(A. held  B. enjoy  C. off  D. whole  E. well  F. airports
 G. stay up  H. comes  I. get  J. for  K. all  L. stops )
                                                                       Spring Festival
     The Spring Festival is the most important festival for the Chinese people and is when all family
members    1    together, just like Christmas in the West. All people living away from home go back,
    2    railway stations and long-distance (长途) bus stations are crowded with home returnees
(回家的人).
      The most important days are Spring Festival Eve and the first three days. The Chinese people now
have seven days    3    to celebrate the festival and have a rest.
     There are many customs (习俗) during the Spring Festival. The 23rd day of the 12th lunar month
is called "Xiao Nian". At this time, most families make delicious food to    4    themselves.
      After that, people begin preparing   5    the coming New Year. This is called "Seeing the New
Year in (迎新年)".
     Store owners are busy because everybody goes out to buy things for the New Year. Include oil, ice…
new clothes and shoes for the children as    6    as gifts for the elderly (老人), friends and relatives.
     Before the New Year    7   , the people completely clean the indoors and outdoors of their homes.
     Then people begin decorating their clean rooms. The Chinese character (汉字) "fu" (meaning blessing
or happiness) is a must.
     The great important time is Spring Festival Eve. At that time, all family members eat dinner together.
The meal is more luxurious (丰盛) than usual. After the dinner, the    8    family will sit together, chatting
and watching TV. In recent years, the Spring Festival party broad on CCTV is essential (基本的)
entertainment (娱乐). According to custom, each family will    9    to see the New Year in.
      A series of activities such as lion dancing, dragon lantern dancing, lantern festivals and temple
fairs (庙会) will be    10    for days. The Spring Festival then comes to an end when the Lantern
Festival (元宵节) is finished.
1._____ 2._____ 3._____ 4._____ 5._____
6._____ 7._____ 8._____ 9._____ 10._____

     "Do the dishes. Take out the trash." Do your parents say these things to you? Of course they do.
Why? Well, someone has to do it. They're chores-small everyday duties. You may get money for
doing a chore, you may not. Your parents may tell you do it, or they may not. Parents and other
people don't always give commands(命令，指挥). Sometimes they ask. How do you ask politely?
In English, the word "could" is often used for requests (请求，要求). You must remember it when
your friend invited you to her party or the time you asked your parents if you might stay up late. If you
use "could", it's a nice way of asking permission (允许). And when your Mum says "Could you make
your bed?", she's asking you "politely" to do a chore.
1. What are chores?
_______________________________________________________
2. Do you parents ask you to do the chores?
_______________________________________________________
3. When you want others to help you, don't forget to use the word
_______________________________________________________
4. How does a mother ask her child to do dishes politely?
_______________________________________________________
5. What chores can you help your parents do?
________________________________________________________

     The Chinese New Year is the most important holiday for the Chinese people. For the Chinese, the New
Year comes with the first day of the first lunar month, between January 21 and February 19. People get
ready for the holiday for 15 days. Finally, on New Year's Eve, people close the shops, and the streets are
empty at midnight. Everyone locks the doors and stays at home. It is an important time for the family. The
young people bow (鞠躬) to the old people. The Chinese call this ketou. This means "to touch the ground
with the forehead". Then the young people wish the old people a happy New Year. The old people give
children gifts of money in red envelopes. The family then goes to sleep. In the morning, people are dressed
in their best clothes. Some people stay at home, and others go out to pay a New Year call. They are very
polite and do not use bad words. It's the most important day of the year.

1. "The Chinese New Year" in the passage means ______.

A. Mid-autumn Day
B. the Spring Festival
C. Christmas Day
D. the Dragon (龙) Boat Festival

2. It takes about ______ to get ready for the Chinese New Year.

A. a few days
B. twelve days
C. half a month
D. three weeks

3. At midnight you can see ______ people in the streets.

A. lots of
B. hundreds of
C. many
D. few

4. The part of the face above the eyes and below the hair is the ______.

A. ear
B. forehead
C. nose
D. mouth

5. On the Chinese New Year's Day, what do people usually say to each other when they meet?

A. Good Luck!
B. Best wishes!
C. Bad luck!
D. A or B

     People in different countries have different ways of doing things. Something that is polite in one
country may be quite impolite in another. In Britain, you mustn't lift your bowl to your mouth when
you are having some liquid (液体) food. But it's different in China. And in Japan you even needn't
worry about making noises when you have it. It shows that you are enjoying it. But it is regarded as
bad manners (礼貌，方式) in Britain. If you are a visitor in Mongolia, what manners do they wish you
to have? They wish you to give a loud "burp" (打嗝) after you finish eating. Burping shows that you like
the food.
     In Britain, you should try not to put your hands on the table when your're having a meal. In Mexico,
however, guests are expected to keep their hands on the table during a meal. But in Arab countries you
must be very careful with your hands. You mustn't eat with your left hand. Arabs consider it very bad
manners to eat with left hands. So, what should you do if you are on a visit in another country? Well,
just do in Rome as the Romans do. You can ask the native (本土的) people to help you or just watch
carefully and follow them.

1. According to the passage, making noises when you have liquid food isn't bad manners in ______.

A. China
B. Japan
C. Britain
D. Mongolia

2. ______ is bad manners in Britain.

A. Eating food without making noises
B. Putting liquid food in the bowl
C. Having soup directly with a bowl
D. Keeping hands off the table

3. From the passage, we can infer (推断) that ______.

A. Mongolian people burp when they are eating
B. Japanese people all make noises when drinking
C. Chinese people never make noises at table
D. few Arabs eat with left hands

4. "Do in Rome as the Romans do" means "______" .

A. Do as the native people do
B. Do as you do at home
C. Ask the native people to do it
D. Watch the native people doing it

5. The passage mainly (主要) tells us ______.

A. some table manners in Britain
B. some different table manners
C. different ways of having liquid food
D. to have good manners

        All the cities are quite the same. Living in a modern Australian city is not very different from living in an
American city. But there are some differences on farms. 
        In many parts of the world, farmers and their families live in villages or towns. In the United States, each
farm family lives in its own fields. Usually their neighbors live far away. It's hard for them to see each other on
weekdays. Their children take school buses to the nearest schools. These schools are only for the farm families
in this area (地区). In some areas, there are small schools for a few farm families,and the children walk to
schools.
         Life keeps changing for everyone. So do farmers. Today there are cars, good roads, radios, television
sets and there are modern machines for farming. All of these are changing farm life.

1. Living in a modern Australian city is almost               living in an American city.

A. different from
B. comfortable like
C. the same to
D. the same as

2. Usually farm families live in                 .

3. The farmers in               can visit each other easily on weekdays．

A. the world
B. America
C. Australia
D. the United States

4. How do the farmers' children go to school?

A. They ride their bikes to schools.
B. They only walk to schools.
C. They can go to schools in a car.
D. They can take school buses or walk to schools.

5. What about the farmers' life now?

A. Their life is poor.
B. Their life is changing.
C. They don't like their life.
D. Their life is comfortable.

    You go to a store. You see many new things. You know about them before you get to the store. How do
you know? You saw these things on TV. You learned about them through advertising.
    People have been advertising for thousands of years. Long ago, men called "criers" walked up and down
the street. They shouted about things that were being sold.
    Later, people met at one place. This place was a market. Some people came to sell. Other people came to
buy. But only those people who were at the market knew what was being sold.
    When people learned about printing, things changed. Soon there were newspapers. Many people read the
newspapers. They saw many ads in the papers. Later, more people saw and listened to the ads on TV. Are
the people who sell to us "criers"?

1. When you go to a store, you see _____.

A. singers
B. advertisement
C. many new things
D. TV

2. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A. We go to the store to read the newspaper.
B. We go to the store to buy things we hear about.
C. We go to the store to look at the ads on TV.
D. We go to the store to know other people.

3. People have been advertising for _____.

A. thousands of years
B. hundreds of years
C. one thousand years
D. one hundred years

4. Later people could find the ads _____.

A. on TV
B. in the newspapers
C. everywhere
D. both A and B

5. The main idea of the whole story is _____.

A. people advertise to sell things
B. people cried when they had to advertise
C. people went to the market
D. people never advertise