1 . What are pillows really stuffed with? Not physically, but symbolically? The question occurred to me with the photos in the news and social media from the 50 cities around the world that staged public celebrations for International Pillow Fight Day. Armed with nothing more than bring-our-own sacrificial cushions, strangers struck heavily each other in playful feather from Amsterdam to Atlanta, Warsaw to Washington DC. But why? Is there anything more to this delightful celebration?
As a cultural sign, the pillow is deceptively soft. Since at least the 16th Century, the humble pillow has been given unexpected meanings. The Chinese playwright Tang Xianzu tells a famous story about a wise man who meets a depressed young scholar at an inn and offers him a magic pillow filled with the most vivid dreams of a seemingly more fulfilling life. When the young man awakens to discover that his happy 50-year dream has in fact come and gone in the short space of an afternoon’s nap, our impression of the pillow’s power shifts from wonder to terror.
Subsequent writers have likewise seized upon the pillow. When the 19th-Century English novelist Charlotte Bronte poetically observed “a ruffled (不平的) mind makes a restless pillow”, she didn’t just change the expected order of the adjectives and nouns, but instead she made unclear the boundaries between mind and matter — the thing resting and the thing rested upon.
It’s a trick perhaps Bronte learned from the Renaissance philosopher Montaigne, who once insisted that “ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head”. On Montaigne’s thinking, intelligence and happiness confront each other forever in a pillow fight that only one can win.
With the words of Tang. Bronte, and Montaigne, we can perhaps more easily measure the attraction of the global pillow fight. Like a ritual of release, the annual international pillow fight amounts to a kind of cleansing, a brushing off of daily worries: an emptying of the world’s collective mind. Rather than a launch-pad for weightless rest, the pillow is a symbol of heavy thought: an anchor that drags the world’s soul down — one that must be lightened.
1. The example of Tang Xianzu is used to illustrate that ________.| A．pillows give people satisfactory dreams |
| B．dreams are always wonderful while the real world is cruel |
| C．people’s impression of pillows changes from wonder to terror |
| D．pillows symbolically convey the meaning in contrast to their soft appearance |
| A．wrote poems about pillows |
| B．regarded pillows as reflections of our minds |
| C．shared the same viewpoint as Tang Xianzu on pillows |
| D．was likely to have been influenced by the thoughts of the Renaissance |
| A．pillows give us comfort |
| B．pillows make people more intelligent |
| C．people with too many thoughts have less inner peace |
| D．people can easily fall asleep when they know nothing |
| A．Because it is a ritual release. |
| B．Because it makes life delightful. |
| C．Because it comforts restless minds. |
| D．Because it contains a profound meaning of life. |
2 . Almost everyone who has studied English has been warned about the way Brits love their manners. It is part of our national identity, as much as fish and chips or complaining about the weather. Recently I have been wondering where this comes from and I read online that we say sorry up to eight times a day. Probably the same amount of times that any other person says “hello” or “how are you”. It is almost like greetings to us! It was only when I was explaining how there are five steps of saying thank you when you buy something from a shop to a Mexican friend of mine that I realised how mad it sounded.
After some research online I have not been able to find any specific reasons why we are the way we are. I suppose for centuries manners and how we eat at the table and talk to other people have been the barriers between the lower and upper classes and represent your social status. Britain has traditionally been a quite conservative country. There are many articles suggesting that this seemingly polite attitude of always saying please and thank you is quite false because it is impossible to always feel that you want to thank someone or say please.
Maybe it is for this reason that people are going one of two ways: they are incredibly polite and hold back on their feelings or not polite at all, and express their true feelings. Some Brits are fed up of pretending that they are always content and having to please people. Sometimes because we feel we have to be polite, we are prevented from saying what we truly think. Do you think it is better to not hurt people’s feelings and be polite or to let people know the truth? In your country what is the custom? I know in some countries if someone is considered to be doing their job, the clients think that they do not need to be thanked.
1. What does the author think of the British way of saying “Thank you”?| A．Normal. | B．Surprising. | C．Exciting. | D．Pleasing. |
| A．Why the British like to complain about the weather. |
| B．Why the British love their way of showing manners. |
| C．Why the British are fond of fish and chips so much. |
| D．Why the British have five steps of saying thank you. |
| A．Wealth and health. | B．Social status. | C．Politeness. | D．Attitudes. |
| A．They want to express their true feelings. |
| B．They want to let people know the truth. |
| C．They are kept from saying what they think. |
| D．They want to represent their social status. |
3 . Labor Day in America began more than 100 years ago to honor low-paid factory workers.
Labor Day also informally marks the end of summer. Many students return to school after Labor Day. The hot days of summer turn cooler. Many Americans celebrate the holiday with an outdoor family picnic.
But Labor Day started with a struggle. On May 1, 1889, workers demonstrated on the streets of Paris, France. International Labor Day was born. Most industrialized countries in the world—except the United States and Canada—celebrate Labor Day on the first of May.
On September 5, 1882, in New York City. About 10,000 workers walked through the streets to show the strength of organized labor. For many years after that, American workers used the first Monday in September to ask for better working conditions and pay. Music was a part of many of those marches.
Labor songs traditionally tell stories of conflict (冲突) and hopes for a better life. Many traditional American labor songs came from workers in the coal mines of the South. Mine owners were bitterly against workers’ unions (工会). In Kentucky, company police searched for union leaders. They waited outside a worker’s home for several days to stop him from organizing.
The coal miner’s wife, Florence Reece, stayed inside with her children. She wrote this song, “Which Side Are You On?” Another American labor song is called “Bread and Roses.” It is based on a poem by James Oppenheim, published in December of 1911.
The poem speaks about the women’s labor movement. At that time, conditions in factories, where many women worked, were horrible. A fire at a clothing factory in New York killed 146 people.
A month after Oppenheim’s poem was published, textile workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts went on strike, which won them higher pay and better working conditions. Oppenheim’s poem gained more attention.
1. What does Labor Day mean to students in the United States?| A．It’s a time to eat in the wild. | B．Their summer vacation is over. |
| C．It teaches them to respect labor. | D．They learn much about history. |
| A．Fought. | B．United. | C．Marched. | D．Quarreled. |
| A．To force him to stay at home. | B．To prevent his wife writing the song. |
| C．To try to communicate with him. | D．To stop marches being organized. |
| A．He cared for working women’s rights. | B．He created the song “Bread and Roses”. |
| C．He reported the fire at a clothing factory. | D．He led the labor movement in Lawrence. |
It was December. The cold snow was falling as Kelly struggled home from school. How she hated the snow and everything else about Pinetree, Wyoming, America! How she missed Thailand! “I hate it here! I want to go home!” Kelly thought.
She reached for a small white envelope in her pocket. In it was an invitation to Jennifer’s party. Kelly didn’t want to go. She felt embarrassed at the thought of being at a party with a bunch of kids she barely knew. She closed her eyes and remembered at this time of year people would hold a festival to thank the Mother of Water in Thailand. They used banana leaves to make a little boat with a candle lit in it, made a wish for the coming year and set the boat floating on the river.
Kelly sighed and pushed open the door to her parents’ restaurant. They were busy working. “Maybe I should go just this once for Mum and Dad. They are so worried that I'm not making any friends.” Kelly went over and tied an apron (围裙) around her waist. As she was washing dishes, she told her mother that she had been invited to a party on Friday night. Mum smiled saying Kelly might be happy in their new home. Kelly nodded thinking Pinetree could never be her home.
On Friday evening, Dad drove Kelly to the party. Jennifer met her at the door and led her into the dining room. Six kids from her classes were seated around the table, on which small brown cookie houses were sitting. They were selecting colorful candies and gluing them to their own houses. Wow, she loved making things. For this part of the party, she could be herself. She decided to decorate her house like one of the golden temples of Thailand. As she was making it, Jennifer wondered how she did it. The others joined staring at Kelly with admiration. Kelly felt a sense of joy welling up inside her. Maybe I could fit in here — a little, she thought.
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
As the party went on, the talk turned to the coming festivals.
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Suddenly, Kelly got an idea. She ran to the garden, returning with several leaves.
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1.简要说明传统节日的现状；
2.谈谈你对此现状的看法。
注意：1.词数100左右（标题已为你写好，不计入词数）；
2.可以适当增加细节，使行文连贯。
Traditional Festivals in Modern Times
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1. “世界睡眠日”的时间和目的；
2. 睡眠不良的危害；
3. 如何提高睡眠质量。
注意：1. 词数80左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Hardly has the summer vacation begun when I returned to my native town. As the second-year senior student I had to get myself prepare for the college entrance examinations which were only a year away. Therefore in the morning I reviewed my lesson and read newspapers. In the afternoon, sometimes I went swimming on the river. Actual I like swimming and think nothing is refreshing than a swim. While it was hot in the afternoon, but a swim with friends would always make myself energetic. At night I always stayed at home, watched television with my family.I went to bed when the clock on the wall struck ten.
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Customs play a
Festivals are becoming more and more
Festivals are an important part of society. They
Christmas had traditionally been a time for my parents to spoil us. In the past, the presents would
On Christmas morning, we
10 . Christmas can easily become an expensive time of a year. From gifts to decorating, the money spent on the celebration adds up quickly. But there's no reason to completely break the bank.
Make a budget (预算). Set the amount you're willing to spend for the holiday, including gift giving, decorating and travel.
Start shopping for Christmas decorations early. Stores have sales for decorations between Halloween and Thanksgiving.
Shop for gifts all year round. Whenever you're out shopping, keep an eye out for great Christmas presents.
Scale down (缩减) your gift giving. Sometimes you just can't afford to get something for everyone. Remove the people from your list whom you rarely speak with.
| A．Send them simple cards instead. |
| B．This budget is perfect for many people. |
| C．Once you have a budget set, keep to it. |
| D．And it's after Thanksgiving that the prices begin to go up. |
| E．Christmas is known as the season of giving, sharing and receiving. |
| F．There are ways to celebrate well and spend wisely at the same time. |
| G．It doesn't matter when you get the gift, whether it's January or June. |
