1 . Gift-Giving Customs

Whether it is for a special festival, to express thanks or to just let someone know that you care about them, giving gifts is a common custom. The purpose of giving gifts may be similar, but the tradition varies from country to country. A gift of respect in one place may be considered rude in another. Take a look at three unique gift giving traditions.

India

If you're invited to someone's home in India, you should bring a small gift, whether it's a box of chocolates or some flowers. Gifts shouldn't be wrapped（包裹）in black or white colors, because they are considered unlucky. Instead, use bright colors such as green, red or yellow. When giving money for any occasion, it should have an odd number （奇数）value. That's believed to bring good luck. Instead of receiving a gift with both hands, Indians generally only use their right hand because left hands are considered unclean.

Japan

For most Japanese, the ritual（礼节）of giving presents is more important than the gifts themselves. The correct way is to present or receive gifts with both hands. Every gift should be wrapped. That's because uncovered gifts are considered disrespectful. To show politeness and thanks, those who are receiving the gift may turn it down once or twice before finally accepting it. Gifts should be given in pairs, but four should be avoided just like in China. Lucky numbers also include eight. Eight is said to bring prosperity（兴旺）.

Native America

While it may be common for guests to prepare gifts for hosts, this is different in Native American communities. From weddings to birthday celebrations, guests are the ones who receive gifts. Gifts are usually homemade arts and crafts（工艺）- made by hand to show love, respect and appreciation.

1. Which of the tradition will fit in India?

A．Bring the gift wrapped in white.

B．Use 600 dollars as gift.

C．Receive gift with both hands.

D．Chocolates in red box as gift.

2. The Japanese pay more attention to the          of giving presents.

A．color

B．value

C．way

D．amount

3. Which of the following statements is right?

A．The traditions of giving gift is similar in different countries.

B．Japanese will receive the presents directly.

C．The hosts in America are expected to receive presents.

D．No matter where the gift-giving customs are, they convey good meaning.

2 . If you want to find a book for your children, here are some books that you can choose from.

Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation by Stuart Gibbs

The CIA is on a task to find an equation （方程式），which could destroy the world if the bad people get it. For help，they turn to Charlie, a 12-year-old girl who is as smart as Albert Einstein. Children who like exciting mysteries will enjoy reading this book.

AstroNuts by Jon Scieszka and Steven Weinberg

In AstroNuts , the Earth has been destroyed by humans for thousands of years. Four animals set out from Mount Rushmore， the main office of NASA. Their task is to find a new planet fit for human life. Finally, they discover one： Plant Planet. The story's topic is simple： Don't harm the planet. Readers who love science fiction （科幻小说）will enjoy AstroNuts.

Stargazing by Jen Wang

Christine hears that Moon, who is new in town, is the kind of kid who beats people up for fun. But Moon and her mum come to live with Christine's family, and the two kids become best friends. Moon even shares a big secret with Christine. Stargazing is based on Jen Wang's experiences as a child. The story is about the power of friendship.

Roll with It by Jamie Sumner

Roll with It is a story about a 12-year-old girl named Ellie. She has difficulty walking on her own and uses a wheelchair. When Ellie and her mum move to another state to take care of Ellie's grandpa, she must learn to deal with a new school and new friendships. This book is a must-read for everyone. It's a heartwarming story that really shows the value of family.

1. Which of the following encourages readers to protect the Earth?

A．Stargazing.

B．AstroNuts.

C．Roll with It.

D．Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation.

2. What's special about Stargazing ?

A．It mainly discusses animals' stories.

B．It includes much scientific knowledge.

C．It is mainly about how to make friends.

D．It is connected with the author's own experiences.

3. What can we learn about Ellie?

A．She doesn't want to go to another state.

B．She has trouble communicating with others.

C．She is carefully looked after by her grandpa.

D．She has to solve problems faced in a new place.

3 . Tropical rainforests (热带雨林) are home to native peoples who rely on their surroundings for food, shelter, and medicines. Today very few forest people in many areas like the Philippines, Papua New Guinea live in traditional ways; most have been displaced by outside settlers or have been forced to give up their lifestyles by governments.

Of the remaining forest people, the Amazon supports the largest native or native populations, although these people, too, have been affected by the modern world. While they still depend on the forest for traditional hunting and gathering, most Amerindians, as American native people are called, grow crops, use western goods, and make regular trips to towns and cities to bring foods and products to market. In Africa there are native forest people sometimes known as pygmies. The tallest of these people, also called the Mbuti, are not more than 5 feet in height. Their small size enables them to move about the forest more quickly than taller people.

Tropical rainforests have supported humans since ancient times. Although forest life cannot be described as easy, these peoples have built their lives around the surrounding forest and its systems. Still, these forest people can teach us a lot about the rainforest. Their knowledge of medicinal plants used for treating illness is valuable, and they have a great understanding of the ecology (生态学) of the Amazon rainforest. As a result, they are a great storehouse of the knowledge about the forest. They know the medicinal functions of plants and understand the value of the forest as an undamaged ecosystem. As forests fall, these native peoples lose their homes and culture, resulting in the drop of the native population.

1. Where do the greatest number of native rainforest peoples live today?

A．In the Philippines .	B．In Africa.
C．In the Amazon.	D．In Papua New Guinea.

2. What do we know about most Amerindians?

A．They know little about growing some crops.

B．They make trips to towns and cities for trade.

C．They would like to use eastern goods in daily life.

D．They seldom know traditional hunting and gathering.

3. What can we learn from the third paragraph?

A．Forest people can get benefits from rainforests.

B．We can learn how to build storehouses from forest people .

C．Forest people live an easy and comfortable life as we imagine.

D．The knowledge of medicinal plants for treating illness can be ignored.

4. What is the purpose of this text?

A．To make an advertisement for tropical rainforests.

B．To introduce the lifestyles of the native forest people.

C．To spread the knowledge and value of the forest plants.

D．To raise the awareness of protecting tropical rainforests.

4 . Here are some after-Christmas best sales happening online right now:

J. Crew

When it comes to big discounts on the most popular gifts of the year, J. Crew has been the go-to spot all season long. You can still save money on some favorite items.

Anthropologie

You can get an extra 40% off all sale products, and get an extra 30% off sale furniture at Anthropologie. Just head to the site or one of their store locations and see for yourself just how good it really gets.

Carter's

Right now at Carter's, you can get up to 70% off sale items for babies' and kids' clothes, and the savings are amazing. If you're trying to buy a few pajamas(睡衣), this sale is a great way to save on fashion for your little ones.

Levi's

Denim(牛仔衣)will never go out of style, and neither will saving huge amounts of money on it, which is why this big end-of-season sale at Levi's makes my fashion-loving heart screaming with delight. You can get up to 50% off select denim jeans, jackets, and so on from now until January. You can also get free shipping on orders over $100, which is always a win-win.

Prices were exact at the time this article was published but may change over time.

1. In which store can you get the most savings for babies' clothes?

A．J. Crew.

B．Anthropologie.

C．Carter's.

D．Levi's.

2. What is special about Levi's compared with other stores?

A．It sells pajamas.	B．It offers free shipping.
C．It gives more discounts.	D．Customers can bargain there.

3. What can we know about the prices?

A．They may be changeable.

B．They rise a lot with time.

C．They remain the same as before-Christmas.

D．They are different in online sales and stores.

5 . Yesterday was my final day as an English language assistant in Paris. I have loved every single moment of my time teaching, and could not have asked for a better school, with the most wonderful students. When applying to be a language assistant. I was a little worried about what the students would be like.

Upon arrival, I found the easiest approach to creating lesson plans was to focus on what was happening right here and now. For example, when it was Halloween in the UK, I found plenty of brainchildren to help me teach my students all about the different cultures and traditions they do not have in France. They loved it! And now, seven months later, it's all over!

The whole experience has been amazing. I highly recommend being a language assistant. I don't want to become a teacher，and I didn't before I arrived, but the skills and experience I have gained from these entire seven months of working is indescribable. Now, I'm finding myself still walking down the street and having ideas pop into my mind and saying, “Oh! 1 can teach mv class about that next week!” It's very bizarre(异乎寻常的).

I think this first week of having no work and not needing to think of potential lesson plans will be the hardest，and it was surprisingly difficult to say goodbye to most of my classes. But deep down，I know that my time teaching in Paris has given me so much experience and a completely new outlook on how to communicate with younger people with different needs and learning styles.

1. Where did the author work as a teaching assistant?

A．In America.

B．In England.

C．In France.

D．In Canada.

2. What does the underlined word “brainchildren” in paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Clever children.	B．Different assistants.
C．Successful experience.	D．Sudden good ideas.

3. What did the author think of her teaching experience?

A．The writer thought it useless.	B．The writer liked it very much.
C．The writer found it very strange.	D．The writer had no idea about it.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．My Teaching Experience in Paris

B．An English Language Assistant in Paris

C．How to Communicate with Younger People

D．How to Become an Amazing Language Teacher

6 . Jet airplanes are one of the largest causes of human pollution. About 3% of the world’s carbon emissions(碳排放）are believed to come from airline travel. Thai number is likely to go up—the number of people traveling by plane has been growing for years, and is expected to keep increasing.

To help fight climate change, Dutch airline KLM has started a program asking people to “ Fly Responsibly”.   The company is asking its customers to think about their choices before they buy a plane ticket. In a video, the airline suggests that travelers ask themselves questions, such as whether they could lake a train instead.

However, some people have suggested that instead of asking the public to think carefully about their actions, KLM, and other airlines, need to be considering solutions that lie with the industry itself . “ Voluntary (主动的）actions by customers are not enough; the cost of flying must increase." said Justin Francis, founder of Responsible Travel.

Anna Hughes, who runs Flight Free UK, Sees much of the “greening" in aviation(航空) as problematic. She said, “The simple fact is that climate change, worsened by our use of (fossil fuels(化石燃料），will make it difficult for our children to live on this planet. While we welcome action，to make aviation friendlier to the environment, airlines must be honest about their influence on climate change."

But the International Air Transport Association (IATA) is backing the KLM program. Rafael Schwartzman, IATA's vice-president for Europe, said, “We support it in the sense that you do have a choice. In certain cases you could have another choice. " But, he added, “the UK is an island. If you want to trade internationally, you will have to count on aviation.”

1. What does KLM suggest travelers do?

A．Spend less on traveling.	B．Think twice before they fly.
C．Act responsibly on a plane.	D．Travel by train whenever possible.

2. What’s Francis’s solution for greening aviation?

A．To turn to cleaner fuels.

B．To raise the price of tickets.

C．To encourage customers to volunteer.

D．To tell the public how to cut air pollution.

3. What’s the IATA’s attitude towards “Fly Responsibly”？

A．Supportive.

B．Doubtful.

C．Uninterested.

D．Unclear.

4. What’s the main purpose of this text?

A．To introduce a Dutch airline.

B．To list the harms of airline travel.

C．To discuss a program of an airline.

D．To call on people to fight climate change.

7 . At thirteen, I was diagnosed (诊断) with kind of attention disorder. It made school difficult for me. When everyone else in the class was focusing on tasks, I could not.

In my first literature class, Mrs. Smith asked us to read a story and then write on it, all within 45 minutes. I raised my hand right away and said, “Mrs. Smith, you see, the doctor said I have attention problems. I might not be able to do it.”

She glanced down at me through her glasses, “You are not different from your classmates, young man.” I tried, but I didn’t finish the reading when the bell rang. I had to take it home.

In the quietness of my bedroom, the story suddenly all became clear to me. It was about a blind person, Louis Braile. He lived in a time when the blind couldn’t get much education. But Louis didn’t give up. Instead, he invented a reading system of raised dots (点), which opened up a whole new world of knowledge to the blind.

Wasn’t I the “blind” in my class, being made to learn like the “sighted” students? My thoughts spilled out and my pen started to dance. I completed the task within 40 minutes. Indeed, I was not different from others; I just needed a quieter place. If Louis could find his way out of his problem, why should I ever give up?

I didn’t expect anything when I handed in my paper to Mrs. Smith, so it was quite a surprise when it came back to me the next day — with an “A” on it. At the bottom of the paper were these words, “See what you can do when you keep trying?”

1. What problem did the author meet when he was in class?

A．He didn’t like the teacher.	B．He was not fond of literature.
C．The classroom was too noisy.	D．He couldn’t focus his attention in class.

2. What can we learn about Louis Braile from the passage?

A．He managed to cure his blindness.

B．He got a good education at school.

C．He made an invention which helped the blind.

D．He couldn’t see and read for the whole life.

3. What’s Mrs. Smith’s attitude to the author in the classroom?

A．She encouraged him.	B．She looked down on him.
C．She sympathized (同情) him.	D．She was angry with him.

4. What can we learn from the passage?

A．How to be a great teacher.	B．Keep trying, and you can do it.
C．What should you do as a blind.	D．Ways to overcome attention disorder.

8 . For several months, Cara has been working up the courage to ask her mother about what she saw on the Internet. Not long ago, the 11-year-old found out that her mother had been posting her photos in her blog, without her agreement, for much of her life. "There are pictures I don't like of myself. It would be an embarrassment(令人尴尬的事)if my friends see those photos online," she said. "Now I'm even worried anytime someone has a phone out around me. I'm afraid that my photos could be taken and posted somewhere."

Not all kids feel the same when finding out they've been living a life online. Some are happy. In the fourth grade, Nate searched his name and found that he was in a news report about his making a beautiful kite in his third-grade class. He was really happy with that and he decided to search online every few months, hoping to find other things about himself online.

"I was surprised, really surprised," he said. "It made me feel famous."

He even kept saying, "Oh, I'm in a news report online." Although his friends knew that, many of his friends refused to stay close to him.

Like most other kids, Cara and Nate grew up in a society rich with social media. While many kids may not yet have accounts(账户)themselves, their parents, schools, sports teams, and organizations have been building an online presence for them since their birth. According to a study from the Levin College of Law at the University of Florida, 92 percent of kids under the age of 2 already have their own life online.

"The blog posts are sure to follow the children into adulthood," says the study. "Therefore, we have to be careful about putting the children's personal information online."

1. Why does Cara want to stop her mother putting her pictures online?

A．She is not a very pretty girl.	B．Her friends keep laughing at her.
C．She does not like being photographed.	D．Some of the pictures are embarrassing.

2. What happened after Nate told his friends that he was in a news report?

A．They felt really happy for him.	B．Many of them stayed away from him.
C．Many of them did not believe him.	D．They also opened their own accounts.

3. The study from the Levin College of Law suggests that        .

A．parents should keep their kids away from the Internet

B．pictures should not be put online without kids' agreement

C．kids should not tell their stories of success to their friends

D．putting kids' information online might lead to some problems

4. How is the text mainly developed?

A．By giving examples.	B．By reasoning.
C．By following time order.	D．By comparing.

9 . The Blue Cafe' Theatre

The Artist is a movie set in a neighborhood of the French capital, by the River Seine. Made in 1940, this black and white movie has made cinema history. A romantic drama that will make you cry, it is well worth watching. Don't worry if you don't know French; you can read the subtitles(字幕). Showing Sunday morning in the Blue Cafe' Theatre.

Elmstreet Village Cinema

Ask me that again! A great movie for all ages, young and old. It's a movie with something for everyone! Set in a New York college, it sells the story of a girl who is so pretty that every boy falls to her. But all she wants to do is study! Now showing until Sunday, Special afternoon tickets at 10% discount for the 4:00 pm matinee(午后场).

The Orange Cinema Company

Star Traveler is a great movie for science-fiction fans who like to have a good laugh at the same time. It may not be the best film of all time, but it certainly is the funniest. You will love Wil, the star traveler, who gets lost in space, chased by green aliens. Showing from Saturday at all Orange Cinemas , 7: 00 pm, 9: 00 pm and 11:30 pm.

Findley Park Cinema

Dance all the way! A musical romance, set in an arts & dance school in the US, the film will have you singing along and tapping(轻叩) your toes from beginning to end. Doors open on Saturday at 5:00 pm for the early showing.

1. What do we know about The Artist?

A．The story happened in Paris.	B．It is a color movie
C．It is a movie in English.	D．It is funny.

2. Which movie is suitable for people of different ages?

A．The Artist.

B．Dance all the way.

C．Star Traveler.

D．Ask me that again.

3. If you want to see a movie with dances and songs, where would you go?

A．The Blue Cafe' Theatre	B．Findley Park Cinema
C．Elmstreet Village Cinema	D．The Orange Cinema Company

10 . The ancient village of Machu Picchu is one of the most popular tourist destinations in South America. It’s in Peru, high in the Andes Mountains, 8, 000 feet above sea level.

The village contains 200 buildings. Houses are in groups, and each house has a large courtyard inside its walls. The Incas(印加人) used the areas outside the groups of houses to grow corn and potatoes and to raise animals. The Incas were very good at building strong walls. Visitors to Machu Picchu still cannot fit a knife between the stones of a village home.

Machu Picchu seemed to be a healthy, busy village. So why was it lost? That is a mystery, but experts have some ideas. Machu Picchu was hard to reach. Few people outside the village knew about it. Experts think that many residents died of disease. Others fought a war. The survivors left the village.

The tourists are good for Peru’s economy, but they are not good for Machu Picchu. The village is old and fragile. Tourists damage the ruins. Thousands of footsteps from visitors wear down the walkways in the village. Salt and oil from people’s hands damage the walls. Air pollution from buses hurts the stones. Tourists do not want to damage the village, but they want to see this beautiful, ancient place.

The Peruvian government and conservation groups are trying to solve the problem. A group from the United Nations wants to limit the number of tourists each year. They also want cars and buses to use cleaner fuel.

1. What crops did the Incas grow?

A．Rice and beans.	B．Tomatoes and peas.
C．Wheat and peas.	D．Potatoes and corn.

2. How do we know that Incas were good at building walls?

A．The Incas knew how to make good use of the land.

B．Visitors still cannot fit a knife between the stones.

C．Footsteps wear down the walkways in the village.

D．Each house has a large courtyard inside its walls.

3. Which word can best replace the underlined word “fragile” in fourth paragraph?

A．Beautiful.

B．Terrible.

C．Clean.

D．Weak.

4. Which of the following does not damage the ruins?

A．Air pollution.	B．Feet on the walkways.
C．The shape of the land.	D．Hands on the walls.