1 . You can tell a lot about a country by what's on its television sets. Britain's TV screens are completely steeped in class, and have long been so.

From laughing at poor people in reality shows to laughing at posh people in Downton Abbey, this is how Britain likes to unwind in the evening: by laughing at other classes, and laughing at people for laughing about class.

Like it or loathe it, many see the class system as a quite essential element of British life, together with our obsession for tea and cake and talking about the weather.

Whether you are a lord, a lady, or just the king of your own middle class   kingdom, everyone in the UK fits into the class system. How the class system works is a hard question even for a British person to answer.

There are four main groups in the British class system: lower, working, middle and upper class. Although recently the BBC has tried to confuse everyone even more by adding three more categories.

The British are very aware of class; it is often said that we have an in-built 'class radar'; we pick up on subtle social clues which indicate which class a person comes from. Class is not just about your job, where you live and how much you earn. It's about who you are.

1. According to the passage ,what Britain are not likely to talk about?

A．Weather	B．Class
C．Jokes	D．Tea and cake

2. How many class categories are there according to BBC?

A．Five	B．Three
C．Seven	D．Four

3. Why Britain are so obsessed with class?

A．Because many see the class system as a typical part of British life.

B．Because class is about who you are.

C．Because how the class system works is a hard question even for a British person to answer.

D．Because there are different groups in the British class system.

2 . Chinese people are, quite rightly, proud of their food. However, when foreigners like Britons and Americans think of Chinese food, their impression of it is different to what you might think.

Growing up in the UK, the Chinese food I was used to eating was food I now recognize as being from Guangdong. For example, a typical dish I would order would be pork in sweet and sour sauce, probably with some rice and spring rolls on the side. This is the type of food we generally eat because most Chinese immigrants(移民) to the UK have come from Guangdong. You can tell, because when most British people try to copy the sound of Chinese, they actually copy the sound of Guangdong people—hearing the real Putonghua is sometimes a shock to British people who have grown up thinking it sounds completely different!

British attitudes to Chinese food may be changing, though. Chinese-American chef Ken Hom has been on British TV for 30 years, and he told BBC Food: “Chinese food at the beginning of the 80s (in the UK) was sweet and sour pork, mainly. Most Brits had the unchangeable view of Chinese food. Now you are seeing more local Chinese food from Sichuan, Hunan and other areas of China. It is no longer just Guangdong food.” Similarly, to most Americans, Chinese food doesn’t go too far past orange chicken and fortune cookies, but more Chinese local dishes are becoming successful, especially in big cities like New York.

Attitudes have not quite changed completely, though. Many foreigners who live in China will be familiar with this question from a relative back at home: “Have they given you dog yet?” Yes, perhaps because people still know too little about Chinese culture, many people believe that Chinese people love to eat dog meat. And of course, some people do eat dogs, which to Americans is like “eating a member of one’s family” according to Vision Times. Also, Chinese people eat many other things people in the West do not—chicken claws, duck heads and some animals’ organs.

But what do foreigners think when they come to China and taste real Chinese food? You’ll be glad to know that in my experience, the impressions have been very good.

1. Why are some British people surprised when they hear the real Putonghua?

A．Because it sounds too funny to believe.

B．Because it’s different from what they hear.

C．Because they all find it hard to learn.

D．Because nobody has been to China before.

2. What does chef Ken Hom think of the present Chinese food?

A．Popular.	B．Tastier.
C．Richer	D．Best.

3. How does Paragraph 3 develop?

A．By giving examples.	B．By making inferences.
C．By analyzing.	D．By reasoning.

4. What can we infer from “Have they given you dog yet?”?

A．Foreigners don’t like eating dog meat at all.

B．Chinese hate dogs so they often eat them.

C．Chinese eat everything including dog meat.

D．There are differences between cultures.

3 . It was once common to regard Britain as a society with class distinction. Each class had unique characteristics.

In recent years, many writers have begun to speak the ‘decline of class’ and ‘classless society’ in Britain. And in modern day consumer society everyone is considered to be middle class.

But pronouncing the death of class is too early. A recent wide-ranging society of public opinion found 90 percent of people still placing themselves in particular class; 73 percent agreed that class was still a vital part of British society; and 52 percent thought there were still sharp class differences. Thus, class may not be culturally and politically obvious, yet it remains an important part of British society. Britain seems to have a love of stratification (分层).

One unchanging aspect of a British person’s class position is accent. The words a person speaks tell her or his class. A study of British accents during 1970s found that a voice sounding like a BBC newsreader was considered as the most attractive voice. Most people said this accent sounded ‘educated’ and ‘soft’. The accents placed at the bottom in this study, on the other hand, were regional accents. These accents were seen as ‘common’ and ‘ugly’. However, a similar study of British accents in the US turned these results upside down and placed some regional accents as the most attractive and BBC English as the least. This suggests that British attitudes towards accent have deep roots and are based on class prejudice (偏见).

In recent years, however, young upper middle-class people in London, have begun to adopt some regional accents, in order to hide their class origins. This is an indication of class becoming unnoticed. However, the 1995 pop song ‘Common People’ puts forward the view that though a middle-class person may ‘want to live like common people’, they can never appreciate the reality of a working-class life.

1. A recent study of public opinion shows that in modern Britain ________.

A．it is time to end class distinction

B．most people belong to middle class

C．it is easy to recognize a person’s class

D．people regard themselves socially different

2. The study in the US showed that BBC English was regarded as ________.

A．regional	B．educated
C．standard	D．unattractive

3. British attitudes towards accent ________.

A．have a long tradition	B．are based on regional status
C．are shared by the Americans	D．have changed in recent years

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．The middle class is expanding.	B．A person’s accent reflects his class.
C．Class is a key part of British society.	D．Each class has unique characteristics.

4 . Should schools allow Halloween celebrations?

Halloween is one of the most celebrated holidays in the United States.     1     Many schools also celebrate the holiday by having kids dress up in costumes, take part in costume shows, and join in a variety of activities relating to Halloween. On October 31, the halls of schools across the country will be filled with princes, princesses, and superheroes. In addition to costumes, school Halloween celebrations often include classroom parties and trick-or-treating.

    2     They also say that dressing up in costumes allows kids to express themselves and show off their creativity.

    3     Officials at many of those schools say the celebrations are too time-consuming (费时的) and take away class time. They also point out that kids who can't afford costumes or who don't celebrate Halloween for cultural reasons feel left out. For example, Seth Boyden Elementary School in Maplewood, New Jersey, canceled（取消）its Halloween celebration last year. Officials at the school said that in the past, many students stayed home on that day.

    4     Bree Picower, a Professor of Early and Elementary Education at Montclair State, said, “Maplewood is a wonderful example of a school being responsive to society. Many schools plan to learn from it. Schools are places where students should feel included.”

Parents in Maplewood had different opinions of this policy. Some said that the new no-Halloween policy was a welcome change.     5    

A．It brings a lot of safety problems.

B．Experts say Maplewood is not alone.

C．Many people dislike these costumes.

D．Each year there're millions of Americans celebrations the holiday.

E．But more and more schools have canceled（取消）Halloween celebrations in recent years.

F．Many teachers, parents, and students see these celebrations as a fun break from the school day.

G．And others said that it was unfair that their children are now not allowed to celebrate Halloween in school.

5 . Spend any time in London, England’s capital, and you’ll quickly gather that it’s a multicultural (多元文化的) community. Look around at your fellow passengers on the Tube(地铁) or the bus. They’re of every skin color and dress differently to one another. Listen, and you’ll hear many other languages besides English spoken. Some of these people, no doubt, will be tourists who are in London to see the sights. But others — in fact probably most — will be living their lives there, along with millions of others.

Along with white British people, there are Britons from, or with parents and grandparents from, the Caribbean, India, China and most other places. This makes London a fascinating place in which to live. The reason is that when people settle in a place, they don’t just buy a house and live there, but bring aspects of the culture of their “old country” with them.

The most visible sign of this is the number of restaurants offering dishes from different parts of the world. In a city in which it’s estimated 250 different languages are spoken, you can expect a similarly wide range of foods to be available. You would expect in one of the world’s leading cities to encounter(遇到) French, Italian, Chinese and Indian eateries. But in London you’ll also find Polish, Patagonian and Palestinian restaurants.

However, London’s multiculturalism isn’t just about food. Many types of people are gathered in one space, but the way they live differently shows in that space. They worship(崇拜) differently, for one thing. Alongside the famous old English churches by Nicholas Hawksmoor and Christopher Wren — responsible for one of the capital’s most famous landmark, St Paul’s Cathedral—you’ll find mosques(清真寺), temples and synagogues (犹太教堂).

London even speaks its own special kind of English. Language experts created the term “Multicultural London English” to identify the dialect of English that appeared at the end of the last century.

All of this makes London a very surprising and varied place to call your home. But, in a way, this has long been true. In the 18^th century, the compiler(编纂者) of the first English dictionary, Samuel Johnson, once said: “ He who is tired of London is tired of life.”

1. By describing the situation on the Tube and bus, the author intends to ________.

A．show that London is a multicultural city

B．explain why London appeals to tourists

C．prove that London is a great place to live in

D．inform us of how the population of Britain is made up

2. According to the article, people who settle in London from other places ________.

A．are forced to give up their native language

B．find it easy to buy a house in the city

C．bring in cultural practices from their original country

D．make up the majority of the population in the city

3. Which of the following could be used as proof of London’s multiculturalism?

A．The city is home to the famous building St Paul’s Cathedral.

B．The city has become a favorite destination for tourists abroad.

C．There are a variety of French restaurants in the city.

D．A new London dialect has appeared in recent years.

4. Samuel Johnson is mentioned in the last paragraph to ________.

A．show what London was like in the 18th century

B．prove the cultural diversity of London from a historical aspect

C．inform the readers what to expect in London

D．introduce the first English dictionary he compiled

6 . Some of the world’s most famous musicians recently gathered in Paris and New Orleans to celebrate the first annual International Jazz Day. UNESCO( United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) recently set April 30 as a day to raise awareness of jazz music, its significance, and its potential as a unifying(联合) voice across cultures.

Despite the celebrations, though, in the U.S. the jazz audience continues to shrink and grow older, and the music has failed to connect with younger generations.

It’s Jason Moran’s job to help change that. As the Kennedy Center’s artistic adviser for jazz, Moran hopes to widen the audience for jazz, make the music more accessible, and preserve its history and culture.

“Jazz seems like it’s not really a part of the American appetite,” Moran tells National Public Radio’s reporter Neal Conan. “What I’m hoping to accomplish is that my generation and younger start to reconsider and understand that jazz is not black and write anymore. It’s actually color, and it’s actually digital.”

Moran says one of the problems with jazz today is that the entertainment aspect of the music has been lost. “The music can’t be presented today the way it was in 1908 or 1958. It has to continue to move, because the way the world works is not the same,” says Moran.

Last year, Moran worked on a project that arranged Fats Waller’s music for a dance party, “Just to kind of put it back in the mind that Waller is dance music as much as it is concert music,” says Moran. “For me, it’s the recontextualization. In music, where does the emotion(情感) lie? Are we, as humans, gaining any insight(感悟) on how to talk about ourselves and how something as abstract as a Charlie Parker record gets us into a dialogue about our emotions and our thoughts? Sometimes we lose sight that the music has a wider context,” says Moran, “so I want to continue those dialogues. Those are the things I want to foster.”

1. Why did UNESCO set April 30 as International Jazz Day?

A．To remember the birth of jazz.

B．To protect cultural diversity.

C．To encourage people to study music.

D．To recognize the value of jazz.

2. What does the underlined word “that” in paragraph 3 refer to?

A．Jazz becoming more accessible.

B．The production of jazz growing faster.

C．Jazz being less popular with the young.

D．The jazz audience becoming larger.

3. What can we infer about Moran’s opinion on jazz?

A．It will disappear gradually.

B．It remains black and white.

C．It should keep up with the times.

D．It changes every 50 years.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Exploring the Future of Jazz.

B．The Rise and Fall of Jazz.

C．The Story of a Jazz Musician.

D．Celebrating the Jazz Day.

7 . Countries may be ranked by many various groups, such as how expensive or interesting they are to foreign tourists. They can also be ranked by their openness and friendliness toward visitors. You might be shocked to find out that, for example, the USA is number 102 on the list of the least welcoming places, 140 being the most unfriendly land.

Mongolia

Mongolia was closed for quite some time and opened up to foreigners only 20 years ago. That’s probably the major reason why it is not yet experienced enough in hosting tourists. The country is beautiful, with huge spacious areas of land that are low populated. There local people are not yet used to being visited by foreign guests.

Slovakia

There are, undoubtedly, pluses as well as minuses in every country. Slovakia is not the perfect destination for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, Slovakia is becoming more and more similar to the rest of European countries surrounding it. Sameness is not the best quality. As a rule, tourists want to travel and see things they have never seen before. It is good that the land’s countryside is still unique, although it is also being commercialized day by day.

Iran

Iran is not the best place to travel to. It is located close to Pakistan with its negative political atmosphere. Western visitors are not welcome over there and embassies (大使馆) advise against traveling to Iran. The population, contrary to the country’s government, consists of very friendly and welcoming people.

Kuwait

In Kuwait people are warm and friendly. It has a unique history, plenty of traditions and customs. People respect their culture and are very religious. It is a Muslim country, which means that you are not allowed to drink alcohol. If you happen to visit Kuwait during Ramadan, you will not be allowed to eat in public places, either.

Russia

Russia is truly a special place. It is definitely worth visiting. What you might not find attractive is the corruption and bureaucracy (官僚主义) that rule in some certain official circles. Another nuisance you should be ready for is that, as a visitor, you’ll be asked to receive an invitation. Only then will you be able to apply for a visa. Once you arrive in Russia, you’ll be warmly greeted and accepted by the local people.

1. You’ll meet friendly people in the following countries except in _____.

A．Iran

B．Kuwait

C．Mongolia

D．Russia

2. Which of the statements is true according to the text?

A．You can apply for a visa for Russia at will.

B．If you’re fond of drinking, then Kuwait is not an ideal destination.

C．You’re not advised to travel in Iran due to its high cost.

D．Mongolia is a beautiful country with much experience in hosting tourists.

3. Where does this passage probably come from?

A．A news report

B．A lecture speech

C．An advertisement

D．A text book

8 . A characteristic of American culture that has become almost a tradition is to respect the self-made man—the man who has risen to the top through his own efforts, usually beginning by working with his hands. While the leader in business or industry or the college professor occupies a higher social position and wins greater respect in the community than the common laborer or even the skilled factory worker, he may take pains to point out that his father started life in America as a farmer or laborer of some kind.
This attitude toward manual (体力的) labor is now still seen in many aspects of American life. One is invited to dinner at a home that is not only comfortably but even expensively furnished and in which there is every evidence of the fact that the family has been able to afford foreign travel, expensive hobbies, and college education for the children; yet the hostess probably will cook the dinner herself, will serve it herself and will wash dishes afterward; furthermore, the dinner will not consist just of something quickly and easily mixed from contents of various cans and a cake or a pie bought at the nearby bakery. Instead, the hostess usually takes pride in careful preparation of special dishes. A professional man may talk about washing the car, digging in his flowerbeds, painting the house. His wife may even help with these things, just as he often helps her with the dishwashing. The son who is away at college may wait on table and wash dishes for his living, or during the summer he may work with a group of workers on the highway in order to pay for his education.
1. From Paragraph 1, we know that in America ________.

A．people feel painful to mention their fathers as laborers

B．people tend to have a high opinion of the self-made man

C．people can always rise to the top through their own efforts

D．college professors win great respect from common workers

2. According to the passage, the hostess cooks dinner herself mainly because ________.

A．she can hardly afford servants

B．servants in America are hard to get

C．she takes pride in what she can do herself

D．it is easy to prepare a meal with canned food

3. The expression “wait on table” in the second paragraph means “________”.

A．wait to place the table

B．keep accounts for a bar

C．work in a furniture shop

D．serve customers in a restaurant

4. Which of the following may serve as the best title of the passage?

A．A Respectable Self-made Family.

B．The Development of Manual Labor.

C．Characteristics of American Culture.

D．American Attitude Toward Manual Labor.

9 . The concept of culture has been defined many times, and although no definition has achieved universal acceptance, most of the definitions include three central ideas: that culture is passed on from generation to generation, that a culture represents a ready-made principle for living and for making day-to-day decisions, and, finally, that the components of a culture are accepted by those in the culture as good, and true, and not to be questioned. The eminent anthropologist George Murdock has listed seventy-three items that characterize every known culture, past and present.
The list begins with Age-grading and Athletic sports, runs to Weaning and Weather Control, and includes on the way such items as Calendar, Fire making, Property Rights, and Tool making. I would submit that even the most extreme advocate of a culture of poverty viewpoint would readily acknowledge that, with respect to almost all of these items, every American, beyond the first generation immigrant, regardless of race or class, is a member of a common culture. We all share pretty much the same sports. Maybe poor kids don’t know how to play polo, and rich kids don’t spend time with stickball, but we all know baseball, football, and basketball. Despite some misguided efforts to raise minor dialects to the status of separate   tongues, we all, in fact, share the same language.
There may be differences in diction and usage, but it would be ridiculous to say that all Americans don’t speak English. We have the calendar, the law, and large numbers of other cultural items in common. It may well be true that on a few of the seventy-three items there are minor variations between classes, but these kinds of things are really slight variations on a common theme.
There are other items that show variability, not in relation to class, but in relation to religion and ethnic background — funeral customs and cooking, for example. But if there is one place in America where the melting pot is a reality, it is on the kitchen stove; in the course of one month, half the readers of this sentence have probably eaten pizza, hot pastrami, and chow mein. Specific differences that might be identified as signs of separate cultural identity are relatively insignificant within the general unity of American life; they are cultural commas and semicolons in the paragraphs and pages of American life.
1. According to the author’s definition of culture, ________.

A．a culture should be accepted and maintained universally

B．a culture should be free from falsehood and evils

C．the items of a culture should be taken for granted by people

D．the items of a culture should be accepted by well-educated people

2. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Baseball, football and basketball are popular sports in America.

B．Different classes have different cultures.

C．Playing polo is popular among kids.

D．There is no variation in using the American language.

3. It can be inferred that ________ will most probably be included in the seventy-three items.

A．accent

B．polo

C．dream patterns

D．table manners

4. The author’s main purpose in writing this passage is to ________.

A．prove that different people have different definitions of culture

B．warn that variations exist as far as a culture is concerned

C．indicate that culture is closely connected with social classes

D．show that the idea that the poor or the rich establish a separate culture is an absurdity

10 . It is widely known that any English conversation begins with The Weather. Such a fixation with the weather finds expression in Dr. Johnson’s famous comment that “When two English meet, their first talk is of weather.” Though Johnson’s observation is as accurate now as it was over two hundred years ago, most commentators(评论员) fail to come up with a convincing explanation for this English weather-speak.

Bill Bryson, for example, concludes that, as the English weather is not at all exciting, the obsession with it can hardly be understood. He argues that” To an outsider, the most striking thing about the English weather is that there is not very much of it.” Simply, the reason is that the unusual and unpredictable weather is almost unknown in the British Isles.

Jeremy Paxman, however, disagrees with Bryson, arguing that the English weather is by nature attractive. Bryson is wrong, he says, “because the English preference for the weather has nothing to do with the natural phenomena(现象).” The interest is less in the phenomena themselves, but in uncertainty.” According to him, the weather in England is very changeable and uncertain and it attracts the English as well as the outsider.

Bryson and Paxman stand for common misconceptions about the weather-speak among the English. Both commentators, somehow, are missing the point. The English weather conversation is not really about the weather at all. English weather-speak is a system of signs ,which is developed to help the speakers overcome the natural reserve and actually talk to each other. Everyone knows conversations starting with weather-speak are not requests for weather data. Rather, they are routine greetings, conversation starters or the blank “fillers”, In other words, English weather-speak is a means of social bonding.

1. The author mentions Dr. Johnson’s comment to show that________.

A．most commentators agree with Dr. Johnson

B．Dr. Johnson is famous for his weather observation

C．the comment was accurate two hundred years ago

D．English conversations usually start with the weather

2. What does the underlined word “obsession” most probably refer to?

A．A social trend.	B．An emotional state.
C．A historical concept.	D．An unknown phenomenon.

3. According to the passage, Jeremy Paxman believes that________.

A．Bill Bryson has little knowledge of the weather

B．there is nothing special about the English weather

C．the English weather attracts people to the British Isles

D．English people talk about the weather for its uncertainty

4. What is the author’s main purpose of writing the passage?

A．To explain what English weather-speak is about.

B．To analyze misconceptions about the English weather.

C．To find fault with both Bill Bryson and Jeremy Paxman.

D．To convince people that the English weather is changeable.