Greeks play a special game at Easter and it’s good fun! The rules of the game are as follows: 1．Everyone picks out a hard-boiled Waster Egg．2．Each player finds a partner．One person will be a “holder”, and the other will be a “tapper”．Holders should hold the egg with either the pointy end or the round end facing up．Tappers should hold the egg with that same end facing down．Tapping must be done pointy-end-to-pointy-end or round-end-to-round-end．3．With one good tap, the tapper tries to crack the holder’s egg．One player will end up with a cracked egg．4．Each player finds another partner and repeats steps 2 and 3．（After one end of the egg is cracked, players may continue to play using the uncracked end）．5．A player loses when both ends of his egg have been cracked．The winner is the person who still has an uncracked egg．6．Enjoy eating the eggs!

Dye your Easter eggs．With an adult’s help, dye hard-boiled eggs red using food coloring or egg dye．For a nice sheen, use a paper towel to rub some oil on each egg．But don’t use too much oil---you wouldn’t want your egg to slide out of your hand when you play the egg-cracking game!

Why dye eggs red? Eggs represent new life and the red dye symbolizes the pain and suffering in the past．

Why crack eggs? Some say that the cracking of the eggs symbolizes a wish to break away from human misery and enter the new life．

A player has to drop out of the game when _____．

     A．the pointy end of his egg is cracked

     B．the round end of his egg is cracked

     C．his egg slides out of the hand

     D．his egg is cracked at both ends

Why is oil rubbed on the egg?

     A．To give the egg a shiny appearance

     B．To make the game more difficult to play

     C．To protect the hand of the player

     D．To symbolize the wealth of the Greeks

Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

     A．The holders hold the eggs with the pointy end facing up in most cases

     B．If one end of the player’s egg is cracked, he will eat the egg

     C．The player in the game must dye his egg red independently

     D．It’s said that the broken eggs represent the wish to lead a new life

Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

     A．The suffering of the Greeks        B．The Easter holidays

     C．Celebrate Greek Easter             D．A special game

单句填词（10分）
【小题1】I certainly owe you an a__________________ for not writing more often.
【小题2】Although she didn’t say anything, the expression in her eyes i________________
that I was not welcomed here.
【小题3】With all that noise going on, I found it hard to c________________ on my book.
【小题4】An old man stood up and gave a d_____________________ of what he had seen.
【小题5】To his r_____________, all his family were safe after the big earthquake.
【小题6】I’m trying my best to find a new _________________ (方式) to learning English
【小题7】A______________ （全神贯注）in his book, Mr. Smith even forgot his meal.
【小题8】China is a country_______________ （属于）to the third world.
【小题9】It’s high time that we should raise our awareness of ___________________ (环境) protection.
【小题10】The other driver _______________ (指责) Wilson of driving dangerously

Some houses are designed to be smart. Others have smart designs. An example of the second type of house won the Award of Excellence from the American Institute of Architects.

Located on the shore of Sullivan’s Island off the coast of South Carolina, the award-winning cube-shaped beach house was built to replace one damaged by Hurricane Hugo years ago. In September 1989, Hugo struck South Carolina, killing 18 people and damaging or destroying 36,000 homes in the state.

Before Hugo, many new houses built along South Carolina’s shoreline were poorly constructed, according to architect Ray Huff, who created the cleverly-designed beach house. Now all new shoreline houses are required to meet stricter, better-enforced codes. The new beach house on Sullivan’s Island should be strong enough not to be damaged by a Category 3 hurricane with peak winds of 179 to 209 kilometres per hour.

At first sight, the house on Sullivan’s Island looks anything but(根本不) hurricane-proof. Its redwood shell makes it look like “a large party lantern” at night. But looks can be deceiving. The house’s wooden frame is strengthened with long steel rods(杆) to give it extra strength.

To further protect the house from hurricane damage, Huff raised it 2.7 meters off the ground on timber pilings(木桩) buried deep in the sand. Pilings might appear insecure, but they are strong enough to support the weight of the house. They also raise the house above storm waves. The pilings allow the waves to run under the house instead of running into it. “The waves of water come ashore at tremendous speeds and cause most of the damage done to beach-front buildings,” said Huff.

Huff designed the timber pilings to be partially concealed(隐藏) by the house’s ground-to-roof shell. “The shell masks the pilings so that the house doesn’t look like it’s standing with its legs pulled up,” said Huff. In the event of storm, the shell should break apart and let the waves rush under the house, the architect explained.

1.After Hurricane Hugo, new houses built along South Carolina’s shore line are required

to        .

A. be easily pulled down                B. look smarter in design 

C. meet stricter building standards        D. be designed to be cube-shaped

2.The award-winning beach house is quite strong because     .

A. it is strengthened by steel rods        B. it is made of redwood

C. it is in the shape of a shell         D. it is built with timber and concrete

3.Huff raised the house 2.7 meters off the ground on timber pilings in order to     .

A. avoid peak winds of about 200 km/h

B. bury stronger pilings deep in the sand

C. break huge sea waves into smaller ones

D. prevent the waves from running into it

4.It can be inferred from the passage that the house’s shell should be     .

A. smooth     B. waterproof    C. easily broken    D. extremely hard

阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从1-15各题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。

Several factors make a good newspaper story. First，  1   ，it must be new. But since TV can react to events so quickly, this is often a problem for    2  . They usually respond    3   it in one of three ways.

One by providing   4   detail, comment or background information.

One by finding a new   5  on the day’s major stories.

One by printing completely different stories which   6   doesn’t broadcast.

What else? Well—it also has to be   7  . People don’t want to read about    8   , everyday life. Because of this, many stories   9   some kind of conflict or danger. This is one reason why so much news seems to be   10  news , “ Plane lands safely—no-one hurt ”doesn’t sell newspapers. “Plane  11  —200 feared dead !” does .

Next, there’s human interest. People are interested in other   12   —particularly in the rich, famous and powerful. Stories about the private lives of pop singers, actors, models, politicians,   13  , all appear regularly in certain newspapers .

Finally, for many editors,   14   is an important factor, too. They prefer stories about people, places and events which their readers know. That’s   15   the stories in Tokyo’s newspapers are often very different from the stories printed in Paris, Cairo, New York or Buenos Aires.

1.A .gradually     B. extremely         C. obviously           D. precisely

2.A. newspapers    B. publications     C. reporters        D. broadcasters

3.A. with          B. on               C. of               D. to

4.A. extra         B. available       C. reliable          D. memorable

5.A. direction      B. look           C. angle           D. section

6.A. TV           B. internet          C. newspaper          D. radio

7.A. conventional   B. dramatic        C. professional     D. sensitive

8.A. common       B. usual            C. ordinary         D. special

9.A. urge         B. neglect          C. increase        D. involve

10.A. good        B. bad            C. exciting         D. informative

11.A. crashes      B. bumps          C. strikes          D. drops

12.A. places       B. people          C. things          D. news

13.A. in addition   B. in any case       C. for example     D. after all

14.A. personality   B. similarity        C. tolerance       D. familiarity

15.A. that                B. why             C. because D. what