Different countries have different customs in giving presents. In China you must never give a clock to a Chinese person, because the pronunciation of the word for “clock” in Chinese is similar to the pronunciation of “death”. Also, don’ t wrap (用……包裹) a present in white, black, or blue paper, because they are the colors for funerals (葬礼). Don’t give a knife, because something sharp can cut a friendship.
In Russia if you give flowers as presents, you have to give an odd number of them (One, Three, five, etc.) because even numbers of flowers are for funerals.
In Germany, if you are invited to dinner, flowers are good presents to take to your dinner hostess (女主人), but don’t take her red roses because it means you are in love with her. Don’t take thirteen of anything because it’s an unlucky number. Don’t take an even number of anything, either. Don’t wrap your presents in white, brown, or black paper.
1. ________ must never be given to Chinese people as presents.| A．Flowers | B．Clocks | C．Clothes | D．Food |
| A．Germany | B．China |
| C．both Germany and China | D．both China and Russia |
| A．three | B．two | C．eight | D．six |
| A．Thirteen of something. | B．Flowers except red roses. |
| C．An even number of something. | D．Something wrapped in brown paper. |
| A．foreigners’ presents | B．flowers |
| C．even numbers | D．different customs in giving presents |
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Some people say we live in a dog-eat-dog world. That means many people are competing for the same things, like good jobs. They say that to be successful, a person has to work like a dog. This means they have to work very, very hard.
Very often, people say every dog has its day. This means that every person enjoys a successful period during his or her life. To be successful, people often have to learn new skills. Yet, some people say that you can never teach an old dog new tricks. They believe that older people do not like to learn new things and will not change the way they do things.
People also use dog expressions to describe the weather. The dog days of summer are the hottest days of the year. A rainstorm may cool the weather. But we do not want it to rain too hard. We do not want it to rain cats and dogs.
1. What does “every dog has its day” mean?
| A．A person has to work very hard. |
| B．A person won’t change his way. |
| C．A person doesn’t like to learn new things. |
| D．Every person enjoys a successful period. |
| A．American people like keeping dogs a lot. |
| B．If a dog has no owner, its life will be hard. |
| C．People can use the word “dog” in many ways. |
| D．People can use the word “dog” to describe the house. |
| A．Dogs’ lives | B．How to walk dogs |
| C．Expressions about dogs | D．Why people have dogs |
【推荐2】In general, laws for children are a good thing.
One hundred years ago in industrial countries, children worked 18 hours a day in a factory at age seven. The factory owner could beat a child who fell asleep or was not fast enough. Both parents and teachers could do the same.
Today, there are many laws about children all over the world. Some people think children must obey rules or they should be punished, others do not agree. The Inuits or Eskimos in Alaska, almost never punish their children. The parents don’t hit them. If the children go too far, the parents punish them by making fun of them.
Children in other parts of the world are not as lucky as Eskimo children. American parents can spank (打……臀部) their children at home but a teacher cannot hit a child in a public school.
This is also true in Germany. In contrast (比), it is against the law for anyone to hit a child in Sweden. Swedish parents cannot spank their children. The children also have a special government official who works for their rights. There is even a plan for children to divorce from their parents though this is not a law yet!
1. How old did children work18 hours a day in a factory one hundred years ago in industrial countries?| A．Six. | B．Seven. | C．Eighteen. | D．Sixteen. |
| A．The parents punish them by making fun of them. |
| B．Parents can spank (打……臀部) their children at home. |
| C．A teacher cannot hit a child in a public school. |
| D．The parents don’t hit them. |
| A．friendly | B．different | C．same | D．important |
Chinese New Year is an important traditional Chinese holiday celebrated at the turn of the Chinese calendar. It is also traditional for every family to thoroughly clean the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red color paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of “good fortune”or “happiness”, “wealth”, and “longevity”. Other activities include lighting firecrackers and giving money in red paper envelopes.
In Western countries, people usually celebrate New Year at midnight on December 31st or January 1st. People may go to parties, sometimes dressed in form alclothes like tuxedos and evening gowns, and they may drink champagne（香槟）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.
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. 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 in the New Year. One widespread Spanish tradition for 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 new coming year. In France, people eat pancakes for good luck at New Year. In the United States, some people eat black-eyed peas for good luck—but to get good luck for a whole year you have to eat 365 of them!
1. The passage is mainly about_____.
| A．the meaning of “Happy New Year!” |
| B．several different New Year traditions |
| C．traditional activities for the New Year |
| D．interesting traditions on New Year’s Day |
| A．some cultures celebrate New Year in the morning |
| B．4 cultures do special things to celebrate New Year |
| C．people in Ecuador go to parties on December 31stor January 1st |
| D．the Western people celebrate New Year only on New Year’s Day |
| A．friendssing to each other in special ways |
| B．families make big dolls filled with new clothes |
| C．some people get up early to watch the sunrise |
| D．Europeans eat 365 grapes on New Year’s Day |
| A．one pea brings one day of good luck |
| B．black-eyed peas are the best medicine |
| C．the peas are very black and taste bad |
| D．the peas are helpful to count numbers |
【推荐1】Can you cook? Recently, the Ministry of Education released the “Compulsory Education Labor curriculum standards (2022)”《义务教育劳动课程标准（2022 版）》. Which formulated the students “Sorting and receiving (整理与收纳)”, “Household cleaning, cooking, home beautification and other daily life work” and other academic goals (目标).
The standards will begin in September, 2022. Next term, we students will learn how to cook. We will learn how to cook 2-3 kinds of home-cooked dishes (家常菜), such as fried tomato with eggs, fried eggs and bone soup and so on. We should also take part in the whole process (过程) of choosing, washing, cooking and serving dishes. And we will also learn to design a nutritious diet for lunch or dinner according to our family needs.
In a word, we must understand the relationship between different cooking methods and food nutrition. Are you excited? What do you think of it? You can e-mail us and tell us what you think.
1. What goals do the standards formulate the students?| A．Sorting and receiving. |
| B．Household cleaning, cooking, home beautification and other daily life work. |
| C．Sorting and receiving, household cleaning, cooking, home beautification and other daily life work. |
| D．Cooking. |
| A．From September, 2022. | B．Tomorrow. | C．Next week. | D．Last year. |
| A．Fried tomato and eggs. | B．Fried eggs. |
| C．Bone soup. | D．Fried tomato with eggs, fried eggs and bone soup. |
| A．The relationship between different cooking methods and food nutrition. |
| B．How to cook. |
| C．How to do sports. |
| D．How to do their homework. |
【推荐2】Schools across Central Florida and around the US are starting to use yoga to help young people reduce stress and spread their bodies.
It’s just really made a difference with these kids. They have so much on their minds.
Yoga gives them the ability to focus (集中注意力) .
Some schools also offer yoga as an after-class activity. Central Florida churches(教堂) offer “mommy and me” and baby yoga classes and work yoga into summer camps. The Orlando Public Library offers monthly “ Storybook Yoga” courses.
Why? It increases focus, improves calmness, reduces stress, and builds strength.
There are no distractions while the leader leads her students through different poses (姿势). The students put their cell phones aside at the beginning of class.
“When I do this, I don’t even think about whether I have a text,” one leader said.
In Central Florida, more than 100 people have been trained by Kidding. Around Yoga, a St. Petersburg company that shows adults how to lead children in relaxation. The trainees(受训者) include PE teachers, math teachers, psychologists(心理学家).
“Yoga is something different that most kids have not experienced yet. And including yoga is a sign of a high-quality PE program. The final purpose of PE is to teach our kids how to be active and make healthy choices for the rest of their lives,” said Lambdin, a professor who trains PE teachers at the University of Texas at Austin. “Team sports are not for everybody.”
1. What is the article mainly about?| A．The difficulties of doing yoga. |
| B．The advantages yoga can bring people. |
| C．The basic requirements for doing yoga. |
| D．How yoga has grown in popularity around the world. |
a. reducing stress
b. building strength
c. increasing focus
d. improving calmness
e. reducing ache
| A．a, b, c, d | B．b, c, d, e | C．a, b, d, e | D．a, b, c, d, e |
| A．Something that makes it difficult to focus. | B．Something that encourages you. |
| C．Something that gets you down. | D．Something that makes you feel relaxed. |
Back in April 1939, Columbia University Teachers College professor Frank Cyr traveled around ten states. He found that students’ transportation was poor-many students had no dependable（可靠的）way to get to school and some of them often took the unsafe buses in the over 100,000 school areas. One of the huge differences in school transportation that he saw was bus color.
Then Cyr organized a meeting—one that would change the future of school buses forever. School leaders and transportation specialists（专家）came together to set high standards for buses, including color, height, width（宽度）and safety rules that hadn’t been set before or that were different by state（因州而异）.
There were many different bus colors in the United States before this meeting, several areas even planned to have red, white, and blue buses as a way of encouraging students to love their country. Cyr showed his new plans to education leaders, reporting “50 colors from lemon yellow to deep orange-red”. The matter was solved quickly. Yellow was chosen because it could be seen clearly and it made clear the big, black writing that would be on the side of each bus to stand for its school area. And they are important parts for buses that travel during early morning and late afternoon hours. Color has always been important to our daily life-check out the reason, our traffic lights are red, yellow, and green. Thirty-five states made the changes in time, and every state was on board（支持）by 1974.
Today Frank Cyr is known as the “father of the yellow school bus”. His “gift” has surely affected your life if you ever took a school bus or saw that familiar yellow bus pulling up（使停车）to your stop on a dusky morning.
1. Professor Frank Cyr found that students’ transportation in the states was ________.| A．poor | B．great | C．modern | D．popular |
| A．design school buses | B．buy more school buses |
| C．donate school buses | D．set high standards for school buses |
| A．red | B．green | C．yellow | D．orange |
| A．20 | B．25 | C．30 | D．35 |
| A．color is important in our daily life | B．the history of yellow school bus |
| C．the high standards for school buses | D．the “father of the yellow school bus” |
The COVD-19 has made a big difference to our lives. In many countries, it has also changed the way people greet each other. To help stop the spread of coronavirus (冠状病毒), people are changing their social habits in order to protect themselves. They give up their usual greeting styles and invent safe ways. Let’s take a look.
France is famous for its romantic greeting. They touch each other’s faces and make a kissing sound. But now, this habit may have to stop. A French manner expert gives everyone in France a suggestion that simply looking into a person’s eyes can be enough as a greeting.
Like the French, Italians are also romantic people. When they meet, they always hug or kiss each other. Recently, an Italian grandma made a video to help everyone fight the disease. According to her, if you want to say hello to others, do not hug or kiss. Instead, you can close one of your eyes and give them a wink (眨眼). Isn’t it cute?
It’s a very Australian thing to put your hand out to shake hands. But if you do this, the virus can jump from one person to another. Now the Australian government is asking Australians to take a pat (轻拍) on the back instead of a handshake. But it also has some problems. For example, it’s a bit impolite if you do this to your teacher. What do you think?
Traditionally, people in Iran shake hands to greet with one another. But today, the COVID-19 has made “footshake” a new way of greeting. A video has been popular in Iran, showing three friends meeting-hands in their pockets-tapping their feet against each other as a greeting.
1. This passage mainly introduces four new ________.| A．foreign countries | B．interesting stories | C．social habits |
| A．look into her eyes | B．give her a wink | C．touch her face |
| A．Iran | B．Italy | C．Australia |
| A．People usually greet each other by shaking hands in France. |
| B．An Italian grandma advises everyone to pat instead of hugging or kissing. |
| C．Australians are suggested to pat each other instead of shaking hands these days. |
| A．In a story book. | B．On the Internet. | C．In a science magazine. |
Falling leaves and cold winds mean the arrival of another season. Lidong is a Chinese word for one of the 24 solar terms (节气) of China.
To welcome lidong, people have many colorful customs that light up the cold days.
However, some of these customs disappeared. Most people buy fresh vegetables at the supermarket.
| A．Eating dumplings means celebrating the change of autumn to winter. |
| B．There were not many fresh vegetables to eat during winter. |
| C．The most important thing is to make a plate of dumplings with different shapes. |
| D．Instead, new winter customs are being created in certain places. |
| E．It means the beginning of winter. |
| F．One of the most popular customs is to have a big meal. |
| G．There are four seasons in a year. |
【推荐3】Social customs and ways of behaving have changed over time. Customs are also different from country to country. The Americans and the British not only speak the same language but also share many social customs. For example, people shake hands when they meet for the first time in both America and England. Also, most Englishmen will offer their seat to a woman or open a door for a woman, and so will most Americans. Being on time is of great importance in both countries.That is, if a dinner is for 6: 30, you either arrive close to that time or make a phone call to explain that you may be late.
One important thing to remember about social customs is not to do anything that might make others feel uneasy-especially if they are your guests. Here is an old story. When the food was served, one of the guests began cutting the peas with his knife. The other guests were amused or greatly surprised, but the host picked up his knife and started to eat in the same way. It would be bad manners to make his guest feel foolish or uncomfortable.
1. An Englishman might _______ according to the passage.| A．open a door for a woman |
| B．greet a woman with a kiss |
| C．pay no attention to social customs |
| A．7: 02 | B．6: 00 | C．8: 02 |
| A．how to eat peas | B．how to use a knife | C．how to avoid making your guests uneasy |
| A．Being on time is important | B．Social customs | C．A story about a guest |
