April Fool’s Day（愚人节）, was a day of laughing and jokes. This day is kept

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April Fool’s Day（愚人节）, was a day of laughing and jokes. This day is kept in many countries, not only in Britain and the USA. This is a day to play jokes and make people laugh. Nobody knows when was the beginning of this custom. Some people connect it with the end of winter and the return of spring which make people merry and ready to play jokes.
In Scotland young people were sent for hen’s teeth or bird’s milk and everybody laughed when they could find such things. In the USA and Britain some people could place a sign on a person’s back with the words “push me!” Children often tell a grown-up that his sock is torn or he has something black on his face, and then shout “April Fool!” There is also the old purse（钱包） trick. A purse is left lying in the street, but when someone wants to take it, it is quickly pulled back by a string which the hidden joker holds in his hand. Or the purse may be filled with stones. Sometimes invitations are sent to people, asking them to come and visit somebody, but when they come they see that nobody expects them. Some people like to telephone to the zoo on the day and ask for Mr. Fish, Miss Fox or Mrs. Cat. All these jokes are very old but still they make people laugh.
小题1: ____________knows when the custom of April Fool’s Day started．

A．One

B．Anyone

C．Nobody

D．Someone

小题2:Many tricks are played on April Fool’s day except ____ ．

A．phoning the zoo	B．placing a sign on someone’s back
C．playing cards	D．leaving a purse in the street

小题3:The purpose of playing jokes is to _____ ．

A．for fun	B．make people laugh
C．make fool of oneself	D．fool someone

小题4:The best title of the passage is ____ ．

A．How people in the west spend their April Fool’s Day

B．Customs are different

C．How British people celebrate their holidays

D．How April Fool’s Day comes about

答案

小题1:C
小题1:C
小题1:B
小题1:A

解析

略

举一反三

If you still know little about the “IMF”, it’s time you started to read about it, for it has been a hot issue of the whole world．
The International Monetary Fund （IMF） is one of the international financial（金融的） institutions, which works for global growth and economic stability．It provides policy advice and financing to members in economic difficulties and also works with developing nations to help them achieve economic stability and reduce poverty．The“ IMF” currently has a near-global membership of 185 countries．
To become a member, a country must apply for it and then be accepted by a majority of the existing members．On joining, each member of the IMF is assigned a quota（配额）, based broadly on its relative size in the world economy．The IMF’s membership agreed in May 2008 on a rebalancing of its quota system to reflect the changing global economic realities, especially the increased weight of major emerging markets （新兴市场） in the global economy, such as China, India and Russia．
The following diagram gives more information about major international financial institutions．

小题1:The main cause of the IMF’s decision to make changes in its quota system is ______．

A．the shortage of resources	B．global growth and economic stability
C．the changing economic situations	D．the need to accept new members

小题2:The main purpose of the IMF is to ______．

A．prevent the member countries from getting into wars

B．collect money from rich countries to help poor ones

C．provide assistance to its member countries when necessary

D．make sure the world economy develops in a healthy way

小题3:Which of the following is true according to the passage?

A．The quota an IMF member country gets depends on the size of the country．

B．India together with China is proposing an increase in emergency funds．

C．The more money a member contributes to the IMF, the more say it has in it．

D．The International Development Association is meant to support developed countries．

小题4:From the diagram we can see the present IMF is most probably under the control of _______．

A．the US

B．Russia

C．Japan

D．any EU member state

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There are three branches of medicine. One is called "doctor medicine," or "scientific medicine." Scientific doctors try to observe sicknesses, look for logical patterns, and then find out how the human body works. From there they figure out what treatments may work. This kind of medicine is believed to date from the 4th century BC. Although nowadays it is successful, in the ancient world this approach probably did not cure many patients.
A second kind of medicine is called "natural cures," or "folk medicine," in which less educated people try to cure sicknesses with various herbs. These folk healers also use observation and logic, but they are not so aware of it. They try things until they find something that seems to work, and then they keep doing that. Folk medicine flourished（繁荣） long before the development of scientific medicine and was more successful in ancient times than doctor medicine.
The third kind is called "health spas," or "faith healing." Sometimes this may be as simple as touching the holy man and being immediately healed. Other times, a magician may make you a magic charm, or say a spell, to cure you. Some religious groups organize special healing shrines（圣坛） for the sick. In these places people rest, get plenty of sleep, eat healthy food, drink water instead of wine, and exercise in various ways. They also talk to the priests and pray to the gods. If you are feeling depressed or you have been working too hard, going to these places may be just the right thing to make you feel better.
小题1:Doctor medicine __________.

A．has a longer history than folk medicine

B．has been practiced for around 1,600 years

C．bases its treatments on observation and logic

D．was very successful in curing sicknesses in ancient times

小题2:According to the passage, which of the following is NOT used in health spas?

A．Magic power.

B．Various herbs.

C．Religious faith.

D．A healthy life style.

小题3:According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?

A．Folk healers choose different herbs to cure diseases without any sound basis.

B．People who practice folk medicine need lots of formal education on herbs.

C．The success of folk medicine led to the development of doctor medicine.

D．Natural cures worked better than scientific medicine in ancient times.

小题4:The author"s primary purpose in this passage is to __________.

A．describe different types of medicine

B．argue for the importance of medicine in health care

C．show the crucial role religion plays in medical treatments

D．compare the educational background of three different types of patients

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Many Americans have been leaving their cars at home and riding to work on bicycles. Andy Clark is the leader of the League of American Bicyclists. His group supports bicycling for fun, fitness and transportation.
Clark says this is good news for the environment. He says riding a bicycle to work does not burn fossil fuel or creates dangerous pollutions. Experts say the effects are the most important on short trips. The Department of Transportation says fifty percent of Americans drive eight kilometers or fewer to work. Shorter car trips set out more pollution into the air for each kilometer drive. This is because the car engine will set out the harmful air when it warms up before it can work well.
James, a members of Congress (国会), is a strong supporter of bicycle use. He says cities, counties, state governments and state highway transportation agencies are planning the roadways of the future. They are creating roads and paths for bicycles in cities and between communities.
Last year, Portland, the Pacific Northwest city in the state of Oregon, had the highest percentage of bicycle users in the United States. Portland has been doing progressive city planning for many years to create special paths for bike riders.
小题1: What happened in America now according to the news?

A．Many Americans lost jobs now.

B．Many Americans prefer short trips.

C．There are more and more bicyclists now in America.

D．The pollution is getting worse and worse in America.

小题2: Where is Portland?
A. One of the cities in the USA. B. One of the counties in the USA.
C. One of the states in the USA. D. A country in the northwest of the USA.
小题3:What does the underlined word “harmful” mean in the second paragraph? The closest meaning is “_______”.

A．polluted

B．dangerous

C．clean

D．foolish

小题4:What is the main idea of the passage?

A．Many Americans like bike-riding for fun.

B．Short car trips can reduce pollution.

C．American government suggests people riding bicycles.

D．Many Americans ride bicycles to support environment protection.

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Since new technologies are ever growing, employers now have the chance to monitor （监控） their employees to make them spare more time to work when they use their phones, computer terminals, emails and even when an employee is using the Internet．
Recent surveys have shown that a majority of employers monitor their employees’ activities．It was found that three fourths of employers monitored the websites their employees visited in order to prevent improper surfing．The survey further indicated that 65% of employers used software to block connections to websites considered off limits to employees．One third of employers monitored their employees’ number of keystrokes and the amount of time spent on the keyboard and lastly just over half of the employers surveyed review and kept email messages．
Most of the time, email is not considered private if the email system is used at a company, the employer owns it and is allowed to review its contents．Email messages that are sent within the company, as well as those that are sent from the employee’s terminal to another company, or from another company to the employee are subject to monitoring．If an email is deleted out of the employee’s account, that doesn’t mean that they are totally deleted．The messages are kept in memory．Emails are often backed up along with other important data from the computer system．If an employer’s email policy specifically states that messages marked as “private” will be kept confidential （机密的）,however, there may also be some exceptions to that policy （政策）．
In order to know their employer’s email policy, employees should read over the employee handbook．If the handbook doesn’t address the issue of email monitoring, they should speak with their employer about their policy for emails and privacy．Currently there are very few laws that address workplace privacy; however, there are some organizations that are working to advocate for employees so that there will be a stronger government regulation of employee monitoring activities．
小题1:According to the author, the employers’ monitoring ____．

A．may be an efficient management method

B．should be performed secretly

C．has resulted from the development in computers

D．is quite common nowadays

小题2:Employers probably think that monitoring the employees can help them ____．

A．improve their work efficiency（有效）	B．use computers properly
C．develop a way of keeping office secrets	D．reduce their mental pressures

小题3:It can be inferred from the passage that ____．

A．employees should delete their own emails at once to keep them secret

B．an employer’s email policy may protect the employees’ privacy

C．nobody can help solve the problem of office privacy

D．an employee may feel troubled by being monitored in the office

小题4:The underlined phrase “advocate for” in the last paragraph means “____”．

A．tell the employees the truth

B．publicly support

C．ask the employees to be more attentive

D．remind the employees of the possible failure

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Almost all cultures celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another in some way. Different cultures celebrate the beginning of a new year in different ways, and at different times on the calendar.
In western countries, people usually celebrate New Year at midnight on January 1st. People may go to parties, dress in formal clothes—like tuxedos(小礼服)and evening gowns, and drink champagne at midnight. During the first minutes of the New Year, people cheer and wish each other happiness for the year ahead. But some cultures prefer to celebrate the New Year by waking up early to watch the sun rise. They welcome the New Year with the first light of the sunrise.
It is also a common Western custom to make a New Year’s promise, called a resolution. New Year’s resolutions usually include promises to try something new or change a bad habit in the new year.
Many cultures also do special things to get rid of bad luck at the beginning of a new year. For example, in Ecuador, families make a big doll from old clothes. The doll is filled with old newspapers and firecrackers. At midnight, these dolls are burned to show the bad things from the past year are gone and the new year can start afresh (again). Other common traditions to keep away bad luck in a new year include throwing things into rivers or the ocean, or saying special things on the first day o

f the new year.
Other New Year traditions are followed to bring good luck is to eat grapes on New Year’s Day. The more grapes a person eats, the more good luck the person will have in the year. In France, people eat pancakes for good luck at New

Year. In the United States, some people eat black– eyed peas(豇豆)for good luck——but to get good luck for a whole year you have to eat 365 of them!
小题1:Which culture celebrates New Year in the morning?

A．The United States.	B．Spain.
C．France.	D．The passage doesn’t say.

小题2:According to the third paragraph, what is a resolution?

A．Something you burn.	B．Something you eat.
C．Something you say.	D．Something you wear.

小题3:What is the topic of the fourth paragraph?

A．Bringing good luck.	B．Keeping away bad luck.
C．Planning for the next year.	D．Remembering the past.

小题4:Which is probably true about eating black – eyed peas on New Year?

A．Black-eyed peas taste bad.	B．The peas are very difficult to cook.
C．One pea brings one day of luck.	D．It is bad luck to eat a lot of black-eyed peas.

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