1 . Ireland has had a very difficult history. The problems started in the 16th century when English rulers tried to conquer Ireland. For hundreds of years, the Irish people fought against the English. Finally, in 1921,the British government was forced to give independence to the south of Ireland. The result is that today there are two “Irelands”. Northern Ireland, in the north, is part of the United Kingdom. The Republic of Ireland, in the south, is an independent country.

In the 1840s, the main crop, potatoes, were affected by disease and about 750,000 people died of hunger. This, and a shortage (短缺) of work, forced many people to leave Ireland and live in the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada. As a result of these problems, the population fell from 8.2 million in 1841 to 6.6 million in 1851.

For many years, the majority of Irish people earned their living as farmers. Today, many people still work on the land but more and more people are moving to the cities to work in factories and offices. Life in the cities is very different from life in the countryside, where things move at a quieter and slower pace.

The Irish are famous for being warm-hearted and friendly. Oscar Wilde, a famous Irish writer, once said that the Irish were “the greatest talkers since the Greeks”. Since independence, Ireland has revived (复兴) its own culture of music, language, literature and singing. Different areas have different styles of old Irish songs which are sung without instruments. Other kinds of Irish music use many different instruments such as the violin, whistles, etc.

1. What does the author tell us in paragraph 1?

A．How the Irish fought against the English.	B．How Ireland gained independence.
C．How English rulers tried to conquer Ireland.	D．How two “Irelands” came into being.

2. What can we learn about Ireland from the text?

A．Food shortages in the 1840s led to a decline in population.

B．People are moving to the cities for lack of work in the countryside.

C．It is harder to make a living as a farmer than as a factory worker.

D．Different kinds of old Irish songs are all sung with instruments.

3. What can be the best title for the text?

A．Life in Ireland	B．A Very Difficult History
C．Ireland, Past and Present	D．The Independence of Ireland

2 . Levi Strauss did not invent jeans, but he is considered the first person to make and sell great numbers of them. He was born in Bavaria, an area that is part of Germany. In 1847 he and his family moved to the United States.

Levi Strauss opened a small dry goods store, first in New York, then in San Francisco, California. Among the products he sold were jeans. These pants were especially useful for miners in California. They needed clothing made from a strong material. Jeans are usually made from a heavy cotton cloth called denim.

Levi Strauss partnered with a clothing maker named Jacob Davis. Davis had invented a process for making rivets (铆钉) for jeans. These little metal connectors helped hold the pieces of cloth together to make the jeans stronger.

In 1875, the government gave Strauss and Davis a patent (专利) for their invention. That meant no one else could legally copy it without their permission. In 1928 the Levi Strauss company registered (注册) the word “Levi’s” as a trademark for their product.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington has one of the oldest known pairs of Levi’s. Writer James Sullivan published a book called “Jeans: A Cultural History of an American Icon.” In the book, he says jeans show two American values, creativity and rebellion.

Cowboys wore jeans in the old Wild West. In the 1950s, people saw famous Hollywood actors like James Dean and Marlon Brando wearing jeans in movies.

Today jeans come in blue but also lots of other colors and in many styles and at all prices.

1. Which of the following about Levi Strauss is TRUE?

A．He invented jeans.	B．He was born in the west of America.
C．He used to run a dry goods store in New York.	D．He started the Levi Strauss company by himself.

2. Rivets in Jeans were first used to _____.

A．hang little things.	B．make the clothes stronger.
C．decorate the clothes.	D．protect miners from attacks.

3. From the text, we can learn Levi’s _____.

A．was registered in 1928.	B．was given a patent.
C．was the oldest trademark of jeans.	D．has ever appeared in movies.

4. The text mainly talks about ____.

A．the meaning of jeans.	B．the history of jeans.
C．how jeans are invented.	D．why jeans become popular.

4 . Valencia is in the east part of Spain. It has a port on the sea, two miles away on the coast. It is the capital of a province that is also named Valencia.

The city is a market centre for what is produced by the land around the city. Most of the city’s money is made from farming. It is also a busy business city, with ships, railways, clothes and machine factories.

Valencia has an old part with white buildings, coloured roofs, and narrow streets. The modern part has long, wide streets and new buildings. Valencia is well known for its parks and gardens. It has many old churches and museums. The university in the centre of the city was built in the 13th century.

The city of Valencia has been known since the 2nd century. In the 8th century it was the capital of Spain. There is also an important city in Venezuela (委内瑞拉) named Valencia.

1. From the text, how many places have the name Valencia?

A．One.

B．Two.

C．Three.

D．Four.

2. When was Valencia the most important city in Spain?

A．2nd century.

B．8th century.

C．13th century.

D．20th century.

3. What is Valencia famous for?

A．Its seaport.

B．Its university.

C．Its churches and museums.

D．Its parks and gardens.

4. The main income of the city of Valencia is from its ______.

A．markets

B．business

C．factories

D．farming

5 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（仅限 1 词）或括号内单词的正确形式（不多于 3 个词）。

The European Union is     1     organization of European countries. The countries are     2     (depend) and are governed in different     3     (way). In the United Kingdom,     4     example, the head of state is a king or queen. In France, on the other hand, the head of state is a president. But each of them     5     (send) representatives to the European Parliament,     6     has some control over what happens in each of the member countries.

The idea of the European Union     7     (begin) in the 1950s. The first members were France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Italy. Little by little, the number increased during the second half of the     8     (twenty) century. By the year 2000, there were 15 member countries. The new countries were Austria, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

In 2004, the European Union increased to 25 members. The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia, plus the Mediterranean islands of Cyprus and Malta all became members. The     9     (expand) European Union has a population of more than half a billion people, twice     10     big as the population of the United States.

7 . 语法填空

What do the five Olympic signs on the flag represent?     1     is widely believed that the five-riing Olympic symbol was created by Frenchman Pierre De Coubertin in 1913. As the founder of the modern Olympic Games, he wanted     2    (celebrate) the 20the anniversary(周年纪念) of the Games and chose a design of five rings,     3     represented the five continents(洲) taking part in the Games. The rings     4    (become) the official Olympic symbol at the 1920 Games in Belgium.

Pierre de Coubertin thought that the five interlocking rings meant the five continents     5    (compete) in the Games and the meeting of their athletes at the Olympic games.     6    (actual) every part of the modern Olympic symbol and flag shows the main purpose of the Games in a particular way. The Olympic flag, with its familiar rings, is used as     7     international symbol of peace, unity and     8    (agree). The white background of the flag stands     9     peace and truth.

At the end of each Olympic Games, the mayor(市长) of the hosting city passes the Olympic fag to the mayor of the city where the next Olympics     10    (hold) for years later. The flag remains there until the next Olympics.