Thanksgiving Day is special holiday in the United States and Canada. Families and friends gather to eat and give thanks for their blessing.

Thanksgiving Day is really a harvest festival. This is why it is celebrated in late fall, after the crops are in. But one of the first thanksgivings in America had nothing to do with a good harvest. On December 4, 1619, the Pilgrims from England landed near what is now Charles City, Virginia. They knelt down and thanked God for their safe journey across the Atlantic.

The first New England Thanksgiving did celebrate a rich harvest. The Pilgrims landed at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. They had a difficult time and the first winter was cruel. Many of the Pilgrims died. But the next year, they had a good harvest. So Governor Bradford declared a three-day feast（盛宴）. The Pilgrims invited Indian friends to join them for their special feast. Everyone brought food.

In time, other colonies（殖民地）began to celebrate a day of thanksgiving. But it took years before there was a national Thanksgiving Day. During the Civil War, Sarah Josepha Hale persuaded Abraham Lincoln to do something about it. He proclaimed（宣布）the last Thursday of November 1863 as a day of thanksgiving. Today, Americans celebrate this happy harvest festival on the fourth Thursday in November. Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving Day in much the same way as their American neighbours. But the Canadian thanks-giving Day falls on the second Monday in October.

1.Thanksgiving Day is celebrated      .

A．in spring          B．summer           C．in autumn         D．in winter

2.The first to celebrate thanksgiving were      .

A．some people from England                B．the American Indians

C．Sarah Josepha Hale                      D．Governor Bradford

3.We can infer from the passage that New England must be      .

A. in the U. S. A.   B. in Great Britain   C. in Canada   D. on some island off the Atlantic

4.Which of the following is NOT true?

A．Thanksgiving Day used to be a holiday to celebrate a good harvest.

B．Abraham Lincoln was not the first to decide on thanksgiving celebrations.

C．Thanksgiving Day is celebrated to express the American and Indian people’s thanks to God.

D．There’s little difference between the American way and the Canadian way to celebrate Thanksgiving Day.

5.The passage mainly tells us      .

A. how Thanksgiving Day is celebrated in the U. S. A.

B. how Thanksgiving Day came into being and the different ways it is celebrated

C. that Thanksgiving Day is in fact a harvest holiday

D. how the way to celebrate Thanksgiving Day changed with the time and places

On the New York set of the film Hide and Seek, ten-year-old Dakota Fanning spends her time playing a deeply disturbed girl who deals with her mother's suicide (自杀) by creating an imaginary friend, who may not frighten her family.

Today, though, she has the day off. "This week I only worked two days,"says Fanning, sitting in a sofa in her hotel's library, "but I get bored when I'm not working. Especially because it's cold here and I can't do anything, you know? So, I've been knitting (编织) --- all day, every day."The actress, who's held her own opposite Oscar winners such as Sean Penn and Denzel Washington, recently mastered the fine art of scarves (围巾). Though she's about ready to move on to hats, she first plans to make a souvenir (纪念品) scarf for Robert De Niro, who plays her father in the film. "He's the nicest guy you'd ever meet in your entire life,"she says, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I would make him a brown one.”

Like any other fifth-grader, Fanning spends several hours a day going to school. In addition to her personal trailer (活动住房) --- which is kept well-supplied with hot chocolate packets, lemon Gatorade, and a TV that doesn't always work --- she has another trailer where her teacher, Jan, conducts classes in history, spelling, reading, math, science and health. "We have this big board where we have a calendar (日历),"Fanning says. "When we were here in January, I wrote the calendar in all blue. February was red, and March was green.”

On this particular morning, she had a spelling test. "There was a topic for each of the word lists,"she says, sitting on her knees. "This one was flowers --- they were all names like oxygen, carbon dioxide, chrysanthemum (菊花)..."Chrysanthemum? "Well, they didn't make me spell that one. They just had me fill in the ‘e'. But I can spell it: c-h-r-y-s-a-n-t-h-e-m-u-m.”

Which of the following is NOT true?

A. Dakota Fanning is a young gifted actress.

B. Dakota Fanning is a lonely orphan.

C. Dakota Fanning is a creative pupil.

D. Dakota Fanning has many interests.

Dakota Fanning has to knit all day in order to _____.

A. kill time   B. make money C. master a skill D. make a scarf for her boyfriend

By saying that "He's the nicest guy you'd ever meet in your entire life”, Dakota Fanning really means that _____.

A. she is the daughter of Robert De Niro

B. she has fallen in love with Robert De Niro

C. she is in love with Robert De Niro

D. she admires Robert De Niro very much

What would be the best title for the text?

A. Dakota Fanning's Role

B. Dakota Fanning's Knitting Art

C. Dakota Fanning's Day Off

D. Dakota Fanning's Spelling Test

It's a name that needs no address.Everyone knows Santa Claus lives at the North Pole.

So letters sent to Santa Claus find their way to the small town of the North Pole deep in Alaska，including those simply sent to Santa. Last year，120,000 letters arrived from 26 countries，not including the thousands with no return addresses.

Those who have return addresses usually get a reply and a North Pole postmark（邮戳） that has delighted children all over the world for many years. They feel happy to receive Santa's reply.

Letters arrive all the year around in the town of 1,600，where streets have names such as Santa Claus Lane and Kris Kringle Drive. Around Thanksgiving，they start getting there by the thousands each day as Christmas comes. Even letters without stamps get through，an exception（例外）for the U．S. Postal Service.

“This is special because it has Santa's name on it，”said Debra Cornelius，an officer at the main post office in nearby Fairbanks，where the letters are kept during the holiday.

Gabby Gaborik is among several dozen volunteers who are busy sending off replies to children who sent return addresses.

In his 10 years as a volunteer，Gaborik has seen every kind of wish. There are children who want the latest toys they see on TV. There are children who ask for miracles（奇迹），some wanting their mother back for Christmas or their father back from Iraq，even though he died there.

Replies get a North Pole postmark，including a half­moon drawing of Santa's face. Even late letters get a reply，Gaborik said，“It says something like ‘Thanks for writing. Santa's been really busy，’anything the children might want to hear，”he said.

1.Letters written to Santa Claus without an address can arrive at the North Pole because ______.

A．all letters without an address are sent there

B．people believe that Santa Claus lives there

C．this kind of letter is sent with a special postmark

D．streets named Santa Claus Lane can be found there

2.The underlined word “delighted” in Paragraph 3 can be replaced by “______”.

A．excited               B．amazed                 C．confused            D．disappointed

3.We can know from the text that ______.

A．letters written to Santa Claus are sent free

B．Santa Claus' replies to children always arrive at Christmas

C．many people write to children for Santa Claus asking for no pay

D．there're thousands of letters sent to Santa Claus every month

4.What's the best title for the text?

A．Letters written to parents

B．All kinds of wishes from children

C．Letters to Santa Claus rush into Alaska

D．North Pole，Alaska，a beautiful place

完形填空

Charles Plumb, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was a jet fighter pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was   36  by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb was   37  and spent six years in prison in Vietnam. He survived and now   38  about lessons learned from that experience.

One day, Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant when a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You   39  jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier (航空母舰) Kitty Hawk . You were   40  !"

"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.

"I   41  your parachute," the man replied. Plumb gasped（倒吸一口气） in surprise and   42  .The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!"

Plumb assured him, "It   43  did—if your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."

Plumb couldn't sleep that night，thinking about that man. He says, "I wondered how many times I might have passed him   44  the Kitty Hawk. I wondered how many times I might have seen him and not even said 'Good morning, how are you', or anything   45  , you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a   46  ."

Plumb thought of the many days the sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels（深处）of the ship   47  working on each chute, holding in his hands each time the   48  of someone he didn't know.

Plumb asks his   49  , "Who's packing your   50 ? Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it   51  the day." Plumb also says that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down-he needed his   52  parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these   53  before reaching safety. His experience reminds us all to   54  and be kind to people who pack our daily parachutes, and strengthen us to go through   55  times.

1.                A．followed        B．destroyed       C．spied     D．seen

2.                A．released        B．wounded       C．captured  D．killed

3.                A．lectures        B．gives           C．studies   D．hears

4.                A．repaired        B．made           C．flew D．cleaned

5.                A．taken down     B．looked down     C．set down  D．shot down

6.                A．bought         B．checked        C．found    D．packed

7.                A．gratefully       B．suspiciously      C．happily   D．sadly

8.                A．almost         B．surely          C．narrowly  D．nearly

9.                A．abroad         B．in             C．on   D．at

10.               A．so             B．because        C．unless D．though

11.               A．sailor          B．captain         C．pilot D．technician

12.               A．unwillingly      B．immediately     C．worriedly D．carefully

13.               A．death          B．fortune         C．fate  D．chance

14.               A．wife           B．children        C．sailors D．audience

15.               A．luggage        B．bag            C．parachute D．future

16.               A．through        B．to             C．up to D．as

17.               A．psychological    B．physical        C．imaginary D．safe

18.               A．spirits          B．emotions       C．supports   D．people

19.               A．award          B．recognize       C．reward    D．help

20.               A．happy          B．tough          C．comfortable    D．cosy