1 . Do you have any foreign friends? Do you know their characteristics(特征)?

The Germans are very quiet and they always keep calm. They don’t like to speak many words. They look very serious. They like different kinds of amusements. The Germans are very hard-working. They like tidiness, especially the women, who always keep their home clean.

In some ways, the Englishmen look the same as the Germans. They are very quiet and never talk too much with the strangers. They are really polite, so we often hear they say “Thank you.” or “Sorry.” The gentlemen are also the Englishmen.

The French’s holidays are very long. They like traveling and usually spend their long time on staying in other countries. The Frenchmen are more outgoing than the Germans. It is very easy to make friends with them.

Compared to the Frenchmen, the Americans are more outgoing. And they are even opener than all of the Europeans. They don’t like to depend on others. So it is very common that the students do part-time jobs in their free time. And in Americans’ eyes, success is an important part in their life.

1. According to the passage, ______are very quiet.

A．only the Germans	B．only the Englishmen
C．only the Frenchmen	D．both the Germans and the Englishmen

2. What does the underlined word “tidiness” mean in Chinese?

A．整洁	B．安静
C．时尚	D．随意

3. In the writer’s eyes, the gentlemen are______.

A．the Germans	B．the Frenchmen
C．the Englishmen	D．the Americans

4. What can we learn about the Frenchmen from the passage?

A．They are more outgoing than the Americans.

B．It is very easy to make friends with them.

C．They like traveling in their own country.

D．They look serious and are always hard-working.

5. Which is the best title of the passage?

A．Foreigners’ hobbies.

B．Who are more outgoing?

C．Characteristics of the foreigners.

D．Success is an important part in Americans’ life.

2 . US people are overweight, eat lots of fast food and fill their homes with pets. At least that’s what 21 European teenagers think.

The students, 18 from Germany and 3 from France, are exchange students. They are studying in the US for a year. After a few days in the US, they said what they thought about the country.

Most talked about the amount of fast food US people eat. It’s not that the students don’t eat fast food. They just don’t eat as much.

Laetitia Villeneuve from France said she eats fast food, usually McDonald’s, only once or twice a year.

“I like it,” said Nora Koeberle from Germany. “But I couldn’t eat it every day. I’d get fat.”

Students are surprised at how big US people seem.

“There are fat people in Germany,” said Antonia Greimel from Germany. “But not as many as there are here.”

They also spoke about the animals. Silvana Wolfram from Germany said she had heard about how people had lots of pets in the US.

Other ways of US high schools interested the students.

For example, Koeberle said she wouldn’t be able to play an instrument or sports as part of her classes in Germany. She can in the US.

But the best thing about US high schools is something the European kids can’t get back home. “I do wish we had parties,” Koeberle said.

1. Where do the 21 students come from?

A．Germany and France.	B．Germany and England.
C．France and Greece.	D．England and Greece.

2. Which of the following about the students is TRUE?

A．Greimel thinks there Ve more fat people in Germany.

B．Villeneuve eats McDonald’s once or twice a week.

C．Koeberle has music class or PE class in Germany.

D．Wolfram has learned something about pets in the US.

3. According to the last paragraph, we know ________.

A．Koeberle will go to parties before she leaves the US

B．there are not parties in Keoberle’s school in Germany

C．Koeberle wants to hold a party with her classmates

D．Koeberle doesn’t like the parties in the US

4. The passage is mainly about ________.

A．why US people eat so much fast food

B．why US people are overweight

C．what the 21 European students think of US people

D．how people have lots of pets in the US

3 . Some people describe American society as a salad bowl while others think of it as a melting pot.

In a bowl of salad, all the ingredients (原料) are mixed together.     1     Together, however, the ingredients make up a unity. All the ingredients of a salad contribute to the finished product. They may be covered with the same dressing (调味酱), but the green vegetables, tomatoes and cooked corn can all be seen for what they are.

From this point of view, America is very much like a salad bowl where individual ethnic groups mix together, yet maintain their cultural uniqueness. People may work together during the day at similar jobs and in the same companies, but at night they may return to their ethnic groups where their own individual culture directs their way of life.     2     Each ethnic group has its own special customs, language, food and traditions to protect and defend. This idea of the salad bowl is referred to as cultural diversity; that is, American society is a collection of various cultures living together in harmony within one country.

    3     Here, society is like one large pot of soup. All cultural aspects are mixed together, sacrificing their original identity and keeping a bit of what they were to become a new reality. The longer the soup is cooked, the better the taste and the more likely it will be for the mixture to be cooked. In this sense, America can surely be seen as a melting pot where people from all over the world come to live and work together creating one nation. There are dozens of shared symbols.     4     In such a culture, symbols like the flag and the nation’s official song serve to break down the walls which separate ethnic groups.

Whether a salad bowl or a melting pot, America can be best described as a mixture of both.     5    

A．They never lose their shapes, colors or tastes.

B．Both are ridiculous.

C．This is why there is so much diversity within America.

D．Thus, one needs to abandon one’s culture to be considered “American”.

E．In other words, America is a nation where there is unity in diversity.

F．The other theory, which is also used to describe American society, is the melting pot.

G．They serve to develop the various ethnic groups to create a new American culture.

4 . Living in a culture that is different from your own can be both an exciting and challenging experience. You have to learn different cultural practices and try to adapt to them.

    1     They talk about topics such as ages, income or marital status, which Americans think is annoying and intrusive.

In China, elders are traditionally treated with enormous respect and dignity while the young are cherished and nurtured. In America, the goal of the family is to encourage independence, particularly that of the children.    2    .

Chinese people have different meanings to define friends.     3    Friendship means lifelong friends who feel deeply obligated to give each other whatever help might seem required. Americans always call people they meet friends, so the definition of friends is general and different. There are work friends, playing friends, school friends and drinking friends.

As is well known, the Chinese like to save.     4     It is different in the USA, where far fewer families are saving money for emergencies and education than their Chinese counterparts.    5     If you achieve something in the US, it's because you were great. While in China, if you achieve something in China it's because the team, or family, or company is great. Everything you do gets attributed to the greater whole, while in America individual merits are celebrated.

A．Just hanging out together time to time is not friendship.

B．Chinese people put more emphasis on good character and faith.

C．Chinese people value education and career more than Americans.

D．They are always conservative when they are planning to spend money.

E．Basically China values the community and the US values the individual.

F．Chinese people do not have the same concept of privacy as Americans do

G．Unlike the Chinese, older Americans seldom live with their children.

5 . The Maldives faces the threat of extinction from rising sea levels, but the government said on Thursday it was looking to the future with plans to build homes and a golf course that can float.

An increase in sea levels of just 18 to 59 centimeters would make the Maldives --- a nation of a number of tiny coral islands in the Indian Ocean --- not suitable for humans to live in by 2100, the UN’s climate change experts have warned.

President Mohamed Nasheed has declared a fight for survival, and last month he signed a deal with a Dutch company to study suggestions for a floating structure that could support a conference centre, homes and an 18-hole golf course.

The company, Dutch Docklands, is currently building floating developments in the Netherlands and Dubai. Its website said it undertook projects that make “land from water by providing large-scale floating constructions to create similar conditions as on land”.

The Maldives began to work on an artificial island known as the Hulhumale near the crowded capital island of Male in 1997 and more than 30,000 people have been settled there in order to ease crowdedness. The city, which has a population of 100,000, is already protected from rising sea levels by a 30-million-dollar sea wall, and the government is considering increasingly imaginative ways to fight climate change.

Nasheed, who held the world’s first underwater cabinet (内阁) meeting in October to highlight his people’s serious and difficult situation, has even spoken of buying land elsewhere in the world to enable Maldivians to relocate if their homes are completely covered.

He has also promised to turn his nation into a model for the rest of the world by becoming “carbon neutral (碳中和)” by 2020. His plan involves ending fossil fuel use and powering all vehicles and buildings from “green” sources such as burning coconut husks.

1. According to the passage, the Maldives is a country ________.

A．that is made up of many small islands

B．which has been covered by water now

C．where people live in underwater houses

D．whose people live in their floating homes

2. Mohamed Nasheed chose Dutch Docklands for his plan probably because it ________.

A．has a good fame throughout the world

B．charged much less than other companies

C．has experience in building floating structures

D．supports building floating structures in the world

3. The Hulhumale was built for the purpose of ________.

A．attracting more visitors	B．making it a new capital
C．fighting against climate change	D．making the capital less crowded

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

A．To promote the idea of low-carbon living style.

B．To tell people that the Maldives is disappearing soon.

C．To discuss the causes why the Maldives faces extinction.

D．To introduce the efforts taken by Maldivians to fight for life.

6 . The bald eagle has been an official symbol (象征) of the United States for more than 200 years. Now it will share the stage with another American animal—the bison. Last spring, this huge, hairy animal became the country’s national symbol.

Bison, also known as buffalo, are the biggest land animals in North America. They have played a big role in American history.

Long ago, millions of bison traveled across the U. S. Many lived in the grasslands of the Great Plains. For hundreds of years, American Indians in that area needed bison meat for food. They used the skins to make clothing and houses, and the bones to make tools.

Later, many settlers moved to the Great Plains to set up farms and towns. They hunted bison in large numbers. By 1900, bison had almost died out. Only about 1,000 bison were left. Since then, people have worked hard to save the bison. Today, there are more than 400, 000 bison in the U. S. They live in protected areas and all over the nation. Their comeback is seen as a great success.

To recognize the bison’s importance in U. S. history, wildlife groups and American Indian groups asked U. S. lawmakers to make the animal a national symbol. Lawmakers passed a bill, or plan for a law, to do that. The President then signed the bill into law.

U. S. Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota was one lawmaker who pushed to get the law passed. “The bison is an amazing animal,” he told Scholastic News. “It’s a great symbol for a great country.”

1. What is the bald eagle? (不多于 7 个词）
2. Why had the bison almost died out by 1900? (不多于 7 个词）
3. How many bison are there in America today? (不多于 3 个词)
4. Why did people make the bison a national symbol? (不多于 8 个词）

7 . You may have heard of the American Dream, an ideal that has powered the hopes of Americans for generations.

It began as a belief that the US was a land of opportunity, and that anyone could achieve success through hard work. The dream has referred to home ownership, a good job, retirement security or each generation doing better than the last for a long time.

Yet today, this concept seems to have greatly changed. As Tune magazine pointed out, quite different from the older generation, many Millennials (the generation born after 1980) redefine the American Dream as “day-to-day control of your life”. They “prize job mobility, flexible schedules, any work that is more interesting than typing, and the ability to travel”, said the magazine.

Home ownership, once the cornerstone of the American Dream, is becoming a smaller priority for this generation. Meanwhile, nearly 40% of them choose travel as part of their dream. And running their own business is a rising favorite, as nearly 26% of Millennials consider self-employment as part of their dream.

So what has led to this huge change?

Many point fingers at the poor economy. “Modern young Americans seem bound to face a world stamped by ever narrowing opportunity,” noted The Daily Beast.

“The rate of 16-to-24-year-olds out of school and out of work is unusually high at 15%. Many college graduates have taken jobs that don’t require a degree,” Time reported.

The magazine worries that these difficulties may lead to a lost generation who are “unable to ever truly find their feet on the corporation’s ladder”.

Dan Kadlec, a reporter of Time, sees Millennials as resetting their expectations. “This situation is different for young adults today,” he wrote. “A true American dream has to feel attainable, and many Millennials are feeling they can only attain a day-to-day lifestyle that suits them.”

1. Which has similar meaning to the underlined word “cornerstone”？

A．value	B．average
C．reason	D．basis

2. What has changed Millennials’ views of the American Dream?

A．The discouraging economy and unemployment.

B．The fierce competition in getting a degree.

C．Their dissatisfaction with the government.

D．Their lack of confidence in themselves.

3. What does Dan Kadlec’s think of Millennials’ definition of the American Dream?

A．considerate	B．understandable
C．curious	D．negative

4. What can be the best title for this passage?

A．Meaning of American Dream	B．Redefinition of American Dream
C．Value of Achieving American Dream	D．The Reasons of American Dream

8 . Even nowadays there is a lot of misunderstanding between nationalities. Let's have a look at what the following people have to say.

Maria Conti: I find the English people insincere, cold and unfriendly. They keep saying "Thank you", "I'm sorry" even when they don't know each other. They are even polite to their own relatives. Except for helping you find your way in the streets, they aren't really friendly and never invite you to their houses.

Giannis Stinios: On the contrary I found them broad-minded and friendly.I was invited to people's houses and they all showed great interest in my ideas,Greek life and people.In England I learned that it was possible to be warm, friendly and polite at the same time.

Judy Brown: I lived in both Italy and Greece for a few years.At first there were a few misunderstandings between my foreign friends and myself. For example, I once gave a Greek friend a present for her birthday party.I was rather sorry that she did not unwrap it immediately. What's more, she even didn't thank me until I asked her if she liked it.I've learned from different experiences that a lot of foreigners find our attitude to what we English people call politeness rather insincere. They feel that politeness isn't necessary between friends.

1. According to Maria Conti, it is ________.

A．insincere to keep saying "Thank you" and "I'm sorry"

B．necessary for relatives to be polite to each other

C．unfriendly for the English people to help you find your way in the streets

D．not polite for the English people to invite her to their houses

2. Giannis Stinios is from ________.

A．England	B．Greece
C．Italy	D．America

3. When the English people receive gifts from their friends or relatives, they ________.

A．wrap them at once

B．unwrap them immediately

C．put them away at first

D．always ask their friends or relatives if they like them

4. According to Judy Brown’s experience, ________.

A．what the English people call politeness is a truth

B．the English people are less polite than the people in other countries

C．ideas of what are good manners are the same in different countries

D．ideas of what is politeness are not always the same in different countries

9 . Young people in the United States do not have a strong understanding of the world and their place in it.

Two US-based groups, the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Geographic Society, conducted an online survey last year. They wanted to know what young people in American colleges knew about geography, U. S. foreign policy, recent international events, and economics.

The survey was given to over 1,200 Americans between the ages of 18 and 26, all of them presently attending, or having previously graduated from. a 2- or 4-year college or university.

The average test score, out of 75 total possible answers, was 55 percent. The study identifies a few important problems. For example, only 30 percent knew that the only part of the U. S. government that can declare war is Congress. Only 60% of those taking the survey could identify Brazil on a world map.

“Part of the problem,” argue the organizers of the survey, “is the Internet.” They say it is becoming harder to find high-quality information about world events among all the fake news and trivia (琐事) which swamp (淹没) the web. Forty-three percent of those questioned said they read about the news on Facebook.

Another problem is that most college courses do not require students to learn about international issues. If such information is not required, Richard Haass from the Council on Foreign Relations said, then the United States could have leaders like Gary Johnson. He was a recent presidential candidate who did not know about the Syrian city of Aleppo when a reporter asked him about it.

The survey results were not all bad. The young people also demonstrated a good understanding of climate change and renewable energy. And the majority of them said that international issues were becoming more important to them.

Haass says these findings suggest the need to find ways to get good information for students, both in school and online. To help, the Council on Foreign Relations is creating a new program called CFR Campus, designed to help build knowledge about global issues.

1. What do we know about the survey?

A．The participants were all recent university graduates.

B．It was an online survey conducted by two US universities.

C．It was given to over 1,200 American people aged from 18 to 26.

D．It aimed to find out what the young people know about America.

2. What’s one reason the organizers of the survey give for young people’s lack of knowledge?

A．The poor quality of the US university system.

B．Young people’s unwillingness to travel abroad.

C．The sources from which they gel their information

D．Their lack of interest in knowing more about the world.

3. What topic did the young Americans understand best according to the survey?

A．Government organizations.

B．Geographic information.

C．Foreign relations.

D．Environmental matters.

4. In which part of a newspaper could we find this article?

A．Economics.	B．Education.
C．National Politics.	D．Entertainment.

10 . 根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项, 其中有两项为多余选项。

Ireland now has one of the best education systems in the world. Class sizes are small, exam results are good and most children are happy to stay at school after the minimum(最低的) leaving age of sixteen.    1    For years, Ireland had one of the most complicated(复杂的) education systems in the world.    2    Classes were large and the teaching was very traditional. As in many countries, teachers used to hit the children if they made mistakes. Fortunately, the punishment was not allowed in 1982.    3    As a result, there were schools for the rich and schools for the poor. Boys and girls went to different schools. Nowadays, most schools are free and only about half the schools are either for girls or boys.    4    Girls do better than boys in their exams; more girls go to university and most teachers are women. At the end of secondary school, students take their final exams. Compulsory(必修的)subjects are maths, Irish and English.    5    Some of these, like business organization, help to prepare them for the world of work. This is very different from the past when Latin and Greek used to be the most important subjects.

A．In many ways, education is now a woman’s world.

B．Parents used to pay for their children’s education.

C．In addition, they must choose two or three extra subjects.

D．Public schools in Ireland are not run by the government.

E．It is easy to forget that the picture used to be very different.

F．Here, children do not learn any subjects but some basic skills.ZXXK]

G．There were many different kinds of school, but most of them had a lot in common.