4 . The Chinese name system has a long history. Today, there are over 700 different Chinese family names, but as few as twenty cover most of the Chinese family names. Most Chinese family names have only one character, but there are a few with two. Chinese family names are written first, something that often causes confusion among those from countries where the family name usually comes last.

Generally speaking, Chinese given names have one or two characters, and are written after the family names. When a baby was born, parents often give him/her a “milk name” or “little name” such as Xiaobao. The given name is then chosen somewhat later, but the parents may continue to use the nickname. Given names of males are linked with strength and firmness while females with beauty and flowers. Females sometimes have names that repeat a character.

Chinese personal names may also reflect periods of history. For example, many Chinese born during the Cultural Revolution have “revolutionary names”, such as “Guoqiang”, “Dongfeng”, or even “Wenge”!

Chinese married women usually keep their maiden names (娘家姓) as their family names, rather than use the names of their husband, and children usually use their fathers’ family name.

With a limited supply of family names, Chinese depend on using given names to introduce variety in naming. Almost any character with any meaning can be used. However, it is not considered appropriate (合适) to name a child after a famous person and highly impolite after an older member among the family or even distant relatives.

1. From the passage, we know that ________.

A．women should change their family names after getting married

B．children’s nicknames are not used when they grow up

C．people usually name their children after some famous people

D．Chinese family names usually have only one character

2. Some Westerners may feel confused when they find ________.

A．Chinese family names are written at the beginning before given names

B．Chinese family names are written at the end of the full names

C．there are so many Chinese people using the same family name

D．there are only 700 Chinese names for people to choose from

3. Which of the following statements is TRUE about Chinese names?

A．Some Chinese family names may have two characters.

B．Only a few characters could be used as given names.

C．Children don’t like their nicknames given by their parents.

D．Children can be named after their grand-parents' names.

5 . It was a cold night in Washington, D. C., and I was heading back to the hotel when a man approached me. He asked if l would give him some money so he could get something to eat. I’d read the signs “Don’t give money to beggars.” So I shook my head and kept walking.

I wasn’t prepared for a reply, but he said, “I really am homeless and I really am hungry! You can come with me and watch me eat!” But I kept on walking.

The incident bothered me for the rest of the week. I had money in my pocket and it wouldn’t have killed me to hand over a buck or two even if he had been lying. Flying back to Anchorage, I couldn’t help thinking of him. I tried to rationalize (找借口) my failure to help by thinking government agencies, churches and charities were there to feed him. Besides, you’re not supposed to give money to beggars.

Somewhere over Seattle, I started to write my weekly garden column for The Anchorage Daily News, out of the blue, I came up with an idea. Bean’s Cafe, the soup kitchen in Anchorage, feeds hundreds of hungry Alaskans every day. Why not try to get all my readers to plant one row in their gardens dedicated to Bean’s? Dedicate a row and take it down to Bean’s. Clean and simple.

The idea began to take off. Readers would fax or call me when they got something in their garden. Those who only grew flowers donated them. Food for the spirit.

In 1995, the Garden Writers Association of America held their annual convention in Anchorage and after learning of Anchorage’s program, Plant a Row for Bean’s became Plant a Row for the Hungry. The original idea was to have every member of the Garden Writers Association of America write or talk about planting a row for the hungry sometime during the month of April.

As more and more people started working with the Plant a Row idea, new changes appeared unexpectedly. Many companies gave free seed to customers and displayed the logo, which also appeared in national gardening publications. Row markers with the Plant a Row logo were delivered to gardeners to set apart their “Row for the Hungry”.

Garden editor Joan Jackson, supported by The San Jose Mercury News and California’s nearly year-round growing season, raised more than 30,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables her first year, and showed GWAA how the program could really work. Texas fruit farms donated food to their local food bank after being inspired by Plant a Row. Today the program continues to thrive and grow.

I am surprised that millions of Americans are threatened by hunger. If every gardener in America — and we’re seventy million strong — plants one row for the hungry, we can make quite a decrease in the number of neighbors who don’t have enough to eat. Maybe then I will stop feeling guilty about abandoning a hungry man I could have helped.

1. What does the underlined phrase “out of the blue” mean?

A．A bit disappointed.	B．Suddenly.
C．As a matter of fact.	D．Attentively.

2. The program has been supported by many farmers, journalists and people in different fields for many years. They usually donate many things to it except______________ .

A．money

B．flowers

C．seeds

D．beans

3. Which is WRONG according to the passage?

A．In the eyes of most people, the program can really help the people in need.

B．Nowadays, the program is no longer a regional one, and it arouses the attention of many farmers, gardeners and journalists in the nation.

C．It occurred to the author that they could run such a program the moment he gave the beggar nothing.

D．The author felt relieved and surprised when he saw the program turned into a nation-wide one.

4. Which do you think is the best title to the passages?

A．Plant a row for the hungry

B．How to help others

C．A story of a columnist

D．Not for fame and wealth

6 . He is always late for work, and yet nothing is ever said to him. I don't know how he___________   it.

A．cuts down	B．gets away with
C．takes off	D．turns up

7 . Young children are often advised not to spoil their appetite by eating sweets ________ the three meals.

A．among

B．during

C．between

D．through