Valentine's Day (情人节) is named for Saint Valentine an early Christmas churchman who reportedly
helped young lovers. Valentine was killed for his Christian beliefs on February 14 more than 1700 years ago,
but the day that has his name is even earlier than that.
More than 2,000 years ago, the ancient Romans celebrated a holiday for lovers. As part of the celebration,
girls wrote their names on pieces of paper and put them in a large container. Boys reached into the container
and pulled one out. The girl whose name was written on the paper became his lover or sweet heart for a year.
Lovers still put their names on pieces of paper and they sent each other Valentine's Day cards that tell of
their love. Sometimes they also sent gifts, like flowers or chocolate candy. Americans usually send these gifts
and cards through the mail system. But some used another way to send this message. They have it printed in a
newspaper. The cost is usually a few dollars. Some of the messages are simple and short"Jane, I love you very much". Others say more. This one, for example,"Dan, Roses are red. Violets are blue. I hope you love me as
much as I love you. Forever. May."
Most of the newspapers that print such messages are local, but USA Today is sold through-out the United
States, and 90 other countries as well. This means someone can send a Valentine message to lover in a far-away city or town almost anywhere in the world. These messages cost 80 dollars and more. An employee of USA
Today says readers can have a small heart or rose printed along with their messages this year. Will this kind of
Valentine's Day message reach the one you love? Well, just make sure he or she reads the newspaper.
科目：高中英语 来源：活题巧解巧练·高二英语·下 题型：050
阅读理解
Halloween is a festival celebrated on October 31st. The name of the holiday means “hallowed” or “holy evening” because it happens the day before All Saints Day(万圣节) .
It is said that Halloween is the children's New Year's Eve. they dress up with special costumes(服装) , they eat too much, and stay up too late celebrating.
Children go around the neighbourhood wearing make-up, and dressed masks and colorful costumes. The most common costumes are witches, ghosts, skeletons, and popular TV, movie and storybook characters. Sane costumes are homemade, others are bought in stores. The children go door to door saying “trick or treat” . People give them candy, cookies, fruit or money. Sometimes money is to help UNICEF ( United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) .
Homes, stores and classrooms are decorated in the traditional Halloween colors, orange and black. Usual decorations are witches, black cats, ghosts, skeletons, and jack-o-lanterns (灯笼) . Jack-o-lanterns are pumpkins that are carved to look like faces. They ace placed on doorway entrances and in windows. Horror movies and ghost stories are shown on TV on this day.
Adults and older children also celebrate Halloween with parades, festivals and costume parties. Some people create their costumes, other people rent them. Contests are held where the beat costume receives a prize. One of the party events popular with children is dunking(浸泡) for apples. Apples are put in tubs filled with water. People try to get the apples using only their , hands cannot be used.
1．Why is it said that Halloween is the children's New Year's Eve?
[ ]
A．Because Halloween comes the day before All Saints Day.
B．Because only on that day can children go around the neighbourhood.
C．Because children can get money from their parents on Halloween.
D．Because children dress up with special costumes, eat a lot, and stay up late celebrating.
2．Which of the following is NOT true about the common costumes according to the passage?
[ ]
A．They are colorful.
B．Some of the costumes are homemade.
C．They are witches, skeletons, ghosts and popular TV characters, and so on.
D．All of the costumes are homemade.
3．What are the traditional Halloween colors?
[ ]
A．Red and green.
B．Orange and black.
C．Black and white.
D．Orange and brown.
4．Which of the following about Halloween is WRONG?
[ ]
A．Jack-o-lanterns are pumpkins that are carved to look like faces.
B．Adults also celebrate Halloween together with children.
C．Horror movies are shown on 1'V on 31st October.
D．Apples are the favourite fruit people eat on Halloween.
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科目：高中英语 来源： 题型：051
阅读理解
The Pentagon
五角大楼
美国号称世界头号军事大国，其武力干涉几乎渗透到全球，有人开玩笑说：“只要五角大楼打个喷嚏，整个地球都会震动。”五角大楼是什么? 让我们揭开它神秘的面纱，好好地认识一下这座建筑的运作职能吧。
The Pentagon，or the headquarters of the US Department of Defense，is one of the largest office buildings in the world，taking up a total land of 583 acres．The five-sided structure itself occupies an area of 29 acres．Each of its five outside wails is 921 feet long．It has three times the floor space as the Empire State Building or half again as much space as either of the New York's World Trade Center towers．
Working inside this huge building are over 25 000 employees，one half of them being civilians and the other half members of the U．S． armed forces．During the last year of the Second World War there were 37 000 people，both military and civilian，working inside the Pentagon．In the Korean and Vietnam War periods，31 000．The employees are scattered among hundreds of offices that occupy a floor space of 3705793 square feet．
While inside the building they tell time by 4 200 clocks，drink from 685 water fountains，utilize 280 rest rooms，consume 30 000 cups of coffee，6 000 tins of milk and 5 000 bottles of soft drinks of various kinds every day，with a total staff of 600 persons preparing and serving food and drinks to the Pentagon employees，daily．
Notes
Pentagon n．五边形；五角大楼 civilian n．平民
military n．军人 scatter v．分散
utilize v．利用；应用 consume v．消耗
Comprehension question
The building is called “the Pentagon ”because________．
A．it is the largest building in the world
B．it lies in the U．S．A．
C．it has five sides
D．it is a secret place
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科目：高中英语 来源：江西省四校2009-2010学年高二下学期期中联考试题（英语） 题型：阅读理解
第三部分阅读理解（共20小题；每小题2分，满分40分）
A teenager says he convinced the White House that he was Iceland’ s president and managed to schedule a call with George W.Bush , but was found out before he got to talk to the US president.
“My call was transferred around a few times until I got hold of Bush’s secretary and managed to book a call meeting with Bush the following Monday evening ,” Vifill Atlaso, 16, told Reuters.
Several Icelandic police turned up at his door two days later---the day of the planned call---and took him in for questioning.
“They told me the CIA had called the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police and asked if the police could try and find out where I received that phone number from,” said Atlason.
The teenager said he was unable to recall where he had discovered the telephone number of the White House.
“I know I’v had it on my phone card for at least four years now and that an Icelandic friend gave it to me, but I don’t remember who,”he said.
At a White House news conference on Monday, Bush’s spokeswoman Dana Perino said her understanding was that Atlason had called a public line “that anybody can call”, according to a transcript(记录).
Jon Buartmarz, Chief Superintendent at Iceland’s national police headquarters, said Icelandic police had not spoken to their US counterparts about the matter. He declinced(拒绝) to say how police were tipped off (通告) about Atlason’s call.
“As far as we’re concerned, there will not be any further investigation, and I don’t know if the American government is taking any action because of this,”he said.
1.According to the passage, when did Atlason call the White House ?
A.On Friday B. On Saturday C. On Sunday D. On Monday
2.What does the underlined “it ”refer to ?
A.The telephone number of the White House.
B.The telephone number of his friend.
C.A White House news conference .
D.CIA
3.How did Atlason get the telephone number of the White House ?
A.From a newspaper
B.From Bush’s secertary
C.From an Icelandic friend
D.By calling the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police.
4.What is the main idea of the article ?
A.An Icelandic teenager tricks the the White House
B.CIA found out the truth of a trick.
C.A teenager pretended to be the Icelandic president.
D.The telephone number of the Whiite House is known by public.
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科目：高中英语 来源：广东省2009-2010学年度高二下学期期中考试试题（英语） 题型：阅读理解
第三部分：阅读理解 (共15小题；每小题2分，满分30分)
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
China launched its first manned spaceship at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, becoming the third country in the world to send a person into orbit after the former Soviet Union and the United States. Astronaut Yang Liwei became China’s first space man.
With a column of beautiful smoke, the Shenzhou V craft cut across a bright northwest China sky at exactly 9:00 a.m. Wednesday and went into orbit 10 minutes later.
China Central Television’s Channel One cut into its regular programming to announce the launch. The station later showed the Shenzhou V streaking(moving very fast)into the sky and disappearing, its tracer billowing (to fill with air and become larger)behind it.
Minutes after the launch, a CCTV announcer said that Shenzhou V and 38-year-old Yang Liwei, an air force pilot since 1983, had “entered orbit at 9:10.” It reported Yang was “reading a flight manual(手册) in the capsule of the Shenzhou V spacecraft and looked composed and at ease.”
The Shenzhou V launch came after four test launches of unmanned capsules that orbited the earth for nearly a week before parachuting back to China’s northern grasslands. Reports said the manned flight was expected to last about 22 hours.
President Hu Jintao watched the launch at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China’s Gansu Province.
Hu called the launch “the glory of our great motherland and a mark for the initial victory of the country’s first manned space flight and for the significant, historic step of the Chinese people in the advance of climbing over the peak of the world’s science and technology.”
He said that: “The Party and the people will never forget those who have set up the outstanding merit(贡献) in the space industry for the motherland, the people and the nation.”
“The launch of the Shenzhou V is long-awaited by the Chinese people,” Foreign Minister spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said on Tuesday. She said the flight was a key step in the “Peaceful development of space.”
NASA Administrator Sean O’ Keefe also congratulated on China’s first successful human space flight.
41. The following are countries succeeded in sending man into space EXCEPT ____
A. China B. Germany C. America D. the former Soviet Union
42. The underlined word “composed” in paragraph 4 means_____
A. happy B. nervous C. calm D. excited
43. According to the passage which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. It’s the first time that China has sent up its first manned spaceship.
B. Before the Shenzhou V launched, four test launches of it had moved around the earth.
C. The 38-year-old astronaut was sent into space by China’s ShenzhouⅤspacecraft and landed safely the next day.
D. Yang Liwei is China’s first astronaut in space.
44. The writer quoted(引用) Foreign Minister spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue’s words to express ________.
A. the Chinese have been expecting the successful space launch and it’s a great contribution to the peaceful development of space.
B. a lot of Chinese people are waiting for the launch.
C. this launch is the first time in China.
D. China’s manned spaceship made a peaceful development of space.
45. The description of Yang Liwei tells us that _______.
A. Yang didn’t know what to do and he was looking up a flight manual
B. it’s 10 years since he became an air force pilot
C. Yang entered orbit at exactly 9:00 a.m.
D. Yang trained himself well and felt very satisfied with everything in the space craft
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科目：高中英语 来源：广东普宁一中2010届高三第一学期限时训练测试题二（英语） 题型：阅读理解
第二部分 阅读（共两节，满分80分）
第一节：阅读理解（共35小题；每小题2分，满分70分）
阅读下面短文，掌握其大意，然后从21~55各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
August has always been difficult for me. It is the time when I realize that the books my English teacher assigned to me are not going to read themselves and that I have a difficult month in front of me.
You might think that I don’t want to spend my summer reading, but that’s not the problem: I love reading. On the first day of my summer holidays this year, I went to the library and got “A Gathering of Old Men” by African-American writer Ernest Gaines. I enjoyed it very much. I read all the magazines that my parents subscribe to and spend about 30 minutes every day with the morning paper. So why do I hate summer reading for school? Because the books on summer reading lists are often slow-going and just uninviting. Teachers and librarians don’t understand that summer reading can be entertaining as well as educational. They choose books that a friend of my mother’s calls “spinach books”: good for you, but not much fun to take in. Every summer, I read them, hate them and get bitter about the experience.
This bitterness started three years ago when I was about to begin high school. As preparation, my English teacher told me to read “The Age of Innocence” by American author Edith Wharton. I’m sure there are many people who enjoyed “The Age of Innocence” — some might even say it’s their favorite book.
But I don’t think any of these people read it as a 14-year-old boy on his summer vacation.
“The Age of Innocence” is the story of a forbidden romance in New York 100 years ago. At 14, my only experience with romance was my love for baseball. I couldn’t imagine being in love, much less being in love in 1900. “The Age of Innocence” was totally different to my life.
Most of my required summer reading has been like that — books written in a style that plays up the adjectives and plays down the verbs. I guess teachers don’t think exciting plots make for “good literature”. To me, though, a good writer describes events and characters in a way that makes the reader want to know what happens next.
If I were making up a summer reading list, it would include “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” by George V. Higgins, “The Right Stuff” by Tom Wolfe, and “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer. These are all books that have literary value but, just as important, can also entertain kids on vacation. If the teachers could stand a little fun in the books they assign, my Augusts would be a lot more enjoyable.
1. The author thinks he will have a difficult August because ____________.
A. he doesn’t like reading in summer vacation
B. he is to read the books boring and not right for kids
C. he hates the English teacher assigning homework
D. he hates August
2. What can make students interested in August reading ought to be ___________.
A. romantic B. out of date
C. entertaining and educational D. pure
3. The author listed such books as “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” because he thinks __________.
A. they can change his opinion B. he can learn a lot more from them
C. they are of literary value, and enjoyable D. he has to do as teachers tell him to
4. In the opinion of the author of this passage, a good writer should be ___________.
A. one who describes events and characters in different ways
B. one who is full of imagination
C. one who is learned
D. one who uses a way of describing that makes the reader wish to know what to happen next
5. Which of the following could be the best title of this passage?
A. Why Can’t Teachers Set Us Fun Books?
B. I Don’t Like Reading on the Vacation
C. Teachers, Don’t Set Us Any Reading Assignments
D. Teachers, Set Us Free
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