If you are a fruit grower—or would like to become one—take advantage of Apple Day to see what’s around. It’s called Apple Day but in practice it’s more like Apple Month. The day itself is on October 21, but since it has caught on, events now spread out over most of October around Britain.
Visiting an apple event is a good chance to see and often taste many kinds of apples. To people who are used to the limited choice of apples such as Golden Delicious and Royal Gala in supermarkets, it can be quite an eye opener to see the range of classical apples still in existence, such as Decio which was grown by the Romans. Although it doesn’t taste of anything special, it’s still worth a try, as is the knobbly (多疙瘩的) Cat’s Head which is more of a curiosity than anything else.
There are also varieties developed to suit specific local conditions. One of the very best varieties for eating quality is Orleans Reinette, but you’ll need a warm, sheltered place with perfect soil to grow it, so it’s a pipe dream for most apple lovers who fall for it.
At the events, you can meet expert growers and discuss which ones will best suit your conditions, and because these are family affairs, children are well catered for with apple-themed fun and games.
Apple Days are being held at all sorts of places with an interest in fruit, including stately gardens and commercial orchards (果园). If you want to have a real orchard (果园) experience, try visiting the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale, near Faversham in Kent.
1. What’s the day of Apple Day?| A．The whole October. | B．October 21 |
| C．November 21 | D．December 21 |
| A．Attend experts’ lectures. | B．Visit fruit-loving families. |
| C．Plant fruit trees in an orchard. | D．See and taste many kinds of apples. |
| A．It is a new variety. | B．It has a strange smell. |
| C．It was grown by the Romans. | D．It has a special taste. |
| A．To show how to grow apples. | B．To introduce an apple festival. |
| C．To help people select apples. | D．To promote apple research. |
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【推荐1】People in the United States honour their parents with two special days：Mother’s Day，on the second Sunday in May，and Father’s Day，on the third Sunday in June.These days are set aside to show love and respect for parents.They raise their children and educate them to be responsible citizens.They give love and care to their children.These two days offer an opportunity to think about the changing roles of mothers and fathers.More mothers now work outside the home.More fathers must help with childcare.
These two special days are celebrated in many different ways.On Mother’s Day people wear carnations(康乃馨).A red one symbolizes(象征)a living mother.A white one shows that the mother is dead.Many people attend religious services to honour their parents.It is also a day when people whose parents are dead visit the cemetery.On these days families get together at home，as well as in restaurants.They often have outdoor barbecues(烤肉)for Father’s Day.These are days of fun and good feelings and memories.
Another tradition is to give cards and gifts.Children make them in school.Many people make their own presents.These are valued more than the ones bought in stores.It is not the value of the gift that is important，but it is“the thought that counts”.Greeting card stores，florists，candy makers，bakeries，telephone companies，and other stores do a lot of business during these holidays.
1. Which is NOT a reason for children to show love and respect for their parents？| A．Their parents bring them up. |
| B．Their parents give love and care to them. |
| C．Their parents educate them to be good persons. |
| D．Their parents passed away before they grew up. |
| A．Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are both in May. |
| B．Fewer women worked outside the home in the past. |
| C．Not all the children respect their parents. |
| D．Fathers are not as important as mothers at home. |
| A．people usually have family parties. |
| B．everyone goes to visit the cemetery. |
| C．children always go to their parents’ home. |
| D．handmade cards are the most valuable gifts. |
| A．They sell flowers. |
| B．They sell special clothes for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. |
| C．They offer enough room for having family parties. |
| D．They make bread or pastry(点心). |
【推荐2】The Fallas Festival (法雅节) in Spain
It is sometimes strange how world-famous festivals are started.
Centuries ago, the city’s carpenters would empty their houses of all the old wood they had saved over the winter and burn it all in the local square. Over time, the carpenters began to use their old wood to carve different images.
The Fallas Festival is now one of the most popular festivals in Spain.
The Fallas Festival always bring communities together. On the final night, all the sculptures are collected and put on a bonfire (大火堆) in the main Valencia square. The fire is lit and all the year's hard work comes to an end in towers of flames.
| A．The Fallas Festival is an exception. |
| B．Everyone would participate in carving. |
| C．This is especially true with the Fallas Festival. |
| D．A competition is run where the best sculptures are chosen. |
| E．It also attracts people from the world to watch and take part. |
| F．Sometimes they would create funny images of famous people. |
| G．Everyone watching says goodbye to winter and welcome to spring. |
【推荐3】Teaching your children about world cultures helps them appreciate the differences in people and their traditions.
Create a Passport
International travel requires a passport, so start your foreign adventures by creating a passport. Help her make a small book to serve as her passport.
Learn Cultural Customs
What we might do in our home country isn’t necessarily appropriate in other countries. Learning about each culture’s customs can be important for you both.
Teach the Language
Learning a foreign language is fun for children.
Celebrate Holidays
Decorate your home as you would find streets, businesses and other houses for their observed holidays. Celebrate national holidays just as people in that country do. For example, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom observe Boxing Day. The holiday’s tradition includes giving money and donations to organizations and people in need.
| A．You celebrate it with fireworks. |
| B．The pages should be blank on the inside. |
| C．Pointing your feet in Thailand is offensive. |
| D．Take them to a heritage and cultural centre when you are free. |
| E．When you’re exploring world cultures, study each country’s official language. |
| F．To celebrate, the two of you can box some canned goods for the local food bank. |
| G．Put down the textbook and travel around the globe without ever needing a suitcase. |
【推荐1】Dubai boasts (夸口) that it has just built a “new global landmark”—the Dubai Tower, which stands 512.1 meters high now and has just become the tallest building in the world.
The Dubai Tower now surpasses Taiwan’s Taipei 101, which is 508 meters tall, and has 141 storeys, more than any other building in the world.
The Dubai Tower, being built by South Korea’s Samsung Corporation and scheduled for completion next year, is one of a series of great projects taking shape in Dubai. The final projected height of the tower has remained a secret since the project was launched in January 2004; however, it is rumored that the tower will be more than 700 meters tall and have more than 160 storeys.
The Dubai Tower has become the tallest building in the world in just 1,276 days, leaving behind other tall buildings.
The Dubai Tower will house 30,000 apartments in addition to the world’s largest shopping mall. It is the centerpiece (重要工程) of the 20-billion-dollar venture. Another venture gradually emerging across the desert sands is Dubailand, a series of multi-billion-dollar projects claimed to be the Middle East’s very own Orlando. Dubai also paid 100 million dollars to buy the Queen Elizabeth II, one of the world’s superb cruise liners (游轮), which it plans to turn into a luxury floating hotel.
Faced with decreasing oil wealth, the Western-oriented emirate (酋长国) has raced to turn itself into a business and leisure hub and it aims to more than double the number of tourists to 15 million by 2015.
1. The underlined word “surpasses” in the second paragraph means____.| A．is equal to | B．matches |
| C．is left behind by | D．is higher than |
| A．Dubai land | B．Orlando |
| C．Taiwan’s Taipei 101 | D．The Twin Towers |
| A．Because it wants to attract more tourists to its places of interest. |
| B．Because it produces less oil than ever. |
| C．Because it aims to race with other countries to show its wealth. |
| D．Because it wants to set a new world record. |
| A．The Dubai Tower is 508 meters tall and has more than 141 storeys. |
| B．The final height of the Dubai Tower is over 700 meters tall. |
| C．Samsung Corporation has completed building the Dubai Tower. |
| D．The Dubai Tower has apartments and a shopping mall. |
【推荐2】The British live on a small island. They are surrounded by the sea, so it is not surprising that the sea has always played an important role in their lives. After the development of large, ocean-going sailing ships in the fifteenth century, the sea became even more important to the country’s development. Ships set sail from England determined to extend Britain’s territories（疆域）, its wealth and its knowledge of the world. Ships returned to England bringing goods, people and new ideas from foreign places. By the nineteenth century, Britain had the largest, most powerful navy in the world.
The great sailing ships were so much a part of British life that they even affected the language. Many English expressions we use today were originally nautical (航海的)terms, although most people no longer realize this. For example, people commonly describe an honest and fair business deal as being “aboveboard”. This expression was originally used in sailing ship times when secretive, dishonest ship’s business would be carried out below decks (i. e. below the “boards”) out of public view. On the other hand, honest business was always conducted on deck (above the boards) , in the open where everyone could see what was going on.’’
"Pipe down !",meaning ” Be quiet!", is another common expression that has nautical origins. The ship’s boatswain (水手长)would blow a whistle, or pipe, at the end of the day to indicate (表明)to the sailors it was time to quieten down and go to sleep.
Most native English-speakers have heard the expression “not enough room to swing a cat” , but few know that the "cat" does not refer to a small furry animal with four legs and a tail. The " cat" is actually a short form of " cat of nine tails'* — a whip with nine, knotted (打结的)tails. A boatswain needed a lot of space in order to swing the whip properly when lashing (鞭打)a poor sailor under his control!
1. The British have been strongly influenced by the sea because ________.| A．they occupied more land around the world |
| B．they got more wealth from the sea |
| C．they live on an island surrounded by the sea |
| D．they had the largest navy ever |
| A．secretive |
| B．honest |
| C．cheerful |
| D．dishonest |
| A．You need to go to sleep when asked to pipe down. |
| B．You will be whipped if you do business below decks. |
| C．A poor sailor may be whipped nine times a day. |
| D．There is no spare room to raise cats on ships. |
| A．the business on British sailing ships |
| B．the influence of British sailors’ language on English |
| C．the sailing history of England |
| D．the sailing story of British sailors |
【推荐3】We’ve known that sitting for long periods of time every day has countless health consequences, like a higher risk of heart disease. But now a new study has found that sitting is also bad for your brain.
A study published last week, conducted by Dr. Prabha Siddarth at the University of California, showed that sedentary(久坐的) behavior is associated with reduced thickness of the medial temporal lobe(中颞叶), a brain area that is critical to learning and memory.
The researchers asked a group of 35 healthy people, ages 45 to 70, about their activity levels and the average number of hours each day spent sitting and then scanned their brains. They found that the subjects who reported sitting for longer periods had the thinnest medial temporal lobes. It means that the more time you spend in a chair the worse it is for your brain health, resulting in possible damage to learning and memory.
What is also interesting is that this study did not find a significant association between the level of physical activity and thickness of this brain area, suggesting that exercise, even severe exercise, may not be enough to protect you from the harmful effects of sitting.
It then surprisingly turned out that you don’t even have to move much to enhance cognition(认知); just standing will do the trick. For example, two groups of subjects were asked to complete a test while either sitting or standing. Participants are presented with conflicting stimuli(刺激) , like the word “green” in blue ink, and asked to name the color. Subjects thinking on their feet beat those who sat by a 32-milicond(毫秒) margin.
The cognitive effects of severe physical exercise are well known. But the possibility that standing more and sitting less improves brain health could lower the bar for everyone.
I know, this all runs counter to received ideas about deep thought, from our grade school teachers, who told us to sit down and focus, to Rodin’s famous “Thinker,” seated with chin on hand.
They were wrong. You can now all stand up.
1. What can we infer from Paragraphs 3 and 4?| A．Severe exercise can lessen the damage of sitting. |
| B．Severe exercise can greatly improve our brain health. |
| C．Sedentary behavior will possibly damage our brain. |
| D．Brain health has nothing to do with sedentary behavior. |
| A．Blank. | B．Edge. |
| C．Decrease. | D．Difference. |
| A．Sitting more is good for our mental health. | B．Sitting is better when we think. |
| C．Exercise more can improve our cognition. | D．We should stand while thinking. |
