This
practice might have been learned from Egyptians even further in the past, but it was from China that it spread
over trade routes through India, then across Arab lands, and finally to Europe, where it met up with the other
ancestor of the national flag.

1. The best title for the passage would be _____.

A. Development of the National Flag
B. Power of the National Flag
C. Types of Flags
D. Uses of Flags

2. The underlined word "vulnerable" in Paragraph 3 means _____.

A. impossible to make sure of
B. likely to be protected
C. easy to damage
D. difficult to find

3. The earliest flags were connected with heavenly power because _____.

A. they could tell wind direction
B. they could bring good luck to fighters
C. they were handed down by the ancestors
D. they were believed to stand for natural forces

4. What does the author know of the first national flag?

A. He knows when it was sent to Europe.
B. He believes it was made in Egypt.
C. He thinks it came from China.
D. He doubts where it started.

5. What will the author most probably talk about next?

A. he role of China in the spread of the national flag.
B. The second ancestor of the national flag.
C. The use of modern flags in Europe.
D. The importance of modern flags.

     Meeting people from another culture can be difficult. From the beginning, people may send the wrong
signal (信号). Or they may pay no attention to signals from another person who is trying to develop a
relationship.
     Different cultures emphasize (强调) the importance of relationship building to a greater or lesser degree.
For example, business in some countries is not possible until there is a relationship of trust. Even with people
at work, it is necessary to spend a lot of time in "small talk", usually over a glass of tea, before they do any
job. In many European countries-like the UK or France-people find it easier to build up a lasting working
relationship at restaurants or caf6s rather than at the office.
     Talk and silence may also be different in some cultures. I once made a speech in Thailand. I had expected
my speech to be a success and start a lively discussion; instead there was an uncomfortable silence. The
people present just stared at me and smiled. After getting to know their ways better, I realized that they thought
I was talking too much. In my own culture, we express meaning mainly through words, but people there
sometimes feel too many words are unnecessary.
     Even within Northern Europe, cultural differences can cause serious problems. Certainly, English and
German cultures share similar values; however, Germans prefer to get down to business more quickly. We
think that they are rude. In fact, this is just because one culture starts discussions and makes decisions more
quickly.
     People from different parts of the world have different values, and sometimes these values are quite against
each other. However, if we can understand them better, a multicultural environment (多元文化环境) will offer
a wonderful chance for us to learn from each other.

1. In some countries, eating together at restaurants may make it easier for people to _____.

A. develop closer relations
B. share the same culture
C. get to know each other
D. keep each other company

2. The author mentions his experience in Thailand to show that _____.

A. the English prefer to make long speeches
B. too many words are of no use
C. people from Thailand are quiet and shy by nature
D. even talk and silence can be culturally different

3. According to the text, how can people from different cultures understand each other better?

A. By sharing different ways of life.
B. By accepting different habits.
C. By recognizing different values.
D. By speaking each other's languages.

4. What would be the best title for the text?

A. Multicultural Environment.
B. Cross-Cultural Differences.
C. How to Understand Each Other.
D. How to Build Up a Relationship.

     Kong Zi, also called Confucius (551-479 B.C), and Socrates (469-399 B. C) lived only a hundred years
apart, and during their lifetimes there was no contact between China and Greece, but it is interesting to look
at how the world that each of these great philosophers came from shaped their ideas, and how these ideas
in turn,shaped their societies.
     Neither philosopher lived in times of peace, though there were more wars un Greece than in China. The
Chinese states were very large and feudal, while the Greek city-states were small and urban. The urban
environment in which Socrates lived allowed him to be more radical than Confucius. Unlike Confucius,
Socrates was not asked by rules how to govern effectively. Thus, Socrates was able to be more idealistic,
focusing on issues like freedom, and knowledge for its own sake. Confucius, on the other hand, advised
those in government service, and many of his students went out to government service.
     Confucius suggested the Golden Rule as a principle for the conduct of life:"Do not do to others what you
would not want others to do to you." He assumed that all men were equal at birth, though some bad more
potential than others, and that it was knowledge that set men apart. Socrates focused on the individual, and
thought that the greatest purpose of man was to seek wisdom. He believed that the superior class should rule
the inferior (下层的) classes.
     For Socrates, the family was of no importance, and the community of little concern. For Confucius,
however, the family was the centre of the society, with family relations considered much more important
than political relations. Both men are respected much more today than they were in their lifetimes.

1. Which of the following is TURE according to the first paragraph?

A. Socrates and Confucius had much in common.
B. Confucius had much influence on Socrates' ideas.
C. The societies ware influenced by the philosophers' ideas.
D. There were cultural exchanges between China and Greece.

2. Socrates shared with Confucius the idea that _____.

A. all men were equal when they were born
B. the lower classed should be ruled by the upper class
C. the purpose of man was to seek freedom and wisdom
D. people should not ask others to do what they did not want to

3. What made some people different from others according to Confucius?

A. Family.
B. Potential.
C. Knowledge.
D. Community.

4. This passage is organized in the pattern of _____.

A. time and events
B. comparison and contrast
C. cause and effect
D. definition and classification

     Photos that you might have found down the back of your sofa are now big business! 
     In 2005, the American artist Richard Prince's photograph of a photograph, Untitled (Cowboy), was sold for
$ 1, 248, 000.
     Prince is certainly not the only contemporary artist to have worked with so-called "found photographs"-a
loose term given to everything from discarded (丢弃的) prints discovered in a junk shop to old advertisements
or amateur photographs from a stranger's family album. The German artist Joachim Schmid, who believes
"basically everything is worth looking at", has gathered discarded photographs, postcards and newspaper images
since 1982. In his on-going project, Archiv, he groups photographs of family life according to themes: people
with dogs; teams; new cars; dinner with the family; and so on.
     Like Schmid, the editors of several self-published art magazines also champion (捍卫) found photographs.
One of them, called simply Found, was born one snowy night in Chicago, when Davy Rothbard returned to
his car to find under his wiper (雨刷) an angry note intended for someone else:"Why's your car HERE at HER
place?" The note became the starting point for Rothbard's addictive publication, which features found
photographs sent in by readers, such a poster discovered in our drawer.
     The whole found-photograph phenomenon has raised some questions. Perhaps one of the most difficult is:
can these images really be considered as art? And if so, whose art? Yet found photographs produced by artists,
such Richard Prince, may riding his horse hurriedly to meet someone? Or how did Prince create this
photograph? It's anyone's guess. In addition, as we imagine the back-story to the people in the found
photographs artists, like Schmid, have collated (整理), we also turn toward our own photographic albums. Why
is memory so important to us? Why do we all seek to freeze in time the faces of our children, our parents, our
lovers, and ourselves? Will they mean anything to anyone after we've gone?
     In the absence of established facts, the vast collections of found photographs give our minds an opportunity
to wander freely. That, above all, is why they are so fascinating.

1. The first paragraph of the passage is used to _____.

A. remind readers of found photographs
B. advise reader to start a new kind of business
C. ask readers to find photographs behind sofa
D. show readers the value of found photographs

2. According to the passage, Joachim Schmid _____.

A. is fond of collecting family life photographs
B. found a complaining not under his car wiper
C. is working for several self-published magazines
D. wondered at the artistic nature of found photographs

3. The underlined word "them" in Para 4 refers to _____.

A. the readers
B. the editors
C. the found photographs
D. the self-published magazines

4. By asking a series of questions in Para 5, the author mainly intends to indicate that _____.

A. memory of the past is very important to people
B. found photographs allow people to think freely
C. the back-story of found photographs is puzzling
D. the real value of found photographs is questionable

5. The author's attitude towards found photographs can be described as _____.

A. critical
B. doubtful
C. optimistic
D. satisfied

     When former American President Bill Clinton travelled to South Korea to visit President Kim Young Sam,
he repeatedly referred to the Korean president's wife as Mrs. Kim. By mistake, President Clinton's advisers
thought that Koreans have the same naming customs as the Japanese. Clinton had not been told that, in Korea,
wives keep their family names. President Kim Young Sam's wife was named Sohn Myong Suk. Therefore,
she should be addressed (称谓) as Mrs. Sohn.
     President Clinton arrived in Korea directly after leaving Japan and had not changed his culture gears. His
failure to follow Korean customs gave the impression that Korea was not as important to him as Japan.
     In addition to Koreans, some Asian husbands and wives do not share the same family names. This practice
often puzzles (使困惑) English-speaking teachers when talking with a pupil's parents. They become puzzled
about the student's correct last name. Placing the family name first is common among a number of Asian
cultures.
     Mexican naming customs are different as well. When a woman marries, she keeps her family name and
adds her husband's name after the word de (of). This affects (影响) how they fill in forms in the United States.
When requested to fill in a middle name, they generally write the father's family name. But Mexicans are
addressed by the family name of the mother. This often causes puzzlement.
     Here are a few ways to deal with such difficult situations: don't always think that a married woman uses
her husband's last name. Remember that in many Asian cultures, the order of first and last names is reversed
(颠倒), Ask which name a person would prefer to use. If the name is difficult to pronounce, admit it, and
ask the person to help you say it correctly.

1. The story of Bill Clinton is used to _____.

A. improve US-Korean relations
B. introduce the topic of the text
C. describe his visit to Korea
D. tell us how to address a person

2. The word "gears"in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to _____. 

A. action plans
B. naming customs
C. travel maps
D. thinking patterns

3. When a woman marries in Korea, she _____. 

A. continues to use her family name
B. uses her husband's given name
C. shares her husband's family name
D. adds her husband's given name to hers

4. To address a married woman properly, you'd better _____. 

A. use her middle name
B. use her husband's first name
C. ask her which name she likes
D. change the order of her names

     Tell a story and tell it well, and you may open wide the eyes of a child, open up lines of communication
in a business, or even open people's mind to another culture or race.
     People in many places are digging up the old folk stories and the messages in them. For example, most
American storytellers get their tales from a wide variety of sources, cultures, and times. They regard
storytelling not only as a useful tool in child education, but also as a meaningful activity that helps adults
understand themselves as well as those whose culture may be very different from their own.  
     "Most local stories are based on a larger theme," American storyteller Opalanga Pugh says, "Cinderella
(灰姑娘), or the central idea of a good child protected by her goodness, appears in various forms in almost
every culture of the world."
     Working with students in schools, Pugh helps them understand their own cultures and the general messages
of the stories. She works with prisoner too, helping them knowing who they are by telling stories that her
listeners can write, direct, and act in their own lives. If they don't like the story they are living, they can rewrite
the story. Pugh also works to help open up lines of communication between managers and workers. "For
every advance in business," she says, "there is a greater need for communication." Storytelling can have a great
effect on either side of the manager-worker relationship, she says.
     Pugh spent several years in Nigeria, where she learned how closely storytelling was linked to the everyday
life of the people there. The benefits of storytelling are found everywhere, she says.
     "I learned how people used stories to spread their culture," she says, "What I do is to focus on the value
of the stories that people can translate into their own daily world of affairs. We are all storytellers. We all have
a story to tell. We tell everybody's story."

1. What do we learn about American storyteller from Paragraph 2?

A. They share the same way of storytelling.
B. They prefer to tell the stories from other cultures.
C. They learn their stories from the American natives.
D. They find storytelling useful for both children and adults.

2. The underlined sentence (Paragraph 4) suggests that prisoners can _____.

A. start a new life
B. settle down in another place
C. direct films
D. become good actors

3. Pugh has practised storytelling with _____ groups of people.

A. 2
B. 3
C. 4
D. 5

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A. Storytelling can influence the way people think.
B. Storytelling is vital to the growth of business.
C. Storytelling is the best way to educate children in school.
D. Storytelling helps people understand themselves and others.

     Runners in a relay(接力) race pass a stick in one direction. However, merchants passed silk, gold, fruit,
and glass along the Silk Road in more than one direction. They earned their living by traveling the famous
Silk Road.
     The Silk Road was not a simple trading network. It passed through thousands of citied and towns. It
started from eastern China, across Central Asia and the Middle East, and ended in the Mediterranean Sea. It
was used from about 200 B, C, to about A, D, 1300, when sea travel offered new routes (路线)　, It was
sometimes called the world's longest highway. However, the Silk Road was made up of many routes, not
one smooth path. They passed through what are now 18 countries. The routes crossed mountains and
deserts and had many dangers of hot sun, deep snow and even battles. Only experienced traders could return
safe.
     The Silk Road got its name from its most prized product. Silk could be used like money to pay taxes or
buy goods. But the traders carried more than just silk. Gold, silver, and glass from Europe were much found
in the Middle East and Asia. Horses traded from other areas changed farming practices in China. Indian
merchants traded salt and other valuable goods. Chinese merchants traded paper, which produced an
immediate effect on the West. Apples traveled from central Asia to Rome. The Chinese had learned to graft
(嫁接)　different trees together to make new kinds of fruit. They passed this science on to others, including
the Romans. The Romans used grafting to grow the apple. Trading along the Silk Road led to world-wide
business 2,000 years before the World Wide Web.
     The people along the Silk Road did not share just goods. They also shared their beliefs. The Silk Road
provided pathways for learning, diplomacy (外交), and religion (宗教)

1. It's probable that traders along the Silk Road needed _____.

A. to remember the entire trade route
B. to know the making of products
C. to receive certain special training
D. to deal with a lot of difficulties

2. The Silk Road became less important because _____.

A. it was made up of different routes
B. silk trading became less popular
C. sea travel provided easier routes
D. people needed fewer foreign goods

3. New technologies could travel along the Silk Road because people _____.

A. learned from one another
B. shared each other's beliefs
C. traded goods along the route
D. earned their living by traveling

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A. The Silk Road ; Past and Present
B. The Silk Road; East Meets West
C. The Silk Road; Routes Full of Dangers
D. The Silk Road; Pathways for Learning